There is hope that Thursday’s COVID-19 report by the Mississippi State Department of Health is just an outlier — a blip on the radar screen — for Warren County and not the start of an upward trend.

Thursday, 18 new cases were reported in Warren County, bringing the total number of cases reported in the county during the pandemic to 1,402.

The cases Thursday mark the first time in three weeks since the county saw double-digit new cases. In fact, over the six days leading to Thursday, the county had seen a total of 18 new cases.

Even with the one-day spike in new cases, September continues to be a better month for the county in regards to new cases than any month since May. Through Thursday, the county has seen 88 cases in September. By comparison, there were 302 cases reported in the first 24 days of August.

As for the state, the health department announced 737 new cases and four virus-related deaths. Since the first case was reported in Mississippi on March 11, the state has reported 95,310 cases and 2,874 deaths.

Warren County has reported 50 virus-related deaths during the pandemic.