A Tragic Beginning to the Holiday Season
COVID-19 hospitalizations have been at a record high for more than two weeks, and daily deaths have exceeded 2,000 for the first time since May.
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here.
As the week before Thanksgiving brings thousands of Americans through airports and travel stations and into multigenerational indoor gatherings, U.S. states have reported more than 1.2 million cases of COVID-19. The seven-day average for new cases has more than doubled since the beginning of November. The number of people currently hospitalized with the virus in the United States hit nearly 90,000 on Wednesday, breaking the national record for the 16th day in a row. As hospitals fill up across the country, deaths are also spiking. For the first time since May 7, daily reported deaths exceeded 2,000 this week, first on
