By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Zamira Rahim and Ed Upright, CNN
From CNN’s Virginia Langmaid
The United States reported 125,544 Covid-19 hospitalizations on Sunday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the 33rd consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations.
The highest hospitalization numbers according to CTP data are:
From CNN's Devan Cole
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on Sunday said he has "no reason to doubt" the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Covid-19 death toll, contradicting President Donald Trump's claim that the agency has "exaggerated" its numbers.
"From a public health perspective, I have no reason to doubt those numbers," Adams told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" when asked about Trump's claim.
"And I think people need to be very aware that it's not just about the deaths, as we talked about earlier," he added. "It's about the hospitalizations, the capacity. These cases are having an impact in an array of ways and people need to understand there's a finish line in sight, but we've got to keep running toward it."
Earlier Sunday, Trump claimed on Twitter that the number of cases and deaths of the "China Virus is far exaggerated" because of the CDC's "ridiculous method of determination" compared to other countries, which "report, purposely, very inaccurately and low."
"'When in doubt, call it Covid,'" Trump wrote in a tweet.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House's coronavirus task force, also pushed back against the President's claim on Sunday when asked about it, telling ABC News that "the deaths are real deaths."
"In many areas of the country, the hospital beds are stretched. People are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted right now," Fauci said. "That's real. that's not fake. That's real."
CNN reported In September that the CDC had to double down against rumors suggesting that coronavirus deaths have been greatly exaggerated, with the agency's top expert on mortality saying people are misinterpreting standard death certificate language.
From CNN's Madeline Holcombe and Eric Levenson
California reported Sunday that 45,352 people newly tested positive for Covid-19, continuing a surge that has pushed hospitals and their exhausted staff to the brink.
Around the United States, hospitals are racing to keep up with surges of Covid-19 patients at numbers they have not seen at any other time in the pandemic.
Overall, at least 125,000 people nationwide were in the hospital with coronavirus on Sunday, marking more than a month that the number of hospitalizations has exceeded 100,000, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Emergency room officials in California said hospitals are treating an unprecedented number of coronavirus patients, including some health care workers.
At Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, 44 employees in the emergency department tested positive for the virus between December 27 and January 1, according to Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager.
Chavez said in a separate statement that the medical center is investigating whether an inflatable, air-powered costume may have played a role in the spread.
"A staff member did appear briefly in the emergency department on Dec. 25th wearing an air-powered costume," Chavez said. "Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent, and quite accidental, as the individual had no Covid symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around them during what is a very stressful time."
Chavez said in the statement that air-powered costumes will no longer be allowed at the facility.
Military support: In Southern California, design and construction experts from the US Army Corps of Engineers have been deployed to the Los Angeles area to "evaluate and where necessary upgrade oxygen delivery systems" at about a half dozen hospitals.
One area hospital converted administrative offices and break rooms into treatment areas for their coronavirus patients, said Col. Julie Balten, commander of the Los Angeles District for the Corps of Engineers.