INDIANAPOLIS — Here are Saturday’s latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic, including the latest news on COVID-19 vaccinations and testing in Indiana.

Registrations for the vaccine are now open for Hoosiers 12 and older through the Indiana State Department of Health. This story will be updated over the course of the day with more news on the COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED: Here’s everything we know about the COVID-19 vaccine

The superintendent of the Avon Community School Corporation has asked the district’s school board to consider requiring masks for all students as rising virus cases and quarantines impede the district’s efforts in the classroom. 

The school board voted on Wednesday to require masks at elementary and intermediate schools, where coronavirus cases and quarantines had been the most prevalent. 

RELATED: Avon school board votes to require masks K-6 after ‘significant’ increase in cases

Superintendent Dr. Scott M. Wyndham wrote a letter to families Saturday highlighting rising coronavirus cases and quarantines in the district’s middle schools and high school. 

Wyndham is recommending the district require masks for all students PreK through high school. He says the number of quarantines is hindering the district’s ability to function and teach its students. 

Wyndham said he provided this data to the district school board along with his recommendation that masks be required at all schools. The board will discuss whether additional changes to the district’s protocols are necessary during its next meeting on Monday, Aug. 23 at 5:30 p.m.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning after health officials learned some people have been using drugs for livestock to try and treat COVID-19. This time, the administration is advising against the use of ivermectin, a drug commonly used to treat parasites in animals. 

It’s become a problem in Mississippi, where coronavirus cases from the delta variant have skyrocketed over the last few weeks. The Mississippi State Department of Health issued a warning Friday, saying that the state’s poison control center, “has received an increasing number of calls from individuals with potential ivermectin exposure taken to treat or prevent COVID-19 infection.” 

Specifically, the department says, Mississippians are purchasing the drug at livestock supply stores and using it to allegedly treat themselves. According to the MSDH, most of the incidents involved people with minor symptoms.

The FDA says it has also received a number of reports of people using the drug. The administration says that ivermectin is approved in small doses for some very specific cases in humans like parasitic worms, and in some topical applications, like for head lice or rosacea.

The Indiana State Department of Health reported 4,120 new COVID-19 cases among Indiana residents on Friday. That’s the highest daily case number since the beginning of the year, and the first day above 4,000 since January.

The rising rate of cases is starting to have a big impact on local hospitals. The 7-day positivity rate is now sitting at 10.6 percent. 

Community Health Network is asking patients to not come to its emergency rooms for COVID-19 testing. 

Doctors and nurses say they’re overwhelmed and they can’t keep up with the testing demand in the E.R. 

Patients with symptoms should instead make an appointment to visit one of the many Community Clinics or MedCheck facilities in their area to get tested. Click here to find an clinic near you.

A photograph of people lying down on the floor in pain while waiting for antibody infusions at a treatment site in Jacksonville, Florida, has become a vivid illustration of the huge demand for COVID-19 drugs amid a surge in infections. 

Monoclonal antibodies remain one of a handful of therapies that can blunt the worst effects of COVID-19. The antibody treatments have risen in demand in several states, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, where officials have refused to impose mask mandates and health care workers are struggling to curb hospitalizations among the unvaccinated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose coronavirus vaccine next week, according to multiple reports.

Right now, both the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine all currently have emergency use authorization from the FDA, a mechanism that allows for the use of non-FDA approved medical products when, “there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives,” according to the FDA. 

According to a report from Politico, the incoming approval would affect all adults 16 and older. White House officials who’ve spoken to Politico say they hope the approval will kickstart a surge in vaccination rates, as many have said they would be more likely to get the shot if it were fully FDA approved.

The New York Times has reported that the administration was aiming to push the approval through on Friday, but still had a lot of paperwork to get through. While the full approval of at least one of the current COVID-19 vaccines has been widely considered to be forthcoming, there was far from an expected date. According to New York Times sources, the administration had set an internal goal to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by Labor Day.

There have been more than 37.61 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of 6 a.m. Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 627,840 deaths recorded in the U.S.

Worldwide, there have been more than 210.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases with more than 4.41 million deaths. More than 4.87 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness like pneumonia, or death.

today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.:
Annual American Indian Council Pow Wow
Boone County Fairgrounds
1300 E. 100 South, Lebanon, IN 46052

In addition, free COVID-19 testing and vaccinations will be offered at the following locations from noon to 8 p.m. on the following dates and locations:

Today
Shenandoah Elementary School
5256 N. Raider Rd., Middletown, IN  

Miami County Fairgrounds
1029 W. 200 North, Peru, IN  

Clark Pleasant Community School Corp.
50 Center St., Whiteland, IN 

Bedford First Assembly
2601 27th St., Bedford, IN  

Carroll County 4-H Community Building
102 N. S. 4th St., Flora, IN 46929

Patients with an appointment at a state-hosted public vaccination site can get a free Uber or Lyft ride. Call 2-1-1 or (866) 211-9966 to receive a voucher to cover the cost of an Uber ride to and from your vaccination appointments. IU Health offers free Lyft rides to any vaccine site in the state. Call 1.888.IUHEALTH (888-484-3258) and choose option 9 if you need transportation to your vaccine appointment.

The mayor of Orlando is asking residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars for at least a week. Mayor Buddy Dyer said Friday that water usage needed to be cut back because of the recent surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. 

The Orlando Utility Commission treats the city’s water with liquid oxygen and supplies that ordinarily go toward water treatment have been diverted to hospitals for patients suffering from the virus. 

The city-owned utility typically goes through 10 trucks of liquid oxygen a week but its supplier recently said that could be cut back to five to seven trucks a week to accommodate hospitals.