COVID-19 updates: American Airlines to require employee vaccinations

The airline's CEO and president informed employees in a letter Friday.

ByJulia Jacobo, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, Kiara Alfonseca, Meredith Deliso, and Morgan Winsor
Last Updated: October 4, 2021, 6:54 AM EDT

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

More than 700,000 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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Sep 29, 2021, 5:25 PM EDT

Judge rules against NYC group suing over city worker vaccine mandate

New York City's vaccine mandate for city workers survived another challenge in court Wednesday.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Laurence Love wrote that the argument made by the New York City Municipal Labor Committee --which represents several unions-- contending that the city's order "violates employees’ individual bodily integrity and right to refuse medical treatment," is without merit.

"Public health concerns far outweigh the concerns of a few," the judge wrote in the 11-page ruling.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

Sep 29, 2021, 3:54 PM EDT

Beijing 2022 Olympics tickets only available for spectators living in China's mainland

Spectator tickets for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games will only be sold to residents of China's mainland, according to the International Olympic Committee.

Participants who are not fully vaccinated will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Sep 29, 2021, 3:20 PM EDT

30% of Louisiana's new cases were among kids

Of the 1,048 new COVID-19 cases reported to Louisiana health officials since Tuesday, 30% were among children, the state's health department said.

Louisiana currently has 952 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, state officials said.

A clinician cares for COVID-19 patients in a converted negative pressure room in the Intensive Care Unit at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, Lake Charles, La., Aug. 10, 2021.
Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE

A total of 13,900 Louisiana residents have died from COVID-19.

Sep 29, 2021, 1:32 PM EDT

Hospitalized kids at critical level in Ohio

Ohio has the nation's second-highest total of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 210 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state.

Children appear to be getting sicker than at previous points in the pandemic, according to front-line workers, particularly adolescents who have not been vaccinated.

Dayton Children's Hospital is among those impacted. Hospital officials say they've seen a record number of patients since the end of the summer.

"[It's] pretty hard to keep our heads above water, day in and day out," charge nurse Will Andres told ABC News.

Another concerning trend, doctors say, is the number of children who are forced to stay alone in the hospital because their parents are also battling COVID-19.

Michele Nadolsky, a clinical team leader in the emergency room, added, "One of our biggest concerns is what's going to happen in six months to a year from now, after [the] child has recovered from the acute illness of COVID-19, and what kind of symptoms or long-term effect is it going to have on them."

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

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