The daily number of cases jumped back up to the thousand mark as Mississippi lives without a state mask mandate.

On Friday, the Mississippi Department of Health released its latest COVID-19 numbers. There were 1,116 new cases and nine new deaths. These deaths took place in the following counties: Coahoma, Copiah, Harrison, Jackson, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lowndes and Wilkinson.

MSDH reported 1,322 new cases Thursday, and 12 new deaths. Tuesday and Wednesday numbers were 713 and 876, respectively.

In Lincoln County, the number of cases has reached 1,321 and the number of deaths has reached 54. This is an increase of 67 cases since last reported Tuesday, with no new deaths.

There were 152 LTC outbreaks and 32 LTC deaths in this area, with 128 LTC outbreaks statewide. 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.

While hospitalizations are up, patients in intensive care and on ventilators are down. There are 481 total patients hospitalized with the virus, with 138 in intensive care and 69 on ventilators.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 108,139 total cases and 3,152 total deaths statewide. MSDH presumes 94,165 are recovered.

The total number of COVID-19 tests conducted in Mississippi is inching closer to one million, with 941,532 tests being done. Out of that total, 827,497 have been for positive detection of the virus, 41,053 have been for detecting antibodies and 79,982 have been for detecting antigens.

Testing is available in Brookhaven 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.

Testing is also available for those without insurance, on Mondays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. outside the Lincoln County Health Department, 1212 Northpark Lane NE, Brookhaven. The Mississippi National Guard is in charge of performing these tests. Interested persons should call 601-496-7200 before arriving.

To find more testing facilities in the state, visit HealthyMS.com and click on “Getting Tested” in the blue menu on the left.