Americans in holiday rush despite highest Covid-19 death toll in 6 months

Across New York City, lines at COVID-19 testing sites wrapped around the block on Wednesday, video on Twitter showed

Record hospitalizations and a surging death toll failed to keep Americans from traveling a day before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, raising fears that the unchecked spread under way is a prelude to further contagion at Christmastime.

Daily U.S. deaths from COVID-19 surpassed 2,000 for the first time since May on Tuesday and hospitalizations reached a record 88,000 on Wednesday as the country recorded 2.3 million new infections in the past two weeks alone. Steep surges in cases typically result in a rising death toll weeks later.

Coronavirus deaths reached 2,157 on Tuesday - one person every 40 seconds -