First confirmed coronavirus case in Benton County

The MSDH has confirmed the first case of COVID19 in Benton County. This comes as all surrounding counties have reported multiple cases.

There were over 100 new cases in the state on Thursday, bringing the total to nearly 500 statewide.

Below is the numbers from MSDH:

County	Cases	Deaths
Adams	3
Attala	7
Benton	1
Bolivar	6
Calhoun	3
Chickasaw	7
Choctaw	4
Clay	1
Coahoma	17
Copiah	8
Desoto	49
Forrest	16
Franklin	2
George	1
Grenada	2
Hancock	6	1
Harrison	31
Hinds	43
Holmes	7	1
Humphreys	1
Itawamba	3
Jackson	16
Jones	1
Lafayette	10
Lamar	4
Lauderdale	3
Lawrence	5
Leake	4
Lee	15
Leflore	13
Lincoln	6
Lowndes	8
Madison	21
Marion	1
Marshall	7
Monroe	3
Montgomery	4
Newton	1
Noxubee	1
Oktibbeha	10
Panola	4
Pearl River	16
Perry	1
Pike	12
Pontotoc	3
Prentiss	1
Quitman	2
Rankin	23
Scott	4
Simpson	1
Smith	1
Sunflower	4
Tallahatchie	2
Tate	6
Tippah	14
Tunica	5	1
Union	2
Walthall	4
Washington	9
Webster	2	1
Wilkinson	8	1
Winston	3
Yalobusha	3
Yazoo	4
Total	485	5

The Mississippi State Department of Health is aggressively responding to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation. With other state agencies, it has activated emergency operations in order to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Mississippi.

Other steps that MSDH is taking include:

• Surveillance: Increasing surveillance (monitoring) activities to identify cases of COVID-19 as quickly as possible and to limit person-to-person transmission.
• Testing: Making COVID-19 testing available for healthcare providers through the MSDH Public Health Laboratory.
• Planning: Working directly with hospitals and healthcare providers across the state to plan for possible cases of COVID-19, preparing them to identify and safely treat cases.
• Readiness: Assessing statewide hospital capacities, ensuring the capacity of the MSDH Public Health Laboratory for COVID-19 testing, and informing all Mississippi healthcare providers about procedures for identifying and testing for coronavirus cases.
• Information: Providing guidance to business, education and other entities on how to respond to the possible spread of COVID-19 in the community.