The Johns Hopkins COVID Dashboard for Monday, December 14, at 5:26 a.m.:

Worldwide cases: 72,385,935    Worldwide deaths: 1,615,052

U.S. cases: 16,262,304   U.S. deaths: 299,246

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide case report increased by 519,352  in the last 24 hours.  Deaths worldwide increased by 7,254.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard, the United States has added 187,793 cases in the last 24 hours.

In the last day, the number of people who have died in the U.S. from  COVID-19 increased by 1,382.

The COVID Tracking Project reports that 109,311  people were hospitalized nationwide with COVID-19 as of yesterday.  Hospitalization rates on the mainland have been increasing at an alarming rate, with some hospitals getting close to being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.   On the Big Island, Hawaii County Civil Defense reported on  Sunday that 3 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Hawaii has had 19,235 total cases of COVID-19. The Big Island has had  1,718 total cases.

The State has had 274 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.   The Big Island has lost 49 people to the virus.  Although most have been elderly, several have been younger than 70.  Although most cases of COVID-19 are mild, and many do not cause people to have symptoms, some people have gotten severe cases, and even some people in their 30s continue to have side effects weeks after “recovering” from COVID-19.

The first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, approved over the weekend, should arrive in the state today.  Click here for a vaccine update.