New York Times: U.S. records its worst week for COVID-19 cases

The past week has been a disaster for many people in the U.S., as the country reported a record of over half a million new COVID-19 cases in a week, the highest number since the outbreak started, the New York Times reported Friday.
On Friday, the number of infections reached a new daily world record of 100,000, only four days before the U.S. presidential election.

As of Friday, the country recorded its nine millionth case, representing nearly 3 percent of the population. The death toll reached almost 229,000.
The outlook is worsening. Half of the U.S. counties saw new cases peak during the past month, and almost a third saw a record in the past week.
The situation is the worst in the Upper Midwest and Mountain West, where records are being smashed almost every day. In some counties, nearly 5 percent of the population has been infected.
The record surge of new cases pushed hospitals closer to the brink of their capacity. Data shows that the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 reached record highs in nearly half of the states in past weeks.
There has been a 46 percent increase in hospitalizations from a month earlier, and experts worry that it could overwhelm hospital capacity, especially in rural areas with limited medical care resources.
The death toll has also been rising in about half of the states. During the past month, roughly a third of the counties saw a daily record of more deaths than any other time during the pandemic.
About 800 people with the virus die daily, altough lower than the death toll on the worst days in April when over 2,000 patients died every day.