For the second straight day, the Mississippi State Department of Health is reporting over 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 — the first time this has happened since August 7-8th.
Today’s report of 1,116 new cases brings the state’s total up to 109,255. With the confirmation of 9 additional deaths, 3,160 Mississippians have now passed away from the virus.
While overall hospitalizations did decrease in the latest data from the MSDH, those figures may rise in the coming weeks. Back in July, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs outlined what rising case numbers could lead to in terms of hospitalizations.
“Every day that we add 1,000 new cases, statistically, that’s another 170 patients that are likely going to be in the hospital in the next couple of weeks,” he said at the time.
Earlier this week, Dr. Dobbs expressed concern that the state is seeing many of its indicators rise for the first time since the “summer surge.”
Governor Tate Reeves, who recently allowed the statewide mask mandate to expire, took to Twitter Thursday to warn Mississippians that they must continue to take the proper precautions.
Important to remember that COVID-19 is not gone! We’ve seen numbers increase over the past few weeks. Please stay watchful and protect yourself. We want to be cautious and limited in using executive action—we’re counting on the people of Mississippi to be wise and careful!
— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) October 15, 2020
As of Monday, an estimated 94, 165 Mississippians have recovered from COVID-19.
