COVID cases rise by nearly 500

Madison Avenue Elementary School is now the only school in the Madison County School District yet to report a case of COVID-19, according to a report from the Mississippi Department of Health released on Tuesday.

Three weeks ago, there were six schools in the district that had reported zero cases. 

The MSDH report was for the week of Nov. 23-27. The report stated that school reporting was impacted by the Thanksgiving holiday break.

The schools with the largest number of cases to date are Germantown High School (35), Madison Middle School (22), and Ridgeland High School (19). 

Germantown Middle School and Madison Middle School also report the most positive cases amongst teachers and staff at nine each. Both schools transitioned to virtual learning in November after spikes in cases were attributed to off-campus social gatherings.

In Madison County, there have been 487 new cases identified since last week, with a total here of 5,120. There have been 107 deaths here attributed to the virus, up two from last week.

Madison County remains under a mandatory mask ordinance by Gov. Tate Reeves until Dec. 11.

On Wednesday, the MSDH identified 2,457 new cases of COVID-19 across the state with 15 new deaths.

COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state have risen from 669 on Nov. 10 to 1,057 on Nov. 30. Patients in the ICU are also nearing an all-time high at 250, as the number on ventilators also continues to rise. 

In total, 156,868 cases have been reported across the state with 7,702 deaths. 

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control released new quarantine guidelines. While the CDC continues to recommend a 14-day quarantine as the best route if exposed to the virus, they are now saying that an individual who does not show symptoms can reduce that time period to 10 days. An asymptomatic individual who tests negative can reduce quarantine down to seven days.