There were 15,966 COVID-19 deaths in the US in the past seven days (pictured bottom right), an increase of 44 percent from last week, according to the COVID Tracking Project, as new cases also climbed by 27 percent to 1.4million. The US set new records in all three metrics that measure the pandemic's severity - cases, deaths, and hospitalizations - over the past seven days. The Northeast, South, and West are all seeing cases rising steeply with California alone reporting 144,000 in the past week. Hospitalizations in many Midwestern states are beginning to dip, but they are rising in 26 other states and remain the same in a further 12. California, Georgia, and Eastern states experienced the worst growth in hospitalizations in the past week (pictured top right). The rise in hospitalizations is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by fears (pictured left). It was revealed Monday that one in three intensive care units across the country were already more than 90 percent full last week as Thursday broke yet another record for national hospitalizations. For the second day in a row, more than 3,000 Americans died from coronavirus on Thursday. Experts warn that higher death tolls should be expected as new cases nationwide continue to break records.