COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) confirmed their first case in the state on March 12, 2020, in an individual from Forrest County who had recently traveled to Florida.[1] Three days later, on March 15, the state had a spike in cases (4) in the state bringing the total to 10.[2] On March 16, two new cases in the state, one in Pearl River County and another Monroe County.[3] On March 17, cases in the state jumped from 12 to 21, with 4 in Hinds County, 3 in Leflore County, one in Jackson County, and one in Harrison County. The next day, on March 18, cases spiked up to 34, with DeSoto County seeing their first case, along with Madison County and Perry County. Bolivar County saw their first 2 cases. The following day, on March 19, the state saw 16 cases and its first death.[4] Harris and Pearl River counties saw 3 new cases each, while the counties of DeSoto, Forrest, and Jackson counties saw one additional case, while at least one new case were reported in the counties of Holmes, Jones, Smith, Walthall, Wilkinson, Winston, and Yazoo. On March 20, the state saw 30 new cases, bringing the total up to 80. New cases were reported in Adams, Franklin, Humphreys, Lawrence, Lee, Marshall, Monroe, Pike, Rankin, Tippah, and Webster counties, while additional cases were reported in Coahoma, DeSoto, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Jackson, and Madison counties.[5] On March 21, the state jumped in cases, reporting 60 new cases, jumping the total to 140.[6] March 22 saw 67 new cases in the state, with most counties in the state ending up with a new case.[7]

On March 14, two days after the first case was announced in the state, Governor Tate Reeves, declared a state of emergency, due to how big of an impact the neighboring state of Louisiana, has had with the virus. Louisiana at the time was the most infected state per capita.[8] Reeves recently came back from a trip from Spain (a country hit hard by the virus) and stated that he will voluntarily work from home for precautionary purposes.[8]

March 15, Jackson's city mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba declared civil emergency for the city.[9]

On March 21, the mayor of Tupelo, Jason Shelton, imposed a stay-at-home order that went into effect early on March 22.[10] The same day, Columbus put in a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am until further notice.[11]

On March 24, Governor Reeves issued an executive order deeming most businesses as "essential" including restaurants, bars and other establishments including dining in but limiting to 10 persons. The order also banned local governments from imposing stricter orders.[12] However, the wording of the executive order lead to some confusion among local governments on the authority of the state overriding that of restrictions put into place by municipalities and counties.[13] In response to criticism and confusion expressed by the public and local officials, Governor Reeves issued a supplemental order on March 26 that clarified that stricter restrictions put into place by local governing bodies were allowed.[14]

On April 1, an additional executive order was issued by the Governor, announcing a state-wide shelter-in-place order, requiring all non-essential businesses to close and overrides previous allowances for dine-in services in restaurants made in the March 24 executive order.[15]

State health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs stated during a news conference on April 1 that MSDH is not releasing to the public the number of ventilators available and the number of healthcare workers infected with COVID-19, despite confirming that MSDH does have this information, citing the potential for fear and confusion, despite other states, like Louisiana, providing these numbers.[16]

On April 17, the Governor extended the state's shelter-in-place by an additional week, April 27, 2020.[17] With the extension, changes were also made to the shelter-in-place, allowing Coast beaches and state lakes to reopen for recreation. Additionally, nonessential businesses could resume sales, but only through curbside pickup or delivery. All other requirements of the shelter-in-place remain.

On April 27, the Governor reopened retail businesses, and elective dental and medical procedures resumed. However, on May 2, the governor postponed plans to reopen the economy after 397 new cases were confirmed, the largest increase Mississippi had experienced.[18]

Mississippi is using a 'presumed recovered' number as of June 9, 2020. The number is estimated based on it being 14 days or more since the case was tested positive, and they were not hospitalized, or 21 days since they tested positive, and they were hospitalized or it is unknown if they were hospitalized.

On March 12, the National Collegiate Athletic Association cancelled all winter and spring tournaments, most notably the Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments, affecting colleges and universities statewide.[19] On March 16, the National Junior College Athletic Association also canceled the remainder of the winter seasons as well as the spring seasons.[20]

• Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
• COVID-19 pandemic in the United States – for impact on the country
• COVID-19 pandemic – for impact on other countries

Wikimedia Commons has media related to COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi (state).

• Coronavirus information from the Mississippi State Department of Health