U.S. breaks daily record for COVID-19 cases

A man gets tested for COVID-19 in Washington, D.C.

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 29 December 2021

On Tuesday, the record for daily coronavirus cases in the United States was shattered, as the seven-day average topped 267,000.

The previous record was set on Jan. 11, when the seven-day average was 251,232, The New York Times reports. Now, there are two highly contagious variants — Delta and Omicron — fueling surges across the United States, and hospitalizations are on the rise.

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On Monday, Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia all reported their highest number of COVID-19 cases of the pandemic, with D.C. recording nearly 1,000 percent more new cases over the last two weeks. Neil J. Sehgal, an assistant professor of health policy at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health, told the Times D.C. is "a marker for what we're likely to see in much of the rest of the country. A tidal wave in Omicron cases is likely to flood much of the country in the next month."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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