A routine tuberculosis vaccine may help reduce deaths from COVID-19, researchers reported on Thursday in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After accounting for differences in factors that might affect vulnerability to the virus - such as income, education, health services and age distribution - the researchers found that countries with higher rates of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccinations for tuberculosis had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19. U.S. cases rose 1.9%, matching the average daily rise over the past week. Texas hospitalizations topped 10,000 for the first time and California suffered its second-highest day of deaths, while Florida’s biggest county had a record number of patients in its intensive-care units. Miami-Dade hospitalizations, including ICU patients, rose to another record, capping a week of concerning data in Florida’s most populous country. Patients on ventilators increased to 194, the highest number since April 20, according to the county’s daily report on Friday. The number of people hospitalized for the virus rose by 31 in a day to 1,779 with intensive-care patients rising by increasing to 386 from 363. More than 10,000 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in Texas Friday, the first time the state has reached that benchmark. Cases there jumped by 9,765, an increase of 4.2% compared with the seven-day average of 3.9%. The state has added close to 10,000 cases for each of the last four days, and deaths have begun to spike in tandem, with another 98 fatalities exceeding the seven-day average.