COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise, especially in areas with higher levels of community transmission and lower vaccination rates, according to the CDC's COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review published Aug. 13.

Two days after in-person classes began at the School District of Palm Beach County, Fla., 440 students were required to quarantine due to a COVID-19 outbreak, local NBC affiliate WPTV reports. 

The CDC published new findings about individuals who reported adverse reactions after receiving Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine.

Among 45 pediatric COVID-19 patients at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, at least 25 also have respiratory syncytial virus, the Houston Chronicle reported Aug. 11. 

Amid a COVID-19 surge and shortage of healthcare workers and beds, Mississippi health officials are saying the state's hospital system is on the brink of failure and federal help is needed, according to The Washington Post.

Two-thirds of Americans living in counties with high vaccination rates are now also considered at high risk for COVID-19, according to a Washington Post analysis.

People who received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine may be less likely to experience a breakthrough infection compared to Pfizer vaccine recipients, findings published Aug. 8 in preprint server medRxiv suggest. 

In 2008, CMS made a clerical error that resulted in an extra $300 million being distributed to 120 hospital-based U.S. nursing school programs, CBS affiliate WCIA reported.

Fully vaccinated people have made up as few as 0.1 percent to as many as 5 percent of COVD-19 hospitalizations in some states since the start of the U.S. vaccination campaign, according to an Aug. 11 analysis from The New York Times.

California will require teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing, the first state to do so, reports The Washington Post.

CDC released new data Aug. 11 regarding the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant people and is recommending all people 12 and older get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Perhaps more than any other point in the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the effects of a severe nursing shortage. At the same time, hospitalizations are rising, with some states including Florida and Louisiana recording their highest numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations yet. 

The level of antibodies in mRNA COVID-19 vaccine recipients' blood may be indicative of the vaccine's efficacy, early findings published Aug. 10 in the preprint server medRxiv suggest. 

Two providers in New Jersey were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration after an investigation determined they didn't ensure nurses safely used respirators while administering flu shots and COVID-19 tests.

Below are seven national COVID-19 trends as of Aug. 10, per The New York Times.

State CDC officials are investigating COVID-19 outbreaks among staff at Portland-based Maine Medical Center and Belfast, Maine-based Waldo County General Hospital, reports The Portland Press Herald.

Recent COVID-19 surges are prompting some local leaders to defy governors who have banned mask mandates in their state, reports The New York Times.

While vasculitis — blood vessel damage and inflammation — has been seen in a few older patients with a severe COVID-19 infection, a recent report details the first known case of such damage in a 26-year-old patient. 

The CDC started publicly tracking the prominence of four different forms of the delta variant on Aug. 9.

A patient in Georgia died from melioidosis — a rare bacterial infection, the CDC said Aug. 9. The infection is associated with three earlier cases in other states, including one other fatal case.