CHARLESTON — As cases of the coronavirus spike across the country and in West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he is seriously considering mandating face masks and covering in buildings.

“I am very seriously considering that at the beginning of next week we may very well have to go to mandatory masks in buildings other than your homes,” Justice said. “If you go out and into a building, you probably need to wear your mask.”

Speaking during his final coronavirus briefing before the start of the July 4 weekend, Justice said an executive order requiring face masks and face coverings in all buildings except for homes could come as soon as Monday.

“The thing that combats this disease and makes it powerless is when we restrict this disease from passing from one to another,” Justice said. “The way you stop this is masks – wearing your mask.”

Justice said he wanted to wait until Monday to consider issuing an executive order on masks to give state residents time to buy masks or make them, as well as collect more data on positive cases and testing.

“If that is such a horrible inconvenience in your life, please just think of what it will do to save us and keep us to be able to do the things we’re doing today in West Virginia,” Justice said. “For all practical purposes, we’re saving in a good way economically. Without any question our numbers are phenomenal.”

According to data from the Department of Health and Human Resources, West Virginia saw 74 positive cases on July 1, the biggest spike in cases since April when two days saw 73 cases each. The state tested 4,150 people on JMly 1, the third highest number of tests since the states started collecting data.

The state saw a total of 3,006 residents test positive, breaking the 3,000-mark the first two days of July. The number of active coronavirus cases, the number of people in self quarantine or hospitalized, was at 585 as of Thursday. Hospitalizations had gone up to 33 on June 26 but have come down to 23. Of that number, 10 cases are in intensive care unit beds, while five cases are on ventilators.

“If we don’t watch, we’re really going to have something to contend with here,” Justice said.