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.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Aug 12, 2021, 10:54 AM EDT
LSU will mandate vaccines when FDA grants full approval
In hard-hit Louisiana, Louisiana State University will mandate the COVID-19 vaccine once the FDA grants full approval, LSU President William F. Tate IV said in a statement.
Students walk at the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, La., April 13, 2021.
Kathleen Flynn/Reuters, FILE
"We expect the FDA to fully authorize one or more of the COVID vaccines in the next few weeks," Tate said. "In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to go ahead and get vaccinated now."
LSU's live mascot, a tiger, has already been vaccinated.
Aug 12, 2021, 10:00 AM EDT
Some HHS employees will be required to be vaccinated
Going a step beyond the general guidelines for the federal workforce -- which is to get vaccinated or be subject to masking/testing -- the Department of Health and Human Services is offering only one option for its patient-facing employees: get vaccinated.
The 25,000 HHS employees who will be required to get vaccinated are concentrated within the Indian Health Service and National Institute of Health, as well as the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
The deadline to get vaccinated is the end of September, according to an HHS official familiar with the plan. There will be exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
About 3% of the population would qualify, Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News' "Good Morning America."
He said the boosters would be "for example, people who have transplantation and are on immunosuppressive drugs for that; people on therapy for cancer -- cancer chemotherapy; people with advanced HIV disease; and people who are receiving immune suppressive therapy for a variety of diseases."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president, appears on Good Morning America, Aug. 12, 2021.
ABC News
When asked if the boosters would be available to everyone, Fauci said, "You have to follow people, which we're doing in real-time, mainly a non-immune compromised, either an elderly person or a younger person … to determine if their level of protection goes below a critical level."
He added, "If and when it does, and it's likely that it will because no vaccine is gonna last forever, we're gonna be ready and have a plan to give those individuals the additional dose they might need."
Aug 12, 2021, 1:55 AM EDT
University of Mississippi Medical Center opening field hospital in garage
The University of Mississippi Medical Center, overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients due to the delta variant, is opening a field hospital in one of the center's garages.
The unit will have 50 beds and will likely be available to take in patients by Friday, Gov. Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
The news comes as Mississippi recorded 3,163 positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
