Leflore County’s one-day spike of COVID-19 cases this week was real, say state health officials.
What caused it, though, is uncertain.
The Mississippi State Department of Health said it was not aware of any specific outbreak that resulted in the 148-case jump reported Wednesday. It was likely a sudden explosion in communitywide transmission, said Tammy Yates, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health.
The 15% jump in infections was more than twelvefold higher than what the county had been experiencing. On Thursday, the rate was back to normal, with 13 cases added.
As of Tuesday, Leflore County had the 38th highest rate of infection of Mississippi’s 82 counties, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute. For the previous seven days, the county had averaged 2.69 new cases of COVID-19 daily per 10,000 population. The ranking should jump up, though, when Wednesday’s numbers kick into the calculation.
