(SEATTLE) — Two people were arrested after a Washington state sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot in the line of duty Friday night.
After an “exhaustive search,” a 28-year-old man, Abran Raya-Leon, and a 35-year-old woman, Misty M. Raya, were arrested on unrelated felony warrants, Vancouver, Washington, police said in a press release on Saturday night.
Another man, Guillermo O. Raya, 26, is still being sought, police said.
The deputy involved in the shooting that unfolded around 7 p.m. has been identified as Clark County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sergeant Jeremy Brown.
Brown was in his vehicle conducting surveillance at 3508 NE 109th Avenue, according to police. Other units in the area on the same detail were unable to reach Brown on radio, and around the same time, a citizen reported hearing gunshots, saw a man bleeding inside a vehicle and called 911, police said.
Two men and a woman fled the area by vehicle and were pursued by police, officials said. Their vehicle crashed near Padden Parkway and Interstate 205. Police said the three then fled on foot.
Police said Guillermo O. Raya is considered armed and dangerous, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest in connection with the shooting.
“This is a difficult time for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement agencies in Clark County and the surrounding Clark County, Portland metro area. Clark County law enforcement appreciates the support and understanding of the community in these tough times,” the department said in a news release.
The investigation is continuing and nothing further is releasable at this time, police said.
(DETROIT) — Nearly 140,000 customers in Michigan are without power this morning after storms hit the Detroit area Saturday night.
Poweroutage.us reports 138,990 customers in the state lack power.
Ferocious storms whipped through the Detroit metro area and led to a tornado watch for other areas including Armada, ABC News affiliate, WXYZ reported.
In the storm’s wake, trees, houses and businesses sustained major damage.
“It appears there might have been a tornado, we have to wait for officials to make that determination, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel told WXYZ. “There’s a substantial amount of damage to businesses, houses, power lines down.”
The Detroit Police Department issued an alert for area residents, cautioning them roadways are flooded and not to drive through standing water.
The storm comes amid a tumultuous weather season in the United States as wildfires and drought ravage the West, and unprecedented rainfall and floods plague the Northeast as well as other areas of the country.
Wildfllife is also feeling the effects of the severe weather. Baby birds have been jumping out of their nests to escape the heat and falling to the ground, on the West Coast. A bear and her cubs jumped into a home’s pool to cool off from the recent scorching temperatures in the Pacific Northwest.
ABC News’ Ben Stein and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — More than 100 people were forced out of their homes overnight as California’s largest wildfire continues to spread at a rapid pace.
The Dixie Fire has now expanded to more than 190,000 acres — increasing by 20,000 acres in just 24 hours — prompting new mandatory evacuations near the Feather River Canyon as firefighters struggle to increase the 21% containment. Officials are still investigating the cause.
More than 8,300 people in Northern California are currently under evacuation orders, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Over the weekend, the Dixie Fire surpassed the Beckwourth Complex Fire in Doyle, California, as the state’s largest wildfire. The Beckwourth Complex Fire, which was sparked by lightning on July 3, is now 98% contained after it scorched through 105,670 acres.
The Tamarack Fire near Gardnerville, Nevada, had burned through nearly 67,000 acres by Sunday morning, destroying at least 13 structures, and was just 27% contained. It sparked on July 4 in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.
In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire, currently the largest in the country and the third-largest in state history, is so hot it’s creating its own weather pattern. Pyrocumulus clouds, or fire-driven thunderstorm clouds, are created as large pockets of heat and smoke from the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon rise and meet a relatively cool atmosphere.
The Medford National Weather Service has also confirmed that a tornado occurred on July 18 near the eastern side of the Bootleg Fire due to extreme fire behavior, dry fuels, and an unstable atmosphere.
The Bootleg Fire, approximately 11 miles northeast of the town of Sprague River in southern Oregon, had scorched through nearly 409,000 acres by Sunday morning and was 46% contained.
The Long Draw Fire in 2012 at 557,028 acres and the Biscuit Fire in 2002 at 500,000 acres were the top two largest fires in the state.
Nearly 90 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year. More hot and dry conditions are expected in the West today, enhancing the fire risk for the already blaze-ridden region.
More than 3 million people in the West are under heat and fire alerts through Monday, and several states also have air quality alerts due to the wildfires.
Four states from Nevada to Montana will experience triple-digit temperatures on Sunday, while relative humidity is expected to remain at just 11%, with wind gusts up to 35 mph.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison, Sarah Hermina, and Hope Osemwenkhae contributed to this report.
(SALT LAKE CITY) — Thousands of fans gathered in Wisconsin to celebrate the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA championship, but scenes of celebration soon turned into chaos when gunfire rang out.
Two shootings broke out early Wednesday in downtown Milwaukee that wounded three, sent people running for their lives and left the community shell-shocked.
The shootings are only a snapshot of the skyrocketing gun violence that has swept the nation in recent months. Between Saturday, July 17, and Friday, July 23, the Gun Violence Archive tracked at least 915 shooting incidents — or, a shooting every 12 minutes — that left at least 430 people dead and 1,007 wounded. In total, more than 1,000 were wounded or killed this week alone. These numbers are not static, and are constantly updated as data comes in.
Last year marked the deadliest year for shooting-related incidents in the U.S. in at least two decades, according to Gun Violence Archive data with more than 43,000 gun deaths. But GVA’s data suggests 2021 is on track to surpass those figures with more than 24,000 gun fatalities reported so far.
ABC News partnered with its owned stations and affiliates across the nation to track the devastation. The findings reveal that gun violence, for many Americans, isn’t far removed from everyday life.
Gun violence in all its forms
As attention turned toward the shooting outside the Nationals game last Saturday, across the country in a dark church parking lot in Utah, 13-year-old Lance Moorehead was shot in the head around 1:40 a.m.
Lt. Richard Bell of the West Jordan Police Department called the shooting “a truly unfortunate, tragic accident” during a press conference. He said that Moorehead and his 15-year-old friend had snuck out and that one had brought a gun.
The two were “not being safe” with the gun which resulted in the 15-year-old unintentionally shooting and killing his 13-year-old friend, Bell said. He added that there was some criminal culpability and the 15-year-old was booked into a juvenile detention center on suspicion of manslaughter.
According to the 911 dispatch call, the teens did not know the gun was loaded.
“We’ve got a 13- and a 15-year-old. They’re inside a vehicle. Did not know the gun was loaded. The juvenile’s been shot in the head,” a 911 dispatcher told officers in a recording of the call.
Derek Thatcher, the heartbroken father of Moorehead, said in a statement to local station KSL-TV that his son “loved to skate, play football and video games. He had a contagious smile that could warm anyone’s heart. You couldn’t help but smile back.”
“Gun safety is of the utmost importance to prevent this kind of tragedy and heartache our family has experienced. We can’t stress enough how important gun safety is,” Thatcher said in his statement.
The tragedy shows that even children aren’t spared from this spike in gun violence.
In west Philadelphia last Saturday, a white Jeep pulled up to a store and an unknown number of occupants began to shoot indiscriminately into the store, striking two people, including a year-old child who was there with their mother, according to Joel Dales, deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department. He said a man inside subsequently returned fire.
Police said one person had been arrested in connection to that shooting, Philadelphia ABC station WPVI reported.
“They don’t care who’s around when they use these guns. It’s a big problem. This is not OK. … I’m tired of this. I’m sick and tired of this,” Dales said during a press conference.
In San Antonio early Tuesday morning, 15-year-old Tristan Jaden Rosas was playing video games in his bedroom with his younger cousin when a stray bullet entered the room and hit him in the head.
“Dudes were fighting in the back. They were shooting at each other and they brought it up here to the front,” Ray Rosas, the victim’s uncle, told San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT.
Rosas told ABC News that after the bullet struck his nephew, his cousin tried to keep him alive.
“I should have been there, because when you tell your kid you’re going to protect him, that’s a promise you can’t ever take back,” Epi Rosas, Tristan’s father said.
San Antonio police told ABC News no one has been arrested in the case.
Altogether, more than 800 Americans under 18 years old have died from gun violence so far in 2021, with 174 of them under 12, GVA data shows.
Some of those incidents have been mass shootings, defined as involving four people or more who were injured or killed — not including the suspect. So far, there have been 18 mass shootings in 12 cities across the U.S. this week, according to the GVA’s data, with 19 dead and 74 wounded.
The epidemic of gun violence also includes suicides, which are the cause of about 60% of adult firearm deaths, according to the Department of Justice. In 2019, an average of 66 people each day died by suicide with a gun, according to the Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence. This year alone there have been more than 13,500 suicides by gun, GVA data shows.
There are also gun violence incidents that erupt from alleged domestic disputes.
In Wichita, Kansas, on Monday, Kamden Campos, 21, allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend and her two children and brought them to a nearby lake. The woman jumped into the car and sped away as he fired shots towards the vehicle, wounding her 2-year-old daughter, the Reno County Sheriff’s Office said.
After a manhunt, Campos was booked into jail on attempted murder in the first degree, aggravated kidnapping and possession of stolen property charges, the sheriff’s office announced on Facebook. Officials said the child underwent surgery and is in stable but critical condition.
Officer-involved shootings also play a role in the violence, which includes instances where cops are the victim as well as the perpetrator.
In Clark County, Washington, a sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Friday night and police are looking for suspects who may be armed and dangerous.
“This is a difficult time for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement agencies in Clark County and the surrounding Clark County, Portland metro area,” the sheriff’s office said in a press conference after the shooting.
ABC News and the GVA’s assessment of this past week’s gun violence found that in all, two people had been killed and five people had been wounded every hour.
The assessment found that practically every state in the nation had been affected over the last week, with at least one gun-related incident in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
Of all the states, Illinois had the highest number of gun violence incidents, with 109 incidents tracked. Texas followed with 63 incidents, and then Pennsylvania, California and New York, where there were 59, 52 and 48 incidents, respectively, over the last week.
When it came to gun-related incidents that led to death, Texas had the highest rates with 35 fatalities. Illinois, meanwhile, topped the list for most people wounded from firearms at 124.
Over the last week, the worst day for gun violence was July 18 and the most violent time on any given day was between midnight and 3 a.m. — a time period when about 22% of all incidents occurred.
“This week is indicative of a big longer-term systemic issue where people are becoming afraid to go out to parks and afraid to go to malls because they know when they go to a baseball game, there is going to be a drive by [shooting],” Mark Bryant, the executive director of GVA, said. “It’s been a very average week and we should be horrified.”
Disparities in gun violence
While no part of the country is immune to gun violence, as ABC News dug into the data, it found that the violence occurs disproportionately in poorer, urban areas — from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York City.
More than two-thirds of all the gun violence incidents reviewed unfolded in census tracts across the nation, where more than 50% of residents are nonwhite.
Over half of the incidents occurred in the nation’s poorest census tracts, where the median household income is $40,000 a year or less. About 17% of shootings occurred in census tracts where people make more than $60,000.
In New York City, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told ABC News that the city saw a 73% increase in shootings in May 2021 when compared to the same time last year. When asked if people are brazen with carrying weapons, he said, “I don’t think there’s any doubt. … The data here in New York City is [there are] more guns on the scene of shootings, more rounds being fired.”
He said that factors contributing to the surge in gun violence include gang violence, police budget cuts and COVID-19 shutdowns in the court system, which have caused a backlog of more 5,000 gun cases.
“Taking the gun off the street is great, but really, what we need is we need the individual carrying the gun off the street,” he said.
Shea said there had been a drop in the rate of gun-related cases in June 2021 after the department increased gun-related arrests and police targeted repeat offenders, but he says the drop still isn’t enough.
“When you look at who’s getting shot in this city right now, it’s about 97% of people of color,” he said. “It’s way off the charts.”
ABC News spent time at the Oakland, California, headquarters of ShotSpotter, a company that works with law enforcement across the country to record and track gunshots in the area and alert authorities.
“We published 240,000 gunshot alerts, real verified confirmed gunfire alerts in 2020,” ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clarke said. “On a year-to-date basis, 2020 to 2021 is over 20% [in gunshot activity]. And we haven’t reached the peak part of the summer yet.”
In Philadelphia on Wednesday, where the gun-related death toll has already surpassed 300 this year, three teens were shot — two of them died from their wounds. As ABC News embedded with Philadelphia police, they repeatedly pointed out streets where shootings had once occurred.
Later that night, a person was shot dead in front of what some might consider Philadelphia’s most famous cheesesteak restaurants, Pat’s and Geno’s. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told ABC News the shooting was due to a parking dispute.
During a time in which policing has received extra scrutiny after the death of George Floyd, Outlaw, a Black woman, sees the struggle from both sides.
“Because I have all of these lived experiences and these different perspectives, I understand why the police do what we do,” she said. “But I also understand the hurt and torment in our communities.”
Like so many other communities across the nation, in Suitland, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., one community is mourning the death of Taya Ashton. The 20-year-old transgender woman was killed last Saturday night in her apartment.
DeAllen Price, 27, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection to Ashton’s killing. He was arrested a day after her death on unrelated charges in Virginia and is pending extradition to Prince George’s County, authorities said. Police say the suspect and victim knew each other.
Prince George’s County Police said they don’t believe it was a random crime, but also said that they have “uncovered no evidence suggesting Taya’s murder was due to her gender identity.”
Taya’s grandfather, Stuart Anderson, held a vigil in her honor on Wednesday where around 100 friends and family members hugged one another, sang and released purple balloons in her honor.
Anderson denounced the gun violence that has wracked the community.
“I’m tired of doing vigils,” Anderson told ABC News. “If whoever it is that shot my grandchild hadn’t had the gun, my grandchild would be right here. We got to get these guns off the streets.”
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, seven days a week. You can also reach the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741741.
(SALT LAKE CITY) — The southern portion of the Great Salt Lake in Utah has dropped to its lowest level ever, the U.S Geological Survey said Saturday. Lake levels have been declining for some time, but the record-breaking drought hitting the West has accelerated its fall in recent months.
Average daily water levels dropped about an inch below the previous record of 4,194 feet, set in 1963, with records dating back to 1847.
A series of images released by Utah’s Division of Water Resources showed the clear contrast between what the Great Salt Lake — the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere — looked like at its highest and average levels versus the new record low.
The drought numbers in Utah this year illustrate how dire the situation is there. The latest U.S Drought Monitor report released on Thursday shows nearly 100% of the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions — level 3 out of 4.
To make matters worse, more than two-thirds of the state is now in an exceptional drought — the highest drought level. Just one year ago, there were no exceptional drought conditions reported in Utah.
The impacts of the relentless drought are far from over.
“Based on current trends and historical data, the USGS anticipates water levels may decline an additional foot over the next several months,” Ryan Rowland, data chief for the USGS Utah Water Science Center, said in a statement.
The USGS and Utah officials said they continue to closely monitor lake levels and the drought situation in the state as potential impacts could cascade through not only the state’s natural resources, but also through the economy.
“We must find ways to balance Utah’s growth with maintaining a healthy lake,” Brian Steed, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement.
“Ecological, environmental and economical balance can be found by working together as elected leaders, agencies, industry, stakeholders and citizens working together,” he added.
The Great Salt Lake is a major tourist destination, with over 1.14 million people visiting the lake’s three biggest state parks — Willard Bay, Antelope Island and Great Salt Lake — in 2018, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.
Drought conditions are only expected to get worse in the coming weeks with limited chances for widespread, significant rainfall.
Michael Goulding/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — Rodney Alcala, a convicted serial killer who was on California’s death row, has died, authorities said Saturday.
Alcala, 77, died of natural causes at 1:43 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in the community near Corcoran State Prison, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
Alcala was known as “The Dating Game” killer for his appearance as a winning contestant on the television game show in 1978.
After representing himself in Orange County court, he was sentenced to death in 2010 for the 1979 murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and the murders of four other women — 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted, both in 1977; 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb in 1978; and 21-year-old Jill Parenteau in 1979.
He was previously sentenced to death twice for the murder of Samsoe — in 1980 and then again in 1986 — though those sentences were later overturned in appeals and he was granted new trials.
Alcala also pleaded guilty to the murders of two other women in New York — Cornelia Crilley in 1971 and Ellen Jane Hover in 1977. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in 2013.
He has been linked to or suspected of murders in other states. In 2016, he was charged by Wyoming prosecutors with the murder of 28-year-old Christine Ruth Thornton, who disappeared in 1978 when she was six months pregnant and whose body was found four years later, though authorities ultimately decided not to extradite him to Wyoming for trial due to his failing health.
Alcala’s execution in California had been postponed indefinitely due to a moratorium on the death penalty instituted by the state in 2019.
A successful photographer, Alcala often would lure women and girls by approaching them on the street and offering to take their picture before attacking them, investigators said. While investigating the murder of Samsoe in 1979, investigators found hundreds of photographs in a Seattle storage locker belonging to Alcala of unidentified women, girls and boys, as well as jewelry believed to be trophies of some of his victims.
In 2010, the Huntington Beach Police Department released the photos taken by Alcala confiscated decades earlier to determine whether they may have been victimized by him. Prior to his death, he had not disclosed whether there were other victims.
(MACON, Ga.) — One person is dead and six others injured, including one critically, after two boats collided on a Georgia lake Saturday, officials said.
A person has been charged with boating under the influence after allegedly fleeing the scene of the deadly early morning crash, officials said.
The incident occurred before 3:40 a.m. on Lake Tobesofkee in Macon, Mark McKinnon, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ law enforcement division, said in a statement to ABC News.
All seven victims were aboard a pontoon boat when it collided with a “cigarette boat” occupied by two people, McKinnon said.
William Childs, 22, suffered an open head injury and was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Bibb County coroner Leon Jones told ABC News.
“I knew he was going to die,” Jones, who was in the hospital responding to a separate incident, said of the moment he saw Childs brought into the emergency department.
A woman in her early 20s was in critical condition in the intensive care unit with a head injury, Jones said.
The other five people on the pontoon boat sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The two people aboard the cigarette boat were not injured in the crash, officials said. They allegedly abandoned the boat and were found at a nearby residence, and the operator has been arrested for boating under the influence, McKinnon said. No further details on the arrest were provided.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Critical Incident Reconstruction Team is investigating.
Lake Tobesofkee, a recreational lake located just outside Macon’s city limits, has 35 miles of shoreline and is a popular spot for boating and fishing.
(VANCOUVER, Wash.) — A Washington state sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in the line of duty Friday night as police launch a search for suspects.
The deputy involved in the shooting that unfolded around 7 p.m. has not been named.
Clark County Sheriff Sgt. Brent Waddell said in an initial press conference the deputy was hospitalized after being “seriously injured,” but by 11:30 p.m. the department announced the officer died.
Waddell said there were “multiple suspects” involved in the shooting and they may be “armed and dangerous.”
Two persons of interest have been detained and a search is ongoing for a third person of interest, Vancouver Police, which is handling the investigation said Saturday, according to The Columbian.
Officials did not offer details about the circumstances under which the deputy was shot.
Police were involved in a standoff with someone at a Vancouver apartment complex late into the night, local ABC affiliate KATU reported.
— Clark Co Wa. Sheriff (@ClarkCoSheriff) July 24, 2021
Several police departments searched for suspects in the area of Interstate 205 near Northeast Padden Parkway well into the night.
“This is a difficult time for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement agencies in Clark County and the surrounding Clark County, Portland metro area. Clark County law enforcement appreciates the support and understanding of the community in these tough times,” the department said in a news release. The investigation remains ongoing.
(ST.LOUIS) — Hours after health officials in St. Louis announced they would reinstate a mask mandate amid rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state’s attorney general said he planned to challenge it.
On Friday, officials for the city and county of St. Louis said residents ages 5 and up will be required to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transportation starting Monday, regardless of vaccination status. Wearing masks outdoors in groups will be strongly encouraged under the new order, which includes exceptions while eating and drinking in restaurants and bars, and for people with disabilities.
As COVID-19 hospitalizations rise & the Delta variant spreads, masks will be required indoors in St. Louis County regardless of your vaccination status beginning Monday, July 26.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Twitter late Friday night that he planned to file a lawsuit Monday to halt the mask mandate.
“The citizens of St. Louis and St. Louis County are not subjects — they are free people,” he said. “As their Attorney General I’ll be filing suit Monday to stop this insanity.”
St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch has also said he plans to challenge the mask mandate. Last month, Missouri enacted a new law allowing local governing bodies to halt public health orders at any time through a majority vote.
The citizens of St. Louis and St. Louis County are not subjects — they are free people. As their Attorney General I’ll be filing suit Monday to stop this insanity. #covidhttps://t.co/30RwiyS9Mr
St. Louis County rescinded its health order requiring masks and social distancing in mid-May, a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance allowing fully vaccinated Americans to stop wearing masks indoors in most settings. Local officials recommended wearing masks “whenever you’re close to people who may not be vaccinated.”
“We have arrived at a point in the pandemic where we have to lean more heavily on personal responsibility to prevent further spread of the virus,” Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of health for the city of St. Louis, said in a statement at the time.
In the weeks since, COVID-19 cases have surged in Missouri, as the highly transmissible delta variant has rapidly spread. The rate of new cases in St. Louis County has increased to 20.9 cases per 100,000 per day — as high as the rate seen in early February “when we were still coming out of the enormous winter surge,” according to a report published Thursday by the county’s public health department. COVID-19 hospitalizations have also increased by 45% between July 6 and July 19.
“We’ve lost more than 500 St. Louisans to COVID-19, and if our region doesn’t work together to protect one another, we could see spikes that overwhelm our hospital and public health systems,” Echols said in a statement Friday announcing the renewed mask mandate. “The city and county health departments are taking this joint step to save lives, make sure hospitals can provide the care residents rely on, and protect our children so they can enjoy a full range of educational opportunities this year.”
“Wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance when possible, and most importantly, get vaccinated,” he added. “Vaccines remain one of the best methods to prevent severe complications and death from the virus.”
The increase in COVID-19 cases has been driven by infection in unvaccinated residents, the county has said, including fueling multiple outbreaks in daycares and camps this summer. About 44.8% of St. Louis County residents are fully vaccinated, according to state health department data.
“Vaccinations are the best way to stop the fast-spreading delta variant of COVID-19, but so far, not enough people have been vaccinated,” Dr. Faisal Khan, acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, said in a statement Friday. “We are relentlessly committed to making vaccinations more accessible and convenient. In the meantime, we need everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks in crowded indoor settings.”
“We must protect our most vulnerable residents as well as children under 12, who are not yet eligible for vaccinations,” he added.
Last weekend, Los Angeles County officials reinstated an indoor mask mandate in response to surging COVID-19 cases. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it would not enforce the health order.
(NEW YORK) — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared on Friday to entertain the possibility of implementing vaccination passports in the nation’s largest city.
The mayor, who had previously said vaccine passports could be an important tool if balanced with privacy concerns, encouraged businesses “to move immediately to some form of mandate,” adding that he would “seriously consider” a mandatory COVID pass for most social activities.
De Blasio compared New York to France, which announced this month that so-called “health passes” would be required for events or places that include 50 or more people, starting July 21, and for restaurants, cafes and stores starting in August. Patrons also can show a proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the previous 48 hours to gain entry.
“We have to look at making it more appealing to get vaccinated, because there are only things you can do when you’re vaccinated,” de Blasio said during an interview with WNYC Friday.
So far in France, the newly announced health passes appear to have spurred an uptick in both vaccinations and anti-vaccine demonstrations.
Health workers in France, where at least 111,778 people have died from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, will be required to get vaccinated by Sept. 15, according to Macron.
At the same time, thousands of people in France took to the streets over the weekend to protest the health passes on the grounds that the rule was an overreach of Macron’s power and an infringement of personal freedom, adding to longstanding tension. Even prior to the pandemic, the country had a strong thread of vaccine skepticism running through it.
Researchers on vaccine confidence surveyed more than 65,000 people across 67 countries in 2015 on their attitudes about vaccines. Based on those results, researchers deemed France, where 41% of respondents said they disagreed that vaccines were safe, the world’s most vaccine-hesitant country. By comparison, the global average was 13%.
Some neighboring European countries seem similarly willing to take a hard line on compulsory vaccination. Italy announced that it would introduce its own mandatory health pass system starting Aug. 6.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
