The number of Americans with COVID-19 currently hospitalized has surged around 73% over the past 30 days to at least 59,008 – a record level that surpasses the previous high of 58,370 on July 22. Daily new infections, meanwhile, exceeded 100,000 for the sixth consecutive day.

Hospitalizations are a key metric of how the pandemic is progressing because, unlike case counts, they are not influenced by the number of tests performed.

Texas reported the highest number of hospitalized patients with 6,103, followed by Illinois with 4,409 and California with 3,668 patients, according to the Reuters tally.