COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

The senator says she's experiencing "mild symptoms."

Last Updated: December 20, 2021, 12:51 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 13, 2021, 5:02 PM EST

California reinstates mask mandate for 1 month

California is reinstating an indoor mask mandate from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15.

Half of the state is already under a mask mandate per local rules, according to California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly.

California is also tightening restrictions on unvaccinated people at large events. At events with more than 1,000 people, anyone who isn’t vaccinated must show proof of a negative antigen test within 24 hours or a negative PCR test within 48 hours.

State officials also recommend that travelers get tested three to five days before arriving in California.

-ABC News' Matt Fuhrman

Dec 13, 2021, 4:09 PM EST

164,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases reported in US last week

Last week, another 164,000 children in the United States tested positive for COVID-19, up by 24% from the week prior, according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

COVID-19 cases among U.S. children are "extremely high," the organizations wrote in the report.

Last week the Northeast saw its highest number of pediatric cases since the onset of the pandemic, with nearly 40,000 new cases.

So far, 21 million children ages 5 to 17 nationwide -- about 39.6% -- have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, the organizations wrote in the report. But they continue to warn that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on kids, including the physical, emotional and mental health impacts.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 13, 2021, 3:28 PM EST

US reaches 50 million confirmed cases

A total of 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Cheryl Sanders holds the hand of her husband, a COVID-19 patient, Vincent Sanders inside his isolation room in the intensive care unit at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, N.M., Dec. 10, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The U.S. has reported more cases than any other nation in the world. The U.S. currently represents nearly one-fifth of the globe's total 270.5 million cases.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 13, 2021, 2:59 PM EST

US daily cases up 85% since October

In the weeks following Thanksgiving, the COVID-19 resurgence in the U.S. has escalated rapidly.

The U.S. is averaging more than 118,000 new cases each day -- up by about 41.8% in the last two weeks and up nearly 85% since late October, according to federal data.

Six states with some of the nation's highest vaccination rates are also among the states with the highest new case rates: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and New York. Experts say cases could be rising in the Northeast partially due to people heading inside in the cold weather.

People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing site in Times Square, New York, Dec. 13, 2021.
Seth Wenig/AP

Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions increased by 14.4% in the last week and jumped by 48% in the last month, according to federal data.

Pediatric admissions are up by 23.8% in the last week.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos