COVID-19 live updates: New York sees fourfold increase in pediatric hospitalizations
The shift reflects the spread of the omicron variant.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 816,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
- New record case high on Christmas Eve in New York
- 'Everybody' in Australia will get omicron, health minister says
- American, Delta, JetBlue, United report impacts from omicron
- Cases soar in Florida
- CDC issues contingency plan for to prevent shortage of health care workers in event of major omicron surge
- New York sees record-smashing 44,431 cases in 1 day
- White House to lift travel restrictions on southern African countries
New record highs set in Illinois, Ohio, New York, New Jersey
New York and New Jersey set record case highs again on Thursday with 38,835 and 18,660 new daily cases respectively.
The new high came as New York saw a record high for testing as people check their status before seeing relatives for the holidays.
Illinois and Ohio also shattered pandemic case records Thursday with 18,942 and 15,989 new cases respectively, according to ABC Chicago station WLS and ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO.
Until this week, Ohio hadn't seen over 12,000 daily cases since January, WCPO reported.
In response to the case surge in Cook County, Illinois, which encompasses Chicago, customers must show proof of vaccine inside restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues beginning Jan. 3.
Hawaii Bowl canceled
Friday's Hawaii Bowl has been canceled after the University of Hawaii pulled out.
"The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has forced us to not participate in the game," the university's athletics director, David Matlin, said in a statement.
The team in a statement cited "COVID issues within the program" as well as "season-ending injuries and transfers."
Friday's game was supposed to be against the University of Memphis.
Major nurses' union condemns new CDC health care quarantine guidance
Not long after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its quarantine guidance for health care workers, the largest union of registered nurses fired back at the agency calling the shorter isolation period "dangerous."
National Nurses United (NNU) contended the update, which allows workers with COVID-19 to return to work seven days with a negative test if they are asymptomatic, would result in more transmission of the virus and focuses on profit margins, rather than stopping the spread.
"Sending frontline nurses and other health care workers to work while infected would be dangerous," NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez said in a statement.
-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik
CDC updates quarantine guidance for health care workers
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to health care workers who need to quarantine.
The updated rules come as health care facilities around the country are reporting staff shortages brought on by the rise in omicron cases.
Under the new guidance, the CDC said health care workers with COVID-19 and who are asymptomatic can return to work after seven days with a negative test.
"Isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages," the agency said in its updated guidance.
Health care workers who received both vaccine doses and a booster don't need to quarantine following high-risk exposures, the CDC said.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty
Ohio hospitals take out an ad in local paper pleading for people to get vaccinated
Six hospitals in Ohio have taken out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer in a desperate plea for people to get vaccinated as the state faces a renewed surge.
The ad, which appeared in Sunday's paper, says in big letters: "Help."
"We need your help. We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before," the ad says. "And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. This is preventable."
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week that he would deploy the state's National Guard to help with hospital strain. Ohio is now averaging more than 9,100 new cases every day -- up 67.5% in the last month. Statewide, more than 5,200 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
"The best way to avoid serious illness is the vaccine," the ad said. "So, get vaccinated and get your booster ... we need you to care as much as we do."
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos