Mississippi again reported thousands of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases on Tuesday and more than 100 additional deaths, the state reported.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Tuesday that 3,291 new coronavirus cases were found in the last 24 hours.

The additional cases reported Tuesday brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 416,789.

The total number of cases indicates approximately 14 percent of all Mississippians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.

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 since the pandemic began in March 2020.

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)	73,284

The high number of cases so far in August means, statistically,  means nearly 2.5 out of every 100 Mississippi residents has contracted the virus this month. More Mississippians have contracted the virus so far in August than in the six months prior combined.

MSDH reported 111 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 8,158. Approximately 70 of the deaths reported Tuesday were discovered through death certificate analysis and dated from between June 25 and August 20.

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.

The recent spikes in cases and deaths have prompted more people to get vaccinated.

Through Monday, only 38 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 dipped slightly to 3,497 on Tuesday.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases dropped slightly to 3,446 with Tuesday’s update.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County