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(NEW YORK) — Over the next few weeks, the U.S. should expect an increase in cases from the BA.2 variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News, but it may not lead to as severe a surge in hospitalizations or deaths.

“I would not be surprised if in the next few weeks we see somewhat of either a flattening of our diminution or maybe even an increase,” Fauci told ABC News’ Brad Mielke on the podcast “Start Here.”

His prediction is based on conversations with colleagues in the U.K., which is currently seeing a “blip” in cases, Fauci said. The pandemic trajectory in the U.S. has often followed the U.K. by about three weeks.

However, he added, “Their intensive care bed usage is not going up, which means they’re not seeing a blip up of severe disease.”

The BA.2 variant, a more transmissible strain of omicron, now represents around 23% of all cases in the U.S., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And while Fauci predicted that the BA.2 variant will eventually overtake omicron as the most dominant variant, it’s not yet clear how much of a problem that will be.

“Whether or not that is going to lead to another surge, a mini surge or maybe even a moderate surge, is very unclear because there are a lot of other things that are going on right now,” Fauci said.

Similar to the U.K., much of the U.S. has recently relaxed mitigation efforts like mask mandates and requirements for proof of vaccination. At the same time, people who were vaccinated over six months ago and still haven’t gotten a booster shot, which is about half of vaccinated Americans, according to the CDC, are facing continuously waning immunity.

It’s also not yet clear how long immunity from prior infection will last, Fauci said.

Taken together, it’s why Fauci and other experts, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, have increasingly predicted that elderly people will need a second booster shot soon. The Food and Drug Administration began reviewing data from Pfizer on the safety and efficacy this week, and its advisory panel will debate if and when the additional booster shot is necessary in the coming weeks.

At the same time, Fauci urged Americans who haven’t yet gotten their first booster, which would be their third shot in a Pfizer or Moderna series, to do so.

A resurgence of cases could also mean Americans are asked to wear masks again, which Fauci predicted would be an uphill battle.

“From what I know about human nature, which I think is pretty much a lot, people are kind of done with COVID,” Fauci said.

Still, he defended the CDC decision to loosen its mask recommendations earlier this month by shifting to a strategy that focused more on severe outcomes, like hospitalizations and deaths, rather than on daily case spread.

“You can go ahead and continue to tiptoe towards normality, which is what we’re doing, but at the same time, be aware that you may have to reverse,” Fauci said.

And if the U.S. does continue to make its way back toward normal times, Fauci himself has a personal choice to consider. At 81 years old, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is “certainly” thinking about retirement.

“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase and I think we might be there already, if we can stay in this,” Fauci said, referring to the falling cases and hospitalizations in the U.S.

“I can’t stay at this job forever. Unless my staff is gonna find me slumped over my desk one day. I’d rather not do that,” he said, laughing.

While he doesn’t currently have retirement plans, the recent hire of Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, to be White House coronavirus coordinator, could alleviate some of his pandemic response duties and give him a window.

But Fauci, who has dedicated his career to public health, primarily studying HIV and AIDS, and worked under seven U.S. presidents, said he doesn’t have any particular hobbies waiting for him in retirement.

“I, unfortunately, am somewhat of a unidimensional physician, scientist, public health person. When I do decide I’m going to step down, whenever that is, I’m going to have to figure out what it is I’m going to do,” he said.

“I’d love to spend more time with my wife and family. That would really be good.”

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(New York) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its spring 2022 outlook for the U.S. on Thursday, forecasting prolonged, persistent drought in the West and likely below-average precipitation for the second year in a row.

The NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center’s forecast predicts above average temperatures for most of the U.S. from April to June, from the Desert Southwest to the East Coast and north through the Midwest to the Canadian border.

The agency also foresees continuing or worsening drought April through June west of the Mississippi River, from Mississippi to California and north to Montana and Washington.

In the West and South, it will be drier than normal, worsening and expanding the drought. But in the East, drought that has been seen in the Southeast and parts of the Great Lakes will likely improve and end over the next few months.

“Severe to exceptional drought has persisted in some areas of the West since the summer of 2020, and drought has expanded to the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley,” Jon Gottschalck, chief of the operational prediction branch of the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a press release.

“With nearly 60% of the continental U.S. experiencing minor to exceptional drought conditions, this is the largest drought coverage we’ve seen in the U.S. since 2013,” Gottschalck added.

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(MIDLAND, TX) — A 13-year-old was at the wheel of the pickup truck that swerved in front of a van carrying the University of the Southwest’s men’s and women’s golf teams, killing nine people, including the underage driver, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Six members of the team and the head coach were killed in the crash. Two remain in critical condition at a Texas hospital.

NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg told reporters that the Dodge 2500 Ram pickup truck driven by the teen was traveling northbound near Midland, Texas, on Tuesday night when it crossed into the southbound lane and collided head on with the 17-seat passenger van carrying the golf teams. The truck’s left front tire was a spare that failed and caused the vehicle to pull hard left and cross into the opposing lane, according to the NTSB.

In addition to the 13-year-old, whose name was not released, a 38-year-old man, Henrich Siemens, was in the Dodge pickup. Both were killed, as well as the coach, Tyler James, and six golfers in the passenger van.

The players who died were identified as Maurico Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Karissa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; Laci Stone, 18, of Nocona, Texas; and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.

The two passengers in the team van who survived the wreck, Dayton Price,19, of Mississauga, Ontario, and Hayden Underhill, 20, of Amherstview, Ontario, remain hospitalized as of Thursday in Lubbock, Texas, according to the University of the Southwest.

Investigators were able to determine the teen was in the driver’s seat based on the size of the remains inside the truck, according to Landsberg.

Landsberg said his team is going through all of the evidence at the scene, including vehicle recorders, but it does appear that the incident was “very clearly a high speed, head-on collision.” Both vehicles burst into flames after the crash.

“We have literally thousands of pictures that were taken by the various first responders, and there is no question about the force of impact,” he said.

Landsberg added that “quite a number of the bus passengers were not wearing seatbelts,” during the incident.

The NTSB will release a preliminary report on its investigation in two to three weeks, Landsberg said.

Ryan Tipton, the provost of the University of the Southwest, provided an update on the two injured students during a news conference Thursday and said the school would be supporting them during their long journey.

“Every day is a game of inches, and every hour is one step closer to another day,” he said.

Tipton said most students are off campus for spring break but the school is planning to hold a memorial service in honor of those who died when classes resume.

“We are a family of Mustangs,” he said, referring to the school’s mascot. “We’ve run as one, we run together and [when] one of us is hurting, all of us are hurting.”

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(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Two people are dead and another two injured after a shooting on a public transit bus in Florida, police said.

Another three people were injured in a car crash connected to the incident in Fort Lauderdale Thursday afternoon.

The shooting occurred around 3:25 p.m. on a Broward County Transit bus. The bus driver heard “several gunshots” and pulled into the parking lot of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, according to acting Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Luis Alvarez.

“The bus driver’s quick actions to pull into the police station saved lives,” Alvarez said at a briefing.

The driver forced the bus past another vehicle to get into the parking lot, resulting in the car crash, the chief said. The three people injured in the crash were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Within an hour of reporting the incident, police said the suspected shooter was in custody. The suspect surrendered to an officer, according to Alvarez.

“We do not believe there to be any further threat to the public,” the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said on Twitter.

The motive is unclear at this time.

All witnesses are being questioned as part of the investigation, police said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(DETROIT) — A federal judge in Michigan’s Eastern District Court says she will wait to decide whether former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and four others will have to appear before a jury to testify in a civil lawsuit connected to the Flint water crisis.

U.S District Court Judge Judith Levy heard arguments from attorneys representing Snyder, his former aide Rich Baird, Howard Croft, the former director for Flint’s Department of Public Works, and former emergency managers, Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Early, who made their cases in a motion hearing Tuesday to halt subpoenas issued to their clients.

Nine former state officials were indicted on Jan. 14, 2021, for a total of 42 counts of charges related to the Flint water crisis, including Snyder who is facing two misdemeanor charges of willful neglect of duty, which he has denied. Croft was charged with willful neglect of duty. Baird received felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, official misconduct and extortion. Earley and Ambrose were charged with several counts of misconduct in office.

The former state officials have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges and are potential witnesses in a civil trial against two engineering companies.

The five defendants answered questions in videotaped depositions made in 2020 before they were charged. While those taped depositions could be played before a jury in the civil trial against Lockwood, Andrews & Newman (LAN) and Veolia North America (VAN), their attorneys argued they should not be forced to testify beyond that to prevent potential incrimination.

Lockwood, Andrews & Newman and Veolia North America, two contracted engineering firms that reviewed Flint’s water system, are being sued by four children who were exposed to lead contamination due to the Michigan city’s tainted drinking water. The lawsuit claims the engineering firms committed professional negligence for adequately advising city officials and not ensure the water being pulled from the Flint River was properly treated. Both LAN and VNA deny any wrongdoing, citing the city’s and state’s efforts to cut costs as the culprit behind the lead contamination.

The engineering firms were not a part of last year’s $626 million settlement litigation involving damage claims against the state of Michigan, the city of Flint, Rowe Professional services and McLaren Flint Hospital.

This latest trial will test the firms’ potential liability and could influence other pending litigations. The civil trial started on Feb. 28 and is expected to continue for several more weeks.

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(NEW YORK) — Since November, at least four school shootings had an alarming connection to law enforcement and activists alike; the suspected shooters used a “ghost gun.”

A “ghost gun” is a firearm that comes packaged in parts, can be bought online and assembled without much of a trace, which experts warn are becoming increasingly dangerous.

“When we first heard about these weapons, we thought anyone can get them, even a kid. It’s not a hypothetical anymore,” Alex McCourt, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, told ABC News.

McCourt, law enforcement offices and other experts who have been studying the proliferation of “ghost guns” told ABC News this trend is likely to continue beyond the school setting unless policymakers take action.

There are two types of weapons that fall under the ghost gun moniker, according to McCourt.

The first is a plastic gun that can be made with a 3D printer and usually fires one bullet.

The second version, which he said has been increasingly found at crime scenes, is do-it-yourself gun assembly kits that include all the parts of a gun, but without serial numbers or specific components. McCourt said these homemade guns bypass federal laws requiring registration and tracing.

Due to loopholes in federal gun laws, the kits are not considered firearms because they are missing specific completed components. In addition, under current laws, users aren’t allowed to register their constructed weapons with the federal government.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told ABC News that the number of “privately made firearms” or PMF recovered from crime scenes by law enforcement has increased over the years. In 2016, law enforcement agencies across the country confiscated 1,750 PMFs from crime scenes, and the number jumped to 8,712 in 2020, according to the agency.

“From Jan. 1, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2020, there were approximately 23,906 suspected PMFs reported to ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement from potential crime scenes, including 325 homicides or attempted homicides,” ATF spokeswoman Carolyn Gwathmey said in a statement.

Gwathmey said the data might be undercounted as not all law enforcement agencies have submitted their PMF and “ghost gun” numbers to the federal government.

Legal loopholes allow the “ghost gun” kits to be sold online, and all it takes is common house tools to construct in under half an hour, McCourt said.

“It’s much less complicated than you might think,” he said. “If you can put together IKEA furniture, you can assemble these weapons.”

Rob Wilcox, the federal legal director at Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit gun safety organization, told ABC News there are several online sites that not only sell the “ghost gun” kits but also provide step-by-step instructions to customers of any age without any oversight or background check. Wilcox said even though the federal government has limited data on these online marketplaces, his group’s research has found that the number of Internet-based “ghost gun” retailers has been increasing over the years.

“You can ship it to a place where there is no watchful eye,” he said.

The weapons have recently made their way into school grounds.

On Nov. 29, a 15-year-old student allegedly shot and wounded a 16-year-old classmate with a “ghost gun” at Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix, according to the Phoenix Police Department. The investigation is ongoing, a police spokeswoman told ABC News.

Steven Alston Jr., a 17-year-old student at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland, allegedly shot and critically wounded a 15-year-old classmate on Jan. 21, during a dispute, police said. Investigators said Alston, who is being tried as an adult with attempted second-degree murder, allegedly used a “ghost gun.”

“Three different parts were literally delivered to his home,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters at a news conference days after the shooting.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, police said on Feb. 25, 14-year-old Marcos Trejo shot his classmate outside West Mesa High School during a fight over a ghost gun. Trejo has been charged with murder, police said.

The most recent incident took place on March 4, when an 18-year-old suspect used a “ghost gun” to wound two teachers and a student at Olathe East High School in Kansas, according to prosecutors. Jaylon Desean Elmore has been charged with attempted capital murder, according to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.

In all of the investigations, police and prosecutors told ABC News they are still looking into how the guns got into the hands of the teen suspects and have been warning about their spread in their communities.

A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, which is investigating the Magruder High School shooting, told ABC News in a statement that “ghost guns have been recovered from five county schools since the start of the school year.”

Some states have taken legislative action against “ghost guns in light of these incidents.”

Nine states, including New York and California, have responded to the growth of “ghost guns” with laws that regulate the sales of them by requiring background checks and serial numbers for all of the components in the kits, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

New York state’s “ghost gun” regulations went into effect this fall after legislators said it saw a 479% increase in “ghost gun” seizures across the state over the last three years.

“If you can’t pass a background check to get a gun, then you shouldn’t be able to get a gun–period,” State Sen. Anna Kaplan, who introduced one of the New York bills, said in a statement last year.

Cities like Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia have also adopted similar laws.

Some states are also considering similar legislation. For example, Maryland state lawmakers are debating a bill, SB 387, which would prohibit “a person from purchasing, receiving, selling, offering to sell, or transferring an unfinished frame or receiver.”

During a hearing last month, law enforcement groups and district attorney offices, including Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, pushed Maryland legislators to pass the bill.

“If you’re looking at an increase in violent crime across the country and in my county in particular, ghost guns are involved,” McCarthy told ABC News. “The real danger of ghost guns is really two-fold. Number one, prohibited persons, who we in Maryland have decided should not have guns, can get these guns- and number two, we’re finding increasingly they fall into the hands of children.”

Maryland Sen. Justin Ready told the Baltimore Sun before the Jan. 25 hearing that he didn’t think banning “ghost guns” would be effective because criminals would still find a way to obtain a weapon.

“I would have a lot more respect for these gun control groups if they came in strong supporting the bills cracking down on the people that commit violent acts,” Ready told the Baltimore Sun.

McCourt said lawmakers have constantly played catch up with evolving technology and these bills are a good first start, but because of the reach of online sales, the federal government needs to step in.

“Having a patchwork of state laws doesn’t do much,” he said.

Last year, the Biden administration and Justice Department proposed a new rule that would allow the ATF to redefine “firearm frame or receiver” and “frame or receiver” so the agency can regulate “ghost guns.”

The ATF is currently reviewing public comments for the proposal, according to the White House.

Wilcox said Biden’s proposal would effectively cripple the sale of “ghost guns” online and make it easier for law enforcement agencies to track the kits.

In the meantime, Wilcox said parents and caregivers need to be in frequent conversation with their children about the homemade gun kits.

“You have to know if your child is in crisis, you have to limit their access to guns,” he said. “That includes access to the sites that sell those ghost guns.”

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(KENOSHA, Wis.) — The father of a 12-year-old girl called for charges to be filed against an off-duty police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who appeared to kneel on his daughter’s neck while trying to stop a fight.

“She’s humiliated, she’s traumatized. Every day I gotta hear, ‘Daddy, I don’t wanna go to school,'” the father, Jerrel Perez, said during a press conference in Kenosha Wednesday.

“It breaks me because I wasn’t there to help her,” he added. “I felt helpless.”

Videos of the incident, which took place at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha on March 4, were captured by students and went viral.

Perez said that after the incident took place, he thought that his daughter was trying to get out of her punishment when she complained about pain in her neck, but said that hours later he watched the video.

“I want to see this officer get charged,” Perez said, adding that his daughter is in therapy and seeing a doctor due to a neck injury.

The Kenosha Police Department and the Kenosha Unified School District announced earlier this month that they have launched an investigation into the incident.

A video taken by one of the students at the school was obtained by ABC News and shows the officer responding to a reported fight between two students.

The 12-year-old girl, who is in the sixth grade, appears to push the officer and then he pins her to the ground and appears to kneel on her neck, according to the video. It is unclear what happened before or after.

The Kenosha Police Department released a statement on March 7 addressing the incident.

According to KPD, after a fight broke out between two students in the cafeteria during lunch, Kenosha Unified School District employees, including the off-duty officer, intervened and one staff member was injured.

“K.P.D. has watched the video clip and has seen the photo which has been widely shared on social media over the weekend. We are keenly aware of the significant sensitivity surrounding the photo. K.P.D., together with K.U.S.D. is investigating the incident in its entirety while being cautious not to make conclusions based off of a small piece of information shared on social media,” police said. “Both agencies will look to our respective policies and procedures for guidance in this circumstance. It is the highest priority of those officers who work in our schools to provide a safe and secure learning environment for our children and staff.”

The officer is a 37-year-old male with four years of service at KPD, police said, but when asked by ABC News whether the officer’s identity will be revealed, a KPD spokesman declined to comment.

Tanya Ruder, chief communications officer for the Kenosha Unified School District, told ABC News on March 8 that the officer is a “part-time KUSD employee, who was hired as an off-duty Kenosha police officer,” and is “currently on a paid leave from the district.”

“We appreciate your patience as we work with the Kenosha Police Department to investigate the facts surrounding this incident,” she added.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for updates on the investigation.

Family attorney Drew DeVinney said during the press conference Wednesday that the family is going to take legal action against police and the school soon.

DeVinney disputed the allegation that the girl pushed the officer and said that she was charged with “disorderly conduct.”

Asked if the girl is facing any charges, police declined to comment.

Perez expressed outrage over the police officer’s tactics, comparing the image to George Floyd — the Minnesota man who was killed in May 2020 after a police officer placed a knee on his neck for nine minutes.

Amid a national push for police reform after Floyd’s death, Wisconsin banned the use of police chokeholds in June 2021 except in life-threatening situations or when a police officer has to defend themselves. Chokeholds include various neck restraints.

DeVinney said Wednesday that the police and the school have refused to share video captured on security cameras of the incident with the family.

Ruder told ABC News last week that they cannot release the footage as this is a pending investigation.

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(ATLANTA) — In the year since a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-based Asian-owned or operated spas, family members who lost a loved one say the pain is still fresh.

Robert Peterson, whose mother, Yong Ae Yue, 63, was the last person killed in the shooting spree while she was working at Aromatherapy Spa told ABC’s “Nightline” that he still can’t get that day out of his head, but he continues to push through.

“I have no choice but to heal,” he said.

Peterson and others in the AAPI community said their anguish has only been compounded with the rise in anti-Asian crimes and rhetoric taking place across the country. Advocates said these incidents are becoming a wake-up call to the community to make a stand against racism.

Watch “Nightline’s” full episode on the anniversary of the Atlanta spa shooting Wednesday night at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC.

On March 16, 2021, Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54, were killed at Young’s Asian Massage near the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock in Cherokee County, police said. Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yue were shot and killed a short time later at Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa in Fulton County, according to police.

Police arrested Robert Aaron Long shortly after the shootings. He claimed he didn’t target his victims based on their race, but instead said he was dealing with sex addiction. Capt. Jay Baker, a spokesperson for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, came under fire after he claimed Long had a “really bad day” during a news conference following his arrest. Baker was soon replaced as the police spokesperson for the case.

Peterson said he was hurt when the authorities downplayed the race of the victims even though six out of the eight people killed were Asian women.

“He got the benefit of the doubt when these victims did not. They were persecuted. They were negatively judged. They were stigmatized,” Peterson said.

Randy Park, Grant’s son, told ABC’s “Nightline” that his mother rarely talked about her job at Gold Spa because of the stigma.

Park, 23, said Grant worked long hours to provide for him and his brother Eric, 21, and always made sure that they were safe. Park said he still misses his mother’s nightly check-ins.

“Around 9 to midnight rolls around, when we would get those calls,” Park told ABC News, “my soul feels just kind of silent, because I know I’m supposed to get that, but I can’t anymore.”

Long pleaded guilty to the four murders that took place in Cherokee County and will serve life in prison. Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace said that their investigation found no evidence of racial bias.

He is awaiting trial in Fulton County on murder charges, which he plead not guilty to in the fall. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she’d seek the death penalty and hate crime charges against Long.

Even though major cities saw a 261% increase of alleged hate crimes last year, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, very few hate crime charges are handed out by prosecutors. Law enforcement members and prosecutors have said getting key evidence that shows a suspect was motivated by racial bias is difficult.

Peterson said he believes Long has shown bias, and he hopes that prosecutors can find a way to convict him on hate crime charges.

“Before we could end racism, we have to be able to see it. We have to be able to call it out. We have to be able to label it,” he said. “If we don’t, then we allow the perpetrator to get away, absolving himself of accountability and responsibility.”

Peterson isn’t alone in this call for action. The spa murders sparked rallies, protests and calls for actions by lawmakers to crack down on anti-Asian crimes and the perpetrators.

Cam Ashling, the co-founder and chairwoman of the Atlanta-based non-profit Asian American Action Fund, told ABC News that the spa shootings were the tipping point of rising anti-Asian attacks, and many in the community began to rethink their initial reluctance to speak out.

“Asian people are not into, ‘Let’s all shine national media on my tragedy.’ We don’t want our suffering and our tragedy on video forever,” she said. “New immigrants don’t want to have attention on them. They feel like they’re supposed to hide and kind of let it pass.”

She added that Asians are still fighting an uphill battle as more Asian Americans have become targets of assaults and killings.

Last month, Christina Yuna Lee was stabbed to death in her Manhattan apartment after a suspect followed her home, police said. The city has seen other Asian women pushed in subways and assaulted in the street, according to police.

Special agent Jimena Noonan with the FBI’s Newark office has been investigating burglary rings that target Asian businesses and homeowners since 2019. She told ABC News that these types of crimes are also on the rise, adding that criminals are going as far as to stake out their victims’ businesses and homes, watching to see the homeowner is not home before breaking in.

She advised that concerned Asian business owners need to make sure the doors to their homes, businesses and cars are locked, and they should have security cameras installed on their properties.

“In addition to that, I recommend license plate recognition cameras, which help law enforcement tremendously in obtaining a better description of suspect vehicles that are used by these burglaries,” Noonan told ABC News.

In the meantime, elected officials have scrambled to address the rise in anti-Asian harassment and crimes. Last year, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law.

The law directs the Justice Department to designate a point person to assist with expedited review of COVID-19 hate crimes, provided guidance for state and local law enforcement agencies to establish online reporting of hate crimes in multiple languages and expanded “linguistically appropriate” public education campaigns.

Ashling said the political actions are a good start, but she believes it’s going to take more work before the Asian American community will feel safe. She urged more people to speak out and call on their lawmakers to enact change.

“If you do not get yourself together and become more outspoken and advocate for yourself, your family [and] your community, we will not have a community,” she said.

The Atlanta spa shooting victims’ families said at this point, they have no choice but to carry on and honor the memories of their loved ones.

Park, who said he’s received messages of support from people around the world, said he feels his mother’s spirit is still watching over him and his brother.

“It just feels like she’s basically pushing Eric and I along,” Park said.

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(NEW YORK) — Throughout the pandemic, several professional and collegiate sports leagues cancelled major events and seasons, in part to slow the spread of COVID-19, but also due to alarming reports of athletes developing a syndrome called myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — following a COVID-19 infection.

After two years of research, the American College of Cardiology released guidance Tuesday that states the incidence of heart inflammation among athletes after COVID-19 is lower than originally thought, but they still suggest a step-by-step plan to help competitive athletes and weekend warriors alike that will help them safely return to their activities.

“For athletes recovering from COVID-19 with ongoing cardiopulmonary symptoms … further evaluation should be performed before resuming exercise,” the ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, states. “For all others who are asymptomatic or with symptoms less suggestive of a cardiopulmonary etiology … additional cardiac testing is not recommended.”

Evolving science

Doctors were performing “very rigorous testing searching for myocarditis” early in the pandemic, Dr. Tamanna Singh, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Sports Cardiology Center, who was not involved in the new guidance, told ABC News, noting that, at the time, they were worried that the incidence of myocarditis “was going to be much higher than it actually was.”

Back in September 2020, when much was still unknown about COVID-19, researchers at Ohio State University examined 26 athletes following a mild COVID-19 infection that did not require hospitalization. Myocarditis was found in 15% of the athletes, while 30% had developed a scar on their heart, raising a sense of uncertainty surrounding the safety of athletes returning to play following an infection.

“While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time,” Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren wrote in an August 2020 open letter on the decision to cancel the college conference’s 2020-2021 fall sports season.

But over time, it was discovered that the incidence appears to be much lower than first thought.

“Many conferences, including the Big Ten, were doing cardiac MRIs on every athlete who recovered from COVID, and what they found was that the incidence of serious MRI abnormalities was very low, on the order of 1 to 2%,” said Dr. Nicole Bhave, a cardiologist and echocardiographer at the University of Michigan and a co-chair of the committee that released this new guidance.

Typical rates for myocarditis involvement in athletes is “very low, with rates typically being around 0.6 to 0.7%,” Singh said.

While experts’ understanding of COVID-19 evolves, it is clear that many patients continue to have symptoms, obvious or subtle, following infection. And while not every athlete with COVID-19 will experience myocarditis, it’s dangerous enough to make doctors take notice.

“Myocarditis is a very rare but serious complication of COVID,” Bhave said. “Patients with COVID myocarditis really should be managed at a high-level center [with the proper equipment], because these patients can go south fast.”

Guidance for athletes

The new ACC guidance suggests that it is safe for athletes with no symptoms from COVID-19 to return to exercise three days following self-isolation. For those with mild symptoms not involving the heart or lungs, it is safe to return to exercise once symptoms resolve.

Athletes suffering from persistent chest pain, palpitations or passing out require further cardiac testing. If the findings are concerning for myocarditis, the ACC recommends abstinence from exercise for three to six months.

“We don’t think that a routine MRI is needed for everyone who has had COVID before they start exercising again,” Bhave said.

If an athlete has persistent symptoms, Bhave said, “One of the recommendations that we’re making in the document is that people engage in recumbent exercise, so rather than trying to walk, doing something where they’re actually sitting down, so that orthostatic intolerance [the inability to tolerate quick movements] isn’t a big deal.”

For athletes who experience long-haul COVID-19 symptoms, the recovery process can be frustrating.

“You’re essentially seeing someone who has had a decade and a half, maybe even two decades, of unrestricted sports participation and unlimited exercise capacity who now has severe limitations,” Singh said. “They’re losing not only their physical connection to self, but also their social connection to their community, which can be really mentally devastating.”

Singh and Bhave both said that re-introduction of exercise following infection should be gradual, starting with small amounts and increasing frequency, duration and intensity as tolerated.

“It’s important as physicians to say, ‘Hey, I’m here with you, and I know you’re still not back to where you were. I share your frustration and I’m not going to abandon you,'” Bhave said. “We still have a lot to learn, and I think that’s a message that is very helpful to patients who are feeling frustrated.”

Nicholas P. Kondoleon, M.D., is an internal medicine resident at Cleveland Clinic and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(NEW YORK) — A suspect remains at large nearly a week after an 87-year-old woman was shoved to the ground in an unprovoked attack on a New York City street, subsequently dying from her injuries, police said.

The victim was walking in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood on Thursday at around 8:25 p.m. when the assailant crossed the street, approached her from behind and pushed her, “causing her to fall and hit her head,” New York City police said. She was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.

The suspect, described as a woman with long, dark hair wearing a black jacket, black leggings, white skirt or dress and dark shoes, fled the scene and remains at large, police said.

The victim, who was identified by officials as Barbara Maier Gustern, died from her injuries on Tuesday, police said.

“We’re asking the public’s health in solving this disgusting, disgraceful offense committed against a vulnerable, elderly female who was doing nothing but walking down the streets of New York City,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives James Essig said during a briefing Tuesday.

The NYPD released a surveillance video of the suspect as the search continues.

Barbara Maier Gustern, an 87-year old Chelsea resident, was attacked on West 28th Street on Thursday at around 9:30 pm. The suspect is a woman with long dark hair who remains at large.

If you have information call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-8477 (TIPS)pic.twitter.com/WtDp0bLGv0

— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) March 14, 2022

New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman said he was “devastated” to learn of Gustern’s death.

“Her assailant, who is still at large, must be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said on Twitter.

Gustern was a well-known and beloved member of the city’s cabaret scene and a vocal coach.

Her friend, Barbara Bleier, was rehearsing with her for a cabaret show before last week’s attack.

“She is one of the most inspirational women I have ever met,” Bleier told ABC affiliate WABC on Monday.

Gustern’s grandson, AJ Gustern, said he had flown to New York to be by his grandmother’s side while she was in the hospital,

“She’s the light of my life,” he told WABC on Monday. “I’m angry at the state of the world. I’m angry at the state of the city.”

Condolences have poured in in the wake of Gustern’s passing.

“God bless the memory of this woman who defined extraordinary,” opera singer Stephanie Blythe said on Twitter. “That she should pass from this life as a result of violence after the incredible and generous life she lived is past all understanding.”

Police are asking anyone with information to call 1-800-577-8477 or go to crimestoppers.nypdonline.org to report confidential tips.

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