Early Sunday, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported the U.S. has 20.4 million of the world’s 84.3 million COVID infections.  India, the country with the second-largest number of cases has about half as many cases as the U.S. with 10.3 million.  Public health officials warn, however, that India’s caseload may be undercounted. 

The U.S. has recorded more than 350,000 deaths related to the coronavirus. Funeral homes across the country are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for their services.   

A surge of cases in the coming weeks is expected, following the holiday season, public health officials say. 

The CDC Data Tracker says more than 13 million coronavirus vaccines have been distributed in the U.S. but only 4.2 million people have been inoculated.  States have been overwhelmed by the process and have received little, if any, direction from the federal government about how best to deliver the vaccines to the public. 

Twenty-five prisons in California have individually recorded more than 1,000 coronavirus infections, according to a New York Times report, and none of the prisons with the high infection rate is scheduled to participate in the state’s prison vaccination program.  Avenal, the prison with the most infections, has reported more than 3,500 cases, according to The Times.  

A spokeswoman for the court-appointed official who oversees California’s prison health told the newspaper that California was instead focusing its prison vaccination program on locations where “people are at significant risk of becoming infected or severely ill from the coronavirus.” 

Former CNN talk show host Larry King is undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in a hospital in Los Angeles.  CNN said Saturday King has been in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for more than a week.

VOA