(NEW YORK) — Every year, many of us talk about doing our holiday shopping early. But this year, you may want to get started sooner rather than later.
That’s because experts are warning of possible shortages and delays on everything from toys to artificial Christmas trees due to COVID-related supply chain issues, as well as the record-breaking cargo surge reported by the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
“It’s a problem from the loading docks in China all the way to the retailers loading docks in the United States,” Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Toy Association, told ABC News. “The biggest part of it being ocean shipping being extraordinarily expensive and taking much longer than it ever has.”
Retail analyst Hitha Herzog told ABC News “the global supply chain is quite fractured.”
“We’re seeing a shortage of product that was initially meant to be shipped over. And we’re also seeing a delay in that product getting into stores,” she said.
Ports in Southern California responsible for nearly half of all U.S. imports have hit record high numbers of container ships waiting to unload, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
ABC News Los Angeles station KABC shared a glimpse from helicopter footage above the port of Long Beach where more than 100 ships are anchored off the coast, waiting to get to the docks.
The shipping problem has been compounded by labor shortages at said docks as well as limited warehouse space and trucking issues.
“Smaller retailers have really in the past relied on a very fast supply chain. What’s different now is that the supply chain is limited and deliveries are also going to be limited,” Herzog explained. “So while they certainly have the ability to deliver the product, the product is going to be delayed.”
This has prompted some retailers to get proactive to make sure their shelves are stocked. Target shared in a blog that it chartered a container ship to make sure its merchandise arrives on time.
“We’ll continue to partner with our vendors to tackle supply chain challenges together this season and beyond to ensure we can deliver for our guests,” Target said in the post. Walmart and Home Depot have taken similar action.
Despite retailers’ efforts, Pasierb recommends picking up stocking stuffers as soon as you can.
“Whatever becomes the hot toy of the season in the next month or two may not be there in huge quantities,” Pasierb said. “It’s really the holiday season now, from Labor Day into early October, it’s some of the best shopping, the best selection.”
And while online sales are expected to grow this year, you may want to be prepared to shop in brick-and-mortar stores, too, in order to find the best selection.
(NEW YORK) — Debt issues plaguing Evergrande, one of China’s largest real estate developers, have sent shock waves of anxiety throughout global financial markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its biggest single-day drop since July on Monday, and the index closed even lower Tuesday, with many analysts attributing the precipitous fall to the Evergrande saga emanating from the nation with the second-largest gross domestic product. Jitters related to Evergrande have also been linked to a slide in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin trading 13% lower Tuesday evening compared to a week prior, as uncertainty drives investors away from riskier assets.
The Evergrande crisis has even been compared to the Lehman Brothers crash that is now synonymous with the onset of the Great Recession, though many economists have cautioned against panic and directly equating the two episodes. Still, there is a reason the embattled Chinese firm has become a household name on Main Street over the past few days, and Wall Street remains on high alert over what comes next as a repayment deadline looms on Thursday.
Here is what to know about the Evergrande debt crisis and its potential contagion to the global economy.
What is Evergrande?
Founded in 1996 in Guangzhou, Evergrande is one of the largest property development companies in China that specializes in building and selling residential apartments to the country’s rapidly growing middle and upper class, as well as building shopping malls and other commercial real estate projects.
The company has grown quickly and developed businesses in other sectors — including operating theme parks and manufacturing electric vehicles — but its primary source of revenue remains in property development, according to Shang-Jin Wei, a professor of Chinese business and economy at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
The firm’s success has made its chairman, Hui Ka Yan, worth about $7.34 billion, according to Bloomberg’s real-time data. His net worth has fallen dramatically in recent months, however, as the company’s stock value plunged. In July 2020, Bloomberg estimated his net worth at nearly $40 billion.
Evergrande’s real estate arm owns more than 1,300 projects in more than 280 cities in China, according to its website. Evergrande Group says it employs 200,000 people total and its projects create more than 3.8 million jobs per year — leading some to suggest it has “too big to fail” status. The firm states it has some $350 billion in assets.
What is the issue and why is it impacting global stock markets?
Essentially, Evergrande’s rapid growth has been fueled in large part by borrowing. As demand in China’s once-exploding housing market wanes, fears that Evergrande could default on its estimated $300 billion in liabilities have come to a head.
“The problem in a nutshell is property development companies tend to use a lot of debt to finance their operations, and in response to rising housing prices, the Chinese government has said for quite a few years that they want to find ways to restrain the demand and restrain the housing price increases,” Wei, who formerly served as chief economist of the Asian Development Bank, told ABC News.
“Previous attempts by the government have not been very successful, and I guess Evergrande decided that the same will happen this time,” Wei added. “So the last few years, while some of the property development companies have scaled down their operations, Evergrande was still charging ahead. And recently, a change in government policies has reduced demand for residential apartments quite a bit, so the company is having trouble selling apartments fast enough to meet their debt obligations.”
Wei said that the commercial housing market in China largely did not exist before 1990, when most households lived in government-assigned apartments. China’s meteoric economic growth since the ’90s led to a boom in demand for housing, a wave Evergrande rode for years — in some cases selling properties and using the funds to pay for construction costs before they were even built — until recent policy changes by the Chinese Communist Party clamped down on such practices.
Evergrande borrowed from a combination of banks and non-bank financial institutions, and issued bonds to finance its recent endeavors, according to Wei.
“When the apartments are selling well that’s not a problem for them, but anytime that apartment sales slow down, the company could run into trouble to meet its debt obligation and that’s what we are seeing now,” Wei said.
It’s not immediately clear how much debt Evergrande has accrued because parts of the business are not publicly traded or required to disclose financial details, Wei said, but economists estimate its liabilities are around $300 billion. While it has assets such as land and under-construction apartment complexes, Wei said it’s unclear if selling these could even generate enough liquidity to pay its debts.
“One of the reasons that stock markets reacted so strongly to that one firm’s news is uncertainty, lack of clarity,” Wei said. “So even though the $300 billion is the best guess, people are not exactly sure whether they undisclosed or under-disclosed the debt obligation.”
Why now?
A deadline for Evergrande’s debt payments looms this week. In a report released earlier this week, S&P Global Ratings warned that Evergrande is “on the brink of defaulting.” The agency noted that the company is scheduled to make a number of interest payments on its public debt starting on Thursday, reiterating again that, “a default is likely.”
For those paying close attention, the issues have been brewing for months. Evergrande’s stock, listed on the Hong Kong exchange, has shed some 80% since the beginning of the year.
“Clearly people who invest in the company understand the company was undergoing financial difficulty and there’s a chance that they couldn’t meet their obligations,” Wei said. Recent policy changes in China to rein in the housing market — as well as corporate debt — have also led to Evergrande’s woes culminating in recent days.
While it is common for property developers to take on debt as part of their business model, S&P Global warned in its report that Evergrande’s contracted sales have fallen more rapidly than other players in the sector — in part because of its heavy use of of supplier commercial bills as a way to access capital. These commercial bills have a more rigid repayment date, according to S&P Global, and suppliers and contractors that have gone unpaid have filed suits against Evergrande that have ultimately resulted in halts in project construction.
“Financial institutions also appear to be quickly cutting Evergrande’s financing, likely as a reaction to the frequent negative news about the borrower,” the report states. “Without sufficient project financing, it makes even harder to sustain construction and salable resources. This is shutting down Evergrande’s most important source of cash flow: contracted sales of its property projects.”
Is this a ‘Lehman Brothers moment’?
The concern for many in China and beyond is whether Evergrande’s failure could have a spillover effect to other firms doing business with them as well as financial markets around the globe.
“China is the second-largest economy and second-largest importer of the world. If the Chinese economy is going south, it will reduce the demand of Chinese firms for other countries’ products,” Wei said. China’s economy is also intertwined with many others in the region, he added, meaning a financial or banking crisis could easily have negative impacts beyond its borders.
“These are the reason for why the U.S. and elsewhere we’ve see our stock market respond to news about a Chinese company,” he added. “Now is this response justified or is it an overreaction? That depends on two things — one is does Evergrande actually constitute a systematic risk for the Chinese economy? And two is, if it does, can the Chinese government manage to contain the risk?”
S&P Global stated in its report that it does not expect “government actions to help Evergrande unless systemic stability is at risk.”
“A government bailout would undermine the campaign to instill greater financial discipline in the property sector,” the researchers stated. “Government support to prevent a default is only likely if contagion risks cause other large developers to fail.”
The agency said it believes a hit to the financial system from Evergrande alone will be “manageable” and that Beijing’s focus would be to “ease Evergrande through an orderly debt restructuring or bankruptcy process that maximizes the value of its substantial assets.” Rather than a “bailout,” it foresees the government facilitating negotiations to ensure individual investors and homebuyers are protected.
Tommy Wu, an economist with Oxford Economics, similarly stated in a Tuesday report, “While we think the government doesn’t want to be seen as engineering a bail out, we expect it to step in to conduct a managed restructuring of the firm’s debt to prevent disorderly debt recovery efforts, reduce systemic risk, and contain economic disruption.”
If this restructuring plan works, Wu writes that they expect the implications for overall economic policy and outlook to “remain contained,” though the property sector will likely remain tense for some time and some spillover into the wider financial sector is likely.
Brad McMillan, the chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, said Americans should not panic about a so-called “Lehman Brothers moment” just yet in a memo shared with ABC News on Tuesday.
“Despite the worry, so far this looks like a corporate bankruptcy and not something worse,” McMillan said. “It’s a big one, to be sure, but one that can be handled within the system. Bondholders will lose money, other companies will be affected, and life will move on. So far, that situation is what we see and not something bigger.”
Even if it does evolve into something larger, McMillan noted that the Chinese government “has more money — and more legal powers — to contain the damage than the U.S. and western governments did back in 2008.” Moreover, McMillan argues the Chinese financial system and the rest of the world are less integrated than in 2008, meaning the “contagion possibilities are simply more limited.”
Ultimately, “the bus that you are watching is rarely the one that ends up hitting you,” McMillan adds.
“Both the U.S. government and regulators, and U.S. banks and financial institutions, are very aware of the situation in China, and they are at least thinking about how to minimize the risks,” he said. “That was not the case in 2008. Since this is not coming out of the blue, any damage will be contained — and likely much less than is now feared.”
Why is this impacting cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies have seen meteoric growth in recent years, and have emerged as especially popular among retail investors. Crypto markets have seen a dip in recent days amid the Evergrande headlines, but the digital currencies have also been notoriously volatile and prone to wide and seemingly sudden swings in prices.
“In opaque crises like the one now afflicting China’s Evergrande real estate conglomerate, it’s less ‘what you know’ than ‘what you know you don’t know’ that drives financial volatility,” Robert Hockett, a professor of law at Cornell University whose research focuses in part on financial and monetary law, told ABC News via email. “In these cases of opacity-fueled fear, assets described by the word ‘crypto’ can be expected to take the worst hits in the asset fire sales that accompany conflagration much as did those more euphemistically called ‘subprime’ 13 years ago.”
Bitcoin, Ethereum and others are “accordingly finding themselves hardest hit right now — even more than the more traditional speculative firms like Goldman,” he added.
“They are, in effect, the new canaries in the current financial coal mine,” Hockett said.
(NEW YORK) — Pfizer just released its first safety data about COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11, reassuring parents that a safe and effective vaccine soon could be available for those younger than 12.
A trial of 2,268 children showed that a smaller dose of Pfizer vaccine — one-third the amount given to adults and adolescents — provided robust and adequate immune responses among those ages 5 to 11.
If the FDA agrees with Pfizer’s assessment, finally those younger than 12 can get vaccinated — in this case, if authorized, with the smaller dosage.
But that smaller dosage has led some parents to question the vaccine’s effectiveness compared with a larger dose.
“You’ve got to have a cutoff point and do something that’s logistically feasible,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday, speaking on CNN. “Parents should not be confused or concerned about that.”
Other experts have stressed that size isn’t everything. Because the lower dose still mounts a strong and sufficient antibody response to COVID-19, even an 11-year-old who’s taller or weighs more than a kid over 12 should be protected.
And experts involved in the Pfizer trial strongly recommend adhering to available dosage data for 5-to-11-year-olds because clinical research shows doing so is safe and effective — a different dose would just be an educated guess.
“This is clearly an important — very important — first step,” said Dr. Evan Anderson, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and one of the principal investigators of the Pfizer trial for children.
At this point in the pandemic, more than 5 million American children — most not eligible for vaccination — have tested positive for COVID-19. Children make up 22.2% of the U.S. population but accounted for almost 30% of new COVID-19 cases in a single week, based on early September data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Prior clinical trials in adults and teens sought to identify a rough measure of vaccine efficacy, but because scientists already know vaccines are safe and effective, trials in younger children worked differently. Instead, this latest clinical trial focused on assessing children’s immune response based on analysis of their blood. These so-called immuno-bridging studies provide important information about the vaccine’s ability to mount immune responses for this group of children, none of whom could be vaccinated.
The Pfizer data showed that the smaller dose in younger children generated antibody levels comparable to 16-to-25 year-olds who received the standard 30-microgram doses.
“Despite the smaller dose, in the smaller children, the antibody response is as vigorous as what we find in older age groups. We’re seeing a robust antibody response meeting [a] protective threshold,” said Dr. Frank Esper, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s.
In fact, researchers discovered that when 5-to-11-year-old children in the trial received the 30-microgram dose, they had more side effects. With the lower dosage, side effects mirrored those seen in teens and adults — pain at the injection site, headaches and fatigue.
Regardless of weight and size, children still should receive vaccine doses according to recommendations based on data, experts agreed, arguing it is better to stick to evidence rather than make an educated guess outside parameters of trials.
Dr. Robert Frenck, director of the Gamble Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s and a principal investigator for the Pfizer trial, said the vaccine should not be given off-label with higher-than-recommended doses, citing the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
“I would stick with what the recommendation is for under 12 years of age,” he said. “I think it will be safe. I think it will be effective.”
(NEW YORK) — In the early days of the pandemic, experts kept a close watch on the number of new cases — one of the key metrics signaling success or failure of public health measures. But with new variants leading to more frequent breakthrough infections, mild COVID-19 cases will likely still persist, even if every person in the country is fully vaccinated.
“Even before any vaccines were authorized … we knew that this was going to be an issue,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health.
“No vaccine is 100% effective at preventing infection,” added Dr. Kimberly Fisher, professor of medicine at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Now, public health and infectious disease experts are shifting their metric of success.
With vaccines still highly protective against severe illness, experts said we should focus less on cases, and instead on how many people are being hospitalized or dying.
“I think in some ways, the strong data around vaccines out of the gate created this illusion of perfection, which never was the case,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and a contributor to ABC News.
“The major goalposts should have always been the hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.
Many experts point to countries like Singapore as an example of living “with” the virus, rather than eradicating it completely. With more than 80% of the population fully vaccinated, the island nation is still seeing more than 1,000 cases on average per day, but very few deaths due to COVID-19.
Although there may be “increases in cases,” Brownstein said, “that is not resulting in real impact in hospitalizations and deaths. … That sort of divergence is super important.”
In the U.S., a peek into COVID-19 intensive care units around the country reveals an important and recurring theme: ICU cases and deaths are overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated. A study by the health department in North Carolina found unvaccinated individuals are 15 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than the vaccinated. Washington state’s King County, which includes Seattle, tracks the numbers daily with unvaccinated people being 42 times more likely to die over the past 30 days.
Emerging data from the post-COVID-19 vaccine era underscored vaccine success will not necessarily be measured in prevention of COVID-19, but overwhelming success at keeping people alive if they do.
“It makes sense to focus on rates of hospitalization and death for COVID-19 — both of which the vaccine is very effective at reducing,” said Kathleen Mazor, a professor of medicine at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Public health experts hope that by focusing on this new metric for success, the nation can start prioritizing what’s important and readjust to the “new normal.”
Meanwhile, the overarching message to the vaccine-eligible population is clear: The vaccine is not simply intended to stop you from getting COVID, it’s so you live to talk about it if you do.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to greenlight Pfizer booster shots Wednesday for seniors and other high-risk Americans, a step that would pave the way for third doses to be offered as early as the end of the week.
The deliberation follows a recommendation last week by the FDA’s independent scientific advisers that, while protection from vaccination is strong, immunity probably wanes after six months and is important to replenish for certain high-risk groups.
The advisory panel, called the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, said there wasn’t enough evidence yet to recommend every vaccinated adult get a third dose.
Instead, the panel recommended the extra shot for those 65 and older or at high risk of severe COVID-19. The panel also supported boosters for health care and other front-line workers, like teachers, who are at higher risk for occupational exposure.
The FDA’s vaccine chief, Dr. Peter Marks, framed the booster debate as one “based on complex data sets evolving in front of our eyes,” but with key information still incoming on how boosters will impact a wider age group, the panel ultimately indicated current data has yet to mature enough to recommend boosters for all.
“We need safety data for younger populations and we need to really know what the benefit is,” Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News Friday. “So far we’ve got some reasonable data for older people, but I really think that there are too many questions on the younger populations.”
Currently, only immunocompromised Americans are eligible for a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. An estimated 2 million people have received a third mRNA based vaccine from the two manufacturers. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have also asked the government to agree to booster shots for a larger population, and those requests are pending FDA review. FDA decisions are expected within the coming weeks.
If and when the career scientists at the FDA decide to sign off on boosters, the Pfizer vaccine can be labeled and administered as a three-dose vaccine for certain groups.
But before delivering the shots, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will need to issue official recommendations.
A separate independent panel that advises the CDC is set to meet Wednesday for presentations and then again on Thursday to discuss the data in more granular detail before a vote.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is then expected to weigh in by the end of the week with an official recommendation for who exactly should get the shots.
Among the recommendations by the CDC will be a decision on who qualifies as “high risk” and which “front-line” workers are at highest risk of exposure.
Experts say it’s possible the FDA will endorse the idea of booster shots for people under 65 without conditions that put them at higher risk of severe illness as new data comes in.
“The story is not over because more and more data is coming in,” White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC’s Martha Raddatz on This Week Sunday.
“I think we really do need to test the water with one foot as we move forward,” Dr. Paul Offit, an FDA advisory panel member and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News following the panel’s vote last week.
“By the end of this week I think we’ll learn more about exactly what the recommendations are,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — A relentless drought and wildfire season in America’s West and a tense standoff over federal leases for oil and gas drilling have been early tests for the Biden administration’s climate policy and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the job and first indigenous member of a White House Cabinet.
“I can’t speak for every tribe or even my tribe, but I can make sure that tribal leaders have a seat at the table,” Haaland said in an interview with ABC News Live Prime. “Certainly, in this time of climate change bearing down upon us, that indigenous knowledge about our natural world will be extremely valuable and important to all of us.”
“Indian tribes have been on this continent for millennia, for tens of thousands of years,” she added. “They know how to take care of the land … that’s knowledge that’s been passed down for generations and generations.”
Haaland, a former U.S. representative from New Mexico and one of the first two native women to serve in Congress, is leaning in on her experience as a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe to confront the historic impacts of climate change on communities nationwide.
She leads the agency which manages more than 480 million acres of public lands and a government leasing program that has allowed private energy businesses to tap into valuable natural resources situated on federal property.
Early in his term, President Joe Biden ordered a moratorium of new leases — with an eye toward discontinuing the program altogether — in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. The move has made Haaland, who’s now conducting a formal review of the program, a target of criticism from the energy industry and Republican lawmakers from states dependent on oil and gas production.
“You said that if you had it your way, and I quote, you’d stop oil and gas leasing on public lands. As secretary, you will get to have it your way,” Sen. Steve Daines of Montana charged during Haaland’s confirmation hearing earlier this year. The Republican later voted against her nomination.
“It’s a pause on just new leases, not existing, valid leases,” Haaland responded, explaining the moratorium. Last month, a federal court ordered the Interior Department to resume the leasing program while legal challenges continue.
“It has the potential to cost jobs here in the United States, good-paying energy jobs,” Frank Macchiarola, an energy industry lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute told ABC News. “It has the potential to increase costs for consumers.”
Most U.S. oil and gas production occurs on private land, according to the Congressional Research Service. Roughly 9% of American output came from federal lands in 2019, the agency said.
Haaland is also helping to lead the federal government’s response to historic drought and wildfires fueled by climate change.
Ninety percent of the American West is experiencing “severe” or “exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The conditions have ravaged the agricultural industry in nearly a dozen states and forced several to enact mandatory water cutbacks for residents. California, Arizona and New Mexico have also been battling some of the largest and most destructive wildfires in years.
“Drought doesn’t just impact one community. It affects all of us, from farmers and ranchers to city dwellers and Indian tribes,” Haaland said on a visit to Denver in July. “We all have a role to use water wisely, manage our resources with every community in mind, work collaboratively and respect each other during this challenging time.”
The Interior Department has deployed millions of dollars in federal relief funds and sped recruitment of government firefighters. Last month, Haaland announced a pay raise for those on the front lines.
“We need to think about, you know, does that come down to management? Is that something that we need to reinvestigate how some of these forested lands are being managed? And is there a better way to prepare those forested lands for the next fire season?” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, who hopes the worsening drought will lead to a greater review of how federal lands are managed and can best combat drought.
Haaland is also overseeing a multi-billion dollar renovation plan for the National Park System; a renewed campaign to improve access to the parks for communities of color; and steps to address longstanding protests by some tribal groups demanding greater control over federal parklands.
“You have to understand that for there to be any justice or repair on these lands, it has to go back to the roots. And for indigenous peoples on these lands — it goes back to land theft,” said Krystal Two Bulls, director of the Landback movement, which calls for all federal lands to be returned to their original tribes. “This entire so-called country was built on top of — stolen land by stolen people.”
Two Bulls and other Landback organizers argue that tribes are best suited to care for these lands given their deep history and knowledge of the natural world.
“Whoever’s currently in charge is not protecting these lands, indigenous peoples, that’s not what we’re about, we’re about that relationship to the land,” Two Bulls told ABC News. “Native peoples knew how to manage and work with the fire, as a natural element, we knew how to do that.”
Haaland has said she wants to use that knowledge in her tenure at the Interior Department and to make clear that “those voices are heard.”
“Well, we absolutely are listening,” she said.
During official travel, she regularly pays homage to her roots; she was known to wear traditional moccasins in the House and donned ceremonial tribal garb for her swearing in with Vice President Kamala Harris. She even addressed senators in the native language of the Laguna Pueblo during her confirmation hearing in the spring.
She also brings a legacy of service to her country; her father served as a Marine for three decades and her mother served in the Navy. Haaland said that she has always had a connection with the outdoors, and recalls spending time outside often with her father, who was an avid fisherman.
“I worked hard, and you know I followed a path, but I also stand on the shoulders of … so many tribal leaders who have come before me,” Haaland said. “And so I feel very confident that if it weren’t for those people that I wouldn’t have had that path to follow.”
Haaland was confirmed as secretary of the interior by a 51-40 vote in the Senate in March. Once sworn in, she took over the reins at an agency that less than two centuries earlier had a mission to “civilize or exterminate” indigenous people and led the oppressive relocation of Native Americans.
She says that history gave her no hesitation.
“This is our ancestral homeland, this is Native Americans’, this is our ancestral homeland. We’re not going anywhere,” Haaland said. “This is land we love and care about.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 677,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The average number of daily deaths in the U.S. has risen about 20% in the last week, according to data from the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The U.S. is continuing to sink on the list of global vaccination rates, currently ranking No. 45, according to data compiled by the Financial Times. Just 64% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 22, 7:01 am
UK and South Korea agree to swap COVID-19 vaccine doses
The United Kingdom and South Korea have agreed to share COVID-19 vaccine doses to mutually support the rollout of shots in each nation.
The U.K. will send 1 million of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to South Korea to enhance their vaccination program, with the first batch of shots expected to arrive in the coming weeks. South Korea will return the same volume by the end of the year, as the U.K. presses ahead with its vaccine rollout and booster shot program over the winter months, according to a press release from the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care.
The swapping initiative, similar to the arrangement between the U.K. and Australia, will help South Korea toward hitting its target of administering a second dose to 70% of its population by the end of October.
“The Republic of Korea is a strategic partner for the UK and the sharing of one million vaccines benefits both countries as we help build resistance against COVID-19 and save lives,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement Tuesday.
The deal will have no impact on the U.K.’s ongoing vaccine rollout or booster shot program, nor will it effect the doses the country has already pledged to give to the global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX. Almost 90% of people over the age of 16 in the U.K. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses are not immediately required in the U.K. due to robust supply management, according to the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care.
Sep 22, 6:20 am
Brazil’s health minister tests positive for COVID-19 at UNGA
Brazilian Minister of Health Marcelo Queiroga said Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly.
Queiroga, who accompanied Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the event, announced his diagnosis on Twitter and said he will quarantine.
Sep 22, 6:06 am
US to donate another 500 million vaccine doses abroad: White House
The Biden administration is ordering another 500 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to donate to countries around the globe, the White House said.
President Joe Biden is set to announce the commitment at a virtual COVID-19 summit on Wednesday, held amid the United Nations General Assembly.
Biden is also poised to call on world leaders, the nonprofit sector and private industry to commit to certain goals, including a 70% global vaccination rate by the end of 2022, during his remarks at the summit, a senior White House administration official told reporters Tuesday.
MORE: Millions of vaccine doses shipped globally, Biden announced, as NGOs call for more
Biden announced an initial 500-million-dose commitment in June. This second purchase, which the president had teased during his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, would bring the administration’s total donated doses to 1.1 billion.
The new batch of doses will be purchased from Pfizer at a not-for-profit price, manufactured in the U.S. and begin shipping out in January 2022, the White House official said.
The U.S. has so far sent more than 160 million doses to 100 other countries, Biden said.
The latest announcement comes as the World Health Organization has criticized the U.S. for pushing booster doses while much of the world has yet to receive a single shot.
Sep 21, 11:12 pm
US Department of Education investigating Texas schools over mask mandate ban
In a letter to the Texas Education Agency, the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday said it is beginning an investigation into Texas schools’ ban on mask mandates, and how that could potential be an infringement of students’ civil rights.
The investigation will focus on “whether, in light of this policy, students with disabilities who are at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 are prevented from safely returning to in-person education, in violation of Federal law,” the letter states.
The Department of Education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Suzanne Goldberg, laid out the process of the investigation in the letter, but also made clear that it could be resolved at any time if masks in schools are reinstated.
“OCR’s Case Processing Manual provides several ways for this investigation to be resolved, including an option to reach a voluntary resolution agreement prior to the completion of an investigation,” the letter reads. “If TEA expresses an interest in resolving the investigation in this way and OCR determines this form of resolution is appropriate based on the investigation, we will follow the steps set out in Section 302 of the Case Processing Manual.”
Sep 21, 3:35 pm
Texas, Georgia, Alabama account for about one-third of last week’s deaths
The U.S. daily death average has now climbed over 1,400 despite skewed reporting from the weekend, according to federal data.
About one-third of the nearly 9,500 virus-related deaths in the last week came from just three states: Texas, Georgia and Alabama.
About 90,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, compared to more than 100,000 patients about three weeks ago, according to federal data. But in the past month, at least 10 states — Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia — have reported record hospitalizations.
West Virginia is leading the nation in cases, followed by Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Alabama, Wyoming, Kentucky, North Dakota, Tennessee and Ohio, according to federal data.
(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — A massive search is continuing in southern Florida for Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old woman who went missing on a cross-country trip and who authorities confirmed Tuesday as the body discovered on Sunday in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.
The search for the 23-year-old Laundrie is centered around North Port, Florida, where investigators said Laundrie returned to his home on Sept. 1 without Petito but driving her 2012 Ford Transit.
Laundrie has been named by police as a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. Laundrie has refused to speak to the police and has not been seen since Tuesday, Sept. 14, according to law enforcement officials.
The search for Laundrie is the latest twist in the case that has grabbed national attention as he and Petito had been traveling across the country since June, documenting the trip on social media.
Petito’s parents, who live in Long Island, New York, reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not hearing from her for two weeks.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Sep 21, 11:44 pm
Search ends for another day with ‘nothing of note’ found
The North Port Police Department said it had ended its search of the Carlton Reserve as darkness closed in with nothing found.
“Search of the Carlton & nearby lands concluded for the evening. Nothing of note,” the police department shared in a tweet. “The current plan is to return Wednesday with a similar operation.”
Police shared a photo of the search operation’s base in the reserve as well as one of the bloodhounds being used to look for the missing person of interest in conjunction with the death of his girlfriend.
Gabby Petito’s body was officially identified on Tuesday evening after it was found near Grand Teton National Park on Sunday. The Teton County coroner said Petito died via homicide, but did not yet announce a cause of death.
Sarasota police also later debunked a rumor that Laundrie had been taken into custody. It said on Twitter that they had received several tips about him being seen, but none of them panned out.
Sep 21, 4:54 pm
Authorities investigating report of man seen in Panhandle matching Laundrie’s description
The Okaloosa County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said on Tuesday that it is investigating a report that a man matching the description of Brian Laundrie was captured on a trail camera walking on a property in the Florida Panhandle area.
The individual was purportedly spotted Sept. 20 on an automatic wildlife camera in Baker, which is more than 500 northwest of where authorities have focused their search Laundrie.
“The OCSO did its due diligence in response to this report and is wrapping up an extensive search that took place in this area to include nearby farmlands. No one — and nothing — of note was located. The individual referenced in the post below has no known ties to our area,” Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon, featuring a blurry image from the trail camera of a man walking with a backpack.
The image was initially posted on Facebook by local resident Sam Bass, who wrote, “I’m not saying this is the guy but whoever was on my trail camera this morning in Baker, Fl strongly fits the description of Brian Laundrie.” Bass wrote that authorities have been contacted, and advised northwest Florida residents to be on the lookout.
Sep 21, 2:31 pm
Police release video of search for Laundrie in swamp preserve
Police released a YouTube video Tuesday afternoon showing the extensive search going on in the sprawling Carlton Reserve near North Port.
The video showed officers from multiple law enforcement agencies using search dogs, drones and all-terrain vehicles to comb the 25,000-acre preserve.
“The terrain is very difficult. Essentially, 75% of it is under water and other areas that are dry we’re trying to clear,” a North Port police officer said in the video. “We’re expecting to get wet by the end of the day and check the entire area for Brian Laundrie.”
(NEW YORK) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday in an exclusive interview it was “concerning” if North Korea has resumed its nuclear activities “in earnest” and stressed the importance of reactivating talks between North Korea and the United States, as well as inter-Korea talks.
“I believe that we need to have North Korea understand that dialogue and diplomacy are the only way to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon told ABC News anchor Juju Chang.
Moon is attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York City this week to talk about climate change.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported last month that North Korea appears to have restarted the operation of its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels, as North Korea openly threatens to enlarge its nuclear arsenal amid dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States.
When asked about North Korea’s nuclear program, which is going “full steam ahead” according to U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, Moon said while North Korea has been “intensifying tension, launching missiles and conducting other activities, it is of great relief that it has kept good on its moratorium on nuclear tests and ICBM launches.”
Moon was also asked about North Korea’s criticism of the United States’ decision to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. North Korean state media quoted an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry official who called the arrangement, made between the U.S., Britain and Australia, an “extremely” dangerous move, one that could set off a nuclear arms race.
Moon conceded it is a “great pity that the Korean Peninsula still is living in the era of the Cold War,” adding that while “remarkable changes” have taken place during his time in office, they have “yet to consolidate peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Moon said he believes there is a “possibility of resuming talks” and thus finding “a way, a pathway to the solution.”
Tensions have been high between North and South Korea. Both countries have recently tested ballistic missiles. This came as a stark contrast to their 2018 agreement when the two rival nations vowed to denuclearize the peninsula and end the long war between them.
ABC News also sat down with K-pop sensation BTS exclusively to talk about the band’s new official role as South Korea’s presidential envoys for public diplomacy.
As part of their new role, BTS attended the U.N. Global Assembly and performed at the United Nations. Their new video for “Permission to Dance,” which was filmed inside and around the U.N., has already racked up millions of views online. BTS said it is bringing a message of hope and community, talking about the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and sustainability.
The exclusive interviews with Moon and BTS will air on Sept. 24, starting with “Good Morning America.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House voted along party lines to pass a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown next week.
The final vote was 220-211.
The bill would fund the government through Dec. 3 and it also includes billions in emergency disaster relief and aid for Afghan evacuees. It also suspends the debt limit through December 2022.
Senate Republicans are expected to block the measure later this week because they do not want to vote on raising the debt limit — which means a shutdown could still happen if funding runs out after midnight on Sept. 30.
Democrats need 10 Republican senators to vote with them, and as of right now, the votes are not there. The path forward to avert a shutdown is unclear as of right now.
Senate Republicans have said they oppose suspending the debt limit because of additional spending measures Democrats are crafting — even though doing so would pay for previous expenditures. But Senate Democrats worked with Republicans under the Trump administration to raise the debt limit on multiple occasions and said it’s a bipartisan responsibility.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said if Congress does not act to raise the debt limit, the U.S. could default on its debt sometime in October, potentially triggering an “economic catastrophe.”
Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said for weeks they will oppose any measure that raises the debt ceiling, insisting that Democrats can do it alone given their control over all three branches of government.
“Since Democrats decided to go it alone, they will not get Senate Republicans’ help with raising the debt limit. I’ve explained this clearly and consistently for over two months,” McConnell said Monday on the Senate floor.
But Democrats are pressing ahead and remain optimistic about the bill’s prospects, knowing full well the challenge they face in getting Republicans on board.
“It is our hope that Senate Republicans will also do the right thing and stop playing politics around the debt limit,” House Democratic caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries said at a press conference Tuesday.
Jeffries indicated that at least a handful of Republicans have publicly expressed they will end up voting for the bill. Democrats need at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to back the bill.
“Three times — during the administration of the former president — three times House Democrats cooperated in raising the debt ceiling,” Jeffries said.
“Now all of a sudden, they want to jam up the American people and the American economy and our full faith and credit, because they’re playing politics?” Jeffries said of Republicans in the Senate.
“Senate Republicans should be hearing from their friends in the big banks and big business, as to how catastrophic a default on our debt would be for industry, for commerce, for the economy and most importantly for the American people,” Jeffries added.
Without GOP support, it’s unclear how Democrats will plan to tackle the issue of raising or suspending the debt limit alone.
“The debt limit is a shared responsibility, and I urge Congress to come together, in that spirit, on a bipartisan basis as it has in the past to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to members over the weekend.
The short-term funding bill unveiled on Tuesday extends funding through Dec. 3 for all vital federal agencies, including health, housing, education and public safety programs.
“It is critical that Congress swiftly pass this legislation to support critical education, health, housing and public safety programs and provide emergency help for disaster survivors and Afghan evacuees,” House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said in a statement Tuesday.
The bill also includes $28.6 billion in emergency disaster relief to address recent natural disasters, including multiple hurricanes and wildfires, severe droughts and winter storms in 2021 and prior years.
Another $6.3 billion would support Afghan evacuees, including funding to temporarily house evacuees at American facilities and in foreign countries, provide necessary security screenings and ultimately resettle eligible evacuees in the United States. The legislation also includes funding to provide humanitarian assistance for Afghan refugees in neighboring countries.
The legislation suspends the debt limit through December 2022.
