New coronavirus cases coming so fast Mississippi health officials struggle to keep up; more than 8,200 on Tuesday, a new record high

Published 8:56 am Thursday, January 13, 2022

New cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus continued to pile up across all corners of Mississippi Thursday as the state released the latest statistics showing that more than 8,200 cases were found on Tuesday.

State health department officials had to delay the release of the Tuesday, new case counts due to high volumes of data slowing their work. The data released early Thursday normally would have been made public on Wednesday, but the record number of new cases was too much for health officials to process on schedule.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported early Thursday that 8,204 new coronavirus cases were found in a 24-hour period that ended at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

In the last two weeks, 78,120 cases have been officially logged, though the number is likely much higher due to at-home tests typically not being reported to the state health department.

To put the rapid spread in perspective,  in the last 14 days approximately 1 in every 38 Mississippians has tested positive for the virus. Cases found in the last two weeks now represent 13 percent of the total cases found since the pandemic began, nearly two years ago.

The additional cases reported early Thursday bring the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 616,972.

Although health experts say the new omicron variant tends to require less hospital care than previous variants, the massive number of new cases in this wave is still causing hospitalizations to grow rapidly.

Through Tuesday, 1,267 patients were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19, the state health department reported. By comparison at the beginning of December less than 200 COVID patients were hospitalized.

MSDH reported 26 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,589.

Through Wednesday, 49 percent of the total Mississippi population has been fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated Mississippians remains below the U.S. average of 63 percent.

For more detailed county-by-county vaccination results visit: https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/12130.pdf

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose Thursday to 6,325, a new record high.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose sharply to 5,580 with Thursday’s update. It was another new all-time high.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County

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

The numbers in this table are provisional. County case and deaths totals may change as investigation finds new or additional information.

County Total Cases Total Deaths Total LTC Facility Cases Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams 5465 125 89 18
Alcorn 7221 119 131 20
Amite 2430 59 57 9
Attala 3838 90 189 36
Benton 1810 42 47 10
Bolivar 7396 155 240 33
Calhoun 3412 52 44 7
Carroll 2109 42 52 11
Chickasaw 3993 78 61 15
Choctaw 1552 27 12 0
Claiborne 1677 41 46 9
Clarke 3314 96 132 32
Clay 3965 78 41 5
Coahoma 5328 114 138 14
Copiah 5586 95 109 15
Covington 5510 98 152 39
De Soto 40580 459 129 27
Forrest 16320 266 297 61
Franklin 1472 34 46 5
George 5620 80 73 9
Greene 2457 50 61 6
Grenada 4420 112 156 32
Hancock 9117 139 92 20
Harrison 40147 572 552 80
Hinds 43503 662 857 140
Holmes 3533 94 109 20
Humphreys 1632 39 35 9
Issaquena 200 7 0 0
Itawamba 5541 114 136 24
Jackson 29025 397 295 41
Jasper 3876 66 46 2
Jefferson 1154 35 41 7
Jefferson Davis 2259 43 14 1
Jones 16191 250 271 45
Kemper 1667 42 50 10
Lafayette 11124 148 202 57
Lamar 12923 141 59 12
Lauderdale 14493 324 499 108
Lawrence 2724 44 27 2
Leake 4900 92 102 17
Lee 20688 253 224 43
Leflore 6392 145 244 56
Lincoln 6334 139 210 41
Lowndes 13218 201 305 69
Madison 19046 289 416 72
Marion 5166 119 165 24
Marshall 7907 149 69 17
Monroe 8364 183 191 55
Montgomery 2363 58 66 10
Neshoba 7815 211 229 61
Newton 4434 85 89 15
Noxubee 2159 44 41 6
Oktibbeha 8424 141 270 40
Panola 8312 140 103 15
Pearl River 11223 245 222 42
Perry 2360 57 29 9
Pike 7214 159 178 44
Pontotoc 8062 117 87 13
Prentiss 6018 88 101 15
Quitman 1317 28 0 0
Rankin 27986 417 500 69
Scott 5489 101 119 19
Sharkey 726 21 45 8
Simpson 5464 119 167 20
Smith 3071 55 77 8
Stone 4091 67 94 14
Sunflower 5020 111 126 21
Tallahatchie 2656 53 50 7
Tate 5674 122 80 19
Tippah 5646 89 121 14
Tishomingo 4397 99 103 28
Tunica 2074 40 20 3
Union 7385 101 133 23
Walthall 2631 69 69 14
Warren 8148 181 175 38
Washington 8393 171 213 41
Wayne 4735 73 80 13
Webster 2428 51 66 14
Wilkinson 1390 40 25 6
Winston 3854 95 135 39
Yalobusha 3030 48 83 22
Yazoo 6384 94 152 20
Total 616,972 10,589 11,561 2,115