NEW YORK – As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 800,000 Americans, according to real-time data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 61% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

This is how the news develops. All times east:

December 15, 11:39 a.m.
NYU and Princeton plan to cancel year-end events and hold exams online

Headmasters at both New York University and Princeton University announced on Wednesday that they would take steps to cancel year-end events and reschedule winter exams online amid a surge in COVID-19 cases online at their respective locations.

“Given that we’ve seen an increase in student cases in the past 24 hours – including suspected highly contagious Omicron cases – we hope the final exam schedule does not interfere with student journeys home for the winter vacation. “Princeton University Dean Jill Dolan and Vice President of Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun said in a joint statement. “We certainly don’t want you to stay in the isolation you need on campus during the holidays.”

All indoor dining and non-face-covering gatherings will have to be canceled or postponed from Thursday through January 7, according to a statement on the Princeton campus, New Jersey.

In a statement from New York University Prostess Katherine Fleming, Executive Vice President Martin Dorph and the Head of the COVID-19 Prevention and Response Team, Dr. Carlo Ciotoli states that they “strongly encourage changes to final exams and / or assessments in” remote / online format. “All arbitrary, non-essential, non-academic gatherings and events on the school’s campus in New York City must be held be canceled according to the statement “immediately”.

“Continuous review of data from our COVID-19 testing program has shown a significant acceleration in the number of new cases in our community,” they said. “It is not a cause for concern, but it is a cause for concern, caution, and reasonable action.”

NYU has also joined a growing list of colleges and universities across the country requiring all eligible members of the school community, including faculty and students, to get a full vaccination against COVID-19 and a booster vaccination before the coming spring semester.

Meanwhile, Cornell University officials in Ithaca, New York, announced Tuesday that they had put the campus on a “Red Level” alert after seeing evidence of a “significant” number of the school’s COVID-19 positives Suspected cases of the Omicron variant found had samples from students.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant is estimated to make up more than 13% of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the New York and New Jersey area – the highest proportion of any region in the United States states.

Chris Donato and Arielle Mitropoulos from ABC News

December 15, 8:09 a.m.
Journalist Traveling With Blinken Tests Positive For COVID-19 In Malaysia

A journalist who traveled with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his visit to Southeast Asia tested positive for COVID-19 in Malaysia, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Meanwhile, Blinken and its senior staff all tested negative for COVID-19 when they arrived in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday evening. The member of the traveling press pool who tested positive was last tested negative on Tuesday in Indonesia’s capital, her previous station.

“The person who tests positive will remain in isolation,” Price said in a statement Wednesday, “and we will continue to adhere to and exceed CDC guidelines, including our rigorous testing protocol for the remaining tour group.”

Blinken has canceled a planned trip to Thailand “out of caution” and, according to Price, will return to the USA.

“The Secretary of State expressed his deep regret to the Secretary of State for not being able to visit Bangkok this week,” Price said. He stated that the Secretary would be returning to Washington, DC to mitigate the risk of the spread of COVID-19 and to prioritize the health and safety of US travelers and those they would otherwise come into contact with an abundance of people of caution. “

“The Secretary of State invited the Secretary of State to visit Washington, DC at the earliest opportunity and stated that he was looking forward to visiting Thailand as soon as possible,” Price added. “You have confirmed that you will use the upcoming engagements to further deepen the alliance between the US and Thailand.”

The US Embassy in Malaysia confirmed that the infected person “was not involved in any program or program run by Minister Blinken in Kuala Lumpur”.

“The only positive tested member of the travel group adheres to all the requirements of the Ministry of Health,” said the embassy on Wednesday. “We confirm that all other members of the party tested negative for COVID-19 upon arrival in Malaysia.”

Blinken was in Indonesia on Tuesday, and the U.S. embassy in Jakarta confirmed that no member of the tour group had tested positive for COVID-19.

All members of the U.S. delegation must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and undergo regular tests while traveling.

-Conor Finnegan from ABC News

December 15, 6:23 a.m.
Over 67,000 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the US as the winter surge intensifies

With the onset of winter and the rise in COVID-19 cases, hospitals in the United States are once again under pressure to care for thousands of patients.

According to federal data, more than 67,000 people with COVID-19 are currently being hospitalized across the country.

Rebecca Long, a senior nurse at a COVID-19 intensive care unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told ABC News that she and her team have “literally no intensive care beds” available.

“I don’t want someone else’s family member or loved one to be able to say that we can’t help you because we don’t have the resources,” Long said. “As healthcare providers, we only want to help people, and we can’t because we can’t physically.”

Dr. Kyle McCarty, emergency medical director at HSHS St. Mary’s and HSHS St. Vincent hospitals in Green Bay, Wisconsin, told ABC News that health care workers feel burned out after “doing more with less.”

“We are exhausted from knowing that we are the tape that is preventing a complete collapse of the healthcare system,” said McCarty. “There is a nationwide shortage of hospital staff, which makes it difficult to care for patients the way we want. There are not enough inpatient beds for the patients who have to be hospitalized.”

“This is a call for reinforcements, not a warning to stay away because we don’t want this to be the new normal,” he added. “If we can recruit more teammates in healthcare, it doesn’t have to be.”

-Arielle Mitropoulos from ABC News

Dec 14, 7:19 p.m.
The US death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 800,000

The number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States exceeded 800,000 on Tuesday, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The number is higher than that of the approximately 700,000 Americans who have died from AIDS-related diseases in the past four decades, and it is higher than the total number of US troops who have died in combat since 1900.

An additional 500,000 people have died from the virus in the United States since last December when the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered.

Of these, around 230,000 have died since April 2021, when US President Joe Biden announced that COVID-19 vaccines were widely available to every American over the age of 18.

-Arielle Mitropoulos from ABC News

Dec 14, 6:59 p.m.
In the US, the number of Omicron cases has increased seven-fold in the past week

In the US, the prevalence of the omicron COVID-19 variant has increased seven-fold in the past week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just over two weeks after it was first discovered in the country, the Omicron variant is now estimated to account for nearly 3% of all new cases in the US, the latest data from the CDC shows.

In the past week, the data suggests that Omicron accounted for an estimated 0.4% of all new cases.

-Arielle Mitropoulos from ABC News

Dec 14, 2:52 p.m.
Omicron will “definitely” become the dominant variety in the USA: Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday that Omicron is “sure to” become the dominant strain in the US, given how quickly it is spreading.

“Omicron will be challenging because it is spreading very quickly,” said Fauci.

Repeating that Omicron appears to be less severe so far, Fauci added, “Whether it is naturally less pathogenic than a virus, or if there is more protection in the community, we just have to see when it comes to the United States . “

-Arielle Mitropoulos from ABC News

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