Election Day marked the second-highest number of new COVID-19 infections — more than 91,000.
At least 36 states are reporting more new cases than last week. Idaho, Ohio, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases Tuesday. With that comes an increase in hospitalizations. More than 50,000 Americans are hospitalized. That’s 67% more than a month ago.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota and New Mexico all reported record-high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge.
"We're starting to see a lot. And people are not just mildly ill. They're actually moderate to severely ill. They're in the hospital for a long time, longer than for most other diseases," Dr. Irfan Hafiz, infectious disease specialist and chief medical officer at Northwestern Medicine, said.
Deaths are rising, too. Johns Hopkins University’s seven-day average for COVID-19 deaths has climbed over the past two weeks from 58,424 on Oct. 19 to 83,805 on Nov. 2.
"We anticipate another 200,000 in the next several months over this terrible winter coming up because of the flu," Dr. Matt Heinz, a Tucson hospital physician, said.
