Mississippi’s weekly number of new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus dropped on Monday to a level not seen in weeks, but the impact of the early infections seemed to worsen as the state reported more than 100 new deaths, most from earlier in January.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Monday that 9,752 new coronavirus cases were found from 3 p.m. Thursday through 3 p.m. Sunday.

Since January 1, 183,681 cases have been officially logged, though the number is likely much higher due to at-home tests typically not being reported to the state health department.

To put the rapid spread in perspective,  statistically, 1 in every 16 Mississippians has tested positive for the virus since the start of January.

The new cases reported Monday bring the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 727,418.

Although health experts say the omicron variant tends to require less hospital care than previous variants, the massive number of new cases in this wave is still causing hospitalizations to grow rapidly.

Through Thursday, 1,530 patients were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19, the state health department reported. That is down slightly from the record set on Wednesday when 1,708 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

MSDH reported 104 new deaths on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 10,935.

The high number of deaths reported Monday came with this explanation from MSDH officials:

A recent internal review of death certificate data identified additional potential COVID-19 associated deaths from January 2022 that had not been previously identified. The MSDH Office of Epidemiology is currently reviewing these deaths to determine their status as COVID-19 associated. This will result in increased additional deaths being reported over the next several days. Today’s report includes 71 additional deaths in January not previously reported, with date of deaths ranging from January 1, 2022 to January 23, 2022, and with 73% of the newly reported deaths occurring between January 1 and January 15.

Through Monday, 50 percent of the total Mississippi population has been fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated Mississippians remains below the U.S. average of 64 percent.

For more detailed county-by-county vaccination results visit: https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/12130.pdf

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dropped Monday to 4,761. It was the first time the weekly average dipped below 5,000 since early January.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 6,628 with Monday’s update. That’s slightly down from the record high of 6.774 set a little more than one week ago.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County

Totals of all reported COVID-19 cases, including those in long-term care (LTC) facilities.

The numbers in this table are provisional. County case and deaths totals may change as investigation finds new or additional information.

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total LTC Facility Cases	Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams	6307	129	90	18
Alcorn	9125	126	131	20
Amite	2907	60	57	9
Attala	4367	94	194	36
Benton	2054	44	47	10
Bolivar	8465	158	252	33
Calhoun	4244	55	44	7
Carroll	2409	45	52	11
Chickasaw	5018	81	62	15
Choctaw	1884	28	13	0
Claiborne	2056	42	46	9
Clarke	3878	96	132	32
Clay	4674	83	41	5
Coahoma	5988	117	138	14
Copiah	6356	98	109	15
Covington	6640	98	164	39
De Soto	46370	483	131	27
Forrest	19914	270	359	61
Franklin	1774	34	47	5
George	6641	81	75	9
Greene	2852	50	74	6
Grenada	5120	119	155	32
Hancock	10899	142	143	22
Harrison	47331	589	646	83
Hinds	49670	699	861	140
Holmes	4165	96	120	21
Humphreys	1866	40	35	9
Issaquena	239	7	0	0
Itawamba	6825	118	135	24
Jackson	34152	402	388	41
Jasper	4422	66	46	2
Jefferson	1363	35	41	7
Jefferson Davis	2646	43	16	1
Jones	19678	261	304	46
Kemper	2041	43	50	10
Lafayette	13682	162	202	57
Lamar	15846	144	66	12
Lauderdale	17376	328	499	108
Lawrence	3262	45	28	2
Leake	5656	96	103	17
Lee	24755	265	225	43
Leflore	7032	149	268	56
Lincoln	7374	143	210	41
Lowndes	15967	211	306	69
Madison	22307	293	416	72
Marion	6521	125	173	24
Marshall	8989	154	69	17
Monroe	9877	190	192	55
Montgomery	2772	63	83	13
Neshoba	9626	215	232	61
Newton	5340	89	89	15
Noxubee	2583	46	42	6
Oktibbeha	9820	146	272	40
Panola	9613	143	103	15
Pearl River	13901	249	244	42
Perry	2809	57	41	9
Pike	8290	162	178	44
Pontotoc	9209	123	88	13
Prentiss	7397	90	101	15
Quitman	1479	28	0	0
Rankin	33409	428	503	69
Scott	6202	104	119	19
Sharkey	877	22	45	8
Simpson	6278	127	171	20
Smith	3693	61	80	8
Stone	5000	67	100	14
Sunflower	5514	111	134	21
Tallahatchie	2990	54	50	7
Tate	6637	128	80	19
Tippah	6397	93	120	14
Tishomingo	5506	103	103	28
Tunica	2383	41	19	3
Union	8658	106	133	23
Walthall	3204	71	69	14
Warren	9449	185	175	38
Washington	9490	173	219	41
Wayne	5235	75	83	13
Webster	2841	54	66	14
Wilkinson	1726	41	25	6
Winston	4743	97	135	39
Yalobusha	3728	50	84	22
Yazoo	7635	96	152	20
Total	727,418	10,935	12,093	2,125