Nearly 600 patients wait for hospital beds in Houston as city sees surge in COVID cases
According to the CDC, 46% of Texans have been fully vaccinated.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 620,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 59.1% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
At least 1 million people got unauthorized third booster shot
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 1 million people who have received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine have gone back for an unauthorized third booster shot.
Florida is among the states reporting the highest number of people opting for a booster shot, followed by Ohio, California, Illinois and Tennessee.
The estimated 1.1 million, included in an internal CDC briefing document reviewed by ABC News, likely is an undercount because although it counts Moderna and Pfizer shot recipients it ignores people who may have received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and got another shot.
It’s also unclear whether people who received a third shot did so under the direction of a doctor. The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t authorized a third shot to boost immunity, although there are reports of some physicians encouraging severely immunocompromised patients to do so.
Boosters for the immunocompromised may be recommended by the FDA within weeks.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Eric Strauss
Hospitalizations among vaccinated on the rise
The proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 cases among vaccinated people has risen sharply since spring, coinciding with the sudden rise of the delta variant, according to the CDC's internal briefing slides reviewed by ABC News.
The finding doesn’t mean the vaccines aren’t working. People are still considerably less likely to wind up in the hospital or die if they are vaccinated, health officials have said.
The reality of more breakthrough cases also could be tied to the larger number of Americans getting vaccinated. While breakthrough cases remain relatively uncommon, the more people in the U.S. who are vaccinated increases the chances for breakthrough cases to be counted.
According to the CDC, vaccinated individuals who end up hospitalized tend to be elderly, medically vulnerable or live in long-term care facilities. They also are more likely to be asymptomatic and are hospitalized for reasons other than COVID-19.
On July 17, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky estimated that 97% of hospitalizations were occurring among people who weren’t immunized.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Cheyenne Haslett, Eric Strauss
Fauci says he supports vaccine mandates for teachers
Dr. Anthony Fauci supports a mask mandate for teachers, he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday.
"We are in a critical situation here. We've had 600,000+ deaths and we are in a major surge now as we're going into the fall," Fauci said. "I know people must like to have their individual freedom and not be told to do something, but I think we're in such a serious situation now that, under certain circumstances, mandates should be done."
Fauci said it's only a matter of time until the FDA approves the vaccine and people shouldn't use that as a reason to delay getting the shot.
"There's no doubt that these vaccines are going to get fully approved," he said. "You should consider this as good as fully approved and get vaccinated."
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett
Austin down to just 2 available ICU beds
Only two intensive care unit beds were available for COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the Austin area Monday night, Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said, according to ABC Austin affiliate KVUE.
There were 551 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals Monday, including 91 in the ICU, KVUE reported.
In the North Texas region, there are only two pediatric ICU beds available, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.
Nearly 1 million vaccinations administered Friday
The White House offered a glimmer of hope on the vaccination front Saturday.
More than 991,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered Friday. Among those, 604,000 people were newly vaccinated, White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said Saturday.
It’s a sign of progress compared to last Saturday when 840,000 doses were reported.
So far, over 197 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose and more than 167 million are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.