COVID-19 continues to hit hardest at long-term care facilities in Leflore County, with another death reported Monday.
But there’s also a hopeful sign that the pandemic may be easing, as those needing hospitalization in Greenwood are at their lowest point since the early days of the outbreak.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital had two patients in their 80s — a man and a woman — die May 26, according to Christine Hemphill, a hospital spokeswoman. One of the deaths was reported Saturday by the Mississippi State Department of Health, and the other on Monday. Both of the patients had underlying health problems, Hemphill said.
One of the patients was African American, the other white. Of the 32 deaths registered so far in the county, 30 of the dead were black, and two were white.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are particularly vulnerable.
Fifty-nine percent of those who have died from the respiratory disease in Leflore County had been residents of a long-term care facility. Statewide, these facilities represent more than half of all deaths.
As of Monday morning, three patients were being treated for the virus in Greenwood Leflore Hospital’s COVID-19 unit. One was on a ventilator to help the patient breathe.
That is the lowest census count of COVID-19 patients at the hospital since March, when the pandemic first reached Mississippi. At times in April, there were as many as 15 patients being treated in the 16-bed specially created unit.
Gary Marchand, the hospital’s interim CEO, said the trend for the past several weeks has been a decline in COVID-19 admissions except for infected patients coming from nursing homes.
Overall, there were 251 new cases and five new deaths added to Mississippi’s totals Monday.
The state has confirmed more than 15,700 cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began in March, and it has recorded 739 deaths.
Leflore County has the fourth-most deaths of the state’s 82 counties. Lauderdale County leads with 62, followed by Neshoba County with 39.
Mississippi's COVID-19 cases and deaths as of May 31, 2020
