The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 628,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 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 59.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 16, 2021, 1:10 PM EDT
Los Angeles students back in school with strict regulations
Before Los Angeles students could enter their classrooms on the first day of school Monday, many waited in lines so staff could ensure they completed their daily pass health screening.
Students and parents wearing face coverings wait in line for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, Aug. 16, 2021.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Los Angeles Unified School District students and staff had to be tested for COVID-19 by the first day of school, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said last week. As the year gets underway, students will wear masks and undergo weekly testing regardless of vaccination status, ABC Los Angeles station KABC reported.
Students and parents wait in line for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, Aug. 16, 2021.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
A volunteer helps a parent understand how to access the Daily Pass health screening data on her cell phone, on the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, Aug. 16, 2021.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
All school district employees are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15.
Aug 16, 2021, 12:48 PM EDT
Pfizer/BioNTech submit early booster shot data to FDA
Pfizer/BioNTech have submitted early booster shot data to the Food and Drug Administration.
A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease vaccine as a booster dose at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pa., Aug. 14, 2021.
Hannah Beier/Reuters
Phase 1 data found that people given a third shot eight to nine months after their primary doses had a boosted immune response and higher neutralizing antibody levels against the delta variant.
Pfizer/BioNTech plan to continue to study booster shots and submit additional data to the FDA.
It's not clear when or if the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might recommend booster doses for all. Only severely immunocompromised people are currently eligible.
-ABC News' Sony Salzman
Aug 16, 2021, 11:45 AM EDT
Vaccines mandated for all New York health workers
All health workers in New York state, public and private, must get vaccinated by Sept. 27, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
A health center advertises for the COVID-19 vaccine in a neighborhood near Brighton Beach on July 22, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE
This includes staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, adult care and other congregate care settings.
Seventy-five percent of the state's hospital workers and 68% of nursing home workers are already vaccinated.
-ABC News' Aaron Katersky
Aug 16, 2021, 11:19 AM EDT
Doctor talks treating kids with RSV, COVID-19
As COVID-19 cases surge pediatricians are experiencing a first: sick children facing both respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19.
The emergency entrance is seen at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 14, 2021.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images via Shutterstock
"We've not seen this before -- we have two very highly contagious respiratory viruses circulating at the same time, particularly throughout the South around Texas and neighboring states," Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital, told ABC News Live on Monday.
Infants, young children and older adults are most at-risk for RSV, a respiratory virus that's usually more prevalent in the fall and winter. RSV kills 100 to 500 children under 5 each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It's not surprising now to see children being impacted with both viruses, particularly infants and young children who are most susceptible to respiratory syncytial virus," Versalovic said.
He said in "recent weeks we've had 30% or more of our pediatric ICU beds [filled] with RSV infections," including some children also with COVID-19, which "could "mean more severe respiratory illness."
"We do know how to treat these children with RSV and with COVID. And so, for now we're managing that, but it is certainly a new challenge for us," Versalovic said.
Parents walk their children on the first day of school at West Tampa Elementary School in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 10, 2021.