Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, cases are steadily declining across Mississippi and the Golden Triangle area. This week alone, only 44 cases were reported in Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties.
Lowndes County still has the highest COVID-19 numbers in the four-county area with 6,197 total reported cases and 143 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the most recent data from the Mississippi State Department of Health. There were 22 new cases and only one death reported in the county since March 6. The MSDH website shows the test positivity rate for Lowndes County has declined from 7.7 percent on Feb. 27 to 5.9 percent on March 6.
There have been 17,453 first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccination administered to Lowndes County residents as of 8 a.m. Thursday, according to the MSDH website.
In Oktibbeha County, there have been a total of 4,484 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths reported with only 14 cases and no deaths since March 6, according to the MSDH website. Oktibbeha County’s test positivity rate has drastically decreased from 9.2 percent on Feb 27. to 3.5 percent on March 6.
There have been 15,238 doses of the vaccine administered to residents of Oktibbeha County as of Thursday morning.
Noxubee County has had a total of 1,240 cases reported and 31 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic with only five new cases and no new deaths over the past two weeks. The test positivity rate has remained constant at 2.0 percent for the past month.
Noxubee County residents have received 11,231 doses of the vaccine.
Clay County saw the lowest number of new cases over the past few weeks with only three cases and one death, bringing the county’s total to 1,808 cases and 54 deaths. However, the test positivity rate for Clay County increased slightly from 1.1 percent on Feb. 27 to 2.2 percent on March 6.
There have been 5,205 doses of vaccines administered to Clay County residents.
There were 322 new cases reported throughout the state on Wednesday, bringing Mississippi’s case total to 301,924 and 6,938 deaths. There have been 933,810 total vaccinations administered to Mississippi residents, with 339,675 fully vaccinated.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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