COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to grow dramatically following Thanksgiving, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News.

The country recorded 1,414,153 new cases between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9, according to HHS. This represents a 25.4% increase from the previous seven-day period, the memo said.

There were 15,588 new deaths recorded from Dec. 3 to Dec. 9, which was a 44.9% jump in new fatalities compared with the previous week, according to the memo.

Roughly 31% of U.S. hospitals have more than 80% of their intensive care unit beds filled, HHS reported.

Several states saw new records during the last seven days, according to the memo.

In Alabama, new weekly coronavirus deaths increased by 158% with 312 new fatalities recorded, according to HHS.

On Dec. 7, 19 Georgia hospital ICUs could not accept any more patients, the memo said.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin

The FDA authorized LabCorp’s Pixel COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit Wednesday for use by patients 18 years and older without a prescription.

The test allows a customer to self-collect a nasal swab sample at home and then send that sample for testing to LabCorp. The company will phone the customer with the results.

The at-home test is currently available for purchase online and the company is taking requests from retailers to sell it in stores.

LabCorp told ABC News it will screen requests to limit it to people who meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for testing in order to limit backlogs in their labs.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs and Ali Dukakis

Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer broke down as she revealed the latest tallies of coronavirus cases and deaths Wednesday.

There were 9,243 new cases and 75 new deaths recorded Wednesday, according to the health department. The county has seen 475,271 total cases and 8,075 total deaths during the pandemic.

"The more terrible truth is that over 8,000 people who were beloved members of their families are not coming back and their deaths are an incalculable loss to their friends and their family, as well as our community," Ferrer said while breaking down in tears.

Roughly 3,200 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles, 23% of whom are in the intensive care unit and 15% on ventilators, according to the health department.

"Given that we are just now seeing the hospitalizations from the Thanksgiving holiday, we anticipate that the number will continue to grow over the next few weeks with potentially 700 new daily COVID hospitalizations in just one week from now," Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the LA County Health Services Department, said.

-ABC News' Cammeron Parrish

The Big Ten Conference Administrators Council voted Wednesday to eliminate the game minimum requirement for teams to play in the conference championship, clearing the way for Ohio State to play for the title despite only playing five games this season due to COVID-19 cancellations.

Among the cancellations was this weekend's game against University of Michigan after Michigan reported "an increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases and student-athletes in quarantine."

The conference said, "The decision was based on a competitive analysis which determined that Ohio State would have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game based on its undefeated record and head-to-head victory over Indiana regardless of a win or loss against Michigan."

Ohio State will play Northwestern in the Big Ten Football Championship Game.

The conference had voted prior to the season that a team must played at least six games to qualify for the title game.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged people to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously and follow public health guidelines as infections and hospitalizations soar across the country.

"I want the American people to know this virus is incredibly unforgiving, cases are going up, hospitalizations are going up, my colleagues are dog-tired and we need you to hang on just a little bit longer because we've got vaccines coming but we want as many people to be alive to get them as possible and a lot of that is going to depend on your behavior," Adams told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on "Good Morning America."

Although "more people than ever are wearing masks," Adams said he's "very" concerned by the number of people who still "don't understand how much spread is occurring by people who don't have symptoms."

About 20 million "full doses" of COVID-19 vaccines will be available by the end of the year, according to Adams, who urged every American to be immunized against the virus as soon as a vaccine is authorized and made available.

"It's a way that we can ultimately end this pandemic, but it doesn't matter if people won't get the vaccination," the surgeon general said. "We know that vaccine levels are only about 50% for adults for flu and they go down to about 40% for African-Americans."

Adams said he is working with historically black colleges and universities as well as faith communities to bolster vaccine confidence among all populations. The White House is also hosting a vaccine summit Tuesday, he said.

"One thing you can all do right now, it's national flu immunization week, get your flu shot because half a million people were hospitalized last year with the flu," Adams said. "We simply can't afford for that to happen this year with hospitals being overwhelmed."

The surgeon general said the current surge in infections across the country "is different than earlier surges," because it's not about a lack of masks or personal protective equipment, nor is it due to a lack of testing.

"It's really about health care capacity, and certain places are just being overwhelmed," he said. "So we know that we can actually help them with their health care capacity by immunizing their health care staff. We're going to leave it up to the states, but we're going to give them guidance."

Adams noted it's also important to vaccinate those who are most likely to die from COVID-19.

"We know that 40 to 50% of the deaths are occurring in people who are in longterm care facilities who are older," he said.