The United States hit new daily records in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and a record high daily death toll.

An autumn surge has health experts warning of more than 450,000 deaths by February. There are currently 270,000 COVID-19 related deaths in the country, based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The country reported 200,174 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the first time the U.S. exceeded 200,000 cases in a single day. It also reported more than 100,000 hospitalizations, another first. On Tuesday, the U.S. saw its highest daily death toll - 2,798 - since the start of the pandemic, based on data from The Washington Post. This slid to 2,460 Wednesday.

The previous record high for daily deaths was 2,607 April 15. Seven states and Puerto Rico saw their highest daily death tolls Wednesday.

Of the 200,174 confirmed new cases Wednesday, 20,759 were in California, the highest number reported by a state since its previous record of 18,350, set Nov. 25.

California, Texas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Alabama and Vermont have recorded new highs in daily new cases. They are among the 13 other states reporting a surge in daily cases over the past week.

The hardest hit by hospitalizations are South Dakota, Nevada, Indiana, Montana and Nebraska.

These numbers will likely be broken within the next three weeks as the consequence of 9 million Americans traveling for Thanksgiving.

CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield predicts the COVID-19 death toll might reach 450,000 by February due to Thanksgiving travel.

"The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times," said Redfield Wednesday. "I actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."

Redfield has been warning the country for months about a devastating surge of new infections during the fall and winter.

Redfield predicts the worst is still to come.

"We're in that range potentially now, starting to see 1,500 to 2,000 to 2,500 deaths a day from this virus," noted Redfield. "So, yeah, the mortality concerns are real, and I do think, unfortunately, before we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans that have died from this virus."