Three states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project and state health departments. Hawaii and North Dakota both surpassed records set the previous week.

Why it matters: Dramatic single-day increases have become less frequent as the country's outbreak begins to slow down and hotspots improve.

Records broken:

• Aug. 21: Iowa (991)
• Aug. 20: North Dakota (274)
• Aug. 19: Hawaii (394)
• Aug. 18: None
• Aug. 17: None
• Aug. 16: None
• Aug. 15: None. California saw its second-highest daily spike with 12,614 new cases.

Zoom in: Hospitalizations in North Dakota — which has seen record highs every week since mid-July — have steadily risen through August. Most of the state's active cases are people between 20 to 29 years old, per state data.

• Hawaii's first jump in cases started at the end of July. All out-of-state visitors are ordered to quarantine for 14 days after arriving.
• The number of people hospitalized daily in Iowa has continued to grow this month.

The big picture: New infections in the U.S. dropped by nearly 8% over the past week — the fourth straight week of nationwide improvement, Axios' Sam Baker and Andrew Witherspoon report.

What they're saying: "It will end. We will get out of this and we will return to normal. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Don’t throw caution to the wind. We can end this. The combination of pulling together with public health measures and the scientific advances of vaccines and therapies and preventions. I will guarantee you that," NIAID director Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post in an Instagram Live Q&A this week.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include COVID Tracking Project (CTP) data, in addition to data taken directly from state health departments. CTP began reporting non-resident cases as part of Alaska's total case count on July 16.

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