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

In 13 states, over 80% of the population has at least one dose, CDC data shows.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Marlene Lenthang
Last Updated: September 13, 2021, 12:02 AM EDT

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 655,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 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 62.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Sep 09, 2021, 3:30 PM EDT

Biden's plan requires businesses with 100+ employees to require vaccine or weekly testing

In President Joe Biden's Thursday address he'll announce that all businesses with 100 or more employees must require vaccinations or weekly testing. Businesses that don't comply could be fined, according to a senior administration official. 

“The new vaccination requirements in the president's plan cover about 100 million workers -- that's two-thirds of all workers in the United States,” a senior administration official said on a briefing call with reporters Thursday afternoon. 

A nurse gives a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shot to Luis Nufio, an after-school coach, at a Los Angeles Unified School-based mobile vaccination clinic at Eagle Rock High School on Aug. 30, 2021, in Eagle Rock, Calif.
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Polaris, FILE

Biden's also looking to make testing more accessible and affordable. Walmart, Amazon and Kroger will sell at-home rapid tests at-cost for the next three months, meaning the price will drop about 35%.

The mask mandate for interstate travel and on federal property will stay in place through Jan. 18 2022, and the fine for violations will be doubled, the official said.

Biden will address the public at 5 p.m. ET.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky

Sep 09, 2021, 2:43 PM EDT

6 states request ventilators from federal stockpile

In the last week, the federal government, according to a federal planning document, has received requests for 975 ventilators from six states: Georgia (500), South Carolina (160), New Mexico (115), Oregon (100), Oklahoma (50) and Alaska (four). Navajo Nation also requested 46 ventilators.

The U.S. military has deployed 23-person medical teams to hospitals in Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho and Mississippi, and will be sending a fifth team to Arkansas this weekend.

-ABC News' Brian Hartman

Sep 09, 2021, 2:34 PM EDT

US hospitalizations more than 4 times higher than last year

The number of COVID-19 patients currently in U.S. hospitals stands at almost 102,000 -- more than four times higher than the number of patients one year ago (about 25,000), according to federal data.

A nurse checks the IV's inside the ICU as she works with a COVID-19 patient at Adventist Health Glendale on Sept. 1, 2021, in Glendale, Calif.
Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Polaris

EMS paramedics take the vitals of a man suffering from possible COVID-19 symptoms in McLoud, Okla., Sept. 8, 2021.
Nick Oxford/Reuters

More than 2,355 children are currently in U.S. hospitals with COVID-19, according to federal data.

Some hard-hit areas show signs of stabilization. Florida, for example, now has about 13,000 hospitalized patients, a drop from more than 17,000 patients earlier this summer.

But Kentucky and Idaho are both now seeing record hospitalization levels.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Sep 09, 2021, 1:21 PM EDT

Baby dies of COVID in Oregon

A baby under the age of 1 died of COVID-19 on Monday after being diagnosed on Aug. 20, said officials in Douglas County, Oregon.

A total of 3,373 people have died in Oregon from COVID-19, according to state data.

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