As U.S. COVID-19 deaths shatter records, leaders plead for more mask-wearing

A health care worker warms himself on a portable heater as others give coronavirus tests at a COVID drive-thru testing center at Bergen Community College, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Paramus, New Jersey, U.S., December 3, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. leaders urgently called on Americans to wear masks and threatened even more drastic stay-at-home orders after deaths from the coronavirus set a single-day record, with two people dying every minute.

More than 213,830 new cases and 2,861 deaths were reported on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally of official data. With U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations also at record levels, several experts project the death toll will soon surpass 3,000 per day.