Coronavirus tally: Daily death toll tops 3,400 and hospitalizations jump, but more than 1 million vaccinated

It was another very somber day on the COVID-19 front in the U.S., as there were more than 3,400 deaths and nearly 2,000 people were hospitalized, taking some of the shine off reaching what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called an “early but important” milestone of more than 1 million vaccinated. Daily new cases of COVID-19 rose to 227,522 on Wednesday from 201,674 on Tuesday, according to data provided by the New York Times. The death toll increased to 3,411 from 3,239, to mark the second-worst day since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations grew by 1,702 to a record 119,463 on Wednesday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Overall, the U.S. has reported a total of 18,466,227 cases as of early Thursday and 326,232 deaths, while globally, cases rose to 78,810,611 and deaths climbed to 1,732,834, data from Johns Hopkins University show. The silver lining is that more than 1 million people have been vaccinated since the first dose was administered on Dec. 14. “There is currently a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., but supply will increase in the weeks and months to come,” the CDC said. “The goal is for everyone to be able to easily get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as large enough quantities are available.”