Coronavirus updates: US will soon have 'half a million' deaths, CDC says

The U.S. is forecast to have almost 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by mid-February.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Emily Shapiro, and Julia Jacobo
Last Updated: January 18, 2021, 7:55 AM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 94.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Jan 11, 2021, 5:16 PM EST

Nearly 81 million Americans live in county where ICU capacity is 90% or more

In the United States, 80,990,232 people live in a county where the average intensive care unit (ICU) capacity exceeds 90%, according to new data compiled by the COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

ICU capacity was most strained in the Southwest, West and Southeast, the report found, with all three regions at 80% ICU capacity or higher.

-ABC News' Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

Jan 11, 2021, 2:18 PM EST

World will not achieve 'any levels' of herd immunity in 2021, WHO warns

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organization, urged people to keep practicing public health measures like mask wearing and social distancing while COVID-19 vaccine production scales up enough to reach billions of people worldwide.

"So, we have to be here a little bit patient, the vaccines are going to come, they're going to go to all countries but meanwhile we mustn't forget there are measures that work," Swaminathan said.

People around the world will need to keep practicing fundamental public health measures at least "for the rest of this year at least," according to Swaminathan.

"Even as vaccines start protecting the most vulnerable, we're not going to achieve any levels of population immunity, or herd immunity in 2021," she added.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Jan 11, 2021, 2:05 PM EST

Biden receives 2nd dose of vaccine

President-elect Joe Biden got his second dose of the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday in Newark, Delaware.

President-elect Joe Biden receives the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccination from Chief Nurse Executive Ric Cuming at ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital on Jan. 11, 2021 in Newark, Del.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

After two doses, the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective.

Jan 11, 2021, 1:40 PM EST

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman tests positive after attack on US Capitol

U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J. announced Monday that she has received a positive result for COVID-19 from a rapid antigen test and is awaiting results from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Coleman said she was forced to shelter in place with unmasked colleagues last week when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

"Following the events of Wednesday, including sheltering with several colleagues who refused to wear masks, I decided to take a Covid test," Coleman, 75, wrote on Twitter. "I have tested positive."

People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/AP

The congresswoman, who previously received one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, said she is experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms and is isolating at home.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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