U.S. COVID deaths smash daily record amid pleas to trim back Christmas

Registered nurse Tamara Jones dresses in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, outside an isolation room in the intensive care unit at Roseland Community Hospital on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -The daily U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 3,000 for the first time, prompting pleas for Americans to scale back Christmas plans even with vaccines on the cusp of winning regulatory approval.

COVID-19 deaths reached 3,253 on Wednesday, pushing up the U.S. total since the start of the pandemic to 289,740. A record 106,219 people were hospitalized with the highly infectious respiratory disease.