BISMARCK, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Beginning Tuesday, November 10th, all counties in North Dakota will be moved into the “high risk” or Orange level for COVID-19.

The announcement came following Governor Doug Burgum’s latest briefing on Monday. The decision comes following the increasing numbers of COVID-19-related positives, infection rates and deaths, and the growing numbers in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and shrinking hospital capacity. The governor did not issue a statewide mask mandate, once again encouraging people to take responsibility and wear their masks, practice social distancing, wash your hands, get a flus hot and limit social gatherings.

Under the North Dakota Smart Restart protocols, higher risk levels result in shrinking occupancy rates, smaller crowd sizes and stricter safety guidelines. High Risk level limits places to 25% occupancy with a cap of 50 people, encourages businesses to require face coverings and limit family groups and party sizes to fewer than 10 people.

The North Dakota Department of Health Monday morning confirmed 1,160 new cases of COVID-19 in the state during testing November 8th, bringing the total positives since testing began to 55,458. The number of currently active COVID-19 cases stands at 10,865, up 302 cases.

A total of 1,906 hospitalizations have been reported since data tracking began. The health department reports 43,949 people are considered recovered from the 55,458 positive cases, an increase of 690 people from November 7th.