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, 11:37 AM EDT

Global cases, deaths on the rise for 1st time in 2 months

The global number of COVID-19 cases and deaths are now increasing for the first time in two months, largely driven by an ongoing rise in Europe that outweighs declines in other regions, W.H.O. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.

Medical workers work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where patients suffering from the coronavirus disease are treated at the Saint-Pierre clinic in Ottignies, Belgium, April 7, 2021.
Johanna Geron/Reuters, FILE

The highest case increases in the last two weeks were in the Czech Republic (up by 234%), Hungary (up by 200%) and Poland (up by 183%), according to the W.H.O.

The director-general attributed ongoing infections "in large part" to inequitable access to tests and vaccines.

"Eighty-times more tests, and 30 times more vaccines, have been administered in high-income countries than low-income countries," Tedros said. "If the 6.8 billion vaccine doses administered globally so far had been distributed equitably, we would have reached our 40% target in every country by now."

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

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

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