Just after 1,000 people died in a single day, the country is about to reach 4 million Covid-19 cases.

To put that in perspective, the first reported case came on January 21. After 99 days, 1 million Americans became infected.

It took just 43 days after that to reach 2 million cases.

And 28 days later, on July 8, the US reached 3 million cases. The 4 millionth case could come just two weeks after that.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 3.94 million people had been infected across the US, and more than 142,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Some states are reporting record-breaking numbers of new cases. Johns Hopkins reported at least 41,381 new cases in the US on Wednesday.

More governors are requiring masks, and dozens of hospitals are out of intensive care unit beds.

President Donald Trump said the United States has now conducted more than 50 million coronavirus tests. He told reporters at a White House briefing that people should wear masks, pay attention to social distancing and wash their hands. While hot spots like Florida and Texas have popped up, it's all going to work out, he said.

"We're all in this together," he said.

Some good news on the vaccine front

Several vaccine trials are progressing well, and researchers say a vaccine might be publicly available by early 2021.

Any Covid-19 vaccine that's sponsored by the US government will be free or affordable for the American public, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Wednesday.

"For any vaccine that we have bought -- so for instance the Pfizer vaccine -- those hundred million doses would actually be acquired by the US government, then given for free to Americans," Azar said.

He said the same would apply with the AstraZeneca and the Novovax vaccines.

"We will ensure that any vaccine that we're involved in sponsoring is either free to the American people or is affordable," Azar said.

And while some anti-mask protesters refuse to wear a piece of cloth to help save American lives, enormous signs of altruism have emerged.

More than 100,000 people have volunteered to participate in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"You're talking about tens and tens of thousands of people that will be needed for these multiple vaccine trials," Fauci said during a webinar Wednesday with the TB Alliance. "I think we'll be fine with regards to getting enough people."

Your top coronavirus questions, answered

Covid-19 a leading cause of death in L.A. County

California, the most populous state and the first to shut down months ago, appeared to have Covid-19 under control -- only to suffer a massive resurgence and surpass New York with the most coronavirus cases in the nation.

This month, state Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down bars and indoor restaurant services again due to an influx of cases after reopening.

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