US sees more cases in August than all of July; CDC OKs third vaccine dose for immunocompromised; 620K US deaths: Latest COVID-19 updates

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided Friday that people with severely weakened immune systems should be able to receive a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The move came after the Food and Drug Administration decided late Thursday to allow extra shots for the less than 3% of Americans who are severely immunocompromised, but left it to the CDC to define exactly who should get the additional doses.

The CDC's advisory committee on vaccines spent four hours Friday considering evidence on the safety and effectiveness of extra shots for specific groups of people whose immune systems do not work well, either because of disease or medication.

They voted unanimously to offer a third shot to a very narrow band of people: the 2.7 million Americans with the weakest immune systems, who were unlikely to get adequate protection from their initial shots.

"This official CDC recommendation – which follows FDA’s decision to amend the emergency use authorizations of the vaccines – is an important step in ensuring everyone, including those most vulnerable to COVID-19, can get as much protection as possible from COVID-19 vaccination," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

The severely immunocompromised are often left unprotected by the two-dose regimen. Roughly 40-44% of people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infections after vaccination are immunocompromised, the CDC said.

Meanwhile, a federal judge on Friday allowed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's evictions moratorium to remain in place.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said she thinks the moratorium is illegal but said her "hands are tied" by a ruling allowing the eviction ban to stand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Alabama landlords challenging the moratorium are likely to appeal.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced a moratorium on evictions in counties with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19 after a previous ban on evictions enacted under former President Donald Trump and extended by Biden expired.

Also in the news:

►Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday issued a limited state of emergency aimed at giving medical providers flexibility on staffing and capacity decisions and easier shipment of emergency equipment and supplies, an order that came the same day the state tied a record low for available intensive care unit beds.

►Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is deploying up to 1,500 National Guard troops to support healthcare workers amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. The first wave will go out next Friday and serve as material and equipment runners in the most stricken hospitals.

►Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mandatory school masks faces an early test Friday as a judge scheduled a hearing on a lawsuit brought by parents from a half-dozen Florida counties urging that limits on mandatory masking in schools be lifted as students return to class in many Florida counties.

►The National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher's union, said it supported policies that would require all teachers to get vaccinated or submit to regular testing, as cases among children rise around the nation.

►The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate at Indiana University, clearing the way for school officials to require students and faculty members to be vaccinated.

►Mayor London Breed said Thursday that San Francisco will require proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 for a number of indoor venues, including restaurants, bars, gyms and many entertainment sites, becoming the nation's first major city to impose such a condition. New Orleans is also making proof of vaccination a requirement for indoor venues.

►Florida and Texas could have prevented 70,000 hospitalizations and saved 4,700 lives if they had matched the vaccination rate of the nation's top five states, a new study found.

📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has had more than 36.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 620,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 206.1 million cases and 4.3 million deaths. More than 167.3 million Americans — 50.4% of the population — have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

📘 What we're reading: Six members of a Florida church died from COVID-19 within 10 days. Now, Impact Church in Jacksonville has vaccinated more than 1,000 people in the community and is looking to calm congregants’ fears about coronavirus vaccines. Read more here.

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68% of Florida hospitals expect to hit critical staff shortage

Florida hospitals are near a breaking point as COVID-19 patients fill intensive care units and spill into other units while stretched-thin staff struggle to keep burnout at bay.

By next week, 68% of hospitals expect to reach a critical staffing shortage, according to an Aug. 9 survey conducted twice weekly by the Florida Hospital Association.

The figure climbed 8 percentage points from four days earlier on Aug. 5, which signals how rapidly the situation is deteriorating as the delta variant continues its sweep across the hard-hit state.

Florida consistently has been the top one or two states with the highest number of new cases. Hospitalizations hit 15,796 Thursday and are climbing, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“They get all the praise about being brave health care heroes, but they are not bulletproof,” said Willa Fuller, executive director of the Orlando-based Florida Nurses Association. “Now that this (delta variant) has hit, they are already fatigued. So now you are looking at people fatigued on top of fatigue.”

– Liz Freeman, Naples Daily News

Mississippi's largest hospital sets up parking garage tent for COVID patients

As Mississippi set a record for new COVID-19 cases Thursday with more than 4,400 – the second time this week the state set that record – its hospitals and health care workers increasingly feeling the pressures of the surge.

At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state's largest hospital, tents to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients are going up.

"When you're standing in a field hospital at a major academic medical center, we're pretty much at a collapse," said Alan Jones, COVID-19 clinical response leader for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. "This is not enough beds to support the state of Mississippi."

– Lee O. Sanderlin, Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Vaccine mandates for health care workers: Does duty trump right to refuse the shot?

Over the past three weeks, state after state has passed some form of mandate requiring health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Even for doctors and nurses whose mission is to protect the lives of their patients, the issue remains divisive. Does that duty to those patients trump their right to refuse vaccine?

At least 16 states require COVID-19 vaccine for some health care workers. In Arkansas, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, there are prohibitions on such mandates, according to the National Academy for State Health Care Policy.

A new mother in Austin, speaking with USA TODAY, experienced the conflict firsthand Wednesday when an unvaccinated nursed was helping her in her postpartum room: “I’m in this room where I’m not allowed to get up out of bed without help from the nurse who’s not vaccinated. What can I do?” she said. "How am I supposed to feel safe with my baby here?” Read more here.

– Elizabeth Weise

Nevada parent knowingly sent student to school with COVID-19

A parent knowingly sent their child to school after receiving confirmation of a positive COVID-19 test, exposing more than 80 students to the disease on the first day of school, the Washoe County Health District in Nevada said Wednesday.

The parent has also tested positive for COVID-19 and has refused contact with the school district and health officials. The Washoe County School District would not say how many students at Marce Herz Middle School they excluded on the second day of a new school year. Those who were notified can't return until Aug. 20 if they have not been fully vaccinated.

– Siobhan McAndrew, Reno Gazette-Journal

27 people on board Carnival Cruise Line ship test positive for COVID-19

Twenty-seven people sailing on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Vista ship have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those who tested positive, 26 are crew members and one person is a passenger, according to a news release from the Belize Tourism Board Wednesday.

Carnival spokesperson AnneMarie Matthews confirmed the positive cases and additional info in the tourism board's statement to USA TODAY.

Matthews said positive COVID cases were first announced last Wednesday during the previous cruise that disembarked last Saturday in Galveston, Texas. It's unclear how many people were positive at that time.

On the ship, 99.98% of crew members are vaccinated, and 96.5% of passengers are vaccinated, the tourism board said, noting that all of the people who tested positive are vaccinated. Most are asymptomatic, and a few have mild symptoms.

– Morgan Hines

Contributing: Elizabeth Weise and Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 news: US deaths top 620K; August cases surpass July total