Mississippi’s battle against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus remains tenuous as the number of new cases continues to swell and is beginning to put pressure on the state’s hospitals.

Mississippi reported an above-average number of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases Wednesday. Over the past 14 days, 9,882 cases were detected in the state, up approximately 29 percent from two weeks ago.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 801 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total cases since the pandemic began in March to 112,123. Of those cases, the state believes approximately 97,675 have recovered.

Mississippi’s coronavirus caseload began rising over the last two weeks after Gov. Tate Reeves lifted a statewide face mask mandate at the beginning of October.

On Monday, Reeves announced an executive order requiring face masks and other virus mitigation measures in nine counties that have high numbers of new cases – DeSoto, Jackson, Lee, Forrest, Lamar, Itawamba, Neshoba, Claiborne and Chickasaw counties.

The number of patients with either confirmed COVID or suspected COVID has been steadily increasing since early October. Yesterday the state reported a total of 664 patients hospitalized. That number is far from the peaks seen in late July and early August when numbers were above 1,200, but the rise is concerning, medical experts say.

The state reported 21 new deaths Wednesday, all of which occurred between August 1 and October 19. A total of 3,223 people have died from the virus, the state reported.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dropped slightly to 758 with Wednesday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average increased to 706 cases per day.