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Russia may be ‘looking to move further’ into Ukraine, its foreign minister warns

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As it again masses troops and equipment on the border with Ukraine, the Russian government is “looking for the opportunity to move further” into Ukrainian territory, the country’s foreign minister warned in an exclusive interview.

“We do not want to scare anyone, but we have to remain vigilant,” Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told ABC News. “We are extremely worried, but listen — when you live next to Russia for seven years in an armed conflict, you kind of learn to be worried. You get used to it.”

Kuleba just wrapped up a high-profile visit to Washington, meeting Wednesday with President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy aides, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The visit was just the latest exchange between Biden’s administration and that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was infamously urged by former President Donald Trump to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.

Kuleba noted the “turbulence” in U.S.-Ukrainian relations during the Trump years, but eagerly looked to turn the page — saying ties were “revived, restored, relaunched, whatever word we use.”

U.S. officials have tried to demonstrate that, too, expressing growing concern about Russia’s military movements in recent weeks. Blinken said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine remains “ironclad” and warned Moscow that “any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern by the United States.”

As many as 100,000 Russian troops have been moved to its western border with Ukraine, Zelenskiy said Thursday. Satellite images published by the firm Maxar Technologies last week showed large ground forces deployed 140 miles from the border with heavy equipment, while the defense firm Janes said the buildup was largely covert, with elite ground units and often taking place at night, according to Bloomberg News.

Russian government officials denied the movements, then dismissed concerns about them and accused the U.S. and NATO of aggression.

Ukrainian officials have swung between raising alarm at Russia’s recent actions and downplaying them as a tactic by Russian leader Vladimir Putin meant to create hysteria.

“Russia’s psychological pressure has not worked on us for a long time. Your panic will definitely not help, but it can help the enemy. It can become part of the information war and bring no less harm to the country than the fighting,” Zelenskiy said Thursday.

Standing alongside Kuleba on Wednesday, Blinken said, “We don’t have clarity into Moscow’s intentions, but we do know its playbook,” recalling Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine’s territory, Crimea, which it still occupies, and incursion into eastern Ukraine. That still-smoldering war between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government has claimed 14,000 lives and counting.

That playbook can be swiftly executed, Kuleba warned, because a similar military buildup in April ended with troops departing, but the infrastructure and equipment largely remaining in place.

“With this infrastructure in place along our border, it will not take Russia a lot of time to resort to an offensive action if it decides to do so, and our goal and our objective is to make everything, everything possible to prevent Russia from making that decision,” he told ABC News.

Part of that effort is boosting U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, which both Kuleba and Blinken called for after their meetings Wednesday. Blinken declined to offer specifics, but Kuleba called for greater intelligence sharing, air defense systems and more.

The Biden administration has been “very specific and very committed” in responding to Russian aggression, he told ABC News, taking a “proactive stance” and walking the walk.

“What is even more important from my conversations here in Washington, I see that the United States are ready not only to talk, but also to act, to act in order to deter Russia and to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself,” he said. “This is even more important.”

Selling Ukrainian lethal weapons was at the heart of Trump’s first impeachment and the infamous call between him and Zelenskiy. As the newly elected Ukrainian leader asked Trump for more Javelin anti-tank missiles, Trump turned the conversation to ask for a “favor” and announce a probe of Biden, his son Hunter and Hunter’s time on the board of the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Burisma.

While there was no announcement about new weapons sales, Kuleba said he was “leaving Washington, D.C., in a good mood because this is exactly what we were working for.”

“The truth is, there has been some turbulence in our bilateral relations under the previous administration. There was some hesitations of how this relationship will proceed further in the early days of this administration. But I think that it will not be an exaggeration to say that the quality and the number of contacts between our presidents, between me and foreign secretary, and at all other levels of our teams has been unprecedented,” he told ABC News.

But that’s not to say there aren’t critical differences now, even on the potential threat from Russia. During their joint press conference Wednesday, Blinken refused to say Russia is using energy as a weapon, while Kuleba clearly said it already is, including by halting coal shipments to Ukraine and withholding greater natural gas imports through Ukraine to Europe amid an energy crisis across the continent.

“What is unfolding in Europe now is a very complicated game with many elements in it,” Kuleba said at the State Department, accusing Russia and its ally Belarus of pressuring Europe using energy, propaganda and disinformation, cyber attacks, military buildups, and the migration crisis between Belarus and its neighbors.

Biden has called for stabilizing U.S. relations with Russia, including by holding his summit with Putin in June — a meeting that could have a sequel soon. Kuleba said he understands the sentiment and sees no “risks” that U.S.-Russian dialogue would be “done at the expense of Ukraine,” but he warned that Putin only responds to strength.

“Our experience of recent seven years demonstrates that Moscow understands and respects the language of strength. You do not have to threaten them, you do not have to act, to use force against them, but they respect you if you are strong with them, if you are tough with them,” he said.

One issue, however, where critics say the U.S. is not standing strong is Nord Stream 2, the nearly completed natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany and circumventing Ukraine, Poland and other U.S. partners. Biden waived congressionally-mandated sanctions on the German company constructing the pipeline and its CEO, saying he did not want to damage ties with a key ally. Instead, the U.S. and Germany issued a joint statement, committing to helping Ukraine diversify its energy resources and responding swiftly if Russia withholds gas to Ukraine.

But joined by Poland, Kyiv expressed anger and dismay at the non-binding agreement. Kuleba papered over that disagreement, saying what was most important is that they were talking — but urged action if needed.

“We have differences in seeing how the negative consequences of this project being implemented can be avoided or prevented,” Kuleba told ABC News. “We definitely want the United States to remain vigilant and ready, ready to take action if the current policy fails.”

Nearly 100,000 pounds of chicken, some sold at Trader Joe’s, recalled due to possible bone contamination

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Wednesday that Innovative Solutions, Inc., is recalling approximately 97,887 pounds of raw ground chicken patty products, some of which was sold at Trader Joe’s locations.

The chicken patty products, which were produced on various dates from Aug. 16 to Sept. 29, may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically pieces of bone, according to the press release.

The products subject to recall include Chile Lime Chicken Burgers sold at Trader Joe’s, as well as Spinach Feta Chicken Sliders, which were sold at other grocery stores. Both were shipped nationwide.

The items have an establishment number of EST. P-8276.

There have been no confirmed reports of injury or illness, but the FSIS urges consumers to throw away or return the products.

Why experts say COVID threat looms with winter

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — State and local health officials are once again raising the alarm about the renewed threat of COVID-19 spread in communities across the country as people head indoors during the colder months and are set to gather for the holidays.

“Winter is coming,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned during a press conference on Tuesday. “COVID is not taking the winter off.”

For weeks throughout the early fall, the U.S. had seen steady declines in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, offering hope that perhaps the pandemic was finally subsiding in the U.S. after a significant summer surge across the South and a renewed push for vaccinations.

However, the U.S. appears to be once again at an inflection point, with cold weather setting in across much of the North, COVID-19 restrictions relaxed and gatherings growing more frequent. On average, the U.S. is reporting approximately 75,000 new COVID-19 cases each day, according to federal data, still significantly lower than the country’s most recent surge over the summer, but higher than at any point last spring.

Since mid-October, the average number of new COVID-19 cases has risen by approximately 17%, marking the first consistent increase in national cases in nearly 10 weeks. While some health officials caution that case numbers may not be the best indicator of the prevalence of COVID-19, hospitalizations are also on the rise in a number of states.

Experts say a confluence of factors is likely driving the country’s recent uptick besides cold weather — largely the more than 107 million Americans who remain completely unvaccinated and continue to account for the majority of new infections and hospitalizations.

People who have not been fully vaccinated are 6.1 times more likely to test positive with the virus and 11.3 times more likely to die from it, compared with people who are vaccinated, according to federal data.

But there is also the factor of waning immunity for those who are fully inoculated, something that other countries have seen as well.

“Lowering temperatures, increased population mixing, reduced masking, fully open schools and the more contagious delta variant all contribute to the increases in cases and hospitalizations in many parts of the country. Despite widespread availability of the vaccine, we still have pockets of under-vaccinated communities that consistently provide opportunities for the virus to spread,” said John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

“While we should all be more optimistic than this time last year, we are not yet in a position to declare victory on the pandemic,” Brownstein said.

COVID-19 cases on the rise in nearly 2 dozen states

Over the last two weeks, 22 states — many of them with colder temperatures — have seen an uptick in daily cases of 10%.

Similarly, 14 states — Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin — have seen an increase of about 10% or more in hospital admissions over the last week.

And after nearly 10 weeks of declines, national hospitalizations have also begun to increase. Although hospitalizations have declined significantly from the country’s summer surge, when more than 104,000 patients were hospitalized at one time, 47,000 patients currently in the hospital with COVID-19 — an increase of 2,000 from last week.

“We need to stop talking as though covid is over,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, tweeted last week. “More than 40% of the country remains unvaccinated. That’s a lot of warm water for hurricane delta. I’m concerned about yet another surge beginning after Thanksgiving (just like last year).”

Jennifer Nuzzo, epidemiology lead at the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, called the stall in the national decline “worrisome.”

“We’re stalling at a level of weekly case numbers that are still well above what we saw at the lower periods at the end of June and in early July,” Nuzzo said during a briefing last week. “There are a number of states where these increases have persisted for two or more weeks, and that’s usually the metric we look for to say a trend is happening. So there are some early signs that we’re headed in the wrong direction.”

Even states with high vaccination rates see upticks

Despite states across the Northeast boasting high vaccination rates, with several jurisdictions reporting full vaccination rates above 70%, several states are struggling through their worst surge yet.

In Maine, COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have been steadily rising across the state, despite the fact more than 70% of the state’s total population fully inoculated.

Since the onset of the pandemic, LifeFlight of Maine, which provides critical care transport across the state, has not seen a decline in the steady stream of patients in need of urgent care.

“The number of COVID patients we’re transporting is remaining the same as it was for the last 19 months. We’re continuing to say the hospitals are full to capacity,” Thomas Judge, executive director of LifeFlight of Maine, told ABC News.

This issue is not unique to Maine, Judge explained, adding that his colleagues across the country, and in the Northeast, are all still struggling.

“Because the hospitals can’t absorb all these patients, they’re just under such pressure for beds, especially the ICU beds,” Judge said.

Judge explained that they are frequently flying patients out of state, at times, as far away as Connecticut or New York, depending on bed availability.

“We’re taking patients across state lines routinely. Just because of these challenging beds, and we’re taking patients much further than we would normally take them which you can imagine,” Judge added. “The patients we’re seeing are primarily unvaccinated and the vast majority of patients in the ICU, and on ventilators are unvaccinated, and that continues to be the challenge.”

Vermont sees record surge in COVID-19 infections

In neighboring Vermont, which has the highest vaccination rate of any state with nearly 72% of the population fully vaccinated, COVID-19 cases increased by 50% over the last 14 days. According to a recent report by the Department of Financial Regulation, people who are not fully vaccinated continue to report infection rates 3.7 times higher, per capita, compared to people who are fully vaccinated.

Further, according to the report, 67% of hospitalizations, over the last seven days, are among the unvaccinated.

The patterns observed in communities with current spikes in infections and hospitalizations suggest that they are driven not only by those still unvaccinated, but also the decline of vaccine efficacy over time.

“Waning immunity likely is also contributing to increases in cases especially among those with increased vulnerability because of underlying conditions. Boosters can at least play a supporting role in averting a larger surge this winter,” Brownstein said.

Experts say the key to getting through the winter will ultimately be to get more Americans fully vaccinated and boosted when eligible.

“As we go into the winter months with the challenge of a respiratory infection being worse in the winter months, we can get through this if we really put a lot of effort into getting as many people vaccinated as we possibly can,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in an interview with NPR, this week.

Health experts also say that it will also be critical for people to get the flu vaccine, in addition to their COVID-19 shots, as both vaccines only protect against their respective diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is safe to get the COVID and flu vaccines during the same visit.

At this time, booster shots are recommended for anyone over the age of 18 who has received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer recipients are encouraged to get a booster shot six months after receiving their second dose, if they are over the age of 65, have an underlying medical condition or are at high risk for exposure. On Tuesday, Pfizer requested the Food and Drug Administration allow all Americans over 18 to be eligible for booster shots.

Experts sound alarm over rising COVID cases ahead of winter

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

“Winter is coming,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned during a press conference on Tuesday. “COVID is not taking the winter off.”

But there is also the factor of waning immunity for those who are fully inoculated, something that other countries have seen as well.

“While we should all be more optimistic than this time last year, we are not yet in a position to declare victory on the pandemic,” Brownstein said.

COVID-19 cases on the rise in nearly 2 dozen states

Over the last two weeks, 22 states — many of them with colder temperatures — have seen an uptick in daily cases of 10%.

Jennifer Nuzzo, epidemiology lead at the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, called the stall in the national decline “worrisome.”

Even states with high vaccination rates see upticks

In Maine, COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have been steadily rising across the state, despite the fact more than 70% of the state’s total population fully inoculated.

Since the onset of the pandemic, LifeFlight of Maine, which provides critical care transport across the state, has not seen a decline in the steady stream of patients in need of urgent care.

This issue is not unique to Maine, Judge explained, adding that his colleagues across the country, and in the Northeast, are all still struggling.

“Because the hospitals can’t absorb all these patients, they’re just under such pressure for beds, especially the ICU beds,” Judge said.

Judge explained that they are frequently flying patients out of state, at times, as far away as Connecticut or New York, depending on bed availability.

Vermont sees record surge in COVID-19 infections

Further, according to the report, 67% of hospitalizations, over the last seven days, are among the unvaccinated.

Experts say the key to getting through the winter will ultimately be to get more Americans fully vaccinated and boosted when eligible.

Every US citizen who wants out of Afghanistan offered departure, State Department says

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The State Department has arranged a means out of Afghanistan for the last remaining U.S. citizens who are seeking help departing, a senior State Department official told ABC News.

It is an important milestone for the State Department, nearly three months after President Joe Biden ended the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and the unprecedented, chaotic evacuation operation.

But the situation on the ground has shifted rapidly and repeatedly, making this “milestone” a moving target.

Some Americans who requested assistance have not yet departed, and hundreds of others remain in the country who could change their minds and seek a way out, especially because many of those who are staying are doing so only because extended family members who are Afghans have not been able to get out.

“This mission will continue. These numbers are nothing more than a snapshot on any given day. It’s not that we’re closing up shop, but we are marking an important milestone,” the senior State Department official said.

In total, 385 U.S. citizens have departed Afghanistan with U.S. government help, per the State Department, but that number didn’t include a flight that departed Thursday for Doha, Qatar.

There will be more flights in the coming days, according to the senior official, with fewer than 80 U.S. citizens still in the country and seeking help.

The total number in the coming days could be about 450 U.S. citizens who departed with U.S. government help in total — roughly four times as many as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said remained in the immediate aftermath of Biden’s Aug. 31 withdrawal.

The agency has previously defended that difference by saying the situation on the ground was constantly shifting.

“The number fluctuates as people change their minds about leaving, or as some U.S. citizens choose to go back, as many have family members in Afghanistan they do not want to leave behind, and we’ve seen that — so the number is very fluid,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday.

Some lawmakers and advocacy groups have said the number is even higher, with Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., saying last month the administration “has shamelessly and repeatedly lied about the number of Americans trapped behind Taliban lines.”

The senior State Department official dismissed some of that “bad-faith” criticism as “tinged with politics and partisanship” and repeated the administration’s commitment to giving all U.S. citizens who want out of Afghanistan a way out.

Many Americans who were left behind by the massive evacuation operation in August have also expressed anger and outrage about what they describe as abandonment.

“How can you leave a U.S. citizen with the background that I have, that can be hunted at any time? How can you leave them there?” said Prince Wafa, a 30-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan. After serving with U.S. forces for four years and securing a special immigrant visa, Wafa has been living in San Diego, but returned to Afghanistan this summer to help his wife get out.

While Wafa was unable to get a seat on an evacuation flight out before troops left, approximately 6,000 American citizens were evacuated, according to the State Department, out of nearly 124,000 people in total.

The administration still hopes to pick up the pace of flights out of Afghanistan in the coming weeks, especially with help from the Qatari government, which has been arranging chartered Qatari Airways flights. On Friday, Blinken will meet his counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, for a strategic dialogue where the issue will be among many discussed, the senior official said.

For months now, there have been negotiations among the Qatari and Turkish governments, the Taliban’s interim government and private firms about reopening Kabul’s international airport. But hope for a swift reopening seems to have faded, in particular because of damage to the airport during the August evacuations and concerns over airport security.

The senior official declined to say how close the parties may be beyond that they were “not there yet” and the agency was “still working closely with our partners” on that goal.

But so far, the Taliban itself has not been an issue, according to the senior official.

“The Taliban have been uneven in some areas, but when it comes to safe passage and allowing those who wish to leave the country to leave, I think they have by and large adhered to that commitment, and I think the milestone we achieved yesterday is a testament to that,” the senior State Department official said.

In a joint statement Thursday, delegations from the U.S., Russia, China and Pakistan said they “welcomed the Taliban’s continued commitment to allow for the safe passage of all who wish to travel to and from Afghanistan.” The diplomats met with senior Taliban leaders on the sidelines of their summit in Islamabad Thursday, according to their statement.

While hundreds of Americans and other foreigners have gotten out, there’s been intense criticism about the many Afghans left behind and still seeking departure, especially those who worked for the U.S. military or diplomatic missions and whose lives are now at risk.

“The U.S. military and diplomatic presence in Afghanistan may have ended in August, but the U.S. government’s obligation did not,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, on an advocacy call on Tuesday. “The Biden administration must provide immediate, realistic pathways to safety for these communities.”

The senior State Department official declined to say how many Afghan partners the administration has helped evacuate. But they said thanks to the work of nongovernmental partners like veterans groups, a couple thousand have been able to fly out on chartered flights, including some on those arranged by the Qatari government where the U.S. has facilitated seats.

“Even if we reach a point where every American who has raised his or her hand and is ready to leave has departed, our efforts to assist others, that will continue,” the senior official added.

Missing New Jersey teen Jashyah Moore found safe in New York City

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Jashyah Moore, a 14-year-old from New Jersey, was found safe in New York City on Thursday, according to officials.

The teen “is currently safe and is being provided all appropriate services,” acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens said in a statement. Jashyah had been missing since Oct. 14.

Stephens said she would be returned to New Jersey shortly.

Investigators had increased the reward for locating Jashyah to $15,000 this week after an anonymous local business owner’s donation.

“Jashyah is one of our own,” East Orange, New Jersey, Mayor Ted Green said. “We’re asking this community, as we have been asking from day one, to help us in locating this young lady.”

Jashyah’s family had pleaded with the community to help bring her daughter home.

She was last seen around 10 a.m. at Poppie’s Deli Store in East Orange after her mother, Jamie Moore, asked her to go to the store for groceries. According to police, surveillance footage shows Jashyah entering the store with an older male who paid for her items. However, the footage does not appear to show them leaving the store together, police say. The man has cooperated with investigators and been helpful in the search, police said.

Jashyah initially returned from the store and told her mom she had lost the card the family uses for groceries. Moore told her daughter to retrace her steps to find it.

Moore said that was the last time she saw her daughter.

“I cannot imagine what she might be going through just being away from us this long, being away from her family who loves her very much,” her mother said through tears at a press conference last Friday. “If anybody knows anything, please, please come forward.”

East Orange Police, the FBI and the New Jersey State Police worked in collaboration to help find Jashyah. They say if anyone knows about her disappearance, they should call the East Orange Police at 973-266-5041.

How climate change can harm your skin

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Experts agree climate change is exacting a hefty toll on human health — from increasing rates of asthma and heat stroke to depression and anxiety. But now, dermatologists are chiming in, too, saying climate change could also impact your skin.

“There are a lot of ways that the skin interacts with the environment,” said Dr. Misha Rosenbach, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the American Academy of Dermatology’s climate change and environmental issues expert resource group.

Your skin is your body’s first line of defense against the outside world. Now, some dermatologists are seeing an uptick in some dermatological conditions linked to the burgeoning climate crisis. As the first barrier of protection against different climates, the skin must adjust to these changes, but it can be difficult to adjust to extreme environments.

“As temperatures rise, our skin’s ability to adapt to increasing temperatures has its limits,” said Dr. Sarah Coates, a pediatric dermatologist and assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Common skin conditions

Multiple common skin conditions have been linked to climate change. One of them is eczema, a skin condition that can happen at any age and often involves irritating, itchy rashes that can disrupt sleep and overall quality of life. Eczema can flare up due to multiple triggers, including air pollutants.

“It turns out eczema can be exacerbated by wildfire smoke,” Rosenbach said. A study published in JAMA Dermatology showed a link between an increase in eczema flares in California during the California Camp Fire in 2018.

Air pollution might also be causing flares in psoriasis and lupus, two different immune system medical conditions that can cause skin rashes.

The air pollution that triggers these flares could make it more difficult to treat these already persistent conditions, some dermatologists say.

Experts also say skin cancer is influenced by changes in climate and could happen more in the future because of it.

“It’s warmer in more areas, and so people are outside more, wearing less clothing for most of the year, and that’s more sun exposure,” Rosenbach explained.

Infectious skin diseases

Climate change can also spur infectious disease. Data shows climate change has been contributing to a rise of infections that affect the skin, not only globally but in the United States, which experts say could worsen as the environment changes. This is the result of various factors, including weather changes that affect the vectors that transmit diseases to humans, such as mosquitos and ticks.

Experts say some infectious skin diseases have been occurring during unseasonable times in the U.S., including Lyme disease, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Lyme disease first shows up as a “bull’s-eye” rash, but the infection can later manifest into other skin changes.

According to the EPA, new cases of Lyme disease have nearly doubled since 1991, which they label as an indicator of climate change.

Experts say these changes in infectious skin disease patterns are occurring nationwide. The multiple manifestations of climate change — from air pollution to flooding — all contribute to skin and overall health across the entire country. Flooding, such as that recently seen in the Southeast and Northwest, can carry pathogens that can damage the skin, Coates said.

“I think you would be very hard pressed to find someplace in the country that is completely unaffected,” Rosenbach added.

How to help protect your skin

Experts say there are various things you can do if you experience skin conditions or if they seem to worsen during different weather events.

Seeing a board-certified dermatologist is key for proper diagnosis and management of the condition, especially during different climates.

“It really depends on the condition that you’re talking about,” Coates said. “If you have atopic dermatitis (eczema), and you know that wildfire season is approaching, you can be more liberal with your use of moisturizers and emollients that protect your skin barrier from some of the harmful pollutants that can penetrate the skin barrier.”

For infectious skin diseases, it depends on the disease and what causes it, but experts say there are still extra measures you can take.

“It’s important, when you’re hiking outside, to wear long sleeves and to protect yourself from the elements, including mosquitoes and ticks,” Coates said, also adding that it’s good to stay indoors when it’s hot outside.

At COP26, the ongoing U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, experts are urging nations to take steps to reduce human impact on the environment. They also say everyday people can also make a difference by taking the train rather than flying, buying a hybrid or electric car, or by committing to eating less meat and dairy.

“Climate change is happening to our health,” Rosenbach said. “Now we know what we have to do. But it’s not just about doing it, it’s about how fast we do it.”

Alexis E. Carrington, M.D. is an ABC News Medical Unit Associate Producer and a rising dermatology resident at George Washington University.

Vermont has the highest vaccination rate in the country. So why are cases surging?

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Vermont is one of the most vaccinated states in the country and has served as a model for its COVID-19 response throughout the pandemic. But now, the state is experiencing its worst COVID-19 surge yet, with several factors — including its own success — to blame, officials said.

In Vermont, nearly 72% of residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — more than any other state, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. At the same time, it has the 12th-highest rate of new COVID-19 cases over the last week, state data released Tuesday shows.

Vermont has seen a “significant” increase in COVID-19 cases in the past week, Mike Pieciak, commissioner of the state’s Department of Financial Regulation, said during a press briefing Tuesday.

The seven-day average for COVID-19 cases rose 42% as of Tuesday, according to state data. Vermont does more testing than nearly any other state, though testing only increased 9% during the same period. The statewide positivity rate also increased 30%, with the seven-day average positivity rate just under 4%. The number of new cases increased by nearly 700 in the past week, state officials said Tuesday.

“We just haven’t [previously] seen an increase in terms of that raw number of cases during the pandemic,” said Pieciak, noting there were just over 2,100 cases reported for the week in Vermont, one of the least-populated states in the country.

Case rates in Vermont residents who are not fully vaccinated are nearly four times higher than in fully vaccinated residents, according to state data. Essex County, the least-vaccinated county in the state, is reporting the highest case rates of any county in Vermont, with 1,022 cases per 100,000 people reported from Nov. 2 to 8. In Grand Isle County, which has the highest vaccination rate in the state, that number was 160.

Statewide, those driving the surge include people in their 20s, who are the least vaccinated among Vermont adults, as well as children ages 5 to 11, who are just now eligible to get vaccinated, Dr. Mark Levine, Vermont’s health commissioner, said Tuesday.

There’s no “one simple answer” behind the surge, according to Levine. Though one major factor is the delta variant, experts said.

“Across the United States and in Vermont, we’re seeing the impact of the highly contagious delta variant,” Dr. Jan Carney, associate dean for public health and health policy at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, told ABC News. “It really is so contagious, it seeks out pretty much every unvaccinated person.”

The delta surge in Vermont mirrors rising cases in the region, as northern parts of the country that were largely spared over the summer are now seeing increases during colder weather. Vermont is one of 22 states, many of them with colder temperatures, that has seen an uptick in daily cases of 10% or more in the last two weeks, according to an ABC News analysis of CDC and Health and Human Services data.

Vermont is also one of 14 states that have seen an increase of about 10% or more in hospital admissions over the last week, the ABC News analysis found. About two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Vermont are unvaccinated, with those in the intensive care unit also largely unvaccinated, state officials said this week. COVID-19 patients make up between 10-15% of ICU patients; if that number increases to around 25%, “then the system could be in jeopardy,” Levine said.

Regarding the recent case surge, Vermont may also be a “victim of our success,” Levine said Tuesday, pointing to a lack of natural COVID-19 immunity among unvaccinated residents “because we kept the virus at such low levels throughout the entire pandemic.” Vermont has one of the lowest levels nationwide of people who have developed natural immunity to the virus, CDC data shows.

By the same token, waning immunity among residents who were “efficiently and effectively” vaccinated early on is also likely contributing to rising cases, Levine said. Breakthrough cases among vaccinated residents are up 31% over the past week, according to state data.

The COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. No vaccine is 100% effective, and the waning immunity among residents, especially those who may not have mounted a robust immune response, may be tested by high community spread, experts say.

“You still have pockets of unvaccinated people, even in a highly vaccinated state,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News contributor. “Unvaccinated individuals are the primary host by which the virus will spread and continue to allow for transmission to take place in the community and ultimately create challenges for those that are vaccinated.”

Changes in behavior, including more travel and indoor gatherings, and Halloween festivities have also helped fuel the surge, state officials said. At Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Halloween parties were blamed for causing an outbreak on campus that led school officials to briefly move classes online and suspend in-person social gatherings through Thanksgiving. Post-Halloween, 87 students have tested positive for the virus, compared to just 11 between Aug. 27 and Oct. 22, according to school data.

“We were doing really well as a community up to the point where there were numerous Halloween parties where students were unmasked and in close contact,” the college’s president, Lorraine Sterritt, said in a letter to students earlier this week.

Statewide, COVID-19 cases are not expected to decrease over the next four weeks, state modeling shows, as hospitalizations are on the rise. Vermont has among the lowest COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the country “thanks to vaccines doing their jobs,” Gov. Phil Scott told reporters Tuesday. But ICU capacity is the “biggest concern at this point” as hospitals are currently “under stress from an increase in patient care for health issues that are not related to COVID,” he said.

Health officials are stressing vaccination and urging residents to get booster shots and vaccinate newly eligible children. Nearly 50% of Vermonters aged 65 and older have gotten a booster dose, while over 30% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 have made an appointment to get vaccinated or already started the process, state officials said Tuesday.

Reaching the remaining unvaccinated adults will also be key, Carney said.

“If there are people who have not yet decided to get vaccinated, I strongly urge them to talk to whoever they seek for their health care and have a conversation,” she said. “Vaccinating as many people as we can who are eligible for the vaccine will help us — in the short-term and in the long-term.”

Maintaining high levels of testing will also help, Brownstein said. “Testing is such an important way for us to identify those who have been exposed and infected and to limit transmission,” he said.

Scott said he isn’t reissuing a mask mandate amid the increase in cases, saying he feels it would be an “abuse of power,” but encouraged residents to “take a few extra precautions,” including wearing masks indoors while in public and getting tested before gatherings.

“If we make smart decisions in the coming weeks, and make an extra effort to protect the vulnerable, we can help reduce hospitalizations,” Scott said. “But it takes all of us committing to these smart, practical choices, starting with getting vaccinated.”

“None of us wants to step backwards,” he added.

Historic unionizing efforts underway at Starbucks in upstate New York

November 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Starbucks workers in upstate New York are seeking to form the coffee chain’s first union in the U.S., as the labor movement gains steam in the wake of COVID-19-related shocks to the economy.

The efforts to unionize at Starbucks come as unique conditions have given many employees an upper-hand in the labor market. Workers are quitting their jobs at some of the highest rates on record, according to Bureau of Labor statistics data, and job openings also have been hitting record highs in recent months. Meanwhile, an apparent shortage of workers accepting low-wage jobs in the service industry has given employees new leverage as major companies struggle to find staff.

“We’ve been called essential workers, yet a lot of my co-workers are barely able to afford rent and putting groceries in the fridge in same week,” Casey Moore, 25, a Starbucks worker in the Buffalo area and member of the union organizing committee, told ABC News on Thursday. “I think the pandemic definitely highlighted the need for change, because it’s not sustainable.”

The unionization bid also comes after Starbucks reported earning record fourth-quarter consolidated net revenues of $8.1 billion. Shares of Starbucks, which closed at $111.44 on Thursday, are up more than 19% over the last year and have nearly doubled over the last five years.

Ballots for a union election were mailed out to Starbucks employees at three locations in the Buffalo area on Wednesday evening despite a last-minute effort on behalf of Starbucks to delay sending out the ballots as the company sought to included all Buffalo-area stores in the vote.

Kayla Blado, the press secretary for the National Labor Relations Board, confirmed to ABC News on Thursday that the union election ballots had been mailed out on Wednesday at 5 p.m. local time after the board did not respond to the Starbucks’ motion for a stay of election by that time. The ballots are going to be impounded, Blado said, meaning they won’t be counted until the board decides whether or not they’re going to review Starbucks’ request.

If the board denies the request for a review, the ballots will be counted Dec. 9, according to Blado. If the board grants the request, then a new date will be chosen to count the ballots.

“I love my job and I love what I do, and that just made it even more incredibly frustrating to see their response,” Moore told ABC News of Starbucks’ apparent reaction to the unionization bid. “One of the reasons I first started working at Starbucks was because of the progressive values that they profess to have as a company, and it’s honestly been shocking living through the this whole thing.”

The workers are seeking to be represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

The Starbucks Workers United group confirmed on Twitter Wednesday evening that ballots are in the mail and heading to Starbucks partners voting to organize the first unionized stores out of the over 8,000 corporate locations in the U.S.

“Despite Starbucks’ repeated attempt to stop partners from voting, the NLRB has once again upheld our legal right to vote to join a union here in Buffalo,” the Starbucks Workers United said in a statement. “Starbucks’ PR teams say they want partners to vote, yet they continue to use every delay tactic in the book to try and stop an actual vote.”

“Hopefully, the whole country can look at what partners are doing in Buffalo against the odds and realize how outdated our labor laws are when companies are allowed to interfere in the process so dramatically,” the statement added. “When partners filed for a union, we should have been allowed to vote. A company as large as Starbucks shouldn’t be able to use its wealth to intimidate us.”

Moore said working along the service industry’s front lines during the pandemic has been incredibly stressful, and just today a customer she served via the drive-thru openly told her that he’d tested positive for COVID-19.

Union membership has dwindled in recent decades, falling to 10.8% in 2020 among salaried and wage-earning workers in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1983, the first year the BLS collected this data, that figure was 20.1%.

Despite the slumping figures, approval for labor unions in the U.S. is at its highest levels since 1965, according to Gallup data. Some 68% of Americans approve of labor unions in 2021, the highest recorded by Gallup since a 71% mark in 1965.

Many labor economists have attributed this gap between support for unions and union membership rates to increased employer resistance to unionization and outdated labor laws that make it difficult to form unions. Advocates are seeking to reform this through proposed legislation known as the PRO Act, which seeks to expand workplace protections for union-seeking employees.

Moore told ABC News that she joined the union organizing committee a few months after she began working at Starbucks this past summer.

“I always had positive thoughts about unions — my dad is in a teacher’s union and stuff — so I knew that they were good things, but at first I was like, ‘I don’t know — I’ve never heard of unions in the service industry,'” Moore said.

She said she was inspired to get involved, however, after “meeting with people from Workers United and, like, hearing my co-workers talk about why they wanted to form a union, which is really like to have a seat at the table and to actually have a say in our workplaces.”

“I’ve learned so much about labor law, but I never anticipated just … the sheer craziness of like this whole process,” Moore added.

Starbucks’ leaders have said that unionizing would change employees’ direct relationship with the company, and they want to preserve that relationship.

“We have also asked the National Labor Relations Board to allow all partners in Buffalo stores to vote, instead of just three stores,” Rossann Williams, executive vice president of Starbucks North America, said in a letter to employees last month that was shared with ABC News. “As you know, Starbucks stores in a city or market are deeply interconnected — partners like to routinely work shifts in other stores, we transfer and promote partners between stores, we share inventory across the market, we operate under the same policies, and we share the same set of leaders.”

“We believe rather than restricting the vote to three stores, all Buffalo store partners should vote because every partner’s voice matters, especially in an important decision that may affect them all,” Williams added. She said they are hosting meetings with employees in Buffalo so they can “know the facts and have a space to hear from us directly so they can make their own informed decision.”

“I want to be clear that our actions in Buffalo are not about whether we are pro-union or anti-union,” Williams added. “It’s quite simply that we are pro-Starbucks partners. As you know, our heritage and culture are built on the belief that by working directly together as partners, we can build a different kind of company.”

In the same letter, Williams also made clear that “we are asking partners to vote ‘no’ to a union — not because we’re opposed to unions but because we believe we will best enhance our partnership and advance the operational changes together in a direct relationship.”

In late October, as unionization efforts were in full swing, Starbucks announced it was raising employees’ wages and making other changes to improve working conditions. By summer 2022, according to the company’s fourth-quarter earnings statement, all hourly employees will make an average of $17, ranging from $15 to $23 across the U.S.

Moore said there is “no doubt” in her mind that Starbucks’ instituting a new seniority pay system this was in response to their efforts.

“They had 15 years to implement that policy, and they just did that before, like, I think it was a week before we, the first three stores, started voting,” she said. “So, it’s things like that, where you can see what power we have standing together with just the threat of unionizing.”

Durham probe offers fresh support for man who has long denied being ‘Steele dossier’ source

November 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The long-running special investigation into how the government probed candidate Donald Trump’s ties to Russia brought a new indictment last week and in the process cast fresh doubt on earlier claims that a little-known Belarussian-born businessman named Sergei Millian had been an unwitting source for the “dossier” prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele.

The indictment from special counsel John Durham alleged that Igor Danchenko, the key “collector” hired by Steele to gather information for the dossier, had lied to the FBI when he suggested that he had spoken with Millian, who at the time served as president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and had obtained information from Millian that then made its way into the dossier.

Danchenko, a Russian national living in the U.S., was arrested last week on charges that he “willfully and knowingly” made a number of false statements during interviews with the FBI, including the alleged lies about Millian, in describing how he obtained information that he later provided to Steele for inclusion in the dossier.

“Danchenko stated falsely [to the FBI] that, in or about late July 2016, he received an anonymous phone call from an individual who Danchenko believed to be … then president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce” and obtained information about Trump from that man, the indictment says, referring to Millian but not naming him. “Danchenko never received such a phone call or such information from any person he believed to be [Millian] … rather, Danchenko fabricated these facts regarding [Millian].” The indictment alleges that Danchenko “never spoke to” Millian at all.

An indictment in the investigation into how officials probed Donald Trump’s ties to Russia has raised new questions about sourcing of the Steele dossier.

It is illegal to lie to a federal agent. Danchenko’s attorney said in court his client intends to plead not guilty, releasing a statement accusing the special counsel of presenting “a false narrative designed to humiliate and slander a renowned expert in business intelligence for political gain.”

The arrest of Danchenko appeared to be an escalation of the wide-ranging probe by Durham, who was appointed by Trump Attorney General William Barr in October 2020 to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation.

The new allegations made public last week have reignited questions about the now-infamous Steele dossier and about earlier claims that Millian had been one of many sources for the content.

In March 2017, shortly after the dossier surfaced publicly, people familiar with the dossier told the FBI, and later told media outlets including ABC News, that Millian had been an unwitting source of some of the most salacious but unverified information laid out in the document, including claims that the Russian government had a video of Trump watching prostitutes urinating on a bed at a Moscow hotel, which if true could be used to blackmail the then-candidate and future American president. Trump denied that claim and called the Steele dossier “junk” and “fake.”

Millian strenuously denied being a source of any material in the dossier, including any information about a supposed tape. He went on social media to call the assertions false, and appeared on a Russian television news outlet to call the claims “a blatant lie.”

Millian said on the Russian broadcast that the people who had named him as a source were lying in an attempt “to show our president [Trump] in a bad light, using my name.” And when asked directly if he had any salacious material about Trump that is described in the dossier, Millian said he did not. “I don’t have any information and I doubt it exists,” he said.

Early in the campaign, Millian sought contact with members of Trump’s campaign, citing past work with the candidate’s real estate business marketing Trump-branded properties in Russia, according to texts and messages that later appeared in the Mueller report. He was never accused of any improper conduct.

Millian could not be reached for comment on the new allegations from the Durham investigation that support his 2017 denials.

The development comes as a series of follow-on investigations have cast doubts on several aspects of the Steele dossier.

In 2019, the inspector general for the Department of Justice released a detailed report on the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. In it, the agency watchdog describes an interview with a man later identified as Danchenko, which suggested Steele’s dossier had overstated Danchenko’s reports to him.

Danchenko told the inspector general he “felt that the tenor of Steele’s reports was far more ‘conclusive’ than was justified,” and that much of the information he had provided came from “word of mouth and hearsay,” according to the inspector general report.

Last week’s indictment alleges that Steele — whom the indictment refers to as “U.K. Person -1” — told the FBI that he understood from Danchenko that Millian was one of Danchenko’s sources.

According to the indictment, Steele told the FBI that Danchenko had “met in-person with” Millian “on two or three separate occasions” and that Danchenko had cited Millian as one of the sources of information for portions of dossier — specifically including the allegation regarding the purported salacious tape. The indictment asserts that Steele “believed Danchenko had direct contact” with Millian, and that Danchenko never corrected Steele “about that erroneous belief.”

Just weeks before Danchenko was indicted, Steele was interviewed by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for the Hulu documentary, “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier.” In the ABC News interview, Steele said he believed his collector may have “taken fright” at having his cover blown and tried to “downplay and underestimate” his own reporting when he spoke to investigators as part of the inspector general’s probe.

Pressed by Stephanopoulos about why, if it exists, the purported salacious tape has yet to be released, Steele replied that “it hasn’t needed to be released.”

“Why not?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“Because,” Steele said, “I think the Russians felt they’d got pretty good value out of Donald Trump when he was president of the U.S.”

Steele added: “I stand by the work we did, the sources that we had, and the professionalism which we applied to it.”

Reached by ABC News in the hours after Danchenko’s arrest, Steele declined to comment.

Last week’s indictment by Durham says Danchenko’s alleged lies were not a trivial matter. The indictment called them “material” because the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign “relied in large part” on the Steele dossier to obtain FISA warrants against former Trump adviser Carter Page, and said that “the FBI ultimately devoted substantial resources attempting to investigate and corroborate the allegations contained” in the dossier.

In his interview for the Hulu documentary, Steele said he had not cooperated with Durham’s probe and did not expect to be charged in connection with his work on the dossier, but said he will be “interested to see what [Durham] publishes and what he says about us and others.”

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