The United States set two new troubling coronavirus records on Wednesday, with 200,000 new infections in a single day and 100,000 COVID-19 patients hospitalized.
It is the first time the U.S. has reached either figure in a single day, The Washington Post reported.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said more bad news could be ahead. Redfield predicted that the nation’s COVID-19 death toll could reach 450,000 by February, the newspaper reported. Redfield also warned that the approaching winter season could be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”
“The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times,” Redfield said during an address to the Chamber of Commerce Foundation. “I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”
“We’re in that range potentially now, starting to see 1,500 to 2,000 to 2,500 deaths a day from this virus,” Redfield added. “The mortality concerns are real, and I do think, unfortunately, before we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans” dead from the virus.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker, the U.S. has 13,900,350 positive cases as of Wednesday evening. Worldwide, there are 64,360,815 cases.
There have been 1,489,816 deaths in the U.S. related to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.
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