With hospitals overwhelmed in much of the United States, the number of coronavirus cases jumped to record levels on Friday. The total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Wednesday was 172,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
There were also at least 1,800 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the US in the last 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins.
Friday marked the 11th consecutive day in which there were at least 100,000 new cases reported.
The news comes as governors and public health experts throughout the country have pleaded with citizens to wear masks and follow social distancing recommendations. A number of states were looking to re-impose restrictions in hopes of keeping hospitals from filling up with COVID-19 patients.
The COVID Tracking Project, a project led by The Atlantic, shows that current coronavirus-related hospitalizations hurdled the 60,000 mark in the US on Tuesday for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than doubled in the last six weeks throughout the US.
By Friday, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 neared 70,000.