Covid- 19 Case Decline

Coronavirus cases in Mississippi are in a steady decline.

Dr. James martin explains.

At one point, mississippi health officials were reporting well over a thousand new covid-19 cases a day.

But in recent weeks, the numbers have gone down.

Hospitalizations are also down, along with the number of people in i.c.u.'s.

Wcbi's bobby martinez talks with the chief medical officer at baptist golden triangle about the decline.

And he joins us live in the studio with more... that is right joey..

It was just last week numbers as low as 276 was reported by the mississippi state department of health..

And while there has been a steady decline... this doesn't mean the virus is fading away for good anytime soon... some positive news during some negative times..

Sot - james martin - chief medical officer - baptist memorial hospital "we have been seeing a pretty rapid decline statewide actually nationwide over the last several weeks."

You can see the trend on this mississippi state department of health graphic.

Just two weeks ago nearly a thousand confirmed covid-19 patiere in mississippi hospitals.

Now, that number has dropped by two hundred people.

The chart also shows fewer people in hospital i.c.u.'s across the state.

Baptist golden triangle chief medical officer dr. james martin says there are some improvements but there's still plenty of concern.

"this virus is here to stay" as we approach flu season, as more kids return to school and as more events start happening, the covid-19 numbers are expected to keep moving.

Sot - james martin - chief medical officer - baptist memorial hospital "we will continue to see little upticks here and there.

I do think it will continue to trend down.

But there will be times where you will have some positives here and there.

So we need to be cognoscente of the guidelines, continue to social distance when we can.

Wear our masks when we can not social distance."

Baptist golen triangle has 18 i.c.u.

Beds, where five covid-19 patients currently are receiving care.

The key here is there are several beds in critical care open, which hasn't been the case.

While baptist can expand its capabilities if needed, martin hopes people will do their part to keep hospital beds open.

Sot - james martin - chief medical officer - baptist memorial hospital "it is probably first nature to say hey we are better we can stop that.

We are getting past it we need to continue to do what we've been doing, stay the course let's move forward and we will have this beat in no time."

Matin is pleased with how the hospital has responded to the pandemic.

Sot - james martin - chief medical officer - baptist memorial hospital "there's a lot of things you read out there that are not accurate especially here in mississippi.

We are doing well we've had a lot of support.

Baptist is a big hospital and we've done real well as fighting this disease.

I think we will continue that our staffing those charts and numbers that i just showed you are updated every day on the mississippi state department of health website.

And here are some of the numbers to show those declines...