First Nursing Home Case Reported In County

Coahoma County posted its first reported case of coronavirus in a nursing home Monday, while the state saw the traditional drop in cases reported over the weekend.

Mississippi reported only one death from the disease on Monday.

Coahoma County went 118 days into the pandemic without a case of the virus reported in a Long Term Care (LTC) facility. The state’s case count for LTC’s also includes staff who test positive with the disease and not just residents of those facilities.

There have been no deaths reported in LTC’s in Coahoma County.

Statewide there were 393 new cases of the disease reported on Monday, but the Mississippi State Department of Health typically sees a slowdown in numbers on Monday as testing facilities and programs take a break over the weekend.

Mississippi reported a high of 870 new cases on Friday, July 3.

The state has now reported 36,680 cases of the disease since the first case was reported in Mississippi on March 11. With a population of 2.987 million, only 1.23-percent of Mississippians have contracted the disease

Many of those reported sick have now gotten well. The Center for Disease Control said the typical case of COVID-19 can last up to two weeks, with those suffering severe cases being ill up to three or four weeks.

Coahoma County’s case count now stands at 235 cases reported with 34 cases reported over the past seven days. Coahoma County has a population of 22,628 and an infection rate of 1.04-percent.

The number of tests conducted also rose dramatically as the state has started including the number of private healthcare providers tests conducted. As of today 356,963 people have been tested by the MSDH Public Health Laboratory for the disease and only 10.28-percent have tested positive.

The state has told those who have symptoms, and have been tested, to retest in two weeks as the test indication can be incorrect up to 30 percent of the time.

Mississippi seems to be getting more tests than many states. Urban areas of the state -- and nation -- are getting more testing. The more rural area of the nation -- the Midwest and Mountain States -- are reporting fewer cases of coronavirus. The Northeast -- particularly New York City -- and the eastern seaboard are reporting most of the country's cases.

Of the 36,680 cases that have been reported in the state since March 11, the Mississippi State Department of Health has said 25,932 have apparently gotten well. That means 70.7 percent of the people who have gotten sick have currently recovered.

Dist. 3 Supervisor Derrell Washington said last week he wanted to know accurate and up-to-date percentages and not how many people had gotten sick since March. Supervisors and city officials have been talking about once again implementing more stringent measures to curb the disease. 

“We’ve been talking about educating people since March and I go to Wal-Mart and still see people without masks,” said Washington. “How are you going to get people to wear a mask unless you say, “Please wear and mask and you can go to jail if you don’t.”

A spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in Mississippi has led to additional restrictions for 13 counties, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday.

“Mississippi is in a fight for our lives. COVID-19 is an ever-present threat, and we are in the middle of a spike,” Reeves said. “It is putting a strain on our hospital system. Today, I am announcing a new order which places tighter restrictions on 13 counties that are seeing greater risk than others. Make no mistake. The risk is present everywhere. It is most visible in these counties.”

The affected counties are Claiborne, DeSoto, Grenada, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Quitman, Rankin, Sunflower, Washington and Wayne.

The Numbers

The number of new cases being reported locally also indicates many – especially young people -- may have the disease and just don’t know it. And they can still spread to disease to parents and guardians.

Demographics from across the state and country also show the disease is more prevalent and under reported – for a variety of reasons – in minority communities.

As of Monday, 51.6-percent of the fatalities have been African American, 41.6-percent have been white and 6.8-percent have been others. The total cases by race have been 57.1-percent African American, 32.2-percent white and 10.7-percent other races.

Across the nation 3,296,599 people or 1.004-percent of the nation’s 328.2 million people have contracted the disease and 134,884 and 4.09-percent of those infected have died.

County by County

The Mississippi State Department of Health and the University of Mississippi Medical Center have brought in mobile coronavirus testing unit to Coahoma County on three separate occasions and the Aaron E. Henry Center has also conducted testing, including its most recent in Bobo on Thursday.

The results of those tests are prompting the community’s infection rate to climb.

Cases reported as of today in the following Mississippi counties were: Adams (367), Alcorn (111), Amite (111), Attala (386) Benton (47), Bolivar (416), Calhoun (170), Carroll (183), Chickasaw (302), Choctaw (76), Claiborne (315), Clarke (228), Clay (262), Coahoma (235), Copiah (675), Covington (450), Desoto (2,009), Forrest (1,043), Franklin (57), George (25), Greene (116), Grenada (625), Hancock (152), Harrison (1,183), Hinds (3,041), Holmes (598), Humphreys (174), Issaquena (11), Itawamba (147), Jackson (804), Jasper (282), Jefferson (137), Jeff Davis (125), Jones (1,231), Kemper (184),  Lafayette (509), Lamar (584), Lauderdale (972), Lawrence (216), Leake (635), Lee (630), Leflore (539), Lincoln (538), Lowndes (549), Madison (1,508), Marion (349), Marshall (297), Monroe (460), Montgomery (186), Neshoba (1,045),  Newton (377), Noxubee (279), Oktibbeha (623), Panola (461), Pearl River (308), Perry (91), Pike (511), Pontotoc (363), Prentiss (127), Quitman (101), Rankin (1,137), Scott (831), Sharkey (48), Simpson (453), Smith (256), Stone (77), Sunflower (505), Tallahatchie (197), Tate (395), Tippah (147), Tishomingo (109), Tunica (126), Union (256), Walthall (274), Warren (600), Washington (753), Wayne (568), Webster (135), Wilkinson (101), Winston (302), Yalobusha (208) and Yazoo (566).

County case numbers change as investigations find new information on a case's home county.

The state announced its first death due to coronavirus March 20. Fatalities attributed to the disease have been reported in Adams (20), Alcorn (2), Amite (3), Attala (24), Bolivar (18), Calhoun (5), Carroll (11), Chickasaw (19), Choctaw (4), Claiborne (11), Clarke (25), Clay (11), Coahoma (6), Copiah (16), Covington (5), Desoto (20), Forrest (43), Franklin (2), George (3), Greene (10), Grenada (9), Hancock (13), Harrison (16), Hinds (54), Holmes (41), Humphreys (10), Issaquena (1), Itawamba (8), Jackson (19), Jasper (6), Jefferson (3), Jeff Davis (4), Jones (49), Kemper (14), Lafayette (4), Lamar (7),  Lauderdale (81), Lawrence (2), Leake (20), Lee (22), Leflore (56), Lincoln (35), Lowndes (17), Madison (39), Marion (12), Marshall (3), Monroe (36), Montgomery (3), Neshoba (77), Newton (10), Noxubee (9), Oktibbeha (28), Panola (6), Pearl River (32), Perry (4), Pike (20), Pontotoc (6), Prentiss (4), Quitman (1), Rankin (19), Scott (15), Simpson (3), Smith (12), Stone (1), Sunflower (8), Tallahatchie (4), Tate (13), Tippah (11), Tishomingo (1), Tunica (3), Union (129), Walthall (8), Warren (21), Washington (13), Wayne (19), Webster (11), Wilkinson (9), Winston (11), Yalobusha (9) and Yazoo (7) counties as of today.

The virus appears to be affecting the state's higher population areas such as the Gulf Coast, Jackson, Meridian metropolitan areas, Desoto County and Lee County more intensely. Communities that have had people travel to or from larger U.S. cities also appear to have a higher incident of the disease.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Your Clarksdale Press Register will keep readers posted as we learn more information and as news changes. All stories about coronavirus are being offered free to the community and will not be put behind the Clarksdale Press Register paywall.