HORRIFIC NORMALITY

U.S. Daily Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 3,000 for Fifth Time This Month

Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital, warned the next few months will see “surge on surge on surge.”

An additional 3,401 Americans lost their lives to the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. It marks the fifth time that the nation’s daily COVID-19 death toll has topped 3,000 this month—the five worst daily death tolls of the entire pandemic so far—and brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 322,765. Tuesday’s horrendous figures also showed another 195,033 new cases of the disease, and the number of current hospitalizations surged to a record of 117,777 people. California is expected on Wednesday to top 2 million cases—six weeks after it passed 1 million cases, a toll that took 10 months to accrue. Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, told ABC News that the dire situation will only get worse, saying: “Layering in the December holiday travel and gatherings means we will have a third jump in this wave, or a surge on surge on surge.”