U.S. Cases Surge Past 70,000; France Tops Record: Virus Update

U.S. daily cases exceeded 70,000 for the first time since late July, prompting Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to call this upward curve “a precarious place to be.”

The latest data showed the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing its previous high-water mark this summer as a new surge that started in the upper Midwest drifts east to more populous areas. New York’s hospitalizations hit their highest since June. Universal masking in the U.S. could save some 130,000 lives by the end of February, Covid-19 trackers at the University of Washington projected.