US reports highest weekly COVID-19 vaccinations since July 4
There were over 7 million shots in the past week, an official said Saturday.
The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 712,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
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Child hospitalizations fall but kids still make up quarter of all new cases
Last week, the U.S. reported more than 173,000 child COVID-19 cases, marking the first week with fewer than 200,000 new cases reported since mid-August, according to a newly released weekly report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Even with the decline, last week children still accounted for 26.7% of reported weekly cases. (Children make up 22.2% of the population.)
The South is reporting the highest number of pediatric cases followed closely by the Midwest.
The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 is also declining. About 1,700 children are currently hospitalized across the country, according to AAP and CHA.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among kids, the two organizations wrote in the report. However, AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, "including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
NY hospital system now 100% vaccinated
Northwell Health, New York state’s largest private hospital system, said its workforce is now 100% vaccinated.
While 1,400 employees have been terminated, most chose to be vaccinated, a hospital spokesman said Monday. Northwell currently has over 76,000 employees.
"Northwell regrets losing any employee under such circumstances, but as health care professionals and members of the largest health care provider in the state, we understand our unique responsibility to protect the health of our patients and each other," the hospital said in a statement.
-ABC News' Chris Donato
Daily deaths nearly 8 times higher than in July
The U.S. daily death average stands at about 1,500, which is nearly eight-times higher than in mid-July, according to federal data.
However hospitalizations are dropping, with admissions down by about 15% in the last week, according to federal data.
Alaska currently has the nation's highest case rate, followed by West Virginia, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Idaho.
About 116.9 million Americans -- including 68.6 million over the age of 12 -- remain completely unvaccinated.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Myocarditis extremely rare among vaccinated people
Out of the 2.3 million people who received at least one Pfizer or Moderna dose, only 15 people developed myocarditis, or heart tissue inflammation, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
All 15 cases were among young men around the age of 25. Eight people had the Pfizer vaccine and seven had Moderna.
None of the 15 cases required being admitted to the ICU and all of them recovered, the study said.
In comparison, out of the nearly 1.6 million patients who had not been vaccinated, 75 people developed myocarditis, according to the study.
-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss