National

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

More than 696,000 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.

Just 65% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Oct 01, 9:10 pm
US death toll surpasses 700,000

The U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpassed 700,000 Friday night, though the latest surge continues to subside.

About 1,500 new deaths are reported each day on average in the U.S. The country’s daily case average has dropped to just under 106,000 cases a day, down by about 33% in the last month, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

However, that number is still significantly higher than it was three months ago.

There have been over 43 million coronavirus cases in the U.S., which means 1 in approximately every 7 Americans has tested positive, and 1 in every 469 Americans has lost their life to the virus.

Some states — like Alaska and West Virginia — are experiencing record-breaking surges, while other states — including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas — have an intensive care unit capacity of about 10% or less.

In other states — Maine, Minnesota and New Hampshire — infection rates continue to rise.

About 97% of counties across the country are reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission, as the country nears the grim milestone of 700,000 deaths.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 01, 7:38 pm
American Airlines to require employee vaccinations

American Airlines told employees Friday that all U.S.-based employees and certain international crew members must be vaccinated in light of the federal vaccine mandate.

“While we are still working through the details of the federal requirements, it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines,” CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom wrote in a letter obtained by ABC News.

Those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons “can request an accommodation,” they continued.

No deadline was set.

Reuters reported Friday that the White House has pressed U.S. airline CEOs to mandate vaccines for staff by early December.

Delta Air Lines said in a statement Friday that 84% of its employees were vaccinated and the airline continues “to evaluate the administration’s plan.”

Southwest Airlines said it “continues to strongly encourage employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.”

United Airlines has already put in place a vaccine mandate; 99.5% of its U.S.-based employees are vaccinated.

-ABC News’ Mina Kaji

Oct 01, 6:48 pm
‘Aladdin’ performances through Oct. 10 now canceled

“Aladdin” is canceling additional Broadway performances after more COVID-19 cases were detected among the company, the show announced Friday.

The musical returned Tuesday for the first time since Broadway closed for the pandemic, though Wednesday night’s performance was canceled after breakthrough COVID-19 cases among the company were confirmed.

“Aladdin” was back Thursday night, though now all performances through Oct. 10 will be canceled after more breakthrough cases were detected Friday, the show said.

“We apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience this causes ticket holders, but we trust that audiences will agree that safety must be at the forefront of our return to Broadway,” the show said in a statement on its website.

Members undergo PCR tests six times a week and are required to be vaccinated.

Oct 01, 5:20 pm
Deadline for NYC school employees to get vaccinated passes

The deadline for New York City public school employees has passed: At least 90% of public school employees are vaccinated, including 93% of teachers and 98% of principals, according to the Department of Education.

About 500 employees have been granted an exemption, representing .03% of the workforce.

Employees who did not provide proof of vaccination by 5 p.m. on Friday will be moved to Leave Without Pay status. Employees who get vaccinated this weekend and provide proof of vaccination on Monday may report to work as usual.

The DOE said 9,000 vaccinated substitute teachers are on standby.

Oct 01, 5:04 pm
US death toll set to surpass 700,000

The U.S. death toll is set to surpass 700,000, though the latest surge continues to subside.

About 1,500 new deaths are reported each day on average in the U.S. The country’s daily case average has dropped to just under 106,000 cases a day, down by about 33% in the last month, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

However, that number is still significantly higher than it was three months ago.

There have been almost 43.4 million coronavirus cases in the U.S., which means 1 in approximately every 7 Americans has tested positive, and 1 in every 469 Americans has lost their life to the virus.

Some states — like Alaska and West Virginia — are experiencing record-breaking surges, while other states — including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas — have an intensive care unit capacity of about 10% or less.

In other states — Maine, Minnesota and New Hampshire — infection rates continue to rise.

About 97% of counties across the country are reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission, as the country nears the grim milestone of 700,000 deaths.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 01, 3:02 pm
White House COVID-19 team on rapid testing, vaccine updates

The White House COVID-19 team told ABC News that they are aiming to double the number of rapid tests available at market within the next two months.

“You’re right that the at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand,” said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. “The manufacturing is scaling up significantly, doubling across the next couple of months, and we’re just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests.”

Zients added: “Overall, we’ll continue to pull every level we can to further expand the manufacturing and the production of these tests in order to make them more widely available, and to drive down the cost per test.” He did not offer further specifics.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also said that the shots for children ages 5 to 11 are “on the horizon.” Murthy deferred to the FDA and CDC’s  “rigorous review process” and independent advisory panels to determine further absolutes.

The White House team urges Americans not to let their guard down even though the latest surge of COVID-19 may be subsiding. White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that it is not an excuse for unvaccinated Americans to remain unvaccinated.

“I think that the people who are unvaccinated, when they see the curve starting to come down, that is not a reason to remain unvaccinated, because if you want to ensure that we get down to a very low level and that we don’t re-surge again,” Fauci said. “We still gotta get a very large proportion of those 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, we’ve got to get them vaccinated.”

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Oct 01, 2:11 pm
California to require COVID-19 vaccine for all students

California will be the first state to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students, faculty and staff in public and private schools. Gov. Gavin Newsom says that the COVID-19 vaccine will be one of 11 vaccines required to attend schools in California.

The vaccine will be required at the start of the upcoming school term following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the vaccines. Terms begin in January and July.

The government has only fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over.

School staff will be required to be vaccinated on the same timeline as grades 7-12, the earliest group to see full FDA approval.

There are exemptions for medical reasons and for personal and religious beliefs.

-ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman

Oct 01, 12:20 pm
Vaccine acceptance at high amid delta surge: Polls

Polls found that coronavirus vaccine acceptance is at a high — with surveys finding 80% to 82% of people say they have been vaccinated or are likely to get vaccinated. These are the highest percentages [since the vaccine rollout began] ().

The CDC reports that 77% of adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

Vaccinations have gone up since August, and a study by [health policy research organization Kaiser Family Foundation] () indicates that gaps by race and ethnicity are almost eliminated — 73% of Hispanics, 71% of white people and 70% of Black people are said to be vaccinated.

However, vaccine gaps persist across party lines — KFF found that 90% of Democrats say they’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 68% of independents and 58% of Republicans.

However, unvaccinated people continue to express doubts concerning the vaccines’ effectiveness and resistance to vaccine mandates in the workplace.

In a poll by [the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index] (), 71% of unvaccinated Americans believe that the vaccine booster shots and breakthrough infections are signs that vaccines are not as effective as they are said to be.

Only about 29% of unvaccinated workers say they would get a shot if their employer mandates it, according to the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Oct 01, 8:35 am
Merck announces virus-fighting breakthrough in pill form

Merck Thursday morning announced the results of an ongoing Phase 3 study of an antiviral pill that may slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying of the virus by 50%.

The study’s results are so compelling that an independent monitoring board recommended, in consultation with the FDA, ending the trial early so the companies can swiftly seek authorization.

Read the full story here.

Sep 30, 4:33 pm
Daily hospital admissions down 32% in last month

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. has seen a drop of more than 27,000 patients in hospitals across the country, according to federal data. A little less than half of those patients come from Florida.

Daily hospital admissions are down by nearly 15% in the last week and by 32% in the last month, according to federal data.

The country’s daily case average has fallen to 107,000 — a 33% drop in the last month. However, about 97% of counties are still reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Illinois State Police have opened a investigation into the death of a trooper found shot on a Chicago highway Friday.

Gerald Mason, 35, was found in his squad car suffering from a single gunshot wound at 1:42 p.m. on northbound local lanes of Interstate 94 at 43rd street, Illinois State Police announced.

Citizens on the highway, Chicago Police and ISP troopers arrived to the scene.

Mason was transported to the University of Chicago hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries. He succumbed to his injuries at 2:16 p.m.

“It is with profound heartache and unfathomable sadness that we inform you of the death of Trooper Gerald Mason. Trooper Mason was one of the many fearless Troopers assigned to ISP District Chicago. We are asking the public to respectfully give consideration to the family of Trooper Mason and the whole ISP family while we continue to grieve and work through this tragedy,” Director Brendan Kelly said in a statement.

Mason was an 11-year veteran of the ISP.

Mason was on duty at the time, ABC local Chicago station WLS reported.

”Many people called Mason ‘The Hulk’. He was a solid, strong man. He even ripped his trooper pants during a foot pursuit because of those big muscles,” Kelly said in a press conference Friday evening.

Kelly highlighted the challenging work troopers face day in and day out.

“The amazing men and women that we all ask to do so much, again and again and again, may seem like superheroes on many days, but they’re not immortal. They’re not indestructible. They are human beings with hearts, minds and souls as fragile as the next person. They have a breaking point,” Kelly said.

His mother Linda Mason was heartbroken to learn of his death.

“That’s my baby. My first born,” she said to WLS. “He always wanted to be a police officer because he always wanted to protect people. He wanted to make the world a better place.”

His body was escorted in a procession from the hospital to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office with Chicago police, ISP and Chicago firefighters paying their respects.

Police have not revealed any additional information about the circumstances of the shooting but said there is no safety threat to the public or police.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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

More than 696,000 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.

Just 65% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Oct 01, 5:20 pm
Deadline for NYC school employees to get vaccinated passes

The deadline for New York City public school employees has passed: At least 90% of public school employees are vaccinated, including 93% of teachers and 98% of principals, according to the Department of Education.

About 500 employees have been granted an exemption, representing .03% of the workforce.

Employees who did not provide proof of vaccination by 5 p.m. on Friday will be moved to Leave Without Pay status. Employees who get vaccinated this weekend and provide proof of vaccination on Monday may report to work as usual.

The DOE said 9,000 vaccinated substitute teachers are on standby.

Oct 01, 5:04 pm
US death toll set to surpass 700,000

The U.S. death toll is set to surpass 700,000, though the latest surge continues to subside.

About 1,500 new deaths are reported each day on average in the U.S. The country’s daily case average has dropped to just under 106,000 cases a day, down by about 33% in the last month, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

However, that number is still significantly higher than it was three months ago.

There have been almost 43.4 million coronavirus cases in the U.S., which means 1 in approximately every 7 Americans has tested positive, and 1 in every 469 Americans has lost their life to the virus.

Some states — like Alaska and West Virginia — are experiencing record-breaking surges, while other states — including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas — have an intensive care unit capacity of about 10% or less.

In other states — Maine, Minnesota and New Hampshire — infection rates continue to rise.

About 97% of counties across the country are reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission, as the country nears the grim milestone of 700,000 deaths.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 01, 3:02 pm
White House COVID-19 team on rapid testing, vaccine updates

The White House COVID-19 team told ABC News that they are aiming to double the number of rapid tests available at market within the next two months.

“You’re right that the at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand,” said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. “The manufacturing is scaling up significantly, doubling across the next couple of months, and we’re just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests.”

Zients added: “Overall, we’ll continue to pull every level we can to further expand the manufacturing and the production of these tests in order to make them more widely available, and to drive down the cost per test.” He did not offer further specifics.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also said that the shots for children ages 5 to 11 are “on the horizon.” Murthy deferred to the FDA and CDC’s  “rigorous review process” and independent advisory panels to determine further absolutes.

The White House team urges Americans not to let their guard down even though the latest surge of COVID-19 may be subsiding. White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that it is not an excuse for unvaccinated Americans to remain unvaccinated.

“I think that the people who are unvaccinated, when they see the curve starting to come down, that is not a reason to remain unvaccinated, because if you want to ensure that we get down to a very low level and that we don’t re-surge again,” Fauci said. “We still gotta get a very large proportion of those 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, we’ve got to get them vaccinated.”

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Oct 01, 2:11 pm
California to require COVID-19 vaccine for all students

California will be the first state to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students, faculty and staff in public and private schools. Gov. Gavin Newsom says that the COVID-19 vaccine will be one of 11 vaccines required to attend schools in California.

The vaccine will be required at the start of the upcoming school term following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the vaccines. Terms begin in January and July.

The government has only fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over.

School staff will be required to be vaccinated on the same timeline as grades 7-12, the earliest group to see full FDA approval.

There are exemptions for medical reasons and for personal and religious beliefs.

-ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman

Oct 01, 12:20 pm
Vaccine acceptance at high amid delta surge: Polls

Polls found that coronavirus vaccine acceptance is at a high — with surveys finding 80% to 82% of people say they have been vaccinated or are likely to get vaccinated. These are the highest percentages [since the vaccine rollout began] ().

The CDC reports that 77% of adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

Vaccinations have gone up since August, and a study by [health policy research organization Kaiser Family Foundation] () indicates that gaps by race and ethnicity are almost eliminated — 73% of Hispanics, 71% of white people and 70% of Black people are said to be vaccinated.

However, vaccine gaps persist across party lines — KFF found that 90% of Democrats say they’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 68% of independents and 58% of Republicans.

However, unvaccinated people continue to express doubts concerning the vaccines’ effectiveness and resistance to vaccine mandates in the workplace.

In a poll by [the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index] (), 71% of unvaccinated Americans believe that the vaccine booster shots and breakthrough infections are signs that vaccines are not as effective as they are said to be.

Only about 29% of unvaccinated workers say they would get a shot if their employer mandates it, according to the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Oct 01, 8:35 am
Merck announces virus-fighting breakthrough in pill form

Merck Thursday morning announced the results of an ongoing Phase 3 study of an antiviral pill that may slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying of the virus by 50%.

The study’s results are so compelling that an independent monitoring board recommended, in consultation with the FDA, ending the trial early so the companies can swiftly seek authorization.

Read the full story here.

Sep 30, 4:33 pm
Daily hospital admissions down 32% in last month

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. has seen a drop of more than 27,000 patients in hospitals across the country, according to federal data. A little less than half of those patients come from Florida.

Daily hospital admissions are down by nearly 15% in the last week and by 32% in the last month, according to federal data.

The country’s daily case average has fallen to 107,000 — a 33% drop in the last month. However, about 97% of counties are still reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Amid restaurant closures, changing rules and regulations, worker shortages, supply chain issues that lead to price hikes and more, during the COVID-19 crisis restaurants in the U.S. have faced challenges at every turn.

The latest hurdle has been dealing with rising tensions over masks and vaccine mandates during the pandemic.

While the CDC and many states have laid out guidelines and regulations for dining, the burden of enforcing the protocols often falls on the shoulders of individual businesses and the hosts, servers and managers, resulting in an influx of difficult, awkward and at times, dangerous interactions with disgruntled customers.

“It’s been almost a 24/7 job of keeping up with the regulatory changes — the city, the state, the federal government all issue different regulations – so particularly for restaurants in New York it has been a tough job to keep up,” restaurant and hospitality legal expert Carolyn Richmond, co-chair of Fox Rothschild Hospitality Practice Group, told “GMA.”

She added that it’s been “an increased labor cost to make sure somebody is at the door checking.”

These challenges have been widespread, according to reports from New York to Texas and Hawaii.

Hawaii restaurant owner Javier Barberi of Down the Hatch and Mala Tavern in Maui said they have had to hire additional staff and security to deal with the situation.

Barberi told “GMA” that while adapting to state and local mandates the already tense situation of asking their hosts to check vaccination status has been exacerbated recently by stressful customer interactions.

Under the Maui Safer Outside guidelines, unvaccinated customers can choose to dine outdoors, but proof of vaccination is required for indoor dining. Oahu’s Safe Access program takes the regulation a step further, asking customers for proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for both indoor and outdoor dining.

“We’ve had absolute nightmare scenarios at the hostess stand,” Barberi said. “It’s so stressful. I’ve had staff crying after customers yell at them over the vaccination policy and say they can’t work like this or don’t want to come in the next day — but we are following what our government asks of us because we could get shut down or fines.”

Barberi said one customer became combative with the front of house team after his party was denied indoor dining access because a guest was not fully vaccinated. The customer “started losing it on our host,” he said. “ and a A 20-year-old woman should not have to be prepared to handle a situation like this.”

Encounters like these have forced him to hire additional security, he said.

“We’ve had to hire additional security, which doesn’t look good to customers because this is a nice, formal restaurant and not what you want to see when you first arrive,” he explained. “Now we have to hire a male host, additional security and who pays for it? … these things aren’t free. There’s no restaurant relief left, there’s no government assistance coming from the PPP.”

With tensions reaching an inflection point, similar scenes have played out in other states such as New York.

Earlier this month a hostess at Carmine’s, an Italian restaurant in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was reportedly assaulted by three customers after she asked for proof of vaccination — which is required of restaurants by law and if they fail to comply to check patrons’ vaccine status can result in fines over $1,000.

“Three women brutally attacked our hosts without provocation, got arrested and charged for their misconduct, and then, over the last several days, had their lawyer falsely and grossly misrepresent their acts of wanton violence in a cynical attempt to try to excuse the inexcusable,” Carmine’s owner Jeffrey Bank said in a statement the day he released security footage of the incident.

He continued, “My team members work too hard to serve our guests, work too hard to comply with New York’s vaccination requirements, and still suffer too much from the attack for me to allow these false statements to stand.”

The footage showed a group of six people welcomed upon showing proof of vaccinations and later when three men who were part of the same party arrived and could not show proof of vaccination were told they could not enter given New York law. The previously seated guests, according to Bank and the footage, argued to let their friends inside and as one host returned to the outside station, “three of the women came back outside, attacked our host — and then assaulted both our Asian host and our Latinx host,” according to Bank.

“This attack was entirely unprovoked – the three women launched the attack and continued it, seriously hurting our hosts and requiring our staff and nearby men and women to have to literally tear the women away from our hosts,” Bank said. “Carmine’s staff acted appropriately and professionally. When my employees mess up, I hold us accountable. But when our employees are attacked, I will defend them to the limit.”

Andrew Rigie executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance commented on the incident calling it “abhorrent” and added that there should be punishments in place.

“We’re calling on the City and State of New York to immediately increase penalties for assaulting restaurant workers in New York City in conjunction with enforcement of Covid-19 protocols,” he said.

Staff shortages, supply chain woes

Texas Restaurant Association CEO Emily Williams Knight told “Good Morning America” she’s most worried about staff and labor shortages coupled with elevated consumer behavior.

“There’s been an evolution of customer behavior,” she said. “We have very few, if not any restrictions here in Texas, but the staffing labor challenge with the supply chain is definitely frustrating customers and employees.”

In the last month in Texas, which she says accounts for 50,000 restaurants, Knight said “the hours worked per employee in restaurants, was the highest we’ve ever seen. So the folks that are there are exhausted, they’re working extensive hours and they’re now facing a growing public that is losing patience and not having a perfect experience.”

Although Texas does not have a vaccine mandate, Knight said “we’ve had very little challenge here in Texas around masks.”

Much like New York City and other high-traffic hospitality areas restaurant associations across the country have added measures to explain guest safety and behavior expectations upon arrival at a restaurant — something Knight said prompted the TRA to create “the restaurant promise.”

“It’s a two-way commitment between the consumer and the restaurant, so before you enter on the door, it says, this is what we’re going to do to keep you safe. And this is what we were going to do if you enter the business. And it doesn’t surprise them,” she said.

Ellis Winstanley, owner of El Arroyo in Austin, Texas, told “GMA” that customer traffic has fluctuated — “as the pandemic has ebbed and flowed.”

“I think I think there’s just a lot of tension generally right now — I think you see it in restaurants because restaurants are so public — but I think our staff experiences that more than any other industry does.”

Barberi added that they’re facing backlash from guests who are now “boycotting” theirs and other local restaurants enforcing the vaccination policies.

“It breaks my heart – they’re adhering to the rules of the government ,” he said and that the conflict has a negative impact on customers and restaurants.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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

More than 696,000 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.

Just 65% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Oct 01, 3:02 pm
White House COVID-19 team on rapid testing, vaccine updates

The White House COVID-19 team told ABC News that they are aiming to double the number of rapid tests available at market within the next two months.

“You’re right that the at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand,” said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. “The manufacturing is scaling up significantly, doubling across the next couple of months, and we’re just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests.”

Zients added: “Overall, we’ll continue to pull every level we can to further expand the manufacturing and the production of these tests in order to make them more widely available, and to drive down the cost per test.” He did not offer further specifics.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also said that the shots for children ages 5 to 11 are “on the horizon.” Murthy deferred to the FDA and CDC’s  “rigorous review process” and independent advisory panels to determine further absolutes.

The White House team urges Americans not to let their guard down even though the latest surge of COVID-19 may be subsiding. White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that it is not an excuse for unvaccinated Americans to remain unvaccinated.

“I think that the people who are unvaccinated, when they see the curve starting to come down, that is not a reason to remain unvaccinated, because if you want to ensure that we get down to a very low level and that we don’t re-surge again,” Fauci said. “We still gotta get a very large proportion of those 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, we’ve got to get them vaccinated.”

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Oct 01, 2:11 pm
California to require COVID-19 vaccine for all students

California will be the first state to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students, faculty and staff in public and private schools. Gov. Gavin Newsom says that the COVID-19 vaccine will be one of 11 vaccines required to attend schools in California.

The vaccine will be required at the start of the upcoming school term following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the vaccines. Terms begin in January and July.

The government has only fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over.

School staff will be required to be vaccinated on the same timeline as grades 7-12, the earliest group to see full FDA approval.

There are exemptions for medical reasons and for personal and religious beliefs.

-ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman

Oct 01, 12:20 pm
Vaccine acceptance at high amid delta surge: Polls

Polls found that coronavirus vaccine acceptance is at a high — with surveys finding 80% to 82% of people say they have been vaccinated or are likely to get vaccinated. These are the highest percentages [since the vaccine rollout began] ().

The CDC reports that 77% of adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

Vaccinations have gone up since August, and a study by [health policy research organization Kaiser Family Foundation] () indicates that gaps by race and ethnicity are almost eliminated — 73% of Hispanics, 71% of white people and 70% of Black people are said to be vaccinated.

However, vaccine gaps persist across party lines — KFF found that 90% of Democrats say they’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 68% of independents and 58% of Republicans.

However, unvaccinated people continue to express doubts concerning the vaccines’ effectiveness and resistance to vaccine mandates in the workplace.

In a poll by [the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index] (), 71% of unvaccinated Americans believe that the vaccine booster shots and breakthrough infections are signs that vaccines are not as effective as they are said to be.

Only about 29% of unvaccinated workers say they would get a shot if their employer mandates it, according to the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Oct 01, 8:35 am
Merck announces virus-fighting breakthrough in pill form

Merck Thursday morning announced the results of an ongoing Phase 3 study of an antiviral pill that may slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying of the virus by 50%.

The study’s results are so compelling that an independent monitoring board recommended, in consultation with the FDA, ending the trial early so the companies can swiftly seek authorization.

Read the full story here.

Sep 30, 4:33 pm
Daily hospital admissions down 32% in last month

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. has seen a drop of more than 27,000 patients in hospitals across the country, according to federal data. A little less than half of those patients come from Florida.

Daily hospital admissions are down by nearly 15% in the last week and by 32% in the last month, according to federal data.

The country’s daily case average has fallen to 107,000 — a 33% drop in the last month. However, about 97% of counties are still reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(HOUSTON) — A suspect is in custody after police responded to reports of an active shooter at a Houston prep school, local authorities said.

Officers are searching the school for any other possible suspects, the Houston Police said and the scene is still active.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHANDLER, Ariz.) — A helicopter and a fixed-wing plane collided in mid-air in Chandler, Arizona, Friday, local authorities confirmed.

Chandler police tweeted that they are currently at the scene.

“We are at the scene of a mid-air collision between a plane and helicopter at a Chandler Airpark. We ask anyone who possibly witnessed or caught this incident on camera to contact Chandler PD at 480-782-4130,” the police posted.

The plane was able to land safely, but the helicopter crashed and caught on fire, the Chandler Fire department reported. Chandler Police have confirmed two deaths.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MONTEZUMA, Iowa) — The remains of an adolescent were discovered by a farmer in rural Iowa Thursday, along with clothes that matched what a boy who lived in the region was last seen wearing before he vanished in May, authorities said.

Xavior Harrelson was last seen the morning of May 27, days before his 11th birthday, when he left his home in Montezuma to go on a bike ride, authorities said.

His disappearance sparked a widespread search by police and community volunteers through miles of cornfields, lakes, ravines and wilderness in Poweshiek County.

Around 2 p.m. local time Thursday, the local sheriff’s office received a call from a farmer working in a field a few miles outside of Montezuma who had discovered what they believed to be human remains, authorities said.

The remains were found in a grassy area of a combined field, and the state medical examiner determined them to be human and likely those of an adolescent, according to Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation.

“We are not saying it is Xavior Harrelson at this time,” Mortvedt told reporters at a press briefing near the scene Thursday. “There’s a lot of work yet to be done at the scene here, and as you can imagine, the state medical examiner’s office and state anthropologist have a lot of work left ahead of them in the days and weeks, even, to come.”

The remains had likely been in the field for a “significant” amount of time, Mortvedt said, and the documentation at the scene will be a “very slow and methodical process.”

The clothing found was “consistent with what we knew Xavior to last be wearing,” he said.

Xavior was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, blue pajama pants and black high-top shoes, according to the sheriff’s office.

His family has been contacted about the development, Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel told reporters. “Naturally she was upset,” he said of the boy’s mother.

The field where the remains were found had not been previously searched on foot as part of the investigation, Kriegel said.

The medical examiner will be working to identify the remains, a process that could take weeks, Mortvedt said. The cause and manner of death will be investigated, and “whether or not there was foul play,” he said.

A reward for information in the case has grown to $36,000.

Anyone with information or tips is urged to call the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679.

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(CHICAGO) — Three years ago, a 26-year-old postal worker who was eagerly expecting her first child mysteriously disappeared in her own neighborhood.

There’s still no resolution, leaving her heartbroken mother desperate to know if her daughter is even alive or dead.

Kierra Coles was about three months pregnant when she vanished on Oct. 2, 2018, on Chicago’s South Side. Her car was found in front of her apartment with her phone and packed lunch still inside.

The Chicago Police Department considers the case “a high-risk missing person investigation with potential foul play suspected.”

For Coles’ mother, Karen Phillips, having no answers is torturous.

Phillips said police have not provided any information whenever she’s called over the last year.

“I could never reach nobody. They’re gone to lunch, they’ll call me back, they’re out of the office. It’s always something,” she told ABC News last week. “They don’t even reach out and say, ‘Well, Ms. Phillips, we’re still going through this’ … or, ‘We don’t have any new leads.’ Just say something.”

The Chicago police didn’t respond to Phillips’ claim that they ignored her calls, but in a statement to ABC News the police department said it urges “anybody with knowledge of her last whereabouts … to contact the Chicago Police Department.”

“We are seeking any and all information in an attempt to locate her and we won’t stop until we do,” police said.

For Phillips, the loss is “unbearable.”

“I went from seeing my child every day — if not seeing her, at least talking to her every day — to not seeing her in three years,” Phillips said. “I try to stay strong for the other kids, I try to not really break down in front of them. But we talk about her all the time, we got pictures everywhere. We just really want her home.”

Coles’ siblings range in age from 35 to 24. Coles, a devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews, was the last of Phillips’ children to have a baby.

Phillips said she misses the grandchild she never got a chance to meet.

“I miss him — he or she — even though they wasn’t born yet. I just miss him because she would’ve been a great mother,” she said. “For her to be a mother, we were so excited. … That was the last thing she was waiting for.”

Coles had a plan for her life and so far “everything was going according to plan,” her mother said.

Coles first wanted a good job, and after years with the post office she had saved for a car and a home. Then, she and her boyfriend decided they were ready for a baby, Phillips said.

For her to vanish “out of the blue,” she said, “I can’t understand it.”

The United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI are both working with the Chicago police on the case.

“Since October 2018, Postal Inspectors have tracked down and vetted nearly 400 leads across the country. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service distributed thousands of reward flyers,” the Postal Inspection Service said.

“Kierra Coles is a member of our Postal family and we will continue looking for her and following up on all leads,” the agency continued. “If you know something, no matter how trivial it may seem, please come forward as it may be crucial to our investigation. Please contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service hotline at (877) 876-2455 and reference case number 2693502.”

Some days Phillips said she “really can’t function because my mind just, you know, keeps wondering — where’s my child? Is she being harmed? Is she dead or alive?”

“It’s hard waking up every day wondering,” she said. “I just want somebody to come forward and say what happened.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Women’s rights advocates are preparing to march again in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the U.S. this weekend, with a focus on reproductive rights.

The fifth annual Women’s March will take place on Saturday, a date specifically chosen for its proximity to the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term — Oct. 4, the first Monday in October.

Women’s March organizers said the restrictive abortion law that went into effect in Texas in September motivated them to act now.

The law, which bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect after the Supreme Court rejected a request by Texas abortion providers to block the law as legal challenges continued.

“When the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to block Texas’s abortion ban, they effectively took the next step towards overturning Roe v. Wade. Simply put: We are witnessing the most dire threat to abortion access in our lifetime,” reads a statement on the Women’s March website.

The Supreme Court also is scheduled to hear in December oral arguments in a case that could be the most consequential abortion rights case in decades. The state of Mississippi is asking the justices to overturn longstanding legal precedent that restrictions on abortion access before a fetus is viable outside the womb — around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy — are categorically unconstitutional. Mississippi wants to ban abortions after 15 weeks, or even earlier.

Reproductive rights advocates call the case, which centers around Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic, an existential threat to American abortion rights not seen in nearly 50 years.

This year’s protest will follow in the footsteps of Women’s March protests that have taken place every year since 2017, when the first march drew more than a million people to various locations across the U.S. the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The protests have dwindled in size since the first march, but have continued across the country.

As women take to the streets this year to march, in addition to battles over reproductive rights, women have also experienced disproportionate job loss during the coronavirus pandemic and faced greater caregiving burdens than male counterparts, data shows.

Women’s March organizers said that in addition to the Washington, D.C., march, there will be smaller marches from Bangor, Maine, and the way to Seattle.

The Washington march will begin at Freedom Plaza and continue along Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Supreme Court building.

Busy Phillips, who has spoken publicly about having an abortion at age 15, is among the speakers confirmed for the Washington march.

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