Pfizer has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its COVID-19 pill, the company announced in a press release Tuesday.
Both Merck and Pfizer are working on pills that appear very effective at keeping patients out of the hospital, according to the companies.
The Merck medication could be FDA authorized, recommended and available by the end of the year. The FDA's advisory committee is slated to discuss the Merck application on Nov. 30.
Authorization for Pfizer is not expected until early next year.
-ABC News' Sony Salzman
Nov 16, 2021, 1:59 PM EST
21 states see at least 10% jump in daily cases
The U.S. daily case average has surged to more than 80,000 -- a 27% jump in three weeks, according to federal data.
Over the last two weeks, 21 states have seen at least a 10% uptick in daily cases: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Healthcare workers prepare their PPE before entering a negative pressure room to tend to a patient on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit of Baptist Health Floyd, Sept. 7, 2021 in New Albany, Indiana.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images, FILE
A patient is wheeled into Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nov. 11, 2021.
Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal via Zuma Press
Last week marked the first national increase in total hospitalizations in nearly 10 weeks, according to federal data. There are now more than 48,000 patients with COVID-19 currently receiving care, up by about 3,000 patients from a week ago.
Twelve states (and Washington, D.C.) have seen an increase of 10% or more in hospital admissions over the last week: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 16, 2021, 11:36 AM EST
Times Square reopening to vaccinated revelers for New Year's Eve
Times Square is reopening this New Year's Eve after being closed last year due to the pandemic.
Revelers must bring proof of full vaccination and a photo ID.
"This has been a heroic city fighting through COVID. We are turning the corner. We've got a lot to celebrate. It's going to be a big moment in Times Square on New Years Eve," Mayor Bill de Blasio said, ABC New York station WABC reported.
Nov 15, 2021, 6:54 PM EST
US sees increase in pediatric cases for 2nd week in a row
For the second week in a row, the U.S. experienced an increase in its weekly number of pediatric COVID-19 cases.
Over the last week, more than 122,000 child cases were reported — an increase of about 22% from two weeks ago, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
This marks the 14th consecutive week that child COVID-19 cases are above 100,000.
Prior to the recent increases, infections among children had been steadily dropping since the pandemic peak of 252,000 child cases, recorded over the span of a week in early September.
But now, COVID-19 cases among children remain "extremely high," the organizations wrote, and since the first week of September, there have been almost 1.6 million additional child cases.
Last week, children accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of reported weekly COVID-19 cases, though children under 18 make up just 22.2% of the U.S. population.
