Updated Coronavirus, COVID-19 Information

Last updated Friday, September 18.

This page will be frequently updated to reflect current information related to the coronavirus and COVID-19.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking aggressive steps to increase testing, stem transmission and create forward-thinking health care solutions that benefit patients and families.

The state’s only academic health sciences center is responding to the virus through innovations that include:

• An in-house COVID-19 test created by UMMC scientists and researchers working around the clock is vastly increasing the number of Mississippians identified as having the virus and speeding efforts to curb transmission.

• Working in tandem with state agencies, including the Mississippi State Department of Health, the Medical Center is testing residents statewide via drive-through collection sites. 

• Using basic supplies found at most hardware stores, a UMMC anesthesiologist engineered a respirator for use by COVID-19 patients whose conditions are most dire.

• Medical Center researchers are conducting clinical research and trials on how to treat the disease – as many as nine clinical studies meant for people with COVID-19 who are ill enough to require hospitalization or intensive care, not those who are asymptomatic or able to recover from the disease at home.

And, the Medical Center’s front-line staff is working tirelessly to care for those coping with the virus, at the same time doing what they do all day, every day: provide exemplary treatment for Mississippi’s sickest of the sick.

Mississippi currently has 92,342 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,792 deaths. Read more about COVID-19 cases in Mississippi.

Total number of COVID-19 tests by UMMC labs: 77,598 | Positive results: 9,398

Total number of antibody tests by UMMC labs: 1,441 | Positive results: 84