Mississippi surpasses 10,000 coronavirus-related deaths

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The state of Mississippi has surpassed 10,000 coronavirus-related deaths, health officials reported Monday.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported that 10,024 people have died of COVID-19 or its complications in the state, which has a population of around 3 million.

The state reported its first coronavirus-related death — a man between the ages of 60 and 65 in Hancock County — on March 19, 2020.

Around 70% of the people who have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic were at least 65 years old, according to department of health data. Around 39% were Black and around 57% were white. Close to 25% of all people who died had hypertension.

Nine of those dead from the virus were children and 15 were pregnant women.