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U.S. Virus Cases Inch Back Toward Peak Following Holiday Slump

U.S. Virus Cases Inch Back Toward Peak Following Holiday Slump

The rolling average of U.S. coronavirus cases edged up in the past week, and on the current trajectory could break records again any day.

On Monday, 32 states reported seven-day case averages substantially rising when compared with the prior week, with some of the steepest rises in Kansas and Arizona. That’s a sharp turnaround from mid-December, when 38 states reported cases flat or falling.

Nationally, the U.S. recorded 204,805 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the seven-day average to 208,489. In total, the virus has killed about 351,590 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University data.

U.S. Virus Cases Inch Back Toward Peak Following Holiday Slump

The numbers track a post-holiday spike that experts expected from the repercussions of holiday travel and officials catching up on backlogs. Average daily tests in the U.S. have fallen since mid-December, which also may obscure some case data.

Hospitals are far from any relief, with 125,544 coronavirus patients hospitalized nationally, the most of any point in the pandemic and double the peaks of spring and summer. About one in six of those patients were in California; when scaled for population, Arizona and Nevada reported the worst strain on hospitals.

According to Covid Tracking Project data:

  • States posting single-day record cases on Sunday were New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Arizona.
  • Arizona, Oklahoma and South Carolina also reported the most new cases per million people.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.