Coronavirus updates: 23-year-old college student dies from COVID-19

There are 51 states and territories in an upward trajectory of new COVID-19 cases, according to an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News Thursday night.

Two jurisdictions are at a plateau, and one is going down, the memo said.

There were 1,151,468 new cases confirmed during the period of Nov. 12 to 18 -- a 35.4% increase from the previous seven-day period. There were 8,601 deaths, up 8.3% over the previous week.

The national test-positivity rate increased to 11.1% from 9.6% in week-to-week comparisons.

Across the country, 29% of hospitals have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled. That number was 17%-18% during the summertime peak.

Iowa, Indiana, Maryland and Pennsylvania in particular are seeing high rates of hospitalizations. In Ohio, hospitalizations could quadruple by Christmas at the current rate of growth, the memo said.

ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report

Daily COVID-19 tests, cases and current hospitalizations in the U.S. all set new records on Thursday, based on tallies by The COVID Tracking Project.

There were 1,971 reported deaths -- the highest since May 7. North and South Dakota are reporting the highest totals of fatalities per capita in the U.S., according to the data.

States reported 1.8 million daily tests and 182,832 new cases, and 80,698 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the tracker.

Thirteen states, primarily in the Midwest, saw more than 1,000 cases per million people, it said.

"This wave of cases arrives in a moment when many hospital systems across the country are already inundated with COVID-19 patients and are warning of staff shortages," the COVID Tracking Project said in its weekly report

There aren't any indications that case numbers have peaked either, it said.

States reported 8,461 deaths this week, the highest weekly death count since May, the tracker said.

"The record levels of hospitalizations we’re already seeing will almost certainly be followed by a spike in the reported fatalities," it said.

People planning to visit Hawaii soon can show proof of a negative COVID-19 test to bypass the state's mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced that beginning Tuesday, visitors to the state must have a negative COVID-19 test in hand from "a trusted testing partner" to avoid the quarantine. 

If test results are not available before boarding the final leg of the trip, then the traveler must quarantine, he said.  

The policy applies to both international and domestic flights.

ABC News' Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a drug combination to treat COVID-19.  

The drugs are Eli Lilly's baricitinib and Gilead's remdesivir, the latter of which was given to President Donald Trump as part of his coronavirus treatment. 

The authorization is only for hospitalized adults and children 2 years of age or older who need help breathing. 

Baricitinib, which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, is not authorized as a stand-alone treatment for COVID-19. It must be used in combination with remdesivir. 

A Phase 3 study found that when used with remdesivir, the combination helped hospitalized patients recover faster than remdesivir alone, cutting the median time to recovery by about one day. 

ABC News' Sony Salzman contributed to this report