A record 325,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week amid the nation's most significant COVID-19 infection surge yet, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

Children accounted for about 17.4% of last week's reported COVID-19 cases, down from previous weeks, when children accounted for more than a quarter of all new cases.

A total of nearly 7.9 million children have tested positive for the virus, since the onset of the pandemic.

ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

New York's hospitals will be required to report a breakdown of how many COVID-19 patients were admitted due to the coronavirus and how many were admitted for other needs and only discovered they were infected during their stays.

During a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul cited anecdotal reports of as many as 50% of patients at some hospitals testing positive for the virus who were actually admitted for other reasons, such as car accidents.

"I just want to always be honest with New Yorkers about how bad this is," Hochul said. "Yes, the sheer number of people infected are high, but I want to see whether or not the hospitalizations correlate with that."

She continued, "And I'm anticipating to see that at least a certain percentage overall are not being treated for COVID."

Hospitals will begin reporting their breakdowns Tuesday, but it's unclear how soon the data will be publicly available.

-ABC News' Joshua Hoyos and Will McDuffie

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations will continue to increase as the omicron variant rapidly spreads across the country.

"The next few weeks are going to be tough for us," he told ABC's "The View" on Monday. "We’re already seeing record levels of cases, and we're seeing hospitalizations starting to tick up. We're seeing some of our hospital systems getting strained at this point."

Information from South Africa and the United Kingdom indicates omicron could be less severe than previous COVID-19 variants, Murthy said.

"We’re still going to see a lot of people get sick and a lot of hospitalizations, but the overall severity may end up being significantly lower," he said.

Murthy said both South Africa and the U.K. "had a very rapid rise, but then they had a very steep fall" in cases

"I'm hoping that that’s what happens here too," he added.

-ABC News' Joanne Rosa

Starbucks is requiring its 220,000 workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine or be tested weekly, complying with the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private businesses.

Employees must reveal their vaccination status by Jan. 10, according to a letter sent Monday by Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver, Reuters first reported.

"This is an important step we can take to help more partners get vaccinated, limit the spread of COVID-19, and create choices that partners can own based on what's best for them," Culver wrote.

Workers will have until Feb. 9 to be fully vaccinated.

Those who choose to undergo weekly testing instead will be responsible for obtaining their own tests -- which cannot be self-administered or taken at home -- and submitting results.

NBA star Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, his second time infected.

According to his team, the Utah Jazz, Gobert took two rapid tests on Wednesday, both of which came back negative, but a PCR test that was analyzed overnight came back positive.

He revealed at press conference in September 2020 that he is fully vaccinated.

In a press conference from March 2020, which went viral, Gobert joked about growing concerns regarding COVID-19 by touching every single microphone as he made his way out of the room.

Days later, he developed flu-like symptoms while in Oklahoma for a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and tested positive.

The Jazz and the NBA learned of his positive test moments before the game was set to start. The game was canceled and, hours later, the NBA suspended the 2019-20 season.

Gobert has been ruled out for Friday's game against the Toronto Raptors. It's unclear how long he will be out, but players who are placed on the virus-related protocols list are typically out for at least a week.