US Reports Its 2nd Highest # Of COVID-19 Cases On Election Day

On the day many Americans cast their ballots, the US recorded 91,530 new COVID-19 infections adding to a series of staggering case numbers reported within just the past week.

According to a story reported on by CNN and Western Mass News, the country's five highest days of coronavirus cases have all been recorded since October 29, affirming experts' warnings another surge is well on its way and will only get worse.

The nationwide 7-day average of new cases now stands at about 86,363 -- more than double what it was on September 4.

And while doctors have stressed basic public health measures like masks and social distancing can turn things around, such measures remain a point of contention in some parts of the US.

Now only five states are trending in the right direction -- Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont -- while at least 36 are reporting more new cases than the previous week, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

And states including Idaho, Ohio, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases Tuesday.

Hospitalizations among Americans are also up, and hundreds of people continue to lose their lives from the virus every day. More than 232,000 have died in the US since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins.

And about another 100,000 Americans will die in just the next two months, projections from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show.

Across the country, more than 50,000 people are hospitalized with the virus, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project -- an increase of more than 67% in a month.

Face masks, a powerful tool that doctors and public health officials have vouched for in the battle against the virus, can help save tens of thousands of lives in the coming months, one leading expert helped emphasize this week.

For much, much more on the story, please visit Western Mass News' website here and we thank them and CNN for the update.