The nation is now recording an average of 3,000 deaths every day, more than the number of lives lost on September 11, 2001. Yet cases are still rising—the COVID Tracking Project reported a record 310,000 on January 8—and hospitals continue to fill with patients.

20 states didn’t update their COVID-19 data on December 25, and 24 didn’t update their data on January 1—followed by a record day with 276,000 cases reported on January 2. As I’ve noted in previous issues, reporting gaps over holidays lead to spikes several days later, as states catch up on the cases, deaths, and tests that took place over their break.