U.S. sets hospitalization record as vaccinations hasten

NEW YORK — More Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday than at any time since the pandemic began, as coronavirus infections and deaths soared across much of the United States and a historic vaccination effort lagged.

U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a record 130,834 late on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of public health data, while 3,684 reported fatalities was the second-highest single-day death toll of the pandemic.

With total COVID-19 cases expected to surpass the 21 million mark Wednesday, pressure mounted on state and local officials to speed up distribution of the two authorized vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.

The lack of a federal blueprint for the crucial final step of getting the vaccines into tens of millions of arms has left officials in charge of the monumental effort, creating a patchwork of different plans across U.S. states.

Some states have summoned extra resources to speed up vaccine administrations. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Tuesday mobilized the state's National Guard to “provide support to local health providers” to more quickly distribute coronavirus vaccines.

“We will use all resources and personnel needed,” Cooper said in a statement.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan also announced that, beginning on Wednesday, the emergency support teams from the Maryland National Guard will be dispatched to lend a hand to local health departments in their vaccination efforts.

“At the current pace of allocation,” Hogan said, the state expects to be able to start vaccinating the 1b priority group — people age 75 and older and frontline essential workers — by late January.