Coronavirus updates: 12 states report record-high hospitalizations

January 6, 2021January 7, 2021 WKXA

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 86.7 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news developed Wednesday. All times Eastern:

Jan 06, 2:56 pm
Hard Rock Stadium opens as Florida’s first drive-thru vaccination site

Hard Rock Stadium in Miami is opening as Florida’s first state-operated drive-thru vaccination site for front-line health care workers and people ages 65 and older.

First doses were administered in a “soft launch” on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. The site will fully open on Friday.

“Once fully operational, the site will offer 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine per day free of charge,” the governor’s office said.

The stadium will also continue to provide COVID-19 testing.

Jan 06, 1:52 pm
LA seeing infection every 6 seconds, death every 10 minutes: Mayor

Hard-hit Los Angeles is enduring a new coronavirus infection every six seconds and a new death every 10 minutes, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.

The mayor spoke at one of four new vaccination sites opening on Wednesday for health care workers who cannot get vaccinations through employers.

Overall, the city of Los Angeles will be administering over 2,000 vaccinations every day, he said.

Jan 06, 1:05 pm
CDC estimates life-threatening allergic reactions could occur in 11 out of 1 million vaccine shots

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it estimates that life-threatening allergic reactions could occur in about 11 out of every 1 million COVID-19 vaccine shots given.

That number is about 10 times higher than anaphylactic reactions to flu shots. However, officials are cautioning that the chances of any kind of adverse reaction are still incredibly rare as well as easy to manage so long as the person has access to treatment such as epinephrine.

“Our vaccine safety systems haven’t picked up any worrisome signal. This means that right now, the known and potential benefits of the current COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the known and potential risks, getting COVID-19,” Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Wednesday.

With both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available in the U.S., Messonier said one isn’t thought to be more prone to trigger allergies.

The CDC’s estimate is based on 21 cases of anaphylaxis following a 10-day period after the administration of 1.9 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The vast majority of these reactions — 71%– occurred within 15 minutes of the vaccination. Follow-up information was provided on 20 of the 21 cases, and all of them recovered.

The CDC recommends that anyone experiencing a life-threatening reaction to the vaccine not receive the second dose.

They also recommend that people with a history of allergies be observed for 30 minutes after receiving the shot.

Jan 06, 12:35 pm
12 states in South, West report record-high hospitalizations

Approximately 1 in every 15 Americans has contracted the coronavirus, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 700,000 Americans have been hospitalized with the virus.

On Tuesday, 12 states — mostly in the South — reported a record number of patients hospitalized: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Some data may be skewed due to incomplete reporting over the holidays.

Jan 06, 12:25 pm
12 states in South, West report record-high hospitalizations

Approximately 1 in every 15 Americans has contracted the coronavirus, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 700,000 Americans have been hospitalized with the virus.

Some data may be skewed due to incomplete reporting over the holidays.

Jan 06, 10:54 am
European Commission authorizes Moderna vaccine

The European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorisation for the Moderna vaccine Wednesday, following the European Medicines Agency’s recommendation.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement, “With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorised in the EU, we will have a further 160 million doses. And more vaccines will come. Europe has secured up to two billion doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines. We’ll have more than enough safe and effective vaccines for protecting all Europeans.”

Jan 06, 8:33 am
Surgeon general promises vaccine rollout is ‘ramping up’

In the wake of the slower-than-expected vaccine distribution, Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told ABC News’ Good Morning America Wednesday, “we are quickly ramping up.” 

Operation Warp Speed promised 20 million vaccines by the end of 2020. As of Tuesday morning, 4.8 million had been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’re now approaching 500,000 vaccinations per day,” Adams said, highlighting the increase in priority groups and locations where the vaccine is offered. 

“We’re going to make sure we’re putting vaccines and supplies where the demand actually is. And you’re going to continue to see these rates ramp up,” Adams said. “It is by no means as good as we would want it to be, but I want the American people to keep this in perspective: most difficult vaccine rollout in history. It’s ramping up and you’ll see things rapidly increase over the next couple of weeks.”

Jan 06, 7:44 am
EU medical agency recommends emergency use authorization for Moderna vaccine

The European Medicines Agency has recommended granting a conditional marketing authorization for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for people who are at least 18 years old.

This is the second vaccine the EMA has recommended for authorization. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved by the EU in December.

The EMA cited a large clinical trial, involving around 30,000 people, that showed a 94.1% efficacy rate.

“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, executive director of EMA. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO.”

The European Commission must give final approval of the conditional marketing authorization in order for the vaccine to be distributed, but that appears to be a formality.

Jan 06, 7:24 am
US sees record death total Tuesday

The U.S. recorded it’s deadliest day since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

There were 3,775 deaths reported — the previous record was on Dec. 30 when 3,744 deaths were reported.

It should be noted that the holidays have impacted data being reported and are expected to continue to be skewed over the coming days.

The U.S. now has 375,385 deaths related to COVID-19.