The Mississippi State Department of Health is expected to announce Monday or Tuesday that Panola Medical Center will be an official testing site for the state. Chris Ware at Panola Medical said the hospital performed just one test for coronavirus today, and also received results from two tests performed last week – both were negative.

Panola Medical officials will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Monday with the City of Batesville aldermen and the Panola County supervisors. Emergency Operations Director Daniel Cole said there were no updates to report in the efforts to keep county officials prepared for any outbreak of illness requiring hospitalizations.

Also tomorrow, city and county officials will have the opportunity to discuss the effectiveness of resolutions passed last week that limit access to city and county buildings, including the Batesville Courthouse and City Hall, and set restrictions of how restaurants may serve prepared food. Limits on the number of patrons allowed in local businesses at one time are also in place and are expected to also be revisited.

On Sunday, several cities  made moves to tighten restrictions already placed on businesses in their municipalities. Both Vicksburg and Tupelo enacted Shelter at Home resolutions and the City of Oxford adopted a Stay at Home measure about 6:30 p.m. The Stay at Home resolution is not as restrictive as the Shelter at Home, but for the next 15 days all non-essential business functions will be closed to the public.

Both South Panola and North Panola Schools will begin tomorrow attempting to reach its student body with take-home schoolwork (for younger grades) and online learning options for older students. North Delta School has also announced its plans for students and those families will begin their outside academic regimen tomorrow.

Here is a list of the testing site around the state that were approved today. Panola Medical should be on the list by Tuesday.

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) will now be keeping an active list of local

 COVID-19 testing sites throughout the state.

 The list has been provided to MSDH from local county emergency management agencies and local providers. It will be updated daily when positive cases are updated on the MSDH website (usually mid-morning).

 

Residents are asked to call the facility before coming in for possible testing as procedures will differ from site to site. A fever of 100.4 AND severe cough or chest pain is required to receive testing.

 

The list of facilities that will be testing starting on Monday is as follows:

Forrest General Hospital – Hattiesburg

Hattiesburg Clinic – Hattiesburg

Gulfport Memorial Hospital – Gulfport

St. Dominic Hospital – Jackson

Itawamba/Med Plus Urgent Care – Fulton

Lee/Med Plus Urgent Care – Tupelo

Memorial Drinkwater Internal Medicine Walk-In Clinic – Bay St. Louis

Memorial Long Beach Walk-In Clinic – Long Beach

Memorial Physician Walk-In Clinics – Walmart – Biloxi

Memorial Primary Care Cedar Lake – Biloxi

Memorial Stone County Medical Center – Wiggins

Memorial Surgery Center of Ocean Springs – Ocean Springs

Neshoba General Hospital – Philadelphia

North Mississippi Medical Center – Tupelo

Singing River Health System Clinics – Ocean Springs

Singing River Health System Clinics – Pascagoula

Singing River Health System Clinics – Hurley

Singing River Health System Clinics – Vancleave

Singing River Health System Clinics – Woolmarket

 

The following was posted by The Panolian’s sister newspaper in Lafayette County about 30 minutes ago.

From Jake Thompson at the Oxford Eagle:

After Lafayette County announced four new presumptive COVID-19 cases since Thursday, the City of Oxford met on Sunday to take additional measures in an effort to limit further spread of the virus.

The Board of Aldermen approved a “Stay at Home” resolution, declaring additional measures for the control of contagious and infectious diseases and for the protection of public health and welfare against COVID-19.

For at least the next 15 days, all non-essential businesses and business functions shall be closed to the public. Non-essential businesses include: bowling alleys, theaters, recreational facilities, tattoo parlors, barbershops, hair/beauty/nail/tanning salons, spas, gyms, convention centers, community centers and parks — except for walking trails, shopping centers, retail stores.

Retail stores that can provide and utilize curbside service will not be forced to close under the approved resolution.

The first section of the resolution also requires municipally owned convention spaces, community centers, and parks (except for walking trails) be closed to the public through at least April 6.

On Thursday, Lafayette County announced its first case of COVID-19, and during the next 48 hours received confirmation of four more cases, bringing the current total to five as of Sunday. Mississippi currently has 207 confirmed cases out of 1,321.