Leflore County’s death count from COVID-19 is up to 53 with the addition Tuesday of two more victims of the respiratory disease.
One of the deaths had been reported previously by Golden Age nursing home. The other was added in Tuesday’s update by the Mississippi State Department of Health.
One of the victims died Sunday at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, according to Christine Hemphill, a hospital spokeswoman. The deceased was a woman in her 90s with multiple underlying health problems.
Both victims were listed as “other” in the racial breakdown.
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.
Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are particularly susceptible to bad outcomes from the virus. They account for 37, or 70%, of Leflore County’s deaths from COVID-19.
Leflore County has had 500 cases of the virus since the outbreak began in March. The county has the third-most deaths of the state’s 82 counties. Lauderdale County leads with 80, followed by Neshoba County with 73.
There were 957 new cases of COVID-19 and 44 deaths added to Mississippi’s totals Monday. Ten of those deaths, including one in Leflore County, had occurred between June 17-28, and the cause was later identified from the death certificate report.
The state has now recorded 32,214 cases of the virus and 1,158 deaths.
As of Tuesday morning, Greenwood Leflore Hospital was treating nine patients in its COVID-19 unit, according to Hemphill. Three were on ventilators to help them breathe.
Mississippi's COVID-19 deaths as of July 6, 2020
