COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

The senator says she's experiencing "mild symptoms."

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.4% 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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White House: Unvaccinated are 'looking at a winter of severe illness and death'

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients warned Friday that the unvaccinated are "looking at a winter of severe illness and death -- for yourselves, your families and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm."

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said she expects omicron to become the dominant variant in the coming weeks.

Asked whether the CDC will change its guidance on vaccinated people quarantining after exposure, which they currently don't have to, Walensky said, "We are actively following the science in that area, with regard to how the viral burden is both among vaccinated people and unvaccinated people, and the natural history of that viral burden with regard to isolation."

"And as that science emerges, we will update our evidence if need be," she said.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett


UK reports highest daily cases ever

The United Kingdom reported 93,045 new cases in the last 24 hours, breaking a daily record for the third day in a row.

The total number of cases over the last week now stands at 477,229, a 38.6% increase from the previous week.

-ABC News' Guy Davies


Rockettes canceled due to breakthrough cases

Friday's four Radio City Rockettes shows have been canceled due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the New York City production.

Plans for future shows haven't been determined.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky


CDC studies find schools can test kids rather than quarantine 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday endorsed a practice in schools called “test-to-stay,” which allows unvaccinated kids and staff to test instead of quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.

The CDC says the practice can be employed in addition to other mitigation measures, such as vaccination and at least 3-feet of physical distance among students wearing masks.

The new guidance follows two studies out of Los Angeles County, California, and Lake County, Illinois. Both studies found no significant transmission in school when test-to-stay was used.

The studies were conducted before the omicron variant was detected in the U.S.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty


Over 67,000 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in US amid winter surge

With winter closing in and COVID-19 cases on the rise, hospitals across the United States are once again facing the pressures of caring for thousands of patients.

More than 67,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, according to federal data.

Rebecca Long, lead nurse in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told ABC News that she and her team "literally do not have any ICU beds" available.

"I don't want anyone else's family member or loved one to have to be in the position where we say, like, we can't help you because we don't have the resources," Long said. "As health care providers, all we want to do is help people and we can't because we physically can't."

Dr. Kyle McCarty, medical director of emergency services at both HSHS St. Mary's and HSHS St. Vincent hospitals in Green Bay, Wisconsin, told ABC News that health care workers are feeling burned out after "being asked to do more with less."

"We're exhausted by the knowledge that we are the duct tape that is preventing a complete collapse of the health care system," McCarty said. "There's a national shortage of hospital staff, which is making it difficult to take care of patients the way that we want it. There aren't enough inpatient beds for the patients that need to be admitted to the hospital."

"This is a call for reinforcements, not a warning to stay away, because we don't want this to be the new normal," he added. "If we can recruit more health care teammates, it doesn't have to be."

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos