U.S. sets record with 100,000 new coronavirus cases in 1 day


The United States marked a grim milestone on Wednesday, when the country for the first time recorded 100,000 new coronavirus cases in one day.
Minnesota, Indiana, and Maine also reported single-day records on Wednesday, and in the last 14 days, Minnesota's daily case reports have on average increased by 79 percent. For several months, Maine had low transmission rates compared to most other states, but recently cases there have nearly tripled. Wyoming meanwhile has seen its number of new cases go up 80 percent.
There are more than 50,000 people hospitalized in the United States with COVID-19, up 64 percent since the beginning of October, the Covid Tracking Project reports. Over the last two weeks, deaths related to the coronavirus have increased 14 percent nationwide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The New York Times notes that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, warned in June when there were about 42,000 new cases reported per day that if the pandemic was not reined in, the U.S. would eventually hit 100,000 cases a day. On Friday, he told The Washington Post with winter coming and people gathering indoors, the country "could not possibly be positioned more poorly," and "we're in for a whole lot of hurt."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Musk: Is Trump putting him on a leash?
Feature Elon Musk’s aggressive government cuts are facing backlash from Trump’s Cabinet
By The Week US Published
-
SCOTUS: A glimmer of independence?
Feature The Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments
By The Week US Published
-
Book reviews: ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’ and ‘How to Be Avant-Garde: Modern Artists and the Quest to End Art’
Feature Examining the West’s role in Gaza’s war and how the art market has ruined art
By The Week US Published
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published