Madison County third in state for COVID cases

Madison County remains one of 29 counties under a mandatory mask order from Gov. Tate Reeves until Monday.

Last week the Madison County School District pushed back its opening date to Sept. 3 with virtual learning until Sept. 14. This week, Canton Public Schools announced they were moving to an all-virtual platform for the fall. (See story, A3).

Meanwhile, some private schools in the metro plan to reopen with in-classroom learning in the coming weeks. Official start dates have yet to be released.

On Wednesday, 1,505 new cases and 20 new deaths were reported in the state. 

A new public health order that went into effect three weeks ago also limits elective procedures in hospitals in six counties — Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Jones, Forrest and Washington.

Madison County is third in the state with a total number of 2,167 cases, behind Hinds and De Soto. The total cases here has risen over 300 within the last week.

The state’s death rate, hospitalizations, ICU cases and ventilator usage has risen following a decline in early June.

As of Wednesday, Madison reported reported 50 deaths, up three from last week. There were also 168 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, with 23 of those resulting in death. 

The Mississippi Department of Health reported on Wednesday 982 current hospitalizations of COVID patients, up from 536 on June 24. There were another 296 patients with suspected infection. There were 229 people admitted in ICUs across the state and 178 who were on ventilators.