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

The Critics Choice Awards, initially scheduled to be held in person in Los Angeles next month, will be postponed, the association behind the film and television awards show announced Wednesday.

"After thoughtful consideration and candid conversations with our partners at The CW and TBS, we have collectively come to the conclusion that the prudent and responsible decision at this point is to postpone the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards," the Critics Choice Association said in a statement. 

Organizers are working to find a new date during the upcoming awards season to hold the gala in person "with everyone's safety and health remaining our top priority," it said. 

The Critics Choice Awards would have been the first major televised awards show of the season.

The announcement comes as the Los Angeles County health department reported 6,500 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, double the number from the day before and one of the steepest rises the county has seen during the pandemic.

The daily average case rate for the county has also more than doubled since last week, to 29 cases per 100,000 people. Test positivity has jumped to 4.5%, up from 1.9% last Thursday.  

Health officials said new cases could reach over 20,000 by the end of the year due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

-ABC News' Jason Nathanson and Nick Kerr

The U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up challenges to the Biden administration's federal vaccine mandates for large businesses and health care workers, scheduling an expedited hearing for Jan. 7, 2022.

In a pair of orders accepting the cases, the high court put off immediate action on the mandates until after oral arguments next month.

Last week, a federal appeals court reinstated the emergency rule from the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration requiring private companies with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccinations or conduct weekly testing to ensure workplace safety. Multiple Republican state attorneys general, business organizations and other groups appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

The Biden administration has since said masks among unvaccinated employees must be enforced starting Jan. 10 and proof of vaccination or testing compliance begins Feb. 9. The requirement remains in effect.

A separate rule by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring vaccinations of workers at facilities that receive funds to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients remains on hold. The Biden administration has asked the justices to reinstate it.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer

In an exclusive interview with ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir Wednesday, President Joe Biden said "nothing's been good enough" when it comes to accessing rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests, and expressed some regret about not ordering them sooner.

"I wish I had thought about ordering" 500 million at-home tests "two months ago," he told Muir.

The president did emphasize strides the country has made in vaccinations in the past year.

"We’re in a situation now where we have 200 million people fully vaccinated," he said. "And we have more than that who have had one shot."

Click here to read more from Muir's interview with Biden.

Vice President Kamala Harris had close contact with a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday morning, her spokeswoman said.

The staffer was with Harris throughout the day on Tuesday after testing negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday, Monday "and every day last week," but on Wednesday morning the staffer tested positive, Harris’ spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Harris had a negative antigen test Wednesday morning and a negative PCR test after being notified of the staffer’s positive test, according to Sanders.

The vice president will be tested again Friday and Monday and will "continue with her daily schedule," including departing for Los Angeles Wednesday evening for a stay through the new year, Sanders said.

President Joe Biden tested negative again Wednesday morning following exposure to a staff member who recently tested positive for COVID-19, the White House said.

Both are fully vaccinated and have received their booster doses.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson