U.S. CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS SURGE

As the fall surge continues, the United States has reported its second highest day of new COVID-19 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, KCRA 3 News reported.

Saturday saw 83,718 new cases, just 39 cases shy of the all-time record that was reported Friday.

Health experts have warned that the fall season would bring a resurgence of cases — and since the U.S. never lowered its daily case baseline enough, they say compounding cases will likely get worse. Already, the national cases total more than 8.5 million and 224,891 people have died, according to JHU.

"We easily will hit six-figure numbers in terms of the number of cases," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN. "And the deaths are going to go up precipitously in the next three to four weeks, following usually new cases by about two to three weeks."

Social gatherings and family events moving indoors to avoid the colder weather is largely to blame for the high rates of spread, officials said over the weekend.

In Maryland, the governor said this week family gatherings were the No. 1 source of transmission in the state, followed by house parties. In North Carolina, health officials reported its highest daily case count Friday and said they continue to see clusters "from social and religious gatherings."