Mississippi to name long-term care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks
Published 11:40 am Tuesday, June 2, 2020
- Mississippi hospitalizations due to COVID-19 through May 31.
State health officials announced Tuesday that they will release the names of long-term care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks, beginning Wednesday, on the recommendation of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
The names will be posted on the Mississippi State Department of Health website and updated daily, but will not include a breakdown of the number of cases associated with each facility, a news release said.
“Information requests for facility-specific data will have to be addressed at a later time,” the release stated. “The MSDH is not currently able to pull frontline epidemiological staff to perform such queries as they are focusing on contact tracing and case investigations.”
The Meridian Star and other news organizations have called on the health department to name long-term care facilities with outbreaks and provide case totals for each.
Last week, The Star filed a public records request for that information.
The health department said the request had been forwarded to its legal office.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs previously said that the state would not release the names of facilities with confirmed outbreaks to protect patient anonymity and to not stigmatize the nursing home facility.
A Hinds County judge ruled last week that the health department must respond to a public records request related to long-term care facilities by Hattiesburg Publishing Inc., which owns the Pine Belt News, the Associated Press reported.
MSDH reported four new cases of COVID-19 in Lauderdale County Tuesday, for a total of 745 and six additional deaths, for a total of 68.
Records show 200 of the people infected in the county and 45 of the people who died lived in long-term care facilities.
As of Tuesday, Anderson Regional Medical Center reported it was hospitalizing 24 people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Rush Foundation Hospital is not reporting daily COVID-19 hospitalizations.
MSDH reported 268 new cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi Tuesday, for a total of 16,020 and and 28 additional deaths, for a total of 767 deaths statewide.
Ten of the deaths occurred between May 6 and May 27 and were identified from death certificate reports, including three from Lauderdale County, MSDH said.
As of Monday, records show 455 Mississippians with COVID-19 were being hospitalized, an increase of 37 people from the day before.
As of Sunday, state health officials reported 11,203 people in the state were presumed recovered from the virus.
In Tuesday’s update, MSDH confirmed 154 cases and 19 deaths in Clarke County, 147 cases and 11 deaths in Kemper County, 707 cases and 42 deaths in Neshoba County and 282 cases and four deaths in Newton County.
Please check back for updates.
Totals of all reported cases since March 11, including those in long-term care (LTC) facilities.
| County | Total Cases | Total Deaths | Total LTC Facility Cases | Total LTC Facility Deaths |
| Adams | 200 | 15 | 43 | 8 |
| Alcorn | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Amite | 64 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| Attala | 303 | 18 | 80 | 15 |
| Benton | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bolivar | 165 | 11 | 17 | 4 |
| Calhoun | 67 | 4 | 23 | 4 |
| Carroll | 116 | 11 | 45 | 9 |
| Chickasaw | 137 | 14 | 34 | 9 |
| Choctaw | 47 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Claiborne | 112 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| Clarke | 154 | 19 | 19 | 8 |
| Clay | 115 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Coahoma | 127 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Copiah | 315 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Covington | 173 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Desoto | 553 | 8 | 19 | 3 |
| Forrest | 594 | 39 | 89 | 28 |
| Franklin | 29 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| George | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Greene | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Grenada | 99 | 3 | 14 | 2 |
| Hancock | 91 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
| Harrison | 263 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Hinds | 1035 | 26 | 82 | 13 |
| Holmes | 439 | 28 | 84 | 14 |
| Humphreys | 59 | 7 | 16 | 5 |
| Itawamba | 89 | 7 | 34 | 6 |
| Jackson | 308 | 13 | 40 | 4 |
| Jasper | 165 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Jefferson | 43 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jefferson Davis | 80 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Jones | 663 | 31 | 94 | 17 |
| Kemper | 147 | 11 | 32 | 7 |
| Lafayette | 141 | 4 | 39 | 1 |
| Lamar | 248 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Lauderdale | 745 | 68 | 200 | 45 |
| Lawrence | 105 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Leake | 447 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Lee | 165 | 7 | 22 | 1 |
| Leflore | 273 | 34 | 92 | 21 |
| Lincoln | 270 | 29 | 86 | 22 |
| Lowndes | 230 | 9 | 19 | 5 |
| Madison | 745 | 25 | 101 | 14 |
| Marion | 115 | 9 | 15 | 2 |
| Marshall | 81 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Monroe | 265 | 25 | 92 | 22 |
| Montgomery | 85 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Neshoba | 707 | 42 | 70 | 23 |
| Newton | 282 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Noxubee | 191 | 6 | 14 | 3 |
| Oktibbeha | 253 | 14 | 72 | 11 |
| Panola | 84 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Pearl River | 211 | 31 | 45 | 11 |
| Perry | 51 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Pike | 204 | 11 | 15 | 6 |
| Pontotoc | 43 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Prentiss | 51 | 3 | 22 | 3 |
| Quitman | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rankin | 446 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Scott | 661 | 12 | 13 | 2 |
| Sharkey | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Simpson | 102 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Smith | 153 | 11 | 42 | 7 |
| Stone | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sunflower | 85 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Tallahatchie | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tate | 89 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Tippah | 76 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Tishomingo | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Tunica | 56 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| Union | 85 | 7 | 20 | 6 |
| Walthall | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Warren | 181 | 10 | 37 | 7 |
| Washington | 191 | 7 | 8 | 1 |
| Wayne | 224 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Webster | 67 | 3 | 18 | 2 |
| Wilkinson | 85 | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| Winston | 121 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yalobusha | 96 | 6 | 26 | 6 |
| Yazoo | 286 | 4 | 11 | 2 |
| Total | 16,020 | 767 | 1,935 | 395 |
–Mississippi State Department of Health
