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(NEW YORK) — Just two weeks ago, Puerto Rico had a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 2% — the lowest it had ever been, according to the island’s health department COVID-19 dashboard.

As of Monday, that rate (an indicator of community spread) jumped to 33%, an explosive increase that tracks with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant and has sparked concerns among the scientific community and health officials on the island.

“This is not the time to get together, “ said Puerto Rico’s Health Secretary Carlos Mellado in a press conference ahead of New Year’s Eve gatherings.

The rapid surge of cases comes after multiple events, concerts and holiday festivities had been held on the island. Many of these events required proof of vaccination to be able to attend.

“What happened was a perfect storm,” said the president of Puerto Rico’s Scientific Coalition Daniel Colón-Ramos. “We didn’t expect to happen this fast.”

The island has seen an uptick in hospitalizations as well.

“Hospitalization cases have increased considerably in just two days,” Secretary Mellado added in the press conference.

According to the health departments dashboard, current hospitalizations are over 400 and the total death toll is at 3,310.

Puerto Rico’s increase in COVID-19 cases is on par with the rest of the nation. Other U.S. jurisdictions like New York, Florida, New Jersey and Washington D.C. have also reported a spike in cases in the last weeks.

The island’s vaccination rate is 80% one of the highest in the U.S., but 26.8% have received booster shots — a key factor in battling the omicron variant. In other states like New York health officials are also trying to encourage citizens to get the booster shot as soon as possible.

The omicron variant in Puerto Rico account for 92% of the COVID-19 cases, according to the island’s health department.

After cases started to increase, Puerto Rico’s governor implemented new restrictions including limiting capacity in restaurants, bars and theaters, requiring domestic travelers a negative test within 48 hours and demanding international travelers proof of negative test 24 hours prior to arrival even when the person has been fully vaccinated. The island’s mask mandate implemented since the beginning of the pandemic remains in place.

The government recently announced that booster shots would be required for first responders, restaurant employees and public employees that work in the educational system.

According to scientist Mónica Feliú-Mójer from the organization Ciencia PR, which focuses on scientific education in the island, the case increase in Puerto Rico reported such a rapid increase in cases is attributable to several factors, including people’s behavior.

The combination of massive events, the holiday season and a highly transmissible variant sparked the spike in positivity rate in the island, experts say.

“The holidays are culturally very, very important and everyone thought this would be a different Christmas. People were eager to get together,” Feliú-Mójer told ABC News.

Amid the surge in cases, the island’s health department announced they will not follow the new CDC guidelines that shorten the isolation period for asymptomatic patients.

“We cannot wait to see what happens with the hospitalizations before decisions are made because our healthcare system is frail,” Colón-Ramos told ABC News.

Puerto Rico’s healthcare system is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Maria, the 2020 earthquakes and the ongoing economic depression. Some municipalities still don’t have functional clinics.

The scientific community applauded the government’s decision to take into consideration the island’s context and to not implement the new CDC guidelines.

“We need to put all of the preventive measures front and be conservative,” Colón-Ramos said. “In Puerto Rico we need to bring the cases down, we cannot wait.”

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(COLORADO) — Three people are still missing after devastating Colorado wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, authorities said.

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate in Boulder County on Thursday when high winds and dry conditions helped fuel two fast-spreading wildfires, the more destructive of the two being the Marshall Fire.

No casualties have been officially reported, though three people have been reported missing in the region of the Marshall Fire, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said during a press briefing Saturday.

“I suspected we would have loss of life just based on the size of this fire, the speed and the ferocity,” Pelle said. “I think it’s miraculous that it is three and not 100 or hundreds. So I’m grateful for that, but I’m also extremely sorry for the families.”

Two people were reported missing in the town of Superior, while one person is missing in the Marshall area, Pelle said.

Their homes have been destroyed, and search and recovery efforts have been further impeded after 8 inches of snow fell on the structures, the sheriff said.

First responders plan to bring in cadaver dogs on Sunday to help find potential human remains in the homes, he said.

“We unfortunately believe these are going to turn into recovery efforts,” Pelle said.

The Marshall Fire has destroyed 991 total structures and damaged 127, based on preliminary assessments, authorities said. In the city of Louisville, 553 structures were destroyed and another 45 were damaged. In Superior, 332 structures were destroyed and another 60 were damaged.

Parts of Boulder County are still under evacuation due to “active hot spots, downed power lines and damaged trees at risk of falling,” according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management.

Authorities are still working to determine the cause of the fires, which were first suspected to be sparked by downed power lines. The sheriff’s office executed a search warrant on a property based on a tip it recently received, said Pelle, who did not provide any further information on that case.

“We’re looking at any cause for the wildfire,” he said. “If it turns out to be arson, or reckless behavior with fire, we’ll take appropriate actions.”

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(NEW YORK) — An off-duty New York Police Department officer is in stable condition after he was struck in the head by a bullet while sleeping in his car between shifts, authorities said.

The officer was resting in his personal car, which was parked in the lot of a Manhattan police precinct, after finishing a late-night shift at a New Year’s Eve event in Central Park, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

While reclined in the driver’s seat, a bullet came through the rear passenger window, striking him in the temple, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.

The officer awoke at 6:15 a.m. in pain to find his rear window shattered, according to Sewell. An on-duty officer rendered aid and the injured officer was transported to a nearby hospital, where he underwent surgery and had bullet fragments removed from his wound, the commissioner said.

The officer, who officials said is a seven-year veteran of the force and father of two, was not identified. He has a fractured skull but is expected to make a full recovery, officials said.

“We are grateful that our officer is recovering, as we know this could have been a very tragic outcome,” Sewell told reporters outside New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where the office is recuperating. “I also truly believe this incident underscores that there are far too many guns out there in the wrong hands and too many people willing to fire those weapons, and that is something we intend to tackle head-on.”

Detectives don’t have a motive at this time, and it is unclear if the officer was the intended target, authorities said.

“It appears that the bullet was fired from a significant distance away,” Sewell said. “It’s hard to tell who the intended target was, if any.”

There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who fired the gun, Essig said.

Newly-inaugurated New York City Mayor Eric Adams visited the officer in his hospital room on Saturday.

“I knew that this could have turned out differently,” Adams, a former New York City police captain, told reporters. “I know that a bullet, when it strikes an individual, it does not stop its path. It continues to rip apart the anatomy of a family and a community.”

We are happy but angry today.

Happy to report that our officer injured last night is recovering and in good spirits.

Angry that someone brought in the New Year with violence.

We’ll find the gun AND the shooter. We’ll bring anyone who thinks they can attack our city to justice. pic.twitter.com/uhT2dWTlAy

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) January 1, 2022

He vowed to “aggressively” address gun violence in the city.

“That bullet could have struck any person or individual that was walking through the streets,” he said. “And I am clear on my mission to aggressively go after those who are carrying violent weapons in our city.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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(KENTUCKY) — A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Kentucky and Tennessee on Saturday, effective until 6 p.m. CT.

The tornado watch warning includes areas devestated by an outreak of tornadoes that left 93 dead across five states last month.

The severe weather system brought heavy rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail and strong straight-line winds impacting much of Western, Eastern and South Central Kentucky, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.

“The severe weather caused flash flooding, loss of power and damage of public infrastructure and private properties,” the governor’s office said in the release.

A total of between 2 to 5 inches of rain is expected to fall on Saturday, with a cold front arriving in the evening, which could complicate the response, according to the governor’s office.

At least one tornado has already been reported in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Saturday due to severe weather across most of the state.

“A tornado touchdown was reported in Hopkinsville, causing severe damage to downtown businesses, and a possible tornado touchdown was reported in Taylor County, where numerous households have been damaged,” the governor’s office said.

Strong thunderstorms have been hitting parts of Kentucky Saturday morning, bringing a high risk of torrential rain and flash flooding.

“It is devastating that we are once again experiencing severe weather just weeks after the deadly tornadoes hit Western Kentucky. Sadly, some counties have been affected by both of these events,” Gov. Beshear said. “We will continue to monitor the weather and provide needed updates. Everyone be aware, stay safe and seek shelter when advised.”

Major flash flooding is ongoing in Pike County and surrounding areas of Kentucky as numerous flash flood warnings remain in place across southern parts of the state.

Flash flooding was also reported in Green, Barren, Taylor, Adair, Owsley, Breathitt and Casey counties resulting in road closures and water rescues, according to the governor’s office.

The threat of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes will increase in the next few hours, with possible damaging wind gusts and tornadoes in the watch area Saturday evening.

Kentucky Emergency Management activated the State Emergency Operations Center. Personnel from the Kentucky National Guard, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Kentucky State Police and Kentucky Department of Public Health are monitoring the situation, according to the governor’s office.

“Please give way to emergency responders operating in numerous counties and stay off of transportation routes today if at all possible,” Michael Dossett, director of Kentucky Emergency Management, said in the press release.

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(DENVER) — Prosecutors who charged Rogel Aguilera-Mederos following a deadly crash vowed to release previously undisclosed information from the case to the public after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted the truck driver clemency on Thursday, commuting his 110-year sentence to 10 years.

“We look forward to sharing more information with our community that we were ethically prohibited from releasing while the case was pending,” Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King, the prosecutor in the case, said in a statement on Thursday.

It is unclear when the DA will release the new information or what it would include. ABC News has reached out to King’s office, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

Mederos was sentenced on Dec. 13 to 110 years in prison for a 2019 fatal crash on Interstate 70, outside Denver, that killed four people and injured several others — a sentence the judge said he wouldn’t have chosen if he had the discretion.

Aguilera-Mederos’ attorneys, Leonard Martinez and James Colgan said they were “surprised” by how fast Polis acted, adding that it is “unusual” for a governor to act on clemency before the appellate process takes place.

But now that Polis has acted, Colgan said they believe that the case is no longer in the jurisdiction of the courts or the DA’s office and King’s promise to release new information is a case of “sour grapes” and based on “political motivations.”

“It wouldn’t matter what she disclosed now,” Colgan told ABC News.

“I’m not aware of any law that allows [the DA’s office] to have jurisdiction over the case,” he added.

Asked what the new information may be, “I have no idea,” the attorneys both said.

Polis commuted Mederos’ sentence two weeks after his legal team applied for clemency and ahead of a scheduled hearing next month requested by King for the court to reconsider the sentence.

“After learning about the highly atypical and unjust sentence in your case, I am commuting your sentence to 10 years and granting you parole eligibility on December 30, 2026,” Polis wrote in a statement on Thursday.

Martinez said he was on the phone when Polis’ office called Mederos to inform him that his sentence was commuted.

“He was shocked … and he said he was very grateful,” Martinez said.

“Rogel is very grateful for all the support he’s gotten not only locally, but nationally. He’s humbled by it,” Martinez said.

His mother, Oslaida Mederos, who spoke exclusively with “Nightline” earlier this week, is also “grateful” and “celebrating” the decision but would like her son home “even sooner,” Martinez added.

Amid mounting public backlash over the sentence, King filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to reconsider the 110 years and suggested a sentencing range of 20-30 years instead.

King said that the range was determined after conversations with the victims and their families.

“We are disappointed in the Governor’s decision to act prematurely,” King said on Thursday.

“We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time,” she added.

Martinez said he believes that the clemency from the governor takes any other legal avenues, including an appeal, off the table.

But because it is so “unusual” that Polis acted before the appellate process took place, the legal team needs to “review” all options, he added.

The court has not officially vacated the hearing to reconsider the original sentence, which is set for Jan. 13, but Mederos’ attorney said they expect the judge to do so next week.

Mederos was charged with 42 counts and found guilty by a Jefferson County jury of 27 counts — the most serious was first-degree assault, a class-three felony.

The number of the charges, mandatory minimum laws and a classification that mandates some sentences be served consecutively resulted in the lengthy sentence.

Mederos testified that his brakes failed – a point not contested by prosecutors, but some points of contention in the case appear to be decisions Mederos allegedly made before the crash took place and once he found out that he was having brake problems.

ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.

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(ILLINOIS) — Police have arrested a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting of two Illinois police officers that left one of them dead, while a second suspect remains at large, authorities said.

Darius Sullivan, 25, was taken into custody Friday morning without incident after authorities conducted a search warrant on a home in North Manchester, Indiana, police said. Narcotics and multiple weapons were found inside the home, according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield.

Sullivan had warrants out of Illinois for his arrest on first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm charges, Fifield said, in connection with Wednesday’s fatal shooting at a hotel in Kankakee County, Illinois.

Bradley Police Department Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, 49, was killed after responding to a noise complaint at a Comfort Inn, authorities said. Her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, 27, was wounded in the shooting and remains hospitalized in critical condition, Illinois State Police said in an update Thursday night.

Sullivan, of Bourbonnais, Illinois, will be transferred to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department, Fifield said. Police are still determining his connection to the North Manchester residence. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

An arrest warrant has also been issued for a second suspect in connection with the shooting, Xandria Harris, 26, of Bradley, Illinois, state police said. She was not present at the North Manchester home when Sullivan was taken into custody, according to Fifield.

“We are actively looking for her,” Fifield said.

The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office was offering a $25,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of Sullivan. Fifield said the reward still stands for information leading to the arrest of Harris.

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(FLORIDA) — An official at the Naples Zoo, where a tiger attacked a man who allegedly stuck his hand in the cage, said on Friday that it supports that deputy’s decision to shoot the animal.

The man had called 911 after the tiger attacked him at the Florida zoo. Initial reports suggest that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man jumped over the initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing, authorities said on Thursday.

The tiger, named Eko, died after being shot in the neck by a responding deputy. Eko was a Malayan tiger, a species that is critically endangered due to poaching and habitat loss, according to the Naples Zoo.

President and CEO of Naples Zoo, Jack Mulvena, said the zoo hasn’t considered pressing charges against the man, identified as a 26-year-old River Rosenquist.

“It was a bad mistake, a bad decision, but we only wish him well in the recovery,” he said during a press conference Friday.

Mulvena said he spoke with the zoo’s weapon’s team and they said if they were in the officer’s position, under the same circumstances, they would have made the same decision.

“The deputy faced a very difficult decision and we support that decision,” Mulvena said.

Rosenquist, who worked for a third-party cleaning company, had entered an unauthorized area of the Florida zoo. Authorities said on Thursday that he could face criminal charges.

Mulvena said that third parties hired to work for the zoo, including HMI Commercial Cleaners, where Rosenquist worked, were aware they should not be in certain areas.

“Their responsibilities were very specific; cleaning of our new hospital and commissary, our gift shop, admissions and our two public bathrooms,” Mulvena said.

The zoo’s security team never saw Rosenquist or any cleaning crew members depart from what they were supposed to be doing, Mulvena said Friday.

“In this instance, unfortunately, River made the decision to breach a visitor barrier and get close to the exhibit itself. We don’t know what happened and why he did that. We suspect it was to pet or to feed, but we don’t know that for certain. Only River knows that,” Mulvena said.

The zoo is in the process of conducting an internal investigation and review of all its policies and protocols, he said.

“[We] don’t believe our policies and protocols were in any way responsible for this,” Mulvena said.

The zoo will also consider whether it should install security cameras.

“I think the lesson learned here is you can’t 100% prevent people from making really, really horrible decisions,” Mulvena said.

The zoo established the Eko Tiger Conservation Fund in memory of the tiger. All the proceeds from the fund will be going to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which Mulvena said has been doing some of the best work in the world on Malayan tiger conservation.

“We want his memory to live on and we want it to live on in terms of saving Malayan tigers in the wild,” Mulvena said.

Eko’s body is currently in the zoo’s hospital and a necropsy is scheduled for Monday.

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(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in New York officially dropped charges against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas – the two correctional officers on duty when Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a federal lockup there.

In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell in the early hours of the morning at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Noel and Thomas allegedly falsified government records and fell asleep on the job according to a November 2019 indictment. Leaders from the federal correctional officers union argued this case was unprecedented and typically would be handled administratively.

In May, the two officers entered into a deferred prosecution agreement – contingent on Thomas and Noel completing community service and having good behavior.

In a Thursday court filing, prosecutors said they were dropping the case, formally ending the prosecution of the two officers.

The Justice Department has yet to release any report regarding the timeframe leading up to Epstein’s suicide or days after.

Documents obtained by ABC News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in early December from the Bureau of Prisons do shed a little light on what occurred.

“I have no interest in killing myself,” Epstein told a BOP psychologist two weeks before he died by suicide, according to the documents.

Epstein also previously attempted suicide on July 23, according to the records, which were first obtained by the New York Times.

Included in the records was an e-mail from an unnamed inmate who worked in the kitchen at MCC.

“Jeffrey Epstein definitely killed himself. Any conspiracy theories to the contrary are ridiculous,” this inmate wrote to the BOP. “He wanted to kill himself and seized the opportunity when it was available.”

This inmate told BOP officials he heard Epstein ripping up the bed sheet he used to hang himself.

Former Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press shortly after the suicide that it was the “perfect storm of screw ups” that lead to his death.

Earlier this week, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

Maxwell faced a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls between 1994 and 2004.

Prosecutors alleged that Maxwell played a “key role” in a multi-state sex trafficking scheme in which she allegedly “befriended” and later “enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein” and was also, at times, “present for and involved” in the abuse herself.

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(COLORADO) — The wildfires that tore through Boulder County, Colorado Thursday afternoon are an unfortunate example of how climate and weather can combine to disastrous effect.

As with many climate change-amplified disasters, the conditions that set the stage for the explosive and fast-moving fires had been developing and intensifying in the months prior.

It has been very dry and very warm across Colorado for several months with various temperature and precipitation records broken in both Boulder and Colorado as a whole. The period of July 1 to Dec. 15, 2021, was the warmest and driest on record for the city of Denver. The city is also on track to have one of their warmest Decembers on record.

Earlier in the month, Denver set a record for its longest stretch without snow, 232 days. When it finally snowed on Dec. 10, it was the latest measurable amount on record, and was two months later than the average first measurable snowfall. Through the end of December, Denver typically sees around 20 inches of snow. On the evening of the fires on Dec. 30, it had only seen 0.3 inches.

The drought monitor released just hours before the fires showed all of Colorado in drought, with over 22% of the state, including eastern Boulder County, in extreme drought.

While strong wind events are common in Colorado, a wind event with gusts over 100 mph, combined with very dry conditions became a recipe for disaster. Strong wind events in Colorado can also be extremely localized due to several microclimates caused by rapid elevation and terrain changes within the state.

Unfortunately, these conditions were the key player for the rapid and erratic spread of the Marshall fire in Boulder County, which has become the most destructive fire ever in Colorado based on the number of structures destroyed. This makes back-to-back years Colorado has seen its most destructive fire ever. Prior to Marshall fire, Colorado’s most destructive fire was the East Troublesome Fire in 2020.

While it is challenging to link climate change to any single event, or a even a couple events over the years, as the parts of the western U.S. become drier and deal with more extreme temperatures, that events like erratic and rapid fire spread will likely become more common.

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(NEW YORK) — The brother of Ghislaine Maxwell says that he denies any possibility that his sister is guilty of the sex trafficking crimes she was convicted of on Wednesday.

Kevin Maxwell, in an American television exclusive, spoke to ABC News a day after a jury convicted his sister of conspiring with and aiding serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was convicted Wednesday on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls between 1994 and 2004.

Kevin Maxwell told ABC News’ James Hill that his sister had been unfairly portrayed as Epstein’s “demon queen” accomplice, and that while accusers’ testimony might have been moving, she should not be pilloried for her longtime associate’s crimes.

“I think that anybody who sat in and listened to the accusers’ testimony — I’m a dad, I’m a brother, anybody, just any normal guy listening to their testimony — is going to have been moved. And I can also understand anger. But that doesn’t mean that I believe for a single second that my sister is guilty of the crimes of which she was convicted,” Kevin Maxwell said.

Epstein, the one-time millionaire financier, died by suicide in jail in 2019.

Ghislaine and Kevin Maxwell are two of the children of controversial British publishing mogul Robert Maxwell, who drowned in the Atlantic Ocean after falling off his yacht in 1991.

Kevin Maxwell sat through his sister’s trial for a substantial portion of the proceedings, often accompanied by her other siblings, Isabel, Christine and Ian. Less than 24 hours after his sister was convicted, he told ABC News that he was “still shocked” at the verdict in what he described as a “tremendous injustice.”

His sister will appeal the verdict, Maxwell said, and he was certain that it would be overturned and that she would be vindicated.

“The reality is that there are myriad jury cases, miscarriages of justice involving juries, where the verdicts have been overturned on appeal. This will just be yet another one,” Maxwell said.

“Because of the, we think, very strong legal grounds and evidential grounds for the appeal, obviously that has to wait for sentencing, so it’s some way off, but the work is already in hand and we’re very confident,” he said.

Though multiple accusers testified that Ghislaine Maxwell had groomed them for Epstein’s abuse — and had at times participated in it herself — Kevin Maxwell pushed back on her role.

“There’s no, simply no, question that there are many victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” Maxwell said. “They’re simply not crimes that were committed by my sister.”

Kevin Maxwell would not say if he had anything to tell Epstein’s accusers and those who say Ghislaine Maxwell played a role in abetting Epstein’s crimes.

“I don’t want to use this opportunity to denigrate in any way the evidence that’s been given by those accusers; that’s their evidence,” he said. “As I say, I remain absolutely persuaded of Epstein’s crimes. I’m equally persuaded that my sister will be exonerated on appeal, and these guilty verdicts will be overturned.”

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