The United States set another grim pandemic record Wednesday, recording 3,124 coronavirus-related deaths, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University. 

The death toll surpasses the previous high of 2,879 set last Thursday. It’s the first time the country has surpassed the 3,000 mark and the ninth time since Nov. 24 it has reported more than 2,000 deaths. 

Wednesday’s toll eclipsed American deaths on the opening day of the Normandy invasion during World War II: 2,500, out of some 4,400 allied deaths. And it topped the toll on Sept. 11, 2001, as well: 2,977.

Meanwhile Wednesday, the U.S. had 221,267 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, its second highest total. And hospitalizations from the virus continue to climb, now at a record 106,688, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

As of Thursday morning, the U.S. had recorded nearly 15.4 million virus cases and 290,000 related deaths.

The good news is that vaccines are on the horizon. The FDA on Thursday is holding a key meeting on Pfizer’s vaccine, which could be approved for emergency use within days and administered to health care workers and nursing-home residents soon after. 

But it could be well into 2021 before the majority of Americans are vaccinated, and the potential for additional mass casualties is high, experts say.

Last week, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine released new forecasts projecting 539,000 U.S. deaths by April 1, even with the rollout of vaccines. 

“Mass scale-up of vaccination in 2021 means we have a path back to normal life, but there are still a few rough months ahead,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME director. “We must be vigilant in protecting ourselves at least through April, when, as our projections indicate, vaccines will begin to have an impact.”

On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, said the country still has not seen the full brunt of Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. “That should be sometime probably next week or a week and a half,” Fauci told The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit.

On Monday, Fauci told CNN that, because they’re longer, the Christmas and New Year’s holiday “could be even more of a challenge than what we saw with Thanksgiving.”