The U.S. daily case average has surged to more than 80,000 -- a 27% jump in three weeks, according to federal data.

Over the last two weeks, 21 states have seen at least a 10% uptick in daily cases: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Last week marked the first national increase in total hospitalizations in nearly 10 weeks, according to federal data. There are now more than 48,000 patients with COVID-19 currently receiving care, up by about 3,000 patients from a week ago.

Twelve states (and Washington, D.C.) have seen an increase of 10% or more in hospital admissions over the last week: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Times Square is reopening this New Year's Eve after being closed last year due to the pandemic.

Revelers must bring proof of full vaccination and a photo ID.

"This has been a heroic city fighting through COVID. We are turning the corner. We've got a lot to celebrate. It's going to be a big moment in Times Square on New Years Eve," Mayor Bill de Blasio said, ABC New York station WABC reported.

For the second week in a row, the U.S. experienced an increase in its weekly number of pediatric COVID-19 cases.

Over the last week, more than 122,000 child cases were reported — an increase of about 22% from two weeks ago, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).

This marks the 14th consecutive week that child COVID-19 cases are above 100,000.

Prior to the recent increases, infections among children had been steadily dropping since the pandemic peak of 252,000 child cases, recorded over the span of a week in early September.

But now, COVID-19 cases among children remain "extremely high," the organizations wrote, and since the first week of September, there have been almost 1.6 million additional child cases.

Last week, children accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of reported weekly COVID-19 cases, though children under 18 make up just 22.2% of the U.S. population.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Arkansas will now allow boosters for all adults, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday.

“What we’re finding is that we want more people to get their booster shot and this is somewhat confusing and limiting as to the eligibility of those that ought to be getting their booster shot," the governor said at a press conference. "And so in consultation with the Department of Health, we’re changing that."

-ABC News' Matt Foster

Two new studies published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday add further evidence of the risks COVID-19 poses during pregnancy -- especially during the delta surge.

One study found the risk of stillbirth was nearly doubled among pregnant women with COVID-19 compared with pregnant women without COVID-19. The risk of stillbirth increased as the highly transmissible delta variant took hold across the nation. The risk of stillbirth is now four times greater -- up from one-and-a-half times greater -- since the delta variant first appeared.

The other study found that pregnant women with COVID-19 were more likely to die compared with non-pregnant women of similar ages who were also infected. The study, which looked specifically at infections in Mississippi, also found that the delta surge made things worse. Pre-delta, roughly five out of 1,000 pregnant women with COVID-19 died during pregnancy; during delta's predominance, the rate was 25 per 1,000.

The latest studies reinforce the urgent call for pregnant people to get vaccinated, though only 35% were fully vaccinated prior to or during their pregnancies, in the most recent count by the CDC. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and recommended for pregnant people.

-ABC News' Lauren Joseph and Sony Salzman