The coronavirus in the United States continues to surge after hitting a record number of daily cases the day after the presidential election.
On Wednesday, the U.S. eclipsed 100,000 COVID-19 diagnoses, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The data showed there were 102,831 new infections Wednesday, an increase from the 91,530 cases that were reported on Election Day.
As cases continue to increase, so do hospitalizations. There were more than 50,000 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized Tuesday, the highest total since Aug. 7. The increase in hospitalizations corresponds with a surge in new cases, most noticeably in the Midwest and Southwest. Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week.
There has not been a noticeable spike in COVID-19 related deaths to correspond with the increase in diagnoses and hospitalizations. To date, more than 9.4 million coronavirus infections and over 233,000 deaths have been confirmed in the U.S.
The day before the election, President Trump’s coronavirus adviser Deborah Birx warned about the growing number of new COVID-19 cases. In an internal report, Birx, who is the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, urged “much more aggressive action” to combat the illness, according to the Washington Post.
“We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality,” she said in the Monday report, which was distributed among top administration officials. “This is not about lockdowns — It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.”
The report warned that cases were rapidly rising in almost 30% of all U.S. counties with half the country in “red or orange zones for cases despite flat or declining testing.”
