For the second day in a row, Mississippi hit another new record Friday in COVID-19 coronavirus patients hospitalized as the two-week average of new daily cases continued to climb to an all-time high.

The new hospitalization record came one day after state hospital leaders joined together to beg citizens to take the pandemic seriously and follow precautionary guidelines to avoid further pressure on the already stressed hospital system. The Mississippi State Health Department reported Thursday that five of the state’s biggest hospitals had no available ICU beds and several more hospitals were near-maximum capacity as well.

The state reported Friday 981 patients were hospitalized with either confirmed COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19. The state said 205 patients were in ICU beds and 103 required mechanical ventilation.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported Friday an additional 1,031 new COVID-19 coronavirus cases confirmed in the last 24 hours bringing the total cases to 34,622.

The state estimates more than 22,000 of those cases have fully recovered.

The state also reported 161 new deaths Friday attributed to the virus bringing the total death toll to 1,215.

Mississippi’s 7-day average of new cases rose to 705 and the 14-day average of daily new cases rose to 683, which was an all-time high.

Mississippi’s death toll from coronavirus includes 586 people from long-term care facilities, representing approximately 48.2 percent of all deaths.

Totals of all reported cases since March 11, including those in long-term care (LTC) facilities.

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total LTC Facility Cases	Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams	347	19	44	11
Alcorn	94	2	1	1
Amite	108	3	13	2
Attala	383	24	89	19
Benton	44	0	1	0
Bolivar	394	18	37	6
Calhoun	160	5	23	4
Carroll	174	11	45	9
Chickasaw	293	19	35	11
Choctaw	75	4	0	0
Claiborne	300	11	43	8
Clarke	217	25	19	9
Clay	256	11	2	1
Coahoma	219	6	1	0
Copiah	642	15	29	3
Covington	429	5	3	0
Desoto	1865	19	20	5
Forrest	972	43	95	29
Franklin	54	2	3	1
George	112	3	1	0
Greene	112	10	34	6
Grenada	569	8	43	5
Hancock	141	13	9	4
Harrison	1096	15	98	8
Hinds	2824	49	151	17
Holmes	579	41	98	20
Humphreys	161	10	18	6
Issaquena	10	1	0	0
Itawamba	145	8	34	7
Jackson	744	18	47	6
Jasper	271	6	1	0
Jefferson	122	3	0	0
Jefferson Davis	118	4	3	1
Jones	1185	49	157	34
Kemper	183	14	38	9
Lafayette	464	4	42	1
Lamar	522	7	3	2
Lauderdale	954	81	202	52
Lawrence	202	2	0	0
Leake	621	20	3	0
Lee	600	22	66	15
Leflore	528	56	173	41
Lincoln	519	35	114	26
Lowndes	536	13	25	6
Madison	1419	36	135	18
Marion	324	12	15	2
Marshall	276	3	6	0
Monroe	439	35	105	29
Montgomery	151	3	0	0
Neshoba	1039	76	104	29
Newton	367	10	7	1
Noxubee	277	8	15	3
Oktibbeha	589	28	132	18
Panola	432	6	2	1
Pearl River	281	32	50	12
Perry	79	4	0	0
Pike	488	20	41	10
Pontotoc	339	6	3	1
Prentiss	117	3	24	3
Quitman	97	1	0	0
Rankin	1063	15	53	0
Scott	809	15	14	2
Sharkey	47	0	1	0
Simpson	384	3	2	0
Smith	237	12	52	8
Stone	73	2	2	1
Sunflower	470	8	1	0
Tallahatchie	178	4	3	1
Tate	333	13	28	9
Tippah	144	11	0	0
Tishomingo	97	1	2	0
Tunica	121	3	12	2
Union	246	11	20	8
Walthall	249	7	2	1
Warren	577	20	39	9
Washington	700	10	13	1
Wayne	560	18	31	3
Webster	134	11	52	10
Wilkinson	96	9	5	2
Winston	296	11	38	8
Yalobusha	202	8	35	7
Yazoo	548	6	20	2
Total	34,622	1,215	2,927	586