Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The United States has set records for COVID-19 cases and deaths, according to new data on Thursday from Johns Hopkins University.
The data show there were 247,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and nearly 3,700 deaths. Both are all-time highs and Wednesday marks just the second time after the onset of the pandemic that both records were set on the same day. It also happened on Dec. 11.
Since the start of the health crisis, there have been 17.01 million COVID-19 cases and 308,100 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
The United States has now seen four days with at least 3,000 deaths since last week.
More than 113,000 patients, also a record, are in U.S. hospitals, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
California also set a record for deaths in a single day and had more than any other state on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We have the most difficult road in front of us and the virus is rampant in our neighborhoods," said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. "Every hour, on average, two of our neighbors, family members and friends are dying from COVID-19."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday projected between 357,000 and 391,000 coronavirus deaths by Jan. 9.
In other COVID-19 developments Thursday:
- A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is meeting to decide whether to recommend authorization for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Approval, which must also be supported by the full agency and the CDC, would make a second coronavirus vaccine available nationwide in the coming days.
- A new survey finds that nearly half of U.S. adults support mandatory vaccinations for children attending school in person.
- Close to 900,000 American workers have filed new unemployment claims, the Labor Department said, the most since early September.
