Omicron updates: COVID-19 cases could double in New York City

New York's seven-day average case rate has jumped by 43% since Thanksgiving.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: December 13, 2021, 4:29 AM EST

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 797,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 60.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Dec 12, 2021, 1:19 PM EST

Austria lifts COVID restrictions for vaccinated people, announces vaccine mandate into 2024

Nearly a month after imposing additional rules to fight rising COVID-19 infections, Austrian authorities will now allow vaccinated people to participate in public life starting Sunday. 

Lockdown restrictions will still apply to unvaccinated individuals.

PHOTO: Protesters carry a banner reading "2020: OMG, you are our heroes - 2021: take the vaccination or you are fired" as they take part in a demonstration against the Austrian government's measures taken in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Protesters carry a banner reading "2020: OMG, you are our heroes - 2021: take the vaccination or you are fired" as they take part in a demonstration against the Austrian government's measures taken in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, on December 12, 2021 in Bregenz, Austria, amidst the novel coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic. - The Bregenz demonstration is only one in a string of huge weekend protests since Austria in November 2021 became the first EU country to say it would make Covid vaccinations mandatory.
Dietmar Stiplovsek/APA/AFP via Getty Images

But Austria's tough response to rising COVID infections doesn't end there. The health minister, Wolfgang Mueckstein, announced that starting Feb. 1 and going through Jan. 2024, COVID vaccines will be mandatory, for all residents aged 14 and over

At the end of each quarter, residents who remain unvaccinated face fines up to $4,074.

The mandate, which still needs to be approved by parliament, will include exemptions for women who are pregnant, children under the age of 14 and people who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Dec 10, 2021, 5:25 PM EST

50M Americans receive booster shot so far

More than 50 million Americans have now received a COVID-19 booster shot, according to newly updated federal data.

More than half of fully vaccinated people 65 years and older have received a booster.

On average, about 2.03 million total shots are being administered each day, the data shows. More than half -- 1.1 million -- are booster doses.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 10, 2021, 3:50 PM EST

Significant case growth expected across much of US, cases could double in NYC 

The PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia predicts "significant" case growth across much of the U.S. over the next four weeks.

PHOTO: Kennedy Garcia, a Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade registered nurse, prepares her personal protective equipment gear before entering the isolation room of a coronavirus disease COVID-19 patient in Farmington, N.M., Dec. 9, 2021.
Kennedy Garcia, a Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade registered nurse, prepares her personal protective equipment gear before entering the isolation room of a coronavirus disease COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, N.M., Dec. 9, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

According to forecasters, large metropolitan areas, particularly in the Northeast, are seeing significant case growth following Thanksgiving. 

Cases in the New York City area are expected to at least double through December, the forecasters said. 

People wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a testing facility in Times Square, Dec. 9, 2021, in New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Metropolitan areas in New Jersey, Delaware and North Carolina are expected to see a rapid case increase, forecasters said. 

The forecasters also noted a "sudden" increase in cases in Florida in the last two weeks. 

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 10, 2021, 1:10 PM EST

No deaths among 43 omicron patients in US 

There have been no deaths and one hospitalization among the 43 known omicron patients in the U.S., according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

According to public health experts, early indications show omicron could cause less severe disease than prior variants, but it's still too early to say for sure. It's also possible that omicron only appears less severe because many of the people who have been infected have been vaccinated, younger adults.  

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

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