Lowndes County continues to lead the four-county area in number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, according to data from Mississippi State Department of Health.
MSDH’s most recent data says Lowndes County has had a total of 5,186 cases, an increase of 613 cases since Jan. 2. There have been 106 deaths total, an increase of 13 since the same date.
Oktibbeha County saw an increase of 320 cases and three deaths in that same time period, making a total of 3,842 cases and 79 deaths since the pandemic began.
Clay County saw an increase of 182 cases and two deaths, bringing the county’s totals to 1,556 cases and 32 deaths.
Noxubee County had an increase of 117 cases and two deaths, bringing its total to 1,089 cases and 22 deaths.
Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District reported having 11 students cases and only one staff case the week of Jan. 4-8, students’ first week back after the winter holidays. SOCSD updates its case numbers weekly at www.starkvillesd.com/covid19/numbers/index.
Students at Lowndes County School District did not return to in-person classes until Tuesday, so the district plans to release its updated numbers a week from then, on Jan. 19. Superintendent Sam Allison previously said administrators opted to have students attend class virtually for the first week after returning from the winter break so that if any students contracted the virus at family gatherings over break, they would have more time to quarantine before returning to school and coming back into contact with their classmates.
As of Tuesday, Noxubee County School District reported two student cases and three staff cases. The district has begun updating its numbers daily on its website at www.ourncsd.org/.
Columbus Municipal School District reported to MSDH that for the week ending Jan. 8, there were between six and 30 cases among students to MSDH, though no more than five cases were reported at one individual school. There were also between four and 20 cases among staff. When the number of cases in a school is five or fewer, MSDH reports the number as 1-5.
For that same week, West Point Consolidated School District reported to MSDH between one and five staff members infected and between two and 10 students infected.
Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science reported between one and five positive cases among staff members and one and five cases among students, according to MSDH.
Annunciation Catholic School in Columbus also reported between one and five cases among staff members to MSDH, while Oak Hill Academy in Clay County reported five or fewer cases each among students and staff. Starkville Christian School and South Haven Mennonite School in Noxubee County each reported no cases for the week. No other area private schools reported case numbers to MSDH.
Mississippi State University reported 77 active cases among students and 14 active cases among employees as of Thursday. MSU updates its numbers daily at www.msstate.edu/covid19/campus-testing.
Mississippi University for Women reported 10 active cases among students and one among staff as of this morning. The university updates its numbers every Friday at www.muw.edu/centers/healthcenter/cases.
The state has seen a total of 245,847 cases and 5,356 deaths, according to the most recent data available from MSDH.
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