Sutter Health’s website crashed, and Kaiser Permanente’s phone line [866-454-8855] warned callers they may face up to four-hour wait times, leaving many of state’s seniors confused and frustrated.

A highly transmissible coronavirus variant that was first identified in the U.K. is spreading rapidly in the U.S. and likely to become the dominant strain circulating domestically in March without measures to slow it, federal health authorities said.

The “B.1.1.7” variant had infected at least 76 people in 12 states as of Jan. 13 and threatens to worsen the pandemic in the U.S. in coming months as daily cases and hospitalizations are already at record levels, the CDC said in a report modeling the potential impact of the variant.

While the new variant doesn’t appear to cause more severe illness, it is more contagious than the currently dominating strain of the coronavirus, the CDC said. That means it could lead to more hospitalizations and deaths by infecting more people overall, the agency said, exacerbating pressures on health-care systems that are already at or near capacity.

The Guardian summarizes what family members caring for an infected patient can expect, and how can they keep themselves safe during this time.

The Chronicle explains that a recent positive antibody test does not necessarily mean a person is now immune to the coronavirus and can not infect others.

To reach the million-vaccine target that Newsom has touted, health officials would have to get about 500,000 more shots into people’s arms by the end of Friday, quadrupling their pace of recent days. California had already administered nearly half a million doses total when the governor set his goal last week, and as of Wednesday, the total stood at 971,829, according to the state Department of Public Health.

California state and local government could benefit from billions of dollars in new federal financial support if President-elect Joe Biden can convince Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan he unveiled Thursday.

This bleak outcome, referred to as crisis care, has yet to occur and is “a last-resort environment,” according to Carmela Coyle, president and chief executive of the California Hospital Association. The risk is real, however — particularly in hard-hit Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley — and Coyle said that all hands were on deck to try to stave off that eventuality.

The proposal, called the American Rescue Plan, is divvied up into three buckets: $400 billion for dealing with the coronavirus, including vaccines and testing; $1 trillion in direct relief to families; and $400 billion in aid to communities and businesses. It includes money for testing, vaccines, and public health workers; $400 a week in extended federal unemployment insurance through September; rental assistance; emergency paid leave; and funding for reopening schools, among other items.

When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced this week that the federal government would begin releasing coronavirus vaccine doses held in reserve for second shots, no such reserve existed, according to state and federal officials briefed on distribution plans. The Trump administration had already begun shipping out what was available beginning at the end of December, taking second doses directly off the manufacturing line.

Now, health officials across the country who had anticipated their extremely limited vaccine supply as much as doubling beginning next week are confronting the reality that their allocations will remain largely flat, dashing hopes of dramatically expanding access for millions of elderly people and those with high-risk medical conditions. Health officials in some cities and states were informed in recent days about the reality of the situation, while others are still in the dark.

An analysis of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how the pandemic is bringing with it unusual patterns of death, even higher than the official totals of deaths that have been directly linked to the virus. Deaths nationwide were 18 percent higher than normal from March 15, 2020, to Dec. 26, 2020. As Covid-19 cases have spread across the country, the geographic patterns of abnormal mortality statistics have followed. Excess deaths have peaked three times, so far, as have deaths from Covid-19. There are now excess deaths in every state, with surges in states like California, Colorado, Kansas and Ohio fueling record death tolls in recent weeks.

African Americans have been infected with Covid-19 at nearly three times the rate of white Americans, according to the National Urban League. The infection rate for African Americans is 62 per 10,000, compared with 23 per 10,000 for white residents, a report by the group said. Around 40% of Black residents said they would not get the coronavirus vaccine, a December survey found.