6:42 p.m. ET, November 6, 2020
More states break records for Covid cases, as US hospitalizations soar
The state of Illinois set another daily high reporting for new Covid-19 cases Friday, reporting 10,376 new infections and 49 more deaths.
It joined a number of US states that have broken their records for daily case loads, as the situation worsens across the United States.
Indiana announced 4,714 more cases, its record high and enough to move its overall case count since the start of the pandemic over 200,000.
Ohio reported 5,008 new cases, the highest number recorded in a 24-hour timeframe since the onset of the pandemic in March, according to Governor Mike DeWine.
Maine also set a daily record on Friday with 1,149 new cases, according to state CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah. the state also saw a tripled positivity rate over the last two weeks.
And Pennsylvania added 3,384 new cases, another statewide high.
The figures come as an ensemble forecast by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects another 31,000 people could lose their lives over the next two and a half weeks.
Hospitalizations in New Mexico have shot up by 260% in the last month, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said, and health officials added they expect to run out of general hospital beds "in a matter of days." The daily number of deaths hit a record high this week.
In the Midwest -- where communities have been hit particularly hard and outbreaks are only worsening -- hospitalizations are up "following the region's sharply accelerating case surge," the CDC project said in a Thursday
blog post.
"Reported deaths from the Midwest are rising as well, several weeks into that region's case surge," the project said.