Since January 4, the Mississippi Department of Health is reporting that the number of COVID patients in Mississippi hospitals has dropped dramatically.
From a high of 1,444 to today’s number of 690, total hospitalizations of COVID patients in the state has decreased by over 52% in the last 5 weeks.
That trend is not isolated. COVID patients in ICU beds has been reduced by 46% in that similar period. Patients on ventilators has declined by 45% from recent highs.
On Tuesday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves tweeted that more Mississippians have received a COVID vaccine than those who have tested positive, “a historic milestone and turning point in this fight.”
Today, we will officially have more Mississippians who have received a COVID vaccine than those who have tested positive—a historic milestone and turning point in this fight.
I’m in Hattiesburg to thank our National Guardsmen who have made that possible: https://t.co/z5D1b19f6I
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 9, 2021
According to the latest data from the Mississippi Department of Health, some 283,000 positive COVID-19 tests have been confirmed in Mississippi since the beginning of the pandemic reporting.
MSDH is reporting that 6,367 Mississippians have died of the virus while an estimated 253,000 are presumed to have recovered. This means that as of this reporting roughly 24,000 Mississippians, or 0.8% of the state’s population, currently have COVID-19 in the state per the testing data.
Governor Reeves noted in his social media comments that some 350,000 COVID vaccines have been administered to date, with over 400,000 expected by week’s end.