US records more than 512,500 average daily COVID cases and breaks world record second day in a row

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The U.S. smashed another global COVID infection record on Thursday when 647,067 new cases were reported, up 26 percent from the day before, when 512,533 new cases were reported, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

In total, USA Today reports, the United States recorded 2.49 million cases within the past week, outpacing the country’s previous record of 1.7 million new cases recorded in the one-week period from January 3 through January 9.

The entirety of November saw just about 2.55 million new cases, USA Today reports, and the US is averaging about 356,000 cases per day – and more than four cases every second. 

At the same time, however, the number of daily deaths have halved from 2,800 to 1,400 between Wednesday and Thursday, proving that the Omicron variant – which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says accounts for anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of the new cases in the US – is less severe than the Delta variant and patients are experiencing more mild symptoms.

Still, daily life continues to be upended from a holiday COVID surge, as over 1,300 U.S. flights were canceled by late Thursday, businesses face shortages due to staff testing positive and Americans continue facing hours-long lines to get tested.  

Fifteen states reported a record-high number of average daily infections, according to the CDC. They include Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

With the case count rising so rapidly, partly due to the highly contagious Omicron variant, the CDC estimates that more than three Americans are testing positive every second.

‘We are at the very beginning, unfortunately, and likely have at least four to eight weeks before we’re going to see it rise and then begin to fall again. And during that time, we are going to see COVID activity in this country like we haven’t seen since the beginning of the pandemic,’ Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, told CBS News.

‘We’re not going to live forever in a constant crisis, but for the time being, it’s going to be a challenge,’ Osterholm added. 

Some cases may not even be making the official count because of the rise in at-home tests. What’s more worrisome about the high numbers is that health experts often expect disturbances in testing and data reporting.

About 62 percent of the US is fully vaccinated, with 73 percent having received their first dose, according to the New York Times. And about 68.8 million of the fully vaccinated have also received a third dose, or a booster shot, since August 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

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Meanwhile, the holiday season ‘flightmare’ continues as over 1,300 domestic and foreign U.S. flights were canceled by late Thursday, according FlightAware, which tracks aviation data. Roughly half as many flights for Friday and Saturday each are also already canceled.

Air-traffic control staff may also face pressure as a rising number of employees test positive for COVID-19, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday.

“To maintain safety, traffic volume at some facilities could be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods,” an FAA spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.

JetBlue Airways Corp. canceled 177 of its flights, or 17 percent, for Thursday; United Airlines Holdings Inc. canceled 203 of its flights, or nine percent, and Delta Air Lines Inc. canceled about 250 flights, or 6 percent. All airline company’s attribute both COVID-19 and harsh weather for the cancelations.

A JetBlue spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the company may have ‘additional cancels each day based on how sick calls are trending and general staffing challenges,’ adding ‘but we hope this proactive reduction will minimize same-day cancels and lessen the inconvenience to our customers.’

Some airline companies were luckier than others, however, as Southwest Airlines Co. had only canceled 20 flights by late Thursday. A spokeswoman said while the Dallas-based company is seeing a rising number of positive COVID cases among staff, “we’ve yet to see any impact on our operation.”

And American Airlines Group Inc. only had to cancel seven of its mainline flights on Thursday.

Meanwhile, residents across the country are still standing on lines or sitting in their cars for hours to get a COVID test. Urgent care centers, pharmacies and other places offering COVID-19 tests are struggling to keep up with demand.

By 11am on Wednesday – just an hour after it opened – 600 cars were waiting in line for a state-sponsored site in the small eastern Missouri city of Winfield, which had previously only administered 50 tests a week before this recent surge.

The traffic backup was so bad that police and city officials eventually closed the site due to safety concerns, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, citing comments made by Winfield police to the state health department.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox told the Post-Dispatch that the department plans to add an additional testing site in St. Louis this weekend, three sites in St. Louis next week, and one to three sites in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday announced he’s letting the pandemic-related state of emergency expire on Friday. In a statement, he said state government is ready to help but “there is no longer a need for a state of emergency.”

“Thanks to the effectiveness of the vaccine, widespread efforts to mitigate the virus, and our committed health care professionals, past needs to continue the state of emergency are no longer present,” Parson said. 

The state’s COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday reported 2,265 people hospitalized with the virus, the highest number since August. Health experts across the state say the surge is far from over.

“We anticipate things will get worse before they get better,” said Dr. Hilary Babcock, a Washington University infectious disease specialist at BJC HealthCare. “The case numbers are really staggering, and are rising at a pace that we have never seen before.”

In Springfield, CoxHealth had 66 inpatient COVID-19 cases two days before Christmas. The hospital had 110 a week later, the Springfield News-Leader reported. A hospital study found that 94.6% of those hospitalized earlier this week were not vaccinated.

The Kansas City region also is being hit hard. The Kansas City Star reported that 1,809 new cases were reported in the metro area on Wednesday alone. The total includes cases in Kansas City and its suburbs in both Missouri and Kansas. 

In a Denver suburb in Colorado, residents sat in cars for a COVID testing line that stretch about a mile long before snaking through a parking lot, as seen in video sent to Fox News by Michele Fitzwilliam.

A woman told FOX 31 Denver that she had to wait over two hours for a test on Monday even though she showed up before the site opened.

“I came early. They opened at 9, and I showed up around like 8:40 … [the line] was like wrapped around, and I didn’t get in until 11,’ Crystal told the local news outlet. 

America is already at risk of being paralyzed by this latest surge as companies implement their own de facto lockdowns: Restaurants, bars and businesses – including big chains like Walmart and Costco – have been forced to close as they battle staff shortages due to infections.

In New York City, tech giant Apple has shut all its stores.  Broadway has also been forced to temporarily shut down some of its shows, including Hugh Jackman’s The Music Man, and others, like Waitress and The Rockettes shut down entirely for the season. 

Pro sports leagues have also been forced into postponements. The NHL, for instance, has been forced to reschedule 80 games on both sides of the US-Canada border since the season started. 

The NBA, meanwhile, postponed its 10th game of the season on Wednesday due to a breakout within the Miami Heat locker room and the Denver Nuggests were forced to delay their Friday night game against Golden State after falling short of players.

Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, has warned in the past that what happens in the UK in regards to Covid will likely happen in the U.S. weeks later. Across the pond, a record 183,037 people are hospitalized with the virus, as London has emerged as a global virus hotspot. While some fear lockdown could return, Prime Minister Boris Johnson quelled concerns Thursday by telling Britons to enjoy the New Years holiday.

Other European nations like France, Germany, Norway and Denmark have instituted lockdowns to deal with recent Omicron surges, though, as the variant strikes much of the world.

Meanwhile it South Africa, where the variant was first discovered and the site of the first recorded Omicron outbreak, cases and hospitalizations are starting to decline – signaling the variant could already be running out of steam.