Exactly nine months to the day since New Jersey reported its first confirmed coronavirus case, it smashed its single-day case record for the second time in two days. Friday's number -- 5,673 -- topped the previous record by 700-plus. It's a pattern reflective of the current plight in America, with the United States setting and then besting again new single-day case, death and hospitalization records over the last 72 hours. The holiday effect won't even be known for weeks. How much worse could it get? Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to delve into the state's COVID modeling next week, when his health commissioner, who has been quarantined after exposure to an infected person, returns to join his briefings. Like Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York, Murphy says the numbers will get worse -- it's just a matter of degree. According to an NJ.com report ahead of Murphy's Friday briefing, the state's "moderate" projection model has New Jersey peaking around 5,400 new daily cases by mid-December and nearly 5,000 hospitalizations by New Year's Day. The latter metric isn't expected to substantially decline until March under the moderate model, which presumes people continue with mitigation efforts. The 5,000 hospitalization projection includes nearly 1,000 people in intensive or critical care and more than 600 on ventilators, NJ.com reported. Those projections are markedly higher than where the state stands currently, though not nearly as what it saw in spring, when there were more than 8,000 people in hospitals. As of now, New Jersey is averaging more than 4,100 new daily cases over the last week. Hospitalizations have topped 3,300, numbers not seen since May, with 615 patients in intensive care and 386 on ventilators. While hospitalizations have soared in recent weeks, officials do expect fewer critical hospitalizations and less death than they saw at the crisis' peak in the spring, given improvements in treatment. Murphy says capacity is OK for now.