Last week, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was hoping Warren County would not be declared a hot spot by state health officials. Given the number of new cases that have been reported each day this week, Flaggs’ concern could be increasing.

Thursday, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced Warren County had 20 new COVID-19 cases, a one-day reporting record in the county. The previous one-day high had been 19, which was reported on May 10.

The new cases also pushed the number of estimated active cases in the county to 166, which is the highest level so far during the months-long pandemic.

Warren County did have 51 cases reported on June 22, but that number came after the state was unable to report daily numbers by county over the previous four days.

Over the past seven days, Warren County has announced an average of just over 13 new cases per day, which is the fastest pace during the pandemic which started in Warren County on March 29.

Overall, state health officials announced 870 new cases and 10 new virus-related deaths statewide on Thursday. Mississippi has now reported 28,770 cases during the pandemic and 1,092 deaths.

In Warren County, there have been 17 virus-related deaths, the last being reported on June 27.

Thursday’s report by the state also showed the number of patients hospitalized with confirmed infections (602) and patients hospitalized with suspected infections (261) reached pandemic-highs in Mississippi. The number of patients in intensive care units (167) and those on ventilators (94) also jumped Thursday.

Yazoo County on Thursday reported 278 cases with six virus-related deaths, while Claiborne County now reports 239 cases and 10 deaths. Sharkey County now has 27 confirmed cases. In Issaquena County, the number of cases grew to eight overall with one virus-related death.