Mississippi health officials are ramping up testing for the coronavirus with one-day drive-thru testing sites across the state. MPB’s Alexandra Watts has more.
Leflore County was one of the first in the Mississippi Delta to have someone test positive for COVID-19 , and Warren County is one the most recent.
Today, both will have drive-thru testing sites for the coronavirus. Screenings will be done by appointment only---set up through the C Spire telehealth app. Those at risk will get approval to proceed with the test.
Leflore County, which had its first death from the virus on Monday, has 18 confirmed cases.
Christy Berry is the chief nurse with the Office of Emergency Planning and Response with the Mississippi State Department of Health.
"We’re trying to identify the people that have contracted the virus and we want to make sure that we do the contact investigations to determine anybody else that’s been exposed," Berry said.
A testing site is also set up in Warren County at the Pemberton Square Mall in Vicksburg.
Although Warren County is currently reporting only one case of the coronavirus, on Monday, the mayor of Vicksburg ordered all child care centers to close and is also ordering liquor stores, convenience stores and gas stations to have no more than ten people gather.
In a Facebook Live conversation this weekend with Governor Tate Reeves, state health officer Doctor Thomas Dobbs said the state is ramping up testing to help stop the virus from spreading.
"Have our efforts slowed it down? Yes. But if we don’t do a lot more right now, I think it could be pretty bad. But I also think that we have an opportunity to sort of start bending the curve down through our proactive measures so we don’t get to an Armageddon scenario that people see in Italy and other places."
Other areas of the state will also have testing throughout the week.