Mississippi’s COVID-19 coronavirus death toll for December continued to churn higher Saturday as the state’s healthcare system strained to handle the growing number of ill patients.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 1,700 new cases on Saturday. The latest numbers bring the total cases since the pandemic began in March to 192,111.

Approximately 38,841 new cases have been confirmed in December, which is now the month with the highest number of new cases since the pandemic began in March. The high case load is an ominous sign for health care workers and hospital administrators already struggling with capacity problems.

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)	38,841

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 148,466 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.

Through Friday’s statistics, the state reported 1,226 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized with another 93 suspected, but not confirmed by test yet COVID patients also hospitalized. The state reported that across the state 92 percent of all ICU bed were filled with approximately 39 percent filled with confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs wrote Friday on social media that the rising numbers of cases combined with the already high hospitalization are a bad combination.

“Be ready. January will be rough,” Dobbs wrote on Twitter. “We can mitigate if we restrain our holiday events, but likely to be extremely difficult regardless.”

The state reported 36 new deaths Saturday. A total of 4,390 Mississippians have died from the virus, the state reported.

The average number of deaths reported per day during December is currently averaging 30.7, for a total of 583 so far during the month, making December already the third deadliest month on record. The deadliest month on record was August when the state reported 813 deaths. The second deadliest was July with 593 reported deaths.

If December’s pace of new cases and deaths continues evenly through the remainder of the month, the state may see as many as 60,000 cases or more, nearly double any prior month, and as many as 900 deaths.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dropped to 2,023 with Saturday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases dipped to 2,047 on Saturday.