MSDH reports weekend COVID numbers, closes all testing sites as Ida moves in
Published 8:54 am Monday, August 30, 2021
This article has been updated as of 9:26 a.m. Monday, August 30.
On August 29, the Mississippi Department of Health announced all central and county offices, clinics and Women, Infants and Children centers will be closed due to Hurricane Ida today.
In addition, all COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites statewide will also be closed.
The MSDH reports 7,971 more cases of COVID-19, 82 deaths, and 171 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities within the state from August 27 to August 29. State totals have increased to 435,611 cases and 8,361 deaths.
Also, 1,154,329 persons have been fully vaccinated and 76 of those vaccinations were in Oxford due to the pop-up vaccination site overseen by Webb Family Medical Center at Larson’s CashSaver.
During the same period, Lafayette County gained 70 new COVID-19 cases and one death, bring the county totals to 7,433 cases, 130 deaths and 190 LTC facility outbreaks.
Portions of Tennessee and North Mississippi, including Lafayette County and surrounding counties are currently on flood watch until Tuesday evening. Widespread heavy rainfall associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida are expected to affect portions of the Mid-South through Tuesday as well.
Rainfall amounts of 2 to 6 inches with locally higher amounts are possible. Areas of flash flooding could result in road closures and may threaten some structures with inundation.
Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, made landfall on Sunday morning on the coast of Louisiana and caused incredible damage, leaving the entire city of New Orleans without power and reversing the flow of the Mississippi river.
Currently, 100,000 Mississippians are without power at 5 a.m. Monday morning after the storm has affected the southern region of the state and Louisiana.
The storm is expected to move over central Mississippi on Monday morning and north Mississippi on Monday evening.
Ida is the fifth-strongest storm to hit the mainland United States. Ida has now dropped to a Category 1 storm.