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

California reported 585 COVID-19 deaths over 24 hours on Friday, the highest one-day death toll that the state has reported thus far. Since some counties, such as hard-hit Los Angeles, are still confirming deaths from the virus not counted over the holidays, it's not yet known whether Friday's death report is an anomaly.

Intensive care unit capacity in the state remains extremely strained, particularly in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, each of which had 0% ICU capacity as of Friday, according to the California Department of Health.

-ABC News' Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton waded into a battle between the city of Austin and Gov. Greg Abbott Friday over whether the city's four-day late-night indoor dining shutdown should be allowed.

Austin's ban, which was set to run between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Dec. 31 until Jan. 3, was upheld by a judge on Thursday. Hours later, at 7:39 p.m. local time on New Year's Eve, the governor released a statement on Twitter telling restaurants to stay open.

Paxton backed the governor on Friday and called for the Texas Supreme Court to halt enforcement of the ban. "We cannot have local declarations conflicting with Gov. Abbott’s clear order," he said in a statement. "I will continue to fight for Texans, small businesses and for an open economy."

-ABC News' Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.

The United States surpassed 20 million coronavirus cases on New Year's Day, with 20,007,149 infections, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

In different terms, 1 out of every 16 Americans has tested positive for COVID-19.

As the nation's third COVID wave continues, California has emerged as a major epicenter of the U.S. outbreak and at least three states have reported cases of the new COVID variant, which originated in the U.K. Health experts believe it to be more transmissible than the old variant, although it is not thought to be more deadly.

According to JHU, 346,408 Americans had died of the virus as of Friday.

Sen. Mitt Romney criticized the Trump administration's vaccine rollout in a statement he released Friday, writing: "when something isn’t working, you need to acknowledge reality and develop a plan—particularly when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake."

Relying on states in lieu of developing a federal vaccination plan is "as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable," Romney wrote, and offered up his own suggestions as examples of the brainstorming he said ought to be happening in Washington.

The government should enlist every medical professional not currently delivering care, such as retired veterinarians, combat medics and corpsmen and medical students, to administer vaccines, Romney suggested, noting that they could be paid using the funding Congress has appropriated for states. Additionally, schools could serve as vaccine sites and vaccinations could be scheduled for specific days according to a person's priority category and birthdate.

While public health professionals will easily point out errors in his plan, he said, the nation needs new strategies based on "experience, modeling and trial," especially as the U.S. begins vaccinating more complex populations.

"We are already behind," Romney added. "Urgent action now can help us catch up."

-ABC News' Trish Turner and Chris Howell contributed to this report.