COVID-19 updates: No unemployment benefits for vaccine refusal in this state

The state just announced new COVID emergency plans.

The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 686,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 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. The average number of daily deaths in the U.S. has risen about 20% in the last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. is continuing to sink on the list of global vaccination rates, currently ranking No. 46, according to data compiled by The Financial Times. Just 64.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.


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Over half of Louisiana's new cases are among people under 40

In Louisiana, 1,268 COVID-19 cases have been reported since Monday, and over half of those are people under 40.


Those ages 5 to 17 make up 21% of the cases, state health officials said. Louisiana residents ages 18 to 29 make up 16% and people between the ages of 30 to 39 account for 16%.

Louisiana has lost 13,558 residents to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, state health officials said.

The state currently has 1,239 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.


Pelosi visits art installation commemorating Americans lost to COVID

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday visited the public art installation on the National Mall that commemorates the American lives lost to COVID-19.

More than 660,000 white flags were planted in the biggest participatory art installation on the National Mall since the AIDS Quilt. The installation is open to the public from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.


Feds sending resources to North Carolina, Alaska, West Virginia, Tennessee

FEMA is preparing to send 50 ambulances and 100 personnel to North Carolina to help with shortages statewide, according to a federal planning document obtained by ABC News.

Alaska and West Virginia have each asked the Department of Health and Human Services to provide 50 ventilators, the document said, while the Defense Department is sending a 23-person military medical team to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

-ABC News' Brian Hartman


Biden addresses UN, touts global vaccine donations

President Joe Biden kicked off his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly since taking office by focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, the global death toll and the need to "act together."

"Will we work together to save lives, defeat COVID-19 everywhere and take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic, if there will be another one? Or will we fail to harness the tools at our disposal as the dangerous variants take hold?" Biden said Tuesday.

"To fight this pandemic, we need a collective act of science and political will. We need to act now to get shots in arms as fast as possible. Expand access to oxygen, tests, treatments, to save lives around the world," he said. "And for the future, we need to create a new mechanism to finance global health security."

The president touted global vaccine donations, saying the U.S. has sent more than 160 million doses to 100 other countries.

Biden said he would announce "additional commitments" at Wednesday's virtual COVID-19 summit.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez


COVID-19 outbreaks increase in school districts without masking policies: CDC study

School districts without a universal masking policy in place at the start of the school year saw a significant increase in COVID-19 outbreaks, according to three new studies released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Additionally, school districts in those counties saw more than double the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases during this same period, the studies, released Friday, also found.

The studies further emphasize that school mask requirements, along with other prevention strategies, are critical to reducing the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

Other key findings from the studies include:

- Schools in Arizona that opened without a school mask requirement had a 3.5 higher likelihood of having a COVID-19 outbreak than schools that opened with a school mask requirement.

-During the early part of the 2021-2022 academic school year, almost 2,000 schools have been closed and more than 900,000 students in more than 40 states have been impacted.

- Pediatric cases during the start of the 2021-2022 school year were about half in U.S. counties with school mask requirements than in counties without school mask requirements.

To prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, the CDC recommends a multi-layered strategy including vaccination, universal indoor masking, testing and physical distancing.

-ABC News' Eric Strauss