Mississippi’s COVID ‘curve’ now resembles steep mountain as new cases climb

Published 11:15 am Thursday, December 10, 2020

Mississippi again reported high near-record numbers of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, the state announced Thursday morning.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,283 new cases on Thursday, one day after a new single-day record was set on Wednesday. The latest numbers bring the total cases since the pandemic began in March to 172,955 and setting a new 14-day record for new cases.

More than 27,000 new cases have been confirmed in the last 14 days. New cases confirmed in Mississippi during the last 14 days already eclipse every month of the pandemic except July and November.

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Here’s a monthly new case breakdown:

Month New cases
June 11,746
July 31,496
August 24,203
September 15,240
October 21,970
November 33,111
December (month to date) 19,685

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 136,627 have recovered and while many people who are infected with the virus may only have moderate or even no visible symptoms, others can get gravely ill and can die as a result.

The high number of cases, in turn, yields a high number of patients requiring hospitalization, health officials have said.

Through Wednesday’s statistics, the state reported 1,166 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized with another 120 suspected, but not confirmed by test yet COVID patients also hospitalized.

Mississippi’s State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said the state had just set another record for the highest number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions in a day – 172 – and the highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases hospitalized, 1,166.

The state reported 42 new deaths Thursday. A total of 4,083 Mississippians have died from the virus, the state reported.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dropped slightly to 2,298 with Thursday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 1,951 on Thursday, breaking the previous record set the day prior.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County

Totals of all reported COVID-19 cases for 2020, including those in long-term care (LTC) facilities.

The numbers in this table are provisional. County case numbers and deaths may change as investigation finds new or additional information. The data provided below is the most current available.

County Total Cases Total Deaths Total LTC Facility Cases Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams 1557 52 70 14
Alcorn 1713 32 96 15
Amite 689 16 20 3
Attala 1347 38 138 25
Benton 543 19 44 10
Bolivar 2726 89 224 30
Calhoun 884 14 25 4
Carroll 829 15 46 9
Chickasaw 1233 33 48 14
Choctaw 404 7 1 0
Claiborne 603 16 43 9
Clarke 1025 55 94 27
Clay 1043 27 20 3
Coahoma 1689 46 127 11
Copiah 1871 42 72 9
Covington 1506 54 99 28
De Soto 11503 110 103 20
Forrest 4319 90 187 41
Franklin 426 6 4 1
George 1451 29 47 6
Greene 817 24 48 6
Grenada 1587 49 135 23
Hancock 1445 45 68 12
Harrison 8332 118 402 39
Hinds 11374 217 559 86
Holmes 1430 61 103 20
Humphreys 597 21 33 8
Issaquena 131 4 0 0
Itawamba 1788 42 102 19
Jackson 7196 137 206 21
Jasper 994 24 1 0
Jefferson 403 12 15 3
Jefferson Davis 633 18 8 1
Jones 4161 90 194 38
Kemper 574 19 43 9
Lafayette 3593 63 153 37
Lamar 3322 51 44 12
Lauderdale 4060 153 346 82
Lawrence 804 14 27 2
Leake 1542 45 45 7
Lee 6006 100 202 40
Leflore 2270 95 196 48
Lincoln 2145 71 166 36
Lowndes 3002 71 130 37
Madison 5639 119 299 57
Marion 1409 52 143 18
Marshall 2423 54 59 15
Monroe 2359 79 176 53
Montgomery 859 27 54 9
Neshoba 2504 128 176 52
Newton 1267 30 64 10
Noxubee 786 17 21 4
Oktibbeha 2750 64 201 31
Panola 2594 60 75 13
Pearl River 1871 73 128 25
Perry 727 27 20 7
Pike 1820 61 98 27
Pontotoc 2417 32 20 3
Prentiss 1690 38 96 14
Quitman 533 7 0 0
Rankin 6886 118 275 35
Scott 1774 30 32 3
Sharkey 344 17 43 8
Simpson 1643 54 142 19
Smith 827 16 55 8
Stone 925 15 61 9
Sunflower 2050 57 84 15
Tallahatchie 1054 28 33 7
Tate 1991 52 74 18
Tippah 1482 34 62 4
Tishomingo 1254 47 96 26
Tunica 657 19 15 2
Union 2042 27 61 11
Walthall 850 32 67 13
Warren 2025 62 146 27
Washington 3564 108 187 39
Wayne 1374 24 63 10
Webster 536 15 53 11
Wilkinson 467 22 20 5
Winston 1457 33 89 18
Yalobusha 812 29 81 21
Yazoo 1726 42 138 15
Total 172,955 4,083 8,241 1,527