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Deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Virtually every state is reporting surges just as a vaccine appears days away from getting the go-ahead in the U.S. “What we do now literally will be a matter of life and death for many of our citizens,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday as he extended restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, including a ban on indoor dining and drinking at restaurants and bars. (Pane and La Corte, 12/8)

The first signs of a post-Thanksgiving surge in coronavirus cases are beginning to show up in data released by states across the country in a troubling prelude of what may become the deadliest month of the pandemic so far. Those hints of an uptick in case counts come as the country faces an already substantial wave of infections that began in the Upper Midwest and spread to every corner of the map as summer turned to fall and the weather cooled. (Wilson, 12/8)

Indiana continues to be one of the nation’s COVID-19 hot spots by many measures. In the week following Thanksgiving, Indiana was the only state that had more than 1,000 new cases a day per million people, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer organization run by The Atlantic. The website puts Indiana at an average of 1,025 new cases per day, more than any other state, between Nov. 30 and Dec. 6. South Dakota was not far behind with 984 new cases per day per million people in that time frame. (Rudavsky, 12/8)

California on Tuesday shattered single-day records of coronavirus cases and deaths — 35,400 new infections, and 219 fatalities — by far the worst tallies of the entire pandemic.Tuesday’s death toll edged out the previous single-day high for California, which was recorded on July 31, when 214 deaths were recorded , according to The Times’ independent county-by-county tally of cases. And Tuesday’s case count just eclipsed Monday’s record-breaking tally, 34,490 cases, which itself was stratospherically higher than any prior case count. (Money and Lin II, 12/8)

A judge on Tuesday dealt a rebuke to Los Angeles County public health officials racing to control Covid-19's spread, blocking an indefinite ban on outdoor dining announced late last month. "By failing to weigh the benefits of an outdoor dining restriction against its costs, the County acted arbitrarily and its decision lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate end," wrote Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant in a tentative ruling issued Tuesday to a legal challenge from the California Restaurant Association. (Murphy and Colliver, 12/8)

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is reimposing statewide coronavirus restrictions following an increase in infections and hospitalizations. Starting Sunday, residents will revert to Step 1 of Phase 3 of the reopening plan, a news release from Baker's office said. The rollback will require indoor performance venues and certain "high-contact indoor recreational businesses" to shut down. Most others will operate at 40% capacity. This includes retail shops, arcades, museums, offices and places of worship. (Jones, 12/8)

KHN: With Pandemic Surging, Ohio Gov. DeWine Dials Back His Aggressive Response

Eric Shanteau didn’t know he was about to create a viral pandemic meme when he made a cutout of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s head with two fingers pointing at his eyes, photographed the smiling visage in various strategic, comedic locations around the Toledo suburb of Maumee, and then posted the images online. He also didn’t know that the Republican governor was that day in mid-November visiting Toledo after announcing new coronavirus restrictions to counter an alarming surge in the state’s infection rates. (McAuliff, 12/9)