NEW YORK - At least 150,000 people in the U.S. have died from corononavirus, according to the New York Times database, with about 1,000 deaths per day in the past week.

During the early peak of the U.S. epidemic in late April, the national death toll was driven by a surge in New York State, which at the worst was reporting about 1,000 deaths a day, roughly half the national total at that time.

These days, the toll is being felt much more widely across many states, especially in the South.

The rate of deaths continues to rise on the heels of ballooning infections and hospitalizations in many areas.

Federal officials urged states to take aggressive action to slow the spread of the virus while the president talked up nonexistent “virus-free” areas. Big retailers are mandating masks, but enforcement is an issue.

The nation’s overall death toll reached the grim figure on Wednesday, five months after the first reported virus death in the United States in February. The nation passed the 50,000 mark on April 27 and 100,000 on May 27, a milestone whose approach The New York Times commemorated by filling its front page with names of the dead.

while New York is reporting about 16 deaths a day on average. For example, more than 2,100 deaths have been reported in the past week in Texas, the state with the highest recent death toll relative to its population, followed by Arizona and South Carolina. On Wednesday, Florida again set its single-day record for deaths, reporting 216 fatalities, bringing the state’s total to 6,332.