COVID surge underway with daily cases already above 93K ahead of holiday

Enlarge / Travelers at the United Terminal 7 at LAX airport as people prepare to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. (credit: Getty | Al Seib)

Cases of COVID-19 are high and getting higher in the US as Americans head into a holiday week marked by nationwide travel and jam-packed family gatherings.

The country's daily average of new cases has jumped 29 percent over the last two weeks, and the current average for daily new cases is nearing 94,000, according to data tracking by The New York Times. Previously, national cases were this high at the beginning of November last year and at the beginning of this past August-as the country headed into two of the largest surges in the pandemic so far.

While cases are largely holding steady at high levels in the South and West, the Northeast and Midwest are seeing rapid surges. In the Northeast, Connecticut is seeing the fastest rise in cases nationwide, with a 117 percent jump in new daily cases over the last two weeks. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts rank after Connecticut for the country's sharpest case increases. Maine, meanwhile, is seeing its highest levels of cases and hospitalizations yet in the pandemic.

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