A viral pandemic spreading throughout the United States took the lives of two more Mississippi residents, including an Amite Countian, amid a shortage of critical medical supplies and widespread delays in testing, state health officials reported Monday morning.
The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 847 confirmed coronavirus infections statewide Monday, an increase of 89 since Sunday. 16 have died.
Doctors at the state public health lab in Jackson have the capacity to run 200 tests each day, and about half of all results have returned positive in recent days, which may indicate a sharp increase in infections.
Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center reported its first coronavirus death Sunday. Hospital CEO Charla Rowley said in a Facebook post that the 48-year-old man had been in ICU.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members of our patient,” she wrote. “Despite the valiant efforts of our Critical Care specialists and respiratory support team, he was unable to recover from his infection.
“We ask that you keep him and his family members close to your heart.”
The number of confirmed infections in Pike County increased to 16 Monday morning. Hospital officials indicated they are waiting 10 days or more to receive results back from the state lab, which may contribute to a lag in case confirmation.
Wilkinson County, seemingly hard-hit for a population of 10,000, had 13 confirmed infections and two deaths. Lincoln County had 11 confirmed infections, Lawrence County had five, Walthall County had five and Franklin County had three.
Amite County reported four confirmed infections Monday and the one death.
Statewide, deaths are reported among patients in Amite, DeSoto, Hancock, Harrison, Holmes, Lee, Leflore, Perry, Rankin, Sunflower, Tippah, Tunica, Webster and Wilkinson counties.
DeSoto County, where residents were among the first with confirmed infections statewide after an outbreak in neighboring Shelby County, Tenn., exposed several residents earlier this month, continues to lead the state in confirmed infections at 77. That’s an increase of 28 since Thursday. DeSoto has seen one death.
The Jackson metro area is also experiencing heightened rates of transmission. Hinds County has the second highest number of confirmed infections statewide at 74, an increase of 24 since Thursday. Madison County has 38 and Rankin County has 37.
Mississippi residents with coronavirus between the ages of 50 and 99 are admitted to a hospital for treatment at a rate more than double that of younger patients.
The majority of hospitalizations have been among patients aged 60 to 79, with that happening in over half of all recorded cases.
In neighboring Louisiana, the number of confirmed infections skyrocketed to 3,540 Friday, an increase of 1,745 since Wednesday amidst one of the largest outbreaks across the United States.
151 have died and 1,127 are being treated in hospitals. Of those patients, 380 were on ventilators in Intensive Care Units Monday morning.
The New Orleans metro area is the site of one of the deadliest outbreaks nationwide, with Orleans Parish reporting 1,350 infections and 73 deaths Monday.
Nearby Washington Parish has 12 cases and one death and Tangipahoa Parish has 10 cases and no deaths.
The United States surpassed China Thursday evening and now stands as the country with the most confirmed infections worldwide with 143,532 as of Monday morning. 2,572 people have died, 776 in New York City alone.
Friday marked the greatest increase in confirmed infections worldwide since the recorded start of the outbreak in January with 67,400 new cases identified. There were 741,724 confirmed infections worldwide Monday morning.
