Unvaccinated people 11 times more likely to die in COVID-19 delta surge

The unvaccinated were six times more likely to get the virus in August.

ByEmily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Marlene Lenthang
Last Updated: October 18, 2021, 1:16 AM EDT

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

More than 722,000 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 66.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 12, 2021, 9:36 AM EDT

Pediatric infection rates trending down

More than 6 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Although the weekly case rate remains exceptionally high, the U.S. is reporting about 95,000 fewer child cases now compared to one month ago, according to a weekly report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

Healthcare workers treat pediatric patients for the COVID-19 at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 5, 2021.
Callaghan O'Hare/Reuters

Even with the decline, last week children still accounted for 24.8% of the week's cases, the report found.

The South is no longer reporting the highest number pediatric cases and has now been surpassed by the Midwest.

Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. However, AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, "including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."

About 43.3% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 12, 2021, 9:15 AM EDT

Fauci: Best way to avoid resurgence is getting more Americans vaccinated

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Monday night that "the best way to assure that decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths [will] continue is to continue to get a lot more people vaccinated."

PHOTO: Nurse Abbe Hildebrandt, left, gives a thumbs up to Holli Harris as nurse Sandra Young, right, administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine to her husband Allen Harris at the Tennessee Riverpark, Sept. 28, 2021, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Nurse Abbe Hildebrandt, left, gives a thumbs up to Holli Harris as nurse Sandra Young, right, administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine to her husband Allen Harris at the Tennessee Riverpark, Sept. 28, 2021, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Hamilton County Health Department continues to administer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Tennessee Riverpark location.
Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, FILE

"We need the overwhelming proportion of those unvaccinated people to get vaccinated. Then we can be quite confident that if we can do that, you will not see a resurgence," Fauci said.

About 68 million eligible Americans remain completely unvaccinated.

Despite continued pushback, Fauci said that newly implemented vaccine mandates are working.

"Sometimes mandates can help. As sensitive an issue as that is, it is really getting people more vaccinated," Fauci said. 

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 11, 2021, 6:41 PM EDT

Abbott issues executive order banning vaccine mandates in Texas

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that he issued an executive order that bans vaccine mandates "by any entity" in Texas.

The executive order prohibits entities from issuing a mandate to anyone who "objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19."

"The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced," Abbott said in a statement.

The governor also announced that the issue over vaccine mandates will be addressed in a special session of the state legislature.

As of Monday evening, 72.4% of Texas residents over 12 have received one vaccine dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Texas's seven-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases is 7,447 as of Oct. 8, according to the CDC.

Oct 11, 2021, 3:33 PM EDT

WHO advisory group recommends boosters for immunocompromised people

The World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization is recommending boosters for moderately and severely immunocompromised people. The group is also recommending a third dose of China's Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines for people 60 and older.

Critical Care Respiratory therapist Lauren Parsons looks down before entering the isolation room of a COVID-19 patient on the ICU at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., Sept. 22, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The WHO's Director-General had previously called for a moratorium on boosters, citing inequities in access to vaccines. High-income countries have administered 35 times more vaccine doses than low-income countries. Countries in the WHO Africa Region have only fully vaccinated 3% of their populations.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou