The state’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stands at 887. This is also a record. The state’s previous record has been broken by the seven-day average in four of the five most recent days. Thursday’s report is the first consecutive day in which the state reports more than 1,000 cases per day. This brings the total state cases to 40,000 since March. Since March, the state’s total cases have nearly doubled in number, increasing by 97 percent. MSDH’s “illness onset data” tracks the days that patients report feeling symptoms. The agency’s website showed that 1,075 people had become sick on Wednesday, July 6, the Monday following the Fourth of July holiday. 694 is the next most common illness reported per day. According to Mississippi’s top medical officials, ICUs and hospitals are experiencing increasing stress. MSDH’s latest figures show that 855 hospitalizations were confirmed by COVID-19 on Wednesday. This is a 90% increase over the same time last month. The average seven-day number of confirmed hospitalizations has increased for 27 consecutive days. This is used to smooth out the variability in day-to-day life. The number of deaths per day reached 25 on July 6. Yesterday’s data shows that the seven-day average number of deaths has nearly doubled, from 9 per person in June to 16 per person on July 8. This measure’s record is 17 per daily, which was set in May. On July 11, the state’s positive rate, or the percentage of tests that come back positive, peaked at 20 percent. Although it has fallen to 15%, this number is still much higher than the June total._x000D