The United States reported 3,865 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday (January 6), bringing the total to 361,123, according to data from John Hopkins University. It is the most number of people to die in a single day since the start of the global pandemic.
As the number of cases continues to soar, hospitals are filling up across the country. As of Wednesday, the COVID Tracking Project reported there were a record 132,476 patients being treated for the virus.
Public health officials believe the pandemic is only going to get worse in the coming weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that the number of deaths could top 430,000 by the end of the month.
California has become the epicenter for the pandemic, with a record number of patients currently hospitalized. Of the 22,820 people hospitalized in the state, about 8,000 of them are in hospitals in Los Angeles County.
The nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, hopes that we can get the pandemic under control as more and more people get vaccinated. While he admitted that administering the vaccines has gone slower than anticipated, he believes we can get caught up by the middle of January.
"Clearly, no excuses. We should have gotten 20 distributed, and 20 into the arms of people -- by 20, I mean 20 million," Dr. Fauci told the Economic Club of Washington.
"Again, no excuses, but you can explain why you may not have gotten to the level you want. Now, not to make excuses, we should have done better. So, let me make that clear," Fauci said. "We should have done better, but I think we should wait until we get into maybe the second or the third week in January to see if we can now catch up with the original pace that was set."
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