State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs is urging Mississippians to the limit the size of their Thanksgiving gatherings.

“Please keep Thanksgiving small, local and outdoors,” Dobbs tweeted on Sunday.

Mississippi reported a record number of new cases on Saturday: 1,972. In Lauderdale County, 88 new cases were reported on Saturday.

Doug Stephens, the City of Meridian’s public safety director, said the city has been seeing an uptick in COVID-19 numbers over the last several weeks.

He said one reason that could be contributing to the uptick in cases is that “people are getting tired of there being a pandemic.”

Gatherings during the fall like festivals and Halloween events could also be a contributing factor. He said that people gather during school extracurricular activities, too.

But Stephens emphasized we cannot know for sure if these factors are the reason for the increase in cases. Like Dobbs, Stephens encouraged people to use extreme caution during Thanksgiving gatherings.

“We can gather and not be in each other’s personal space,” he said, “and still have a good time and fellowship with each other, just to be careful.”

Dobbs said that the state is progressing to record hospitalization numbers.

Ashley Collins Roy, vice president of nursing for Rush Health Systems, said Rush has seen an increase in hospitalizations.

Rush Foundation Hospital reported a total of 16 confirmed COVID-19 patients as of Sunday. Three staffed beds were listed as available out of 159 at Rush. The hospital also reported four adult COVID-19 patients in the ICU; four of 34 ICU beds remained available.

Collins Roy said she is not worried about the hospital’s ability to handle the volume of COVID-19 patients.

She said that in some areas of the hospital, regular hospital beds can be converted into ICU beds. The hospital has plans in place about how to deal with different scenarios.

“So we have something kind of outlined and we’re not caught off guard,” she said.

Anderson Regional Medical Center reported a total of 25 confirmed COVID-19 patients as of Sunday and 29 staffed beds were listed as available out of 116 at the hospital. 

The hospital also reported two adult COVID-19 patients in its intensive care unit; 10 out of 29 ICU beds remained available.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Monday three new cases of COVID-19 in Lauderdale County and no additional deaths, bringing the county’s totals to 3,343 cases and 142 deaths.

The department reported 699 new cases and no additional deaths statewide. MSDH has reported 143,879 cases and 3,676 COVID-19 related deaths since it began tracking cases in March.

The department of health reported on Monday no new cases in Newton County; the county has had a total of 1,028 cases. No new deaths were reported; the county has had 29 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

In Kemper County, two new cases was reported; 408 cases have been reported since March. No new deaths were reported; 15 deaths have been reported since March.

Clarke County reported one new case, bringing the case total to 882. No new deaths were reported; the county has had 53 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

In Neshoba County, one new cases was reported, bringing the case total to 2,171. No new deaths were reported; 113 deaths have been reported since March.

The Department of Health presumes 121,637 people have recovered from COVID-19. The department also reported that there are 172 ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities.

On Nov. 16, Mayor Percy Bland extended the City of Meridian’s mask mandate until the end of the year.

Lauderdale County is on a list of 22 counties with additional COVID-19 safety measures. In the county, people must wear a mask when they are indoors and interacting with the public, but cannot social distance.

Indoor social gatherings in the county must be limited to 10 people, and outdoor social gatherings must be limited to 50.

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