THE US hit another new hospitalization record on Sunday for the fifth time in the last week, as American airports had the busiest day since the start of the pandemic.
Dr Anthony Fauci described the spike as “terrible” with suggestions it was caused by people meeting up over the holidays, after 125,500 patients were recorded in hospitals.
The data was released by The COVID Tracking Project, who suggested the number could be even higher, as 14 states and territories had not yet published their tallies for Sunday.
There were at least 204,805 new cases and 1,431 deaths reported across the country from the states that had submitted data.
Despite the continuing rises in cases over the festive period, millions of Americans have continued to take to the skies despite experts desperate pleas.
Airports across the country saw 1,192,881 passengers travelling by air, which is more passengers than any day since the start of the pandemic.
Over 16.3 million people have passed through airport checkpoints since December 18.
Dr Anthony Fauci told Meet the Press, “It’s terrible, it’s unfortunate, but it was predictable.”
The world leading expert on infectious diseases and other top health officials have warned the numbers will continue to rise in the next few weeks, as the aftermath of travel over Christmas can be seen.
In a separate interview, Fauci also denounced President Donald Trump’s claim that federal data on cases and deaths during the pandemic is exaggerated.
Only 2.8 million Americans have so far received COVID-19 vaccines, despite the Trump administrations goal to have vaccinated 20 million people by the end of 2020.
Figures across the United States have been inaccurate due to delays in reporting over the holiday period.
Hospitalizations in New York have surged by almost 80 per cent in the past four weeks, after confirmation that 1 million residents have now tested positive for coronavirus.
Governor Cuomo confirmed that as of January 2, there were 7,963 New York residents being treated for the virus in hospital.
138 deaths were also reported across the state, a colossal increase of almost 150 per cent on the figures released on December 5.
The Governor has now ordered hospitals to test patients to see if they have contracted the new mutant strain of the deadly virus which originated in the United Kingdom.
Doctors warned the fight against coronavirus is “literally World War Three”, as hospitalizations have risen by 162 per cent in the last two months.
The figures have saw the US set new records on five different days in the last week.
The COVID Tracking Project said that seven states and territories out of the 56 it tracks were yet to share there data.
This includes Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, Rhode Island, Washington and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Hawaii, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Wisconsin had not reported their current hospitalization figures.
Dr. Fauci and other experts have continuously warned the increase in hospitalizations will inevitably lead to an increase in fatalities, as the CDC predicted a total of of 383,000 to 424,000 COVID-19 deaths by the week ending January 23, 2021.
This could mean over 73,000 people could die in the next three weeks in the worst case scenario.
The United States currently has recorded 21,113,528 coronavirus cases and 360,078 deaths.
