1 death in a week for Neshoba

Neshoba County went nearly one full week without reporting a death from COVID-19 until Tuesday afternoon when the Mississippi Department of Health attributed one of the 42 state deaths to the county.

The Mississippi Department of Health announced 1,342 new cases and 42 new deaths, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 54,299. In one week, the total number of cases in the state has jumped by nearly 10,000. There have been 1,543 deaths attributed to COVID-19, up from 1,389 one week ago.

Neshoba has been third in the state in total deaths behind Hinds and Lauderdale.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tate Reeves said he was encouraged by the efforts Mississippians had made over the last two weeks to help curb the virus and that the state had “turned the first corner” yet cautioned about diligence.

For the last two weeks, Reeves warned about lack of ICU beds across the state, alarming daily figures, and an overwhelming surge impacting the state. On Tuesday, his tune had changed some.

“We’re starting to turn the first corner,” he said. “People now are paying attention. People now across Mississippi are trying. They are making an effort.”

Reeves said more Mississippians are wearing masks, social distancing and taking the virus seriously and they can see that on a state level.

“We are not even close to out of the woods yet…but the behavior in our state is changing,” he said. “We need to keep it up.”

Neshoba County has the third-highest infection rate in the state, with 3,977 per 100,000 residents. Last week the infection rate was 3,822 per 100,000 residents. Holmes County has the highest at 4,650. Claiborne County is second at 4,283. Mississippi as a whole is 1,824 per 100,000 residents, up from 1,530

A month ago, the state’s death rate had been cut by 31% since May, data show, but the rate has again risen throughout July. Hospitalizations, ICU cases and ventilator usage have also risen.

State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs on Tuesday said there had been some stability with the hospital infrastructure in the state.

There are currently 969 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. ICU patients decreased from a high of 257 last week down to 215. Ventilator usage remained steady at 169 on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, Neshoba had 1,158 confirmed cases of the virus, with 107 of those cases in long-term care facilities. Of the 83 deaths here attributed to the virus, 34 of those came from long-term care facilities.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has reported a total of 1016 positive cases among Tribal members, with nearly half of those coming from the Pearl River community. The Tribe only saw an increase of 5 positive cases within the last week. The Tribe has tested 3,263 members, with 2,193 negative results. Of the positive cases, 799 have recovered, 73 have died and 9 are hospitalized.

Philadelphia has been allocated $175,126.22 by the state and Union will receive $23,281.46 for its Neshoba County population. Neshoba County has been allocated $496,663.29 by the state.