As the nation passes the four million mark in total recorded coronavirus cases, the United States has topped another bleak milestone: the most hospitalizations per day due to the virus, The New York Times reports.
Using data from the COVID Tracking Project, the US had 59,628 hospital beds filled with patients being treated for coronavirus on Wednesday. That tops the previous national high set on April 15th, when the outbreak was largely contained to the New York City metro area.
The top areas for hospitalization are those states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, with the Texas areas in the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations with more than 100 per 100,000 residents. Miami is third with 85 per 100,000.
The only metro area outside of the Gulf of Mexico state with more than 50 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents is the Imperial Valley of southeastern California.