We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Friday, November 20:
New cases: 1,638| New Deaths: 23
Total Hospitalizations:926
Total cases: 140,429| Total Deaths: 3,642
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3.
The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold.
The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%.
Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available.
According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%.
Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.
Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span.
MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
After months of uncertainty and plans delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Metrocenter Mall in Jackson will partially reopen later this month, officials told Mississippi Today.
The mall, long a pillar of economic development and entertainment in west Jackson, opened in 1978. At the time, the 1,250,000 square feet of mall space was the largest in the state, comprised of two levels of retail and office space with 60 stores and four anchor stores.
After several attempts to revitalize the mall, the property closed for good in 2018 as a major retail area. Only a handful of City of Jackson offices and a Burlington Coat Factory remained as occupants.
But in January 2020, Emily Seiferth-Sanders announced her initial plan to reopen the mall on April 1. By March, the pandemic was taking root in the state, effectively delaying plans to open the mall.
April 1 came and went without opening, and WJTV and other outlets reported many vendors complained they were never contacted by Seiferth-Sanders about opening plans after they paid their deposit for a spot. On Oct. 2, Seiferth-Sanders posted a video to the mall’s Facebook page addressed to tenants. She said she couldn’t give an opening date yet, but she gave directions for tenants to cancel their lease and get their deposit back if they wished.
This week Seiferth-Sanders told Mississippi Today she plans to conduct a “soft opening” of an upper-level section of the mall on Nov. 25. However, those plans are dependent upon passing inspection by City of Jackson Code Enforcement and the Fire Marshall.
“We’re here to build up the wasted place and bring life… restoration, to this area of west Jackson that has been on a decline for a while,” she said. “There will be 25% of retail stores, along with an entertainment area, schools, food vendors, a drive-in movie theater and mixed-use housing.”
“Currently, we have 40 tenants, a few of those being food vendors,” said Senior Vice President of Mall Operations William Grigsby. “It’s exciting. We want to support the community, help revitalize the area by creating jobs. And we want the community’s support too.”
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Tate Reeves speaks to supporters after winning the GOP nomination for governor on Aug. 27, 2019.
As COVID-19 cases in students and teachers hit their highest point yet and schools across the state are forced to close their doors, educators received an additional blow this week from Gov. Tate Reeves.
Reeves released his first fiscal year budget recommendation as governor on Monday and, despite promising to raise teacher pay during his 2019 campaign, made no mention of a salary increase. He did, however, recommend limiting funding to schools that do not teach in-person during the pandemic, and setting aside $3 million for a “Patriotic Education Fund” to combat “revisionist history” that is “poisoning a generation.”
During the 2020 session, it appeared Reeves and legislative leadership were poised to provide teachers a $1,000 salary increase, but those plans were put on hold by an anticipated decrease in state revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The average salary for a public school teacher in Mississippi in 2019 was $45,105, according to the Mississippi Department of Education, and Mississippi’s average salary is the lowest in the nation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
When Mississippi Today reached out to Reeves’ press secretary after his budget recommendation was released publicly, she said in a statement: “We believe strongly that we can still find the funds to administer teacher pay raises.”
Reeves’ budget recommendation also stated that schools that do not offer in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic should have their funding limited. He said that because their budgets include funds to support services geared to in-person learning such as food service and transportation, school districts providing traditional learning are at “a financial disadvantage.”
“For this reason, I propose limiting funding for school districts unwilling to provide the option of essential classroom instruction,” the recommendation stated.
State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said districts were given three options for operating this school year in an effort to allow each district to respond specifically to what was going on in their communities during the pandemic. She also pointed to the $200 million allocated by the Legislature to ensure every student in the state has access to a device and connectivity in order to be able to learn remotely.
“There is no replacement for a good teacher; however, districts that provide distance learning in accordance with public health guidelines cannot afford to have their funds limited,” Wright said in a statement to Mississippi Today.
The state’s teachers union released a lengthy statement pointing to what they say is hypocrisy on the part of the governor.
“When we requested statewide COVID reporting standards and guidance on how to address teacher absences during the pandemic, we were told unequivocally that districts best knew how to handle their response,” the statement from the Mississippi Association of Educators read. “Now that some districts have elected to keep buildings closed because they do not have the staff and resources to safely serve their district’s students and families, the governor has decided that they can no longer be trusted to do what’s best.”
The group references the Greenville Public School District, where schools were operating virtually at the beginning of the semester and just this month, after the death of a teacher, announced it would return to virtual learning.
“Following an outbreak, they have decided to return to virtual instruction. And now, after being assured that the state government would play no role in their district’s COVID plan, Governor Reeves is threatening to withhold critically-needed funding when districts need it most,” the statement continued.
The governor also recommends spending $3 million to create a Patriotic Education Fund. The fund would be used to pay for teaching that combats what Reeves says is “indoctrination in far-left socialist teachings that emphasize America’s shortcomings over the exceptional achievements of this country.”
The fund is reminiscent of the 1776 Commission, an executive order by President Donald Trump establishing a commission to promote “patriotic education” in the United States. This came about in response to the 1619 Project, an initiative launched by the New York Times Magazine in 2019 which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
On Wednesday, Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for Reeves, said the idea was original though the mission is similar to Trump’s. She said the funds could be used as an “addition” to students’ education, though in the budget recommendation Reeves said the program is necessary because “We need to combat the dramatic shift in education.”
“Field trips, after-school clubs, the development of new interesting lesson plans, and more could be funded with these dollars — we are hoping teachers, administrators and non-profits are creative in their ideas of how to take advantage of the opportunity,” she said in a statement. “It would be a great bonus for Mississippi’s youth, in addition to their typical education.”
In response, officials at the Mississippi Department of Education pointed out that the social studies standards, or grade-level goals for learning, were developed by Mississippi teachers and adopted by the State Board of Education in 2018.
“The standards take an unbiased look at U.S. History that allows students to examine multiple viewpoints of a historic event or period. Students explored the pride and resilience of the American spirit through study of civics, democracy, capitalism and major events that have shaped our country,” a statement from the department said.
Kelly Riley, executive director of the Mississippi Professional Educators, called the governor’s budget recommendation and the statements made to support the creation of the Patriotic Education Fund “extremely disappointing.”
“Mississippi educators are teaching the curriculum standards adopted by the State Board of Education, members of whom Governor Reeves appoints,” Riley said. “Such unfounded generalizations that attack the pedagogy and character of teachers across our state are certainly not an encouraging way to begin the upcoming (legislative) session.”
Reeves also recommended: $3 million for math coaches across the state; $2 million to train teachers in computer science and coding; and fully funding the School Recognition Program, which financially rewards teachers in A-rated schools and schools that improve a letter grade.
The 14-member Legislative Budget Committee will make its budget recommendation in December.
17 November 2020, Bavaria, Krailling: A resident of the Maria Eich nursing home walks across a corridor with his walker. Photo by: Sven Hoppe/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Just 14% of Mississippi’s nursing homes have completed specialty COVID-19 training offered by the federal government to help squash transmission in their facilities.
Twenty-nine out of Mississippi’s 211 nursing homes have taken advantage of the free training as of early November — training at least 50% of their staff in COVID-19 infection control and vaccine distribution — according to new data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which regulates nursing homes.
Nationally about the same percent of all nursing homes have completed the training, so Mississippi is not alone in not ensuring all facilities have sought out and completed the training.
“We’ve provided nursing homes with $20 billion in federal funding, millions of pieces of PPE, free testing machines and supplies, and significant technical assistance and on-the-ground support,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “Ultimately, the ownership and management of every nursing (home) must take it on themselves to ensure their staff is fully equipped to keep residents safe. With coronavirus cases increasing across the country and infection control identified as a major issue, we encourage all nursing homes to take advantage of this no-cost opportunity to train their staff.”
The Mississippi facilities that participated in the training fare better than average for the rate of COVID-19 infection, signifying that the training is potentially translating to on-the-ground benefits for staff, and subsequently residents. Facilities that complete the free infection control course have a more than 10% reduction in overall resident cases, compared to Mississippi facilities that haven’t completed the training.
The training comes at a beneficial time for Mississippi nursing homes, where half of all residents have contracted the virus. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs has said better infection control could help Mississippi nursing homes stem spread.
“In places with really good infection control practices, a lot of times we’ll find zero cases,” he said in May, when the state initiated universal testing for all nursing home residents and staff — something that’s up to individual facilities to do now, but fewer than a quarter test every resident after a new case as of Nov. 1, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending such testing. A little over 40% report conducting surveillance test of asymptomatic residents to gauge exposure.
The Mississippi facilities who have completed the training average about 350 COVID-19 cases per 1,000 residents, compared to the state overall averaging about 400 cases per capita.
Within the 29 that completed it, five have had no reported cases at all — only 23 facilities statewide have never had a known case. Seven additional facilities that took the training have had between one and five cases. Overall, 40% of those facilities that had the training have seen five or fewer cases.
Too, those that completed the safety training have had fewer cases among staff, averaging 18 staff cases per facility, compared to 21 cases statewide.
Further, the death rate among residents who contract the virus is lower at facilities that complete the training — averaging 14% where it’s completed, and 20% across the state.
Of the 12 facilities across the state that have an infection rate of more than 100% — meaning more residents have contracted it than there are current residents, due to deaths, transfers and discharges — only two have completed the training.
Medicare partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address common concerns found during inspections at facilities across the U.S. with a high rate of COVID-19 infection, including: hand hygiene and proper PPE use, resident surveillance and isolation strategies, cleaning, and specialty care for those with dementia during the pandemic.
These are the nursing homes that have participated in Medicare’s safety training as of Nov. 3:
WINSTON COUNTY NURSING HOME
LOUISVILLE
THE PILLARS OF BILOXI
BILOXI
DIVERSICARE OF TYLERTOWN
TYLERTOWN
DIVERSICARE OF RIPLEY
RIPLEY
DIVERSICARE OF TUPELO
TUPELO
WEST POINT COMMUNITY LIVING CENTER
WEST POINT
DIVERSICARE OF EUPORA
EUPORA
TISHOMINGO COMM LIVING CENTER
IUKA
TIPPAH COUNTY NURSING HOME
RIPLEY
DIVERSICARE OF BATESVILLE
BATESVILLE
MEMORIAL WOODLAND VILLAGE NURSING CENTER
DIAMONDHEAD
JEFFERSON COUNTY NURSING HOME
FAYETTE
QUEEN CITY NURSING CENTER
MERIDIAN
DIVERSICARE OF BROOKHAVEN
BROOKHAVEN
LEAKESVILLE REHABILITATION AND NURSING CENTER
LEAKESVILLE
PLAZA COMMUNITY LIVING CENTER
PASCAGOULA
COURTYARDS COMM LIVING CENTER
FULTON
NATCHEZ REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER
NATCHEZ
SUNPLEX SUB-ACUTE CENTER
OCEAN SPRINGS
REST HAVEN HEALTH AND REHABILITATION
RIPLEY
GREENE COUNTY HEALTH AND REHABILITATION
LEAKESVILLE
WILLOW CREEK RETIREMENT CENTER
JACKSON
MEMORIAL STONE COUNTY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER
WIGGINS
BRUCE COMMUNITY LIVING CENTER
BRUCE
PINE FOREST HEALTH AND REHABILITATION
JACKSON
JONES COUNTY REST HOME
ELLISVILLE
WHITFIELD NURSING HOME
CORINTH
SHEARER-RICHARDSON MEMORIAL NURSING HOME
OKOLONA
COMFORT CARE NURSING CENTER
LAUREL
Nursing homes can find more about the training here.
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Wednesday, November 18:
New cases: 1,593| New Deaths: 20
Total Hospitalizations: 868
Total cases: 137,396| Total Deaths: 3,601
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3.
The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold.
The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%.
Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available.
According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%.
Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.
Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span.
MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Tuesday, November 17:
New cases: 905| New Deaths: 36
Total Hospitalizations: 807
Total cases: 135,803| Total Deaths: 3,581
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 11, Reeves extended the mask mandate for the counties of: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Humphreys, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Marshall, Rankin, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the U.S. — particularly overwhelming rural areas. In Mississippi this week, the average number of daily cases surpassed 900 for the first time in three months and has continued to climb.
Tuesday’s jump of 933 cases brings the rolling average to 947 daily cases – only 20 days of the entire pandemic have reached this threshold. The jump also resulted in a 42% increase in average new cases over the last week — the 26th largest increase since the pandemic began, comprising the only jump that large not in the March/April or June/July case surges.
The recent case surge also totaled more than 6,600 weekly cases for the state, or about 223 per 100,000 residents — the most since early August when peak summer cases were just beginning to decline.
While counties in North Mississippi and on the Coast continue to see the most regional case growth, more central counties are starting to see spikes again, with Jefferson Davis (11% increase in the last week), Carroll and Stone County (both 10%) experiencing the sharpest rises. In central Carroll County, 19% of COVID-19 tests came back positive the last week of October, according to the state health department, while the Coast’s Jackson County saw more than a quarter of all tests come back positive.
Hospitalizations have sharply risen over the last month. Compared to a month ago, the seven-day average for hospitalizations is up 22%. Overall the state’s ICU beds are 87% full, compared to a baseline of 66% in 2018. The state’s 16 highest level COVID-19 hospitals’ ICUs are 92% full, housing 33% more patients with the coronavirus than three weeks ago.
According to Harvard’s Global Health Institute tracker, Mississippi ranks 26th in new cases per capita. The tracker puts Mississippi and neighboring states Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas all in the “red” risk level, indicating 25 or more new cases per 100,000 people. Louisiana, Florida and Georgia are in the “orange” risk level, the tier just below.
As far as deaths, Mississippi now ranks sixth in most total deaths per capita after long hovering at seventh, and ranks 17th in recent deaths per capita, according to the New York Times’ tracker.
MSDH estimates 111,430 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
