Mississippi again reported near-record numbers of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases on Friday morning with the 14-day average of new cases marking another record high for the sixth time in the last week.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,327 new cases on Friday. The latest numbers bring the total cases since the pandemic began in March to 175,282.

Nearly 28,000 new cases have been confirmed in the last 14 days. New cases confirmed in Mississippi during the last 14 days already eclipse every month of the pandemic except July and November.

Here’s a monthly new case breakdown:

Month	New cases
June	11,746
July	31,496
August	24,203
September	15,240
October	21,970
November	33,111
December (month to date)	22,012

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 136,627 have recovered and while many people who are infected with the virus may only have moderate or even no visible symptoms, others can get gravely ill and can die as a result.

The high number of cases, in turn, yields a high number of patients requiring hospitalization, health officials have said. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs wrote on social media Friday morning that approximately 9.8 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Mississippi have resulted in hospitalization.

Through Wednesday’s statistics, the state reported 1,166 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized with another 120 suspected, but not confirmed by test yet COVID patients also hospitalized.

Dobbs said the state would limit elective surgeries that require hospitalization starting next week in an effort to preserve available hospital beds.

The state reported 41 new deaths Friday. A total of 4,124 Mississippians have died from the virus, the state reported.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dropped slightly to 2,321 with Friday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 1,993 on Friday, breaking the previous record set the day prior.