COVID-19 updates: No unemployment benefits for vaccine refusal in this state

The state just announced new COVID emergency plans.

ByJulia Jacobo, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, Morgan Winsor, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: September 27, 2021, 8:51 AM EDT

The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 686,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The average number of daily deaths in the U.S. has risen about 20% in the last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. is continuing to sink on the list of global vaccination rates, currently ranking No. 46, according to data compiled by The Financial Times. Just 64.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Sep 21, 2021, 11:12 PM EDT

US Department of Education investigating Texas schools over mask mandate ban

In a letter to the Texas Education Agency, the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday said it is beginning an investigation into Texas schools' ban on mask mandates, and how that could potential be an infringement of students’ civil rights.

The investigation will focus on "whether, in light of this policy, students with disabilities who are at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 are prevented from safely returning to in-person education, in violation of Federal law,” the letter states.

The Department of Education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Suzanne Goldberg, laid out the process of the investigation in the letter, but also made clear that it could be resolved at any time if masks in schools are reinstated.

"OCR’s Case Processing Manual provides several ways for this investigation to be resolved, including an option to reach a voluntary resolution agreement prior to the completion of an investigation,” the letter reads. “If TEA expresses an interest in resolving the investigation in this way and OCR determines this form of resolution is appropriate based on the investigation, we will follow the steps set out in Section 302 of the Case Processing Manual.”

Sep 21, 2021, 3:35 PM EDT

Texas, Georgia, Alabama account for about one-third of last week's deaths

The U.S. daily death average has now climbed over 1,400 despite skewed reporting from the weekend, according to federal data.

Houston Fire Department paramedics transport a COVID-19 positive woman to a hospital, Sept. 15, 2021, in Houston.
John Moore/Getty Images

About one-third of the nearly 9,500 virus-related deaths in the last week came from just three states: Texas, Georgia and Alabama.

About 90,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, compared to more than 100,000 patients about three weeks ago, according to federal data. But in the past month, at least 10 states -- Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia -- have reported record hospitalizations.

Ann Enderle R.N. attends to a COVID-19 patient in the Medical Intensive care unit (MICU) at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, Aug. 31, 2021.
Kyle Green/AP

West Virginia is leading the nation in cases, followed by Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Alabama, Wyoming, Kentucky, North Dakota, Tennessee and Ohio, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Sep 21, 2021, 1:46 PM EDT

Over half of Louisiana's new cases are among people under 40

In Louisiana, 1,268 COVID-19 cases have been reported since Monday, and over half of those are people under 40.

A clinician cares for COVID-19 patients in a converted negative pressure room in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, Aug. 10, 2021, in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE

Those ages 5 to 17 make up 21% of the cases, state health officials said. Louisiana residents ages 18 to 29 make up 16% and people between the ages of 30 to 39 account for 16%.

Louisiana has lost 13,558 residents to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, state health officials said.

The state currently has 1,239 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

Sep 21, 2021, 12:31 PM EDT

Pelosi visits art installation commemorating Americans lost to COVID

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday visited the public art installation on the National Mall that commemorates the American lives lost to COVID-19.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits the art installation, In America: Remember, comprised of more than 600,000 flags commemorating all Americans who have died due to the coronavirus disease, located on the National Mall in Washington, Sept. 21, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

More than 660,000 white flags were planted in the biggest participatory art installation on the National Mall since the AIDS Quilt. The installation is open to the public from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.