New cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus continue to stack up new records while state hospital systems struggle to care for patients previously diagnosed who have become extremely ill.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Thursday that 4,807 new coronavirus cases were found in the last 24 hours, as the state reports new records in almost any category related to COVID-19

The additional cases reported Thursday brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 401,201. The total number of cases indicates approximately 13 percent of all Mississippians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.

Through Tuesday, Mississippi hospitals were caring for a record 1,633 positive COVID cases with another 56 suspected cases in state hospital beds. A record 486 people were in ICU beds with 319 on ventilators.

Mississippi has seen a steep rise in cases since early July.

Since the beginning of August, Mississippi has already reported more new cases than any month this year began except January.

Here’s how the monthly numbers break down for each month of 2021:

January ’21	59,185
February ’21	19,794
March ’21	10,351
April ’21	6,754
May ’21	5,931
June ’21	4,051
July ’21	21,741
August ’21 (MTD)	57,696

The high number of cases so far in August means, statistically,  means more than 1.9 out of every 100 Mississippi residents has contracted the virus this month.

MSDH reported 21 new deaths on Thursday, bringing the total death toll to 7,937.

Mississippi health leaders have said that a combination of a low overall vaccination rate among Mississippians along with a rapidly spreading Delta variant is causing the recent surge in cases.

“Mississippi, we have failed,” wrote Dr. Alan Jones Thursday morning on social media. Jones is the associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs at Mississippi’s large hospital, the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Jones’ post came along with a shared graphic that showed Mississippi now leads the world — not just the U.S. but the world — in the most new COVID cases per capita in the last week.

The recent spikes in cases and deaths have prompted more people to get vaccinated. More than 71,000 were vaccinated last week, up significantly from the low week in early July when less than 20,000 were vaccinated.

“Most of these folks that we’re losing could have made it if they had been vaccinated beforehand,” Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Wednesday.

Only 36 percent of the total population has been fully vaccinated, nearly the worst in the nation and well below the U.S. average of 50 percent.

For more detailed county-by-county vaccination results visit: https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/12130.pdf

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose to 3,582 on Thursday, another record high since the pandemic began.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases jumped to another new record to 3,225 with Thursday’s update.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County