New COVID-19 Cases Low But New Variants Found in Lafayette County

In the last week, Lafayette County reported 44 positive cases of COVID-19.

Two of the cases were caused by new variants of the virus – one from the 1.1.7 United Kingdom variant and one from the B.1.427 California variant.

Mississippi reported its first cases of the California strain on Friday.

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, there are 34 variant cases in the state as of Monday. Twenty-six of these cases from the United Kingdom variant that first showed up in Mississippi in mid-February.

Lafayette County reported two additional COVID-19-related deaths last week, bringing deaths to 116 in the past year. Since March 2020, Lafayette County has had 5,623 cases of COVID-19.

At the end of 2020, Lafayette County was seeing an average of 200+ new cases a week; however, new cases have been declining locally and in most Mississippi counties since vaccinations began in January.

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi reported on Sunday that only six COVID-19 patients were in regular hospital beds, and no COVID-19 patients were in the ICU.

As of Sunday, MSDH reports that 18,068 people in Lafayette County have received their first COVID-19 vaccination, and 10,642 residents are fully vaccinated, making up about 20%of Lafayette County’s total population.

Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi has reported 13 new cases in the past week, and there are only four cases currently active on campus.