US hits record high average daily COVID-19 cases

WASHINGTON - The United States hit a record high average daily COVID-19 cases of over 74,000 on Wednesday, setting a new high since the onset of the pandemic in the country, according to the data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated on Thursday.

The CDC has reported 81,599 new cases on Wednesday, the third time the number hit over 80,000 over the past week, the CDC data showed.

The 7-day average daily cases in the country have been on a rise since early September, surpassing 60,000 since Oct 22. The country is adding an average of 74,532 new COVID-19 cases to the national total as of Thursday.

Altogether 41 states are reporting at least 10 percent more cases compared to the week before, according to CNN report.

As daily new cases skyrocket, hospitalizations are rising, too, and deaths, which lag furthest behind those other indicators, are ticking up.

Daily death count hit nearly 1,060 on Wednesday, with an average count at about 800 per day, CDC data showed.

Currently there are 45,000 hospitalized COVID-19 cases nationwide, according to latest figure of The COVID-19 Tracking Project.

In the Midwest, residents are being impacted by the rising cases with spiking rates of hospitalizations.

Indiana and Wisconsin reported their peak levels of coronavirus hospitalizations. Kansas saw the most ICU hospitalizations of the virus in one day, the same day the state surpassed 1,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to CNN report.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday he supports a national mask mandate as the weather continues to grow colder.

"We're going to have many more hospitalizations and that will inevitably lead to more deaths. So, this is an untenable situation. That's the reason why I say we have got to do these things," Fauci said.

As COVID-19 cases continue to jump during the fall, Fauci said there is little chance of normalcy on the horizon.

"I think it will be easily by the end of 2021, and perhaps even into the next year, before we start having some semblances of normality," Fauci told a panel discussion earlier this week.