January 5 coronavirus news

As cases in the state of Arizona continue to trend upwards, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported just 8% of ICU beds were available as of Monday. There are just 8% of regular hospital beds available as well.

According to the state's Covid-19 dashboard, 62% of people in the ICU are Covid-19 patients. About 57% of the state’s available ventilators are in use.  

On Tuesday, the state reported 5,932 new cases and 253 Covid-19 related deaths, ADHS said. The state has a 12.7% positivity rate.  

Note: These numbers were released by the state's public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University, The Covid Tracking Project and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid-19 infections in the United States may have been four times higher than the number of cases reported, with 1 in 7 US residents infected by mid-November, according to a new study. 

As of November 15, about 10.8 million reported cases of Covid-19 were reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the study suggests the actual number of infections was closer to 46.9 million. 

The study also suggests that approximately 35% of Covid-19 deaths may not be reported.

Researchers tested randomly selected blood samples for the presence of Covid-19 antibodies in a series of surveys conducted in 10 states, as well as one nationwide. They derived estimates for the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the US as of Nov. 15 by comparing antibody prevalence in the samples to the number of reported cases to adjust for underreporting. 

Gaps between the number of reported infections and estimated number of infections decreased over time, suggesting more widespread access to testing in later months, according to the researchers. 

Data from this study may be helpful in monitoring progress toward herd immunity as infections continue to rise, but there is still a long way to go.

"Even after adjusting for underreporting, a substantial gap remains between the estimated proportion of the population infected and the proportion infected required to reach herd immunity," the researchers wrote.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to create five “mass vaccination” sites throughout the city, with the goal of propping up two of them this weekend.

He described them as “public sites where anyone in the appropriate categories can come 24/7 and get vaccinated,” in all 5 boroughs of New York City. 

The first three will be in Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx, the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex Building in Brooklyn and La Marqueta in Manhattan.

The Staten Island and Queens sites have yet to be announced. 

These sites are in addition to vaccine hubs, all H+H facilities, and DOH pop up sites, he said. 

“We’re going to have capacity all over the 5 boroughs, we want to make it easy and quick and accessible to all.”

The English Premier League has announced 40 new positive Covid-19 cases among players and club staff in its latest round of testing – more than double from the previous week. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the league said that between Dec. 28 to 31, 1,311 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19 of these, there were 28 new positive tests.

From Jan. 1 to 3, Covid-19 tests were administered to 984 players and club staff, with 12 tests coming back positive.

It is the first week players and club staff have been tested twice a week for Covid-19.

Last week, the Premier League announced 18 positive results, which was the highest weekly figure since the start of the current season. 

As of Tuesday, four Premier League matches have been postponed this season due to Covid-19 issues.

The statement added that it “continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols, fully backed by the Government, to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled.”

Overflowing hospital morgues, increased 911 wait times, beds only opening when patients die. Hospitals in California, where almost all of the state's 40 million residents are living under stay-at-home orders, are seeing historic stress points.

The surge of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is pushing hospitals in Los Angeles County to the "brink of catastrophe," a top health official there said.

In a little more than a month, Los Angeles County doubled its number of infections, climbing from about 400,000 cases on November 30 to more than 800,000 cases on January 2, health officials said Monday.

The case deluge has translated to a surge of Covid-19 patients, overwhelming hospitals and plunging intensive care unit capacity across the region to zero. There are now more than 7,600 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in in the county, 21% of whom are in the ICU, officials said

With no hospital beds available, ambulance crews in the county were given guidance not to transport patients with little chance of survival. And the patients who are transported often have to wait hours before a bed is available.

"Hospitals are declaring internal disasters and having to open church gyms to serve as hospital units," Supervisor Hilda Solis said, calling the situation a "human disaster."

And a person is dying of the virus every 15 minutes, Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.

As hospitalizations climb, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) directed ambulance crews not to transport patients with little chance of survival to hospitals and to conserve the use of oxygen.

Before the pandemic, when healthcare workers and resources were more readily available, patients who were unlikely to recover could be transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment.

But Los Angeles hospitals are now at capacity and many medical facilities don't have the space to take in patients who do not have a chance of survival, the agency said. Patients whose hearts have stopped despite efforts of resuscitation, the county EMS said, should no longer be transported to hospitals.

If there are no signs of breathing or a pulse, EMS will continue to perform resuscitation for at least 20 minutes, the memo said. If the patient is stabilized after the period of resuscitation, they would then be taken to a hospital. If the patient is declared dead at the scene or no pulse can be restored, paramedics will no longer transport the body to the hospital.

And even after they arrive at hospitals, some EMTs have to wait outside for hours, as hospitals often don't have enough beds to take the patients in.

"We are waiting two to four hours minimum to a hospital and now we are having to drive even further... then wait another three hours," EMT Jimmy Webb told CNN affiliate KCAL.

Local officials have tried to encourage the public not to call 911 unless "they really need to," Dr. Marc Eckstein, the commander of the Los Angeles Fire Department EMS bureau, told CNN affiliate KABC.

"I think this next four-to-six week period is going to be critical with our system being taxed," Eckstein added.

Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin has been hospitalized nearly a week after announcing he tested positive for Covid-19. 

In a tweet, the City of Birmingham said Woodfin was admitted to the hospital on Monday night to address symptoms connected to Covid-19 pneumonia, according to his doctor. 

Woodfin tweeted last Wednesday that Covid-19 had "made its way to his doorstep" and at that time his symptoms were mild. 

The city said Woodfin is "receiving excellent care and is resting comfortably."

Read the tweet:

Los Angeles County has been fighting a brutal battle against Covid-19 for weeks now.

New infections have soared with about one in five residents who get tested for Covid-19 receiving positive results.

In a little more than a month, the county doubled its number of infections, climbing from about 400,000 cases on Nov. 30 to more than 800,000 cases on Jan. 2, health officials said Monday.

The case deluge has translated to a surge of Covid-19 patients, overwhelming hospitals and plunging intensive care unit capacity across the region to zero. There are now more than 7,600 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in in the county, 21% of whom are in the ICU, officials said

With no hospital beds available, ambulance crews in the county were given guidance not to transport patients with little chance of survival. And the patients who are transported often have to wait hours before a bed is available.

But it will get worse.

Officials say they're headed into the feared surge stemming from holiday gatherings.

"The increases in cases are likely to continue for weeks to come as a result of holiday and New Year's Eve parties and returning travelers," Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.

As the nation's most populous state and home to approximately 1 in 9 Americans, California would understandably lead in a category such as total cases in a pandemic felt nationwide. However, it is the sheer volume of sick residents and the rate of increase that is particularly driving alarm.

On Nov. 1, the seven-day average for new daily cases in California was 4,183. On Dec. 29, it was 31,245.

The state averaged more than 40,000 new coronavirus infections every day for the week prior to Christmas, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), filling up hospitals and pushing health care workers to consider ways to ration care.

Multiple factors are at play when it comes to California's sudden acceleration of coronavirus cases, including Covid-19 fatigue, resistance to stay-at-home regulations, the huge number of essential workers and the socioeconomic factors of the pandemic affecting poorer and minority households.

US stocks opened in the red on Tuesday as investors eye the high-stakes runoff election in Georgia that will determine the balance in the Senate.

On top of that, the spread of Covid-19 is forcing new lockdown restrictions in Europe.

Here's how the market opened: 

The Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirms an outbreak of Covid-19 affecting 143 prisoners in the correctional facility of Bayamón 501, according to a news release from the agency. 

According to the statement, on Dec. 28 a correctional officer tested positive. He had been in contact with five prisoners. Those five people later had contact with the other prisoners in module one of the facility. In the release, the department's designated secretary, Ana Escobar Pabón, said she was informed of the outbreak Monday afternoon, after cases spread quickly. 

All of the prisoners of module one were tested and the results were received yesterday, according to Escobar Pabón.

Two prisoners are hospitalized, according to Escobar Pabón. The prisoners who were affected will be isolated for 14 days. Prisoners in other modules of the facility, security officers and civilians that might have been exposed will be tested as well.

Escobar Pabón ordered the use of plasticware to serve food, canceled any transports from going in or out of the prison, and provided additional PPE to the workers. Visits were already cancelled under the current Covid-19 executive order.