(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.
(NEW YORK) — More than 90 million people around the country are expecting hazardous weather on Thursday into Friday morning.
Thirty-seven states are under winter weather alerts for heavy snow, ice, brutal cold and wind Thursday night.
More than 2,000 flights on Thursday have been canceled as of 5:30 p.m., with airports in Nashville, Denver and Chicago the most impacted, according to FlightAware. Over 1,500 flights on Friday have also been canceled, with airports in New York, Denver and Newark, New Jersey, among the most impacted.
There were numerous accidents around the country Thursday, with some interstates closed from Oregon to Michigan as the wild weather moved across the country.
Police in Nashville are investigating a multi-car collision on Interstate 40 that blocked off all the westbound lanes, according to WKRN.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a winter storm advisory and advised people to avoid any unnecessary travel in several parts of the state. Two weather systems are expected to produce snow and gusting winds, resulting in snow, ice-covered roads and low visibility, according to a statement from her office.
“Areas in Western New York and the North Country are already experiencing lake effect snow and we’re anticipating up to six inches of snow in Downstate regions between tonight and tomorrow morning,” Hochul said in a statement.
A winter storm is headed for the Interstate 95 corridor, where earlier this week, weather conditions left people trapped on the highway for more than 24 hours in Virginia.
The I-95 corridor is expected to see 3 to 6 inches of snow, with localized amounts of up to 8 inches in Massachusetts and Maine.
Virginia state officials and agencies are strongly cautioning drivers to stay off the roads due to the wintry conditions.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to the winter weather.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also declared a state of emergency Thursday, amid heavy snowfall across the state.
“We are urging Kentuckians to stay off the roads if possible,” Beshear said in a statement. “The weather we are continuing to see across Kentucky is dangerous.”
More than half a foot of snow is possible in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Dozens of schools announced they will be closed on Thursday due to weather conditions, according to Memphis ABC affiliate WATN.
The storm system is moving out of the central Plains and the Mid-South and will form into a coastal low, bringing a widespread snow event from Nashville, Tennessee, to Washington. D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
A winter storm warning is in place for Boston and Nashville and a winter weather advisory is in place for Washington. D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.
Nashville could see several inches of snow.
Areas, including New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, are expected to get the first significant snow of the season.
Snow begins in D.C. Thursday evening and will continue overnight. Snow starts in Philadelphia after midnight and in New York City after 2 a.m. and into the Friday morning commute. Snow in Boston will begin before the morning commute and continue into the afternoon.
Behind the eastern snowstorm, an arctic outbreak is moving in with wind chills as low as minus 60 degrees in the northern Plains.
Brutal cold continues to spread from Montana to Illinois where wind chill alerts are in effect.
Near-zero wind chills are expected for Friday morning in Nashville and in the teens from Dallas to Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta.
(NEW YORK) — As police across the country have grappled with illegal guns on American streets, an increasing number of those weapons are “ghost guns” they say — guns that lack serial numbers or other traceable components.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in New York charged a Rhode Island man who they said trafficked dozens of ghost guns to the Bronx and the Dominican Republic.
Robert Alcantara has been involved in the sale or attempted sale of what appear to be more than 100 firearms, mostly “ghost gun” handguns that he purchased in incomplete form and then finished at a workstation at his house, Kiran Mathew, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in a sworn complaint.
Alcantara is charged with conspiracy to traffic firearms and with making false statements about it when questioned by the ATF.
Alcantara showed off his skill at building ghost guns in a video the complaint said he posted to YouTube in 2019
The Justice Department reported last year that between 2016 and 2020, more than 23,000 weapons without serial numbers were recovered by law enforcement at potential crime scenes, including scenes connected to 325 homicides or attempted homicides.
An intelligence bulletin issued last year and obtained by ABC News said violent criminals and domestic extremists “likely favor use of (‘ghost guns’) in lethal attacks based on a review of recent incidents and investigations and the challenges of tracking un-serialized firearm components.”
Alcantara contributed to the proliferation by assembling these guns at a home workshop using components he purchased at gun shows, according to the complaint.
He was arrested in Rhode Island Thursday morning and made an initial court appearance in Providence.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Alcantara had a lawyer.
(NEW YORK) — An Egyptian American has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of Egypt as he “tracked and obtained information regarding political opponents” of the Egyptian president, federal prosecutors in New York said.
It’s the latest example of an autocratic leader extending their grip beyond their borders to quash political dissent — a hand that in recent years has even extended into the U.S., according to some analysts.
Pierre Girgis, 39, “operated at the direction and control of multiple employees of the Egyptian government,” according to the criminal complaint, as he spied on critics of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian general who seized power in 2013.
Sisi has overseen a widespread crackdown on human rights in Egypt, which is among the least free countries in the world, according to the think tank Freedom House. Sisi’s government has imprisoned tens of thousands of political prisoners, criminalized expressions of dissent and deployed security forces with impunity, according to human rights groups.
“At the behest of Egyptian officials, Girgis’ alleged prohibited conduct included attempting to covertly gather non-public intelligence about the activities of political opponents of Egypt’s president, and attempting to gain access for foreign officials to attend law enforcement-only trainings in Manhattan,” U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Girgis is charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the attorney general of the United States and with conspiracy.
The Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has not yet responded to a request for comment. The government has previously denied harassing dissidents or defended arrests as critical to national security, and Sisi once claimed his government held no political prisoners.
Critics, such as the Freedom Initiative, have alleged that Sisi’s repressive tactics now extend beyond Egypt’s borders to target dissidents overseas.
“Mr. Girgis’ activities are not isolated. Egypt has engaged in a pattern of intimidating and harassing rights defenders, journalists and the families of political prisoners in the U.S. for years,” said Allison McManus, research director of the human rights organization founded by Mohamed Soltan.
Soltan, an Egyptian American, spent nearly two years in prison for protesting Sisi’s 2013 seizure of power. He was tortured in prison, he said, and went on hunger strike to demand his release, but after being returned to the U.S., his outspoken advocacy has resulted in Egyptian authorities harassing his family, he claimed.
Soltan’s father has been arrested by Egyptian authorities and has had no communication with his family since, according to Soltan, while five cousins have been arrested and released twice now. The Freedom Initiative alleged in a May 2021 report that at least a dozen American citizens have had family members back in Egypt detained throughout 2020, five of which were in direct response to their political activity in the U.S.
The State Department declined to comment on Girgis’ case, saying it is an active law enforcement matter. But spokesperson Ned Price told ABC News, “We are seeking to hold to account countries that would pursue dissidents, that would undertake such activity extraterritorially.”
Critics say that little has been done to punish Egypt, one of the United States’ key Middle East allies and a major recipient of military aid.
The Biden administration withheld $130 million in military aid last fall, which human rights groups in a joint statement said “undermines the human rights of Egypt’s citizens and further erodes the standing of the United States.”
Examples of this kind of “extraterritorial” activity by autocratic governments have grown in recent years, too.
The Saudi government ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Turkey, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko grounded a Ryanair flight to arrest a dissident blogger on board, and Russian agents poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom. Saudi Arabia claimed it was a rogue operation, while Russia denied any responsibility for Skripal’s poisoning.
This is also not the first case of a foreign agent spying on dissidents in the U.S.
Last summer, the Department of Justice accused four Iranian citizens, including one intelligence agent, of attempting to kidnap activist and writer Masih Alinejad from her New York apartment. Federal prosecutors said the suspects were directed by the Iranian government to bring Alinejad back to Tehran because of her criticism of the government.
It’s unclear what Girgis’ information was being used for, if at all, but an Egyptian official allegedly made its value to the government clear in encrypted communications sent in 2018, according to the criminal complaint.
“You do a lot of good things,” one message from an unnamed Egyptian official said, according to the complaint. “You have become an important source for them to collect information.”
In a 2019 message, Girgis and the same Egyptian official reportedly discussed an upcoming trip of certain Egyptian officials to the United States.
“Tell me what you want me to do,” Girgis asked his handler, according to the criminal complaint.
The Egyptian official responded by inquiring about Girgis’ relationship with a particular U.S. law enforcement officer.
“Ask [the U.S. law enforcement officer] for something,” the official reportedly said. “We want you to find out if there are any police trainings happening in Manhattan in the coming days, and if so, who are the people in charge of these trainings? We would like to attend.”
Girgis surrendered Thursday morning to the FBI and was due to make an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court later in the day. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had arranged a lawyer.
