COVID-19 updates: 70% of American adults fully vaccinated

A federal rule on vaccine mandates for businesses will be released this week, according to the Labor Department.

The rule will require employers with 100 employers or more to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing. It also will require large businesses to provide paid time off to workers to get the shot and recover from side effects from the vaccine. 

The department said in a statement, "On November 1, the Office of Management and Budget completed its regulatory review of the emergency temporary standard. The Federal Register will publish the emergency temporary standard in the coming days."

It's not clear when the rule will take effect. 

President Joe Biden first announced the rule in September and it's since been making its way through the regulatory process.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Anne Flaherty

The U.S. reported about 101,000 child COVID-19 cases last week, marking the eighth consecutive week of declines in pediatric infections since the pandemic peak of nearly 252,000 cases in early September, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

The rate of pediatric hospital admissions is also declining.

Approximately 45.3% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to federal data.

Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, AAP and CHA said. However, AAP and CHA continue to warn that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, "including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

An independent CDC advisory panel will convene at 11 a.m. Tuesday to debate and hold a nonbinding vote on whether to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for the roughly 28 million kids ages 5 to 11 in the U.S. 

The CDC panel is expected to vote around 4:15 p.m.

If the panel decides to move ahead, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must sign off on those specific recommendations, which would likely happen Tuesday evening.

No pediatric vaccinations will start until Walensky gives the green light. If that happens Tuesday evening, shots could start going into younger children's arms beginning Wednesday.

The White House has purchased 65 million Pfizer pediatric vaccine doses -- more than enough to fully vaccine all American children in this age group. 

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

After six weeks of steady declines, the nationwide case rate appears to be plateauing, according to federal data. In recent days, the daily case average in the U.S. ticked up slightly to 69,000 cases per day, which is a 37% drop in the last month, but higher than last week.

In recent weeks cases have been creeping up in states including Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, according to federal data.

Alaska currently has the country's highest infection rate. Puerto Rico, Florida and California have the lowest.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos