WATER VALLEY – After weeks with very little Covid-19 activity in the county, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) reported 43 positive cases during the most recent week-long reporting period. Data from the state agency showed the number of cases in Yalobusha County jumped from 4,114 to 4,157 from May 9 to May 15. Prior to the latest recording period, the weekly Covid-19 case count ranged from as few as three in mid-March to 13 positive cases in late April, with an average of five cases per week.
MSDH first started tracking Covid-19 cases in March, 2020, more than two years ago. The agency reports the number of deaths in the county attributed to Covid is 57, with the last death reported in the agency’s weekly data release on March 27.
Health officials report that a new subvariant of the Omicrom strain has overtaken earlier variations and is likely to become the most viral variant in the United States. Labeled BA.2.12.1, the variant has been linked to 43 percent of total Covid-19 cases in the country, which is a major jump from the seven percent it was accounting for in early April.
