COVID-19 updates: Classes in Chicago canceled for 4th day
Chicago Public Schools has been in talks with teachers over COVID-19 safety.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 837,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Israel approves 4th vaccine dose for people 60 and over
Israel's Ministry of Health approved a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine for health care workers and people over 60 years old, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.
"Israel will once again be pioneering the global vaccination effort," Bennett said at a press conference in Jerusalem. "Omicron is not Delta -- it’s a different ball-game altogether."
Fourth doses will be administered four months after booster shots, Bennett said.
ABC News' Jordana Miller
Half of NYC COVID hospitalized patients were admitted for other reasons
About half of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in New York City were originally admitted for other reasons, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Across the state, 42% of COVID-19 patients entered hospitals for reasons unrelated to the virus, such as a car accident, and only learned they were positive during their stays, Hochul said during a press conference Friday.
This is the first time that New York has differentiated between patients who go to hospitals to get care for COVID-19 and those who seek out care for other issues but test positive upon arrival.
Hochul also asked New Yorkers who have mild symptoms to not got to emergency rooms to get tested or treated because many hospitals are currently understaffed.
"If you're an adult with very minor symptoms, you can handle a runny nose. You can handle the throats being a little sore, a little bit of a cough. Just treat as if you would the flu, all the protocols," she said. "But please don't overburden our emergency rooms."
Hochul added that nearly 20% of all emergency rooms in the state are made up of people who are there only to get tested for COVID-19.
-ABC News' Will McDuffie