Lincoln County’s coronavirus cases topped 1,000 over the weekend while the state saw no new COVID-19 deaths.

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Department of Health released the latest coronavirus numbers. There were only 249 new cases statewide, with no new fatalities. This comes as a surprise since case numbers have reached into the thousands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New cases appeared to have dropped during the Labor Day weekend, with Saturday having 539, Sunday having 410 and Monday reporting 242 cases.

There are 150 long-term care facility outbreaks in Mississippi at this time. An outbreak is constituted as a single confirmed infection in a resident or more than one infection in employees or staff in a 14-day period.

In Lincoln County, there were 1,007 total cases recorded. This is an increase of 12 cases since last reported Friday.

There were no new deaths, with the total still standing at 52. The area currently has 134 long-term care facility outbreaks, with an increase of one case since last reported since Friday. There have been 31 LTC deaths.

Hospitalizations are still being reported by hospitals across the state, with 608 patients being hospitalized for COVID-19. There are 186 patients in intensive care due to the coronavirus and 111 are on ventilators.

There have been 86,478 total cases of the coronavirus in Mississippi, with 2,569 deaths. MSDH presumes 67,918 of those cases have recovered.

A total of 663,993 tests have been conducted to detect COVID-19, with 601,766 of those being for positive detection of the virus, 27,730 of those being for antibodies and 34,497 of those being for antigens.

School infections

MSDH is collecting COVID-19 data from public schools across the state since schools have started back. For a county, the schools included in its data are all public schools both inside and outside city limits.

In Lincoln County, there have been eight total COVID-19 positive students since the start of school. There have been no teachers or staff to test positive for the virus.

There have been 29 students and one teacher or staff member quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure from Aug. 24-28. There were two positive cases from Aug. 24-28.

Statewide, there have been 766 students and 482 teachers or staff test positive for the coronavirus since the start of school.

Local testing is available at King’s Daughters Medical Center. The COVID-19 screening site is located behind the Emergency Room and will be open to the public 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

This screening is for individuals 12 years and up. Call 601-835-9455 to make an appointment.