Courtesy MSDH.

Good news is now part of the State of Mississippi’s daily reports on COVID-19 cases and deaths. As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, 3,413 patients known to be infected with the novel coronavirus had recovered, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported today.

Mississippi also saw 246 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths on Wednesday for a total of 6,815 confirmed cases and 261 deaths—meaning that roughly half of Mississippians reported with COVID-19 have recovered.

As of April 29, 52% of Mississippians infected with COVID-19 were African American, while 33% were white. Almost 10% were “Other,” which includes Asian, Hispanic and American Indian cases. For people who died from the virus, 57% were African American, while almost 42% were white, with fewer than 1% categorized as “Other.”

The State of Mississippi had delivered 860,000 masks, 1,200 gallons of hand sanitizer and more than 1,000 containers of hand wipes to the 82 counties of Mississippi as of Tuesday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced during Wednesday’s press briefing.

The governor shared his Wednesday press conference with U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith. Wicker called for “a huge expansion of testing” in his remarks, but without taking questions. “We need to be able to test Americans on a large scale so that we can isolate those who are infected and the rest of us can return to work safely,” Wicker said.

Hyde-Smith shared her concern for rural health-care workers. “They're afraid for themselves, they're afraid for their families and,” Hyde-Smith said.

Mississippi’s junior senator, who also did not take questions, praised Mississippi hospitals and health-care staff. “You know, to look at the University (of Mississippi) Medical Center. They came up with their own ventilator. … Mississippians, as usual, have done a fantastic job at heeding the advice of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), of not looking for government for absolutely everything, but helping themselves and helping our state,” Hyde-Smith said.

‘We're not depending on government for everything. We're stepping up and using the resources we have to handle this as well,” she added.

Read the JFP’s coverage of COVID-19 at jacksonfreepress.com/covid19. Get more details on preventive measures here. Email state intern Julian Mills at [email protected].