Hospitalizations rise across U.S.

At one hospital north of Birmingham, healthcare workers transformed extra beds into intensive care rooms. The intensive care unit at Cullman Regional was at 180 percent capacity as of last week due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Is this a nationwide problem? Alabama is struggling, with 90 percent of the state’s ICU capacity filled Dec. 18-25. But nationwide, ICU’s were still high at 78 percent capacity the same week. California issued stricter stay-at-home orders in recent weeks as its ICU occupancy hit 85 percent, and is expected to extend them in many parts of the state. In Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, there is no more room in the units, according to state figures.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s timeline of the pandemic, captured in photos.