With December just days away, the United States reported over 4 million cases of COVID-19 during the month of November alone.
The New York Times reported the milestone Saturday night, noting that more than 170,000 people test positive for the coronavirus on an average day. According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard, the U.S. has reported over 13 million cases and nearly 270,000 deaths.
The news came just days after the country celebrated Thanksgiving and thousands participated in Black Friday shopping.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed “going shopping in crowded stores just before, on, or after Thanksgiving” among its higher risk activities for contracting COVID-19. Instead, the CDC recommended online shopping.
Despite the warning, some stores saw large crowds gather as early as Thursday evening. A GameStop in Orlando, Florida, already had people lining up at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Similar crowds lined up at a Best Buy in Gurnee, Illinois, and a Walmart in New Jersey. Tysons Corner Center in Virginia also drew long lines before it opened Friday morning.
Democratic politicians across the country told people to refrain from congregating during the holiday season as the total number of coronavirus cases worldwide hit 60 million last week.
Several of those politicians have drawn scrutiny for making those requests and then disregarding them, including the mayor of Denver, who told residents to avoid travel and then took a flight to Texas to see family members.
