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Jesse Jackson, wife hospitalized with COVID-19

PHOTO: Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses hundreds of fellow protesters on Capitol Hill to demand stronger voting rights, an end to the filibuster, immigration reform, a $15 minimum wage on Aug. 2, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
3:00
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Several southern states' ICUs near capacity
By Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Morgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 23, 2021, 8:39 AM

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 628,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 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 59.9% 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:

  • Over 880,000 Moderna vaccine doses donated by US arrive in Kenya
  • US surgeon general defends plan for booster shots
  • Jesse Jackson hospitalized with COVID
  • US sees highest daily case total in nearly 7 months 
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.

Aug 23, 2021 8:39 AM

Over 880,000 Moderna vaccine doses donated by US arrive in Kenya

More than 880,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Kenya on Monday morning.

The 880,460 doses were given to the East African nation by the U.S. government via the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to a press release from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which is leading vaccine procurement and delivery efforts on behalf of COVAX. It is the first of two shipments, totaling 1.76 million donate doses.

PHOTO: A UNICEF worker checks boxes of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 23, 2021.
Brian Inganga/AP
A UNICEF worker checks boxes of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 23, 2021. The first time that the Moderna vaccine has been received in Kenya, 880,460 doses were delivered forming the first of two shipments totalling 1.76 million doses which were donated by the United States via the the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to UNICEF, which transported the doses.
Brian Inganga/AP

The donation marks the first time that Kenya has received the Moderna vaccine, widening the portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines available for the country's ongoing rollout of its national immunization campaign. All Kenyans over the age of 18 are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Kenya aims to vaccinate 10 million of its 53 million people by the end of the year.

So far, Kenya has reported more than 229,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including at least 4,497 deaths, according to the latest data from the Kenyan Ministry of Health.


Aug 22, 2021 7:15 PM

US surgeon general defends plan for booster shots

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy defended the Biden administration's plans to  for many Americans the week of Sept. 20, despite criticism from the World Health Organization and others that the U.S. should not offer booster shots to Americans while many countries lag in vaccine access.

"We have to protect American lives and we have to help vaccinate the world because that is the only way this pandemic ends," Murthy told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

Read the full story here.

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ABC News' Julia Cherner

Aug 21, 2021 11:55 PM

Jesse Jackson hospitalized with COVID

Civil rights pioneer Jesse Jackson Sr. and his wife have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.

The 79-year-old and his wife, 77-year-old Jacqueline Jackson, are both being treated at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, according to a statement from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the nonprofit he founded in 1996. The statement said doctors were "monitoring the condition of both," but provided no further details.

Jackson was inoculated against the virus in January with the Pfizer vaccine. He also spent three weeks in a rehab center in February and March after gallbladder surgery.

The former Washington, D.C., shadow senator has been a prominent civil rights activist for 60 years, first joining forces with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s and working with King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

PHOTO: Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses hundreds of fellow protesters on Capitol Hill to demand stronger voting rights, an end to the filibuster, immigration reform, a $15 minimum wage on Aug. 2, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses hundreds of fellow protesters before they march on Capitol Hill to demand stronger voting rights, an end to the filibuster, immigration reform, a $15 minimum wage and other progressive policies at Columbus Circle on Aug. 2, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE

Jackson also ran for president in 1984 and 1988.

The activist was arrested earlier this month as part of a group in Washington, D.C., protesting restrictive voting rights being implemented in many states, including Georgia and Texas. One week earlier, he'd been arrested as part of a large group during a sit-in at Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's office.



Aug 21, 2021 3:19 PM

US sees 3rd straight day of 1M doses 

The U.S. reported over 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered for the third straight day, according to a White House official.

Saturday just in: +1.05M doses reported administered over yesterday, including 526K newly vaccinated. Third consecutive 1M+ day in over two months. Now 60% of all eligible (12+) fully vaccinated. Keep adding to our protection against Delta, we can get through this together! 🇺🇸

— Cyrus Shahpar (@cyrusshahpar46) August 21, 2021

There were more than 1.05 million doses administered Friday, including 526,000 newly vaccinated, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar said on Twitter. 

Nationwide, 60% of people ages 12 and up are now fully vaccinated, he said.


Aug 18, 2021 7:54 AM

Chicago reinstates indoor mask mandate amid rising cases

Everyone in Chicago who is 2 years of age and older must wear a face mask indoors starting Friday, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Chicago health officials announced the reinstatement of the indoor mask mandate on Tuesday, after the Windy City saw its daily average of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases surpass 400 -- a metric that moves the city from "substantial risk" to "higher risk."

"With the highly transmissible delta variant causing case rates to increase, now is the time to re-institute this measure to prevent further spread and save lives," Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said in a statement. "We continue to track the data closely and are hopeful this will only be temporary and we can bend the COVID curve, as we’ve done in the past."

During a press conference Tuesday, Arwady noted that other COVID-19 metrics, such as the city's test positivity average and hospitalizations, remain at "lower risk."

"A high case count does not automatically translate to a high hospitalization count and a high death count," she told reporters, "and we're hopeful that having the mask in place for everybody will get us through delta while we keep working on getting folks vaccinated."

PHOTO: Commuters wearing face masks arrive in the Loop on an L train in Chicago, Illinois, on July 27, 2021.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Commuters wearing face masks arrive in the Loop on an L train in Chicago, Illinois, on July 27, 2021.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Masks will be required citywide in all indoor public settings, including bars, restaurants, gyms, hair salons, private clubs and common areas in residential buildings. As with previous mask mandates, the face coverings can be temporarily taken off for certain activities that require their removal, such as eating and drinking or for facials and beard shaves.

Masks can also be removed by employees in settings that are not open to the public, such as office cubicles, so long as the individuals are static and maintaining at least 6 feet from others. The face coverings remain mandatory on public transportation as well as in educational, health care, correctional and congregate settings.

The new mandate does not include capacity limits at public places, and masks will remain optional in outdoor settings.

"We are not anticipating, at this point, adding additional business restrictions. However, we're watching what happens with these metrics," Arwady told reporters. "Our goal is to remain open but careful."


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