Lafayette County has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases much like the rest of the state, and on Monday it learned exactly how much of an increase there has been.

The Mississippi State Department of Health released its first new daily county-by-county update of case numbers since last Wednesday. MSDH cited a “serious issue” with their Legacy software, which caused them to not report daily case updates for five days.

The newest update came on Monday when the MSDH reported 1,646 new cases from June 17 to as of 6 p.m. on June 21. On Tuesday, the MSDH reported 611 more new cases, raising Mississippi’s total to 22,287 cases since March 11. There were 40 new deaths reported on Monday and 11 more on Tuesday, bringing that total to 989 deaths.

Lafayette County reported 45 new cases during the five-day span and 15 more on Tuesday, bringing its total to 269 cases since March 19. According to data on the City of Oxford’s website, there were 85 active cases as of June 22. This marks the highest active case total since Lafayette County had 59 active cases in late April.

The numbers do not reflect the number of positive, and active, cases among University of Mississippi Students who are not permanent Lafayette County residents but are currently living in Oxford. On June 16, Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill reported at least 162 students had tested positive after being tested in four area Oxford urgent care clinics.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs stated the following day that Oxford was at the “front or mid-section” of a significant COVID-19 outbreak.

The Oxford Board of Aldermen decided to extend the City’s mask requirement through the month of June, and will discuss the issues during a budget hearing scheduled for next Monday, June 29.

As of June 21, there were 17,242 cases presumed to have recovered in Mississippi, according to MSDH. There are 485 Mississippians hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and another 225 hospitalized with suspected cases as of June 21. Of those hospitalized, 148 were in the Intensive Care Unit and 95 were on ventilators.