Officials across the United States reported 59,782 cases on Thursday, setting a single-day record for the sixth time in 10 days, according to a New York Times database. The surge has been driven largely by states in the South and the West that were among the first to ease restrictions established during the virus’s initial wave in the spring.
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At least six states set single-day case records on Thursday: Alabama, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, and Texas.
The numbers were especially striking in Texas, which set a record for the fourth consecutive day with more than 10,900 cases. Nearly one in 10 of them were in Hidalgo County, which consists of over a thousand square miles of scrub and urban sprawl on the Mexico border.
“Several months ago, I warned of a potential tsunami if we did not take this more seriously,” Richard F. Cortez, the county judge for Hidalgo, said in a statement on Thursday. “The tsunami is here.”
Thursday’s national total narrowly beat the record 59,453 cases that were reported on Wednesday, though some of Thursday’s case numbers had yet to be announced.
And at least two states recorded their highest death totals for a single day: Florida, with 120, and Tennessee, with 22.
As cases continue to rise, hospitals across the South and the West have been flooded, forcing them to cancel elective surgeries and discharge some Covid-19 patients early to make beds available.
In Florida, more than 40 intensive-care units in 21 counties have hit capacity. In Mississippi, five of the state’s largest hospitals have already run out of I.C.U. beds for critical patients.
The number of daily cases has escalated drastically in recent weeks after ebbing through much of the late spring. Even in California, once seen as a model for how to contain the virus, new cases are up 275 percent since May 25.
Health officials are concerned about the current surge in part because it is larger than the one that hit the United States in the spring. When the Northeast was the center of the U.S. outbreak and testing was more scarce, the country reached a single-day peak of 36,739 new cases on April 24.
That record stood until June 24, when the daily total was 36,880. And Thursday was the sixth day with more than 50,000 cases recorded nationwide.
On Saturday, President Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in New Hampshire, one of just two states experiencing declines in cases. Yet, officials, there are concerned about the rally.
“It’s not what we need right now in terms of COVID,” said Tom Rath, a Republican who is a former New Hampshire attorney general.
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Mr. Trump’s campaign said it did not have a sense of the expected turnout for the event, which will be held mostly outside at a Portsmouth airport hangar, and campaign officials are strongly encouraging attendees to wear face masks.
Last month, health officials in Tulsa, Okla., raised concerns about the possibility that an indoor Trump campaign rally there would become a “super spreader” event and advised people over 60 years old — who are at greater risk of virus-related complications — not to attend. This week, the Tulsa area got a record number of new cases.
