COVID-19
Warren County reported three COVID-19 deaths Thursday

Editor’s note: the Mississippi State Department of Health website was down all day Thursday, and the Vicksburg Daily News was unable to provide a complete update. We will provide an update for Friday, including national numbers, as soon as possible.
In Warren County, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 45 new COVID-19 cases Thursday and three new deaths. The cumulative number of cases in Warren County to date is 3,042, and the county’s death toll is 84. The seven-day average of new cases in the county is 42.7 per day, about 76% higher than the average cases of a month ago.
Statewide, MSDH reported 3,255 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, a new one-day record, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases in Mississippi to 231,490. The seven-day average of new cases is 2,240 per day, about 21.3% higher than the seven-day average a month ago. In January, the age group reporting the most cases in Mississippi are from 25 to 39 years old followed by those 50 to 64 years old.
MSDH reported Thursday that 48 more Mississippians died of COVID-19 statewide. The cumulative number of deaths in the state is 5,061. The state’s rate of deaths to confirmed cases is about 2.2%. This rate drops when the number of cases is going up faster than the number of deaths.
Deaths are a lagging indicator. The current surge began in Mississippi in late October, and the state saw record deaths in December and again in January; 85 cases were reported Dec. 29 and 91 cases Jan. 7. Nearly 1,000 deaths were reported in December.
The 48 deaths MSDH reported Thursday occurred between Dec. 18 and Jan. 6 in the following counties:
County | Deaths reported Thursday by MSDH |
Adams | 1 |
Bolivar | 1 |
Chickasaw | 2 |
Coahoma | 1 |
Desoto | 1 |
Forrest | 2 |
Harrison | 1 |
Hinds | 2 |
Itawamba | 3 |
Jones | 2 |
Lauderdale | 2 |
Lee | 6 |
Leflore | 1 |
Lowndes | 1 |
Madison | 1 |
Monroe | 2 |
Neshoba | 2 |
Panola | 1 |
Pontotoc | 2 |
Rankin | 1 |
Scott | 1 |
Tishomingo | 2 |
Union | 4 |
Walthall | 1 |
Warren | 3 |
Webster | 2 |
New cases and deaths were reported to MSDH as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6. MSDH usually reports statistics on the COVID-19 coronavirus each day based on the previous day’s and death reports.
The primary metric concerning state health officials are the numbers of people hospitalized, and that number has risen steadily since Nov. 4, 2020. COVID-19 hospitalizations threaten the state’s health care system as never before.
The number of Mississippians hospitalized for the virus as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, was 1,495. The number includes 1,433 with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 62 people with suspected but unconfirmed cases. Of those with confirmed infections, 358 were critically ill and in intensive care units and 222 were on ventilators.
MSDH has estimated the number of people who can be presumed recovered from COVID-19 in Mississippi. That number is 182,103 through Sunday, Jan. 3. It represents about 78.7% of the cumulative 231,490 cases reported as of Thursday, Jan. 7.
The number of cumulative cases in Warren County three weeks ago, Thursday, Dec. 17, was 2,243, therefore the estimated number of people presumed recovered in the county is 2,159, or about 71% of the 3,042 cumulative cases reported as of Thursday, Jan. 7. The county has an estimated 799 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 total number of Mississippians tested for COVID-19 (PCR and antigen tests identifying current infections) as of Saturday, Jan. 2, is 1,822,215 or about 61.2% of the state’s 2.976 million residents. MSDH reports statewide test results about once a week. Without daily updated numbers of tests, it is impossible to accurately calculate Mississippi’s positivity rate (positive results to tests, seven-day average); however, the estimated rate was 18.2% Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The national rate was 13.6%, and 5% or lower indicates adequate testing.
The total number of outbreaks in long-term care facilities is 223 Thursday, a decrease of three since Wednesday. About 34.9%, or 1,767, of the state’s total deaths were people in long-term care facilities. The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in LTC facilities is 9,637 Thursday, about 4.2% of the state’s total cases.
A total of 37 deaths in Warren County were residents of LTC facilities.
MSDH is no longer reporting outbreaks in individual long-term care facilities in Mississippi and has replaced that information with access to a database from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. You can access and search the data by provider here. The latest data available is for the week ending Dec. 27, 2020.
For additional information, visit the MSDH website or call the COVID-19 hotline seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at 877-978-6453.
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