COVID-19 Seems to be on Decline in Oxford; Mask Mandate Remains

By Alyssa Schnugg

News editor

alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

Oxford’s mask mandate remains in place for at least another two weeks.

The Oxford Board of Aldermen took no action in regard to the mask mandate during its regular meeting on Tuesday.

Emergency Management Coordinator Jimmy Allgood presented current numbers and data to the Board and Mayor Robyn Tannehill.

As of Tuesday, Lafayette County has had 8,164 cases of COVID-19 since March 2020 with 137 local deaths – six of those occurring in the last couple weeks.

The seven-day average of cases two weeks ago was 40.7 cases.

“Now we’re 30.29 cases,” Allgood said. “So we’re seeing a slight decrease like the state is, but we need more data before we can officially say this is a downward trend.”

As of Monday, 53 percent of Lafayette County residents have received at least the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccination and 48 percent have been fully vaccinated.

The city of Oxford and the Webb Family Medical Clinic will continue to hold free vaccination sites in Oxford on Fridays. This Friday, the sites will be CashSaver and next to City Hall, both from 12 to 5 p.m.

“We have vaccinated 300 people so far at the pop-up sites,” Tannehill said. “There will be a doctor present at each to answer questions and a Spanish translator.”

TrustCare Health will be using the former Oxford Park Commission office under the water tower to provide free COVID-19 testing and vaccinations on Sunday-Tuesday.

“We’re still working out details but one of those nights they will be staying open late,” Tannehill said.

Tannehill said she receives numbers daily from Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi and on Tuesday, there were 37 people in the hospital with COVID-19 and 11 people in the ICU.

“That is certainly down from where we’ve seen the numbers in the last few weeks,” she said.

She said Baptist’s administrator and CEO Bill Henning told her that over the past week, Baptist has seen a decline of patients admitted for COVID-19, but cautioned everyone to continue getting vaccinated, using masks and social distancing when possible.

On Monday, the Oxford School District reported no new cases of COVID-19 among teachers last week (Sept. 13-19) and a total of 12 cases among students with 32 students in quarantine last week.