Though COVID-19 has not been on the radar of many Mississippians recently, a new surge of cases is being reported with some Pine Belt counties seeing over a 200% increase in cases over two weeks.
Forrest County has seen a 230% increase in cases over the past two weeks and Lamar County has seen a 59% increase.
As of Sunday, Forrest County has reported a total of 22,142 cases and 316 deaths since March 2020. Lamar County has reported 17,464 cases and 160 deaths.
Case counts are up 223% over the past two weeks across the state, according to a New York Times database.
A daily average of 417 cases is being reported for the state as of Tuesday. Hotspots for average daily cases include Jasper County, Choctaw County and Yalobusha County.
There are 31 long-term care center outbreaks as of Tuesday.
Though cases are increasing, COVID-19 deaths are on a decline — down by 44% in the state in the past two weeks.
COVID in Hinds County:Mississippi sees new COVID surge: Cases up 220% over two weeks in Hinds County
COVID-19 hospital admissions, however, especially among people 70 and older, have increased sharply over the past week.
On May 9, an average of 1.6 people out of 100,000 who were 70 or older were newly admitted to a hospital each day. On Tuesday, that number had more than doubled to 3.9.
COVID-19 hospitalizations among all age groups have increased by 7% over the last two weeks.
Case counts are also increasing in the Jackson metro area.
Hinds County ranked 16th in the state among counties with the most cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days.
As of Sunday, Hinds County has reported a total of 52,980 cases and 791 deaths since March 2020. Rankin County has reported 36,861 cases and 489 deaths. Madison County has reported 24,316 cases and 329 deaths.
A total of 1,546,195 people are fully vaccinated in the state with 1,777,592 having received at least one dose. About 52% of the total population is vaccinated, however 84.2% of Mississippi residents 65 and older are fully vaccinated.
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Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at [email protected] or on Twitter.
