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 12, 2021, 1:29 PM EST

Maryland reports 2 cases of UK variant

Two people from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, are confirmed to have the coronavirus variant that originated in the United Kingdom, Gov. Larry Hogan said, reported WBAL-TV.

The couple traveled to multiple continents, the governor said. They are in isolation and state officials are conducting contact tracing, WBAL-TV reported.

Maryland is at least the 10th state to confirm the presence of the U.K. variant, following Connecticut, Minnesota, Georgia, Colorado, New York, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The U.K. variant appears to spread more easily but there’s no evidence that it is more deadly.

ABC News’ Dee Carden contributed to this report.

Jan 12, 2021, 1:12 PM EST

More dead so far this month than all of August

In the first 11 days of January, the U.S. reported more than 30,000 lives lost to COVID-19 -- that's more deaths in 11 days than the entire month of August.

The virus is now claiming more lives every day than number of Americans killed on Sept. 11, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Nearly 130,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 across the country.

Healthcare workers tend to a patient with Covid-19 who is having difficulty breathing in a Covid holding pod at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, Calif., Jan. 11, 2021.
Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty Images

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) attends to a patient in a Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital on Jan. 6, 2021 in Los Angeles.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Data released Monday showed six states hitting a record number of current hospitalizations: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia.

California has the most people hospitalized of any state with more than 22,000 patients. California is followed by Texas, New York, Florida and Georgia.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

Jan 12, 2021, 12:48 PM EST

Disneyland, Mets' Citi Field to become vaccination sites

Citi Field, home to the New York Mets, will become a 24/7 mega-vaccination site to open the week of Jan. 25.

The Queens baseball stadium will vaccinate 5,000 to 7,000 people daily.

“We even welcome Yankees fans," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joked.

Citi Field is pictured at dusk before a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 9, 2020, in New York.
Kathy Willens/AP

Citi Field is the latest sports facility to convert to a mass vaccination site, joining Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium and Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

Disneyland is set to become the first mass vaccination site in Orange County, California, later this week.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Mark Crudele contributed to this report.

Jan 12, 2021, 12:07 PM EST

Canada-US border closure extended to Feb. 21

The closure of the Canada-U.S. border has been extended to Feb. 21.

The border has been closed to all nonessential traffic since March. The closure agreement is reviewed by U.S. and Canadian government authorities each month.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

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