Jesse Jackson, wife hospitalized with COVID-19

The civil rights pioneer was vaccinated in January.

ByEmily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Morgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 17, 2021, 2:53 PM EDT

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 17, 2021, 2:53 PM EDT

Cases among Kentucky kids jump 400% in 1 month

COVID-19 cases among Kentucky children jumped 400% in the last month as a record number of kids have been admitted to hospitals, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Tuesday.

Wild Health nurses work while students and school faculty wait during a COVID-19 testing day at Brandeis Elementary School, Aug. 17, 2021, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images

"Kentucky’s case numbers and positivity rate have continued to rise rapidly after record lows for the past year were recorded for both metrics in June," the governor's office said.

Kentucky's positivity rate stands at 12.4%.

As of Sunday, there were only 17 Kentucky counties where at least 50% of residents had at least one vaccine dose, the governor's office said.

Aug 17, 2021, 11:51 AM EDT

Half of eligible Americans in all states have received at least 1 shot

Every state now has at least 50% of the eligible population (12 years and older) with at least one vaccine dose, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar tweeted.

A nurse administers the Covid-19 vaccine to a teen at a baseball game, Aug. 5, 2021, in Springfield, Missouri.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Some states have over 80% of the eligible population with at least one dose, he added.

-ABC News' Alexandra Faul

Aug 17, 2021, 10:54 AM EDT

Treatment for severe COVID patients seeing global shortages 

Less than two months after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the treatment Actemra for severely sick COVID-19 patients, there are already global shortages due to an "unprecedented surge in worldwide demand," the manufacturer, Roche, said. 

Actemra helps fight the inflammatory immune reaction some COVID-19 patients have with severe infection.

Roche said employees have been "working around the clock" to boost production and distribution.

"Despite all these efforts, the unfortunate reality is that due to the unprecedented surge in worldwide demand -- with US demand spiking to well-beyond 400% of pre-COVID levels over the last two weeks alone -- we will experience shortages of Actemra/RoActemra globally over the weeks and months ahead," Roche said. "This is due to global manufacturing capacity limits, raw material supply constraints, the complex, labour-intensive process of manufacturing biologics and the dynamically evolving nature of the pandemic."  

The World Health Organization added Actemra to its list of COVID-19 treatments in July following FDA authorization. 

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

Aug 17, 2021, 10:41 AM EDT

Proof of vaccination required to attend CES 2022

The massive annual technology conference CES, taking place in Las Vegas in January 2022, will require proof of vaccination, the Consumer Technology Association said Tuesday.

"For those who may be unable to travel to Las Vegas, CTA will again create a digital event that will run in parallel with the in-person program," CTA said.

Related Topics