US sets new daily case record for 2nd straight day
The U.S. reached its single-day record with over 90,000 COVID-19 cases.
Over 45.4 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The criteria for diagnosis -- through clinical means or a lab test -- has also varied from country to country.
COVID-19 has killed more than 1.18 million people worldwide.
The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 9 million diagnosed cases and at least 229,585 lives lost.
The U.S. battle against the pandemic is headed in a dangerous direction as the nation reached its single-day record for cases on Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Forty-two states and territories are in an upward trajectory of new cases, according to an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News.
Latest headlines:
Illinois reports record high number of cases
Illinois on Friday reported 6,943 cases, exceeding Thursday's record of 6,363.
“Things are moving in a bad direction all across our state,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. "We have a real problem on our hands and people’s lives hang in the balance."
The state's seven-day positivity rate has increased to 8.5%. At least 402,000 people have been diagnosed, and at least 9,711 have died.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
Ohio breaks yet another daily case record
Ohio reached a record number of daily cases for the second day in a row on Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine said.
With 3,845 more cases in the last 24 hours, the state now has over 212,000 people diagnosed.
Sixteen more people died in Ohio in the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s death toll to 5,291, according to state data.
Georgia governor quarantining after exposure
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife are quarantining after learning on Friday that they “were recently exposed to an individual who received a positive test,” tweeted Kemp’s press secretary, Cody Hall.
Kemp and the first lady, Marty Kemp, have since been tested, Hall said. Results of their tests have not yet been released.
Florida tops 800,000 cases
Florida reported 5,592 daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the state’s total to 800,216, according to Florida’s Department of Health.
Florida, a key state in the election, has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, behind California and Texas, respectively.
There were 92 more deaths recorded in Florida in the last 24 hours, bringing the fatality total to 16,947, according to state data.
Florida’s positivity rate stands at 5.89%.
ABC News’ Scott Withers contributed to this report.
ICU beds are 80% filled in quarter of US hospitals
With COVID-19 cases spiking across the U.S., hospitals are once again filling up. At least 25% of hospitals across the country have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled, according to an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News.
The percentage of hospitals at that number was 17-18% during the summertime peak.
Two of the hardest-hit states include Idaho and Wisconsin.
Hospitals in Idaho are so constrained that the governor is moving the state back to Stage 3 of reopening plans.
Death rates in Idaho doubled from 22 to 44 between Oct. 19-25, as the statewide test positivity rate rose from 16.7% to 18.7%. That rate is more than triple the national rate. Hospitalizations have climbed sharply since the beginning of October and now the state has reported a new four-month peak of 14.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 people during the week ending Oct 25.
In the southern town of Twin Falls, one out of every four hospitalized patients is infected with COVID-19 and regional hospitals have postponed non-emergency surgeries. At St. Luke Magic Valley, the COVID unit is 97% full, ICU units are running at least 125% above normal and adequate staffing is an issue, HHS said in its memo.
In Wisconsin, the state reported 5,262 new cases and a record 64 new deaths on Oct, 27, both of which were the highest for the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
The seven-day case average in the Badger State is 3,975 while the test-positivity rate is 25.7%.
Officials, according to the HHS memo, anticipate the situation will get worse in the coming weeks. At least 84% of all beds in the state are occupied with 447 patients on ventilators but Wisconsin does have 2,324 ventilators available.