Coronavirus updates: Los Angeles to prohibit gatherings, close playgrounds

A COVID-19 outbreak at a veterans home in Illinois has left more than two dozen people dead, according to a report by Chicago ABC station WLS-TV.

At least 27 veterans who lived at the Illinois Veterans Home in LaSalle, some 100 miles southwest of Chicago, have died from COVID-19, according to WLS, which cited the Illinois Department of Veterans.

"That's over 20 percent of our veterans that have passed away in the past several weeks," state Sen. Sue Rezin told WLS.

Rezin said the facility, which is in her district, continues to see an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.

"November 4th, there were only four cases of COVID within the home," she said. "Very quickly within the past 20 days, we've had almost 200 cases."

The Illinois Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will meet virtually Tuesday to discuss the crises at the LaSalle facility.

"We need answers and we need answers today," Rezin said.

So far, a total of 96 residents and 93 employees at the Illinois Veterans Home in LaSalle have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement from the facility's administrator, Angela Mehlbrech. The veterans home has been conducting health screenings of its residents and staff, maintaining social distancing practices, wearing face coverings as well as intensifying cleaning and disinfecting protocols.

An infection control team has been sent to the facility, according to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

"When there is massive, widespread community spread," Pritzker told WLS, "there's no way to keep it out of every facility."

There were 169,190 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It's the 21st straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 newly diagnosed infections. Monday's count falls under the all-time high of 196,004 new cases on Nov. 20.

An additional 889 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Monday, down from a peak of 2,609 new deaths on April 15.

A total of 12,420,872 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 257,701 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.

The COVID Tracking Project announced that 85,836 people are currently hospitalized in the United States with COVID-19.

This marks the 14th consecutive day of record-setting hospitalization numbers in the country, according to the health data.

"Only 4 states—Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont—have fewer than 100 people per million hospitalized with COVID-19," the COVID Tracking Project tweeted.

The U.S. recorded 105,975 new coronavirus cases and 956 new deaths Monday. The seven-day average of deaths is now over 1,500, an 87% increase since Nov. 1, according to the health data.

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Monday that the United States could run out of beds and nurses as COVID-19 cases go up.

"It is really conceivable that if we don’t turn around the trajectory that that will happen," Fauci said during an interview on the PBS NewsHour.

Fauci, the nation's top expert on infectious diseases and a leading member of the current White House coronavirus task force, also said that families that are gathering for Thanksgiving with those outside their household are putting themselves at risk.

"We really can do something about it if we adhere to the public health measures," he said. "It’s within our power to do something about it."