COVID-19 updates: Classes in Chicago canceled for 4th day

Chicago Public Schools has been in talks with teachers over COVID-19 safety.

ByMary Kekatos, Nadine El-Bawab, Ayushi Agarwal, Ivan Pereira, Morgan Winsor, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: January 3, 2022, 10:34 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 837,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 62.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 03, 2022, 10:34 AM EST

More than 100,000 Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19

More than 100,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A total of 103,329 people are receiving medical care, which is an increase of 130% from the number recorded two months ago.

US Army Critical Care Nurse, Captain Edward Rauch Jr., left, tends to a Covid-19 patient on a ventilator at Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn, Mich., Dec. 17, 2021.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

Of those patients, more than 17% -- about 18,000 -- are in intensive care units.

The newly updated figure is just shy of the hospitalization peak seen during the summer wave fueled by the delta variant, when 104,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID in early September.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 03, 2022, 10:20 AM EST

FDA authorizes Pfizer's booster shot for 12- to-15-year-olds

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine in children between ages 12 and 15 on Monday.

Booster shots have been touted as a key tool in fighting the surge in COVID cases linked to the omicron variant, which has shown an ability to -- at least partially -- evade protection offered by two doses.

The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is administered at a pop-up clinic offering vaccines and booster shots in Rosemead, Calif., Nov. 29, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

The FDA also shortened the wait period for adults and adolescents to receive boosters from six months down to five months.

In addition, the agency authorized COVID booster shots for children aged five to 11 who are immunocompromised.

Jan 03, 2022, 9:43 AM EST

'Mrs. Doubtfire' pauses performances amid COVID surge

"Mrs. Doubtfire the Musical" has becomes the latest Broadway show to announce it is pausing performances amid the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases in New York City.

In a post shared on Twitter, producers announced the musical will "be taking a hiatus" between Jan. 10 and March 14.

Anyone with tickets for performances during the hiatus can either exchange for performances after March 15 or request a refund.

Jan 03, 2022, 9:34 AM EST

Puerto Rico's COVID positivity rate jumps from 2% to 33%

Puerto Rico's COVID-19 positivity rate spiked to 33% on Monday, according to the island’s health department COVID dashboard.

This is a 16-fold jump from the 2% positivity rate reported just two weeks ago, which was a record low.

Scientist Mónica Feliú-Mójer from Ciencia PR, an organization that focuses on scientific education in Puerto Rico, said the rapid increase is due to many factors, including people's behavior.

A health worker is handed a collected swab sample for COVID-19 test at a drive-in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing site at Hiram Bithorn Stadium's parking lot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dec. 23, 2021.
Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters, FILE

She said people gathering over the holidays, while a highly transmissible variant continued to spread, led to the spike in the positivity rate.

“The holidays are culturally very, very important and everyone thought this would be a different Christmas. People were eager to get together,” Feliú-Mójer told ABC News.

Read more here.

-ABC News' Cristina Corujo

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