Mississippi posts names of nursing homes with COVID-19 cases

A Hattiesburg nursing home has had the most COVID-19 deaths among long-term care facilities in Mississippi, according to newly released information from the state Health Department.

The department updated its website late Wednesday to show, for the first time, the names of the facilities where residents and employees have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The department said the long-term care facilities with at least 10 coronavirus deaths by Tuesday were:

— Bedford Care Center of Hattiesburg, 25 deaths.

— Choctaw Residential Center in Neshoba County, 20.

— Crystal Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Leflore County, 16.

— Diversicare of Meridian, 14.

— Diversicare of Amory, 14.

— Care Center of Laurel, 10.

— The Oaks Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Lauderdale County, 10.

Long-term care facilities have banned most visitors for the past several weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said Thursday that fighting community transmission of the virus is vital.

“To open up for visitors — Nursing homes must have no new resident cases for 28 days,” Dobbs wrote on Twitter. “The surrounding community must have declining cases.”

Dobbs has said the highly contagious virus is spreading at social gatherings, including funerals, parades and card games. He has implored people to follow safety guidelines such as wearing masks in public and maintaining social distancing.

The Health Department released the names of long-term care facilities after several news organizations sought the information and the Pine Belt News sued the department. A Hinds County chancery court judge ruled May 26 that the department must respond to a public records request from the newspaper and its parent company, Hattiesburg Publishing Inc.

The Health Department has been releasing many types of coronavirus statistics the past several weeks, but Dobbs had resisted releasing names of long-term care facilities where the virus had been found, saying he didn’t want to stigmatize the facilities and make it difficult for them to hire employees.

The Health Department said Thursday that Mississippi — with a population of about 3 million — has had at least 16,560 cases and 794 deaths from the coronavirus as of Wednesday evening. That was an increase of 238 cases and 12 deaths from the numbers reported a day earlier; the numbers include three deaths that occurred between April 26 and May 26 but were reported when the department received information from death certificates.

The number of coronavirus infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.

The department said Thursday that 192,362 coronavirus tests had been conducted in Mississippi as of Wednesday; 8,027 of those were blood tests that detect whether a person has antibodies that usually show up after an infection is resolved.