Sunflower County’s confirmed COVID-19 patients are on the rise, and some of the area’s long-term care facilities are experiencing their first cases.
As of Tuesday, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 420 positive tests in Sunflower County.
MSDH’s website reported eight deaths, but Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton said this week that the count is actually nine.
The state department of health also reported positive tests in three area long-term care facilities.
This is something that had been held in check since the virus was first reported here in March.
According to MSDH statistics as of Tuesday, there is one resident case reported at Ruleville Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and one employee tested positive at Walter B. Crook Nursing Facility in Ruleville and one tested positive at Indywood Personal Care Home in Indianola.
No deaths have been reported at this time from any of the county’s long-term care facilities related to COVID-19.
Henley Harrell, South Sunflower County Hospital’s Infections Disease Control Management Supervisor, said this week that wider testing and more movement among the population have been key drivers in the uptick of positive tests in the area.
“The way the virus is spreading hasn’t changed, I feel like the difference now versus a month or so ago is that we are testing exponentially more people now and people are moving about more,” Harrell said.
Harrell said that the hospitalization rate has increased at SSCH, but she said it is not entirely due to COVID-19.
“As far as COVID patients in house, those fluctuate week-by-week and sometimes day-by-day,” she said.
Harrell also said the hospital and Indianola Family Medical Clinic are seeing younger people test positive.
“I feel like because we have opened up our testing parameters, we are seeing people of all ages affected instead of just the high-risk age groups and those with chronic comorbidities,” she said. “I don’t know that this is necessarily a new finding, I just think we are testing more people, so the ages have been in a wide range.”
Burton said this week the county’s eighth fatality from the coronavirus was a female between the ages of 50 and 59, who had an underlying respiratory condition.
“The main thing I would say is that people of younger ages are not exempt from dying due to it,” Burton told The E-T. “It affects every person differently. Nationwide, we have seen all ages from infants to the elderly dying from it. Everyone needs to take the proper precautions when around others. It could mean the difference between life and death for some. Care enough for your fellow man to try to be protective.”
