The United States recorded over 214,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday alone, pushing the seven-day average daily increase to an all-time high of nearly 180,000 cases.
A total of 214,099 cases and 2,439 deaths were reported across the nation on Friday, according to data updated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It is the second consecutive day that the single-day count in the country surpassed 200,000, also the 27th consecutive day that the daily case increase exceeded 100,000.
Friday's new infections drove the seven-day average COVID-19 daily case count to a record high of 179,410 cases, and average death count to 1,981 cases, the highest since late April.
There are 101,190 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States, according to the latest data of the COVID Tracking Project.
Data shows the Thanksgiving data backlogs coming in for tests, cases, and deaths. Hospitalizations have gone up by almost 12 percent since Nov. 28.
"We should still assume that many of these very high case and death numbers are because of the holiday effect," the tracking project tweeted.
Some areas of the country will likely again need temporary "drastic" and "draconian" measures -- such as shutdowns or the suspension of elective procedures -- to protect the nation's health care system as COVID-19 continues to spread, said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Vast regions of California will enter a new stay-at-home order on Sunday night, as its many parts have hit the 15 percent or lower threshold for intensive care unit (ICU) capacity amid COVID-19 surge, local health authorities said Saturday.
Based on the latest ICU data, the 11-county Southern California region which includes Los Angeles County, and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley region in Central California, have dropped below 15 percent ICU capacity, said the California Department of Public Health in a statement.
The regional stay-at-home order will take effect in those two regions at 11:59 p.m. Sunday local time (0759GMT) and will last for at least three weeks.
Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County have tripled in the last week, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, adding the county will likely run out of beds in two to four weeks if cases continue climbing.
Public health officials urged people to stay at home as much as possible and wear a face mask when out in public. Local residents are also required to keep gatherings small, short and outdoors, and to limit them to those who live in their household.
