More than 60% of all US COVID-19 cases were reported since Election Day. Now experts warn a variant could further fuel spread

The US just surpassed 24 million official COVID-19 cases — and more than 60% of them have been reported since Election Day.

The stunning numbers reflect brutal surges in the past months — during which the US saw hundreds of thousands of new cases daily, while COVID-19 hospitalization and death tallies reached all-time highs.

And just about a year since the first COVID-19 case was reported in the US, the country’s coronavirus death toll is fast approaching 400,000 — more than the number of Americans who died in World War I, the Vietnam War and the Korean War combined, and nearly as many Americans who died in World War II.

Those who’ve died will be in focus Tuesday evening, when President-elect Joe Biden, a day ahead of his inauguration in the nation’s capital, is set to attend a lighting ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool at 5:30 p.m. ET to honor COVID-19 victims.

Biden’s inaugural committee is inviting cities and towns across the country to join in by illuminating buildings and ringing church bells “in a national moment of unity and remembrance.”

More than 123,800 COVID-19 patients were reported to be in US hospitals Monday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

While that number may be down from a January 6 peak of 132,474, hospitals and health care workers across the country are still under tremendous pressure. In Georgia, one hospital was so full it had to treat patients in hallways and ambulances, an official there told CNN affiliate WSB.

In Texas, the city of Laredo has run out of ICU beds and sent an emergency message to residents urging them to stay home, city spokeswoman Noraida Negron said. Over the weekend, the city’s hospitals were diverting patients to facilities in other areas.

“We had no beds whatsoever,” Negron said.

There’s good reason to keep your guard up

While new cases across the country have been trending down since hitting a peak last week, experts urge Americans not to let their guard down yet.

For one, even with the apparent improvement, the country still averaged about 207,900 new cases daily in the past seven days.

“The virus has established itself in the human population and it’s not going anywhere,” infectious disease expert Amesh Adalja told CNN. “We’re going to see a lot of transmission until we cross the threshold for herd immunity.”

But also, the COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK is spreading across the US. Experts have warned that while it does not appear to be more deadly, it is more easily transmittable.

More than 120 cases of the variant have been identified across 20 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ”

That variant, known as B.1.1.7, has been imported to the US multiple times, and it might have been “established in the US for some 5-6 weeks before (it) was identified as a variant of concern in the UK in mid-December,” University of Arizona biologist Michael Worobey wrote late Monday on a website dedicated to sharing genetic information about the virus.

Worobey also said he found evidence B.1.1.7 circulated in California without seeming to drive more transmission — even though scientists widely agree it can be spread more easily and even though the CDC warned last week that a modeled trajectory of the variant in the US “exhibits rapid growth in early 2021.”

That variant and others — including one first identified in South Africa — still could “substantially increase the number of cases,” Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus adviser to Biden, told CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday.

“I worry desperately in the next six to 12 weeks we’re going to see a situation with this pandemic unlike anything we’ve seen yet to date,” said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

9 states have administered more than half their vaccine doses

Across the US, more than 10.5 million people have received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, about 1.6 million of whom have received a second dose, according to CDC data last updated Friday.

That’s more than 12 million doses administered, out of the more than 31 million doses that have been delivered, according to the CDC.

So, roughly 39% of the delivered doses had been administered nationwide as of Friday morning, but that percentage varies wildly across different states.

About nine states and Washington, DC, have administered more than 50% of the vaccine doses that were distributed, according to CDC data. Those are Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.

Two states have administered less than 25% of their doses: Alabama and Georgia.

How other states are trying to ramp up vaccinations

To boost their numbers, parts of the country are working to find ways to ramp up vaccinations.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers was at the opening of a new COVID-19 vaccination site Monday at the Prevea Health/University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Kress Events Center.

Tommy Thompson, president of the University of Wisconsin System and a former governor, says more vaccination sites will be opening up soon, with the goal of opening sites on all 26 campuses in the system.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the state was launching a vaccine pilot program and will partner with local health and school districts to target certain populations.

“These sites will initially serve adults 65 years of age or older, as well as prekindergarten through grade 12 educators, school staff, and child care workers,” a news release from the governor’s office said. “The community vaccination pilot program will be the foundation for mass vaccination clinics in Minnesota communities once the federal government increases vaccine supply.”

In California, all Los Angeles County residents 65 and older will be eligible to receive the vaccine later this week, under a new executive order signed by Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis.

That comes just days after health officials in the county said they did not have enough supply to begin vaccinating that age group, after the state expanded eligibility.

“If we are to ever get out of this dark winter, it is critical that we make headway vaccinating people 65 years of age and older as soon as possible — in line with Governor Gavin Newsom’s recommendations,” Solis said in a statement.

In Florida, 40,000 people are overdue for their second dose

In Florida, more than 40,000 people who received their first vaccine dose are overdue for their second shot, according to a report from the state’s health department.

“Overdue” individuals are defined as “those who have received their first dose and have passed the recommended time frame to receive their second dose.”

It’s unclear why the residents are overdue.

Both vaccines that have been authorized for the US market are a two-dose series. The second dose should be administered 21 days after the first dose for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 28 days after for the Moderna vaccine.

The data comes as Dr. Anthony Fauci highlighted the importance of sticking with both full doses of the vaccine in the appropriate time frame.

Speaking Monday at the Choose Healthy Life Black Clergy Conclave, Fauci said that an experiment evaluating different dosing regimens was recently carried out in people ages 18 to 55. The results showed that when a half dose was given followed by a booster half dose, the level of antibodies produced was comparable to that of someone given two full doses.

“However, that is not clinical proof that they are equally comparable in protecting you,” he said.

“Bottom line, stick with full dose, followed by full dose.”