The Governor has not extended the mask mandate as COVID-19 cases near 100,000 and deaths near 3,000.

On Friday, the Mississippi Department of Health released its latest statistics regarding the coronavirus pandemic following Gov. Tate Reeves not signing a new mask mandate on Tuesday when the previous one expired.

“It has been a great few weeks in our COVID numbers,” Reeves said during a live-stream address Tuesday. “That is a testament of what you the people have committed to and what you have been willing to do.”

In Lincoln County, the total number of cases stood at 1,136 with 53 deaths, 142 LTC outbreaks and 32 LTC deaths. This is an increase of 13 cases and one death since last reported Tuesday.

The total number of cases for the state was at 99,558, just less than 500 cases from breaking the 100,000 threshold.

The total death count was at 2,999, just one case away from breaking 3,000.

There were 672 new COVID-19 cases Friday, along with 20 new deaths. These deaths occurred in the following counties: Clarke, Coahoma, Covington, DeSoto, Harrison, Itawamba, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Marion, Pontotoc, Sunflower and Washington.

There were four additional COVID-19 related deaths found after investigating death certificates from Aug. 26 to Sept. 25. These were in the following counties: Covington, Itawamba, Marion and Newton.

As of Friday, there were 122 current long-term care facility outbreaks in Mississippi. An outbreak is when a single confirmed COVID-19 infection is found in an LTC facility resident or more than one infection is found in employees or staff in a 14-day period.

Hospitalizations are continuing to slowly drop, with 431 receiving treatment across the state. Out of that total, 181 patients are in intensive care and 102 are on ventilators. MSDH presumes 89,737 cases have recovered.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 823,185 tests have been conducted, with 728,519 tests for positive detection of the virus, 38,720 tests for antibodies and 55,946 tests for antigens.

Testing is still available at King’s Daughters Medical Center. The COVID screening site is located behind the Emergency Room and will be open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Traffic for this site should enter from Brookman Drive behind the hospital. This screening is for individuals 12 years of age and up. Call 601-835-9455 to make an appointment.