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.
Latest headlines:
Southwest CEO tests positive after Senate hearing
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has tested positive for COVID-19 after testifying at a Senate hearing Wednesday alongside other airline executives, a Southwest spokesperson said.
He was not masked during the hearing.
Kelly, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, has mild symptoms, the spokesperson said.
ABC News reached out to the airlines whose executives were next to Kelly at the hearing.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and Delta operations chief John Laughter tested negative Friday.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker plans to test Friday afternoon, according to the airline. Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said she will test Friday and in the coming days.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell told ABC News that committee members will "follow the protocols" for testing.
-ABC News' Mina Kaji, Allison Pecorin and Sam Sweeney
National Guard to help Ohio with strained hospitals
More than 4,700 COVID-19 patients are in Ohio hospitals, the highest number of all of 2021 -- and hospitalization numbers are quickly approaching an all-time high, Gov. Mike DeWine's office said.
DeWine said he's calling up 1,050 National Guard members to help overwhelmed hospitals beginning on Monday.
Vaccine timeline pushed back for kids under 5
The potential timeline for when children under 5 may have an authorized vaccine is now being pushed back.
Data for a two-shot vaccine was initially expected by the end of the year, but now Pfizer/BioNTech say they hope to have data with a third shot in the first half of 2022.
Pfizer/BioNTech said they "will amend the clinical study evaluating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in children 6 months to under 5 years of age. The study will now include evaluating a third dose of 3 µg at least two months after the second dose of the two-dose series to provide high levels of protection in this young age group."
An early look into the study data suggested that the two doses at a smaller volume was not as effective for kids ages 2 to 5 as it was for the 16 to 25 population, so scientists are going to add a third dose and see if the vaccine is as effective. There were no safety issues reported in the early data analysis.
Pfizer/BioNTech added in a statement, “The decision to evaluate a third dose of 3 µg for children 6 months to under 5 years of age reflects the companies’ commitment to carefully select the right dose to maximize the risk-benefit profile. If the three-dose study is successful, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to submit data to regulators to support an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for children 6 months to under 5 years of age in the first half of 2022.”
-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss
Americans in their 30s have highest case rate
Americans in their 30s are accounting for the highest case rate of any age group, according to federal data.
The U.S. is now reporting nearly 120,000 new cases each day. The daily case average has surged by nearly 86.3% since late October, according to federal data.
Thirty-three states, as well as Washington, D.C., and New York City, have seen at least a 10% jump in daily cases over the last two weeks.
New Hampshire currently holds the nation's highest case rate, followed by Rhode Island, Maine, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to federal data.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Pfizer says 'game changer' pills could save thousands of lives
Pfizer's forthcoming COVID-19 treatment could be authorized for emergency use in the United States by the end of this year or early next year, pending the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory timeline, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News.
The pharmaceutical giant announced Tuesday that it has submitted promising new data to the FDA, including lab experiments showing its oral antiviral medicine, Paxlovid, will likely work against the omicron variant. And in updated clinical trial data, Pfizer found the treatment reduces the risk of being hospitalized or dying by 89% when taken within three days of being diagnosed with COVID-19, and 88% when taken within five days of being diagnosed among high-risk, unvaccinated patients.
"It is a game changer," Bourla told ABC News. "But at the same time, I want to emphasize that no one should use the existence of the pill as an excuse to avoid vaccination."
Bourla said the medicine could save thousands of lives.
"We did some calculations how many deaths or hospitalizations can be avoided based on the current U.S. mortality rates and the current U.S. hospitalization rates," he said. "On the back-of-the-envelope calculation, we estimate that 100,000 people if they take the pill, we will avoid 6,000 hospitalizations and 1,200 deaths approximately."
-ABC News' Sony Salzman