This past week Mississippi’s state health department has reported the lowest daily case totals of COVID-19 in about a month, but the state’s test positivity rate remains one of the highest in the nation.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases reached 847 on Wednesday, its lowest point since July 15. However, as testing numbers mirrored a similar decrease since the start of August, Mississippi’s weekly positivity rate — the number of new cases divided by the number of new tests, over a week’s span — has remained roughly the same over the last two weeks, at around 20%.

Hospitalizations from the disease have slowed, as the seven-day rolling average has decreased for ten straight days, although patients in ICUs and using ventilators have increased in recent days.

As of Monday, Mississippi ranked third in new cases per capita, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute’s tracker.

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Mississippi’s COVID-19 cases fall in last week, but positivity rate remains high

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
August 12, 2020

<h1>Mississippi’s COVID-19 cases fall in last week, but positivity rate remains high</h1> <p class="byline">by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today <br />August 12, 2020</p> <p>This past week Mississippi’s state health department has reported the lowest daily case totals of COVID-19 <a href="https://mississippitoday.org/2020/05/21/covid-19-data-new-cases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in about a month</a>, but the state’s test positivity rate remains one of the highest in the nation.</p> <p>The seven-day rolling average for new cases reached 847 on Wednesday, its lowest point since July 15. However, as testing numbers mirrored a similar decrease since the start of August, Mississippi’s weekly positivity rate — the number of new cases divided by the number of new tests, over a week’s span — has remained roughly the same over the last two weeks, at around 20%.</p> <div id="viz1597262684824" class="tableauPlaceholder" style="position: relative"><object></object></div> <p> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1597262684824'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth &gt; 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='800px';vizElement.style.height='627px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth &gt; 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='800px';vizElement.style.height='627px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='727px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </p> <p>Hospitalizations from the disease have slowed, as the seven-day rolling average has decreased for ten straight days, although patients in ICUs and using ventilators have increased in recent days.</p> <p>As of Monday, Mississippi ranked third in new cases per capita, according to the <a href="https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Harvard Global Health Institute’s tracker</a>.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2020/08/12/mississippis-covid-19-cases-fall-in-last-week-but-positivity-rate-remains-high/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=739648" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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