Hospitalizations reach another record high in the US.

The U.S. entered Thanksgiving with coronavirus cases and deaths soaring and hospitalizations at record levels. And on a holiday weekend that lends itself to big gatherings, public health experts still were begging people to avoid them, fearing the pandemic is about to become much worse.

The number of COVID-19 patients in U. S. hospitals hit a record for the 17th straight day Thursday, at more than 90,481, according to the COVID Tracking Project, as many medical centers warn they’re running out of capacity.

Public health officials have generally urged Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving only with members of the same household, or at least gather outdoors, to keep asymptomatic carriers from further spreading the virus.

Dr. Chris Pernell, a New Jersey physician who lost her father to COVID-19, told CNN on Thursday that she was on the phone with friends the previous night, asking them to reverse their travel plans.

“I pleaded with them: Please, stay home. Be safe so you can enjoy your loved ones in the future,” Pernell said.

Recorded cases are rising to unprecedented levels. The average number of new daily cases across a week in the U. S. was 175,809 on Wednesday — the highest on record, and more than 2 1/2 times greater than the previous peak in late July.

And COVID-19 deaths in the U. S. are spiking. More than 2,100 deaths were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday each, the first time that level was crossed on consecutive days since late April.

The average number of daily deaths across a week — 1,658 on Wednesday — is the highest it’s been since mid-May.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that Americans should not travel for Thanksgiving.

Many changed their plans, a new poll showed. But millions didn’t.

More than 1.07 million people passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints on Wednesday alone — the most in one day since March 16, around the time when coronavirus restrictions started nationwide, the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday.

More than 5.9 million people have flown through U. S. airports since the CDC’s anti- travel recommendation last week, according to TSA data.

“I don’t mean to be scary but ... today can change the course of COVID for our country for the rest of the year,” Dr. Megan Ranney, a CNN medical analyst and emergency physician at Brown University, said Thursday.

“Infections that are sustained today are going to show up in three weeks and are going to show up in deaths over Christmas and New Year’s and are going to spread in every state.”