At current rates, US deaths will reach 50,000 later this week.
The total number of US cases was approaching 850,000 with most states yet to report on Thursday.
US cases rose by over 30,000 on Wednesday, the biggest increase in five days but in line with an average of 30,000 new cases a day in April, according to a Reuters tally.
Across the country, state officials say there remain bottlenecks in testing capacity, shortages of materials such as swabs used for taking samples and not enough workers to contact- trace infections.