The Johns Hopkins COVID Dashboard  for Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, at 5:22 a.m.:

Worldwide cases: 82,891,737     Worldwide number of people dead from COVID-19:   1,808,450

U.S. cases: 19,763,768     U.S. number of people dead from COVID-19: 342,634

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide case report increased by 776,726 in the last 24 hours.  Deaths worldwide increased by 4,764.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard,  243,266 more  people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 in the U.S. in the past 24 hours.

In the last day, the number of people who have died in the U.S. from  COVID-19 increased by 3,892.

The U.S. continues to far exceed cases and deaths of any country.

The CDC says the novel coronavirus is always mutating, and there are several variants.  Right now, a particularly contagious variant is circulating widely in London and Southeast England, and the same variant has been confirmed in COVID-19 victims inear Denver, Colorado and in San Diego,  California.  But health officials say the growth in people with COVID-19 in the U.S. indicates that variant may be more widespread, thus making it even more important that people wear masks.  For more information about COVID-19 variants from the CDC, click here.

In Hawaii, the total number of people in the state who had contracted COVID-19 as of Monday’s numbers, reported by the State Department of Health yesterday, was 21,209.  The Big Island has had 1,873 cases in total.

The COVID Tracking Project reports that 125,220 people were hospitalized as of Wednesday evening.  That number has been increasing daily.  On the Big Island in Hawaii, as of Wednesday, 3 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense message.