The Omicron variant is to blame for a record number of new cases, hospitalizations, and an all-time high test positivity rate in the United States today.

On Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University recorded 1,483,656 new daily cases across the country. This is more than 300,000 cases higher than the previous high of 1,044,970 cases set just eight days prior on January 3.

The increase is being propelled by a 7-day average test positivity rate of 26.3 percent, which is also a record, as of Sunday. Because it is an average taken over seven days, it is typically regarded a better indication of infection transmission than instances. It was up about 25% from the previous week, when it was 20.9 percent. On April 3, 2020, the previous all-time high of 23% was seen.

With a test positivity rate of 26%, one out of every four Americans is infected with the virus. Given that the total is based on a seven-day average, it may be higher or lower today, though a record number of new cases suggests the former.

The CDC's Covid hospitalization tracker showed 127,963 persons hospitalized with the virus as of January 9th. That surpasses the previous peak of 125,277 Covid hospitalizations set on January 6, 2021, almost exactly a year ago. The New York Times examined statistics from the United States. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the infection has resulted in an even higher number of hospitalizations.

However, because hospitalizations are a lagging signal, meaning they trail peaks in cases by roughly 2-3 weeks, the number of Americans hospitalized with the virus is anticipated to rise even more. Deaths take another 1-2 weeks to arrive.

As a result, the recent hospitalizations are based on infections that occurred several weeks ago, when test positivity was over 18 percent and the total number of new daily cases was slightly under 600,000. Since then, the former has increased by 44 percent, while the latter has increased by roughly 150 percent.