Mississippi reported thousands of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases and dozens of deaths over the weekend, the state reported Monday.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Monday that 7,249 new coronavirus cases were found over the weekend.

The additional cases reported Monday brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 413,498. 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)	69,993

The high number of cases so far in August means, statistically,  means more than 2.3 out of every 100 Mississippi residents has contracted the virus this month.

MSDH reported 56 new deaths on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 8,047.

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 37 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 3,502 on Monday.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose again to another new record to 3,460 with Monday’s update.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County