ANURAG MAAN and GABRIELLA BORTER THE number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has jumped nearly 50% in the last 14 days, straining the nation's healthcare system and forcing states to impose new restrictions to curb the alarming spread of the coronavirus. Nearly 79,000 people in the United States were hospitalized with the virus on Thursday, a Reuters tally shows, the most at any time during the pandemic, following sharp rises in infection rates around the country and particularly the Midwest. New social restrictions aimed at slowing community spread and lowering the infection rate were taking effect…