(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are using the impending one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to put a fine point on their efforts to shore up the nation’s election system.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in floor remarks Tuesday, said the same misinformation and malice that led a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election to storm the Capitol is fueling voter suppression laws in GOP-controlled statehouses.
“As we remember January 6 this week and as we confront state level voter suppression, we must be clear they are not isolated developments. They are all directly linked to the same anti-Democratic poison of the big lie,” Schumer said, referencing misinformation about the election results espoused by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
Democrats have for months been trying to push some sort of voting reform through the chamber, citing research from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan independent organization that analyzes election rules, that found that 19 states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for Americans to vote.
But those legislative efforts have faced an unrelenting blockade from Republicans, who oppose federal election reform because they say it is unnecessary and takes power away from the states to control their own elections.
“There’s been a lot of talk about big lies, the big lie on the other side is that state legislators controlled by Republicans are trying to make it difficult for people to vote,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a press conference Tuesday. “If you actually read the legislation that has been passed that’s clearly not the case.”
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Multiple attempts at passing legislation have fizzled because of the Senate filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to begin debate on a piece legislation. Continued Republican blocks have prompted Democrats to up the ante and many, including Schumer, are calling for a revision to the rules to allow voting reform to pass with a simple majority.
This is far from the first call for a change to the filibuster rules made by Democrats in the evenly divided Senate, but a rule change would require unanimous support from all Senate Democrats, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have been clear they won’t support a carve out, even for voting rights.
But on Tuesday, Manchin moved slightly off his hardline stance, refusing to rule out a Democratic-only solution on voting rights if Republicans refused to negotiate. Manchin called passing a change to the Senate rules a “heavy lift” while speaking to reporters and emphasized that his “preference” would be Republican buy-in, but he stopped short of calling Republican support a “red line”
“That’s my preference,” Manchin said when asked if GOP support was necessary. “I would have to exhaust everything in my ability to talk and negotiate with people before I start doing things that other people might think need to be done.”
It was enough to give some Democrats a sliver of hope that the West Virginia moderate might be softening his position after months of talks.
But later in the day, after a one-hour, closed-door meeting with Schumer and a handful of key Democrats on voting rights and rules changes, Manchin insisted, “The filibuster needs to stay in place in any way, shape or form that we can do it.”
The senator did, however, express support for making it easier to begin debate on a bill.
(AURORA, Colo.) — Taniya Freeman, 14, was found on Tuesday in Aurora, Colorado, after being reported missing over the weekend. A spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department said that she’s now home safe with her mother.
Freeman’s father, Nigel Freeman, said the family had no additional comment but that they appreciated everyone who shared the posts about their missing daughter on social media.
Taniya left her father’s home between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, her mother, Tiana Wilder, told ABC News earlier on Tuesday.
Wilder urged her daughter to come home.
“We miss her. We love her, of course, and the safest place for her to be is here with us,” she said.
The Aurora Police Department said Taniya has long hair with pink streaks and may have a backpack with her. Wilder said that she believed her daughter was wearing a black hoodie and red pants.
Wilder previously said her daughter didn’t have a history of running away and that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, as far as arguments or yelling, that night.
“I have no idea who she is with; where she is at and that’s my concern,” Wilder said prior to her daughter being found. “So as far as any harm coming, yeah, I am worried.”
Agent Matthew Longshore, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department, had told ABC News that the department was working with limited information. “Our investigators are still following up on different leads and we’re trying to find her,” he said.
“If her friends know something, tell us. And [don’t] think that they are snitching on her or getting her trouble,” Wilder had said. “Whatever they know that could be helpful is what we need to know.”
(WASHINGTON) — The family of Guy Reffitt, who has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, says it is not the same family as a year ago.
Extremism has torn the Reffits apart, they say, stirring up feelings of fear, loss and anger among family members.
Authorities say Reffitt attended former President Donald Trump’s rally and protest at the Capitol on that fateful day, and is now awaiting trial among the more than 700 who have been indicted in connection with the insurrection.
He has pleaded not guilty. Reffitt’s attorney, William L. Welch, III, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Watch the full story airing on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7 and 9 p.m. EST.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Reffitt is accused of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting; obstructing justice by hindering communication through physical force or threat of physical force; entering and remaining in a restricted building; and civil disorder, according to court documents.
“There were clearly signs he was getting involved with a lot of different people and a lot of bad people,” said Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, in an interview with ABC News’ Mireya Villareal.
“Hearing my father was there — it was absolutely disgusting. And pretty much demoralizing. And I really lost all respect for him in that moment,” Jackson added.
Reffitt’s wife, Nicole, said that her husband is a member of the Three Percenters, a group the Anti-Defamation League calls “anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement.”
Jackson said he went to the FBI with concerns about his father in the days leading up to the insurrection. “If something is to really happen, then I do not want this on my shoulders as the only one that actually sees what he’s doing right now,” Jackson said he felt at the time.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, professor and director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, told ABC News she’s seen an increase in polarization among families in recent years.
“What we’re facing here in this country — both related to a lot of the things that happened on Jan. 6, but more broadly — whenever you have rising political violence or extremism or hateful acts or other kinds of violent crimes, families are shattered,” Miller-Idriss said. “The family that’s left behind needs a lot of support and therapeutic intervention.”
Shortly after Reffitt returned from the Capitol, he allegedly threatened his son and daughter over his involvement in the attack, according to court documents. Around Jan. 11, Reffitt told his children that the FBI was watching and ordered them to “erase everything.”
“My father brought up that, ‘if anyone turns me in, like, you know what happens to traitors, traitors get shot,'” Jackson said. “And that spooked me and my sister.”
According to court documents, Reffitt allegedly told Jackson that if he “crossed the line and reported Reffitt to the police, putting the family in jeopardy, Reffitt would have no option but to do Reffitt’s duty for Reffitt’s country, and ‘do what he had to do.'”
Reffitt’s daughter and wife have both denied that he meant anything threatening by that language and the daughter said she did not feel threatened, according to the documents.
Reffitt was arrested on Jan. 16 at the family’s home, as his wife, daughter and son watched. Soon after, Jackson said that he finally decided to leave home.
“I don’t really feel like he’ll forgive me or really take into consideration what he’s been a part of,” Jackson said.
For the rest of the family, they say the insurrection and Reffitt’s arrest has continued to affect their daily lives.
“It has been so difficult,” Nicole said. “The void that’s been left by Jackson and Guy, the girls and I have a very hard time.”
Peyton, Reffitt’s youngest daughter, says she’s “ready to move on” and heal from the situation.
“I have anger, but I love him,” she said of her father.
Reffitt spoke to ABC News from jail in December, saying, “This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family.”
He added: “I never expected anything like this to happen.”
Reffitt says he believes he’ll be exonerated.
“It’s not that hard to prove that I didn’t do anything,” Reffitt said. “It should be pretty easy.”
He said he hopes to have a relationship with his son, someday.
But a full family reunion will take place in federal court when Reffitt’s trial begins in February.
“The whole situation is just going to be so nerve-wracking,” Jackson said. “Once it’s all set in stone, we can go back and really start, I guess, hanging out and getting back together and catching up.”
ABC News’ Seiji Yamashita contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Mass protests have broken out in Kazakhstan, triggered by a sharp rise in fuel prices in the Central Asian country.
Videos posted on social media show thousands of people gathering in cities across the country on Tuesday, in some places clashing violently with police and trying to storm government buildings, as authorities deployed security forces to try to disperse them and a state of emergency was declared in two parts of the country.
The internet was reportedly partially shut down in parts of the country, including in the former capital, Almaty, as Kazakhstan’s president appealed for calm and pledged his “government will not fall.”
The scenes on Tuesday were extraordinary in the repressive former Soviet country, where opposition is tightly controlled. For most of its independent history, Kazakhstan was ruled by the same authoritarian leader.
The protests began three days ago in the western region of Mangystau after the price of liquified natural gas, used in vehicles, roughly doubled overnight. But on Tuesday, the demonstrations swelled, spreading to cities across the country.
The government on Tuesday promised to reverse the fuel price rise, but the protests continued to grow, appearing to escalate Tuesday night as protesters in some cities sought to storm administrative buildings.
In Almaty, videos showed dozens of riot police using tear gas and stun grenades to clear demonstrators who reportedly tried to seize the mayor’s office.
Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in Almaty and the Mangystau region.
In a video address, Tokayev called for dialogue, saying the government would address the protesters’ legitimate demands but warned it would not fall.
“Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal,” Tokayev said. “The government will not fall, but we want mutual trust and dialogue rather than conflict.”
He said the government would hold a working meeting Wednesday to discuss the issues raised by the protesters.
Tokayev was hand-picked by Kazakhstan’s long-time ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev to be his successor in 2019, when Nazarbayev stepped aside after ruling the country since it gained independence from the USSR in 1991. Nazarbayev, 81, stood down as president to become chairman of Kazakhstan’s security council but is still believed to have retained significant power.
A major energy exporter, Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest countries and a key neighbor for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Unrest in the country is likely to alarm the Kremlin, which maintains strong influence in the region.
Large protests are very rare in Kazakhstan, where political opposition is barely tolerated and demonstrations must receive permission from authorities to take place legally.
The western city where the fuel protests were initially focused, the oil hub Zhanaozen, saw Kazakhstan’s last major protests in 2011. Those protests ended then in a massacre when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday clarified its guidelines around what to do when you get COVID-19, a move that comes after criticism last week that their newest guidance to shorten the isolation down to five days without calling for a negative test was confusing and lax.
The latest update still does not include a recommendation for people to get a negative COVID test before leaving isolation, but gives guidance for people who “have access” and “want to test” — language that reflects the challenges many Americans have faced in recent weeks trying to get their hands on them — while still holding ground that a negative rapid test isn’t an all-clear.
People who test positive after five days should isolate for another five days, the CDC says, while people who test negative should still follow the guidance for those who don’t test: until day 10, wear a mask, avoid high-risk people, don’t travel and don’t eat or drink around others.
The CDC said the decision was based on data that negative rapid tests do not necessarily mean someone has stopped spreading the virus, and PCR tests — the most accurate type — can’t be relied on either, because they continue to show positive results for weeks afterward even when someone isn’t contagious.
“As such, regardless of the test result, wearing a well-fitting mask is still recommended,” the guidance said.
While more detailed, the updated guidance is not significantly different from last week’s guidelines, which changed the recommended isolation period for a person with COVID from 10 days down to five, followed by five days of masking around other people. It applies to everyone, vaccinated or not, who gets COVID, so long as people are largely clear of symptoms by Day 5.
But the decision rankled public health experts who thought a shorter isolation without a negative test would lead to more spread.
“CDC’s new guidance to drop isolation of positives to 5 days without a negative test is reckless,” Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and chief scientific officer at eMed tweeted last week following the initial announcement. “I absolutely don’t want to sit next to someone who turned [positive] five days ago and hasn’t tested [negative].”
Federal officials pushed back in the criticism, insisting that the new recommendations were based on science and not on social pressure.
“You can get people safely back out in a five-day period so long as they wear a mask if they are without symptoms. That is the science,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, told ABC News last week. “The impact of that is to try and not be in a situation where we essentially have to shut down the entire country.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky also defended the guidance, saying it was based on behavioral studies showing that only one-third of people were following the previous guidelines, and data showing up to 90% of COVID spread occurs in the first five days that someone has it.
“It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate,” she said in an interview last week with CNN.
And on Tuesday, the guidance largely stuck to that stance, though it further clarified what people should do in all scenarios, including if they decide to test.
Here’s the latest:
If you get COVID, you should isolate for five days, the CDC says.
Day 0 is the first day of symptoms and day 1 is considered “first full day after your symptoms developed.” For example, if you have symptoms on Monday, Tuesday is Day 1 and Saturday is Day 5.
If your case is asymptomatic, Day 0 is the day you tested positive. But the CDC’s guidance on Tuesday clarified that if people test positive without any symptoms, and then develop symptoms in the days afterward, they should reset their isolation clock back to zero on the day they have symptoms and isolate for another five days.
After five full days, you can leave isolation if you are mostly all better. What does that mean? Fever-free and on the mend.
“You can end isolation after 5 full days if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved,” according to CDC guidance.
Loss of taste and smell, two common COVID symptoms, can last “for weeks or months after recovery” and do not qualify as symptoms that should keep you in isolation.
Then, after five days, you should wear a “well-fitting mask around others at home and in public for 5 additional days (day 6 through day 10) after the end of your 5-day isolation period,” the guidance says.
If you’re unable to mask, or if you can mask but will be around high-risk people, opt instead for the isolation, the CDC says.
“If you are unable to wear a mask when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days. Avoid people who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease, and nursing homes and other high-risk settings, until after at least 10 days,” according to the CDC.
If you still want to test, and can find one
As for the testing component, the CDC recommends that people who can and want to test should do so around day five, if they have been fever-free for 24 hours.
“If your test result is positive, you should continue to isolate until day 10,” the guidance says.
And, importantly, a negative test is not an all-clear, according to the CDC.
“If your test result is negative, you can end isolation, but continue to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public until day 10,” the guidance says.
The CDC recommends against traveling, going anywhere where you are unable to wear a mask like restaurants and gyms, and avoid eating around people — both at home and in public — “until a full 10 days after your first day of symptoms,” even with a negative test.
Walensky, asked about the guidance in an interview with “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert on Monday night, said she would interpret even a negative test as possibly having “some transmissibility ahead of you.”
“If you have access to a test, and if you want to do a test at day five, and if your symptoms are gone and you’re feeling well, then go ahead and do that test,” Walensky said.
“But here’s how I would interpret that test. If it’s positive, stay home for another five days. If it’s negative, I would say you still really need to wear a mask. You still may have some transmissibility ahead of you,” she said.
“You still should probably not visit grandma. You shouldn’t get on an airplane. And you should still be pretty careful when you’re with other people by wearing your mask all the time.”
While the rollout of the guidance has been met with much criticism, experts have noted that its ultimately a fast-paced environment with no easy one-size-fits-all solution.
“The CDC is sending a mixed message — but I don’t think there’s any way around that,” Dr. David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.
“And I don’t think we should be too quick to judge mixed messages in the context of a rapidly evolving situation. We want our guidelines to reflect the most recent knowledge we have, meaning that those guidelines are going to change, sometimes quickly,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is expected to ask Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with its investigation, a development first reported by Axios.
A conservative media star and close ally of former President Donald Trump, Hannity was one of the many prominent Trump associates who texted Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, during the Capitol riot last year.
“Can he make a statement?” Hannity asked Meadows of Trump, according to text messages Meadows voluntarily turned over to congressional investigators. “Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., revealed the exchanges in a Dec. 14 committee meeting, reading them and others aloud.
Hannity later defended the messages on his nightly Fox News program — where he frequently criticizes the select committee investigation and accuses the panel’s lawmakers of trying to politically damage Trump.
“Surprise, surprise, surprise: I said to Mark Meadows the exact same thing I was saying live on the radio at that time and on TV that night on Jan. 6 and well beyond Jan. 6,” Hannity said.
Jay Sekulow, Hannity’s attorney, tells ABC News they have not been contacted by the panel.
“If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press,” Sekulow told ABC News.
A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., confirmed the committee’s plans in an afternoon MSNBC appearance, suggesting the missive to Hannity could be released as early as Tuesday evening.
(NEW YORK) — Some state-run vaccine lotteries did not help increase COVID-19 immunization rates, a new study suggests.
Over the spring and summer, at least 19 states — including California, New York, Ohio and West Virginia — tried to incentivize unvaccinated individuals to get shots, offering cash prizes, free tickets, guns, college scholarships and trucks.
However, research from the Boston University School of Medicine found some of these prizes had little to no effect on convincing residents to get vaccinated against COVID.
For the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the team compared vaccination rates between 15 states that offered lotteries with cash prizes and 31 states that did not between May 24, 2021 and July 19, 2021.
Data of daily rates of first doses came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study found that about four weeks before the lottery announcement, the lottery states were vaccinating an average of 225 per 100,000 people with their first doses.
Immediately after the lottery announcement, the rate increased by 1.1 per 100,000 people.
However, by the fourth week following the lottery, the rate had fallen to fewer than 100 per 100,000 people receiving their first shots.
The trend was similar among U.S. states without lotteries, which experienced a decline in rates nearly mirroring those seen in the lottery states.
Vaccine lotteries had initially been deemed a success after reports that vaccination rates had significantly boosted, such as in Ohio, where officials said they saw a 55% increase in vaccinations for young adults following the state’s Vax-A-Million lottery.
However, it appears the boosts were likely temporary.
One limitation of the study is the small number of states analyzed. Because researchers only looked at 15 states with lotteries, small increases in vaccination rates may not have been detected.
The team insists, however, that the findings are strong and that more research should be conducted on vaccine incentives that work.
“This study did not find evidence that vaccine lottery incentive programs in the U.S. were associated with significantly increased rates of COVID-19 vaccinations,” the researchers wrote.
“Given the lack of a strong association between state lottery-based vaccine incentives and increased vaccination rates, further studies of strategies to increase vaccination rates are needed.”
A previous study from Boston University found similar results when researchers looked at Ohio, specifically comparing vaccination rates from one month before the lottery started — April 15 to May 12 — and one month after the lottery was announced — May 13 to June 9.
They found the daily vaccination rates declined from 485 shots for every 100,000 adults prior to the lottery to 101 for every 100,000 by early June.
(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 827,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62% 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 04, 3:42 pm
Florida hospitals say half of COVID patients admitted for other reasons
At least three major health systems in Florida said half of their COVID-19 patients were originally admitted to hospitals for other reasons.
During a briefing about the pandemic in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said about 50% of COVID hospitalizations at Orlando Health and Miami Jackson Health and 60% at Tallahassee Memorial were being treated for other reasons and learned were positive for the virus during their stays.
In a tweet, Miami Jackson Health said its exact figure is 53%.
DeSantis called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to change the way it reports COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“It really isn’t instructive if you have something that is very widespread and mild, and it’s catching people as they go into the hospital with positive tests, but they’re not actually having any clinical diagnosis,” he said.
It comes one day after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said hospitals in her state would be surveyed about how many patients were being admitted to hospitals for COVID as opposed to with COVID.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Jan 04, 2:15 pm
Daily COVID deaths in US up 10% in last week
The U.S. is recording 1,200 new COVID-19 deaths every day, up by about 10% in the last week, according to federal data.
Nearly 828,000 Americans have now died due to the virus. Just three weeks ago, the death toll surpassed 800,000.
Additionally, more than 112,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with just under a fifth of those patients — nearly 20,000 — in intensive care units.
On average, more than 12,700 people in the U.S. are being admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 daily, a figure which has nearly doubled over the last month.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 04, 2:13 pm
COVID vaccines not linked to premature births: CDC study
COVID-19 vaccines do not increase the risk of premature or low-weight birth among babies born to pregnant vaccinated women compared with those born to unvaccinated women, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Tuesday.
Researchers from Yale looked at electronic health data from more than 40,000 pregnant women from the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink.
There were 7.0 premature births for every 100,000 babies born among unvaccinated women compared to 4.9 births per 100,000 for babies born to women who received a COVID vaccine while pregnant.
Additionally, rates of low-birth weight were 8.2 per 100,000 in both the unvaccinated and vaccinated groups.
The team said the findings add to a growing body of evidence that getting vaccinated against COVID is safe for pregnant people and for their babies.
Pregnant women are at increased risk for severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, but only 40% have been vaccinated, CDC data shows.
Jan 04, 1:19 pm
Omicron variant makes up 95% of COVID cases in US
The omicron variant accounts for 95% of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday.
In early December, the highly transmissible variant made up 0.6% of new infections.
Meanwhile, the delta variant — responsible for the summer surge — makes up 4.6% of new cases, the CDC said.
The data also showed the omicron variant is dominant in all regions of the country. In the New York-New Jersey region and in the Southeast, the variant is linked to 98% of new infections.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 04, 12:27 pm
UK records more than 200,000 COVID cases
The United Kingdom recorded more than 200,000 cases of COVID-19, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
The 218,724 new infections is the highest figure ever reported in a single day and an increase of nearly 60% from the number of cases reported on the same day last week.
However, there has been a backlog of data due to the holiday weekend so the number includes four days of data from Northern Ireland and two days of data from Wales, the UKHSA said.
-ABC News’ Mike Trew
Jan 04, 10:20 am
Sen. Rob Portman tests positive for COVID
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, tested positive for COVID-19 last night, according to a press release.
Portman took an at-home COVID test which came back positive. The senator said he is asymptomatic and feels fine.
“I have been in contact with the Attending Physician and my personal doctor. I am following their medical advice and following CDC guidelines and isolating for the recommended five days,” Portman said in the statement.
He will be working remotely this week, but will not be able to be in Washington, D.C., for votes.
Jan 04, 9:54 am
Sweden’s King and Queen test positive for COVID-19
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia tested positive for COVID-19 last night, according to a palace statement.
Both are fully vaccinated and have received a third booster shot.
The king and queen said they have mild symptoms and are feeling well, in the statement.
They are isolating at home and contact tracing is ongoing.
Jan 04, 6:36 am
US reports 1 million new daily COVID cases
More than 1 million new COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The 1,082,549 new infections were about double last week’s record daily cases, according to the university’s data. It was unclear whether the newly reported cases included backlogs from holiday testing.
The US recorded 1,688 deaths related to COVID-19 on Monday, below the record high of 4,442, set on Jan. 20, 2021, according to the university’s data.
Jan 04, 6:32 am
US reports record 325,000 new pediatric COVID infections last week
A record 325,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week amid the nation’s most significant COVID-19 infection surge yet, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Children accounted for about 17.4% of last week’s reported COVID-19 cases, down from previous weeks, when children accounted for more than a quarter of all new cases.
A total of nearly 7.9 million children have tested positive for the virus, since the onset of the pandemic.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 03, 4:02 pm
New York looking into COVID-19 hospitalizations that began for other reasons
New York’s hospitals will be required to report a breakdown of how many COVID-19 patients were admitted due to the coronavirus and how many were admitted for other needs and only discovered they were infected during their stays.
During a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul cited anecdotal reports of as many as 50% of patients at some hospitals testing positive for the virus who were actually admitted for other reasons, such as car accidents.
“I just want to always be honest with New Yorkers about how bad this is,” Hochul said. “Yes, the sheer number of people infected are high, but I want to see whether or not the hospitalizations correlate with that.”
She continued, “And I’m anticipating to see that at least a certain percentage overall are not being treated for COVID.”
Hospitals will begin reporting their breakdowns Tuesday, but it’s unclear how soon the data will be publicly available.
-ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos and Will McDuffie
Jan 03, 3:11 pm
Surgeon general warns next few weeks ‘will be tough’
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations will continue to increase as the omicron variant rapidly spreads across the country.
“The next few weeks are going to be tough for us,” he told ABC’s “The View” on Monday. “We’re already seeing record levels of cases, and we’re seeing hospitalizations starting to tick up. We’re seeing some of our hospital systems getting strained at this point.”
Information from South Africa and the United Kingdom indicates omicron could be less severe than previous COVID-19 variants, Murthy said.
“We’re still going to see a lot of people get sick and a lot of hospitalizations, but the overall severity may end up being significantly lower,” he said.
Murthy said both South Africa and the U.K. “had a very rapid rise, but then they had a very steep fall” in cases
“I’m hoping that that’s what happens here too,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — The coldest temperatures of this season so far have created black ice conditions in the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday. A freeze warning was issued Tuesday along the Gulf Coast, where temperatures are near or below freezing.
A record 6.9 inches of snow fell at Reagan National Airport yesterday, with up to 10 inches of snow around the Washington, D.C., metro area.
The highest snowfall totals were in Virginia, Delaware and southern New Jersey where more than 14 inches of snow fell.
An Amtrak train with 220 passengers and six crew members is stranded in Lynchburg, Virginia, due to Monday’s storm. The train, which was headed to New York from New Orleans, was forced to return to Lynchburg after a separate train encountered downed power lines and trees, according to ABC 13 News.
A new cross-country storm could bring more snow for the Interstate 95 corridor following a heavy snowstorm. Traffic on I-95 was so bad, Virginia Sen. Tim Kane said he was trapped on the highway for 19 hours, following a multi-vehicle accident.
Interstate 84 was closed in Oregon on Monday due to whiteout conditions, leaving trucks and cars stuck on the highway.
Twenty states from California to Michigan are on alert for heavy snow and gusty winds. As much as 2 to 3 feet of snow is possible in the northern Rockies, with wind gusts over 75 miles per hour in some areas.
There is also a blizzard warning in place for the eastern Dakotas and northwestern Minnesota along with winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings. Several inches of snow is expected to fall Tuesday through Friday.
Wind chill alerts are in place from Montana to Iowa as wind chills on Wednesday morning will be well below zero. Parts of Montana and the Dakotas could see wind chills 30 to 50 degrees below zero on Tuesday night into Wednesday.
A new storm is now in the West moving through the Rockies, bringing heavy snow. This storm could reach the East Coast by Friday morning, bringing more snow to the I-95 corridor.
Both long-term storm models, European and American, are showing snow for the I-95 corridor by Friday morning.
Another bitter cold blast is on its way for the Midwest and eventually into the Northeast, behind this next storm. Temperatures could reach a low of zero degrees in Chicago and the teens in D.C. by the weekend.
(AURORA, Colo.) — A 14-year-old girl named Taniya Freeman went missing in Aurora, Colorado, over the weekend. Her family and the Aurora Police Department are now asking for the public’s help to locate her.
Taniya left her father’s home between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 2 and they haven’t seen her since, her mother, Tiana Wilder, told ABC News.
Wilder urged her daughter to come home.
“We miss her. We love her, of course, and the safest place for her to be is here with us,” she said.
The Aurora Police Department said Taniya has long hair with pink streaks and may have a backpack with her. Wilder said that she believed her daughter was wearing a black hoodie and red pants.
Wilder said that her daughter doesn’t have a history of running away and that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, as far as arguments or yelling, that night.
“I have no idea who she is with; where she is at and that’s my concern,” Wilder said. “So as far as any harm coming, yeah, I am worried.”
Agent Matthew Longshore, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department, told ABC News that the department was working with limited information. “Our investigators are still following up on different leads and we’re trying to find her,” he said.
“If her friends know something, tell us. And [don’t] think that they are snitching on her or getting her trouble,” Wilder said. “Whatever they know that could be helpful is what we need to know.”
If you have any information about Taniya’s whereabouts, the police department said you can call Aurora911 at 303-627-3100.
