8 states see a rise in infection rates, 29% of Republicans don't want vaccine - yet: Live COVID-19 updates

New COVID-19 cases are declining across most of the nation, and seven of the eight states where cases are rising have below-average vaccination rates, new data reveals.Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wyoming have seen their seven-day rolling averages for infection rates rise from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 50% say they are waiting to see what happens.Also in the news:►An Iowa man convicted of following a man to a car and assaulting him after being told to raise the mask on his face in November was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.►Sen. Ron Johnson was slapped with a one-week suspension Friday from uploading videos to YouTube after the company said he violated the website's COVID-19 "medical misinformation policies."►The Food and Drug Administration decided at least 60 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine must be discarded because of manufacturing problems, an individual familiar with the situation told The Washington Post.►British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday joined calls for further investigation into claims that COVID-19 originally leaked from a Chinese lab but said at the moment he doesn’t believe that's what sparked the global pandemic.📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 33.4 million confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 599,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. One report found that the number of 4-year-olds participating in preschool fell from 71% before the pandemic to 54% during the pandemic, and low-income children were much less likely to attend in-person classes.“The job of the kindergarten teacher just got a lot harder,” said Steven Barnett, a co-author of the report and senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.A judge in Houston has dismissed a lawsuit by hospital employees suspended and facing termination after declining a COVID-19 shot — a decision that could have a ripple effect across the nation.