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The United States reported more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day on Wednesday for the first time, with the rise in deaths following a record increase in cases and hospitalizations across the country over the past month.
States attributed 3,054 additional deaths to coronavirus, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project on Wednesday, a count that exceeds the overall toll of 2,977 dead of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The latest daily figure eclipsed the 2,752 deaths recorded on May 7, when states in the northeastern United States, including New York and New Jersey, were hit hardest at the start of the pandemic. The national death toll now stands at 280,454, the highest in the world by far.
Deaths tend to lag behind cases and hospitalizations, and the latter two metrics have repeatedly set new highs in recent weeks. These trends have prompted public health officials to ask Americans to stay at home during the holiday season and state leaders to reimpose restrictions on businesses and social gatherings.
Hospitalizations hit a record 106,688 on Wednesday, after surpassing its previous summer high a month ago. States have reported 209,822 new cases of coronavirus, below the one-day high of 224,831 set last Friday, and bringing the number of confirmed infections in the past week to 1.43 million, according to a Financial Times analysis data from the Covid Tracking Project.
Latest figures arrive on the eve of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting who will discuss whether to recommend Pfizer / BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization in the United States.
Thanks to better treatments and knowledge about the coronavirus, death rates are generally lower than in the early stages of the pandemic. But unlike spring and summer, when specific regions of the United States have been affected, the latest surge affects large areas of the country at the same time, which could overwhelm hospital resources and ultimately the disease. the ability of health care workers to save lives.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf revealed on Wednesday that he had tested positive for Covid-19, prompting him to reiterate his call for residents to wear masks, stay home as much as possible and practice physical distancing.
The governor’s announcement came just hours after the state’s health department attributed another 220 deaths to the coronavirus, the largest single-day tally since May. Less than a week ago, Mr Wolf warned that hospitals in Pennsylvania could run out of intensive care unit beds by mid-December.
Texas reported the highest daily death toll among U.S. states on Wednesday, with the 273 deaths marking the highest number in one day since mid-August. Illinois recorded 229 more deaths, among the largest on record and down from Wednesday’s high of 266 last week.
California has revealed 196 more deaths, slightly below Saturday’s high of 209 in four months. However, the most populous US state reported a record 30,851 new coronavirus infections and a new record for hospitalizations of 11,965 patients.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that stay-at-home orders would be imposed on large areas of the state if their beds in intensive care units were 85% full.
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