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America Records Highest Single Day Increase In Coronavirus Infections

America Records Highest Single Day Increase In Coronavirus Infections

More than 100,000 have tested positive for the virus in one day.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

As America anxiously waits to see who will be their leader for the next four years, the country notched a concerning new milestone in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

There were 103,087 cases recorded in the day just before the US Election, marking the highest single day increase since the pandemic began.

Judging from graphs, it's hard to declare whether America is still in the grips of its first wave of infections or a third. Technically, the country never managed to bring cases close to zero and have since had two large waves.

The United States has recorded 9,568,640 cases of Covid-19 and 237,372 deaths.

Temporary art installation, called 'In America, How Could This Happen' highlights the Americas who have died from coronavirus.
PA

There are currently 3,684,367 active cases and more than 50,000 people being treated in hospital.

The number of people needing to be hospitalised is higher in November than it was in October, with around 1,000 people heading to a facility every day, according to The Atlantic.

In a single week, the US has managed to record the same number of cases that it took three months to at the start of the pandemic.

That same week has seen at least 31 states set new records for daily increases in infections. While some of these jurisdictions are imposing restrictions to help flatten curve, it's not known how long it will take before it will even out.

What is doubly concerning is that the country is about to head into winter.

America's top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Facui, warned about this day back in July - back when the number of new cases each day was around 40,000.

Speaking at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Dr Facui said: "Clearly we are not in total control right now.

"It is going to be very disturbing, I will guarantee you that, because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they're doing well, they are vulnerable.

"We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around."

Marm Kilpatrick, an infectious diseases dynamics researcher at the University of California, also predicted a daily rate at what we're seeing was inevitable.

"It's unfortunately just a simple consequence of math plus a lack of action," said he said. "On the one hand it comes across as 'Oh my God, 100,000 cases per day!' But then if you actually look at the current case counts and trends, how would you not get that?"

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Coronavirus, US News