COVID-19 updates: US sees 1st day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases
The U.S. reported just over 96,000 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 105 million people worldwide and killed over 2.3 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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Fauci says 'absolutely not' to Super Bowl parties
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser on COVID-19 to U.S. President Joe Biden, said people should "absolutely not" host or attend any Super Bowl parties this weekend.
"Watch the Super Bowl on TV, enjoy it, have a party in your house with your family with the people who are there," Fauci told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America."
"You don't want parties with people that you haven't had that much contact with, you just don't know if they're infected," he added. "So as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it."
Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that the country is still seeing a "considerable number of cases" each day and there's cause for concern over the new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus that were recently detected on U.S. soil.
When asked whether he thinks the Super Bowl could become a superspreader event, Fauci said he hopes not.
"I believe that they are trying to keep people separated enough in the stands wearing masks so they don't have that proximity," he added. "If you're outdoors and you're several feet apart -- 6, 7, 8, 10 feet -- you could be OK, as long as people abide by that and don't slip."
US reports over 114,000 new cases
There were 114,437 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Tuesday's case count is far less than the country's all-time high of 300,282 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.
An additional 3,532 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Tuesday, down from a peak of 4,466 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend last month.
A total of 26,435,563 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 446,901 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before topping 300,000 on Jan. 2.
So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use -- one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. More than 32 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Snowstorm cancels thousands of vaccine appointments in US
Thousands of COVID-19 vaccine appointments were canceled after a snowstorm slammed the northeastern United States this week.
In Connecticut alone, some 10,000 appointments had to be rescheduled "as quickly as possible," as many vaccination clinics closed Monday, according to the state's health department.
"Many clinics that were forced to close will be offering longer clinics hours and weekend hours to accommodate anyone who had their appointment cancelled yesterday or today," the Connecticut Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday. "We do not anticipate any issues with vaccine deliveries. Many will arrive today or tomorrow, which is in line with the vaccination plans of our providers."
In New Jersey, which saw some of the highest snowfalls, the state's six vaccine megasites were closed Monday and Tuesday. "We are still working to assess the storm's impact," Nancy Kearney, spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Health, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Depending on the vaccination site, appointments were being rescheduled throughout the week, with some sites extending hours.
Most vaccination sites in New York City remained closed on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, with plans to reopen on Wednesday and "catch up on appointments quickly." Among those needing to be rescheduled were 1,000 appointments across Monday and Tuesday at the city health department's vaccine clinic in Elmhurst, Queens.
MaineHealth, one of two major health providers operating vaccine clinics in the state, canceled appointments on Tuesday. The other provider -- Northern Light Health -- planned to continue, the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention said.
In Washington, D.C., which had just 2.6 inches of snowfall, there were very few requests for cancellations, according to the D.C. Department of Health.
The fallout from the snowstorm is less clear in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the state health departments said they don't track counties' appointments or cancellations.
ABC News' Laura Romero, Sasha Pezenik, Arielle Mitropoulos, Soo Rin Kim, Adia Robinson and Alisa Wiersema contributed to this report.
COVID-19 death toll tops 17,000 in California's hard-hit Los Angeles County
The number of people in Los Angeles County who have died from COVID-19 has surpassed 17,000.
On Tuesday, the county's public health department reported 205 new fatalities from the disease for a total of 17,057.
Los Angeles County has confirmed more COVID-19 cases than any other county in the United States -- and more than twice as many as Illinois' Cook County, the second-highest, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.
Los Angeles County surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths on Dec. 30 -- adding more than 7,000 new fatalities in a little over a month. By comparison, there were 7,000 COVID-19 deaths reported between February and October, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in the county -- 8,405 -- were among Hispanic/Latino residents, according to the health department.
The county is continuing to make progress in reducing transmission, the health department said, with 3,763 new confirmed cases reported on Tuesday. Though that number is "substantially higher than the number of cases we saw in September," when there were fewer than 1,000 daily new cases, according to the health department.
ABC News' Bonnie McLean contributed to this report.
Delta to offer vaccines to Atlanta workers
Delta will offer vaccinations to Georgia employees who are 65 and older starting on Monday, a company spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
A health care provider will administer the vaccines in a section of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Concourse C) and space at the Delta Flight Museum from Feb. 8 to Feb. 14. Delta's headquarters are located in Atlanta.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo last week that 690 Delta employees had received at least one vaccination shot.
"We continue to work with federal and state authorities to prioritize immunizations for frontline Delta people," Bastian wrote in the memo. "While healthcare workers and our most vulnerable are already getting their shots, I strongly encourage each of you to get vaccinated when your time comes."
ABC News' Mina Kaji contributed to this report.