Mississippi’s fight against coronavirus got ugly last week; here’s where the virus grew fastest
Published 1:52 pm Monday, June 29, 2020
By all accounts, last week was an ugly one in Mississippi’s battle against the COVID-19 coronavirus as new case numbers skyrocketed.
Week over week, the high number of new COVID-19 cases caused the total case volumes to rise by more than 19% across the state. Each of Mississippi’s 82 counties saw an increase in new cases over the prior week, using data provided by the Mississippi State Department of Health Monday and the prior Monday.
In several counties, particularly in some of Mississippi’s most rural areas, the percentages of growth were extremely high.
Issaquena County with a population of approximately 1,300 had managed to avoid having any resident infected with the virus until last week when six people were confirmed to have COVID-19.
Neighboring Sharkey County also saw a dramatic rise in cases – 84.6% week over week.
Grenada County saw 82.1% growth over the same period.
In total, Mississippi recorded an additional 4,280 new cases last week, a dramatic increase over the prior several weeks. By comparison, the weekly average of new confirmed cases from May 1 through June 22 was just above 2,000 cases per week.
Here’s a county-by-county look at case growth, week over week:
County | Current week | Prior week | New cases last week | New case growth % |
Adams | 253 | 232 | 21 | 9.1% |
Alcorn | 53 | 35 | 18 | 51.4% |
Amite | 80 | 75 | 5 | 6.7% |
Attala | 347 | 336 | 11 | 3.3% |
Benton | 27 | 20 | 7 | 35.0% |
Bolivar | 254 | 208 | 46 | 22.1% |
Calhoun | 114 | 96 | 18 | 18.8% |
Carroll | 149 | 133 | 16 | 12.0% |
Chickasaw | 246 | 196 | 50 | 25.5% |
Choctaw | 71 | 65 | 6 | 9.2% |
Claiborne | 220 | 168 | 52 | 31.0% |
Clarke | 196 | 182 | 14 | 7.7% |
Clay | 237 | 210 | 27 | 12.9% |
Coahoma | 180 | 161 | 19 | 11.8% |
Copiah | 558 | 476 | 82 | 17.2% |
Covington | 269 | 238 | 31 | 13.0% |
Desoto | 1293 | 912 | 381 | 41.8% |
Forrest | 786 | 729 | 57 | 7.8% |
Franklin | 35 | 30 | 5 | 16.7% |
George | 72 | 53 | 19 | 35.8% |
Greene | 88 | 70 | 18 | 25.7% |
Grenada | 355 | 195 | 160 | 82.1% |
Hancock | 120 | 103 | 17 | 16.5% |
Harrison | 688 | 464 | 224 | 48.3% |
Hinds | 2048 | 1,536 | 512 | 33.3% |
Holmes | 514 | 489 | 25 | 5.1% |
Humphreys | 115 | 93 | 22 | 23.7% |
Issaquena | 6 | – | 6 | |
Itawamba | 119 | 109 | 10 | 9.2% |
Jackson | 493 | 402 | 91 | 22.6% |
Jasper | 239 | 212 | 27 | 12.7% |
Jefferson | 83 | 63 | 20 | 31.7% |
Jefferson Davis | 102 | 90 | 12 | 13.3% |
Jones | 1033 | 928 | 105 | 11.3% |
Kemper | 172 | 168 | 4 | 2.4% |
Lafayette | 330 | 254 | 76 | 29.9% |
Lamar | 393 | 341 | 52 | 15.2% |
Lauderdale | 872 | 847 | 25 | 3.0% |
Lawrence | 149 | 129 | 20 | 15.5% |
Leake | 533 | 503 | 30 | 6.0% |
Lee | 460 | 374 | 86 | 23.0% |
Leflore | 455 | 420 | 35 | 8.3% |
Lincoln | 430 | 378 | 52 | 13.8% |
Lowndes | 438 | 384 | 54 | 14.1% |
Madison | 1181 | 995 | 186 | 18.7% |
Marion | 233 | 186 | 47 | 25.3% |
Marshall | 195 | 142 | 53 | 37.3% |
Monroe | 342 | 311 | 31 | 10.0% |
Montgomery | 112 | 104 | 8 | 7.7% |
Neshoba | 938 | 893 | 45 | 5.0% |
Newton | 329 | 323 | 6 | 1.9% |
Noxubee | 242 | 223 | 19 | 8.5% |
Oktibbeha | 477 | 420 | 57 | 13.6% |
Panola | 246 | 179 | 67 | 37.4% |
Pearl River | 237 | 226 | 11 | 4.9% |
Perry | 59 | 55 | 4 | 7.3% |
Pike | 347 | 278 | 69 | 24.8% |
Pontotoc | 203 | 128 | 75 | 58.6% |
Prentiss | 94 | 78 | 16 | 20.5% |
Quitman | 65 | 49 | 16 | 32.7% |
Rankin | 798 | 611 | 187 | 30.6% |
Scott | 733 | 700 | 33 | 4.7% |
Sharkey | 24 | 13 | 11 | 84.6% |
Simpson | 209 | 166 | 43 | 25.9% |
Smith | 203 | 187 | 16 | 8.6% |
Stone | 50 | 42 | 8 | 19.0% |
Sunflower | 247 | 155 | 92 | 59.4% |
Tallahatchie | 93 | 64 | 29 | 45.3% |
Tate | 242 | 182 | 60 | 33.0% |
Tippah | 119 | 106 | 13 | 12.3% |
Tishomingo | 61 | 52 | 9 | 17.3% |
Tunica | 88 | 76 | 12 | 15.8% |
Union | 166 | 128 | 38 | 29.7% |
Walthall | 168 | 133 | 35 | 26.3% |
Warren | 409 | 331 | 78 | 23.6% |
Washington | 427 | 302 | 125 | 41.4% |
Wayne | 509 | 434 | 75 | 17.3% |
Webster | 122 | 118 | 4 | 3.4% |
Wilkinson | 89 | 85 | 4 | 4.7% |
Winston | 230 | 178 | 52 | 29.2% |
Yalobusha | 151 | 132 | 19 | 14.4% |
Yazoo | 454 | 395 | 59 | 14.9% |
Total | 26567 | 22,287 | 4,280 | 19.2% |