COVID-19 Weekly Summary 8JUN2020, Record new cases reported on June 8

Week of June 2-June 8, 2020*

STATEWIDE MISSISSIPPI

• Mississippi had 2,016 new coronavirus cases and 98 new deaths this week, for a total of 17,768 cases and 837 deaths since March 11. These reports increased 12.8% and 13.3% respectively, compared to 17% and 16.3% last week. This is the second consecutive week of downward trending.
• With 281 deaths per million population, MS  is in 13th place in the US, compared to #14 last week.
• With 72,990 tests done per million, MS is still in the middle of its sister states, with LA and TN giving more tests per million, AL and AR less
• Hospitalized patients:
  • The week began with 455 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and ended with 390, averaging 419 daily; this is below last week’s 427 average. So, trending down sligltly (2%) for second week.
  • The number of COVID-19 patients requiring ICU care was fairly level all week, averaging 139 patients, well below last week’s 145. Trending down (4%) for 2nd week
  • ICU patients requiring ventilators averaged 87, compared to 90 last week. This is a one week downward drop of 3%.
• Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities:
  • As of June 8 there are 106 Long term Care (LTC) facilities with outbreaks, compared to 137 last week.
  • LTC facility patients accounted for 11.6% total cases (2065 of 17,768).
  • LTC facilities accounted for 52% of total deaths (435 of 837).
  • LTC facilities accounted for only 8.4% of new cases (169 of 2016).
  • LTC facilities accounted for 62% of new deaths (61 0f 98).

NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI (NEMS)

• Northeast Mississippi (NEMS) had a total of 245 new cases, for a total of 1594, up 18.2%.
• NEMS had a total of 17 new deaths, for a total of 97, up 19%.
• Both the above trends are significantly up from last week’s 14% case and 5% death rises.
• Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities:
  • In NEMS  24 LTC facilities in 12 counties have outbreaks, up from 17 facilities in 8 counties last week.
  • In NEMS LTC facilities account for 19.1% of total cases (304 of 1594) and 58.8% of total deaths (57 of 97).
  • In NEMS, LTC facilities accounted for 5.3% of new cases (13 of 245) and 41.2% of new deaths (7 of 17).

The take-away for this week

Total statewide new cases this week (2016) were below last week’s 2294. Also, this week’s 98 new deaths were below last week (104). Statewide hospitalization criteria (number hospitalized, number in ICU, number requiring ventilators) all trended down slightly from last week. Hospital trends have edged downward for two weeks now.

However, the 498 new cases reported yesterday Monday June 8, (from previous day totals) was the highest single day to date in Mississippi. Typically, record days would not continue to occur in states with constant downward trending.  MS has had three record days of new cases in two weeks. Therefore, MS either has reporting issues producing unreliable data or the state is not trending downward.

Additionally, with nursing homes and other facilities constituting less and less of the new cases (as expected, since their population is relatively stable), there is an increasing likelihood of positive persons being out in public areas.

The MSDH reported that as of June 4th, 9 new positive Covid-19 cases had resulted from a Northeast Mississippi funeral with about 100 people in attendance for graveside services and/or an after-funeral gathering. This gathering violated guidelines in place to allow a SAFE pathway to normalcy.

Since  there are less and less people wearing masks and practicing social distancing, vulnerable folks must continue to do what they can to protect themselves. Just one positive case in a large crowd can quickly affect many people.

Continue to keep yourself safe in public.

*Daily MSDH reports are from previous day data.