COVID-19 updates: LA has highest daily death total since April

The U.S. is now reporting an average of 1,650 new COVID-19-related deaths each day -- up by about 50% since Christmas, according to federal data.

Indiana currently has the highest death rate, followed by Delaware and New York City.

Twenty-six states are now averaging more daily cases than at any point in the pandemic, according to federal data.

Surging national case numbers, however, may not be indicative of what is happening in every region of the country. Some areas could see a decline or a plateau in cases, according to some experts.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

President Joe Biden will deploy military medical teams to hospitals in six states where COVID-19 infections are surging. 

Teams of doctors, nurses and clinical personnel will be sent as early as next week to New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan and New Mexico, Biden is expected to announce on Thursday alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Biden in December directed the defense secretary to ready 1,000 military medical personnel to deploy to hospitals across the country as needed in January and February. The teams now being readied will be the first to start arriving at hospitals.

They'll be sent to Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Henry Ford Hospital near Detroit, University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque and University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.

Biden, Austin and Criswell on Thursday will also "be briefed on the administration’s efforts to send resources and personnel to hard-hit communities across the country that are experiencing a surge in hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant,” according to a White House official.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

The labs shouldering much of the nation's PCR COVID-19 testing are getting slammed with demand again during omicron's surge, and now they're grappling with a new challenge: their workforces are getting hit by the virus they've been tasked with tracking.

The American Clinical Laboratory Association, the national trade association representing some of the leading clinical labs responsible for COVID diagnostics, is warning that their members' workforce is strained as more workers call out sick.

"Labs are now facing a wave of new issues brought on by a fast-spreading variant that has not spared the laboratory care work force," an ACLA spokesperson told ABC News.

COVID-19 infections have increased laboratory staff sick leave -- a "significant factor in determining overall capacity" at an industry-wide level, the spokesperson said.

"We have been pressured to get our capacity where we believe it can be because of the labor problems we see," Quest Diagnostics CEO Steve Rusckowski said Wednesday at the JPM Healthcare Conference. "Some of this is just getting the labor to do our work, but secondly, is because of callouts because of the virus have been considerable over the last two weeks."

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

Chicago teachers voted Wednesday to accept the deal made by the union and city to re start in-person classes.

The deal ended the five-day standoff after the union voted to switch to remote learning due to the omicron surge.

Union leaders made a tentative agreement on Monday and urged teachers to back the deal despite frustration that the district wouldn't grant demands for widespread coronavirus testing or commit to districtwide remote learning during a COVID-19 surge.

The final agreement will expand COVID-19 testing and create standards to switch schools to remote learning.

The deal also resulted in the purchase of KN95 masks for students and teachers and bigger incentives to attract substitute teachers. The city also agreed to give teachers unpaid leave related to the pandemic.