A record 145,835 new coronavirus cases reported in U.S. on Wednesday


On Wednesday, 145,835 new COVID-19 cases were registered in the U.S., a new single-day record, The Washington Post reports.
More than 64,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the country, and nearly 3,000 are on ventilators. There has also been a sharp increase in the daily number of deaths, with at least 1,408 people dying on Wednesday, including a record number in Minnesota, Alabama, and Tennessee. "The cat's already out of the bag," Albert Ko, an infectious disease physician at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Post. "We're having widespread transmission. It's going to get worse, certainly, for the next month."
Health experts warn that because of the holidays and colder temperatures, the number of cases will likely increase dramatically, as people ignore advice and gather in larger groups inside. "The worst of this crisis is playing out in the next six to eight weeks," David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the Post. "The irony is, this is the time we most need our public leadership. Right now." President Trump is not focusing on the coronavirus pandemic, instead spending his days tweeting baseless claims about widespread voter fraud.
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.
Hospitals across the United States are preparing for a surge in patients, moving doctors to different department and hiring traveling nurses. Most are still dealing with not having enough personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, and that's "a grave concern," Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, told the Post. "When we first saw the pandemic start in the spring, it was on a rolling basis — some cases in Washington, others in New York. Now we're seeing increases everywhere. We are seeing hospitals being strained across the country. What we're seeing is not only burnout but a lot of complications having stress on medical professionals for an extended period of time."
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.
-
Syria’s strange post-Assad election
The Explainer Sunday’s limited vote ‘suited the phase Syria is undergoing’, says interim president
-
Why did the China spying case collapse?
Today’s Big Question Unwillingness to call China an ‘enemy’ apparently scuppered espionage trial
-
Alchemised: how Harry Potter fanfic went mainstream
In The Spotlight Traditional publishers are signing up fan fiction authors to rewrite their ‘explosively popular’ romances for the mass market
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the right
Speed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shot
Speed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreak
Speed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agency
Speed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year high
Speed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kids
Speed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials