(NEW YORK) — Officials have identified a set of human remains that surfaced earlier this year in Lake Mead, as the reservoir deals with a historic drought.
The remains, found May 7 at Callville Bay, on the Nevada side of the lake, are one of several that have been uncovered in the lake since May 1, when human remains were found in a barrel.
The Clark County coroner identified the remains as Thomas Erndt, who is believed to have drowned over two decades ago.
County officials said the remains were identified through investigative information, DNA analysis and reports of the original incident.
Erndt, a 42-year-old from Las Vegas, reportedly drowned on Aug. 2, 2002, although officials said Wednesday that the official cause and manner of death are undetermined.
The Las Vegas Review Journal published a death notice on Aug. 8, 2002, that said Erndt jumped from a boat, was missing and presumed drowned, according to an article from the newspaper Wednesday.
The remains, described by officials as “skeletal,” were found by two sisters, Lindsey and Lynette Melvin, who said they were paddleboarding on the lake because the water was too shallow to go snorkeling.
The pair told Las Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV-TV that they found the remains when they stopped to explore a sand bar that they said had been underwater before the drought lowered water levels in the lake.
The Melvins said they initially thought the skeletal remains were from a big horn sheep. However, once they saw a human jawbone with teeth still attached, they reported it to the National Park Service.
“We just really hope that the family of that person finally gets answers and hope their soul is laid to rest peacefully,” Lynette Melvin told KTNV in May.
Authorities have uncovered human remains in Lake Mead five times since May. The first set, found in a barrel on May 1, had a gunshot wound and is being investigated as a homicide, officials said. The remains belonged to someone who died in the mid-1970s to early ‘80s based on his clothing and footwear, police said.
Following the discovery of Erndt’s remains on May 7, officials uncovered partial remains on July 25 near Swim Beach on the Nevada side of the lake’s west end, according to a statement from the National Park Service. A second set of partial remains was discovered in the same area on Aug. 7.
Officials are still working to determine if these remains are related.
The latest discovery of remains was on Aug. 15, found again at Swim Beach.
Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Torrential rain has pounded Mississippi, sparking flooding and forcing evacuations from an assisted living home and a day care.
Dozens of seniors were evacuated Wednesday from the Peach Tree Village assisted living facility in Brandon, Mississippi, just outside of Jackson, after fast-moving waters rose halfway up the doors, officials said. Firefighters pulled residents to safety by using ropes to cross the waist-deep waters.
Several towns saw 5 to 10 inches of rainfall on Wednesday. Jackson set a new daily record with 5.05 inches.
Parts of Louisiana and Mississippi are expected to get hit with more rain on Thursday, but it won’t be as widespread as Wednesday’s deluge.
A flood watch remains in effect Thursday from eastern Texas to the western tip of the Florida panhandle.
(NEW YORK) — Just a week before repayments on federal student loans were scheduled to resume after a two-year pause, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a sweeping new policy to cancel debt for millions of Americans and reform the payment process going forward.
Students who attended college on Pell grants — federal dollars awarded to low-income students who can only contribute a certain amount toward their tuition — will owe up to $20,000 less on their federal loans if they make under $125,000 per year. And non-Pell borrowers making less than $125,000 will owe up to $10,000 less on their federal loans.
The president is also adjusting how much borrowers will have to pay each month and is extending the federal pause on repayments until the end of the year.
And while borrowers should keep their eyes peeled for specific details from the Department of Education (DOE) over the next few days and weeks, here is everything to know so far:
Who will this help?
Biden’s plan will erase at least $10,000 in federal student loan debt for Americans who made less than $125,000 per year in the 2020 or 2021 tax year, or less than $250,000 as a household.
For Americans under that same income bracket who took out Pell grants to pay for college, it would erase an additional $10,000 in debt, bringing the total forgiveness up to $20,000.
The income cap refers to adjusted gross income, a DOE spokesperson told ABC News, referring to income that already excludes retirement plan contributions, alimony and certain other expenses.
Current students are also eligible for federal loan forgiveness, so long as their parents meet the income criteria of $125,000 for a single provider or $250,000 for a married couple who file their taxes jointly.
The forgiveness applies to anyone who took out their loans before July 2022.
In a speech on Wednesday, Biden said 95% of borrowers will get some relief from his plan, or a total of 43 million out of the 45 million total student borrowers.
Nearly 45%, or 20 million people, will have their debt fully canceled, he said.
DOE data shows that erasing even $10,000 of debt could settle the balances of about one-third of federal loan borrowers. An analysis from Princeton University and the University of California at Merced that incorporated incomes found the same.
And for the other half of borrowers who will still have loans to continue paying down, Biden said the DOE would be modifying the terms.
The minimum required monthly payments for undergraduate loans will be cut from 10% down to 5% of peoples’ discretionary income, while the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary — or protected from repayment — was raised to guarantee that no borrower who is making around the annual equivalent of a $15-an-hour minimum wage will have to make monthly payments.
The plan will also ensure that people who took out an original loan of $12,000 or less will have their balance forgiven after 10 years of payments, which was brought down from the initial timeline of 20 years.
The DOE estimates that this change will allow community college graduates to be debt-free within 10 years.
“I think the administration is structurally attempting to fix many of the problems that have plagued the inconvenient payment system. Whether or not it gets the job done is going to depend on the details,” said Persis Yu, policy director and managing counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, a leading advocacy organization focused on alleviating student debt.
When will debt cancellation kick in?
Some borrowers will immediately qualify for debt cancellation. But more than likely, it will take months for the vast majority of borrowers, experts told ABC News.
In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday morning, the White House said the DOE would release details on the process in the coming days.
Some people will need to submit a “simple application” on studentaid.gov showing that they meet the income caps, a White House official said, while about eight million people will see their debt canceled automatically because the DOE already has their info on hand.
But because the DOE does not have income data for the other two-thirds of borrowers, they will need to receive authorization from those borrowers to obtain such data from the Internal Revenue Service — or borrowers will have to certify their income under penalty of perjury, financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz told ABC News in an interview.
“So you might have some borrowers getting forgiveness within a month or two, immediately, and then some borrowers taking a few additional months and they would have to complete that form,” Kantrowitz said.
“One thing I recommend all borrowers do is make sure your contact information, your mailing address, your email address or telephone numbers are up to date with your loan servicer and on the studentaid.gov website,” Kantrowitz said.
At a briefing later Wednesday, Susan Rice, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, told reporters that “anybody can go today to studentaid.gov and provide their email address and they will be notified when the website is available for people to fill out a very simple short form attesting to their income and become eligible.”
But just how “simple” the application is for people, and how many people know about it, is a subject of concern for debt-relief advocates who think a complicated process could keep people from taking advantage of the new policy.
“There’s a lot of low-income folks who will never learn about this application. They will not be able to figure it out, they won’t have the resources available to navigate the bureaucratic process,” Yu said. “And so in imposing this hurdle, we’re actually putting in a barrier for the folks who need it the most.”
The solution, Yu argued, would be a broad cancellation that does not try to target people based on their income, which would make the process easier to execute by the DOE.
How much will this cost the government?
A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania’s business school found that erasing $10,000 in student loan debt will cost about $300 billion. If the program continues for 10 years, the cost becomes $330 billion, or $344 billion if there is no income limit, per the report.
The changes to the monthly loan payments will also affect the cost, but the White House declined to give specifics on Wednesday, saying only that the cost would be spread over time and would be difficult to estimate.
“It’s fairly complicated, as a process, for determining the cost implications,” a White House official said.
Because the federal government backs many student loans, U.S. taxpayers will likely foot the bill — something Biden addressed directly on Wednesday by comparing student debt cancellation to the Paycheck Protection Program, a loan forgiveness program for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No one complained that those loans caused inflation. A lot of these folks in small businesses are working in middle-class families. They needed help. It was the right thing to do,” Biden said.
“So the outrage over helping working people with student loans, I think is just simply wrong, dead wrong,” he said.
He also pushed back against Republicans who he pointed out, under former President Donald Trump, passed a massive tax cut that benefited many wealthy Americans and corporations, with the GOP arguing the move aided the economy.
In contrast, Biden said Wednesday, his plan would benefit the “middle class and working families. It helps both current and future borrowers. And it’ll fix a badly broken system.”
Does this policy fulfill Biden’s campaign promise?
While the president did pledge to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt on the trail — a commitment he has now made good on — that was just one of his vows around reforming the higher-education system.
Many critics who want to see Biden do more have pointed out that as a candidate he also proposed forgiving all tuition loan debt from undergraduate students that earn less than $125,000 per year and who attended two- or four-year public colleges, as he wrote in a 2020 Medium article.
“The federal government would pay the monthly payment in lieu of the borrower until the forgivable portion of the loan was paid off. This benefit would also apply to individuals holding federal student loans for tuition from private HBCUs and MSIs,” Biden wrote then.
That pledge led some progressives to commend the progress so far but still call for more.
“While not as high as we called for, this crucial step from the President keeps his campaign promise and responds to calls from the CPC, the Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and millions across the country to address the crippling issue of student debt,” the Congressional Progressive Caucus said in a statement on Wednesday.
Yu, with the Student Borrower Protection Center, also applauded the move — but said it would be important to watch the rollout with a critical eye.
“We’re very excited to see him take this bold action, which is one of the things he’s promised,” Yu said.
But because Biden pledged debt cancellation for all, while the current policy is tailored to people under a certain income, Yu said the positive impact remains to be seen.
“I think really the test will be like: Are we able to get this relief to all of the borrowers who are eligible for it? That will be the real test of whether or not he’s kept his campaign promise,” Yu said.
With midterm elections roughly two months away, it also remains to be seen if erasing federal loan debt for some borrowers could bolster Biden’s underwater approval rating.
The plan is also likely to face pushback from those who opted not to attend college altogether because of the cost of doing so.
To that end, the new policy also stipulates that borrowers who meet the income requirements and recently paid off their loans can request a $10,000 refund or the total of payments made since March 13, 2020.
(NEW YORK) — Pfizer announced Thursday that its vaccine candidate for respiratory syncytial virus was more than 85% effective in preventing lower respiratory tract illness in older adults.
The New York-based pharmaceutical company released findings from the Phase 3 clinical trial investigating its RSV vaccine candidate when administered to participants ages 60 and up. The investigational vaccine targets both A and B strains of the virus, making it bivalent.
“We are delighted that this first bivalent RSV vaccine candidate, RSVpreF, was demonstrated to be efficacious in our clinical trial against this disease, which is associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality in older adults,” Dr. Annaliesa Anderson, senior vice president and chief scientific officer for vaccine research and development at Pfizer, said in a statement Thursday.
RSV is a common virus that affects the lungs and breathing passages, usually causing mild, cold-like symptoms but sometimes leading to serious conditions. Although most people recover within a week or two, the virus can be dangerous, especially for infants and older adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Each year, an estimated 177,000 older adults are hospitalized with RSV across the United States and 14,000 of them die. The virus is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under the age of 1 in the U.S. There is currently no approved vaccine for RSV, according to the CDC.
Four companies — Pfizer, GSK, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna — are in late-stage trials for their respective RSV vaccine candidates.
Pfizer said in a press release Thursday that a vaccine efficacy of 85.7% was observed in participants with more severe primary disease endpoint of lower respiratory tract illness, or LRTI-RSV, defined by analysis of three or more RSV-associated symptoms. The investigational vaccine was also well-tolerated, with no safety concerns, according to the press release.
Based on the findings, Pfizer said it plans to seek regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this fall.
“Scientists and researchers have worked to develop RSV vaccines with little success for over half a century,” Anderson added. “These findings are an important step in our effort to help protect against RSV disease and we look forward to working with the FDA and other regulatory agencies to make this vaccine candidate available to help address the substantial burden of RSV disease in older adults.”
(NEW YORK) — After working for seven years in the corporate world as an aerospace engineer, Anita Vandyke said she needed to shed the material excess in her life and “give more.”
Vandyke is now a zero waste lifestyle author and influencer promoting the protection of the Earth and its resources.
Vandyke, who lives in Australia, runs the popular Instagram account @rocket_science, where she documents her own minimalist and zero waste journey. She’s also authored three books on zero waste living.
According to a 2020 study from researchers at Penn State, the average U.S. household wastes around 30% of the food it buys, translating to approximately $240 billion in food waste annually, nationwide.
The practice of zero-waste living traditionally means minimizing material consumption and waste to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution, Vandyke told ABC News. But for her, it also encompasses a mindset of cherishing all resources, including money, time and relationships.
Vandyke said her zero waste lifestyle was partly inspired by her childhood and upbringing by her Chinese immigrant parents.
“I learned all these kind of zero waste environmental tips out of necessity in terms of the frugal living that we had to do growing up,” she said. “A lot of these tips and tricks are actually not only saving the planet, but they also save money as well.”
As a working single mom, Vandyke said preserving the environment also means, to her, prolonging time spent with loved ones — the “only nonrenewable resource that we have.”
“We have to make sure that we look after our family, ourselves and also the environment in the limited time we have,” said Vandyke, whose husband died this year from cancer.
After graduating from medical school last year, Vandyke is now working as a doctor in Sydney, drawing connections between her work in health care and her environmental habits.
“To have healthy people, thriving people who have good soil, good air, good water, we have to have a healthy planet,” she said.
Vandyke assured anyone scared to plunge into a minimalist lifestyle that small changes can make a cumulative difference.
“Aim for effort, not perfection,” she said.
Here are few simple ways Vandyke said families can reduce their waste and live greener:
Make a family grocery list
As simple as it sounds, Vandyke said keeping a running grocery list during the week is a convenient way to ensure you’re not buying too much or too little before finishing your remaining food. She writes the list on a small whiteboard on the refrigerator.
“I also get people to contribute in the family,” she said. “So if I need to buy butter or bread, they can write that … and make that an ongoing list that is visible for the whole family to see.”
Create an “eat first” box
It’s easy to lose track of various expiration dates. To stay organized, Vandyke said she places items at the end of their shelf life in a box labeled “eat first” in the refrigerator. Her family then prioritizes finishing those “lonely” ingredients before buying more groceries.
Her household regularly has “mixed vegetable nights,” coming up with creative ways to use all the scraps and leftovers in the eat first box.
“Before you go shopping, I like to see what’s in the fridge, chop up all those things, make it into a curry, a stir fry, or fried rice, something that you can use up all your vegetables before you go out and buy any more,” Vandyke said.
Compost
Composting is the process of recycling organic matter, such as leaves and food scraps, into a fertilizer that can enrich soil and plants.
As alternatives to the traditional compost bin, Vandyke recommends families buy a bokashi bucket, which ferments food scraps into a liquid fertilizer, or create a worm farm, which are odorless and relatively low maintenance.
“There’s different types of benefits for different families, and you just have to find the right one for you,” she said.
However, Vandyke said her favorite method of composting is actually not composting at all.
ShareWaste is a website that connects people who wish to recycle their food scraps with community gardens or neighbors with personal gardens who are already composting.
“What I do is I freeze my compost or put it in the fridge and once a week, I take it to the local community garden,” Vandyke said. “That way, I don’t have to upkeep anything because I have a small home. But this allows me to prevent waste in the long run.”
Engage kids from an early age
By engaging children in zero-waste living, Vandyke said parents can cultivate environmentally conscious habits and an appreciation of natural resources from a young age.
For example, cooking meals with children is an opportunity to educate them on their food sources so they value the ingredients and don’t waste them.
“You have to know that the rice that you make, or the broccoli that you have, all the fruit and vegetables that you have, you have to know where it comes from,” Vandyke said. “It just doesn’t come from the supermarket, it comes from a farm, it comes from a lot of resources to grow and make that food.”
Vandyke said she also raids her household’s recycling bins for cardboard boxes and glass jars that her children can then upcycle into jewelry boxes and other practical arts and crafts.
She also encourages parents to regularly bring their children outdoors to experience their natural environment and show them “what you’re fighting for.”
“The children appreciate nature,” she said, and by taking them outdoors, it makes the concept of conservation “really tangible to them.”
(WASHINGTON) — After studying Iran’s comments on the European Union’s proposal to renew a 2015 nuclear deal, the State Department announced Wednesday it had submitted a formal reply to the plan, bringing a potential breakthrough within reach.
“We received Iran’s comments on the EU’s proposed final text through the EU. Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the E.U. today,” spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
While the E.U.’s top diplomat described the text put forth earlier this month as “final,” sources told ABC News the U.S. answer is expected to fall short of total acceptance but move negotiations forward. Iran’s response, which was submitted last week, has been described in similar terms.
“There are no shortcuts to this,” Price said on Monday, adding that Iran needs to answer investigators’ questions.
“The issues that are outstanding are issues that have been outstanding for some time,” said Naysan Rafati, the senior analyst on Iran at the Crisis Group, an independent think tank aimed at preventing global conflict. “They’ve been the hardest to resolve for a reason.”
Even if an accord can be reached between the U.S. and Iran, there are still other hurdles to surmount — both among the international community and in Washington.
China and Russia, frequent adversaries of the U.S. on the world stage, have signaled support for a renewed JCPOA, but Israel — one of America’s closest allies — is a vocal opponent of the pact and has ramped up its criticism in recent days.
Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid told reporters on Wednesday that a return to the JCPOA would not accomplish President Joe Biden’s goal of ensuring Iran never procures a nuclear weapon but would instead give the country billions of dollars to “undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe” by relaxing sanctions.
“The political line from Jerusalem is pretty clear. They don’t view the agreement as satisfactory,” said Rafati. “There’s also some thinking within the Israeli national security establishment that it’s not necessarily a matter of liking the deal, but at this point, seeing that the alternatives to the deal have been even worse.”
Still, similar qualms have been expressed by conservatives in Washington. Dozens of Republican senators have vowed to block any attempt to return to the JCPOA, which would require approval from Congress. As talks have worn on, even some Democrats have expressed apprehension, questioning whether reentering the pact — which includes fixed “sunset” provisions, or end dates for key nuclear restrictions — would still be in the best interest of national security.
Although the Biden administration entered office promising to cut a “longer and stronger” deal with Iran, that ambition has since diminished. Still, U.S. officials maintain a return to the JCPOA remains the best way to restrain Iran’s nuclear program and have expressed confidence that a mutual return to compliance would ultimately win the support of lawmakers and foreign powers.
Though the outcome remains unclear, the final chapter of the winding negotiations appears to be nearing its conclusion. Analysts say the time Iran would need to amass enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon has dwindled to mere days or even less, and that for the JCPOA to be restored, an agreement in principle needs to be reached in the coming weeks — not months.
“Everyone at this point should have a reasonably clear sense of what’s possible and what isn’t possible,” Rafati said.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Tennessee’s “trigger” law banning abortions went into effect Thursday, making providing abortions a felony in the state.
The Tennessee near-total abortion ban, which was enacted in 2019, criminalizes performing or attempting to perform an abortion, only making exceptions for cases where it is necessary to prevent death or serious and permanent bodily injury to the mother, according to the law.
Trigger laws are written to go into effect after an event occurs, in this case the law was written to go into effect 30 days after a Supreme Court ruling that overturns Roe v. Wade, overturning federal protections for abortion rights, in whole or in part. While the Supreme Court released its opinions in June, the formal judgement was issued by the court in July.
In a letter to the Tennessee Code Commission last month, the state’s attorney general, Herbert Slatery III, announced the effective date of the law, called the Human Life Protection Act, is Aug. 25.
Under the law, performing or attempting to perform an abortion is a Class C felony.
For an abortion to be legal under the law’s exception, it must be performed or attempted by a licensed physician, the physician must determine the abortion was necessary to prevent the death or serious injury of the pregnant woman and the abortion must provide the best opportunity for the fetus to survive, unless that threatens the life of the pregnant woman or could cause serious injury, according to the law.
Under the ban, abortions cannot be authorized based on a “claim or diagnosis” relating to mental health, including claims that the woman would “engage in conduct that would result in her death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function,” according to the law.
The law does not criminalize women or pregnant people seeking an abortion.
Tennessee’s heartbeat law was already in effect, as of June 28, banning all abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which generally occurs around six weeks, before many women or pregnant people know they are pregnant.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday is expected to file a heavily redacted version of the affidavit used to support a search warrant of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month, as a magistrate judge weighs whether to make portions of it public.
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart gave department officials a noon deadline to submit proposed redactions under seal as well as a legal memorandum explaining their justifications for the information that they believe should be kept hidden from public view. Reinhart said he was not inclined to keep the full affidavit sealed, saying he believes there are portions of it that could presumably be unsealed.
The government argued in court last week that the redactions they believe would be necessary to protect the integrity of their ongoing criminal investigation would essentially render the document “meaningless.”
A coalition of media organizations, including ABC News, has urged for release of the affidavit even with redactions — citing the need to further inform the public in light of the historic nature of the search of a former president’s residence.
Jay Bratt, the head of DOJ’s counterintelligence division, said “there would be nothing of substance” adding that the government is “very concerned about the safety of the witnesses” and the impact releasing the affidavit could have on other witnesses.
“It doesn’t serve the media’s interest to give them something that is meaningless,” Bratt said.
Bratt argued there is information in the document that could easily identify witnesses based on the descriptions of events that only certain people would have knowledge about.
Reinhart said in a Monday filing that he may ultimately side with the government.
“I cannot say at this point that partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion after hearing further from the Government,” he said.
Judge Reinhart says that he believes the government has met “its burden of showing good cause/a compelling interest that overrides any public interest in unsealing the full contents of the Affidavit.”
The Justice Department would likely seek to immediately appeal any decision that would release portions of the affidavit they are not comfortable releasing.
While former President Trump and his allies have publicly called for the release of the full affidavit, his legal team has made no such efforts in court since the Aug. 8 search, including as part of their motion filed Monday before a separate federal judge calling for the appointment of a special master to review materials seized by the FBI.
Instead, Trump’s lawyers requested federal Judge Aileen Cannon to issue an order directing investigators to halt their review of the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago pending appointment of a special master, return any personal materials swept up in the search, and provide a more detailed receipt of items that were seized.
The filing, which was riddled with falsehoods, misrepresentations and blatant references to a possible announcement of Trump’s plans to again run for the presidency in 2024, appeared to be met with confusion by Judge Cannon.
On Tuesday, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, issued an order requesting Trump’s team enter a supplemental filing by Friday with a line-item list of basic information not included in their original motion.
(LOS ANGELES) — A California man has pleaded guilty to importing wild animals into the country, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Jose Manuel Perez, 30, smuggled more than 1,700 wild animals, including 60 reptiles, worth $739,000 into the U.S. and was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in February. Officials found reptiles hidden in his clothing in small bags, prosecutors said.
When he was caught crossing into the U.S., federal agents said he had about 60 reptiles on him — including some in his pants.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the country and one count of wild trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Perez, who also went by the name Julio Rodriguez, used social media to arrange and smuggle animals into the U.S. between January 2016 and February 2022, federal prosecutors said.
The wildlife, which came from Mexico and Hong Kong, included Yucatan box turtles, baby crocodiles, Mexican box turtles and beaded lizards, federal prosecutors said, and he didn’t declare them through U.S. Customs or obtain the required permits through the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Perez worked with others in his smuggling operation, according to federal prosecutors. His sister, Stephany Perez, 26, was allegedly involved and is scheduled to go on trial in February, prosecutors said.
Jose Manuel Perez faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count of smuggling and up to five years in prison for wildlife trafficking, according to federal prosecutors.
His attorney did not immediately provide a comment to ABC News.
(ATLANTA) — Three children in Georgia have now tested positive for monkeypox, newly updated state data has revealed.
The Georgia Department of Health did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on these cases.
Newton County School System, which went back to school in early August, confirmed to ABC News that at least one child at Mansfield Elementary in Mansfield, Georgia, has tested positive for the virus, and one student at Flint Hill Elementary in Oxford, Georgia, is currently undergoing testing.
It is unclear if these cases are at all connected. The schools are located approximately 13 miles apart. Additional information on how the students may have contracted or been exposed to the virus is unavailable at this time, due to privacy concerns, according to school officials.
The school district has notified parents, officials said, and parents of students considered to be close contacts will receive separate communications instructing them on next steps.
“NCSS facilities employees will thoroughly clean and disinfect classrooms and other areas at both schools this afternoon to ensure ongoing safe and healthy learning and work environments for students and staff. Both schools will be open tomorrow,” the school district wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
Across the state of Georgia, at least 15 children, ages 17 years and younger, have received their first monkeypox vaccine dose, state data shows.
Separately, in Texas, officials confirmed that a previously confirmed monkeypox case had actually turned out to be a false positive.
Across the country, at least 13 children have now tested positive for monkeypox. Nine states and jurisdictions have reported pediatric monkeypox cases.
