Nearly 74% of eligible Americans have at least 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose

The Los Angeles Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Thursday where they're expected to enact a vaccine mandate for students.

In a meeting with members, the board will propose a resolution that would require all local students at LAUSD school facilities who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to become vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination in order to return to the classroom.

The school district -- the second largest in the country, with almost 600,000 students -- has recently welcomed some students back to in-person classes by following strict COVID-19 safety measures, such as constant testing, masking, sanitizing, screening and social distancing. 

Schools in the area have also required all staff to be fully vaccinated. 

Still, the board said in a statement Wednesday, "COVID-19 remains a material threat to the health and safety of all students within the LAUSD community, and is a further threat to continuous in-person instruction," which is why they are hoping to mandate vaccination among students.

If the resolution is passes, all LA students who are 12 years of age or older, and are part of in-person extracurricular programs, must receive their first vaccine dose by no later than Oct. 3, and their second dose by no later than Oct. 31. Those 12 and older not participating in in-person programs must be vaccinated by November, and "all other students must receive their first vaccine dose by no later than 30 days after their 12th birthday, and their second dose by no later than 8 weeks after their 12th birthday," the board's statement reads.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced new grim COVID-19 data and said the state has reached a record high positivity rate of 14.1%, and a hospitalization rate of 2,424.

There are 674 residents in ICUs, Beshear said.

In the last 24 hours, 4,468 newly coronavirus cases and 30 new deaths, including that of a young teen, were reported, according to the governor.

"No matter what age you are, this thing is deadly and it's out there. You need to get vaccinated and you need to wear your mask," he wrote on Twitter.

Nearly 94% of all NFL players and 99% of the league's football-related staff members are at least partially vaccinated, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The season begins Thursday night with a match between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The league has mandated that coaches and staff be vaccinated and has been going back and forth with the NFL Players Association about a requirement for players.

Currently, unvaccinated players are being tested daily and required to follow a series of protocols, while those fully vaccinated are tested once a week. Still, the NFL Players Association has now demanded all players be tested daily, regardless of their vaccination status.

In a blow to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had banned mask mandates in schools, Tallahassee Judge John Cooper ruled to lift the stay Wednesday, preventing the state from enforcing the ban as an appeals court sorts out the legality. 

The stay applies to Cooper's ruling last month that told the state it couldn't punish districts for requiring masks.

DeSantis has struggled to rein in the state's largest school systems as they implement mask mandates in defiance of state law. 

At least 13 districts, including Florida's six largest, currently have mask requirements in place. The Florida Department of Education has threatened to withhold the salaries of school board members in most of these districts and has begun doing so in at least two cases. 

None of the districts have indicated they plan to change course in the face of the threats. 

A spokesperson for the governor, Taryn Fenske, said in a statement, "Today we plan to file our emergency motion to reinstate the stay, and we anticipate the appellate court will rule quickly, much like during the school re-opening case last year." 

-ABC News' Will McDuffie