The United States reported more than 195,000 COVID-19 cases on Friday — a new daily high and the ninth time this month a record has been set for new confirmed infections, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations topped 82,000 Friday, and there have been 1,300 deaths a day since Sunday.
Across the nation, more and more cities, counties and states are clamping down, issuing restrictions on restaurants and gyms and implementing curfews in a desperate effort to curb the surge, Tom Hanson reports for "CBS This Morning: Saturday."
For the estimated 50 million Thanksgiving travelers who are doing so against recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving thanks may also mean taking big risks.
"Anyone at higher risk of disease, we're encouraging please, it's better not to go. Don't take a chance right now," said Dr. Rob Danoff, director of Jefferson Health Northeast's Family Medicine Residency Program.
In state after state, there's alarm.
"It's rather shocking, but about one in every 49 Coloradans are contagious with this," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
In Oregon, the daily number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths set records.
In hard-hit North Dakota, a state with one of the highest daily death tolls per cap in the world, 60 Air Force nurses have been dispatched to help relieve exhausted health care workers.
A healthcare professional suits up with PPE to enter a COVID-19 patient's room in the ICU at Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert, Ohio on November 20, 2020.
MEGAN JELINGER/AFP via Getty Images
Everywhere, frontline fighters who work with COVID-19 patients are testifying to their own trauma.
"I have never seen so much death and so much sickness in the past two weeks than I have in my entire ten years in healthcare," said Ashley Bartholomew, a registered nurse.
With hospitals overrun by COVID-19 patients, officials in Newark, New Jersey asked residents to stay home for 10 days, from November 25 until December 4. They're essentially asking people not to go outside unless they need to.
In Philadelphia, restaurants are restricted again, this time to outdoor dining — no more than four per table. Museums, libraries and gyms are also closed, and youth and community sports are prohibited.
And California has imposed an overnight 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. stay-home order. Drivers waited in long lines Friday at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles for drive-thru testing.
The promise of a vaccine moved closer to reality this week. Pfizer applied for an emergency vaccine approval that could mean health care professionals can start being vaccinated in December. There's even hope 50 million doses will be available by the end of the year.
CBS News has learned a massive effort is underway for scientific review of the vaccine, which is essential to ensure it is truly safe.