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Coronavirus updates: U.S. shatters records with more than 100,000 new cases in a single day

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Months ago, the notion of the United States recording more than 100,000 coronavirus infections in a single day seemed inconceivable. But surging caseloads in nearly every state pushed the tally to a record 104,004 new infections Wednesday — and that wasn’t even the day’s biggest news story.

As Americans anxiously waited to find out who their next president will be, 18 states — including Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and West Virginia — reported record numbers of patients hospitalized with covid-19. More than 1,110 fatalities were tallied, pushing the total number of coronavirus deaths reported since February past 233,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post.

With nearly 9.5 million coronavirus cases reported, the United States is adding new infections at an unprecedented rate.

The seven-day average for new cases hit record highs in 20 states spanning every region of the country Wednesday, with the largest increases in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and Iowa, according to data tracked by The Post. Three states — Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming — also reported their highest daily fatality counts.

“Now is the time to develop a testing strategy to maximize our ability to identify the silent epidemic of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections,” Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. The tweet drew incredulous responses, with many questioning why such a strategy had not been designed earlier.

In New Jersey, more than 2,200 inmates were freed from prisons Wednesday — the first day of a new state law allowing some prisoners with up to eight months left on their sentences to be released. ...

Across the Great Plains and the Midwest, surging caseloads have left many hospitals struggling to find space for coronavirus patients — or, crucially, to find qualified workers to take care of them. Dozens of Kansas hospitals told the Associated Press that they expect to face staffing shortages next week, while the Star Tribune reported that the number of nurses who have entered quarantine meant that only nine intensive-care beds were available in Minnesota’s Twin Cities as of Wednesday morning. ...

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