U.S. Hits New Coronavirus Record With More Than 88,500 New Cases

A medical assistant holds a swab after testing a man on Wednesday at the new COVID-19 testing facility at Boston Logan International Airport.

Elise Amendola / AP

The U.S. recorded 88,521 new coronavirus cases Thursday, more than any other day in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly a thousand people died from the disease in the U.S. on Thursday, pushing the total to 228,696 lives lost.

In the past week, the U.S. has blown past record levels of infection that were seen in the summer, when new cases topped 77,000 in July. Since last Thursday, the U.S. has posted more than 80,000 cases on several days.

The coronavirus is rippling through populations in North and South Dakota, in Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho – the six states that are reporting at least 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.