--- title: The U.S. Just Set a New Daily Record for COVID-19 Cases description: It appears that, when it comes to cases, the third wave of coronavirus in the U.S. is the worst yet, with a new daily record set Oct. 23. canonical: https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/ author: Chris Wilson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-25T14:54:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T16:54:33.000Z article:section: Health og:title: The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two og:description: As of Oct. 23, there was a weekly average of 21.2 infections per 100,000 residents in the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two twitter:description: As of Oct. 23, there was a weekly average of 21.2 infections per 100,000 residents in the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:54 PM UTCPublished: Oct 25, 2020 2:54 PM UTC  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:54 PM UTCPublished: Oct 25, 2020 2:54 PM UTC Just days before a momentous and unpredictable Presidential election, the United States has reached a new record high in the number of daily COVID-19 infections, surpassing the peak in mid-July during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic’s domestic toll. As of Oct. 24, there was a [weekly average of 23.0 infections per 100,000 residents](https://time.com/5800901/coronavirus-map/), up from 20.5 on July 19 and ticking rapidly upward. The country also set a new single-day record on Oct. 23 with 83,757 new cases. There have been [clear signs for weeks of a third wave of the pandemic](https://time.com/5893916/covid-19-coronavirus-third-wave/) in the U.S. as the weather gets colder and the virus has migrated from metropolitan regions to more rural settings. But it was far from certain, at the beginning of October, that the resurgence would surpass that of the summer, even though the figures were climbing far sooner than the timeline of the most promising vaccine trials, one of which [was temporarily halted](https://time.com/5899275/johnson-covid19-coronavirus-vaccine-trial/) after a volunteer became ill but is [set to resume soon](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/23/astrazeneca-resumes-us-covid-19-vaccine-trial-johnson-johnson.html). We know now that the third wave will be worse than the second, which was far worse than the first, when cases peaked at 9.7 per 100,000 on April 7. The twin threads of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Presidential Election that have cornered the headline market all year were perhaps destined to converge, but the timing couldn’t have come any more conspicuously, as [deadlines for requesting and submitting mail-in ballots](https://time.com/5889969/how-to-vote-by-mail/) loom or have passed in many states and polling locations scramble to enact safety measures for those who vote in person. The COVID-19 pandemic has ground many sectors of life to a complete halt or, at best, a crawl. Even after the election results are clear, which is unlikely to be next Tuesday evening, all signs suggest the winner will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2021 at a generous distance from Chief Justice John Roberts—if not by Zoom. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/"},"headline":"The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two","datePublished":"2020-10-25T14:54:52.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T16:54:33.000Z","description":"As of Oct. 23, there was a weekly average of 21.2 infections per 100,000 residents in the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5903673/record-daily-coronavirus-cases/","name":"The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two"}}]}] ```