Mississippi’s neighboring states hit hard with COVID-19

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Neighboring Louisiana is one of the country’s hot spots for COVID-19 coronavirus cases and deaths.

With 5,237 cases and 239 deaths, Louisiana is in the nation’s top 10 states for virus cases, but its numbers are increasing extremely fast. More than 1,200 new cases were reported on March 31, with 1,834 cases in New Orleans alone. In all, 60 of the state’s 64 parishes have reported cases.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state-wide stay-at-home order on March 22. People can leave their homes to do essential things like buying groceries or food, pick up medicine or go to work only if their job is essential.

The news—and the virus—is affecting Mississippi’s Gulf Coast as well. Gulfport, Biloxi, Long Beach and other coastal cities have begun issuing orders for curfews and closing down non-essential businesses.

Alabama, like Mississippi, has just crossed the 1,000-case threshold, reporting 1,013 cases and 26 deaths.

Though it doesn’t share a border with Mississippi, just to the east on the Gulf Coast, Florida has reported even more cases than Louisiana but fewer deaths. Its total now stands at 6, 955 and 87 deaths. Most of Florida’s cases, around 4,000, are in the southern part of the state, and numerous South Florida cities and counties, including Miami, have issued stay-at-home orders.

Tennessee has reported 2,521 cases and 24 deaths.

Of all Mississippi’s neighboring states, Arkansas has reported the fewest numbers of cases, currently at 566 cases and eight deaths.

Nationally on April 1, the U.S. is nearing 200,000 cases, with more than 4,000 deaths now attributed to the virus. That’s a far cry from March 1 when the entire country reported only 75 cases and one death. The U.S. leads the world in reported cases.

New York state has reported more cases by far than any other state with more than 75,000 cases and 1,700 deaths.

Worldwide, the total number of reported cases is over 900,000 with more than 45,000 reported deaths.