(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 772,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.2% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the new is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 23, 3:58 pm
New cases in US up by more than 42%
New cases in the U.S. have jumped by more than 42% over the last four weeks, according to federal data.
These states as well as Washington, D.C., have seen at least a 10% uptick in daily cases over the last two weeks: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Michigan is currently experiencing its highest case average of the entire pandemic, according to federal data.
New York is now averaging its highest number of new cases since February.
More than 101 million Americans remain completely unvaccinated; 81 million of those people are over the age of 5 and thus eligible to be vaccinated, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 23, 3:02 pm
Denver hospitals running out of space
Denver area hospitals are 95% full, Denver Health CEO Robin Wittenstein warned at a Tuesday news conference.
“Emergency rooms are routinely diverting patients because they simply don’t have the capacity to take care of people who need help,” Wittenstein said.
Eighty-three percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Colorado are unvaccinated, said Bob McDonald, executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment.
“To suggest that the vaccines don’t work… that’s like suggesting seatbelts don’t work,” McDonald said.
Denver is implementing an indoor mask mandate unless businesses choose to require proof of vaccination.
-ABC News’ Zachary Ferber
Nov 23, 11:45 am
Biden administration asks federal court to reinstate vaccine mandate for large businesses
The Biden administration is asking a federal court to immediately reinstate a nationwide vaccine mandate for large businesses, arguing that the COVID-19 threat to unvaccinated workers is “ongoing and overwhelming.”
The mandate was supposed to go into effect Jan. 4. It was put on hold by another federal court that insisted the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t have the legal authority to impose such a requirement on private businesses.
In the new court filing to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Biden administration responded, “Congress charged OSHA with addressing grave dangers in the workplace, without any carve-out for viruses or dangers that also happen to exist outside the workplace.”
“Delaying this standard would endanger many thousands of people and would likely cost many lives per day,” the lawyers wrote, adding that there was “extensive evidence of ‘workplace transmission.’”
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Nov 23, 10:46 am
Unvaccinated 9 times more likely to be hospitalized, 14 times more likely to die: CDC
In September, unvaccinated people had a 5.8 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 24 states and jurisdictions that has been published on the CDC website.
The unvaccinated are 14 times more likely to die from COVID-19, according to the CDC.
At Monday’s White House COVID-19 briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said unvaccinated adults are nine times more likely to be hospitalized for the virus compared to vaccinated adults.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 23, 9:34 am
Michigan hospital officials warn of strained health system
The Michigan Hospital Association is warning of strained health systems as COVID-19 surges across the state.
Michigan is fast approaching its highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since the pandemic began, with more than 3,900 patients currently receiving care, according to state data. The vast majority of patients in the ICU and on ventilators are unvaccinated.
“Most hospitals throughout the state have more patients in their emergency departments than they do available rooms and staff to care for them,” officials wrote in a statement on Monday. “This results in long wait times, patients being placed in hallways or conference rooms, and diverting patients away from a hospital because there is no physical room or medical staff available to accept more patients.”
“We are extremely concerned because our best predictions are that COVID-19 patients will continue to increase during the weeks ahead as we enter the yearly flu season,” they said.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 22, 2:31 pm
US sees another increase in pediatric cases
The U.S. has reported an increase in pediatric COVID-19 cases for the third week in a row.
Nearly 142,000 children tested positive in the last week, which is a 16% increase from the week prior and a 41% jump over the last three weeks, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Nearly 6.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
COVID-19 cases among children remain “extremely high,” the organizations said, and there have been almost 1.7 million additional cases since the first week of September.
The Midwest continues to see the highest number of pediatric cases.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, AAP and CHA said. However, AAP and CHA continue to warn 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
Nov 22, 12:44 pm
Hospital admissions on the rise
Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions are on the rise in the U.S., up 8.4% in the last week, according to federal data.
Nineteen states reported at least a 10% jump in hospital admissions over the last week: Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Michigan, which is now reporting more cases than at any other point in the pandemic, has the nation’s highest infection rate, followed by Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Maine.
Puerto Rico, Florida and Hawaii have the nation’s lowest infection rates, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 22, 10:01 am
TSA vaccine mandate won’t impact holiday travel
About 93% of TSA employees are in compliance with Monday’s deadline for the federal employee vaccine mandate, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
“In compliance” means employees have had at least one shot or have filed for a medical or religious exemption.
Holiday travel won’t be impacted by the mandate, Farbstein said.
-ABC News’ Gio Benitez, Anne Flaherty
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