At least five states have set COVID-19 records in the last week. Here are seven more COVID-19 updates:
1. New York will require 32 hospitals with limited capacity to halt nonurgent procedures as COVID-19 cases increase, state officials said.
2. Six states in the Midwest and on the East Coast account for more than half of the nation's total COVID-19 hospitalizations confirmed in recent weeks.
3. Pfizer's COVID-19 booster provided significant protection against the omicron variant in a laboratory study, the drugmaker said Dec. 8.
4. Here are 15 hospitals and health systems suspending COVID-19 vaccination mandates amid a temporary halt of the CMS mandate for healthcare workers.
5. Members of Generation Z feel the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for them to pursue their educational or career goals, more so than millennials or Gen Xers, according to a poll released Dec. 6.
6. New data from South Africa suggests the omicron COVID-19 variant may cause less severe infections than delta, though more research is needed to confirm this finding.
7. The nation's first cases of the omicron variant have been reported, as U.S. officials race to contain it. Here are the states where the variant has been detected.