Dr. Vivek Murthy, the co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden's new coronavirus advisory board and former surgeon general, told "Good Morning America" Friday that targeted restrictions in specific areas, not a nationwide lockdown, would be the best path forward to combatting the virus.

"I think that's how we thought about it in the spring, but I think we've learned a lot since then about how this virus spreads and what we can do to reduce risk," he said. "And right now, the way we should be thinking about this is more like a series of restrictions that we dial up or down depending on how bad spread is taking place in a specific region."

He pointed to the success New York City has had in targeting areas down to the zip code. That approach, he said, also helps lessen the blow on the economy and COVID fatigue.

"We're not in a place where we're saying shut the whole country down. We got to be more targeted," Murthy said. "If we don't do that, what you're going to find is that people will become even more fatigued. Schools won't be open to children and the economy will be hit harder, so we've got to follow science, but we've also got to be more precise."

He said to combat the virus, the U.S. will focus on stopping the spread of COVID-19 by zeroing in on the hardest-hit communities and increasing testing.

"We still don't have adequate testing so anyone who wants a test can get one and get results quickly," Murthy told "GMA." "We still don't have enough testing to be able to do surveillance testing in universities and workplaces and in other places that are higher risk like prisons and nursing homes so that is an area where you'll see President-Elect Biden focusing expanding capacity."

States reported 151,000 cases in the U.S. on Thursday, with 67,000 people hospitalized with the virus, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Both figures are records.

California has now passed a grim milestone of over one million confirmed cases of coronavirus.

According to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the state has at least 1,006,099 diagnosed cases.

California becomes only the second state, behind Texas, to reach this threshold.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is now more than 10.55 million, with at least 242,430 deaths.

ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway

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.