MS now 7th in new cases per million, Reeves decries “young, drunk, careless” – Weekly COVID-19 Summary 27JUL2020

COVID-19: Week of July 21 – July 27, 2020

STATEWIDE MISSISSIPPI

•  Mississippi had 9061 new COVID-19 cases and 143 new deaths this week, for a total of 52,957 cases and 1501 deaths since reporting began on March 11, 2020. These reports represent an increases of 20.6% in cases and 10.5% in deaths. Both are up from the 19.7% and 8.6% last week, respectively. The trend in new cases continues upward; statewide deaths are also up, after having a dip in the rate of increase on the July 20 summary.
• Misissippi’s rate of 504* (up from last week’s 456) deaths per million of population keeps it in the 12th most lethal position in the US, and MS deaths  still exceed the national average (504) deaths per million.
• Mississippi’s rate of 17,794* cases per million is the 7th highest in the nation. Only California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Arizona and Louisiana are worse.
• Hospitalized Patients:
  • July 23 set another record for hospitalizations with 975, which was 66 higher than the previous record, set on July 19th. The July 19th record of 909 was exceeded every day this past week as we averaged 952 patients daily. However, the possible good news is that this week’s rate of increase is 10.3%, compared to 24% the previous week.
  •  COVID-19 patients requiring ICU care averaged  295 patients daily, up 15% from last week’s 258.  Trending continues upward for ICU admissions statewide, but the rate of increase is only about half that of the previous week. More possible good news -if that becomes a trend.
  • Ventilators were required for a daily average of 151 patients, up from about 14% from last week’s 132. Again these numbers are climbing, but the rate of increase has gotten lower. There was a 26% increase 7/20, a 14% increase week of 7/27.
• STATEWIDE Long Term Care (LTC) facilities:
  • As of 7-26, 189 LTC facilities statewide reported active coronavirus outbreaks, compared to 140 facilities for the week prior. After having been previously stable, trending of active outbreaks has now been rising for four consecutive weeks.
  • LTC facilities accounted for 2.6% of new cases (236 of 9061 cases). This is essentially stable from last week’s 2.2%.
  • Total deaths’ percentage in LTC was down 2% to about 46% (688 of 1501). LTC facilities accounted for only about 26% (37 of 143) of all new deaths, down steeply from last week’s 43%.

NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI (NEMS)

• As of 7-26, NEMS had at total of 1263 new cases, for a total of 6270 cases, an increase of  25.2%, compared to last week at 27.2% increase. New cases are fluctuating, no clear trend.
• NEMS had a total of 16 new deaths, for a total of 173. This is an increase from the 13 deaths the previous week.  This figure has been fluctuating for about 5 weeks. -no clear trend.
•  NEMS Long Term Care (LTC) facilities:
  • On 7/ 27, 21 LTC  facilities in 12 NEMS counties have active coronavirus outbreaks. This is compared 16 facilities in 10 counties last week. Counties with multiple facilities with coronavirus are Lafayette (4), Lee and Marshall with 3 each and Monroe and Union with 2 each.  Clay, Pontotoc, Prentiss counties have no active cases. The 7 remaining counties in northeast MS each have one active outbreak. Benton, Tippah and Tishomingo counties have had no LTC facility deaths attributed to COVID-19.
  • In NEMS, LTC facilities accounted for 2.9% (36 of 1263) of new cases and 6.3% of new deaths (1 of 16). This is a steep drop from last week’s report of 8 deaths in Northeast MS LTC facilities.

The Take-Away For This Week

Mississippi continues to be among the many states whose COVID-19 figures are rising. New cases in younger ages are still rising. Florida, consider one of the nation’s top “hot spots” of new cases, has logged only 285 deaths per million of population, compared to Mississippi at 504 deaths per million. Mississippi continues to be far higher than her neighboring states in deaths per million.

Hospitalizations and ICU cases in Mississippi are both rising, but a glimmer of possible good news, in that “curve” seem less steep for this past week.

Northeast Mississippi (NEMS) continues to have a higher rate of increase in overall new cases than the state as a whole, about 25% compared to about 21%. However, long term care (LTC) facility stats remain about equivalent with overall state wide numbers. This points to a large percentage increase in the general population, and makes an argument in favor of using precautions such as masks and social distancing. Additionally, only 1 of 16 new deaths in our NEMS region was in a LTC facility. Meaning 15 deaths were in the general population.

MS Executive Order 1511 sets forth the newest social distancing requirements. In Executive Order 1512 of July 24th added Calhoun County and 5 additional counties were added to the “hot spot” list requiring masks be worn under certain conditions. For details see the link below.

MSDH still seems to be struggling in receiving, tracking and reporting statistics, particularly as local clinics and hospitals are more and more busy. This leads to problems tracking and analyzing the coronavirus pandemic in Mississippi. NEMiss.news is aware of one Union County death on July 22 that was publicly attributed  to coronavirus, but is not so reflected in MSDH statistics. It is our understanding that deaths should reflect the person’s county of primary residence.

Governor Reeves targeted bars this past week in his on-going attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Mississippi.  During a briefing Friday, July 24th he said: “We are still in the middle of our most painful period of COVID-19 spread to date. I’ve been talking for about a week about wanting to do something to curb the spread among young, drunk, careless folks.” Reeves’ comments underscore those of State Health Officer Dobbs who recently said Mississippians are doing “silly things.”

The number of new cases in Mississippi is high, as is the death rate. We are currently living in the 12th most lethal state for coronavirus. So, if you are among the young, drunk and careless folks, please consider the possible consequences to others of your actions. If you are vulnerable, continue to take care of yourself in any way you see fit. As always, if you are able, give assistance to someone who needs it.

*statistics from WorldOMeter as of day of posting

MS Executive Orders: https://www.sos.ms.gov/Education-Publications/Pages/Executive-Orders.aspx