The US recorded its second-highest one-day tally of Covid-19 deaths Tuesday, and experts say rising coronavirus hospitalizations could portend higher daily counts in the coming weeks, CNN Health reported today. It said there were 2,597 new deaths reported across the US, bringing the country's overall Covid-19 death toll to over 270,600, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The only day to top that daily total was April 15, when six more deaths were recorded. The country's daily average of Covid-19 deaths across a week is 1,531 -- above its summer high of around 1,130 but lower than the US pandemic peak above 2,240 in late April. But as coronavirus hospitalizations rise, the number of daily deaths is predicted to get worse, with various experts recently warning that it could regularly surpass 2,000 and 3,000, and perhaps approach 4,000. Recorded hospitalizations already are at unprecedented levels. More than 98,600 Covid-19 patients were in US hospitals Tuesday -- the most counted during the pandemic, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Health experts say they expect cases and hospitalizations to swell further in the coming weeks, when infections from Thanksgiving gatherings start to manifest.