Last week the United States averaged more than 100,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, with more than 128,000 recorded Friday.
U.S. hospitalizations have significantly increased, forcing hospitals in Midwestern and Southern states to take urgent action to accommodate floods of new patients.
Infections are surging in all U.S. regions as the coronavirus death toll continues to climb. The U.S. has 9.8 million coronavirus cases, with more than 237,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
Months after the Sturgis motorcycle rally in August in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which drew nearly half a million people, public health officials say the event’s legacy is hundreds of coronavirus infections across the U.S.
Dr. Benjamin Aaker, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association, told The New York Times, “We don’t know if we’ll ever know the full extent” of the infections originating from Sturgis. Last week, South Dakota averaged more than 1,000 daily coronavirus cases.
President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled Monday to announce the members of a 12-member coronavirus task force for his administration, set to begin in January.
Europe, meanwhile, is experiencing a second wave of COVID-19.
"The light at the end of the tunnel is still quite a long way off," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently. Germany reported more than 23,000 new cases. Saturday.
On Friday, France had more than 60,000 new cases. France has 1.7 million cases and more than 40,000 COVID deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
India reported more than 45,000 new infections Sunday. Johns Hopkins said the South Asian nation has recorded 8.5 million cases so far.
