COVID-19 cases reach record highs as impacts from Thanksgiving gatherings worsen

COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are at record-high levels nationwide, and officials expect the U.S. will soon bear the full brunt of another surge of infections fueled by Thanksgiving gatherings.

“We have not yet seen the full effect of a potential surge upon a surge,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Friday night. “The travel associated with Thanksgiving, the congregating at family and social gatherings with people indoors, sometimes without masks. So that may peak two to three weeks from now.”

And that surge will come right as travel and social gatherings will likely pick up again for the Christmas holiday.

“So, we’re really very concerned,” Fauci said.

As of Friday the US averaged 182,633 daily new cases over the last week — a record high for the country, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And the average number of daily COVID-19 deaths across a week hit 2,010 on Friday, the highest its been since April.

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Here are more of the latest COVID-19 developments. Keep scrolling for in-depth coverage and charts showing the latest virus spread.

• State health departments and governors’ offices across the country are finally being told by the CDC and Operation Warp Speed how many doses of the coronavirus vaccine they will initially be receiving once the vaccine is authorized, and it’s not enough.
• Unemployment has forced aching choices on millions of Americans and their families in the face of a rampaging viral pandemic that has closed shops and restaurants, paralyzed travel and left millions jobless for months.
• The pandemic has led to rising emergency room visits and long waits for U.S. children and teens facing mental health crises.
• Parents in the United States who are unhappy with distance learning are taking increasingly vocal roles in calling for more in-person instruction through grassroots organizing and legal challenges.

Virus by the numbers: