Mississippi’s averages of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases continued to creep higher Tuesday as the latest statistics show more Mississippians have died of the virus in August than any other month of the pandemic, and the month still has six days left.

Mississippi’s 7- and 14-day, daily average of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases rose for the third-straight day Tuesday with the latest statistics released by the Mississippi State Department of Health.

The state reported 801 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours. The state also reported 67 more deaths Tuesday from the prior day. Of the deaths reported Tuesday, the state said 23 occurred between July 1 and August 17.

Through Tuesday’s statistics, 655 deaths have been reported in August from COVID-19. Before Tuesday’s update July was the deadliest month on record for Mississippi with 593 reported deaths. Both monthly numbers are not exact due to delays in reporting that can cause deaths to be reported weeks after the person died.

In total, 79,206 cases have been found in the state since March. The state believes more than 62,000 of those cases have recovered.

A total of 2,315 people in Mississippi have died as a result of coronavirus, the state reported.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose to 857 with Tuesday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average rose to 780  cases per day.