The United States reported a new highest single-day CCP virus death toll on Wednesday since the disease rocked the nation last year—a new grim record for a pandemic that has been worsening over the past weeks.
Officials said a total of 3,963 people died in the United States on Jan. 6 from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the coronavirus, a new high that is believed to be influenced by the recent holidays.
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.
All but 4 states in the South have had record COVID-19 hospitalizations this week. pic.twitter.com/GEWuIMbztG
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) January 7, 2021
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 January.
“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 in hospitals than New York did at the spring peak.
The state reported its second-highest number of daily CCP virus deaths Wednesday with 459 lives lost, 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.”
The CCP virus pandemic has seen a new surge across the nation since Thanksgiving. The daily death toll also saw new records in New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania while Illinois recorded its one-millionth case since the start of the pandemic, becoming one of five states totaling over one million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.