As Mississippi begins to shift from “safe at home” to “back to work,” the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state continue to rise.
The most recent data released by the Mississippi State Department of Health reveals the state death toll has now reached 521 with 11,296 confirmed cases. Those numbers released Sunday included 173 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new deaths.
Lauderdale County leads the state with 46 deaths (585 cases), while Forrest County (27 deaths, 431 cases) and Pearl River County (26 deaths, 195 cases) follow as No. 2 and No. 3 in total county deaths. Lauderdale County also has 28 long term care facility deaths. Monroe County ranked second in that statistic with 20 LTC facility deaths. There have been 1,479 total LTC facility deaths in Mississippi with 251 deaths reported from those dwellings, meaning 13 percent of all deaths in the state have been associated with the LTC facilities.
Other numbers reported from across the Pine Belt include:
*Covington County: 105 cases, 0 deaths;
*Jasper County: 111 cases, 3 deaths;
*Jones County: 337 cases, 9 deaths;
*Lamar County: 175 cases, 4 deaths;
*Perry County: 36 cases, 2 deaths;
*Smith County: 112 cases, 7 deaths (4 LTC); and
*Wayne County: 39 cases, 0 deaths.
According to data released May 17 by the Centers for Disease Control, there have been 1,467,065 total confirmed cases nationwide with 88,709 related deaths. There are 29 states reporting 10,000 or more COVID-19 cases.
For the time frame of October 1, 2019, through April 4, 2020, CDC estimates there were between 410,000 - 740,000 flu hospitalizations in the United States with 24,000 - 62,000 deaths caused by the flu.