In newly updated COVID-19 guidance on its website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that loosely woven cloth masks provide the "least protection", while masks like N95 respirators offer the highest level.

In some cases, Americans might want to opt for higher-quality masks like KN95 and N95 respirators, the agency said.

"Wearing a highly protective mask or respirator may be most important for certain higher risk situations, or by some people at increased risk for severe disease," the CDC stated.

The CDC recommendation stops short of calling on Americans to choose one mask over the other, maintaining that any mask is better than no mask.

The updated guidance comes after weeks of health experts urging Americans to upgrade their masks in the face of omicron.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

The White House will launch a new website on Wednesday to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests that'll be mailed to Americans' doorsteps, senior administration officials said on a Friday call with reporters.

People will be able to order four tests per household at from this first batch of 500 million. The White House will also launch a call line for people who don't have computer access.

The tests will take seven to 12 days to arrive, the senior officials said.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden also pledged a second 500 million tests, bringing the total free tests that will eventually be offered to Americans up to 1 billion.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

New York is "turning the corner" following record-breaking COVID-19 cases over the holidays, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

She said the seven-day case average and positivity rate are heading down.

One week ago there were over 90,000 daily cases, and now just 49,027 daily cases, the governor said Friday.

However, state numbers may be skewed due to the increased demand in testing during the holidays.

New York state is seeing a slight decline in hospitalizations, but at 12,000 patients, that number "is still very high," the governor noted.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams said Friday “it really appears” hospitalization numbers are “stabilizing.”

"Based on our optimistic views, we appear to be moving in the right direction," he said.

-ABC News' Joshua Hoyos, Matt Foster

Nationwide, more than 157,000 COVID-19-positive patients are currently receiving care -- a pandemic high, according to federal data.

More than 5,200 children are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 – also a record high.

On average, over 20,000 Americans are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day, a figure that's more than doubled over the last month, according to federal data.

It's still not clear how many of these patients were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and how many people coincidentally tested positive after they were admitted for other reasons.

About 83% of staffed adult ICU beds are occupied (by COVID and non-COVID patients) -- the highest ICU capacity in one year, according to federal data.

On average, the U.S. is now reporting a record high of more than 782,000 new COVID-19 cases each day, according to federal data.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Russian officials are warning that an omicron-fueled wave of COVID-19 infections will soon hit, amid fears about how deadly a surge of the highly contagious variant -- even if milder -- might be in a country with a low vaccination rate.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, who is overseeing the COVID-19 response, and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Wednesday that the situation could be "more critical" than previous waves of infections in Russia -- a worrying prospect since earlier waves led to a high number of deaths.

Russia has reported more than 312,000 fatalities from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. However, the country registered just under 1 million excess deaths in 2021.

The Russian government has said the country will soon see six-figure daily cases. Less than 50% of Russians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, amid widespread reluctance across the nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has largely tried to downplay the scale of his country's COVID-19 outbreak, warned Wednesday of the imminent increase in infections. Putin said Russia is "on the threshold of possible new outbreaks."

Meanwhile, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the country is at a "turning point," which will decide how bad the wave will be. Russian authorities are calling for people to take precautions and observe social distancing measures. However, there are relatively few restrictions in most parts of the country.

Denis Logunov, deputy director of Russia's Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, said Tuesday that the nationwide number of omicron cases is expected to rise considerably in late January and early February. The World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, also warned Tuesday that omicron is expected to infect more than half of Europe's population within the next two months.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell