Only two new cases of virus seen in past week

Franklin County’s number of coronavirus cases continues to decline, according to the data provided by the Mississippi Department of Health.

On Tuesday, March 8, the total number of cases in the county stood at 1,922 — up by only two from the previous week’s count.

Another death was added to the county’s list of total fatalities tied to the virus, bringing that number to 38.

Statewide, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases seen since the beginning of the pandemic in March, 2020 was 791,817.

Of that number, 12,171 people have died due to complications from the illness.

Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said new coronavirus cases reported across the Magnolia State are on their way down as well.

“We’re in a period where we’re seeing decreases in the overall number of cases,” he said.

“Although we’ve had a lot of deaths, we’re seeing steady declines in the number of reported deaths. We’re seeing other indicators, too, that are showing that we’re in a period where our COVID activity is decreasing.

“I anticipate those numbers will continue to drop for a while. We’ll see how low we get. I think we’re going to go into a period very similar to what we saw last year before we hit the Delta wave where we really saw some low numbers of cases and low numbers of deaths on a daily basis. We’re encouraged by that.”

While case numbers have diminished in recent weeks, Byers reminded residents that health officials do not know if another surge of infections will happen in the future, and suggested residents continue to take precautions against the illness.
“We’re in a period now where we have low cases, but I think it’s important for us to remember that we don’t know exactly what’s around the corner,” he said.

“I don’t think we’re ready to say that we’re in endemic (stage) yet, I think we need to really see what these next few weeks and months are going to roll out for us with COVID.”