Coronavirus updates: Over 7,000 Americans died in past week

St. Louis will ban all private gatherings with more than 10 people starting Saturday, the city's mayor announced.  

"Over the last few weeks, especially after Halloween, it's no secret we continue to see a resurgence of new #COVID19 cases and hospitalizations," Mayor Lyda Krewson said in a Twitter post Thursday night announcing the limit. "In the City, contact tracing tells us transmission is primarily happening among friends, families, and neighbors via informal gatherings around homes and neighborhoods."

About half of new cases are people in their 20s and 30s, she added.

The new order applies to any private social event or gathering, including house parties, dinner parties and celebrations. It also recommends that any private gathering include at most two households.

The order, which will be in effect indefinitely, does not detail any penalties for violating the limit.

The new restriction comes as the city's positivity rate is over 10% and inpatient and intensive care unit beds in St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force Hospitals are at 90% or greater occupancy, the order noted.

The number of new COVID-19 cases hit another high on Thursday, as the country experiences record growth in cases, according to The COVID Tracking Project. 

There were 150,526 new cases reported on Thursday, according to the data tracker. The seven-day average stands at nearly 130,000 cases, which is a dramatic 71% increase from more than two weeks ago, it found. 

"Cases nationwide are trending up more quickly than at any point in the pandemic," The COVID Tracking Project said. 

This week, 1 in every 378 U.S. residents tested positive for COVID-19, based on the tracker's data.

Current hospitalizations also hit a new high on Thursday, at 67,096. The death toll was 1,104.

An internal memo from Health and Human Services obtained by ABC News on Thursday night shows that 52 states and territories are in an upward trajectory of new COVID-19 cases.

One jurisdiction is at a plateau, and two are in a downward trajectory, the memo said.

Nationally, new cases confirmed between Nov. 5 and 11 increased 35.1% over the previous seven-day period, and deaths increased 30.5% in that time frame. The national test-positivity rate increased to 9.8% from 7.7% in week-to-week comparisons.

Across the country, 28% of hospitals have more than 80% of their intensive care unit beds filled. That number was 17% to 18% of hospitals during the summertime peak.

ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

The Ivy League has canceled its winter sports season, officials from the Division I conference announced Tuesday.

Competition for spring sports also has been postponed through at least the end of February 2021, the league said.

Additionally, fall sports, which were canceled this semester, will not compete during the spring semester. The option had initially been seen as a possibility. 

"Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner," the Ivy League Council of Presidents said in a statement.

The league is the first to cancel its winter sports season, according to ESPN. The impacted sports include men's and women's basketball, wrestling, indoor track and field, swimming and fencing.