Two more people died in Warren County of COVID-19

Wednesday, the Mississippi State Department of Health reports two more people died of COVID-19 in Warren County, bringing the death toll to 20. One death occurred in a long-term care facility.

MSDH also reports eight new COVID-19 cases in Warren County Wednesday, bringing the cumulative number of cases in the county to 540.

As of Thursday, July 2, MSDH reports that Belmont Gardens and The Bluffs Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center are under investigation for active COVID-19 outbreaks. Belmont Gardens has two COVID-19 cases among staff, and The Bluffs has one case among staff. Deaths in the county include nine residents of Heritage House Nursing Center.

Statewide, MSDH reports 674 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, another big jump, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases in Mississippi to 32,888.

MSDH reports that 30 Mississippians died of COVID-19 statewide Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to 1,188. Nearly half of the state’s deaths were people in long-term care facilities. The state’s mortality rate of deaths to confirmed cases is about 3.6%, a rate that has been falling slowly for a few weeks.

The numbers of deaths can lag new cases by as long as two weeks or more, which may be one reason deaths in the state did not rise dramatically until Tuesday when 44 deaths were reported. In addition, most new cases are seen in younger people recently, and they are more likely to survive the virus than those 65 and older. By far, the largest age group reporting cases in Mississippi are young people from 18 to 29 years old.

COVID-19 deaths are reported in the following counties Wednesday:

Deaths and new cases were reported as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 7. MSDH usually reports new statistics on the COVID-19 coronavirus each day based on the previous day’s testing and death reports.

MSDH has estimated the number of people who can be presumed recovered from COVID-19 in Mississippi. That number is 22,167 through Sunday, July 5. This figure is updated weekly. It represents about 67.4% of the cumulative 32,888 cases reported as of Wednesday, July 8.

Based on the number of cases reported Wednesday, June 17, in Warren County (280), the estimated number of people presumed recovered in the county is 260, or about 48.1% of the 540 cumulative cases reported Wednesday, July 8. The county has an estimated 260 active cases.

These estimates are based on MSDH’s guidelines for calculating estimated recoveries when hospitalizations are not known, using the number of cases 21 days ago, less known outcomes (deaths).

The primary metric concerning state health officials are the numbers of people hospitalized, and that number has been steadily rising with new cases. On Tuesday, health officials warned that some hospitals were running out of ICU beds.

Mississippians hospitalized for the virus as of 6 p.m. Monday, July 6, is 885 (hospitalizations were not updated as of this writing for Tuesday), including 648 with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 237 people with suspected but unconfirmed cases. Of those with confirmed infections, 173 were critically ill and in intensive care units, and 95 were on ventilators.

For additional information, visit the MSDH website.