US reports highest weekly COVID-19 vaccinations since July 4

There were over 7 million shots in the past week, an official said Saturday.

ByEmily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: October 6, 2021, 11:06 AM EDT

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

More than 712,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 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.

Just 66% 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 is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 06, 2021, 10:33 AM EDT

Hospital admissions on the decline

Daily hospital admissions have dropped by 14.6% in the last week, according to federal data.

Even so, ICU capacities remain at critical levels in several states. In Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Idaho and Texas, about 10% or less space is available.

About 70,000 Americans are currently in hospitals with COVID-19.

Alaska currently has the country's highest infection rate, followed by Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho, according to federal data.

A COVID-19 receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska.
Rick Bowmer/AP

PHOTO: A storefront in downtown Gillette, Wyo., displays a shirt reading, "Attention snowflakes, this is not a safe space," Sept. 21, 2021.
A storefront in downtown Gillette, Wyo., displays a shirt with a political statement, Sept. 21, 2021. Wyoming has the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and the Gillette area has one of the lowest rates in Wyoming.
Mead Gruver/AP

Despite high vaccination rates in the Northeast, infection levels in Maine are reaching peak-pandemic records, while case numbers in New Hampshire and Vermont are steadily inching up.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 06, 2021, 9:41 AM EDT

Nearly 200K rapid at-home antigen tests recalled

Ellume is recalling nearly 200,000 rapid at-home antigen tests out of concerns over an abnormally high rate of false positives. 

Roughly 427,000 test kits, including thousands sent to retailers and some provided to the Department of Defense, were impacted. About 195,000 of these kits are still unused and subject to the recall, and about 202,000, have already been used. Of those, there were about 42,000 positive results, of which as many as a quarter, or perhaps fewer, of those positives could have been inaccurate, though it's difficult to determine an exact ratio. 

CEO Sean Parsons said in a statement, "I offer my sincere apologies -- and the apologies of our entire company --for any stress or difficulties they may have experienced because of a false positive result," Parsons said. 

Ellume said it identified the root cause as an issue in variation with one of the kit's components. The company said it has "implemented additional controls" and is "continuing to work on resolving the issue that led to this recall." 

Ellume is notifying affected customers and urging confirmatory tests.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

Oct 06, 2021, 9:24 AM EDT

More Americans died of COVID this year than all of 2020

More Americans have died from COVID-19 this year than from the virus in all of 2020, according to newly updated data from Johns Hopkins University.

PHOTO: Notes to loved ones who died due to COVID-19, are written on white flags as part of a memorial for Americans as the national death toll reached 700,000, next to the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 2021.
Notes to loved ones who died due to COVID-19, are written on white flags as part of Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's "In America: Remember," a memorial for Americans as the national death toll reached 700,000, next to the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 2021.
Leah Millis/Reuters

More than 353,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since Jan. 1, compared with 352,000 COVID-19 deaths in the first 10 months of the pandemic.

Over the last month, the U.S. has reported more than 47,000 deaths.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 05, 2021, 8:06 PM EDT

2,200 Kaiser Permanente employees on unpaid leave due to vaccine mandate

Over 2,000 Kaiser Permanente employees are on unpaid leave following the health care system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline, the company said Tuesday.

Kaiser Permanente's 240,000 employees had until Sept. 30 to respond to the requirement. As of Monday, 2,200 people -- about 1% of the company's workforce -- had been placed on unpaid leave for not complying, the company said.

That number has more than halved in the days since the deadline. On the morning of Oct. 1, roughly 5,000 employees were on unpaid leave.

Those on unpaid leave have until Dec. 1 to get the vaccine or secure a qualified medical or religious exemption, at which point they may return to work. If they do neither, they may be eligible for termination, Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Marc Brown told ABC News. 

"We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won't know with certainty until then," Brown said. "We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about the vaccines, their benefits, and risks." 

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

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