The Lowndes and Oktibbeha county coroners confirmed three deaths from the COVID-19 coronavirus Thursday, bringing the death toll in the Golden Triangle up to four.
A man at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle died of COVID-19 Thursday morning, marking Lowndes County’s first death from the virus. Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant did not identify the individual but said he was an “elderly” man. He did not immediately release further details.
Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt confirmed Thursday afternoon that two men at OCH Regional Medical Center were the second and third COVID-19 deaths in the county.
One man, age 62, died Wednesday night and had come to OCH from a long-term care facility, Hunt said. The second man was 63 years old and died Thursday morning.
Both men had underlying medical conditions. Hunt did not immediately release further details about either patient.
An 89-year-old woman died at OCH on April 5 and was the first COVID-19 death in both Oktibbeha County and the Golden Triangle.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced in a Facebook Live broadcast this morning he had extended the state’s shelter in place order until April 27.
“I have to extend the shelter in place order for seven more days, while taking some new steps to help Mississippians mentally and financially,” Reeves said. “We are easing the brakes on ‘non-essential’ businesses. I wanted to announce that we can all ease up and re-open today, but we can’t. We are still in the eye of the storm.”
The briefing was ongoing at press time.
Mississippi State Department of Health reported on its website Thursday morning that there have been 129 deaths from the virus statewide. However, those numbers are only through Wednesday night and did not include the Lowndes County or Oktibbeha County deaths.
MSDH reported there are at least 3,624 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mississippi, including 42 in Oktibbeha County, 30 in Lowndes County, 21 in Clay County and 18 in Noxubee County.
Nationwide, there have been more than 600,000 confirmed cases and nearly 30,000 deaths from the virus.
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