On Friday, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) reported 9,300 new cases, capping off a record week for COVID-19 in Mississippi.
This past week, the single-day total record for the state of Mississippi was broken three times (of the five reports). On Thursday, the record was broken twice in one day due to data processing delays from MSDH. Over the last two weeks, more than 86,000 cases have been confirmed in Mississippi, not including rapid tests taken at home.
While deaths are down, Dr. Thomas Dobbs recently stated that the state’s healthcare system is seeing a drastic increase in hospitalizations as the Omicron variant sets in.
“If we look at what’s going on with our cases and hospitalizations, although it does cause a less severe illness because of the remarkable number of cases we have, we are seeing massive increase in the number of new hospitalizations putting an increasing strain on our healthcare system and overloading our ICU systems,” he said.
As of Thursday, 1,365 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to data from MSDH. Total hospitalizations peaked at 1,667 during the Delta wave.
In reply to the surge, MSDH will be opening two new testing locations in Hinds and Neshoba counties on Monday. Appointments can be made at covidschedule.umc.edu. You can watch Dobbs’ three-minute update on COVID-19 in Mississippi below.
