The United States reported that almost 4,000 people died on Jan. 6 from COVID-19 or related complications, a single-day record since the pandemic first emerged and as the number of infections has jumped in recent weeks.
U.S. officials said a total of 3,963 people died that day from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, a new high that is believed to be influenced by the recent holiday gatherings.
The country has been averaging 216,736 new daily cases over the past week. Deaths are averaging more than 2,600 a day, and a new record of 132,476 patients are currently hospitalized, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project (CTP).
“All but 4 states in the South have had record COVID-19 hospitalizations this week,” the collaborative volunteer-run effort to track the ongoing CCP virus pandemic in the United States wrote on Twitter.
The new single-day high comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted the overall death toll could exceed 430,000 by the end of this month.
“The reality is that December, January, and February are going to be rough times,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said during a live-streamed presentation in December hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
“I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation,” he continued.
The metrics are especially alarming in the nation’s most populous state. California has now admitted more patients to hospitals than New York did at the spring peak.
Emergency medical technicians sanitize their ambulance stretcher after transporting a patient at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 2021. Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo
The state reported its second-highest number of daily CCP virus deaths Jan. 6 with 459 deaths, bringing the death toll to 2,504 in the last week, with a record high of 22,820 patients being treated in hospitals, California’s Department of Public Health reported. More than 8,000 of those patients are currently in Los Angeles County hospitals.
“The numbers are extraordinary,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association. “We’re not going to dodge this math. We need the state’s help.”
A nationwide surge in CCP virus infections has occurred since Thanksgiving. The daily death tolls in New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania have risen to records, while Illinois recorded its one-millionth case since the start of the pandemic, becoming one of five states to surpass that milestone.
