(NEW YORK) — James and Jennifer Crumbley’s motion to amend their bond was denied by a judge on Friday. Both are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in a Michigan school shooting. Their 15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley, is charged with the shooting and killing of four classmates at Oxford High School.
District Court Judge Julie Nicholson denied the request, citing their ties to Florida, the seriousness of the crimes and their failure to turn themselves in when they were charged.
The parents’ bond is set at $500,000 each and they were trying to get it reduced to $100,000 each. ABC News has reached out to James and Jennifer Crumbley’s lawyers for comment. Prosecutors allege the parents gave their son a gun that was later used in the school shooting.
The parents hid in an abandoned warehouse in Detroit and had concealed their car by hiding their license plates instead of turning themselves in the day they were charged, prosecutors allege.
The couple put their house on the market, drained their son’s bank account and asked family members to sell their horses, according to prosecutors.
Video on Ethan’s phone from August showed him holding his father’s pistol and sent messages to a friend which included: “It’s time to shoot up a school. Jk, jk, jk,” prosecutors also claim.
Ethan Crumbley, on Friday, waived his right to a preliminary examination, sending his case to trial. No date is set for his trial.
The Crumbley’s preliminary examination is scheduled for Feb. 8
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 833,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-Half of NYC COVID hospitalized patients were admitted for other reasons
-COVID vaccines can cause temporary menstrual cycle changes: Study
-CDC director responds to criticism of COVID-19 guidance
-Florida allowed up to 1 million COVID-19 tests to expire, official says
-Global COVID cases top 300 million
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 07, 3:08 pm
Pfizer vaccine lowers risk of inflammatory condition in teens: CDC
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine dramatically reduces the risk of teenagers developing MIS-C, a dangerous inflammatory condition, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Friday.
MIS-C is a condition in which different body parts can become inflamed such as the heart, lungs and kidneys. It tends to appear in kids and adolescents two to six weeks after becoming infected with COVID-19.
Researchers looked at children and teens between ages 12 and 18 from 24 hospitals across the country.
They found that the vaccine was 91% against MIS-C. Of the children who were critically ill with MIS-C and required life support, all were unvaccinated.
“No fully vaccinated patients with MIS-C required respiratory or cardiovascular life support, as opposed to 39% of unvaccinated MIS-C patients who did,” the authors wrote.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Jan 07, 2:17 pm
Half of NYC COVID hospitalized patients were admitted for other reasons
About half of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in New York City were originally admitted for other reasons, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Across the state, 42% of COVID-19 patients entered hospitals for reasons unrelated to the virus, such as a car accident, and only learned they were positive during their stays, Hochul said during a press conference Friday.
This is the first time that New York has differentiated between patients who go to hospitals to get care for COVID-19 and those who seek out care for other issues but test positive upon arrival.
Hochul also asked New Yorkers who have mild symptoms to not got to emergency rooms to get tested or treated because many hospitals are currently understaffed.
“If you’re an adult with very minor symptoms, you can handle a runny nose. You can handle the throats being a little sore, a little bit of a cough. Just treat as if you would the flu, all the protocols,” she said. “But please don’t overburden our emergency rooms.”
Hochul added that nearly 20% of all emergency rooms in the state are made up of people who are there only to get tested for COVID-19.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Jan 07, 1:27 pm
White House and USPS finalize deal to mail out 500 million COVID tests
The White House and USPS have finalized a plan to mail out 500 million free at-home rapid COVID-19 tests to Americans, a source briefed on the plan told ABC News.
It comes as the first contract to produce the tests was awarded to a testing company Thursday night, a White House spokesperson confirmed.
The main issue that was delaying the finalization of the plan was whether or not USPS can retain 40,000 temporary holiday season workers to help deliver the tests.
However, it’s not clear how many tests will be available from the first contract or how exactly USPS will deliver them. The White House has been vague on the timeline and has yet to launch a website through which Americans can order the tests.
The USPS-White House deal was first reported by The Washington Post.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Cheyenne Haslett and Sasha Pezenik
Jan 07, 12:45 pm
COVID vaccines can cause temporary menstrual cycle changes: Study
COVID-19 vaccines can cause temporary changes to menstrual cycles, a new study from Oregon Health and Science University suggests.
Researchers looked at nearly 4,000 women who use Natural Cycles, a Food and Drug Administration-approved birth control app.
They found that some women who received COVID-19 vaccines experienced changes, with the most common being periods starting late by about one day.
However, the effects were temporary with a normal menstrual cycle returning within one or two months after getting the shot.
The team emphasized the findings do not mean COVID-19 vaccines have an impact on current or future fertility.
(MEMPHIS) — New details have surfaced about Justin Johnson, the man who is wanted for allegedly shooting and killing rapper Young Dolph at a bakery in Memphis on Nov. 17 as he continues to evade capture.
The Memphis Police Department issued a first-degree murder warrant for Johnson, 23, on Wednesday — a Memphis man with a history of violence who is allegedly a local Memphis rapper known as Straight Drop or Straight Dropp, according to ABC Memphis station, WATN, and other local media outlets.
“This is just the beginning,” Dolph’s longtime partner Mia Jaye said in a statement posted to Instagram, following law enforcement’s announcement of the alleged suspect. “We are still prayerful that all attacks, plots and plans that were made against Adolph’s life are revealed and justice is diligently served.”
Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis on Nov. 17 while visiting Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a bakery in South Memphis the rapper was known to frequent. He was 36 and shared two young children with Jaye, Tre and Ari, both of whom shared an emotional tribute to their father at a memorial in Memphis last month.
Young Dolph’s aunt Rita Myers told Rolling Stone in an interview on Wednesday that the family is reeling from her nephew’s killing.
“There’s not any closure for us with this news, because [Johnson] is not in custody, and we still don’t have all the facts,” she said. “We still feel the same. This news just made me feel worse. I thought it would make me feel better, but it didn’t. All I know is, anyone who could walk up and take the life of another person for no reason is someone with hate in their heart, a person who has no regard for life, a person who cares about nothing.”
Surveillance video released by police appears to show two suspects on the scene of the shooting, but no information has been released by MPD regarding the identity of a second potential suspect.
Johnson, who has a history of violence according to court records, is wanted by police in connection with a number of alleged charges, including first-degree murder, criminal attempted first-degree murder and property theft, the Memphis Police Department said on Wednesday.
Asked by ABC News to verify that Straight Drop’s known Instagram account, which is unverified and has over 50 thousand followers, belongs to Johnson, Memphis police declined to comment.
The phone number and email linked to the Instagram account are associated with Johnson, according to records reviewed by ABC News, and Straight Drop’s verified Spotify account mentions Justin Johnson in the writing credits of several songs.
Straight Drop released a song called “Stepped On,” featuring Big Homiie G, on his YouTube page on Nov. 22 — five days after Dolph was killed. The rapper shared a clip on his known Instagram account of the song and linked to the YouTube video in his profile.
In the video, Straight Drop appears to be wearing a chain with the acronym “PRE,” which resembles those worn by Dolph and artists who are associated with Dolph’s label, “Paper Route Empire,” which he founded in 2010.
This led to some confusion among fans regarding Straight Drop’s potential connection to the label. Whether he had a relationship with the late rapper or other PRE artists is unclear and ABC News has reached out to a representative of Dolph for comment.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Johnson had an outstanding warrant related to a weapon offense out of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee for violation of federal supervised release, and both cases are being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force.
According to Shelby County court records reviewed by WATN, Johnson, who was 18 years-old at the time, shot three people at the Billy Hardwick Bowling Alley in 2017 – two of whom were injured.
Young Dolph honored by his kids at memorial as Memphis grapples with his death
Shelby County Judge Christopher Craft, who presided over the case, told WATN that Johnson had no record at the time, which is why he was given a second chance.
“The first time he used a gun, we gave him some slack because of him immediately cooperating and doing everything,” Craft said.
He was sentenced to five years in prison but after a few months he was released on probation, Craft said, but his probation was later revoked after Johnson faced a federal weapons charge for which he served additional time in prison.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons told ABC News on Friday that Johnson was sentenced in the Western District of Tennessee and committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons on March 11, 2019 and was released on May 25, 2021 via Good Conduct Time release.
Law enforcement urged the public to share any information regarding Johnson’s whereabouts and said that the suspect is a fugitive who “has ties to organized criminal gangs,” and “should be considered armed & dangerous.”
A spokesman for MPD told ABC News that as of Friday morning there are no updates to share regarding this case.
Johnson is 5-foot-8, 190 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes, police said. A combined reward of up to $15,000 is being offered by MPD, the U.S. Marshals Service and Crime Stoppers for information leading to his arrest.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — The three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced.
Travis McMichael, 35, was sentenced to life without the possible of parole. He delivered the deadly shot and was convicted on all nine charges: malice murder, four counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a shotgun, aggravated assault with a pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.
The McMichaels’ neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. He was found guilty of three of the felony murder counts as well as charges of aggravated assault with his pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.
“On February 23, 2020, almost two years ago, a resident of Glynn County, a graduate of Brunswick High, a son, a brother, a young man with dreams was gunned down in this community,” said Judge Timothy Walmsley before delivering the sentences. “As we understand it, he left us home apparently to go for a run. And he ended up running for his life.”
He took a minute-long moment of silence during his remarks to demonstrate “only a fraction of the time” that Arbery was running from the three men who were chasing him for five minutes.
A Georgia jury in November, after deliberating for about 11 hours, convicted the three white men of chasing and fatally shooting Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was out on a Sunday jog in February 2020.
Each faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
In the courtroom, Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery reflected on the loss of his son.
“The man who killed my son has been sitting in this courtroom, every single day, next to his father,” said Marcus. “I’ll never get that chance, to sit next to my son ever again, not at the table, not at a holiday.”
Arbery’s sister, Jasmine, remembered Arbery as a “big personality.”
“Ahmaud had dark skin that glistens in the son,” she said. “He had curly hair and would often like to twist it. Ahmaud had a broad nose and the color of his eyes was real, with melanin. He was tall with an athletic build and enjoyed running. Ahmaud had an appreciation for being outdoors.”
She added: “These are the qualities that made these men assume that Amaud was a dangerous criminal and chase him with guns. To me, those qualities reflect a young man full of life and energy who look like me and the people I love.”
His mother Wanda Cooper-Jones began her statement to court with a message to her son, Arbery.
“This verdict doesn’t bring you back,” she said. “But it does help bring closure to this very difficult chapter of my life. I made a promise to you, I’ll lay you to rest. I told you I love you and someday, somehow I would get you justice. Son, I love you as much today as I did the day that you were born. Raising you was the honor of my life and I’m very proud of you.”
All three men had pleaded not guilty to the nine-count state indictment.
The three men also have been indicted on federal hate crime charges, and all have pleaded not guilty. Jury selection for that trial is set to begin Feb. 7.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Arbery’s family, spoke in a press conference before the sentencing, calling the guilty verdict “an awakening in America.”
“What we pray for is that this is a new, precedent in America that harkens back to the words written in 1776 when we say we hold these truths, that all men are created equally,” Crump said. “We pray that we see that same spirit in a sentence of these killers, this lynch mob. We want to make sure that they don’t get a slap on the wrist.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 45 million people on Tuesday morning were under snow alerts from Virginia to Maine. The first significant snowstorm of the season in the Northeast, has hit New York and Boston, after wreaking havoc earlier this week, when weather conditions left people trapped on the highway for more than 24 hours in Virginia, including the state’s governor.
A winter storm warning is in effect for Connecticut, Rhode Island and into Boston, and all of coastal New England. Some of those areas could see a foot and a half of snow.
A state of emergency has been issued in New Jersey and there is a blizzard warning in effect for eastern, coastal Maine.
This same storm system brought traffic to a standstill in part of the the Mid-South, from Kentucky to Tennessee where dozens of accidents were reported. Nashville, Tennessee, saw record daily snowfall — 6.3 inches — the average there is 4.7 inches for the entire winter.
Some other records were broken as well. Lexington, Kentucky, received a whopping 9.9 inches, breaking that city’s daily record as well.
As of Friday morning, here’s how much snow has fallen across the region:
Higganum, Connecticut: 12 inches
LaGuardia Airport, New York City: 8.4 inches
Central Park, New York City: 5.5 inches
Newark, New Jersey: 6 inches
Long Island, New York: 7-9 inches
Rhode Island: 10 inches
Boston, Massachusetts: 7.1 inches, up to 12 inches south of town
Philadelphia 2.9 inches (officially) but up to 4 inches in the metro area
Washington, D.C., Reagan National (officially) 2.6 inches, but 3 to 4 inches inside the Beltway
An arctic blast with the coldest air of the season is following the snow. The Midwest is already seeing below-zero temperatures with wind chill near negative 53 degrees.
Wind chills are also dropping into the teens Friday morning from Texas to Alabama, and it feels like it’s freezing in Florida’s panhandle.
On Saturday, the coldest air of the season will move into the Northeast. Wind chills will be near zero in Boston, and in single digits in New York City, Philadelphia and D.C.
Black ice will be a major problem Saturday morning in the Northeast as the slushy snow will freeze on the streets and roads.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 833,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 07, 8:45 am
CDC director stands by new guidance, despite criticism
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is standing by her agency’s new quarantine and isolation guidance for COVID-19, which the nation’s largest association of physicians has criticized as “confusing.”
The CDC updated its guidelines on Dec. 27, saying asymptomatic people who test positive for COVID-19 should self-isolate for five days rather than 10. In a scathing statement released Wednesday night, the American Medical Association (AMA) said the new recommendations “are risking further spread of the virus.”
“The American people should be able to count on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for timely, accurate, clear guidance to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. Instead, the new recommendations on quarantine and isolation are not only confusing, but are risking further spread of the virus,” the AMA’s president, Dr. Gerald E. Harmon, said in the statement. “With hundreds of thousands of new cases daily and more than a million positive reported cases on January 3, tens of thousands — potentially hundreds of thousands of people — could return to work and school infectious if they follow the CDC’s new guidance on ending isolation after five days without a negative test.”
But Walensky defended the new guidance, telling ABC News’ Cecelia Vega in an interview Friday on Good Morning America that the CDC “make[s] these recommendations in the context of science, in the context of ongoing epidemiology and in the context of what is feasible in collaboration with our public health and local and state public health partners.”
“I’ve read the AMA statement and I have deep respect for the AMA,” Walenskey said, “but I will also say we’ve heard a lot of support for ongoing guidance from public health partners, from other clinical and laboratory partners as well.”
Walensky referenced “dozens of studies” that have shown a COVID-19 patient is most infectious in the one to two days before symptoms and the two to three days after symptoms.
“So by five days after your symptoms, the vast majority of your contagiousness is really behind you,” she said. “And what we say at day five then is, are your symptoms gone? Are you feeling better? Is your cough gone, sore throat gone? And if so, then it is safe to go out if you are wearing a mask all the time. And that means not going out to restaurants, not going out to gyms, not going out and visiting grandma, but really conscientiously wearing your mask for those last five days.”
Walensky noted that people may choose to take an antigen or at-home test at day five, if they have access to one. But it’s not required.
“If that test is positive, you should stay home for those extra five days. But if that test is negative you should go out and continue to wear your mask,” she said. “You know, these tests are actually not authorized for the purpose of evaluating contagiousness.”
Jan 07, 8:43 am
Florida allowed up to 1 million COVID-19 tests to expire, official says
Florida allowed up to a million COVID-19 rapid test kits to expire last month, according to Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie.
Guthrie admitted during a press conference Thursday that the stockpile of unused tests, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, sat idle in a Florida warehouse amid a lack of demand for them.
“We had between 800,000 and 1 million test kits — Abbott rapid test kits — in our warehouse that did expire,” Guthrie told reporters. “We tried to give them out prior to that, but there was not a demand for it.”
The tests expired between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30, after being granted a three-month extension, according to Guthrie. Meanwhile, the country has been grappling with a winter surge of COVID-19 infections, fueled in part by the highly contagious omicron variant and holiday gatherings, that has sparked an increased demand for tests, leading to shortages and long lines across the nation.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor, has accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Health of stockpiling tests amid hourslong lines at testing sites in some parts of the Sunshine State.
Jan 06, 10:47 pm
Global COVID cases top 300 million
The number of global cases of COVID-19 crossed 300 million on Thursday night, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. continues to have the most cases in the world — as it has all pandemic — with over 58 million cases. India (35 million), Brazil (22 million), the U.K. (14 million) and France (11 million) round out the top 5 countries by total cases.
Global cases crossed 200 million on Aug. 4, 2021, and 100 million on Jan. 26, 2021, according to JHU.
With many people now experiencing second bouts of the virus, it’s unclear how many total people have been infected globally.
Jan 06, 7:18 pm
Chicago cancels classes for 3rd day
Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest school district, canceled instruction on Friday for the third day in a row amid an impasse over in-person learning.
Classes were first canceled Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, after a majority of the Chicago Teachers Union’s membership voted this week in favor of remote learning during a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The district said Thursday evening that all classes will be canceled on Friday, though some schools may be able to offer in-person activities for students.
“Our schools are the best, safest place for students to be during this pandemic, and we are working tirelessly to get everyone back in class every day,” Pedro Martinez, head of the school district, said in a letter to families, noting that they are continuing to work with the union “to resolve this situation.”
The teacher’s union is calling for more robust school COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
Jan 06, 6:43 pm
J&J says vaccine offers lower initial efficacy but more stable protection over time
Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine offers lower initial efficacy compared to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, but protection against breakthrough infection remains more stable over time, according to a new study sponsored by the pharmaceutical company.
The study found that the J&J vaccine was 74% effective against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the shot. This level of protection held steady over the next three months and started waning after the fourth month.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, meanwhile, were 88% and 92% effective, respectively, against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the second dose, the study found. This level of protection started waning after the second month, falling progressively over six months.
Protection against severe illness remained more stable over time for all three vaccines.
The analysis, which has not been peer-reviewed, looked at data from 168 million people between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7 of last year. It covers a period of alpha and delta variant dominance, but the results could change now that the omicron variant is also present.
The data supports current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for booster shots after two months for the J&J vaccine to bring initial efficacy higher, and booster shots for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines after five and six months, respectively, to boost efficacy after a period of waning.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Jan 06, 4:44 pm
Less than 0.1% of fully vaccinated adults get severe COVID-19: CDC
COVID-19 vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of severe illness and death from the virus, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday.
The study looked at 1.2 million fully vaccinated adults who received either two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Just 0.18% of patients had breakthrough COVID-19 infections, and 0.015% developed serious illness that led to hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, intubation or death.
The small portion of people who did become seriously sick or die of COVID-19 after being vaccinated were primarily older adults, immunocompromised people or those living with multiple underlying medical conditions.
The study was conducted before the emergence of the omicron variant, which appears to more easily evade — at least partially — the protection offered by vaccines.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 833,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 10:47 pm
Global COVID cases top 300 million
The number of global cases of COVID-19 crossed 300 million on Thursday night, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. continues to have the most cases in the world — as it has all pandemic — with over 58 million cases. India (35 million), Brazil (22 million), the U.K. (14 million) and France (11 million) round out the top 5 countries by total cases.
Global cases crossed 200 million on Aug. 4, 2021, and 100 million on Jan. 26, 2021, according to JHU.
With many people now experiencing second bouts of the virus, it’s unclear how many total people have been infected globally.
Jan 06, 7:18 pm
Chicago cancels classes for 3rd day
Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest school district, canceled instruction on Friday for the third day in a row amid an impasse over in-person learning.
Classes were first canceled Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, after a majority of the Chicago Teachers Union’s membership voted this week in favor of remote learning during a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The district said Thursday evening that all classes will be canceled on Friday, though some schools may be able to offer in-person activities for students.
“Our schools are the best, safest place for students to be during this pandemic, and we are working tirelessly to get everyone back in class every day,” Pedro Martinez, head of the school district, said in a letter to families, noting that they are continuing to work with the union “to resolve this situation.”
The teacher’s union is calling for more robust school COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
Jan 06, 6:43 pm
J&J says vaccine offers lower initial efficacy but more stable protection over time
Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine offers lower initial efficacy compared to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, but protection against breakthrough infection remains more stable over time, according to a new study sponsored by the pharmaceutical company.
The study found that the J&J vaccine was 74% effective against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the shot. This level of protection held steady over the next three months and started waning after the fourth month.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, meanwhile, were 88% and 92% effective, respectively, against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the second dose, the study found. This level of protection started waning after the second month, falling progressively over six months.
Protection against severe illness remained more stable over time for all three vaccines.
The analysis, which has not been peer-reviewed, looked at data from 168 million people between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7 of last year. It covers a period of alpha and delta variant dominance, but the results could change now that the omicron variant is also present.
The data supports current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for booster shots after two months for the J&J vaccine to bring initial efficacy higher, and booster shots for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines after five and six months, respectively, to boost efficacy after a period of waning.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Jan 06, 4:44 pm
Less than 0.1% of fully vaccinated adults get severe COVID-19: CDC
COVID-19 vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of severe illness and death from the virus, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday.
The study looked at 1.2 million fully vaccinated adults who received either two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Just 0.18% of patients had breakthrough COVID-19 infections, and 0.015% developed serious illness that led to hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, intubation or death.
The small portion of people who did become seriously sick or die of COVID-19 after being vaccinated were primarily older adults, immunocompromised people or those living with multiple underlying medical conditions.
The study was conducted before the emergence of the omicron variant, which appears to more easily evade — at least partially — the protection offered by vaccines.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — The three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery are set to be sentenced on Friday.
A Georgia jury in November, after deliberating for about 11 hours, convicted the three white men of chasing and fatally shooting Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was out on a Sunday jog in February 2020.
Travis McMichael, 35, delivered the deadly shot and was convicted on all nine charges: malice murder, four counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a shotgun, aggravated assault with a pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.
His father, Gregory McMichael, 65, a former Georgia police officer, was found not guilty of malice murder but was convicted on the remaining charges, including the felony murder counts.
The McMichaels’ neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, was found guilty of three felony murder counts as well as charges of aggravated assault with his pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.
All three had pleaded not guilty to the nine-count state indictment. Each faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The three men also have been indicted on federal hate crime charges, and all have pleaded not guilty. Jury selection for that trial is set to begin Feb. 7.
(PHILADELPHIA) — A National Response Team is being activated to help with the investigation into Wednesday’s devastating fire in Philadelphia.
A residential fire in a converted apartment building killed 12 people, including eight children. Officials initially reported 13 people had been killed while conducting search and recovery efforts.
When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke, heat and limited visibility on all floors.
The Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation into the cause of the fire along with help from the Philadelphia Police Department and the federal NRT, part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The deployment of the NRT came at the request of the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office given the magnitude and the scope of the fire, the bureau said in a statement.
“We’re grateful for the assistance as we continue to investigate the heartbreaking fire on 23rd Street,” the Philadelphia Fire Department said in a tweet.
Firefighters were able to rescue one child from the fire, but the child didn’t survive.
“This is a very tragic event in which the community sustained such a great loss of life,” said Matthew Varisco, special agent in charge of ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division. “ATF will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to assist in any way possible.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 832,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.3% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 7:18 pm
Chicago cancels classes for 3rd day
Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest school district, canceled instruction on Friday for the third day in a row amid an impasse over in-person learning.
Classes were first canceled Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, after a majority of the Chicago Teachers Union’s membership voted this week in favor of remote learning during a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The district said Thursday evening that all classes will be canceled on Friday, though some schools may be able to offer in-person activities for students.
“Our schools are the best, safest place for students to be during this pandemic, and we are working tirelessly to get everyone back in class every day,” Pedro Martinez, head of the school district, said in a letter to families, noting that they are continuing to work with the union “to resolve this situation.”
The teacher’s union is calling for more robust school COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
Jan 06, 6:43 pm
J&J says vaccine offers lower initial efficacy but more stable protection over time
Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine offers lower initial efficacy compared to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, but protection against breakthrough infection remains more stable over time, according to a new study sponsored by the pharmaceutical company.
The study found that the J&J vaccine was 74% effective against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the shot. This level of protection held steady over the next three months and started waning after the fourth month.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, meanwhile, were 88% and 92% effective, respectively, against breakthrough infection in the weeks following the second dose, the study found. This level of protection started waning after the second month, falling progressively over six months.
Protection against severe illness remained more stable over time for all three vaccines.
The analysis, which has not been peer-reviewed, looked at data from 168 million people between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7 of last year. It covers a period of alpha and delta variant dominance, but the results could change now that the omicron variant is also present.
The data supports current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for booster shots after two months for the J&J vaccine to bring initial efficacy higher, and booster shots for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines after five and six months, respectively, to boost efficacy after a period of waning.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Jan 06, 4:44 pm
Less than 0.1% of fully vaccinated adults get severe COVID-19: CDC
COVID-19 vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of severe illness and death from the virus, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday.
The study looked at 1.2 million fully vaccinated adults who received either two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Just 0.18% of patients had breakthrough COVID-19 infections, and 0.015% developed serious illness that led to hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, intubation or death.
The small portion of people who did become seriously sick or die of COVID-19 after being vaccinated were primarily older adults, immunocompromised people or those living with multiple underlying medical conditions.
The study was conducted before the emergence of the omicron variant, which appears to more easily evade — at least partially — the protection offered by vaccines.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Jan 06, 3:55 pm
About 126,000 Americans hospitalized with COVID-19
An estimated 126,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Of those patients, about one-sixth — or 21,000 — are in intensive care units.
The spread of the omicron variant is pushing the U.S. closer to the hospitalization record set last winter when 140,000 patients with the virus were hospitalized .
Meanwhile, the country is averaging 554,000 new COVID-19 cases every day, a five-fold increase from a month ago, federal data shows.
Over the last week, the U.S. has reported about 3.88 million COVID-19 infections, which averages out to about six Americans testing positive every second.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 06, 2:34 pm
More than 800 LA firefighters, police officers test positive
More than 800 staff members at fire and police departments in Los Angeles have tested positive for COVID-19, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Thursday.
Currently, 505 police officers and 299 firefighters are quarantining after receiving positive results.
“These are big numbers. Numbers that are reflecting the staffing challenges that all of us face,” Garcetti said during a press conference outside a fire station.
He added that five out of six employees in both departments are fully vaccinated, complying with the vaccine mandate set in place for city employees.
Garcetti said that despite the number of officers and firefighters absent from work, the city is still protected.
“Both LAPD and LAFD have maintained staffing levels that are needed to keep Angelenos safe, and we have maintained staffing levels to make sure you, your family, our communities are safe,” he said.
Jan 06, 12:33 pm
WHO says global cases increased by 71% last week
Global cases of COVID-19 “increased sharply,” the World Health Organization wrote in its weekly epidemiological update published Thursday.
Cases of the virus increased 71% during the week ending Jan. 2 compared to the previous week, meaning there were 9.5 million new infections of COVID-19 reported around the world, according to the WHO.
The Americas saw the largest increase at 100% followed by Southeast Asia at 78% and Europe at 63%.
The United States saw the most COVID-19 cases last week followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy.
The WHO added that there was a 10% decrease in the number of new deaths compared to the week prior with more than 41,000 virus-related fatalities recorded.
Jan 06, 11:17 am
1.3 million people in UK have long COVID, data shows
An estimated 1.3 million people in the United Kingdom are suffering from long COVID, according to new data published Thursday by the UK’s Office for National Statistics.
Long COVID is a condition in which patients who recover from the virus still experience symptoms for weeks — or even months or years — later.
The ONS said the figure, which is based on self-reported symptoms, equates to 2% of the population living with long COVID.
Fatigue was the most common symptom, reported by 51% of those surveyed. Other common symptoms included loss of smell (37%), shortness of breath (36%) and difficulty concentrating (28%).
About 64% said their long COVID symptoms made it difficult for them to carry out day-to-day activities.
Long COVID was most commonly reported in those between ages 35 and 69, females, people living in poorer areas or those working in health care or education, according to the ONS.
Jan 06, 4:05 am
American Medical Association criticizes CDC’s new guidance
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest association of physicians, has criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new quarantine and isolation guidance for COVID-19, saying the recommendations “are risking further spread of the virus.”
The CDC updated its guidelines on Dec. 27, saying asymptomatic people who test positive for COVID-19 should self-isolate for five days rather than 10.
“The American people should be able to count on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for timely, accurate, clear guidance to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. Instead, the new recommendations on quarantine and isolation are not only confusing, but are risking further spread of the virus,” the American Medical Association’s president, Dr. Gerald E. Harmon, said in a statement Wednesday night.
Harmon referenced data cited by the CDC in its rationale for shortening the isolation period, which estimates 31% of people remain infectious five days after a positive COVID-19 test, suggesting that data proves thousands of Americans could return to their lives while still infected.
“With hundreds of thousands of new cases daily and more than a million positive reported cases on January 3, tens of thousands — potentially hundreds of thousands of people — could return to work and school infectious if they follow the CDC’s new guidance on ending isolation after five days without a negative test,” Harmon said. “Physicians are concerned that these recommendations put our patients at risk and could further overwhelm our health care system.”
Harmon said a negative COVID-19 test should be required for ending isolation after a positive test, as reentering society without knowing whether an individual is still positive ultimately risks further transmission of the virus.
Although test availability remains an issue nationwide, Harmon also called on the Biden administration to ramp up production and distribution of tests, adding that “a dearth of tests at the moment does not justify omitting a testing requirement to exit a now shortened isolation.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 06, 3:16 am
Chicago cancels school for 2nd day
Officials in Chicago canceled all public school classes on Thursday amid discussions about classroom safety with the city’s teachers.
Classes had been canceled on Wednesday after a majority of the Chicago Teachers Union’s membership voted in favor of remote learning during a surge in COVID-19 cases. School officials called their action an illegal strike.
“In a time of crisis related to this pandemic, the worst possible thing we can do is abandon the science and data,” Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot said on Twitter. “If you care about our students and families as we do, we will not relent. We are standing firm and fighting to get our kids back to in-person learning.”
Teachers were locked out of their remote classrooms on Wednesday, according to the union. Union leaders asked members to again try to log in on Thursday, urging them post photos on social media.
The union on Wednesday filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Chicago Board of Education.
“We have rights to safety and we’ve been at the bargaining table for 20 months to secure those rights,” Jesse Sharkey, the union’s president, said in a statement.
Chicago Public Schools are among the largest in the country, with about 340,000 students in 636 schools.
Jan 06, 2:43 am
TSA reports more than 3,000 employee cases
The Transportation Security Administration reported 3,037 current COVID-19 infections on Wednesday.
The agency’s infections have increased by about 16% in two days, according to TSA data.
The agency, which employs about 60,000, said it’s had a cumulative 15,191 COVID-19 cases. The agency said 12,154 employees have recovered and 33 have died.
-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney
Jan 05, 9:02 pm
CDC signs off on Pfizer boosters for 12- to 15-year-olds
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given the final go-ahead for children ages 12 to 15 to get Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster.
“It is critical that we protect our children and teens from COVID-19 infection and the complications of severe disease,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement endorsing the CDC advisory panel’s recommendation to expand booster eligibility.
The CDC recommends that adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 get a Pfizer booster five months after their second dose.
