A Mississippi casino announced Wednesday that it would reinstate a face mask requirement in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus as cases in Mississippi are rapidly rising.

Mississippi’s Pearl River Resort and Bok Homa Casino will require all of its staff and its patrons to wear masks the casino announced.

Casino officials said the decision to reinstate the mandatory mask mandate would be temporary.

Mississippi health officials announced Wednesday that the state had recorded 961 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, driving the 7-day average of new cases to more than 700 cases.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians which own the resort and casino suffered greatly as COVID sickened and killed numerous members of the tribe