Three-quarters of Mississippi schools are now reporting COVID-19 statistics

The Mississippi State Health Department is receiving COVID-19 updates from about three-quarters of the state’s more than 1,100 schools.

During Gov. Tate Reeves live news conference Tuesday, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said that 720 schools in 74 counties had reported updates Monday, up from 450 schools the previous week.

“They’ve been doing great,” Dobbs said.

Schools not holding in-person classes are not required to report, and some schools have yet to begin their fall semester, so the reporting percentage may be considerably higher.

“I think what you’ll see is, of the schools that are actually open for in-class learning, my guess is that’s about 90-plus percent reporting, maybe even much higher than that,” Reeves said.

Schools are required to report updates to MSDH every Monday by noon. The agency posted its first report of COVID-19 school statistics by county Tuesday for the week of Aug. 17 to Aug. 21.

During that week, schools reported 144 new teacher cases with 584 teachers quarantined, and 292 new student cases with 3,913 students quarantined across the state. Since classes began, 897 teachers and students have tested positive for the virus and a total of 31 school outbreaks have been reported.

The Vicksburg Warren County School District reported three cases among teachers and staff at Southpark Elementary School and no student cases. The district’s weekly updates will be posted on its website every Monday afternoon.