For a second day in a row, the United States reported more than 1,100 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. The New York Times reports nearly 60,000 people are now hospitalized for COVID-19 across the country, nearly eclipsing the number of hospitalizations during the peak of the pandemic in April. California set new single-day records on Wednesday for cases and hospitalizations. The U.S. death toll has now topped 143,000, with the total number of confirmed cases approaching 4 million. The governors of Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio all announced new orders requiring residents to wear masks in public. Meanwhile, a number of large businesses, including Costco, Walmart, Winn-Dixie and Whole Foods, are now requiring customers to wear masks. On Wednesday, the Trump administration awarded a $2 billion contract with Pfizer and a German partner to make 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that is still being tested.