Washington (People's Daily) - The US surpassed 15 million total reported COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, meaning one in 22 Americans have tested positive for the virus.

In this Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, file photo, critical care nurses and respiratory therapists flip a patient with COVID-19 upright at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn. Virtually every state is reporting surges in cases and deaths. (Photo: AP)

Experts said the actual number of infections is much higher.

According to real-time statistics from Johns Hopkins University, as of 6 pm Eastern Time on December 8, a total of 15,113,860 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 285,779 deaths cases have been reported in the US. In the past 24 hours, the US reported 204,712 new cases and 2,276 new deaths.

CNN reported that the cases and hospitalizations also are soaring in the US, as more physicians and nurses warn they're perilously low on space, staff and energy to take care of burgeoning numbers of patients. The number of new daily cases in US for a week ending Monday was 201,154 -- a record for the pandemic. More than 104,600 COVID-19 patients were in US hospitals on Monday -- the highest for the pandemic.

Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that cases continued to rise rapidly. “The trouble is, you go to different parts of the country, and even when the outbreak is clear and hospitals are on the verge of being overrun, there are a substantial proportion of the people who still think that this is not real, that it's fake news or that it's a hoax," Fauci said.

Fauci has advised six presidents. He said he's never seen anything like this.