The highly contagious omicron variant kept U.S. hospitalizations with COVID-19 at record levels above 158,000 on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker. U.S. new cases are averaging about 800,000 a day, although cases appear to be peaking in northeastern states that were among the first to be hit hard. New York City, Cleveland, Chicago and Washington, D.C. are showing case numbers level off and start to fall, according to a New York Times tracker. Deaths, which lag cases and hospitalizations are close to 2,000 a day, up 48% from two weeks ago.
On a global basis, the total tally for COVID-19 cases hiked up above 338 million and the death toll rose above 5.56 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with a total COVID-19 case count of 68.6 million and death toll of 857,778.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
