There were 10,784 deaths recorded from Nov. 17 to 23, marking a 26.9% increase in new deaths compared with the previous week, according to an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News Tuesday night.

New cases increased 12.2% during that time, and the national test-positivity rate dropped to 10.3% from 10.8%, the memo said.

Across the country, 27% of hospitals have more than 80% of their intensive care unit beds filled.

Maine, Pennsylvania and Texas saw unprecedented increases in COVID-19 cases, and hospitalizations in Pennsylvania surpassed their April peak, the memo noted.

ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 set a new record for the 15th consecutive day on Tuesday, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

There were 88,080 people currently hospitalized, based on the tracker. The record-setting run began on Nov. 10 with 62,062 hospitalizations.

Hospitalizations are increasing "at an extremely fast rate" in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the tracker said.

The U.S. also saw more than 2,000 new COVID-19 deaths for the first time since early May, COVID Tracking Project data shows, with states reporting 2,028 fatalities on Tuesday.

The University of Minnesota has paused its football program and canceled Saturday's game against Wisconsin due to a "sudden increase" in COVID-19 cases, officials said.

Nine student-athletes and six staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last five days, officials said Tuesday. The program is also awaiting confirmation of additional presumptive positive tests.

The numbers marked a "sudden increase in positive cases," Dr. Brad Nelson, the department's medical director, said in a statement. The pause "will allow the team to focus on stopping the spread of the virus," he said.

The cancellation marks the first time Minnesota and Wisconsin won't play in 113 consecutive years, ending the longest uninterrupted series in Football Bowl Subdivision history, according to ESPN.

Saturday's game at Wisconsin will not be rescheduled, per Big Ten policy, and will be ruled a no contest.

Minnesota officials said they hope to be healthy enough to play Northwestern on Dec. 5.

With holiday travel approaching, a top White House coronavirus official warned against a false sense of security that a negative COVID-19 test might provide.

"Please remember that a negative test today does not mean you will be negative tomorrow or in a few days afterwards," Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said on a call with reporters Tuesday. "We know that a single test can provide false senses of security. You still have to wear your mask and everything else."

"If you're negative today, you could be positive by Thanksgiving or Friday," he continued. "You can get it while you're traveling on vacation."

Giroir confirmed that the Trump administration is considering shortening the recommended coronavirus quarantine time from 14 days to 10 days, complemented by a negative test administered on day seven or 10 -- as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. They are "right now reviewing the evidence," he said.

Demand for testing ahead of the holiday continues to strain the diagnostics system, prompting recurrent warnings from major labs that turnaround times may be delayed. Testing could become even further strapped if a shortened quarantine would require a negative test. 

When asked if the system has the ability to handle such widespread asymptomatic screening, Giroir said he was "certainly cognizant" of the turnaround times and was doing "everything possible to increase those supplies."

"Asymptomatic testing is very important, but we need to do that on targeted populations," he said. "We're not at the point that sort of every American can test themselves every day, without a reason to do that. We are trying to build that infrastructure."

ABC News' Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report

A COVID-19 patient whose lungs had been severely damaged by the virus has made a miraculous recovery after undergoing a double lung transplant at a Texas hospital.

Paul Rodriguez, 52, of San Antonio, had no pre-existing conditions when he contracted the novel coronavirus and fell ill with pneumonia in July. Rodriguez was hospitalized at an area hospital in his hometown and required intubation as well as the use of a ventilator. Then in mid-September, Rodriguez was transferred to Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston for evaluation, "as it became clear that a lung transplant was his only chance of survival," according to a press release from the hospital, which said the patient had "irreversible lung damage."

Rodriguez was approved for a transplant and, within a week of listing, he received a brand-new set of lungs on Oct. 15. After being successfully weaned off the ventilator and oxygen support, Rodriguez underwent rehabilitation at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and was discharged on Nov. 24. He is expected to continue the rehabilitation program as part of his recovery, according to the press release.

"Rodriguez is the first double lung transplant the hospital has performed on a coronavirus patient since the pandemic began," Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center said in a statement. "To date, only a handful of transplant centers in the U.S. have performed lung transplants on patients due to irreversible lung damage caused by the virus."