U.S. sets another all-time high for COVID-19 deaths -- more than 4,300

Jan. 13 (UPI) -- More people died of COVID-19 in the United States on Tuesday than any other day of the pandemic, according to updated data from Johns Hopkins University.

After a week straight of at least 200,000 coronavirus cases nationwide, a little more than 4,300 patients died on Tuesday, according to the data. The previous record was about 4,200 dead last Thursday.

There were about 215,800 new cases on Tuesday, a slight increase from the previous day. There have been at least 200,000 new cases in all but one day in January so far.

Since the start of the pandemic a year ago, there have been 22.85 million cases in the United States and about 380,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.

The seven-day average is now 3,300 new cases per day -- nearly 25% higher than the previous week, according to Stat.

Health experts have warned that January might be the worst month of the pandemic to date, due partly to some Americans ignoring advice to stay home and refrain from travel during the recent holiday season.

There are about 130,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients in the United States, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 9.3 million people nationwide have received one of the two available coronavirus vaccines. Health officials have distributed close to 30 million doses.

On Tuesday, Texas became the second state -- after California -- to top 2 million cases, according to John Hopkins. Florida is third with 1.5 million.

Texas also set records for new cases in a single day (22,000) and hospitalizations (14,000) on Tuesday.

In other COVID-19 news:

• A new study suggests college students may be "super-spreaders." The analysis published Wednesday in the journal Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering found more than half of 30 colleges and universities at their peak had more than 1,000 cases of the virus per 10,000 people on campus.
• The NBA and players union have revised their COVID-19 protocol. Players now are prohibited from having non-team guests in their hotel rooms and will be required to wear masks while on the bench.
• The CDC ordered that all air travelers from abroad must provide proof of a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States.