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(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 612,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.1 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:

Jul 30, 1:00 pm
Delta variant leaves vaccinated, unvaccinated with similarly high viral loads: CDC

Data shows that the delta variant leaves vaccinated and unvaccinated people with similarly high viral loads, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement Friday.

“High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus,” Walensky said.

“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation” this week, Walensky said.

-ABC News’ Sony Salzman

Jul 30, 10:45 am
6 passengers test positive on cruise ship

Six passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas ship have tested positive for COVID-19 during routine testing, the cruise line said Friday.

Four of the passengers — who were not traveling together — are vaccinated. The other two are unvaccinated minors who were traveling together, the cruise line said.

One person has mild symptoms. The other five have no symptoms, the cruise line said.

“The guests were immediately quarantined, and their immediate travel party and all close contacts were traced and all tested negative,” Royal Caribbean said. “Each guest and their immediate travel parties disembarked in Freeport, The Bahamas, and separately traveled home via private transportation.”

This cruise started in the Bahamas on July 25. Everyone over 16 must be fully vaccinated and test negative before boarding, the cruise line said.

-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney

Jul 30, 10:30 am
Broadway audiences must be vaccinated

As Broadway gears up for its return in September, the Broadway League announced Friday that everyone attending a show must be vaccinated and wear a mask.

Guests will need to show proof of vaccination when they enter the theater.

This rule applies through October 2021 and may change in November.

All performers, staff and backstage crew also must be vaccinated.

Jul 30, 5:29 am
New Yorkers getting 1st dose to receive $100 incentive

Starting Friday, New Yorkers who receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at any city-run site will get a $100 incentive.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement during a press briefing Wednesday.

“We will say thank you. We’ll say we’re really glad that you got vaccinated for yourself, for your family, for your community,” de Blasio said. “And here’s $100 to thank you for doing the right thing and to encourage people.”

The mayor said that New Yorkers getting vaccinated will not only get the cash, they’ll also be able to do “everything else that’s wonderful in this city, including the amazing concerts coming up. You can’t go to those concerts unless you’re vaccinated.”

Jul 30, 4:53 am
Japan to extend coronavirus state of emergency covering 3 of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures

Japan’s government will put in place a coronavirus state of emergency covering three of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures and Osaka on Monday, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Tokyo and Okinawa’s declarations will remain in place.

The news comes as case numbers in Japan continue to rise amid the Olympics.

As of Friday, there are 3,300 new positive cases in Tokyo, according to the Tokyo government’s COVID-19 information website. Of those 3,300 cases, 88 are severe and two have turned fatal.

Jul 30, 4:22 am
New CDC brief says vaccines may be less effective against delta variant

An internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brief published by the Washington Post Thursday reveals more details about why the delta variant is different to and more concerning than other strains of the coronavirus.

The CDC said the main differences between the delta variant and previous strains is that delta is highly contagious and likely more severe. Plus, breakthrough infections caused by delta may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases.

“This is an incredibly, incredibly contagious version of virus, it’s almost like a whole different virus,” Dr. Ashish Jha said. “And CDC is estimating that it is probably also more deadly.”

Vaccines prevent more than 90% of severe diseases, but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission of the delta variant, the CDC said. Therefore, there could be more breakthrough infections and more community spread despite people’s vaccination status.

“Current vaccines continue to provide strong protection against severe illness and death, but the delta variant is likely responsible for increased numbers of breakthrough infections — breakthroughs that could be as infectious as unvaccinated cases,” Dr. John Brownstein, an ABC News contributor, said. “This internal document highlights the challenge we all now face in combating the most transmissible variant of COVID so far.”

Jul 30, 3:38 am
Number of positive cases at Tokyo Olympics reaches 225

There are now 225 positive COVID-19 cases at the Tokyo Olympics, according to a tally kept by Olympics organizers.

That is an increase of 27 cases since Thursday.

Of those cases, three of them are athletes. Two were in the Olympic Village at the time of their positive case, and one was not.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Adding more insight into the CDC’s updated mask guidance, newly published details of the Provincetown outbreak raise concern that the now-dominant delta variant may be able to spread among fully vaccinated people.

Following multiple large gatherings in Provincetown, Mass., from July 3-17, investigators identified 469 COVID-19 cases, two-thirds of which were in fully vaccinated people. The delta variant was responsible for 90% of those cases. The breakthrough infections were among people vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. None of the vaccinated people died, but most had some symptoms.

During the outbreak investigation, researchers learned that the amount of virus in the noses of vaccinated people experiencing a breakthrough infection was the same as in an unvaccinated person — a worrying sign vaccinated people can spread the virus.

“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in a statement.

“This is a very concerning outbreak — pretty much a ‘super spreader event,'” said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, executive associate dean and global health expert at the Emory School of Medicine.

Experts caution that more studies are needed to understand if what happened in Provincetown holds up in subsequent outbreak investigations. The CDC report noted the social gatherings were “densely packed.” And breakthrough infections are still relatively uncommon, with the majority of cases driven by spread among unvaccinated people. Meanwhile, an internal CDC briefing first published by the Washington Post and confirmed by ABC News outlined additional new data suggesting that the delta variant is different from prior variants in other ways. Chiefly, this variant appears to be extraordinarily contagious — possibly more so than Ebola, Spanish flu, chickenpox and the common cold. It’s also possible delta leads to more severe illness, but for now this is only a possibility and not firmly established.

Taken collectively, these new revelations prompted the CDC to update its mask guidance Tuesday to recommend that vaccinated people once again don masks indoors, especially in high-transmission areas. And that includes schools this fall.

“The rules have changed,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “We have a different epidemic now that we did in May.”

Throughout the spring and summer, the CDC based its guidance on scientific studies of prior COVID-19 variants, including the then-dominant alpha variant, which was first identified in the U.K. and swept the United States during the 2020-2021 winter surge.

But the delta variant — which only just surpassed alpha as the dominant variant on July 6 — is different. It hit the U.S. so fast that only in the past few weeks has sufficient data emerged to show scientists just how significant those differences were.

That means that throughout the summer, the nation’s public health guidance may have been based on alpha variant rules while the nation was living in a delta variant world.

It’s a game of catch-up that’s all-too-familiar to doctors and scientists who have dedicated their lives to preventing infectious disease.

“This is what I always say in a pandemic: I wish I knew today what I’m going to learn tomorrow,” Del Rio said.

“When we released our school guidance on July 9, we had less delta variant in the country, we had fewer cases in the country,” said Walensky, speaking at a Tuesday press conference. “And importantly, we were really hopeful that we would have more people vaccinated, especially in the demographic between 12 to 17 years old,” she said.

Now, Del Rio said, new data is telling us “that the virus has changed — it’s a lot more transmissible, and it has been able to adapt.”

Although it now seems that vaccinated people can pass the virus, “the great majority of transmissions is still coming from vaccinated people,” Del Rio said. “That’s why you’re seeing mandates come left and right. People are saying, enough is enough.”

Experts say this is still a pandemic largely of the unvaccinated, with a majority of cases among unvaccinated people, meaning it’s more important than ever for anyone who is not vaccinated to get vaccinated.

Crucially, current vaccines appear to work just as well against delta to dramatically reduce the risk of severe illness and death. But they may not work as well at preventing mild infections.

“Current vaccines continue to provide strong protection against severe illness and death, but the delta variant is likely responsible for increased numbers of breakthrough infections — breakthroughs that could be as infectious as unvaccinated cases,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., the chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

The CDC brief said one of the agency’s biggest challenges moving forward is countering the public perception that vaccines don’t work. But the fact that roughly half the nation is already vaccinated likely saved the United States from an even deadlier summer surge, experts agreed.

“If it were not for the vaccines, there likely would have been a massive overwhelming surge in this county,” Barouch said.

Even still, large portions of the country — including children — remain unvaccinated. And what scientists are learning about the delta variant’s capacity to transmit between vaccinated people might mean we need to mask up again — especially in those high transmission areas.

“We have to get the unvaccinated vaccinated. And in the meantime, masking is useful, but not sufficient so we have to also add testing to the mix of mitigation strategies,” Del Rio said.

For now, the future remains uncertain. Many scientists worry about a winter surge, while others feel encouraged that the delta variant might fade away as suddenly as it arrived.

“There is some evidence — first from India and now from the U.K. — that the delta variant surges and then begins to dissolve,” Barouch said. “We don’t fully understand why the sparks catch fire, and we don’t fully understand why the flames go out.”

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Anne Flaherty, Arielle Mitropoulos and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — It’s a simple device that can save lives and keep people out of emergency rooms.

But masks are once again a flashpoint after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended this week that everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission, regardless of their vaccination status, return to wearing a mask in public, indoor settings and in schools, amid a concerning rise in the delta variant.

Despite a rise in cases and hospitalizations, several states are pushing back against the CDC’s new guidelines — which have changed dramatically over the past few weeks. Some governors have balked at what they’ve criticized as a whiplash reversion to overly draconian measures, vowing no mask mandate would succeed in their state.

The CDC’s reversal comes just two months after it announced it would no longer recommend masking for vaccinated Americans, and just as the nation was breathing a collective sigh of relief at the precipitous fall of cases and hospitalizations due to the rollout of mass vaccinations.

Here are some of the states battling back against the changing guidance, and why.

No ‘one size fits all’

“The time for government mask mandates is over,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted after the CDC’s announcement on Tuesday, adding that “now is the time for personal responsibility.”

Texas’ COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have seen a dramatic rise, with daily case averages roughly doubling in recent weeks. COVID-19 deaths in the state are also ticking up.

On Thursday, Abbott criticized President Joe Biden for the length of time it’s taking the Food and Drug Administration to upgrade the vaccines to a permanent authorization from their current emergency authorization — a concern often cited by those who are hesitant to get the shot.

For states like Texas and Iowa that have either passed laws or issued executive orders banning mask mandates, the latest CDC guidance is “counterproductive to vaccination efforts,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Reynolds called the CDC’s recommendation “not grounded in reality or common sense,” and praised herself for leading one of several states that have passed laws restricting mask mandates

“I’m concerned that this new guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support,” Reynolds tweeted.

In Arizona, another state where mask mandates are banned by law, Gov. Doug Ducey used the CDC’s recommendations to criticize Biden, saying that the new mask guidance is an example of the Biden administration’s “inability to effectively control the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Alabama officials also said they would not be following the CDC’s updated guidance. A spokesperson for Gov. Kay Ivey said the current circumstances do not warrant a “blanket one-size-fits-all” approach.

“The state of emergency has ended, and Alabama is moving forward,” the spokesperson told ABC News.

‘The vaccine works’

Following the CDC’s announcement this week, Biden said the decision was not a relapse but “another step on our journey to defeating the virus.”

“Unlike 2020, we have both the scientific knowledge and the tools to prevent the spread of this disease,” Biden said. “We are not going back to that.”

But some states’ leaders are pointing to the vaccines’ efficacy as a reason not to re-enforce masking.

“The vaccine works,” said Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, where a state law prohibits school administrators from requiring students to wear a mask.

Health officials stress that while the vaccines are indeed safe and effective, many states still have a substantial number of residents who are unvaccinated — and with the exponential spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, a mask is meant to protect both wearer and bystander.

In Maryland, a health department spokesperson told ABC News that the state isn’t affected by the new CDC guidance because it’s not among the areas showing “high or substantial community transmission.” The spokesperson said that Maryland is one of the most vaccinated states in the country, and that “blunts the impact of the delta variant.”

For health experts like University of Washington professor of global health Ali Mokdad, who believes the CDC was late in reversing its guidance, the political debate over masks is “hurting our ability to contain COVID-19.”

“I do not understand how masks and vaccines could be a political statement,” Mokdad said. “Look at the new admissions in Florida for COVID-19 confirmed patients — if this will not make governors pause and take this virus seriously, what will?”

Some states, like California, New Mexico and New Jersey, have welcomed the latest mask guidance.

“It’s clear that the nation is at a critical moment in this COVID crisis,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lauding the CDC for “a hard look at where we are.”

“Illinois will follow this guidance, as we always have,” he said.

Left vs. right

Like other coronavirus issues, the updated mask guidance has divided parts of the country along largely political lines — even within states.

The attorney general of Missouri, where coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rage, has announced that the state government is suing St. Louis city and county for bringing back mask mandates. But that didn’t stop Kansas City, on the other side of the state, from announcing Wednesday that it was also reinstating an indoor mask mandate.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, called the new CDC guidance “disappointing” and “concerning” Wednesday, adding that “it only serves to disrupt” the state’s slow uptick in vaccination.

In Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, on Wednesday issued an executive order requiring masks in public indoor spaces — despite Gov. Brian Kemp’s longstanding opposition to any mask mandate.

“We don’t need mandates,” Kemp, a Republican, told ABC affiliate WSB-TV this week. “We need to continue to share the data and the facts.”

Georgia’s cases and hospitalizations are both at more than 10% and rising.

In Florida, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, told ABC News that imposing mask mandates would discourage people from getting vaccinated.

But Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, is pushing back against the governor’s ban on masks after reporting 11,000 new coronavirus infections in one day.

“When the health care system is overwhelmed, that is extremely dangerous for all of us, so we must do our part to keep people out of the hospital,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. a Democrat, said Wednesday.

Dr. Rich Besser, former acting CDC director and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told ABC News that the pandemic is far from over and that “we do need to do more.”

“We’re in a very fluid situation,” Besser said. “You know, there are many who wanted to declare victory over this pandemic several months ago, but it’s far from over.”

“We will see the end of this pandemic,” said Besser, who supports a “layered approach” out of the crisis. “But until that time, we are all at risk.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 612,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.1 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:

Jul 30, 5:29 am
New Yorkers getting 1st dose to receive $100 incentive

Starting Friday, New Yorkers who receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at any city-run site will get a $100 incentive.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement during a press briefing Wednesday.

“We will say thank you. We’ll say we’re really glad that you got vaccinated for yourself, for your family, for your community,” de Blasio said. “And here’s $100 to thank you for doing the right thing and to encourage people.”

The mayor said that New Yorkers getting vaccinated will not only get the cash, they’ll also be able to do “everything else that’s wonderful in this city, including the amazing concerts coming up. You can’t go to those concerts unless you’re vaccinated.”

Jul 30, 4:53 am
Japan to extend coronavirus state of emergency covering 3 of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures

Japan’s government will put in place a coronavirus state of emergency covering three of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures and Osaka on Monday, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Tokyo and Okinawa’s declarations will remain in place.

The news comes as case numbers in Japan continue to rise amid the Olympics.

As of Friday, there are 3,300 new positive cases in Tokyo, according to the Tokyo government’s COVID-19 information website. Of those 3,300 cases, 88 are severe and two have turned fatal.

Jul 30, 4:22 am
New CDC brief says vaccines may be less effective against delta variant

An internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brief published by the Washington Post Thursday reveals more details about why the delta variant is different to and more concerning than other strains of the coronavirus.

The CDC said the main differences between the delta variant and previous strains is that delta is highly contagious and likely more severe. Plus, breakthrough infections caused by delta may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases.

“This is an incredibly, incredibly contagious version of virus, it’s almost like a whole different virus,” Dr. Ashish Jha said. “And CDC is estimating that it is probably also more deadly.”

Vaccines prevent more than 90% of severe diseases, but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission of the delta variant, the CDC said. Therefore, there could be more breakthrough infections and more community spread despite people’s vaccination status.

“Current vaccines continue to provide strong protection against severe illness and death, but the delta variant is likely responsible for increased numbers of breakthrough infections — breakthroughs that could be as infectious as unvaccinated cases,” Dr. John Brownstein, an ABC News contributor, said. “This internal document highlights the challenge we all now face in combating the most transmissible variant of COVID so far.”

Jul 30, 3:38 am
Number of positive cases at Tokyo Olympics reaches 225

There are now 225 positive COVID-19 cases at the Tokyo Olympics, according to a tally kept by Olympics organizers.

That is an increase of 27 cases since Thursday.

Of those cases, three of them are athletes. Two were in the Olympic Village at the time of their positive case, and one was not.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(EUGENE, Ore) — Drew and Kayla Gottfried were heartbroken after they were told that their wedding video had been erased after they tied the knot in 2007.

In a fortunate twist this past spring, Drew Gottfried received a call from their church saying that an old VHS tape had been found in the basement. Astonishingly, it was their wedding video.

For two months, Gottfried kept the secret until July 27, the couple’s 14th anniversary.

On that night, the couple went out to dinner and a movie at a local theater in downtown Eugene, Oregon, where Gottfried surprised his wife with a private viewing of the recovered video.

Kayla Gottfried’s emotional response was caught on camera and has since been viewed 6.1 million times on TikTok.

“How do you have video of this?” Kayla Gottfried said when she was surprised with the video. She told “World News Tonight” that she was happy to have that memory back.

“Break out those old family videos and relive those special moment with your loved ones often,” she said.

Although he’s also happy to have the video back, Gottfried shared a message that the present is just as important as the past.

“Enjoy your life, the moment you’re in, with your families. Whatever they are — birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, get-togethers,” said Gottfried. “Just enjoy your time with your family. Be present and be there.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 611,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.1 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.6% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Jul 29, 4:00 pm

Biden calls on states to offer $100 to those who get vaccinated

President Joe Biden is urging local governments to offer $100 to those who get vaccinated with funding from the American Rescue Plan.

Biden will also announce Thursday that all federal government employees and outside contractors will be asked to “attest to their vaccination status,” and those who aren’t vaccinated must social distance, get tested once or twice a week and wear a mask at work no matter where they live. This includes members of the Armed Forces and National Guard.

Biden’s also set to announce that small and medium businesses will be reimbursed for giving employees paid leave to get their family members vaccinated.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle

Jul 29, 2:54 pm

US approaching same case, hospitalization levels as 1 year ago

One year ago, the U.S. was beginning to see a downturn in COVID-19 cases following a summer surge. On July 27, 2020, the U.S. was averaging about 63,400 new COVID-19 cases per day.

Now, one year later, the U.S. case average is trending in the wrong direction, averaging nearly 62,000 new cases a day.

The new infection average is up by 64.1% in the last week and 440% since mid-June.

Hospitalization levels are also nearing last summer’s numbers. More than 33,000 COVID-19 patients are now receiving care, close to the 37,000 patients hospitalized on Aug. 1, 2020.

Daily deaths, however, are significantly lower now than they were last summer.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jul 29, 2:42 pm

Florida hospital at capacity

Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, warned Thursday that its hospitals and emergency rooms are at maximum capacity.

Hospital president and CEO Michael Mayo said earlier this week that the hospital had over 400 COVID-19 patients, an all-time high, and that unvaccinated people accounted for at least 97% of the patients. “It’s never been as bad as it is now,” Mayo said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Jul 29, 2:06 pm

Vaccinations up in Louisiana, Kentucky

Louisiana reported more than 10,000 vaccine doses per day over the last week, the first time the state’s daily numbers climbed above 10,000 since April, according to state data.

Kentucky is seeing a “little bit of an uptick” in vaccinations, Gov. Andy Beshear said, as cases skyrocket in the state.

When asked if he was considering a mask mandate, Beshear said, “I am not currently considering reinstating the mask mandate, but it’s still on the table if needed.”

Kentucky Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said 95% of all cases involve unvaccinated individuals.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Jason Volack

Jul 29, 1:16 pm

Israel to give 3rd vaccine dose to those 60 and over

In Israel, a third vaccine dose can be administered to people 60 and older beginning Aug. 1, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.

The third shot will be given to those who received a second dose at least five months ago.

-ABC News’ Bruno Nota

Jul 29, 12:34 pm

University of Missouri requiring masks in classrooms

The University of Missouri is requiring masks in classrooms, including for those who are vaccinated as of Aug. 2, the school said.

COVID-19 cases are surging in Missouri. The state’s positivity rate stands at 14.7%.

The university said the temporary mask requirement will be reviewed by Sept. 15.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Jul 29, 9:46 am
Masks required in all federal buildings in areas of high or substantial transmission

Masks are now required for everyone — including vaccinated people — in all federal buildings that are in areas of high or substantial transmission, according to an Office of Management and Budget official. That includes federal offices in Washington, D.C., which is currently in substantial transmission status.

Jul 29, 8:12 am
US now administering over 600,000 shots per day on average

Over 754,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines went into the arms of people across the United States on Wednesday, according to White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar.

That figure includes 498,000 newly vaccinated individuals, Shahpar said, which is the highest daily amount reported since July 1.

The U.S. is now averaging more than 600,000 total shots administered per day, an increase of about 18% compared with last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jul 29, 7:21 am
Daily case count hits record high in Tokyo amid Olympics

As the 2020 Summer Olympics plays out in Tokyo, the host city saw a record-breaking number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day.

A new all-time high of 3,865 cases were reported on Thursday, up from 3,177 on Wednesday and double the daily count a week ago, according to data from Tokyo’s metropolitan government. The Games, which were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, are being held under a regional state of emergency and stringent restrictions.

Although Japan has managed to keep its COVID-19 cases and death toll lower than many other countries, its numbers have been on the rise in recent weeks with infections soaring not just in the capital city but across the nation.

“We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” Japanese chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters Tuesday.

At least 198 confirmed cases have been associated with the Tokyo Olympics. Of those, 24 were reported on Thursday and include three athletes who are staying at the Olympic Village, according to data from the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

Jul 29, 5:41 am
Dozens of cases across US linked to Christian summer camp

At least 75 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 17 U.S. states have been linked to a Christian summer camp in North Carolina, officials said.

The outbreak is associated with campers and staff who attended The Wilds camp near Rosman in North Carolina’s Transylvania County between June 28 and July 17, according to a statement from the local public health department.

The camp, nestled on 1,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, offers sessions for children, adults and families.

Last week, a spokesperson for the camp told Ashevile ABC affiliate WLOS that they had cancelled sessions that week to work on enhancing COVID-19 protocols. Although there was no plan to cancel further sessions, the spokesperson said the camp was working to limit the number of attendees and started asking campers to get tested for COVID-19 before their sessions.

“We’ve been checking our staff, we’ve been doing screenings for everyone who comes onto the campsite and anticipating they’re coming to our campsite healthy,” the spokesperson told WLOS during a telephone interview last week. “And the anticipation is that they would leave healthy as well.”

Jul 29, 1:20 am
FDA approves shelf life extension for J&J vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration has approved another extension to the shelf life of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, from four-and-a-half months to six months, J&J said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated the vaccine is stable at six months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 – 46 degrees Fahrenheit,” J&J said.

Jul 29, 12:38 am
CDC changes testing guidance for vaccinated people

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its guidance on testing for vaccinated people on its website.

While the CDC had previously said vaccinated people did not have to get tested for COVID-19 after being exposed to someone with the virus, unless they had symptoms, that is no longer the case.

The government agency now recommends: “If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms.”

“You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative. You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive,” the updated guidance states.

Jul 28, 10:20 pm
Disney World brings back indoor mask requirement for all guests

Masks once again will be required while indoors at Disney World, regardless of vaccination status, the company announced Wednesday, as Florida has quickly become a COVID-19 hotspot.

Starting Friday, face coverings will be required for all guests ages 2 and up while indoors, including upon entering and throughout all attractions.

They are also required while riding Disney transportation.

Masks are still optional in outdoor common areas, the company said.

The theme park had initially dropped its mask requirement for vaccinated guests last month.

The updated rule will also go into effect Friday at Disneyland in California.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOS ANGELES) — A Boeing 747 pilot near Los Angeles reported Wednesday night another “possible jet pack man in sight.” It’s the latest in a string of mysterious jet pack sightings near the City of Angels since last year.

“A Boeing 747 pilot reported seeing an object that might have resembled a jet pack 15 miles east of LAX at 5,000 feet altitude around 6:12 p.m. Wednesday,” a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told ABC News. “Out of an abundance of caution, air traffic controllers alerted other pilots in the vicinity.”

Air traffic controllers could be heard directing pilots in the area to “use caution towards the jet pack.” The FAA spokesperson said there were no “unusual objects” that had appeared on the radar around LAX around that time on Wednesday.

“We were looking but we did not see Iron Man,” one person said on the air traffic recording.

The supposed jet pack sighting follows several others dating back to early 2020. In December 2020, a Southern California pilot captured a video of what appeared to be a person with a jet pack flying off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at around 3,000 feet.

Another sighting was reported in August 2020, after two different commercial airline pilots reported seeing a man in a jet pack hovering near LAX, ABC News reported.

“Reports of unmanned aircraft sightings from pilots, law enforcement personnel and the general public have increased dramatically over the past two years,” the FAA said on its website.

The agency says it receives more than 100 such reports each month.

Unauthorized operators flying around airplanes, helicopters and airports is illegal and may be subject to fines and criminal charges, including jail time, the FAA Says. The FAA spokesperson said the agency works with the FBI to investigate these sightings.

“The FAA has worked closely with the FBI to investigate every possible jet pack sighting report,” said the spokesperson. “We have not been able to validate any of the reports.”

ABC News’ Alex Stone and Mina Kaji contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — As more people return to the skies, the largest flight attendant union in the U.S. is sounding the alarm on a rise in unruly passengers.

Eighty-five percent of the nearly 5,000 U.S. flight attendants The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) surveyed said they had dealt with an unruly passenger in 2021.

Almost 60% said they had experienced not one, but at least five incidents this year, and 17% reported that the incident got physical.

Flight attendants recalled incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, “aggressively” challenged them for making sure passengers were in compliance with the federal mask mandate, shoved them, kicked seats, threw trash at them and defiled the restrooms.

More than half of the flight attendants reported that unruly passengers used racist, sexist and/or homophobic slurs.

“I’ve been yelled at, cursed at and threatened countless times in the last year and the most that has come out of it has been a temporary suspension of travel for the passenger,” one flight attendant wrote in the survey. “We need real consequences if flight attendants are ever going to feel safe at work again.”

The AFA is doubling down on its call for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to “protect passengers and crew from disruptive, and verbally and physically abusive travelers.”

The FAA is still enforcing its zero-tolerance policy for in-flight disruptions which could lead to fines as high as $52,500 and up to 20 years in prison. The agency has looked into more than 610 potential violations of federal law so far this year — the highest number since the agency began keeping records in 1995.

When asked if any unruly passenger has paid the FAA’s proposed fine, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson in late May didn’t answer directly, saying only that the administration was still in the “very early stages” of enforcing the policy.

Last month, a coalition of airline lobbying groups and unions called on the Justice Department to go a step further and prosecute unruly passengers “to the fullest extent of the law.”

“It is time to make the FAA ‘zero tolerance’ policy permanent,” AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson said in a statement. “The Department of Justice to utilize existing statute to conduct criminal prosecution, and implement a series of actions proposed by our union to keep problems on the ground and respond effectively in the event of incidents.”

“Let me be clear in underscoring something,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a news conference in May. “It is a federal mandate that one must wear a mask in an airport, in the modes of public transportation, on the airplane itself — and we will not tolerate behavior that violates the law.”

Seventy-one percent of surveyed flight attendants across 30 airlines said they “received no follow-up” when they filed an incident report with airline management and a majority said they “did not observe efforts to address the rise in unruly passengers by their employers.”

Out of the 3,615 unruly passenger reports received by the FAA since January, the vast majority, 2,666, involved people who refuse to wear a mask.

“This is not just about masks as some have attempted to claim,” Nelson said. There is a lot more going on here and the solutions require a series of actions in coordination across aviation.”

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 611,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.1 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.6% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Jul 29, 8:12 am
US now administering over 600,000 shots per day on average

Over 754,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines went into the arms of people across the United States on Wednesday, according to White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar.

That figure includes 498,000 newly vaccinated individuals, Shahpar said, which is the highest daily amount reported since July 1.

The U.S. is now averaging more than 600,000 total shots administered per day, an increase of about 18% compared with last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jul 29, 7:21 am
Daily case count hits record high in Tokyo amid Olympics

As the 2020 Summer Olympics plays out in Tokyo, the host city saw a record-breaking number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day.

A new all-time high of 3,865 cases were reported on Thursday, up from 3,177 on Wednesday and double the daily count a week ago, according to data from Tokyo’s metropolitan government. The Games, which were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, are being held under a regional state of emergency and stringent restrictions.

Although Japan has managed to keep its COVID-19 cases and death toll lower than many other countries, its numbers have been on the rise in recent weeks with infections soaring not just in the capital city but across the nation.

“We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” Japanese chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters Tuesday.

At least 198 confirmed cases have been associated with the Tokyo Olympics. Of those, 24 were reported on Thursday and include three athletes who are staying at the Olympic Village, according to data from the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

Jul 29, 5:41 am
Dozens of cases across US linked to Christian summer camp

At least 75 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 17 U.S. states have been linked to a Christian summer camp in North Carolina, officials said.

The outbreak is associated with campers and staff who attended The Wilds camp near Rosman in North Carolina’s Transylvania County between June 28 and July 17, according to a statement from the local public health department.

The camp, nestled on 1,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, offers sessions for children, adults and families.

Last week, a spokesperson for the camp told Ashevile ABC affiliate WLOS that they had cancelled sessions that week to work on enhancing COVID-19 protocols. Although there was no plan to cancel further sessions, the spokesperson said the camp was working to limit the number of attendees and started asking campers to get tested for COVID-19 before their sessions.

“We’ve been checking our staff, we’ve been doing screenings for everyone who comes onto the campsite and anticipating they’re coming to our campsite healthy,” the spokesperson told WLOS during a telephone interview last week. “And the anticipation is that they would leave healthy as well.”

Jul 29, 1:20 am
FDA approves shelf life extension for J&J vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration has approved another extension to the shelf life of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, from four-and-a-half months to six months, J&J said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated the vaccine is stable at six months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 – 46 degrees Fahrenheit,” J&J said.

Jul 29, 12:38 am
CDC changes testing guidance for vaccinated people

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its guidance on testing for vaccinated people on its website.

While the CDC had previously said vaccinated people did not have to get tested for COVID-19 after being exposed to someone with the virus, unless they had symptoms, that is no longer the case.

The government agency now recommends: “If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms.”

“You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative. You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive,” the updated guidance states.

Jul 28, 10:20 pm
Disney World brings back indoor mask requirement for all guests

Masks once again will be required while indoors at Disney World, regardless of vaccination status, the company announced Wednesday, as Florida has quickly become a COVID-19 hotspot.

Starting Friday, face coverings will be required for all guests ages 2 and up while indoors, including upon entering and throughout all attractions.

They are also required while riding Disney transportation.

Masks are still optional in outdoor common areas, the company said.

The theme park had initially dropped its mask requirement for vaccinated guests last month.

The updated rule will also go into effect Friday at Disneyland in California.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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(FRESNO, Calif.) — It’s 7:51 p.m. on a warm Friday night. Fresno, California, police officer Bret Hutchins and his two partners are checking on a burglary call. The 911 caller reported somebody broke into a garage and they can hear them banging around inside. The officers are having a hard time finding the burglary when their police radios come alive. Dispatch puts out the call of shots fired with a male victim down.

ABC News was riding along on this night. As the officers sprint back to their patrol SUVs, we ask, “What’s going on?” After advising dispatch that he is responding, Hutchins says, “Victim of shooting, let’s go.” We jump in, slamming the patrol doors as Hutchins hits his lights and sirens and we scream off to the growling sound of the Ford Police Interceptor giving what seems like all of its horsepower.

Speeding through the streets of Fresno, onlookers standing to get into clubs watch and take pictures as we zoom by with sirens blaring to the latest act of violence in the city. On the police radio, another responding officer asks, “Did anybody see him get shot?” Dispatch relays that the caller found the man down.

As we pull up to the scene, Hutchins says aloud to himself the license plate numbers of every car pulling out to memorize them in case they could be a suspect fleeing the area who they will need to track down.

We arrive to a victim down, shot multiple times. Medics are still minutes away, so Hutchins and his partners grab medical kits from the back of their patrol vehicles and sprint toward the man who is unconscious and badly bleeding.

“Okay, I have one entry wound right here,” Hutchins tells his partners as they begin CPR. “One, two, three, four, five, six … ” Hutchins counts as he begins doing chest compressions on what would become Fresno’s 42nd murder of 2021. Shell casings litter the area. Who shot the man is unclear in the moment, but a search for a killer would get underway. In the hours that followed, homicide detectives would canvass the area for any tiny amount of evidence.

Like many American cities, Fresno is dealing with a sharp surge in gun crime. Fresno has a population of 525,000. Its population is bigger than Kansas City, Missouri, Pittsburgh or Cleveland, but operates with a fraction of officers of some smaller cities.

“What we’re seeing, yes, is a peak in violent crime,” Paco Balderrama, the city’s new police chief, told ABC News. “And there’s a lot of factors in that.”

Balderrama became the chief of police in Fresno earlier this year after spending much of his career in Oklahoma and in Texas. Since arriving, he has been tasked with figuring out how to reduce the surging violence in his city. The vast majority of the gun violence is related to gangs and the guns are most often illegal.

“I’m talking about people who have been to prison who have no business carrying a gun. Active gang members. People who are intending to hurt somebody in a crime,” Balderrama said.

At a time when many cities have seen their police budgets cut and amid calls to defund the police, Fresno is in a unique position in that it is rapidly trying to hire more officers to battle the crime. The city council and community groups have given support to the idea of bringing on more officers. Fresno is looking to hire 120 new officers in the next 18 months. Part of that effort is making up for attrition but others are additional positions to increase lagging police ranks.

“I think (120 officers) is a goal we can reach. We asked the city council for $125,000 in the budget toward recruiting for a new recruiting video, for billboards, for wraps for some of the cars,” Balderrama said.

He knows the department needs to rapidly increase officer numbers in this time of high crime without lowering standards. Convincing people to become a police officer is a tough task right now due to a year of negative headlines, public perception, and pressure on police, he said.

In the meantime, Balderrama’s department is looking for unique ways to end the violence with current staffing. One of those ideas is a program called Advance Peace or AP. Advance Peace is less than a year old in Fresno, partially funded by the city. Its mission is to interrupt gun violence before it happens.

Members of Advance Peace are sometimes former gang members and are close to the gang community. They get to know young gang members, foster relationships with them and try to give them other ways to get out their anger.

The group focuses on mainly young men who are prone to violence. “Before he commits a gun crime, he’ll call us,” Aaron Foster, who works for Advance Peace, told ABC News. “We try to get out in front of it.”

Foster lost a son and a daughter to gang violence in Fresno in recent years. Now he works in the community to gain the trust of gang members.

“We know them mostly because we saw them grow up as a kid. When he was in junior high school, we knew this kid would be the next round of shooters,” Foster said.

The staff at Advance Peace say they often get calls from young gang members they are mentoring who say they have just shot somebody and need advice on what to do next. The group will counsel them but, in order to keep their trust and credibility, does not turn them into police. Advance Peace lets police do their investigations without being a source of intelligence. Yet, when members believe there is a gang shooting coming they may tell police they should have units in a certain area beforehand to prevent violence.

Balderrama said he supports Advance Peace as one idea that might help reduce the violence in his city.

“When you build relationships you have influence. If you have no relationships you have no influence,” Balderrama said. “Advance Peace gives us the ability to communicate and give people resources.”

Advance Peace staff member Marcel Woodruff becomes emotional as he shows a shelf of pictures and funeral programs for those victims of gun violence the group has worked with in the past year. The list of names is long.

“There’s nobody else actively seeking shooters who say ‘Hey, I wanna take you to get some Popeye’s Chicken,'” Woodruff said. “It is unique in that we are the only group saying we want those who have been deemed to be the most lethal in our city and want to build a relationship with them because we inherently know they’ve been the most unloved.”

Leaders of Advance Peace say they are constantly defending themselves against critics of the program who believe the city is simply paying gang members to reduce violence. The organization works to justify its existence and relies on its own fundraising to keep much of the program up and running.

Across the country there is a long list of ideas on how to best reduce gun violence during this nationwide surge. California Assemblymember Marc Levine, a Democrat, is working on a bill that would place a 10% tax on guns and 11% tax on ammunition sales in California.

The money from the higher taxes would go toward gun violence prevention programs and is designed, like taxes on cigarettes, to maybe also deter some from buying guns and ammunition if they cost more money.

Levine said the amount of money raised through the gun tax would be substantial and would be put to good use. “These are proven programs to reduce gun violence in our communities. It would raise $100 million annually.”

But critics of Levine’s bill say it would not stop street crime in California cities because much of it is being done with stolen or so-called ghost guns that have been manufactured by an individual rather than a commercial gun manufacturer. Or, critics say, if somebody does want to buy a gun through a store or dealer they will just go to Nevada or Arizona to buy what they want through dealers that are willing to sell.

Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, believes such taxes and other laws punish legal gun owners.

“We have 400 million guns in private possession in America,” Paredes said. “Any focus you put on reducing the number of guns in public is just not going to work. That horse has left the barn.”

Police point out most of the guns they come in contact with are illegally obtained and harsher gun laws likely would not impact how they are bought and sold on the streets. Paredes argues the crime surge the U.S. is experiencing is a result of not enough police on the streets, lenient prosecutors and courts, and mental health issues.

“As long as they continue to look for solutions by controlling guns through laws only affecting law-abiding citizens, because they are the only ones who obey the laws, we are going to see an increase in the violent crime rate and use of firearms in commission of crimes,” Paredes said.

Police say the increasing problem is homemade ghost guns, which are made using parts that can be purchased online or in stores and assembled in a home. They are primarily unregulated, unregistered and untraceable by typical means, police said.

Paredes counters that ghost guns aren’t the problem police and the media make them seem to be and that ghost guns arguments are a way to ignore the bigger mental health problem suffered by those committing violence. “The whole issue of ghost guns are a red herring,” Paredes said. “I believe it’s elected officials deflecting.”

Officer Hutchins in Fresno feels differently, though, as he is racing from call to call. “Lately, it’s been the ghost guns that are the problem,” said Hutchins.

Limiting access to guns being made in secret or illegal guns being passed around under the radar has proven to be tough to fix. Few seem to agree on the problem, let alone a solid solution. Marcel Woodruff at Advance Peace said gun laws won’t fix the street crime problem. He believes it has to be a longer term solution by showing gang members how to live more fulfilling lives so they don’t turn toward shootings to get what they want.

“So if we deal with the violence at the systemic and structural levels that are denying people access to things they need to move through life healthy, then we consequently reduce them using a firearm to make a way for themselves,” said Woodruff.

For now Fresno police remain busy moving from shooting call to shooting call.

This story is part of the series Gun Violence in America by ABC News Radio. Each day this week we’re exploring a different topic, from what we mean when we say “gun violence” – it’s not just mass shootings – to what can be done about it. You can hear an extended version of each report as an episode of the ABC News Radio Specials podcast. 

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