Coronavirus updates: 84% of California population to go on lockdown Sunday night

Ventilator use and the number of COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit are on the rise in the U.S., according to an internal Health and Human Services memo obtained by ABC News Tuesday evening.

Thirty percent of ventilators in use are occupied by COVID-19 patients. That number is slightly up from the previous HHS memo. The peak was 45% in April.

About 28% of hospitals have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled. That number, which was 17%-18% during the summertime peak, is also up slightly.

The number of inpatients with COVID-19 is 21% -- which is quickly approaching the all-time peak of 24%.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin

Health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities should be the first people in line to receive a potential COVID-19 vaccine, an independent group of medical experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 on the recommendation in an emergency virtual meeting on Tuesday.

The panel's recommendations will be sent to the CDC, but ultimately it will be up to each state to determine whether to follow the guidelines on vaccine distribution.
    
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Vice President Mike Pence and other attendees at Tuesday's White House coronavirus task force meeting that it planned to release guidance that would shorten the length of time it recommended people quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19, according to a senior Trump administration official who was at the meeting.

It will recommend COVID-exposed people with a negative test quarantine for seven days, which is down from 14 days, and that COVID-exposed people with no test quarantine for 10 days (also down from 14 days), according to the official.

The New York Times first reported on this news from Tuesday's meeting.

Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said last week the administration had been “actively working on that type of guidance” and was “reviewing the evidence.”

The official said the move was “100% data-driven.”
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

Florida has over 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the latest data from the state's Health Department.

The state reported 8,847 new cases on Tuesday, for a total of 1,008,166. There have been 18,916 deaths. 

Florida is the third state to cross 1 million COVID-19 cases, following Texas and California last month.

ABC News' Scott Withers contributed to this report