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COVID-19 live updates: Judge rules governor stop banning mask mandates in schools

Ten Florida school districts have adopted mask mandates for students this month.

ByEmily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Morgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Meredith Deliso, and Marlene Lenthang
Last Updated: August 28, 2021, 7:23 PM EDT

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 634,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 60.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 25, 2021, 2:35 PM EDT

Pfizer asks FDA for full booster dose approval

Pfizer on Wednesday asked the Food and Drug Administration for full approval for a booster dose. The company said its Phase 3 data showed that people who received a third dose between five to eight months after the second shot had antibody levels three times higher than levels seen after the second dose.

Because the Pfizer shots were approved by the FDA on Monday, Pfizer is now asking the agency to consider a "supplemental" application for boosters for people ages 16 and over. This is a "rolling submission," with Pfizer intending to complete the submission by the end of the week.

The Biden administration said its goal is to have boosters available beginning Sept. 20, with the recommendation of getting one eight months after the second shot of Pfizer or Moderna.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

Aug 25, 2021, 1:35 PM EDT

Baby dies in Louisiana marking state's 1st pediatric death in 6 months

A baby under the age of 1 died in connection to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours in Louisiana, the state's Department of Health said Wednesday.

This marked Louisiana's first pediatric COVID-19 death in six months, the department said. The baby was one of 110 people in Louisiana to die of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Eleven children in Louisiana have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the department said.

Aug 25, 2021, 1:07 PM EDT

Hospitalizations at highest point in 7 months

There are now over 100,000 COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals, the most in seven months, according to federal data.

PHOTO: Medical staff attend to one of a COVID-19 patient on Aug. 20, 2021, in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach, Fla.
Medical staff attend to one of a COVID-19 patient on Aug. 20, 2021, in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach, Fla. The SICU is mainly for patients who have undergone a major surgery, but the unit has been transitioned to treat the surge of COVID patients over the last month.
Patrick Dove/TCPALM via USA Today Network

A nurse prepares to enter a room to treat a patient in the ICU COVID-19 ward at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Ark., Aug. 4, 2021.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

The rate of hospital admissions per capita among Americans 29 and younger is at the highest point of the pandemic, according to federal data.

Compared with July 4, six times as many children are being admitted to hospitals, and daily deaths are up 281% over the last six weeks to 775, according to federal data.

Eight states have ICUs over 90% full: Alabama (100%), Arkansas (89.58%), Florida (93.52%), Georgia (92.74%), Kentucky (89.33%), Mississippi (92.93%), Oklahoma (88.93%) and Texas (93.12%).

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Aug 25, 2021, 12:44 PM EDT

NJ hospitalizations highest since May

The number of New Jersey residents hospitalized with COVID-10 has climbed to more than 1,000 for the first time since May 11, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday.

A healthcare worker exists from to the emergency room at Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus, N.J., Dec. 11, 2020.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

"We've come too far to go backward," the governor tweeted. "Get vaccinated and let's end this."

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