Pike County’s daily case average for the past week continues to slide down and remain under two digits for the second week in a row, but officials are worried about the potential for a post-Labor Day spike.
Pike County’s daily case average for this week was 6.4, a modest decrease of 1.6 from the previous week of Aug. 22-28, with the peak averageof 17.6 occurring the weeks of July11-17 and July 25-31.
“Stay safe over Labor Day weekend! It’s when we let our guard down that bad things happen. Danger is not gone — last three days have had higher numbers than I expected. I know that we can do this!” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Facebook post Friday afternoon.
Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kevin Richardson said the hospital encourages everyone to follow the recommendations of the state health department, such as wearing a mask, avoiding large groups and relegating all activities to the outdoors.
“We are all closely monitoring the coronavirus case count trends at the state and local levels,” Richardson said. “This virus is still out there ... and, sadly, COVID-19 continues to claim the lives of members of our community. If we all do our part, we can avoid the resurgence of cases that many experts predict will come in the weeks after Labor Day.”
Pike County’s overall infections went up by nine Friday to 1,163 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Lincoln County also added nine cases to 995, Walthall County went up by two cases to 574, while neither Amite, Franklin, Lawrence nor Wilkinson had new cases.
The state reported 823 cases Thursday for 85,939 total, with 23 additional deaths, for a total of 2,558 since the onset of the pandemic.
Pike County was the only area county that reported a death Thursday, bringing the county’s total to 46.
