COVID-19 live updates: City sees fourfold increase in pediatric hospitalizations

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted that he's tested positive for COVID-19, as have his wife and his son.

The governor said he and his wife are asymptomatic and his son, who is in the ninth grade, has mild symptoms.

Walz said his son is vaccinated and that he and his wife are vaccinated and boosted.

Walz tweeted, "I am confident that these vaccines are protecting my family and me from serious illness. … I encourage every Minnesotan to get tested, and get vaccinated and a booster."

The U.S. is now reporting more than 132,000 new cases every day. Since the beginning of December, the case average has surged by over 50%, according to federal data.

New York City has the nation's highest new case rate, according to CDC data, and is now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic. Cases in the nation's most populous city are trending up on an exponential curve, surging by about 640% in the last month.

New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams said Tuesday that he's postponing his inauguration, initially set for Jan. 1, due to the surge.

New York isn't the only place seeing a rise. In Florida, the average number of daily cases has more than tripled in the last week, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

President Joe Biden will speak to the public at 2:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, announcing new steps to combat the pandemic.

Biden will announce a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January. The free at-home rapid tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them. Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January, a senior administration official said.

The president is also set to introduce new federal testing sites around the U.S., the first several of which will launch in New York City by Christmas.

The government will also mobilize 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals, the senior administration official said. There are currently 175 troops spread over four states, and since August 2021, when a joint military operation across the Army, Navy and Air Force began, about 530 medical military personnel have been deployed to work alongside civilian health care providers.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Sarah Kolinovsky

Massachusetts will activate up to 500 National Guard members as the state faces a "critical staffing shortage," Gov. Charlie Baker's office said Tuesday.

Besides a staffing shortage, hospitals are also seeing an influx of patients, but many patients are from "non-COVID related reasons," the office said.

Beginning Dec. 27, all hospitals will be directed to postpone or cancel nonessential elective procedures that are likely to result in hospital admission.

Massachusetts has also updated its mask guidance, recommending that everyone, including those vaccinated, wear a mask in indoor, public places.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos