COVID-19 updates: White House press secretary Jen Psaki tests positive

Psaki said she has mild symptoms and is working from home.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: November 1, 2021, 1:22 AM EDT

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 744,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 67.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Oct 28, 2021, 10:11 AM EDT

5 states see hospital admissions jump by at least 15%

Hospital admissions have fallen by about 55% since late August, according to federal data.

But five states have seen at least a 15% increase in hospital admissions over the last two weeks: Alaska (21.7%), Colorado (15.9%), Maine (35.3%), New Hampshire (38.9%) and New Mexico (19.6%).

A pharmacy technicinan specialist at Maine Medical Center demonstrates the process of preparing anitibodies used to treat COVID19 patients in Portland, Maine, Sept. 15, 2021.
Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images, FILE

Alaska currently has the country's highest infection rate, followed by Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho.

The U.S. reported approximately 1,600 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday alone. Deaths are about 1.5 times higher in non-metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 28, 2021, 9:39 AM EDT

Colorado's available ICU beds at lowest point of pandemic

Colorado's available number of ICU beds is at the lowest point of the pandemic following a dramatic spike in hospitalizations and the winding down of extra beds added in the last surge.

Colorado currently has 1,191 COVID-19 patients, according to state data, and 29% of hospitals anticipate an ICU bed shortage in the next week. 

Kelly Cummings works administering tests at a COVID testing site in the parking lot of George Washington High School, on Sept. 1, 2021 in Denver.
Aaron Ontiveroz/Denver Post via Getty Images, FILE

State health officials told ABC News that hospitals in El Paso County have turned away transfer requests over the lack of beds.

“We are continuing to move very much in the wrong direction,” Scott Bookman, the state’s COVID-19 chief, said at a briefing. 

-ABC News' Jeff Cook

Oct 27, 2021, 6:43 PM EDT

New York City braces for possible mandate-related reduction in fire, EMS service

New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Wednesday he's preparing to make major operational changes next week as significant portion of the city's firefighters and EMS personnel haven't complied with the city's vaccine mandate.

"We will use all means at our disposal, including mandatory overtime, mutual aid from other EMS providers, and significant changes to the schedules of our members," he said in a statement.

The mandate for all New York City public employees will go into effect at the end of day Friday. The FDNY said that 65% of its members were vaccinated as of Wednesday.

PHOTO:City workers, including FDNY, hold a protest march and rally over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall to voice their opposition to a city mandate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs in Brooklyn area of New York, Oct. 25, 2021.
New York City workers, including thousands of firemen, hold a protest march and rally over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall to voice their opposition to a city mandate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs in Brooklyn area of New York, Oct. 25, 2021.
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

An FDNY official told ABC News that by Monday fire and ambulance services could be reduced by as much as 20%.

FDNY leadership has held virtual meetings with uniformed staff explaining the vaccine mandate and imploring them to comply, and will continue doing so throughout the week, the official said.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky

Oct 27, 2021, 3:29 PM EDT

CDC advisers to vote Nov. 2 on pediatric vaccines

The CDC's independent advisors plan to discuss and hold a non-binding vote on the recommendations for the pediatric vaccine on Nov. 2.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will likely endorse those recommendations for 5 to 11-year-olds following the vote that day.

PHOTO: Students sit in a Normont Elementary classroom in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021.
Students sit in a Normont Elementary classroom in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted, Oct. 26, 2021, to recommend a pediatric dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11.
Allison Zaucha/The New York Times via Redux

Vaccinations can start as soon as Walensky sends out final recommendations.

Meanwhile, the FDA's decision to authorize the pediatric vaccine is expected in the coming days.

A nurse practitioner in the PICU talks with the parent of a pediatric COVID patient at University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, Oct. 6, 2021.
Jessica Koscielniak/USA Today

-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss

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