Coronavirus updates: US will soon have 'half a million' deaths, incoming CDC chief says
The U.S. is forecast to have almost 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by mid-February.
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:
Rep. Pramila Jayapal tests positive following US Capitol siege
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., announced Monday night that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jayapal was inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building last week.
"I just received a positive COVID-19 test result after being locked down in a secured room at the Capitol where several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one," Jayapal wrote on Twitter.
Jayapal and her colleagues in the House of Representatives were in the middle of certifying Electoral College votes when pro-Trump protesters who had been demonstrating outside broke into the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Some members of Congress were forced to evacuate while others had to shelter in place as authorities worked to secure the building.
"Only hours after Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic—creating a superspreader event ON TOP of a domestic terrorist attack," Jayapal tweeted.
The congresswoman also called for members of Congress to be fined for not wearing face masks on Capitol grounds.
"Any Member who refuses to wear a mask should be fully held accountable for endangering our lives because of their selfish idiocy," she added. "I'm calling for every single Member who refuses to wear a mask in the Capitol to be fined and removed from the floor by the Sergeant at Arms."
Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, advised representatives and congressional staff on Sunday that those in the secured room could have, “been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection," according to a statement from Jayapal's office.
Jayapal said she has been quarantining since last Thursday -- prior to her positive COVID-19 test -- amid fears she was exposed during the potential "superspreader event."
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.
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.
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.
After two doses, the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective.
US sees decrease in 7-day averages in cases, hospitalizations, deaths
There has been a nationwide decrease in the seven-day averages for tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Many states are reporting a decrease in the number of new cases per million people, though California, Virginia and South Caroline reported more than 1,000 new cases per million Sunday.
Along with the states that do not regularly report on Sunday, Washington reported data system issues over the weekend. There will be some disruptions to reporting expected on Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
States reported 1.8 million tests, 186,000 cases, 124,387 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and 2,044 deaths on Sunday, according to the COVID tracking project.
-ABC News Darren Reynolds