(NEW YORK) — New York City health officials are investigating a possible case of monkeypox as they reported more infections across the globe.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a press release Thursday that the patient is being cared for at NYC Health + Hospitals / Bellevue in midtown Manhattan.
Officials say they will conduct preliminary tests and if the patient is positive, the sample will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmatory testing.
“The Department’s epidemiologists will follow up with any individual who may have been in contact with the patient while infectious,” the release said.
It’s unclear what symptoms the patient is experiencing and what their age, sex and ethnicity are.
The news comes as the CDC sent out a health alert Friday warning doctors and local health departments to be on the lookout for patients who may have symptoms of monkeypox and report those cases to the CDC.
The CDC reiterated that the “risk to the public appears low.”
Monkeypox is a very rare disease typically not found outside of countries in central and western Africa.
However, several cases have been detected around the world since a patient in the United Kingdom tested positive on May 7 following travel to Nigeria.
The World Health Organization confirmed Friday there are approximately 130 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases in nations where the disease is not endemic.
Of those cases, about 80 were confirmed — including one case in an adult male in Massachusetts — and 50 suspected.
The agency said it is working with those countries to provide guidance, and more cases are likely to be reported.
Humans can contract monkeypox from infected animals, such as through a bite or scratch, but it can also be transmitted through direct contact with an infected animal’s skin, blood or feces, or indirect contact through contaminated surfaces. Humans can also be infected when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
The disease can also spread from person-to-person via large respiratory droplets in the air, through skin lesions, bodily fluids, or contact with contaminated material.
#Monkeypox has so far been reported from 11 countries that normally don’t have the disease. WHO is working with these countries & others to expand surveillance, and provide guidance.
There are about 80 confirmed cases, and 50 pending investigations. More likely to be reported. pic.twitter.com/YQ3pVJVNVQ
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 20, 2022
The WHO said tips for preventing infection include isolating if you have symptoms, avoiding contact with anyone who has symptoms, wearing a mask if you come into contact with an infected individual, and thoroughly cleaning hands and surfaces.
Monkeypox is not commonly reported among Americans and detected cases have been among people who traveled to countries where the virus is endemic.
In 2003, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported among six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa
All the infections occurred after coming into contact with pet prairie dogs, which became infected “after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana,” the CDC stated.
In July 2021, a case was confirmed in a Texas resident who had recently returned from Nigeria and in November 2021, another case was found in a Maryland resident who had also traveled to Nigeria.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — An investigation is underway after a Chicago police officer shot a 13-year-old boy during a foot pursuit who authorities allege was involved in two recent carjackings.
The incident occurred Wednesday night on the city’s West Side. Police tracked the license plate of a vehicle stolen two days earlier in Chicago to the area shortly after 10 p.m., according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.
As officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the teenager got out of the car and fled, as several officers pursued him on foot, Brown said.
“The subject flees to a gas station parking lot … and turns toward the officer,” Brown told reporters during a briefing Thursday. “The officer then discharges his weapon, striking the individual once.”
Officers rendered first aid and moved the boy away from the nearby gas pumps due to concerns over a possible explosion following the gunfire, Brown said.
He was transported to an area hospital in serious but stable condition, according to the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an independent agency that is investigating the shooting. He was also placed in custody for the stolen car, Brown said.
No weapon was recovered from the scene, Eaddy said.
The officer’s body-worn camera was on at the time of the shooting, according to Brown and COPA spokesperson Ephraim Eaddy. COPA also has third-party footage of the incident, Eaddy said.
COPA is unable to release any video of the shooting because it involves a juvenile, the office said. In the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo last year, it released the body camera footage at the request of Toledo’s family.
Brown said he was limited in what he could discuss around Wednesday’s shooting, including the contents of the body-worn camera footage, amid the investigation.
“We cannot draw conclusions to an investigation that just started last night,” he said Thursday. “We’re not going to answer how many shots were fired. The ballistics evidence will say that. We’re not going to answer anything else about the shooting.”
It is not clear at this time where the teen was shot, said Brown, who added he would defer to medical personnel’s findings for that.
“We’re not going to speculate. This investigation will reveal the facts,” he said, adding that COPA has his department’s full support.
The driver of the stolen vehicle fled the scene in the car and has not been apprehended, police said. The car was found abandoned a couple of miles from the scene of the shooting and was being processed for evidence, Brown said.
Several witnesses told Chicago ABC station WLS that the teen had his hands up before he was shot.
When asked by a reporter whether the shooting was justified, Brown said it was too soon to jump to conclusions, and that the officer and suspect had yet to provide a statement.
“There’s a lot of evidence, a lot of work that needs to be done,” he said. “Jumping to conclusions is just not fair to any of the people involved because you might jump to the conclusion that is wrong.”
At the same time, Alderperson Emma Mitts, who represents the 37th Ward where the shooting occurred, was left questioning the use of force.
“Why would you want to shoot if you can easily go and chase him?” Mitts told WLS. “The 13-year-old did not have a weapon that was recovered from the scene. So now that brings up concern to why and what happened. Certainly we don’t want an officer out here shooting our children for no reason, that’s insane.”
In a statement, COPA said it was “committed to a full and thorough investigation into the officer’s use of force to determine if their actions were in accordance with Department policy and training.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she has been in contact with Brown and COPA regarding Wednesday’s shooting.
“I have full confidence that COPA will investigate this incident expeditiously with the full cooperation of the Chicago Police Department,” she said in a statement.
No information on the officer who discharged his weapon has been released at this time. The officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days, the police department said.
Police believe the 13-year-old boy was involved in the carjacking of that vehicle, as well as a second carjacking that occurred on Tuesday in Oak Park, Brown said. In that incident, a car left running with a 3-year-old girl in the back seat was stolen, and the mother was dragged after grabbing onto the car before falling and breaking her clavicle, the superintendent said.
The car was soon recovered with the child still safely inside, he said.
(NEW YORK) — When Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old white man charged in connection with the murders of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, was a senior in high school, he allegedly wrote a paper saying that he wanted to commit murder-suicide, according to authorities.
That prompted the assistant principal of Gendron’s high school to call New York State Police and report Gendron, according to law enforcement. After a day-and-a-half mental health evaluation a year ago, Gendron was released and his behavior wasn’t flagged to authorities before he allegedly carried out the mass shooting last Saturday.
Gendron has pleaded not guilty.
Law enforcement sources tell ABC News how they handle mental health evaluations and police investigations regarding disturbed people and their access to firearms is very much a work in progress.
They point to how easily Gendron allegedly sidestepped an investigation to see if he was dangerous following the incident at his high school.
Buffalo suspect had made references to murder-suicide, sources say
A review by ABC News of the 589-page document allegedly containing messages first posted on the social media platform Discord appears to show that Gendron simply misled law enforcement and mental health officials when confronted after writing that senior class paper that he had thoughts of murder-suicide.
In the document, Gendron writes of landing in a hospital emergency room in May 2021 for 20 hours because he referenced murder-suicide in terms of how he planned to mark his graduation from high school — as part of an economics assignment.
He told law enforcement and mental health officials he been joking. According to the social media messages, that was a lie. He allegedly wrote in Discord that the murder-suicide reference was specifically about his developing plans to murder minorities whom he believed were replacing white people in American society.
Gendron said the murder-suicide quote in his school assignment may have even been a cry for help but he lied so he could keep his plan in motion, because killing, he said, was precisely what he was planning.
Ohio shooter made hit-list in high school
Previous mass shooters have often left clues or raised concerns with others and, in some cases, authorities have missed signals that could have otherwise prevented an attack.
On a summer night in August 2019, Connor Betts opened fire at the entrance of Ned Peppers Bar in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killing nine, including his brother, and wounding 17 before responding officers shot him to death.
Betts, according to the U.S. Secret Service, “had a history of concerning communications, including harassing female students in middle and high school, making a hit list and a rape list in high school, telling others he had attempted suicide, and showing footage of a mass shooting to his girlfriend.”
Betts had an “enduring fascination with mass violence,” the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded in a report released in November.
“The FBI’s BAU assessed the attacker’s enduring fascination with mass violence and his inability to cope with a convergence of personal factors, to include a decade-long struggle with multiple mental health stressors and the successive loss of significant stabilizing anchors experienced prior to August 4, 2019, likely were the primary contributors to the timing and finality of his decision to commit a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio,” the report stated.
One reason that family and friends did not alert authorities about Betts was potentially because of “bystander fatigue,” according to the report.
Bystander fatigue occurs when people around the suspect don’t pay attention or take any action “due to their prolonged exposure to the person’s erratic or otherwise troubling behavior over time,” according to the Behavioral Analysis Unit.
FBI warned about accused Parkland high school shooter
Nikolas Cruz has pleaded guilty to walking into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 18, 2018, and opening fire inside the school killing 17 and wounding 17 more.
More than a month before the shooting, the FBI was warned about Cruz by a person close to him through the FBI’s public access tip line, according to an FBI statement in 2018.
“The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” the FBI statement says.
The information, the FBI admitted, should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami field office and assessed as a “threat to life,” where it would’ve been investigated.
The school shooting was one of the deadliest in American history.
The FBI was later sued by the families of the Parkland shooting for not appropriately assigning the call to the Miami Field Office. In March, the Justice Department, while not admitting the full guilt of missing the signals Cruz exhibited, settled with the families for $127 million.
A jury will decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without chance of parole.
In October of that same year, Robert Bowers is accused of walking into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killing 11 people. Bowers, according to a criminal complaint charging him with the crime, made comments shortly after he was arrested to investigators about wanting to kill people who are Jewish.
Bowers, according to authorities, made posts on the social media site gab and early as July 2018 posted and reposted photos with antisemitic tropes, as well as a photo of a target that he reportedly shot by with a handgun, according to authorities.
Bowers was not known to law enforcement before October 2018, the then FBI Special Agent in Charge told reporters at the time. Moments before he carried out the shooting, Bowers posted antisemitic statements on the platform.
Bowers is facing trial for the 2018 shooting and has pleaded not guilty.
Charleston church shooter reportedly went on bigoted rant
Three years earlier, in 2015, Dylann Roof walked into the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine African-American parishioners attending Bible study.
Friends told the New York Daily News that two weeks before the shooting, Roof went on a bigoted rant while drunk about “segregation and killing people.”
“He said he was planning for about six months to do something crazy,” said Joseph Meek, a friend of Roof. “He wanted it to be segregated. He wanted it to be white with the white, Black with the Black. All the races segregated.”
Meek, according to the Daily News, took a gun away from Roof two weeks before the shooting unfolded.
“I only took it away because he was drunk. I didn’t take him seriously,” Meek said. “I do feel a little guilty because I could have let someone know,” Meek told the Daily News.
Roof is appealing his capital punishment sentence.
Signals before mass shootings common
Alerting someone or giving a warning sign before a mass shooting is common, according to the U.S. Secret Service, which published a report in 2020 titled Mass Attacks in Public Spaces. The report found that nearly 65% of the mass attacks they studied in 2019 the attacker had threatened someone in the past, and 57% of attackers made some form of communication prior to the attack that should’ve elicited concern but didn’t.
“These concerning communications included making paranoid statements, sharing videos of previous mass attacks, vague statements about their imminent death, and one attacker telling his school counselor that he had a dream about killing his classmates,” the report says.
Javed Ali, former senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, told ABC News the shooting in Buffalo underscores the challenges law enforcement has in identifying shooters.
“The horrific attack in Buffalo underscores the challenges for law enforcement in identifying and preventing mass-casualty lone wolf terrorist attacks, with this being the latest in a string of similar ones committed by other white supremacists in the United States,” Ali, now an associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said.
“In these attacks, white supremacist lone wolves focused on different victims — including African Americans, Latinos, Jews — based on their belief in anti-immigrant and racist tropes found in conspiracies like the “great replacement theory” or other sources like manifestos written by infamous attackers such as Anders Brevik and Brentan Tarrarent that fuel white supremacy across the globe,” Ali said.
Breivik is a Norwegian who killed 77 people in 2011 and Brenton Tarrant carried out the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings at two mosques, murdering 51 people.
(NEW YORK) — Mothers across the U.S. are banding together to respond to the baby formula shortage emergency and execute short-term solutions in local communities while corporations and the federal government scramble to address the crisis on a national level.
Kerissa Miller, a mom from Kennewick, Washington, started the Find My Formula, Tri Cities WA Facebook group on May 11 to pay it forward after another mom helped her by donating much-needed formula for her 6-month-old son.
Miller’s son MJ was born two months early and needs to be fed a special baby formula made specifically for premature babies. Similac’s NeoSure is one of the formulas impacted by the Abbott Nutrition recall in February. Miller said she isn’t able to breastfeed her son and her son’s pediatrician also told her there weren’t any other formula substitutes that would work for him.
The Facebook group helps parents and caregivers like her in southeastern Washington ask for formula, share information on formula stock at local stores and facilitate formula donations for each other.
“Moms message us and call us crying. They’re on their last can of formula so the need is extremely urgent,” Miller told “Good Morning America.” “When these moms go on Facebook looking for formula, they’re at such a desperate state that delivery is really the only option to help that baby get fed right away.”
Miller and a team of several moderators as well as three delivery drivers, including Mac Jaehnert, set out every day to respond to Facebook posts from parents in need and coordinate formula pickups and drop-offs.
“We’ve fed hundreds of babies just by gifted formula to us. There’s no other option,” Miller said. “Pediatricians can’t supply the need. There’s just no formula to go around so we’re just depending on moms to donate formula to us to feed each other’s babies. It’s a crazy world we live in where Facebook feeds our babies.”
In just nine days, the public Find My Formula, Tri Cities WA group has ballooned to over 560 members. Some days, Miller said she drives up to six hours with her son to make formula deliveries after she gets off her eight-hour night shift as an environmental wastewater operator simply to help.
“All we have right now is community so we’re just doing everything that we can to help the babies because this has affected the wealthy, the middle class and the poor,” Miller, who is also currently four months pregnant, said.
“I’ve delivered formula to mansions and those moms can purchase it but they can’t because it’s just not available. And the moms that are suffering the hardest are the moms on WIC,” she added, referencing the federal benefits program for low-income Americans. “It’s just a crisis that you never knew existed in America.”
“All I can do is just go pick up a can of formula and go drop it off before I go to bed.”
Marcela Young has also been dedicating her time to ease the formula crisis. Young is a mom to an 8-month-old and although her son doesn’t need baby formula, seeing stories of other families impacted by the shortage resonated with her.
“I don’t formula feed personally, but I do know a lot of moms that do and just the feeling of not being able to help your child is just very close to home,” Young told “Good Morning America.”
Young, a consultant in the Houston area, remembered that one of her former classmates had started a company that lets people create interactive maps online and quickly realized the map tool could be one way for her to help others.
That’s how the 29-year-old launched her “Fighting the Formula Shortage” map last week. The map, hosted by Proxi, is viewable on a computer, phone or tablet, and lets anyone add any point to a global map and organize it under several categories: “need formula,” “can donate formula,” “need breast milk,” “can donate breast milk,” “formula in-store” and “milk bank.”
“The way the map works is you add a point anywhere in your country. You don’t have to put your actual address,” Young explained, adding that anyone who adds a new point will also receive a welcome email afterward.
But Young also tries to help arrange connections whenever possible.
“People do reach out and say, ‘Hey, I have this pin that I’m looking at near my area. They need formula. I see formula at my store, I would like to ship it to them or I’d like to take it to their house or wherever to meet up,’” Young said. “Then I, as the admin of the map, can see their information if they decided not to share it, and then put them in contact with each other. I make sure that the person receiving it knows who’s going to contact them and I try to make sure that the other one knows who needs it.”
Young has spread the word about her map through her friend network and on social media on the Fighting Formula Shortage Facebook and Instagram pages. As with many groups online, Young also warns others to stay vigilant about potential scammers.
“First and foremost, be careful, be safe,” Young said. “If you’re going to do something virtually with someone, ask a lot of questions. If you’re going to meet with someone locally, please do it in a public place. That way, you’re avoiding different issues out there.”
“There’s a lot of good in humanity still,” she added. “And it’s been really nice to see people stepping up and willing to spread [the] word, spread resources.”
(CHICAGO) — Nine people were shot, two of whom died, in a chaotic scene outside a McDonald’s on Chicago’s Near North Side Thursday. Police said they have arrested a suspect.
A dispute broke out between two groups at approximately 10:41 p.m. eventually leading one individual to fire shots into the crowd, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a press conference Friday.
Police do not know what caused the fight, Brown said.
Officers pursued the suspect into a Chicago Transit Authority train stop and arrested a suspect as well as a person who Brown said obstructed the officers.
A woman fleeing in a group along with the alleged shooter came in contact with the third rail at the train stop and has been hospitalized, Brown said.
Police said surveillance footage showed that an individual had handed the shooter the gun, but they have not yet been able to identify that person, according to Brown. A gun was recovered from the scene, police said.
“If the person who did this doesn’t have a gun, this is just a personal conflict that may or may not lead to fights, [but] no one being killed,” Brown said.
Brown said police have installed two fixed posts of officers and a revolving post of officers in the area. The shooting took place in a crowded downtown area near Loyola University Chicago and the city’s so-called Magnificent Mile home to upscale shops and historic buildings.
Brown said there is an ongoing “gun crime crisis” in Chicago and across the country.
“Our officers have taken more guns that are illegally possessed off the streets of Chicago than we have in our history,” Brown said.
Police recovered 11,400 guns in 2020, and over 12,000 in 2021, both record-breaking years. Police are on pace to surpass last year’s record, Brown said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the shooting “an outrageous act of violence.”
“It is simply awful, and unacceptable that once again another tragedy occurs because firearms are in the hands of people who simply do not care about themselves or the value of another’s life,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
She added, “Our police department is hard at work to make sure those responsible for last night’s incident are held accountable, for the safety and well-being of us all.”
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday announced the Justice Department is taking action to combat hate crimes through the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, mentioning how last weekend’s mass shooting in Buffalo is being investigated as such a crime.
DOJ is investigating whether the shooter who gunned down 10 Black people last Saturday at a Buffalo supermarket targeted the victims because of their race.
Garland told an audience that included Black and Asian community leaders that “an entire community was terrorized.”
“Last weekend’s attack was a painful reminder of the singular impact that hate crimes have not only on individuals but on entire communities,” he said. “They bring immediate devastation. They inflict lasting fear,” he continued.
“We are employing every resource we have to ensure accountability for this terrible attack, to ensure justice for grieving families and provide support for the community,” he said.
Garland pledged to use “every available tool” to investigate hate crimes overall, saying they are “evolving” and that federal prosecutors must evolve strategies to combat them.
DOJ is required to do so by congressional mandate in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.
“No one in America should fear violence because of who they are,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. “This department will not tolerate any form of terrorism, hate based violence or unlawful discrimination.”
DOJ says they are partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services to lay out steps “law enforcement, government officials, community based organizations and others can take to raise awareness of increased hate crimes and incidents, and to use this increased awareness as a tool for prevention and response,” according to a Justice Department official who briefed reporters on Thursday.
One example, the DOJ official said, was addressing the need for language and cultural competency when engaging with communities affected by hate crimes
Garland also announced grant solicitations “including to programs established under the new Hire No Hate Act to support states to create state run hate crime reporting hotline and to support increased law enforcement reporting to the National Incident based Reporting System.”
On the same day as Garland’s announcement, leaders from the NAACP were set to meet with him, and they released a two-page plan to stop another mass shooting.
“We’re focused on preventing the next attack. We need to act. Democracy and white supremacy cannot coexist and will never coexist,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “It’s one or the other. We’re fighting for democracy.”
An NAACP source told ABC News the “spread of white supremacy across social media platforms” would be a main topic of discussion.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Following the nation’s latest COVID-19 resurgence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday that it is “strengthening” its recommendation for Americans over the age of 12 who are immunocompromised, and those over the age of 50, to receive their second booster shot.
“Over the past month we have seen steady increases in cases, with a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans. While older Americans have the highest coverage of any age group of first booster doses, most older Americans received their last dose (either their primary series or their first booster dose) many months ago, leaving many who are vulnerable without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” the CDC wrote.
“Whether it is your first booster, or your second, if you haven’t had a vaccine dose since the beginning of December 2021 and you are eligible, now is the time to get one,” officials said.
During the meeting of the CDC’s independent advisory committee for immunization recommendations on Thursday, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also re-emphasized the importance of older Americans getting boosted, given concerns over waning immunity amid the nation’s latest COVID-19 surge.
“Only 38% of those 50 to 64 and 43% of those 65 and older have received a vaccine dose in the past six months. This leaves about 60% of older Americans without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” Walensky said. “We know immunity wanes over time, and we need to do all we can now to protect those most vulnerable.”
According to CDC data, since second booster doses were authorized in mid-March, a total of 12.4 million Americans have received their second booster. Nearly 12 million — 11.8 million — of those who have received second boosters are people over the age of 50, and 8.4 million of them are over the age of 65.
Although more than 90% of seniors have been fully vaccinated, a third of them have yet to receive their first COVID booster, the CDC found.
A recent ABC News analysis of federal data found that a growing proportion of COVID-19 deaths are occurring among the vaccinated.
The increase in breakthrough deaths comes as a growing proportion of older Americans enter the hospital for COVID-19-related care.
Following the vaccination of high-risk, older populations, in the winter and spring of 2021, the share of Americans ages 65 years and older in the hospital had dipped to a pandemic low — with younger populations representing the largest shares of people requiring care.
However, in recent months, as the omicron surge became dominant, the average age of those in the hospital with COVID-19 has steadily become older, once again.
More than 55% of those currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are over the age of 65, CDC data shows, representing the highest percentage of seniors receiving care since the onset of the pandemic.
In addition, despite overall high initial vaccination rates reported among older populations, during the omicron surge, nearly three-quarters of confirmed COVID-19 deaths have been among those 65 and older.
During an interview with CBS News, earlier this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that there has been an increase in the number of vaccinated people who are dying of COVID-19, many of whom are elderly, immunocompromised, or have underlying conditions.
“There are vaccinated people who get infected, some of whom go on to severe disease and death. Those are very heavily weighted towards the elderly and those with underlying conditions, those whose immune system is compromised for one reason or another, either through underlying disease or medications that they’re on,” Fauci said.
“As long as you have vulnerable people in the population, even though the unvaccinated are going to be much more at risk, even vaccinated with underlying conditions and a high degree of susceptibility to severe disease will account for those deaths,” Fauci added.
The push to get older Americans boosted comes despite a previously posted recommendation, published by the CDC last week, which states that people could consider waiting to get their second booster, if they have had COVID-19 in the last three months, or if getting the shot now would dissuade them from getting a shot in the fall or in the future.
“A second booster may be more important in fall of 2022, or if a new vaccine for a future COVID-19 variant becomes available,” the CDC says on its website.
During an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America on Friday, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told George Stephanopoulos that older Americans should not wait to get the second booster or feel deterred about the possibility of having to get another shot in the fall.
“We have a lot of infection out there right now, and what I am recommending to basically everybody over 50 is given how much infection there is given that extra layer of protection that the second booster offers, that there’s no reason to wait,” Jha said. “People should go out and get that second shot and we’ll see where things are in the fall, and if people need additional, we’ll manage it at that point.”
(NEW YORK) — New York’s political scene — upended this week by a newly drawn congressional map — got even more interesting Friday with an announcement from former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Today I’m declaring my candidacy for Congress in the 10th Congressional District of New York,” de Blasio said during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
The new district will span from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn, including de Blasio’s neighborhood of Park Slope, if the map is approved as expected by a state judge on Friday.
“The poll shows people are hurting,” de Blasio told Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough. “They need help, they need help fast, and they need leaders who could actually get them help now and know how to do it.”
De Blasio’s run for a House seat comes after two terms as mayor and a failed presidential bid in 2020. He also considered a run for governor earlier this year but ultimately decided not to challenge sitting Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. Instead, he said at the time would devote “every fiber” of himself to fight inequality in New York.
He tweeted Friday morning that “the way to save democracy is be part of it.”
At least one other Democrat will be competing against de Blasio for the nomination. State Sen. Brad Hoylman told THE CITY this week he’ll be campaigning in the new 10th District barring any more changes from the court.
But more are reportedly considering jumping into the race. Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou’s team said this week she’s been approached by community leaders to run in the new district, and that she’s “seriously considering” it.
New York’s current 10th Congressional District is represented by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler. But thanks to the new map, Nadler is running in a new district against House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney.
The new map also pits Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, against first-term progressive Rep. Mondaire Jones.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the situation “chaos” on Thursday, while Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said the map would “make Jim Crow blush” since it splintered several historically Black neighborhoods.
The new districts were unveiled earlier this week by a court-appointed expert after the New York Court of Appeals in April charged the legislature of improperly gerrymandering the map they originally proposed.
New Yorkers also now have to wait until August to vote in the primary elections for Congress, rather than picking their party’s nominees in June, because of the redistricting process.
(NEW YORK) — Advocates on both sides of the political fight over reproductive rights have spoken out, either in protest or applause of a draft Supreme Court opinion leaked earlier this month that, if it stands, would overturn the court’s landmark decision on Roe v. Wade.
While much of corporate America has remained quiet about the potential legal bombshell, some companies have taken a public stance and adopted new policies that expand employees’ access to abortions.
Several corporations including Amazon and Starbucks have announced expanded health benefits to pay for travel fees incurred by workers seeking an abortion if the procedure is unavailable near where they live, as employees in states like Oklahoma and South Dakota face the prospect of stronger abortion restrictions.
“Like many of you, I’m deeply concerned by the draft Supreme Court opinion related to the constitutional right to abortion that was first established by Roe v. Wade,” Sara Kelly, Starbucks’ acting executive vice president for employee resources, said Monday in a memo to employees.
“When actions impact your access to health care, we will work on a way to make sure you feel supported,” she added.
Meanwhile, rideshare companies Lyft and Uber have vowed to provide legal support for drivers if they face lawsuits for driving passengers to get an abortion.
Experts on corporate responsibility told ABC News that companies are often reluctant to take a position on such a polarizing issue.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University who convenes meetings with top CEOs on social issues, told ABC News many of the corporations that introduced policy changes are in the tech sector, where employees tend to be young and liberal.
“Companies that take a stand on a highly divisive political issue like this one can get in trouble with some stakeholders,” Sandra Waddock, a professor at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College who specializes in corporate responsibility, told ABC News. “But companies implementing these policies don’t want their employees to be harmed, and it probably makes sense to make sure their employees are happy.”
An analysis from the Guttmacher Institute in October found that 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe. On Thursday, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill that would ban abortion at conception, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the country if it becomes law.
In addition to Starbucks and Amazon, Yelp, Tesla, Citigroup, Apple and Salesforce in recent weeks expanded abortion coverage for employees to include costs for travel when necessary.
Mastercard on Wednesday joined them as the latest major company to say it would cover the travel costs of employees leaving their home state to seek an abortion, which Bloomberg first reported and the company confirmed to ABC News.
In a message to employees shared with ABC News, Mastercard warned of the prospect that the court will overturn previous rulings on access to reproductive health care. The company added: “We will continue to offer employees access to the same health care, including family planning and reproductive benefits, that is available today wherever they live.”
The new company policies drew support from abortion rights advocates and criticism from those who are anti-abortion.
Nadia Khamis, director of corporate engagement at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told ABC News that the organization is “really encouraged to see a large influx of companies publicizing how they’re responding to the potential threat to Roe.”
The need to ensure access to reproductive services for employees is not only a human rights imperative but a business one, Khamis said.
“If you’re a company that cares about being competitive and wants to recruit diverse, smart, productive people,” Khamis said, “they need equal access to health care, and abortion is essential.”
But the new policies drew sharp rebuke from David O’Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, an anti-abortion organization. O’Steen said the policies would help employees at the companies pursue abortions. Further, in contrast with Khamis, he said the moves would undermine the companies’ business objectives.
“These companies are formed to produce a product and make a profit for investors,” O’Steen told ABC News. “Not to fly people across the country to have abortions. It’s a terrible business decision.”
The corporate policy changes following the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion mark the latest effort by companies to respond when a major political development embroils the country.
Three years ago, more than 180 CEOs — including those at Twitter and Warby Parker — signed an open letter that opposed restrictive abortion laws at the state level.
In the days following the death of George Floyd, in May 2020, companies across corporate America put out statements in support of racial justice and made donations to advocacy organizations that fight racial inequality.
Last April, as state legislatures pursued restrictive voting laws, hundreds of companies and executives signed a letter opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that limits access to the ballot box.
Sonnenfeld, the professor of management at Yale University, told ABC News that a comparatively small number of companies have spoken out in response to the draft Supreme Court opinion on Roe because they’re assessing whether employees, investors and other stakeholders want such a move.
“There has been a bigger stampede on other issues,” Sonnenfeld said. “Quite a number of CEOs are waiting to make sure they’re not getting out in front of their constituencies.”
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The funerals for several victims of the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, are starting to take place.
Ten people, all of whom were Black, were killed in a mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in an attack authorities are calling a “racially motivated hate crime.”
The victims included four grocery store employees as well as six customers, several of them regulars at the store, according to the Buffalo Police Department and those who knew them.
Heyward Patterson
Deacon Heyward Patterson’s funeral will begin at 12 p.m. on Friday at Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church. Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and other community leaders are expected to make an appearance at the service.
Patterson’s family described him as a loving person.
“An honorable man. A family man. A working man. A community man. An honest man that was at a grocery store in a parking lot,” a relative of Patterson in an interview with ABC-affiliate WKBW-TV.
He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
Roberta Drury
The family of Roberta Drury will hold her funeral on Saturday at the Church of the Assumption in Syracuse.
Her sister Amanda Drury described her as a “vibrant and outgoing” woman who could “talk to anyone” in an interview with ABC News.
An online obituary says Drury “couldn’t walk a few steps without meeting a new friend. She made sure every single person in the room was having a great time, ready to laugh and hug at a moment’s notice.”
Katherine “Kat” Massey
The funeral for Katherine “Kat” Massey will be held on Monday, May 23, at the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
Massey was a civil rights activist who worked tirelessly to improve Buffalo’s Black community.
“She’s in a true sense of the word, a warrior,” Betty Jean Grant, a friend and fellow community activist, told WKBW. “She loved working and she loved helping people.”
Sharon Belton-Cottman, a Buffalo school board member and a community activist who worked with Massey in the community group We are Women Warriors, told ABC News that she is dedicated to renaming Massey’s street after her late friend.
Celestine Chaney
Celestine Chaney, a mother and grandmother of six, will be laid to rest on Tuesday, May 24, at Elim Christian Fellowship.
Chaney’s son, Wayne Jones, told the Buffalo News, “If people’s moms are still around, just don’t be too caught up in social media and the world to pick up the phone and talk to your mom or your dad.”
Aaron W. Salter
Services for Aaron W. Salter Jr. will begin on Tuesday at the Amigone Funeral Home.
Salter, a retired Buffalo Police officer, was killed after he confronted the gunman, who entered the store wearing military fatigues, body armor and a tactical helmet.
He has been hailed as a hero for his actions against the alleged Buffalo shooter.
Salter retired from the police department several years ago and had been a “beloved” member of Tops as a security guard, according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
“He took on a responsibility to protect the customers and the employees in the store,” Gramaglia said. “And he did exactly what he signed up for.”
Pearl L. Young
Pearl L. Young’s funeral will be held on Wednesday at the Elim Christian Fellowship.
In a phone interview with ABC News, her sister, Mary Craig, said Young “was such a beautiful, sweet woman.”
Young raised three children — two sons and a daughter — and was a long-term substitute teacher with the Buffalo Public School District and Emerson School of Hospitality.
“She loved her children, her family, and her Good-Samaritan COGIC church family. She was a true pillar in the community,” the family said in a statement to ABC News.
Margus D. Morrison
Services will be held for Margus D. Morgan on Friday, May 27, at True Bethel Baptist Church, at 11 a.m.
In a text message, Cassandra Demps, his stepdaughter, told ABC News that he was “a great father, wonderful partner” who was “funny” and “always willing to help his family.”
Morrison is “a soul that will always be missed,” she added.
