Mississippi’s COVID-19 coronavirus cases and deaths continue to climb at a steady pace, the Mississippi State Health Department reported Wednesday and the number of patients hospitalized with the virus inched up to a new all-time high.

State health officials reported 227 new cases. It was the 21st day in a row the number of new cases rose by more than 100.

The state reported 11 more people died in the state over the last 24 hours due to the virus, bringing the state’s total number of deaths to 250.

On Tuesday, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said he was concerned by the growing number of hospitalized coronavirus cases. That number grew by one patient since the prior day marking another new high.

Wednesday’s update showed 430 people were hospitalized with coronavirus. Another 247 patients suspected of having coronavirus, but not yet confirmed by testing, were also hospitalized, the state reported.

“Now is not the time to let down our guard,” Dobbs said Tuesday. “Please, every person exercise as much caution as you can when you are out in public. Don’t go out if you don’t have to. Really, people, we just need to be careful.”

The number of patients reported as being in ICU and being on a ventilator each declined, likely connected to the reported deaths. As of Wednesday’s update, the state reported 151 patients where in ICU beds and 69 were on ventilators.

The state also tracks the number cases found in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes that are considered high risk due to their residents being in close confines, often being older and often having underlying health issues.

For the sake of reporting, the state considers even a single case of coronavirus among staff or residents of these facilities as an “outbreak” and are tracked by county below.

Here are the county by county numbers:

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total Cases in LTC Facilities
Adams	129	8	22
Alcorn	10	1	0
Amite	26	0	1
Attala	94	0	26
Benton	9	0	0
Bolivar	101	7	13
Calhoun	51	3	22
Carroll	25	1	2
Chickasaw	68	7	22
Choctaw	13	1	0
Claiborne	20	0	0
Clarke	53	3	10
Clay	34	2	0
Coahoma	61	3	1
Copiah	88	1	1
Covington	55	0	0
Desoto	277	4	2
Forrest	198	10	19
Franklin	16	1	0
George	13	1	0
Greene	5	1	0
Grenada	28	0	14
Hancock	61	5	7
Harrison	171	6	1
Hinds	450	7	13
Holmes	129	5	27
Humphreys	22	3	1
Issaquena	0	0	0
Itawamba	51	2	28
Jackson	255	6	39
Jasper	34	1	0
Jefferson	23	0	0
Jefferson Davis	31	1	1
Jones	136	1	10
Kemper	56	1	12
Lafayette	88	3	35
Lamar	102	2	0
Lauderdale	334	19	75
Lawrence	42	0	1
Leake	190	2	0
Lee	70	4	5
Leflore	145	16	28
Lincoln	141	9	47
Lowndes	49	2	3
Madison	224	8	28
Marion	69	5	13
Marshall	42	2	0
Monroe	157	13	79
Montgomery	20	1	0
Neshoba	174	3	3
Newton	78	0	1
Noxubee	61	0	8
Oktibbeha	49	3	7
Panola	38	2	0
Pearl River	157	18	31
Perry	26	1	0
Pike	143	7	12
Pontotoc	18	2	1
Prentiss	32	1	20
Quitman	14	0	0
Rankin	182	5	6
Scott	296	0	8
Sharkey	5	0	0
Simpson	45	0	2
Smith	73	4	20
Stone	22	0	0
Sunflower	53	2	0
Tallahatchie	11	1	0
Tate	41	0	1
Tippah	53	7	0
Tishomingo	7	0	1
Tunica	35	1	12
Union	16	1	2
Walthall	30	0	0
Warren	65	2	0
Washington	77	3	4
Wayne	20	0	0
Webster	17	1	0
Wilkinson	69	7	5
Winston	43	0	0
Yalobusha	19	0	0
Yazoo	134	1	0
Total	6,569	250	752

Table above now lists the number of cases in long-term care facilities, and not the number of facilities with outbreaks.

For more detailed graphics on Mississippi’s coronavirus statistics, please visit:

https://www.magnoliastatelive.com/video-mississippis-coronavirus-case-by-the-numbers/