Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Wednesday maintaining a ban on vaccine mandates.

Abbott also said he added the vaccine mandate issue to Texas' Special Session agenda.

Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 last week and has since tested negative.

Pfizer on Wednesday asked the Food and Drug Administration for full approval for a booster dose. The company said its Phase 3 data showed that people who received a third dose between five to eight months after the second shot had antibody levels three times higher than levels seen after the second dose.

Because the Pfizer shots were approved by the FDA on Monday, Pfizer is now asking the agency to consider a "supplemental" application for boosters for people ages 16 and over. This is a "rolling submission," with Pfizer intending to complete the submission by the end of the week.

The Biden administration said its goal is to have boosters available beginning Sept. 20, with the recommendation of getting one eight months after the second shot of Pfizer or Moderna.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

A baby under the age of 1 died in connection to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours in Louisiana, the state's Department of Health said Wednesday.

This marked Louisiana's first pediatric COVID-19 death in six months, the department said. The baby was one of 110 people in Louisiana to die of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Eleven children in Louisiana have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the department said.

There are now over 100,000 COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals, the most in seven months, according to federal data.

The rate of hospital admissions per capita among Americans 29 and younger is at the highest point of the pandemic, according to federal data.

Compared with July 4, six times as many children are being admitted to hospitals, and daily deaths are up 281% over the last six weeks to 775, according to federal data.

Eight states have ICUs over 90% full: Alabama (100%), Arkansas (89.58%), Florida (93.52%), Georgia (92.74%), Kentucky (89.33%), Mississippi (92.93%), Oklahoma (88.93%) and Texas (93.12%).

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

A Tallahassee judge ruled Friday that Florida school boards can enact student mask mandates, going against Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in July issued an executive order that set off a public feud with school districts.

Judge John C. Cooper found that a blanket ban on face masks in schools "does not meet constitutional muster" and ordered the Florida Department of Education to stop enforcing a state rule that requires districts to allow parents to opt-out of mask mandates.

Cooper, over about two hours, picked apart the state's defense, saying the science presented during the weeklong trial did not support the state's argument against masking children.

Ten Florida school districts have adopted mask mandates for students this month. Two -- Broward and Alachua -- were sanctioned by the Florida commissioner of education, who said he would begin withholding the salaries of board members who voted to require masks.

DeSantis will "immediately appeal" the ruling, the governor's press secretary, Christina Pushaw, said in a statement. "This ruling was made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts," Pushaw said.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Education said, "We are immensely disappointed that the ruling issued today by the Second Judicial Circuit discards the rule of law. This decision conflicts with basic and established rights of parents to make private health care and education decisions for children. ... We are committed to the fundamental rights of parents and will push forward on appeal to ensure that this foundation of democracy is upheld."

-ABC News' Will McDuffie