COVID-19 updates: More than 10,000 new deaths reported in US in 1 week

The number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. is likely less than two weeks away from surpassing the 1918 pandemic death toll. 

In the H1N1 flu pandemic of 1918, an estimated 675,000 Americans lost their lives. To date, 662,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, meaning the U.S. is less than 13,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths away from surpassing that staggering death toll more than a century later. 

However, in comparing the pandemics it’s important to note that the population of the U.S. is significantly higher now than it was in 1918.

Even though the nation is 18 months into the pandemic, more than 1,000 Americans are still dying each day of the virus. It’s a sobering milestone as the national average of deaths had dropped to a near pandemic low of 191 deaths each day just two months ago. 

Now, death metrics are on the rise, and the U.S. vaccination rate has fallen in recent weeks. Since Aug. 10 the rate of Americans receiving their first dose declined by 42.7%. 

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

A federal Judge in New York issued a temporary restraining order that stops the state from enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers if they seek a religious exemption. 

The vaccine mandate for health care workers was set to take effect Sept. 27. 

The decision is a temporary victory for a group of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who challenged the mandate in court. 

The lawsuit accused former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of running a “nearly 18-month-long medical dictatorship.”

“The same front line health care workers hailed as heroes by the media for treating COVID patients before vaccines were available, including the Plaintiffs herein, are now vilified by the same media as pariahs who must be excluded from society until they are vaccinated against their will,” the lawsuit said.

The judge’s order instructs the state to respond by next week. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 28, one day after the health worker vaccine mandate was to have taken effect.

-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky

Pfizer discussed its plans to expand the availability of its COVID-19 vaccine this fall to include children that are 6-months-old to 11-years-old during an on-camera investor conference Tuesday. 

Pfizer’s Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio said the company projects to have safety and efficacy data for children 5 to 11-years-old “by the end of September.” Pfizer expects to file the data with the FDA in “early October.”

D’Amelio said that in the weeks following the submission, the company will file similar data for children between the ages of 6 months to 5-years-old. Phase three studies are currently underway for children in those age groups.

“We would expect to have similar data for children between the ages of 6 months and 5-years-old, that we would file with the FDA, I'll call it, in the weeks shortly thereafter the filing of the data for the 5 to the 11-year-olds,” D’Amelio said. “And then obviously, all of that depends on having a positive outcome on the data.” 

In the meeting, he also doubled down in support of booster shots saying the company “believes that there’s clearly benefit” to “maintaining high levels of protection with a third dose.”

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

New research indicates that vaccinated people are about half as likely to experience long-hauler symptoms if they have a breakthrough COVID-19 infection, compared to unvaccinated people with the virus, according to a study conducted in the U.K. published earlier this month. 

Researchers found that fully vaccinated individuals who did get breakthrough infections were 49% as likely as the unvaccinated to report long hauler symptoms. The study analyzed data from individuals who submitted their symptoms, test results and vaccination status between December 2020 and July 2021. 

Long-haulers were defined in the study as anyone whose symptoms lasted more than four weeks after infection. Symptoms include brain fog, muscle pain, and fatigue that can last for months after recovery from an initial infection. 

Among the vaccinated breakthrough infections, a third were as likely as the unvaccinated to report severe symptoms and they were more than 70% less likely to require hospitalizations. 

“These latest findings offer the encouraging news that help is already here in the form of vaccines, which provide a very effective way to protect against COVID-19 and greatly reduce the odds of long COVID if you do get sick,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said in a blog post on the study.