Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Tuesday was the deadliest day of the coronavirus era in the United States, as thousands more patients succumbed to the disease that's now been around for a full year.
According to updated data from Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, there were a little more than 3,700 new deaths nationwide attributed to COVID-19. The toll surpassed the previous record, just under 3,700, which was set about two weeks ago.
The most deaths were seen in Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan and California, according to Worldometer. They accounted for more than a third of the national total.
There were about 201,600 new COVID-19 cases in the United States on Tuesday, according to the data, and the COVID Tracking Project shows that about 125,000 patients are hospitalized.
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Tuesday was just the second day out of the last six in which new cases topped the 200,000 mark.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 19.52 million coronavirus cases and 338,700 deaths in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins. The global health crisis will see its first anniversary on Thursday. Officials in Wuhan, China, reported the first cases as a mysterious "pneumonia outbreak" on Dec. 31, 2019.
Holiday travel continues to be well below normal for this time of year, but federal officials say more than 1 million travelers have passed through U.S. airport checkpoints on each of the last four days.
The Transportation Security Administration says a little more than a million people passed through U.S. airports on Tuesday. On Sunday, the figure was almost 1.3 million.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised travelers to stay at home and refrain from typical holiday travel -- a key factor, it says, that could help control the virus' spread.
Los Angeles County said this week that travelers who left the area during the holidays must quarantine for 10 days upon their return.
Other COVID-19 news for Wednesday:
- The government began mailing $600 stimulus payments to millions of Americans on Wednesday, while Democrats in Congress continue to try and raise the amount to $2,000. Those who will receive the aid via direct deposit began to receive the money on Tuesday night.
- Rep.-elect Luke Letlow of Louisiana, who was elected to the U.S. House last month, has died of COVID-19 at the age of 41.
- Organizers have canceled the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. It was scheduled for March.
