Reeves stated that he expected tomorrow to place new counties within mask requirements, and suggested that statewide restrictions on bars might be in the works. He said that he was not trying to incite panic during a Thursday press conference. “We want to ensure there is a healthy respect in this state for this deadly disease.” There were times during this pandemic where fear was too much. The pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction. Mississippi, which set a single-day record of new cases last week, has now exceeded that mark three more times. The seven-day average now stands at 1,179 cases per hour, an increase of 71% in the past two weeks. The state health department has reported daily new cases exceeding 1,000 in seven days. Mississippi only had two such days between March and July 10. 11 and July 10. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer, said that today’s report included 982 new cases. “It’s quite shocking that that number seems so high.” Dobbs also stated that eight hospitals had reported no ICU vacancies. The seven-day COVID-19 hospitalizations average continues to rise. It has increased for 34 consecutive days and for 44 percent over the past two weeks. The rolling averages of ICU patients and ventilator patients have increased for 25 days and 18 days respectively. Dobbs stated Wednesday that forty percent of state’s ICU patients were coronavirus-infected. Dobbs stated, “That’s incredible, just one week ago we were at 30%.” Reeves, who added 10 counties Monday to the list of places subject to a mask mandate that expires Aug. 3, said so. The mask mandate covers 23 of the 82 counties in the state: Bolivar. Claiborne. DeSoto. DeSoto. Grenada. Harrison. Hinds. Humphreys. Jackson. Madison. Panola. Quitman. Rankin. Sharkey. Simpson. Sunflower. Tallahatchie. Tate. Walthall. Washington. Reeves gave an explanation of the criteria used to add counties to this list during a Wednesday press conference. The state uses two measures: Seven counties have passed the first but are not included in the mask mandate. They are Warren, Pontotoc and Lauderdale. Jones, Lee, Lee, and Lamar counties. According to today’s data, no county has passed the second measure. Reeves stated Thursday that he would expect an amended order and add counties tomorrow. The number of tests has increased to approximately 6,700 per day over the past week. However, the positivity rate has increased to an average 18 percent in the last week. This figure reached 20 percent in July 11. Click here to see daily case numbers, weekly updates, charts and maps.