Coronavirus updates: US reports nearly 300,000 new cases in all-time high

Construction on a 30-bed emergency field hospital is slated to start in western North Carolina Friday, as COVID-19 cases in the state continue to rise.

The facility, which is being built next to Caldwell Memorial Hospital, will treat COVID patients who aren't sick enough to need a ventilator and is meant to relieve pressure on five health systems in the region.

As of Thursday, 3,472 people were hospitalized because of the virus, according to the state health department.

Early in the pandemic, 10% of patients who died from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County did not have underlying conditions, according to health officials. Today, that number has risen to 14% of patient deaths.

"This indicates, that in fact, that more people than ever are not only passing away, but passing away without any underlying health conditions," Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County department of public health, said during a New Year's Eve news conference.

Hospitals in Los Angeles are currently overwhelmed to the point that ambulances are waiting hours in emergency bays with patients inside, which prevents medics from responding to additional emergency calls. The death toll in Los Angeles County stands at 10,345.

President-elect Joe Biden and future first lady Jill Biden thanked front-line workers in a pretaped segment for "Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve," telling host Ryan Seacrest the country "owed them for their service."

"They did so much. They risked their lives, they've done so much for us and we owe them,” Joe Biden said. 

“We're so grateful for everything they did," Jill Biden added. "You know, they left their families and their homes so that we could be safe and all Americans truly appreciate what they did for us.”

The Bidens talked about getting Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine two weeks ago and urged others to get the vaccine.  

"I took it, it doesn't hurt. I didn't have any aftereffects," Jill Biden said. "So, everybody has to take it so that we can all be safe.”  

The president-elect also looked ahead to 2021, saying he was “absolutely confident” that the country will come back stronger than ever. 

ABC News' Beatrice Peterson and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

Florida has identified its first case of the U.K. COVID-19 variant, health officials said Thursday night.

The case is in a Martin County man in his 20s "with no history of travel," the Florida Department of Health said on Twitter. 

This marks the third state in the U.S., following Colorado and California, to identify cases of the variant.

U.K. health officials have found that the new COVID-19 variant isn’t more deadly than the prior dominant variant, but it is likely more transmissible. Experts also believe that the authorized vaccines will still be effective against it.