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

As Florida continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, 14 portable morgues are headed to central Florida hospitals. 

ABC News confirmed the order with Lynne Drawdy, executive director of the Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition, which is sending the coolers.

Each portable morgue can hold up to 12 bodies, Drawdy told ABC Orlando affiliate WFTV.

The coolers will go to hospitals across central Florida, as some have reached morgue capacity due to an influx of COVID-19 patients, and are expected to arrive by Monday, according to WFTV.

A new peer-reviewed study estimates that the delta variant doubles the risk of being hospitalized if you're unvaccinated compared to the alpha variant.

The study -- an analysis of more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases from the United Kingdom -- primarily included unvaccinated people, so the findings don't apply to vaccinated people with breakthrough infections.

Vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death for both the alpha and delta variants.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

Seven states, all in the South, have intensive care units over 90% full, according to federal data: Alabama (100%), Florida (94.98%), Georgia (94.68%), Louisiana (90.15%), Mississippi (92.07%), Oklahoma (91.68%), and Texas (93.86%).

The U.S. is continuing to experience its steepest and most significant increase in hospitalizations in seven months, according to federal data. On Wednesday alone, more than 12,800 patients were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, marking the highest number of patients seeking care over the span of 24 hours since January.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Half of all U.S. 12- to 17-year-olds have had their first vaccine shot, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at Friday's briefing, which he called "critical progress."

"The vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group," Zients added.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said a new CDC report out of Los Angeles County showed that schools following the health agency's guidelines had 3.5 times lower cases during the winter peak as compared to case rates in the community. (This study did not account for the delta variant).

"Even when communities were experiencing high levels of COVID transmission, in the LA County study, layered prevention measures in schools provided a shield of protection, helped to keep COVID out of school and reduced the spread when cases did occur," Walensky said. 

She continued: "I want to strongly appeal to those districts who have not implemented prevention strategies and encourage them to do the right thing to protect the children under their care."

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett