Oct. 24 (UPI) — The United States on Friday hit a new one-day high for reported coronavirus infections with more than 83,000, topping the previous record set in July by more than 5,000, the latest data revealed.
Johns Hopkins University’s global tracker showed 83,757 new cases recorded Friday, up from 71,671 confirmed Thursday.
The country’s seven-day average of new cases increased to more than 63,000 on Friday, an 84% increase from mid-September. The figures appear to counter President Donald Trump’s statement during this week’s presidential debate that the United States was “rounding the corner” in its war against the virus.
“We easily will hit six-figure numbers in terms of the number of cases,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN. “And the deaths are going to go up precipitously in the next three to four weeks, following usually new cases by about two to three weeks.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas leads the country with the most new COVID-19 cases over the past seven days with 35,292 confirmations. Illinois followed with 29,088, Wisconsin 24,701, Florida with 22,621 and California with 22,323.
Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains regions. Chicago is averaging 1,542 cases per day, or 30 per 100,000 residents. On Wednesday, Wisconsin accepted its first patient to its new field hospital at State Fair Park in West Allies.
“With record-high numbers of positive cases, hospitalizations, and staffing shortages, there has never been a more critical time for Wisconsinites to act and help stop the spread,” Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said in a statement.
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi are some of the states that have seen coronavirus cases jump to record or near-record highs over the past month, according to the health statistics.
