US notches grim record of over 152,000 new coronavirus cases in one day

The United States on Thursday recorded more than 152,000 coronavirus infections, surpassing a daily increase of 150,000 for the first time since the pandemic hit the country earlier this year, according to The New York Times.  

The grim record comes after the U.S. first reached 100,000 new cases in a single day last week. 

According to The Covid Tracking Project, the number of hospitalizations due to the virus hit a record of 67,096 on Thursday, making it the third straight day of record hospital numbers. 

The surge has led to shrinking bed spaces at hospitals across the country, with many worrying that locations might not be able to keep up with the demand for medical care. 

More than 1,000 total deaths have been recorded on average each day, according to the Times coronavirus database. 

The third wave that health experts warned would come in the fall and winter has appeared to hit the country, doing particular damage in the Midwest. 

The Times reported that cases are rising in 46 U.S. states, with no states experiencing decreases. Thirty-one states added more cases in the past week than in any previous week of the pandemic, and at least 10 states, including Vermont, Utah and Oregon, hit single-day increase records on Thursday. 

Pennsylvania, Indiana and Minnesota all exceeded their previous single-day records on Thursday by more than 1,000 cases. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) took to Twitter on Thursday to share data from the state’s Department of Health, writing “we are currently at our highest point for both hospitalized and ICU patients since the beginning of the pandemic.”

DeWine’s comments come a day after the governor reissued a statewide mask mandate, and said in an address to residents that Ohio hospitals could be overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases in “just a few short weeks.”

On Thursday, other state and local governments issued or raised the possibility of imposing new restrictions on activities and social gatherings in the state to curb any further increases in cases. 

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) announced a 30-day stay-at-home order set to take effect Monday, in addition to a 10-person limit to meetings and social gatherings, both inside and outside. 

Lightfoot also urged residents to only leave their homes for essential activities, to not gather with anyone outside a person’s immediate household and to cancel traditional Thanksgiving gatherings. 

Detroit’s public school system also announced Thursday that it would be moving completely to online remote learning until January, while New York City, the country’s largest school system, is considering banning all in-person instruction by Thanksgiving, according to city officials who spoke to the Times.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called on Americans on Thursday to double down on health precautions like wearing a mask and social distancing. 

Fauci, during an appearance on “Good Morning America,” said, “What we need to do is what we’ve been talking about for some time now, but really doubling down on it. There are certain fundamental, baseline things that you can do: universal and uniform wearing of masks; avoiding crowded, congregate situations; keeping physical distance.”

“Even though the weather is in the season of cool weather, try as best as possible to do things outdoors, preferentially over indoors, and wash your hands as frequently as you can,” he continued. 

“If we could just hang in there, do the public health measures that we’re talking about, we’re going to get this under control, I promise you,” Fauci added.