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.

ByEmily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Marlene Lenthang
Last Updated: August 16, 2021, 12:25 AM EDT

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:

Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 11, 2021, 5:31 PM EDT

Mississippi asks Biden administration to send military hospital ship

Hard-hit Mississippi has requested the federal government send a military hospital ship such as the USNS Comfort, state health official Jim Craig said Wednesday.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has 127 COVID-19 patients, including 26 children, Dean LouAnn Woodward said Wednesday. About 90% of them are unvaccinated, she said.

The dean warned, "The Mississippi hospital system will fail within the next five to seven or 10 days if the current trajectory continues.” 

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Jianna Cousin

Aug 11, 2021, 4:53 PM EDT

45 kids in Houston hospital with COVID-19

Forty-five children are in Texas Children's Hospital in Houston with COVID-19 -- an all-time high for the hospital.

Twenty-five of those children have both COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a respiratory illness that is especially dangerous for young children and older people.

Each year, RSV leads to about 58,000 hospitalizations with 100 to 500 deaths among children under 5, according to the CDC.

-ABC News' Gina Sunseri

Aug 11, 2021, 4:27 PM EDT

NYSE requiring vaccinations for floor traders

The New York Stock Exchange is requiring full vaccination to access the trading floor as of Sept. 13, COO Michael Blaugrund announced Wednesday

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, Aug. 11, 2021.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

-ABC News' Taylor Dunn

Aug 11, 2021, 4:12 PM EDT

US reports highest case increase of any country

The U.S. reported 734,354 new COVID-19 cases in the last week, a 35% weekly jump and the highest of any nation in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Pulmonology physician Catherine Wentowski speaks with medical staff at the Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson Parish, La., Aug. 10, 2021.
Kathleen Flynn/Reuters

The U.S. was followed by India with 278,631 new cases and Iran with 248,102 new cases.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

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