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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

As of mid-day on March 15, 2020, Mississippi had 10 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with two of them in Hinds County. The State had tested 90 people total. Source: MSDH

The Mississippi State Department of Health added four new confirmed cases of the coronavirus to its website this morning—two of them in the Jackson metro area of Hinds County, and the other two in Copiah and Pearl River counties, where a case in each county had already been announced.

As of mid-day March 15, MSDH reports that 90 Mississippians have been tested with 10 positive cases resulting—or a total of 11% testing positive.

So far, details about the new cases are unknown. We will update this post as we know more.

Please see our COVID-19 archive for more information on testing, prevention, cancellations and other related information.

We also advise following the science-backed practices of “social distancing” and self-quarantine even if you do not have symptoms at this point. Experts tell us that people of all ages can spread the virus, even if you’re not symptomatic or ever get sick from it, and limiting social contact can help “flatten the curve” and reduce the number of cases and keep from overwhelming the health-care system.

Please stay home if at all possible and follow all precautions for the health of your family and the entire community.

We urge you to send coronavirus-related story tips, including your experiences trying to get tested and treated, to nick@jacksonfreepress.com (Jackson metro/Hinds County), ashton@jacksonfreepress.com (statewide) and all to donna@jacksonfreepress.com. We are working hard offsite to bring you as much information as possible, and we can use your help.

Be safe, folks. We’re here with you.

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Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.