COVID updates: New Zealand imposes restrictions amid omicron outbreak

A federal judge in Texas shot down the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal workers.

A lawsuit was filed in December by Feds for Medical Freedom, compromised of government employees from various agencies and AFGE 918, a union which primarily represents employees from the Federal Protective Service and Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency.

Citing the Supreme Court’s most recent decision against OSHA, U.S. District Judge Jeffery Vincent Brown ruled there is a difference between public health measures and setting workplace and safety standards.

“The President certainly possesses ‘broad statutory authority to regulate executive branch employment policies,’” the judge wrote. “But the Supreme Court has expressly held that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate is not an employment regulation. And that means the President was without statutory authority to issue the federal worker mandate.”

Brown made clear that getting vaccinated is the best protection against COVID-19 and the lawsuit had to do with whether or not a president could issue such a sweeping order with the stroke of a pen.

The Justice Department will appeal the ruling, a spokesman said.

Following the ruling, a Biden administration spokesperson said "we are confident in our legal authority."

"Importantly, as we face the most transmissible variant to date, every leader should be focused on using the tools we know work to protect the American people. Vaccination is our strongest tool against the virus," the spokesperson said in a statement, noting that more than 93% of federal employees have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

-ABC News' Luke Barr

California state senator Scott Wiener has introduced a bill lowering the vaccine age of consent from 18 to 12.

"California law already allows 12-17 year olds to access various forms of healthcare without parental consent, eg: HPV & hep B vaccines, abortion care, birth control, mental healthcare, domestic violence-related care," Wiener tweeted Friday. "Let’s let teens protect their health."

San Francisco's director of public health and youth advocates were among those who joined Wiener at a Friday news conference introducing the legislation.

One youth advocate, Nyla, a seventh-grader, said, "We're exposed to so much that we're old enough to have a say so when something will benefit us. … This bill gives me hope for kids whose parents don't always make decisions in their best interest even when they mean well."

-ABC News' Izzy Alvarez

Los Angeles County reported 102 new deaths on Thursday, marking the highest daily death toll since March 10, 2021.

Daily deaths doubled in just one week, according to county officials.

Of Thursday's 102 fatalities, 90% were residents who tested positive for COVID-19 after Christmas Eve, which means they likely had omicron, county officials said in a statement.

"As deaths often lag behind surges in cases and hospitalizations, we may see an even higher number of deaths in the coming weeks," county officials warned.

The positivity rate in New York state has dropped to the single digits for the first time since Dec. 20, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday, another indicator that the omicron surge is receding in the state.

The positivity rate now stands at 9.75%, down from over 23% on Jan. 2, which was the highest rate in New York during the omicron wave. 

"This is still to be taken very seriously," Hochul stressed at a Friday briefing, noting that hospitalizations are still high.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie