Mississippi’s high level of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases remained at high levels Wednesday as the state set a new 14-day, daily record.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Wednesday that 3,385 new coronavirus cases were found in the last 24 hours.

The additional cases reported Wednesday brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 420,174. In the last 14 days, 48,462 new cases have been found in the state. That’s more cases in two weeks than in all but three other months since the pandemic began in March 2020.

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)	76,669

The high number of cases so far in August means, statistically,  means more than 2.58 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 22 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 8,180.

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 Wednesday, 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 dropped to 3,397 on Wednesday.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 3,462 with Wednesday’s update.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County