Severe Covid-19 infections are beginning to abate in many parts of the United States even as the death toll mounts, signaling an end to the pandemic’s post-holiday surge and prompting some states to ease public health restrictions.
Several U.S. governors, from the coastal states of New Jersey and California to the heartland of Iowa and Ohio, acted to restrict gatherings and boost face-coverings in confronting a coronavirus surge they warned is out of control.
The White House coronavirus task force warned that much of the country is in the grips of an “unrelenting” surge in Covid-19 cases and urged tough countermeasures, as the reported number of U.S. infections hit a new daily record of more than 91,000.
Nearly 300,000 Americans could be dead from Covid-19 by Dec. 1, University of Washington health experts forecast, although they said 70,000 lives could be saved if people were scrupulous about wearing masks.
