COVID-19 Cases Dip Slightly in Lafayette County; More Vaccines Available

With the number of new COVID-19 cases starting to dip in Lafayette County and in Mississippi, State Health Director Dr. Thomas Dobbs said people should continue to be responsible and safe.

“Over the past week, we’ve seen a decline in cases, which is fantastic news,” Dobbs said during a press conference recently. “But we do not need to use this as an opportunity to let our guard down. Just because we’re making progress, that doesn’t mean that we can quit doing those simple things that prevent transmission.”

Some health experts attribute the slowing down of new cases to the number of people receiving the vaccination.

Since Dec. 13, there have been 334,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccination given to Mississippi citizens with 62,690 having received their second shot and are now fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday, the Mississippi State Department of Health noted there were 1,536 vaccination appointments available at the Lafayette County National Guard Armory, located next to the Oxford Conference Center.

The MSHD also announced recently that 31 Walmarts in the state will be offering the vaccination beginning today, Feb. 9; however, the Oxford Walmart is not currently on the list.

Since March, there have been 5,574 cases and 109 deaths in Lafayette County, up 132 cases and four deaths from last Tuesday.

According to the MSDH, from Jan. 19- Feb. 1, Lafayette County had the 10th highest number of new cases – 432 – in the state with a 9 percent increase over the previous two weeks, which is less than the previous two weeks — Jan. 11-24, when Lafayette County had 509 new cases, with an 11 percent increase over the previous two weeks.

According to the Lafayette County School District, there were 14 news cases of COVID-19 – three staff members, one from “other” departments and 10 students – reported for the week of Feb. 1-7, which is down from 21 news cases the previous week.

The Oxford School District reported 21 new cases between Feb. 1-7, with three teachers/staff and 18 students testing positive, which is down one case from the previous week when the district had 21 new cases. There are 112 students in quarantine.

The University of Mississippi reported 29 new cases in the last seven days. Since March there have been 1,223 cases on campus.

According to the MSDH, there were 20 people at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi as of Sunday, with COVID-19. Of the hospital’s 181 staffed beds, there were 45 available. There were no patients in the ICU with COVID-19 on Sunday. Of the 24 total ICU beds, 11 were available on Friday.

Mississippi’s total of COVID-19 cases for the year now stands at 282,969 as of Tuesday and 6,342 deaths.