Our daily update is published. States reported 70k cases today, the third-highest number we’ve seen. The country is nearing the peak level of COVID-19 patients hospitalized (~60k). States reported 1,126 deaths, and the 7-day average is now over 800, back to the levels of June. 
California, Missouri, Oklahoma, and North Dakota all set new records for cases today.
A note: we found a better official source of Alabama data. This pushed up the historical numbers of hospitalizations by ~400 in mid-April. Without that backfill, today would have set the new peak for hospitalized COVID-19 patients the U.S. Even so, today’s figure is 3rd all-time.
The South set a new record for deaths across the region yesterday at 592. Today, the South reported 725 deaths.
Some states—like New Mexico—have so far managed to keep the virus from growing exponentially, even after substantial outbreaks inside their borders and in neighboring states.
