23 states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project (CTP) and state health departments. 15 states surpassed records from the previous week.
Why it matters: More states across the country are handling record-high caseloads than this summer.
Records broken:
- Oct. 31: None.
- Nov. 1: Connecticut (2,651).
- Nov. 2: Michigan (6,920).
- Nov. 3: New Mexico (1,141).
- Nov. 4: Idaho (1,290).
- Nov. 5: Iowa (3,992), New Hampshire (245), Oklahoma (2,101), Oregon (790), and West Virginia (560).
- Nov. 6: Colorado (3,369), Illinois (10,376), Indiana (4,714), Kansas (5,418), Maine (184), Minnesota (5,454), North Dakota (1,764), Nebraska (2,124), Nevada (1,562), Ohio (5,008), Pennsylvania (3,384), Rhode Island (630), Utah (2,987), and Wyoming (996).
Zoom in: Current ICU capacity in Colorado may be reached in late December, according to the latest modeling from the state's public health department.
- Southwest and southeast Indiana have roughly 15% ICU beds available, while the state overall has more than a quarter of its ICU beds open, IndyStar reports.
- In Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, nearly all ICU beds across 15 hospitals were occupied as of Nov. 5, local outlet Bridge Michigan reports.
- In Missouri and Kansas, hospitalizations continue to reach new highs, NPR's Kansas City station reports.
What they're saying: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) told reporters Thursday, “we are going to experience a surge in hospitalizations much higher than where we are now. And in some areas of our state that will mean that you’ll run out of hospital beds, and nurses and doctors who can treat you," the Chicago Tribune reports.
- "If you're sick, stay home," Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) emphasized in a Nov. 5 briefing, while addressing the state's latest record for hospitalizations.
- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) tweeted on Friday: "The increase we're seeing is not because we're testing more — it's because this virus is spreading more," after noting the state's record-setting day of infections and hospitalizations.
- "It's everywhere," Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Nov. 2 — referring to the virus spreading into rural counties along with metropolitan areas.
Go deeper: A new round of COVID shutdowns hits the U.S. and Europe
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that New York recorded the most cases during the week of 9/26-10/2 since May, not the start of the pandemic. This piece is also updated to include COVID Tracking Project data, in addition to data taken from state health departments.