Health

(NEW YORK) — Jey Austen, a brand designer at a fintech company, lost their job about two weeks ago. But the layoff didn’t come as a surprise, said Austen, 27, who is trans and uses they/them pronouns.

A market downturn in recent months has hammered the tech industry, eliciting a wave of layoffs. Austen, whose lease on an apartment in Austin, Texas ends in August, will receive three weeks of severance pay but otherwise lacks savings, they said.

“Worst comes to worst, I’ll sleep in my car,” said Austen, who was making $80,000 a year. “It’s a sucky situation all around.”

Compounding the stress, Austen will likely struggle to afford their usual weekly therapy appointments, they said. To save money, they’re considering a reduction to bi-weekly or monthly appointments. “Therapy was already expensive,” Austen said.

Austen is hardly alone. So far this year, more than 21,000 tech workers have been laid off, according to Crunchbase. While notable, the layoffs make up a small fraction of the 8.9 million tech employees nationwide, according to an employment tally from the industry trade group CompTIA.

Across the economy, acute financial distress could grow as the Federal Reserve pursues a series of rate hikes that aim to dial back sky-high inflation but risk tipping the economy into a recession, experts told ABC News earlier this month.

Nearly 70% of economists believe that a recession will begin at some point next year, according to a survey of 49 macroeconomists conducted by the Financial Times and Chicago University’s Booth School of Business this month.

Research has linked economic recessions — a shrinking of economic output that lasts at least several months — with a rise in mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and even suicide, experts told ABC News. In hard economic times, the prevalence of potentially catastrophic financial events — such as job loss or foreclosure — exacerbates preexisting mental health challenges and gives rise to new ones, worsening such challenges further if a financial downturn persists over many months or years.

Moreover, since the U.S. healthcare system largely ties insurance to employment, the loss of a job often compromises access to mental health support when a person needs it most, the experts said. The prospect of heightened mental health issues — combined with inadequate support — poses added concern in light of the pandemic, which has already taken a toll on the psyches of many people, the experts added.

“After COVID, there was an unprecedented rise in mental health issues,” Ronald Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News. “This coming in the wake of that is a real double whammy.”

Typically, the economy loses millions of jobs in a recession. During the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, nonfarm employment dropped by 6.8 million jobs while the unemployment rate rose from 4.8% to 9.6%, according to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis.

A robust, decades-long body of research links economic downturns with a rise in mental health issues, establishing the role played by a spike in major hardships tied to employment, housing, and other financial supports, experts told ABC News.

A 2019 study published in the Association for Psychological Science — which examined individuals affected by the Great Recession — found an increase in depression, anxiety, and problematic drug use among those who underwent even a single major hardship, such as job loss or foreclosure, let alone multiple incidents.

The loss of a job during the Great Recession increased the risk of a mood disorder in the U.S. by 22%, according to a study released last year by researchers at the University of Alberta that examined the available literature on the subject. The researchers also found found 1.2 to 5.8 times higher odds of a major depressive episode associated with the experience of home foreclosure during the Great Recession.

“Pre-existing mental health issues get worse, and mental health issues newly arise for some undergoing economic hardship,” Ralph Catalano, a professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. “How would you feel if you lost your job?”

Chris Ruhm, a economics and public policy professor at the University of Virginia who specializes in the health effects of economic downturns, put it bluntly: “When the economy gets worse, mental health gets worse,” he said

One alarming finding shows a correlation between recessions and increased rates of suicide, Ruhm said. Between 2008 and 2010, the first three years following the financial crisis, the suicide rate rose at a pace more than four times higher than it had over the eight years prior to the crisis, according to a 2012 study in The Lancet. “We’ve known for many years that the suicide rate goes up reliably with the unemployment rate,” Ruhm said.

The adverse mental health effects of an economic downturn fall disproportionately on low-income people and minorities, since they’re less likely to have built up savings or alternative sources of wealth that could soften the blow, experts said.

“People of lower socioeconomic status are always more adversely affected by things like this,” Catalano said. “They have a more difficult time when recessions come.”

The scale of such mental health effects depends on the severity and duration of a recession, experts said. A long recession can prolong the time that individuals spend out of work, deepening mental health struggles as a person grapples with financial stress and possible feelings of self-blame, experts said. “When there’s a more severe recession, the effects are going to be more severe,” said Ruhm, the economics professor at the University of Virginia.

To be sure, the U.S. economy could avoid a recession altogether. If a recession does occur, it could prove short and mild, some economists predict. A mild downturn would blunt many of the worst mental health effects, in part because people are better equipped to withstand a brief financial challenge with savings or government support, experts said.

“With economic downturns that are short, it’s not an enormous effect,” said Kessler, the professor at Harvard Medical School. “A lot of resources are there to buffer for those types of things.”

Still, a potential recession brings stress, in part because the extent of financial difficulty remains uncertain, even for those in the middle and upper-middle class, Ruhm said. “In general, people live with a degree of anxiety and uncertainty,” he said.

A New York City-based employee at the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase — who was laid off this month and requested anonymity due to the terms of a severance agreement — said the prospect of a recession worries her because it could dry up job prospects after the severance pay runs out.

“What if a recession happens and I don’t get something?” she said. “How will I pay the rent?”

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is planning to send out hundreds of thousands of monkeypox vaccines in response to the outbreak of the rare disease that has been identified in multiple non-endemic countries.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday on a call with reporters that it will be sending out 296,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine for prevention of the disease for people who have been exposed.

Of that number, 56,000 doses will become available immediately and an additional 240,000 doses will become available in a few weeks. Officials said they expect 750,000 more doses to become available over the summer, and an additional 500,000 doses throughout the fall.

This allows for a total of “1.6 million doses we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Dr. David Boucher, director of infectious disease preparedness and response at HHS, told reporters during the call.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding its recommendation of who gets the monkeypox vaccine due to the difficulty identifying all contacts in the current outbreak.

Previously, the federal health agency only recommended vaccination for people who had been identified as being exposed through contact tracing.

But the CDC said it is now recommending the vaccine for those with confirmed and suspected exposures, including those who have had close physical contact with a person who was diagnosed, contact with a known sexual partner who was diagnosed, and men who have sex with men who were in an area with known monkeypox exposure.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on the call that, as of Tuesday evening, 4,700 monkeypox cases have been detected globally in 49 countries.

In the U.S. alone, 306 cases have been identified across 28 jurisdictions with no deaths.

Many cases have been reported among men who identify as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, but there is currently no evidence monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection — and the experts emphasize that anyone can be infected.

Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said the majority of U.S. cases in this outbreak have occurred through intimate close contact as exposure to transmission via droplets.

However, officials advised Americans not to panic and that there are plenty of tests, vaccines and treatments for those who have been exposed to monkeypox.

“We want to remind folks this is not a novel virus,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said. “Unlike COVID, monkeypox is a virus that has been around forever. We have known about it for 60-some-odd years and we have spent years treating it in endemic nations.”

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(NEW YORK) — Two of the country’s largest pharmacy chains, CVS and Rite Aid, confirmed to ABC News this week that they had restricted the amount of Plan B or morning-after pills a customer could buy, following a spike in demand for emergency contraceptive drugs in recent days.

In the case of CVS, the restrictions have since been dropped, according to company officials.

The rise in demand for Plan B pills came after the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which previously set a 49-year precedent for legal abortion in the U.S., at the federal level.

Following the ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested other past court decisions, including the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision — which ensured the right of married couples to buy and use contraception, and the right to marital privacy — should be reconsidered as well.

A CVS spokesperson told ABC News that while CVS pharmacies had temporarily limited Plan B purchases to three at a time, given high demand, the company had since eased those restrictions as sales leveled off.

“Immediately following the Supreme Court decision, we saw a sharp increase in the sale of emergency contraceptives and implemented a temporary purchase limit to ensure equitable access,” the spokesperson said. “Sales have since stabilized and we’re in the process of removing the purchase limits, which will take effect in-store and on CVS.com over the next 24 hours. We continue to have ample supply of emergency contraceptives to meet customer needs.”

Rite Aid, as of Tuesday afternoon, was still restricting purchases of the morning after pill due to high demand.

A spokesperson told ABC News in a statement, that “due to increased demand, at this time we are limiting purchases of Plan B contraceptive pills to three per customer.”

Walmart officials, meanwhile, have not said whether they will specifically place buying limits for morning-after pills. A company spokesperson told ABC News that “many of [Walmart’s] products have online purchase limits in place,” but did not specify what kind of limits, if any, would be applied to purchases of Plan B or morning-after pills.

“During times of fluctuating demand, these limits may change,” they said.

Plan B or morning-after pills, which stop pregnancy before it happens, are different than abortion-inducing pills. Morning-after pills are instead a type of emergency contraception that can be taken orally up to five days after intercourse — though it is recommended that they be taken within 72 hours, to be more effective — to prevent an egg from being fertilized or delay ovulation, thus preventing unintended or undesired pregnancy.

Morning-after pills can be used when a birth control method fails, or if no birth control was used, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Levonorgestrel, the generic name of the drug used in Plan B, is sold over-the-counter under various brand names, including Plan B One-Step, AfterPill, Aftera, EContra One-Step, My Choice, My Way, Next Choice, Option 2, Preventeza, and Take Action.

Another type of morning-after pill, ulipristal acetate, is sold under the brand name Ella and usually requires a prescription.

This article has been updated to include comments from a Walmart spokesperson, and to add new information from a CVS spokesperson on the company’s move to halt temporary purchasing limits on morning-after pills.

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(WASHINGTON) — As advisors to the FDA consider what type of COVID-19 shots should be offered in the fall, new federal data reveals a significant proportion of Americans have yet to receive their first and second boosters.

In May, federal officials authorized the use of COVID-19 boosters for children ages 5 to 11 years-old. However, now, nearly six weeks later, fewer than 10% of those eligible — representing just 1.7% of the age group — have been boosted, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Booster uptake among other young populations also continues to lag, with just 28.7% of eligible adolescents ages 12-17 boosted — representing 16% of the age group — and less than 40% of eligible 18- to 49-year-olds — representing 26.5% of the age group — boosted.

“Despite strong evidence for the value of a booster in providing more complete protection, we are seeing massive confusion on the need for third and fourth shots. The slow uptake has created public health vulnerability as we face a surge from the BA4 and BA5 variants and likely a new variant this coming Fall,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

Older Americans — people over 50 — have proven to be more likely to receive their first COVID-19 booster. Over 55% of the eligible 50- to 64-year-old age group, and 72% of eligible people 65 and older have received their first boost.

However, despite repeated encouragements from federal officials for the immunocompromised, as well as those over 50, to receive their second booster shot, uptake for the supplemental doses has been noticeably slower.

Since the rollout, earlier this spring, fewer than a fifth of eligible people ages 50 to 64 have received their second boost — only about 8% of the age group. Uptake is a bit higher among the elderly, with 35% of those eligible — representing just 20% of the age group.

In May, the CDC announced that it is “strengthening” its recommendation for Americans over the age of 12 who are immunocompromised and those over the age of 50 receive their second booster shot.

“While older Americans have the highest coverage of any age group of first booster doses, most older Americans received their last dose (either their primary series or their first booster dose) many months ago, leaving many who are vulnerable without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” the CDC wrote in a press release last month.

Health experts suggest that some booster uptake may increase in the fall, should a new generation of vaccines be made available.

“Muddled booster messaging has placed many Americans into a wait and see category, given the prospects for a more well-matched vaccine. While the current booster campaign has likely stalled out, it doesn’t mean we won’t see higher uptake when a vaccine that targets Omicron variants becomes available,” Brownstein said.

During a presentation to the FDA’s independent advisory committee, Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), scientists outlined data showing that vaccine effectiveness with the current COVID-19 shots continues to wane with the latest variants.

However, a third COVID-19 dose was not only found to provide “significant” additional protection against infection and severe disease, but effectiveness also appeared to wane more slowly.

Although officials said it is still too early to draw conclusions about the protection provided by a second booster, the additional shot has been found to provide “substantial” additional protection among the immunocompromised.

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(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday unveiled what was called an “action plan” on abortion access as advocates call on President Joe Biden and his administration to do more in the wake of the Supreme Court stripping the constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

Becerra said there’s no “magic bullet” that could restore Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, but said the administration was working with its top legal advisers to explore every option.

“Stay tuned,” he told reporters.

Becerra’s comments are likely to be a steep disappointment for progressives after he promised to take action in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. In his remarks, Becerra only noted that federal law allows for abortions through its Medicaid program in cases of rape and incest — a standard at odds with states like Arkansas.

“Friday’s Supreme Court decision was despicable. But it was not unpredictable. HHS has been preparing for this for some time,” he began, before laying out largely existing policy protecting the right to abortion.

When pressed by ABC Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce on why he didn’t have more concrete proposals if the ruling was predictable, Becerra noted that he wanted to ensure the administration was on firm legal ground.

“We’re not interested in going rogue and doing things just because we want to make sure what we tell Americans is accurate — because we hear, we know, a lot Americans are hearing a lot of inaccurate information,” Becerra replied. “And so to every American who’s impacted: My apologies that, I as I said, we can’t tell you there’s a silver bullet. But what I am saying to you is that the more we dig, we will do everything we can with what we find to make sure we’re protecting women’s reproductive health care services. It takes a little time because we want to do it right, and we want to do it according to the law.”

Among actions he ticked off, Becerra said he was directing his Office of Civil Rights to ensure patient privacy of anyone seeking reproductive care, working to ensure the clinical judgment of doctors is supported in treating patients at risk because of pregnancy and working to expand access to family planning and contraceptives.

He also said HHS will first take steps to increase access to medication abortion — but he said later to “stay tuned” on what exactly those steps would be.

“How we respond will speak to how we view the rights, the dignity and the well-being of women everywhere,” he said, before taking questions from reporters. “At HHS, we will leave no stone unturned.”

Abortion rights groups have also pitched a variety of options for the federal government to take.

One option presented was to declare a public health emergency to free up federal funds, possibly to use for transportation, an idea supported by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But this approach would likely be challenged in court as a violation of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funds to cover almost all abortions. Becerra did not call for one Tuesday.

While some Democrats have urged the administration to look into whether reproductive health services could be provided on federal lands or on federal property, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shot down the idea Tuesday, saying anyone who is not a federal employee who utilized such facilities could be subject to prosecution under some state laws.

“We understand the proposal as well the intention but here’s the thing, it could actually put women and providers at risk,” she said.

Another idea is to loosen restrictions on the abortion pill so that it can be picked up at pharmacies. Currently, only registered clinicians can prescribe it and mail it. Pharmacies are not part of that network, which would require FDA regulatory action.

“Federal law requires our programs to provide medication abortion in certain circumstances, such as the life of the woman rate, or instance,” Becerra said Tuesday. “Now more than ever, it is imperative that all federally supported programs and services are complying with the law.”

While telehealth medicine is allowable under federal rules, it’s not a loophole to circumvent state restrictions — which Becerra acknowledged.

Asked about possible ways to help with transportation for women who may need to travel to another state to get an abortion, as Becerra hinted the administration was looking into on Monday, he said, “Once we tell you exactly what we believe we are able to do, have the money to do, we will let you know, but until then, what I can simply say to you is every option is on the table.”

Right now, the only legal option a person has in a restricted state for abortion services would be to travel to a state where it is allowed.

“It takes a little time because we want to do it right, and we want to do it according to the law,” a careful Becerra said.

Otherwise, the person can go online and engage providers who are outside the scope of the U.S. regulatory system, such as the international organization Aid Access, which says it will prescribe the pill to women in the U.S. for 95 euros regardless of where they live. The FDA does not recommend this, although advocates say the group is using a reputable pharmacy in India.

“We’re going to stay within the confines of the law,” Becerra stressed, “even though it’s a lot I personally believe jeopardizes the health of women.”

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(NEW YORK) — A new study finds that as the coronavirus continues to evolve, each new omicron subvariant is increasingly likely to lead to reinfection or breakthrough infection. However, researchers say current vaccines are still doing a good job of protecting people against severe illness.

Meanwhile, vaccine makers are working on new and improved boosters that will hopefully be a better match against omicron and its subvariants. Food and Drug Administration advisers are slated to meet on June 28 to discuss the new booster shots.

The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, echoes prior studies, and the finding is consistent with what we’re seeing in the real world. Working in a laboratory, researchers measured neutralizing antibody response against the original Wuhan variant, compared to the new omicron variant and many of its sub variants.

Antibody levels are one measure of immune response, and often used as a rough indication of a variant’s ability cause reinfection or breakthrough infection. Other parts of your immune system, like T-cells, are harder to measure but are a much better indicator of how well protected you are against severe disease.

Researchers found neutralizing antibody levels were six-fold lower against the original omicron variant, fourteen-fold lower against BA.2.12.1, and twenty-fold lower against BA.4/BA.5.

The BA.2.12.1 sub variant is currently dominant in the U.S., but the BA.4/BA.5 sub variants have been growing proportionally and now account for more than a third of estimated cases.

“It’s essentially an arms race,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, author on the recent study and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “As the population becomes more immune, the virus becomes more and more immune evasive.”

The good news, said Barouch, is current vaccines are still working to dramatically reduce the risk of severe disease. “That’s the most important goal of vaccination.”

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(WASHINGTON) — After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, women in states that now outlaw abortion have scrambled to cobble together piecemeal solutions, including traveling across state lines, an expert told ABC News.

However, for many that won’t be an option, according to Deon Haywood, executive director of New Orleans women’s health organization Women with a Vision.

“If you have a job where you’re being paid hourly and being paid minimum wage, how easy would it be for you to be able to leave your job or existing kids to leave to drive somewhere, to be driven somewhere … to have an abortion and then come back?” Haywood told ABC News.

“It wouldn’t work for them,” she added. “It just wouldn’t work. It’s not practical for their lives, the lives that they are living.”

Forty-nine percent of abortion patients have an income below the poverty line, according to the Guttmacher Institute. And in Louisiana, where Haywood lives, the maternal mortality rate is one of the worst in the nation, especially among Black women. The state has since shuttered its abortion clinics, though a Louisiana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the state’s “trigger” abortion ban Monday.

“For the Black women I work with who already fear entering the health care system, this just exacerbates that even more,” Haywood said. “The idea that somebody in the state that doesn’t care what we say about Louisiana, in the state that doesn’t care about people, that people will have to carry a child to term when they’re already living in substandard housing, when their children are not getting the best education, when they can barely see their families.”

And for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, many of whom also struggle with homelessness, accessing safe abortions in a different state is completely out of the question, according to Haywood.

“If one of our clients were to have an unintended pregnancy, then if they’re on probation and parole or house arrest, they’re not going anywhere,” she said.

Haywood said the lack of information and transparency about safe abortion options, especially in Louisiana, which has one of the country’s lowest literacy rates, may also drive women to seek recourse in dangerous home remedies.

“If you get pregnant, we know that people when they’re reacting out of fear we don’t always make the best decision for ourselves, and so we’re unsure what to do,” she said.

“One person wanted to know, ‘How much bleach should I mix with my cold drink or juice to end my pregnancy?'” she added. “We’re saying, ‘Absolutely don’t take bleach, don’t mix any household cleaner or chemicals and ingest them because of the danger of poisoning or death.'”

Haywood’s organization, Women with a Vision, is doubling down on its efforts to equip women of color in New Orleans with reproductive health information and connecting them with safe resources.

“Black women have intersectional lives,” she said. “It’s a particular way that people of color and Black people fight because we don’t have the privilege to sit on one thing.”

“I can’t just talk about abortion and not talk about health care. I can’t talk about health care if I’m not talking about access to housing as a basic, fundamental human right,” she added.

ABC News’ Annie Ochitwa contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The reversal of Roe v. Wade could lead to a dramatic increase of babies born in the United States, including thousands of high-risk births, a new report finds.

The data, from health care industry consulting firm Sg2, estimates there will be an additional 150,500 to 159,700 live births each year in the U.S. The projections have not yet been peer-reviewed.

Birth rates in the country have been declining ever since the Great Recession of 2008-09 and were only worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers found limiting access to abortion in several states will boost birth rates beginning in the second half of this year.

For the report, Sg2 looked at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2019 abortion surveillance report as well as data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health.

About 808,000 to 862,000 abortions were estimated to have occurred in 2019 with 60% of those being in so-called “protected” states, where abortion access is in little danger of being restricted. The group then analyzed how many of the abortions in “restricted” states would not have been performed if the Supreme Court ruling had occurred then.

In addition to the overall increase in births, the report projected there will be a larger number of births requiring a higher level of care, between 18,400 and 19,600 per year.

Of those, 17,300 to 18,400 are expected to be babies born prematurely, including about 5,400 born early preterm, which is before 34 weeks gestation.

Premature babies are at a greater risk for problems with feeding, breathing, vision and hearing, as well as behavioral issues.

The higher level of care group also includes 1,500 to 1,600 infants born with congenital anomalies such as Down syndrome or heart defects.

Additionally, the report estimated there will be an increase in both maternal and neonatal mortality rates, especially among groups with traditionally less access to prenatal care, such as Black women.

The team suggests that in states where abortion is restricted, physicians at hospitals, clinics and other services should prepare for the increase in births as well as the increase in more babies requiring a higher level of care.

“There is no question that this ruling significantly alters the landscape for reproductive services nationwide,” the report read. “The state-level disparities that already exist in women’s health outcomes will deepen

ABC News’ Andrew Fies contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Still concerned about COVID-19 transmission in automobiles? One carmaker may have a novel approach to keeping passengers safe.

British luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover claims the Cabin Air Purification Pro filtration in its new Range Rover SUV can “significantly reduce odors, bacteria, viruses and allergens including SARS-CoV-2 virus” thanks to nanoe X, an electrostatic technology developed by Panasonic.

When the SUV’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning [HVAC] filtration system is turned on, trillions of ionized water particles are released into the cabin through the front and rear air vents, according to JLR. These particles “denature,” or essentially kill the virus on contact, the automaker says.

“We want people to know the capability of the vehicle,” Nick Miller, program chief of the new Range Rover, told ABC News. “This is the first Range Rover to have the next generation system.”

Health officials and practitioners have long underscored the importance of proper air filtration and ventilation for lowering transmission of the novel coronavirus. The Environmental Protection Agency states on its website that air cleaners and HVAC filters can help reduce airborne contaminants, including viruses, in a building or small space when used properly, but they are not sufficient on their own.

“By itself, air cleaning or filtration is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. When used along with other best practices recommended by CDC and other public health agencies, including social distancing and mask wearing, filtration can be part of a plan to reduce the potential for airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors,” according to the EPA.

Panasonic says its nanoe X technology “inhibits bacteria and viruses, moulds, allergens, pollens and hazardous substances … and helps clean the air that we breathe.” The technology can be found in homes, offices, hotels, schools and spas and has been tested globally in laboratories and institutions. Experts interviewed by ABC News said the technology could help in vehicles but were skeptical of its overall impact compared to mask-wearing.

JLR partnered with Perfectus Biomed Ltd, a microbiology and virology lab, to test the company’s prototype system. A sealed chamber simulated “a vehicle ventilation system in recirculation mode over a 30-minute cycle,” JLR said. The result? The system inhibited the virus’s spread by as much as 97%, the automaker said.

The Range Rover filtration system, which also includes a PM2.5 filter (blocking particles down to 2.5 microns in size), discharges 10 times the amount of ionized particles than the previous system, Miller noted. Moreover, the nanoe X technology was also tested on the virus in a closed lab environment by Texcell, a research organization that specializes in viral testing and immunoprofiling, which claimed “over 99.99% of novel coronavirus activity was inhibited within 2 hours.”

Since the technology collects invisible moisture in the air, the Range Rover’s filtration system does not need servicing or updating, Miller said. And there are limitations, he acknowledged.

“We’re absolutely not claiming we’re a medical device,” Miller said. “No way are we claiming that you will not get COVID in the car. But it decreases the likelihood.”

John Brownstein, Ph.D., an ABC News medical contributor, epidemiologist and chief innovation officer of Boston Children’s Hospital, said the risk of COVID transmission in an automobile is small but “turning on these air filtration systems can create an additional level of protection.”

“You can’t social distance in a car,” he pointed out. “These systems could be a useful tool. But if you’re really concerned [about COVID], wear a mask with other passengers.”

He added, “The new trend in public health is air quality. But there’s a gimmicky part too.”

Dr. Rajat Mittal, a professor of mechanical engineering and medicine at Johns Hopkins University, said he doubted the claims made by Panasonic and Jaguar Land Rover. In the Texcell test, conducted in a 45-liter chamber, a piece of gauze saturated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus solution was placed in a petri dish and exposed to the nanoe X technology for two hours.

“The inside volume of a car is 3,000 to 5,000 liters — 100 times bigger than this chamber in the lab,” Mittal told ABC News. “In the test, the virus couldn’t move and was locked in place on a piece of gauze. In a real situation, an infected person will circulate and spread the virus in the air via little droplets.”

He added, “I really think more is needed to convince someone like me with a scientific background that it is a valid claim.”

Advanced, powerful infiltration systems in automobiles are starting to become more common. In 2015, Tesla was the first to install HEPA-rated filters in its electric vehicles. The carmaker claims passengers can “literally survive a military grade bio attack” when the Bioweapon Defense Mode is running.

The large HEPA filter in the new Mercedes EQS all-electric sedan eliminates 99.6% of pollutants — fine dust, microparticles, pollen and other substances — from the cabin, according to Mercedes. Moreover, the sedan’s Energizing Air Control Plus system cuts odors such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

Volvo, Ford and Lincoln are also rolling out premium air filtration systems. Volvo’s Advanced Air Cleaner technology comes with a sensor that measures PM2.5 levels inside the cabin. Lincoln says its Auto Air Refresh, available in the Aviator SUV, is a “holistic air filtration and active air monitoring system” that helps “clean the cabin air by filtering out particles caused by atmospheric dust, tobacco smoke, smog and some allergens, including pollen.”

Ford’s all-new standard certified cabin air filters, called Ford Refresh95, will be available in a majority of its vehicle lineup by the end of 2023.

James Dickerson, chief scientific officer at Consumer Reports, said more high-tech filtration systems, like the one in the Range Rover, may be coming to the market if automakers see high demand from consumers.

“Introducing an ionization system that’s effective and can fit inside the tight confines of an automobile … this is novel technology” for the industry, Dickerson told ABC News. “We very much support manufacturers that are looking for ways to make their vehicles more pleasant and more attune to the needs of consumers particularly as it relates to air quality.”

Mittal of Johns Hopkins said vehicle air filtration systems are only effective with a HEPA filter and a fast replacement rate of air inside the cabin.

“A HEPA filter will definitely catch viruses and the AC needs to be on with air recirculated quickly,” he said.

There are downsides, however: Some filters would have to be maintained and replaced and any benefits may not outweigh the costs, he argued.

“I wouldn’t pay even $100 to put one in my car — they’re not worth the money,” he said. “Wear a mask and open the windows. That’s the best thing you can do to reduce transmission.”

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(NEW YORK) — Every year, approximately 38 children die from being left in a hot car, according to Kids and Cars Safety, a national nonprofit that tracks hot car deaths and aims to prevent vehicle-related risks to children and pets.

As the U.S. heads into more heat waves this summer and temperatures in the Midwest, South and West soar into the triple digits, there is a concern for parents about hot car deaths. One parent, Peter Hansen, opened up about the issue on social media.

“I have severe anxiety about leaving our kids in a hot car on accident,” Hansen, a father of three in Chicago, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “It’s 100 degrees in Chicago today and the heat is intense across the country. Working from home has me multitasking more than usual, which can distract me from the kids some days, especially if driving on a work call. This is simply a post to make sure your kids are not left in your car in this heat.”

The 40-year-old told Good Morning America a recent episode with two of his three kids one morning gave him a scare and prompted him to reflect on the dangers of hot cars and how easily things can go wrong.

“We got doughnuts and came back in the house,” Hansen recalled. “It’s still 7 in the morning – it wasn’t 100 degrees yet – but five minutes later, I was in the house and my four-year-old walked through the door five minutes later, she’s like, ‘Daddy, you forgot me.’ And it was like, I swear I saw her get out of the car … but I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It really terrified me that I thought both of them got out of the car together like they normally do.”

Data from Kids and Cars Safety indicates over 1,000 children, with 87% of them age 3 and under, have died from heatstroke after being in a hot car since 1990 and so far, six hot car deaths have occurred this year, including one in Houston where a 5-year-old boy was reportedly in a car for several hours on a day when the Texas city reached 102 degrees.

Amber Rollins, a director at Kids and Cars Safety, said the issue is often misunderstood and even dismissed by many parents and caregivers.

“I think the No. 1 misconception is that this will never happen to me and that it only happens to bad parents and nothing could be further from the truth,” Rollins told GMA. “I’ve worked with families that this has happened to for 16 years and they are engineers, school teachers, principals, nurses, doctors, you name it. It’s the type of people that I aspire to be as a parent, the kind that read every safety book about the most expensive car seat and strapped him in so tight and covered every outlet. That’s the kind of person this is happening to.”

According to Rollins, hot car deaths have also been trending upwards for the last three decades, with an exception during the last two years of the pandemic when more families stayed at home.

“In the ’90s, we realized children were being killed by overpowered airbags and children are still safer riding in the back seat. We moved them to the back seat because that’s where they’re the safest. However, now they’re out of sight of the driver,” Rollins explained. “So they’re in the back seat, they’re rear-facing now until age 3 or even longer, depending on the size of the child. And that car seat looks the same for the driver whether there’s a baby in there or not.”

“This is not like parents didn’t just all of a sudden overnight become neglectful and irresponsible,” she added. “This is an unintended consequence of moving them to the back seat.”

How to prevent hot car deaths

Multiple solutions have been proposed to avert a hot car death before they occur. Among the high-tech options include carbon dioxide detection, lidar or light detection and ranging technology, car alarm systems, car camera systems and car seats with weight sensors, each with its own pros and cons.

A new idea, called “Cabin Awareness,” from Toyota would use radar technology, powered in part by a car’s battery, to notify drivers who have left a Toyota vehicle that a child or a pet remained inside the car.

Brian Kursar, chief technology officer for Toyota Connected North America and Toyota Motor North America, has led the “Cabin Awareness” project since its inception in 2018 and said the project is moving now toward a testing phase with May Mobility, a Michigan-based company that develops autonomous technology, including vehicles.

“The ‘Cabin Awareness’ concept uses millimeter-wave radar to detect micro-movements and so micro-movements really are the things that a camera can’t see. So it’s also able to understand breathing, heartbeat, and ultimately provides us a solution to something that we’ve not been able to really touch, which is the ability to understand life in a vehicle,” Kursar explained to GMA, adding that radar could “see through things like cloth” and go beyond a camera’s line of sight.

Toyota’s “Cabin Awareness” could link up to a driver’s cell phone, a smart device — such as smart lights, a smart speaker, or smart TV — inside their home, or possibly other Toyota vehicles in an environment such as a parking lot and ultimately, contact emergency services when other alerts go unanswered.

“Based on our algorithms, we’re able to understand where in the vehicle that movement is coming from. And then we’re able to now take a number of options to escalate, to let the customer know that there is life potentially at risk in a vehicle,” Kursar said.

“We see this as an opportunity not just to contact the customer. You can give the system a list of contacts such as grandma, right, such as your neighbor, right, and these are additional folks that can start helping to resolve this problem with the vehicle,” Kursar added. “Maybe we can now do a vehicle-to-vehicle ping to say, if you’re within proximity of a child or an adult at risk in a car, now you have this almost community outreach where people in their cars, they turn on their cars, and it says, [someone in] a green Sienna within your proximity, may be at risk for heat exhaustion.”

For now, “Cabin Awareness” is not available in Toyota vehicles just yet and the timeline for a potential rollout will depend on testing results.

In the meantime, Kids and Cars Safety’s Rollins recommends several solutions that parents can keep in mind and adopt this summer.

Adopt the “look before you lock” habit.

“We want to use that habit system to prevent it from happening,” Rollins said. “No matter what, even if the child is not with you, open the back door and check the back seat. Every single time you leave the car.”

“It takes two seconds,” she continued. “And it’s a great way to make sure you’re never forgetting anything, including your children or inanimate objects that aren’t as important but make that a 100% habit.”

In addition to being left in a car, a child or pet can gain access to a car when they’re unlocked, so Rollins also emphasized the importance of utilizing car door locks. “You want to keep your car locked 100% of the time, even if you don’t have children. Little ones can get into neighbors’ cars. It happens all the time. You want to keep keys and remote openers out of reach of children 100% of the time and childproof your home.”

“You want to check the inside trunk and floorboards of all vehicles in the area immediately, even if they’re locked,” Rollins added. “A lot of times, kiddos will get in and they try to get out and they push the lock button. And so people don’t think they’re in there if it’s locked, but they definitely can be.”

Rollins suggests keeping a physical object, like a diaper bag, in the front seat or playing a kid’s song to remember that you’re traveling with your child. “If you’re not a diaper bag person 100% of the time, create a reminder object in your car. So throw a stuffed animal in the car seat. And then anytime you put the child in the car seat, that stuffed animal comes up to the front seat with you as your visual cue that the baby is with you,” Rollins said.
Enlist the help of others.

“If you take your child to daycare or anyone, a family member that watches them, whoever it is, you want to make a policy with them. They would call you immediately if your child didn’t show up as scheduled and I mean immediately,” said Rollins. “That one phone call could have been the difference between life or death for hundreds of children.”
Make kids aware of the hazards of a hot car.

“Talk to your kids about how dangerous it is to get into a car without a grown-up and talk to them about never allowing a grown-up to leave them in the car,” Rollins said.

Use stick-on door alarms.

Inexpensive door alarms can be more accessible for parents than full-fledged home security systems in the short term and peel-and-stick options are sold online and in stores.

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