COVID-19 cases confirmed at North Mississippi Regional Center

Published 10:49 am Monday, April 20, 2020

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported the first COVID-19 outbreak at a Lafayette County long-term care facility last week.

On Monday, an outbreak was confirmed at the North Mississippi Regional Center’s Oxford facility. On Sunday, Lafayette County reported its highest single-day number of new COVID-19 cases with 24, which county officials stated was due to the LTC outbreak.

“North Mississippi Regional Center can confirm that both employees and individuals served by NMRC have tested positive for COVID-19,” a statement provided by NMRC to the EAGLE read.

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An exact number of employees and clients who have tested positive was not provided by NMRC in their statement and a follow-up request for that information was not answered at the time of publication.

NMRC and other north Mississippi LTC facilities began suspending outside visitors on March 9 as a precautionary measure and a recommendation by MSDH.

The statement also said NMRC is following Centers for Disease Control and MSDH guidelines regarding quarantine and isolation of those who have tested positive. Families of the NMRC clients who have COVID-19 have been notified once their loved ones are confirmed to have the coronavirus, per NMRC’s statement.

“Clients are regularly screened for symptoms and DMH (department of mental health) programs have established isolation areas for if a client tests positive,” the statement continued.

As of Sunday, Lafayette County had 64 presumptive COVID-19 cases and three deaths.