This Mississippi county is one of nation’s worst COVID-19 coronavirus hot spots
Published 2:58 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2020
As cases of COVID-19 coronavirus rise across the state, one Mississippi county continues to be a hot spot in the entire country.
Wilkinson County in southwest Mississippi is one of the top 50 counties among 3,007 counties in the nation with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita.
Counties in New York and New Jersey continue to outpace the nation topping 2,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Wilkinson County ranks 48th on the list of hot spots in the nation with nearly 600 cases per 100,000 people — one-fifth the rate of Rockland County, New York which has 2,575 cases per 100,000 people.
Orleans Parish in Louisiana has 1,467 confirmed cases of the virus per 100,000 people — a higher infection rate than New York City which has 1,308 cases per 100,000 people.
The infection rate in Wilkinson County has slowed in recent days. Two weeks ago, the number of reported cases were doubling every 5 days. On Wednesday, the number of cases were doubling every 10 days.
To the north, Adams County cases were rising at a faster rate – doubling every four days.
On Wednesday, the top five counties with the highest infection rates per 100,000 people were:
- Wilkinson County – 591 cases per 100,000 people (51 total cases)
- Holmes County — 306 cases per 100,000 people (52 total cases)
- Scott County — 362 cases per 100,000 people(79 total cases)
- Tunica County — 239 cases per 100,000 people (23 total cases)
- Lincoln County — 237 cases per 100,000 people (81 total cases)
The infection rate is measured as a percentage of a county’s population. Smaller counties, like Wilkinson County, have a higher percentage of cases and therefore a larger infection rate than larger metropolitan counties like Hinds County and Gilf Coast counties.
On Wednesday, Mississippi reported the largest increase in confirmed cases of the virus — an increase of 273 cases. Officials from the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 3,360 cases of the virus and 122 deaths.
On Wednesday, several Mississippi counties saw a significant increase in the number of cases.
In Lincoln County, Marion County, Noxubee County and Simpson County, the number of cases increased more than 60% on Wednesday compared to the numbers reported Tuesday.
Below is a list of the infection rates for each Mississippi county and how fast the cases are rising in each county.
County | Infection rate per 100,000 people | One-day increase of cases |
Wilkinson | 591 | 4.1% |
Holmes | 306 | 13.0% |
Scott | 281 | 36.2% |
Tunica | 239 | 9.5% |
Lincoln | 237 | 65.3% |
Bolivar | 229 | 2.9% |
Smith | 226 | 28.6% |
Lauderdale | 223 | 10.0% |
Yazoo | 219 | 1.6% |
Adams | 209 | 12.3% |
Tippah | 204 | 2.3% |
Leflore | 195 | 14.6% |
Coahoma | 194 | 13.2% |
Chickasaw | 193 | 10.0% |
Quitman | 191 | 8.3% |
Calhoun | 188 | 12.5% |
Pearl River | 184 | 15.9% |
Pike | 183 | 22.0% |
Leake | 176 | 37.9% |
Sunflower | 167 | 10.5% |
Perry | 167 | 5.3% |
Forrest | 163 | 16.2% |
Walthall | 154 | 4.8% |
Kemper | 154 | 7.1% |
Montgomery | 153 | 0.0% |
Humphreys | 149 | 9.1% |
Webster | 144 | 0.0% |
Washington | 141 | 8.8% |
Marion | 138 | 61.9% |
Attala | 138 | 25.0% |
Choctaw | 134 | 0.0% |
Monroe | 130 | 24.3% |
Franklin | 130 | 0.0% |
Jackson | 127 | 23.8% |
Copiah | 125 | 12.9% |
Winston | 123 | 10.0% |
Clarke | 122 | 26.7% |
Amite | 122 | 7.1% |
Hinds | 121 | 8.1% |
Neshoba | 120 | 2.9% |
Yalobusha | 116 | 0.0% |
Clay | 109 | 5.0% |
Desoto | 108 | 11.8% |
Madison | 105 | 5.7% |
Hancock | 103 | 22.5% |
Covington | 102 | 26.7% |
Marshall | 99 | 2.9% |
Noxubee | 96 | 66.7% |
Tate | 92 | 8.3% |
Jasper | 92 | 7.1% |
Carroll | 90 | 12.5% |
Claiborne | 89 | 14.3% |
Oktibbeha | 83 | 10.8% |
Stone | 82 | 36.4% |
Panola | 76 | 13.0% |
Lamar | 76 | 26.3% |
Rankin | 73 | 13.0% |
Sharkey | 69 | 0.0% |
Grenada | 67 | 27.3% |
Lafayette | 67 | 20.0% |
Newton | 67 | 40.0% |
Jefferson Davis | 63 | 40.0% |
Harrison | 62 | 15.2% |
Jones | 62 | 13.5% |
Benton | 61 | 0.0% |
Prentiss | 60 | 7.1% |
Jefferson | 57 | 0.0% |
Lawrence | 56 | 16.7% |
Lee | 54 | 0.0% |
Itawamba | 47 | 22.2% |
Pontotoc | 47 | 0.0% |
Lowndes | 46 | 8.0% |
Simpson | 45 | 71.4% |
Wayne | 45 | 0.0% |
Tallahatchie | 43 | 50.0% |
Warren | 33 | 7.1% |
George | 33 | 0.0% |
Union | 31 | 28.6% |
Greene | 22 | 50.0% |
Alcorn | 19 | 0.0% |
Tishomingo | 10 | 0.0% |