Mississippi hit a new record in COVID-19 coronavirus patients hospitalized in the state Thursday as hospital leaders at the state’s biggest hospital begged citizens to take the pandemic seriously and follow precautionary guidelines.

The state reported 941 patients were hospitalized with either confirmed COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19. The state said 187 patients were in ICU beds and 104 required mechanical ventilation.

“We are begging and we are asking for the people in Mississippi to get on board with us and stop acting like everything is normal. It’s not,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodard, Vice Chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “We are in a pandemic. We are still in the middle of a storm. It’s not over.”

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported Thursday an additional 703 new COVID-19 coronavirus cases confirmed in the last 24 hours bringing the total cases to 33,591.

The state estimates more than 22,000 of those cases have fully recovered.

The state also reported 16 new deaths Thursday attributed to the virus bringing the total death toll to 1,204. Three of the deaths reported Thursday occurred between June 28 and July 8, but the reporting was delayed.

Mississippi’s 7-day average of new cases dropped slightly to 689 and the 14-day average of daily new cases dropped to 648.

Mississippi’s death toll from coronavirus includes 580 people from long-term care facilities, representing approximately 48.2 percent of all deaths.

Totals of all reported cases since March 11, including those in long-term care (LTC) facilities.

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total LTC Facility Cases	Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams	340	19	44	11
Alcorn	85	2	1	1
Amite	106	3	13	2
Attala	375	24	89	19
Benton	42	0	1	0
Bolivar	380	18	36	6
Calhoun	147	5	23	4
Carroll	173	11	45	9
Chickasaw	292	19	36	11
Choctaw	75	4	0	0
Claiborne	293	10	43	8
Clarke	214	25	19	9
Clay	255	11	2	1
Coahoma	215	6	0	0
Copiah	631	15	29	3
Covington	419	5	2	0
Desoto	1818	18	20	5
Forrest	939	43	95	29
Franklin	49	2	3	1
George	102	3	1	0
Greene	108	10	34	6
Grenada	535	7	43	4
Hancock	138	13	9	4
Harrison	1040	14	96	7
Hinds	2697	48	149	17
Holmes	573	41	98	20
Humphreys	159	10	18	6
Issaquena	10	1	0	0
Itawamba	141	8	34	7
Jackson	727	17	46	5
Jasper	267	6	1	0
Jefferson	117	3	0	0
Jefferson Davis	116	4	3	1
Jones	1173	49	157	34
Kemper	180	14	38	9
Lafayette	437	4	42	1
Lamar	502	7	3	2
Lauderdale	942	81	202	52
Lawrence	199	2	0	0
Leake	613	20	3	0
Lee	586	21	65	14
Leflore	522	56	173	41
Lincoln	509	35	111	26
Lowndes	526	13	25	6
Madison	1382	36	135	18
Marion	313	12	15	2
Marshall	269	3	6	0
Monroe	436	35	99	29
Montgomery	149	3	0	0
Neshoba	1022	74	102	27
Newton	357	10	7	1
Noxubee	275	8	15	3
Oktibbeha	568	28	130	18
Panola	399	6	2	1
Pearl River	276	32	50	12
Perry	76	4	0	0
Pike	470	20	41	10
Pontotoc	326	6	3	1
Prentiss	112	3	24	3
Quitman	89	1	0	0
Rankin	1035	15	33	0
Scott	792	15	14	2
Sharkey	42	0	1	0
Simpson	373	3	2	0
Smith	234	12	52	8
Stone	73	2	2	1
Sunflower	452	8	1	0
Tallahatchie	166	4	3	1
Tate	323	13	28	9
Tippah	144	11	0	0
Tishomingo	92	1	2	0
Tunica	119	3	12	2
Union	238	11	20	8
Walthall	226	7	2	1
Warren	553	20	39	9
Washington	643	10	13	1
Wayne	554	16	31	3
Webster	128	11	52	10
Wilkinson	95	9	5	2
Winston	287	11	34	8
Yalobusha	193	8	35	7
Yazoo	543	6	20	2
Total	33,591	1,204	2,882	580