Barely five days to the presidential election, the U.S. surpassed its previous high of single-day reported COVID-19 infections with 89,940 cases.
The previous record 83,731 was set on Oct. 23.
With President Donald Trump boasting of the nation “rounding the corner” and his chief of staff admitting that the administration is “not going to control the pandemic,” the coronavirus is spreading at a tremendous clip in many American states.
The U.S. is likely to pass nine million total coronavirus cases on Friday.
It will come 14 days after the nation reached 8 million – the quickest per-million pace so far of the pandemic.
The U.S. continues to lead the world in deaths related to COVID-19 with nearly 229,000.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, often cited by the White House, now projects the U.S. will have an additional 100,000 deaths between now and Jan. 1 if mask usage remains at its current level.
That number can be reduced by 1/3 if there is universal mask use.
