COVID-19 has shattered records for new cases in the US Midwest, straining hospitals, and will darken New York's Broadway theatres until June.
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The Broadway closure that began in March had been due to end in early January until the Broadway League industry group announced the extension on Friday.
A dozen Midwestern states together reported a record 16,807 new cases on Thursday, according to a Reuters analysis.
The surge is most extreme in the northern Midwest, where weather is the coldest. Illinois reported its biggest increase since May 14 on Thursday.
The number of Midwest COVID-19 patients hospitalised hit a record high on Thursday for the fourth consecutive and now tops 8000. Nationally, nearly 34,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalised, the highest since September 4.
Michigan's hospitalisations reached 918 on Thursday, up from 687 the previous day. Wisconsin is opening a field hospital outside Milwaukee with the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalised hitting a new record on Thursday.
While deaths nationally decline, health experts say they are a lagging indicator that usually rises weeks after cases surge.
Cases are rising in New York, a city that early in the pandemic endured the world's most rampant outbreak. To curb a second wave, the city has closed businesses and schools in neighbourhood hot spots, drawing protests from a small contingent of Orthodox Jews.
The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalised in the state has been steadily creeping up from the middle to upper 400s last month to 779 on Thursday, while the infection rate, which had been below 1 per cent for most of the late summer was above 1.1 per cent this week.
US President Donald Trump, who began a three-day hospital stay a week ago with his own COVID-19 infection, is set to resume his re-election campaign on Saturday by addressing supporters from the balcony of the White House.
The president's campaign schedule ramps up with a rally at an airport in central Florida on Monday.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would resume talks on a possible economic stimulus package with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday, but Senate Republicans voiced doubts that a deal can be reached before the election.
Australian Associated Press
