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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NYC updates school testing, quarantine guidelines
One week after public schools opened for the new school year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced new changes to student testing.
Starting Sept. 27, students in all grade levels will be tested weekly instead of bi-weekly. In addition, any student who is in a classroom with a positive case won't have to quarantine if they were masked and three feet distant, according to the mayor.
"We've been looking at these two issues over the last few weeks. We looked at it in light of the data from the first week of school, we decided to make both of these changes simultaneously, and they do complement each other," de Blasio said during his daily news conference.
The United Federation of Teachers had pushed the mayor to switch to weekly testing. All teachers must have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27, as part of the city's mandate for education employees.
CVS to hire 25,000 in preparation for flu season, booster shots
CVS Health is launching a major hiring spree to fill 25,000 clinical and retail jobs in preparation for an expected increase in vaccine and testing demand in the months ahead.
The move is in anticipation of the need for COVID-19 booster shots and flu vaccines.
The positions will largely be for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and nurses at their retail locations to be filled “as soon as possible,” the company announced Monday.
Pharmacy executives predict a far greater staffing need than usual this year, especially should flu season get severe and if COVID-19 boosters become authorized for more expanded groups. Pharmacies are also hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s scenes of slammed testing sites and the chaotic start to the vaccine rollout.
“Every flu season we need additional team members,” said Neela Montgomery, the executive vice president of CVS health and the president of CVS Pharmacy. “But this year we’re looking for even more. With the continued presence of COVID-19 in our communities, we’re estimating a much greater need for pharmacists, trained pharmacy technicians, nurses, and retail store associates. These jobs offer a rewarding opportunity to really make an impact on public health in our country.”
A virtual hiring event Friday will spearhead the recruiting push.
-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik
Booster shot recommendations still unclear, says acting FDA commissioner
There is still uncertainty and questions to be answered regarding whether all Americans will be recommended to receive booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, said acting U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock.
Woodcock spoke with former senior White House COVID-19 response adviser Andy Slavitt on his podcast program “The Bubble” on Monday, raising questions on what the booster shots may or may not do and discussing any uncertainties that could have factored into the FDA’s decision to recommend boosters only for high-risk Americans and those over the age of 65.
Right now, the FDA does not know enough about how an additional shot will impact transmissibility or about cellular immunity and whether T-cells are protected, among other factors, Woodcock said.
“Basically the FDA decision is, do the overall benefits outweigh the potential harms for any given vaccination and that’s how to proceed,” Woodcock said. “But obviously individuals benefit from not having a transmissible virus circulating around."
-ABC News’ Matthew Vann
Average daily death count rises by 20%
In the wake of weeks of increasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the U.S. is once again experiencing a surge in virus-related deaths.
The average number of deaths in the U.S. has risen to more than 1,500 per day, an increase of about 20% in the last week and nearly eight times the death average from two months ago, when the national average dropped to a near-low of 191 deaths reported each day, according to data from the CDC and the Department of Health & Human Services.
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C. are seeing increasing case averages, while seven states are experiencing increasing hospital admissions, according to the HHS.
However, overall hospitalizations in the U.S. are down, with about 10,000 fewer patients currently hospitalized compared to three weeks ago.
About 93,000 Americans are currently hospitalized. In recent weeks, there had been more than 103,000 patients receiving care across the country.
The drop is largely attributed to plummeting figures in Florida, where there are nearly 10,000 fewer patients hospitalized now, compared to a month ago.
The presence of the virus is shifting away from states in the deep South such as Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, and further into other regions of the country that were not as hard hit in the first delta surge.
Tennessee and West Virginia currently have the country's highest case rate, followed by Alaska, South Carolina, Wyoming, Montana and Kentucky, which all have case rates above 500 per 100,000 people.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
UK and South Korea agree to swap COVID-19 vaccine doses
The United Kingdom and South Korea have agreed to share COVID-19 vaccine doses to mutually support the rollout of shots in each nation.
The U.K. will send 1 million of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to South Korea to enhance their vaccination program, with the first batch of shots expected to arrive in the coming weeks. South Korea will return the same volume by the end of the year, as the U.K. presses ahead with its vaccine rollout and booster shot program over the winter months, according to a press release from the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care.
The swapping initiative, similar to the arrangement between the U.K. and Australia, will help South Korea toward hitting its target of administering a second dose to 70% of its population by the end of October.
"The Republic of Korea is a strategic partner for the UK and the sharing of one million vaccines benefits both countries as we help build resistance against COVID-19 and save lives," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement Tuesday.
The deal will have no impact on the U.K.'s ongoing vaccine rollout or booster shot program, nor will it effect the doses the country has already pledged to give to the global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX. Almost 90% of people over the age of 16 in the U.K. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses are not immediately required in the U.K. due to robust supply management, according to the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care.