At least 2,885 people died of Covid in America on Wednesday, the worst yet in the ongoing pandemic. The previously worst day's toll was April 15, with 2,752 deaths. The disease has now killed nearly 275,000 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.
Daily coronavirus cases and hospitalizations also have been soaring — prompting CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield to say Wednesday that the winter months are likely "going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."The 911 emergency call system is "at a breaking point," the American Ambulance Association, which represents all of the nation's ambulance services, said in a letter Wednesday. "Without additional relief, it seems likely to break, even as we enter the third surge of the virus in the Midwest and West," the letter said. As for cases: The country's average number of new daily Covid-19 cases across a week was 164,103 Wednesday — nearly 2.5 times the summertime peak in July.
