Missouri reported 1,413 hospitalizations due to Covid-19 on Tuesday -- the highest daily count since the pandemic began, as the US grapples with a new surge of the virus.
The state's seven-day average for hospitalization is now over 1,356, according to the state's health department Covid-19 dashboard.
Missouri's hospitalization numbers include both suspected and confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Missouri has recorded a total of 148,679 Covid-19 cases, with 2,420 coronavirus related deaths in the state.
Nationwide surge: Across the country, more than 30 states have reported more Covid-19 cases this past week than they reported the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
"We went down to the lowest point lately in early September, around 30,000-35,000 new cases a day. Now we're back up to (about) 50,000 new cases a day. And it's going to continue to rise," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said Tuesday.
"This is the fall/winter surge that everyone was worried about. And now it's happening. And it's happening especially in the northern Midwest, and the Northern states are getting hit very hard -- Wisconsin, Montana, the Dakotas. But it's going to be nationally soon enough."