News – Page 2521 – 105.7 WDNY

Pelosi tells Democratic leaders she wants House votes on infrastructure bills this week

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As House Democrats scramble to move forward with President Joe Biden’s landmark infrastructure and social spending legislation, Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday told her deputies behind closed doors that she wants votes on the bills this week — but publicly she declined to commit to any specific timetable.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I wish to,” Pelosi told reporters during her weekly news conference when asked about scheduling what’s become an elusive target for her party.

Congressional Democrats are under new pressure to pass the legislation following Tuesday’s disappointing election results and Biden telling reporters on Wednesday his message to them was: “Get it on my desk.”

“We have to have the votes,” Pelosi said Thursday, indicating her leadership team is still working the numbers behind the scenes.

Pelosi said she was “very unhappy” about missing her previous Oct. 31 deadline for passing the already Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, stalled as progressives held their votes to continue negotiations on a larger social spending package.

“Did you see the whip count?” Pelosi asked reporters on Thursday. “Because I’ll tell you something about Mr. Clyburn, he keeps it close to the vest.”

Asked if it were possible that she would put only the bipartisan infrastructure bill — or “BIF” — on the floor if the social spending plan or “Build Back Better” bill isn’t ready, Pelosi told reporters: “No.”

“We’re going to pass both bills, but in order to do so we have to have the votes for both bills, and that’s where we are,” she added.

Notably, Pelosi says she does not call votes in the House if she knows she doesn’t have the votes to win.

In an earlier closed-door meeting, Pelosi told her deputies that if the votes are there, they intend to vote on the social spending bill as soon as Thursday night, with votes on the bipartisan infrastructure plan planned for Friday, sources familiar confirmed to ABC News.

“Hopefully we’ll see if we have the votes for BBB tonight and BIF tomorrow morning,” she said, according to a source familiar with the matter.

But there are still several loose ends with the larger social spending or “Build Back Better” package Democrats plan to pass through reconciliation, a process not requiring Republican support but would need all Democratic votes in the Senate — where its fate is unclear with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., having objected to a late addition.

Pelosi announced on Wednesday that Democrats were adding four weeks of paid family and medical leave back to the social spending package, to the praise of progressives, but a move which Manchin said he doesn’t support, raising concerns with the cost.

ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott asked Pelosi what her message is to Manchin, who says he supports paid family leave but not in this package, and Pelosi took an optimistic tone.

“Well, I don’t make a habit of talking to Senator Manchin on the TV. We’re friends. I respect him. He’s a good person. He’s agreed to so much that is in the bill,” Pelosi responded.

“With all the respect in the world for the point of view he represents, I disagree,” she said of his position. “I think that this is appropriate for this legislation. It fits very comfortably with childcare, health care, home care, family medical need, and it has the full support of our caucus.”

Asked by reporters if House Democrats’ inability to pass the legislation ahead of Tuesday’s governor race in Virginia impacted that loss for Democrats, Pelosi said she would have to wait and see the data.

“But I do think as the American people learn more about what we are doing in this legislation for families, for children, for women in the workforce, to save our planet, the rest, it will be very positive. You can’t deny that it would be very positive,” she said. “There’s no question if we the more results we can produce in a way that is people understand in their lives, the better it is,” she added.

Democratic leaders are actively whipping behind the scenes to see if the votes are there and argue to moderates that the social spending plan, expected to cost about $1.75 trillion, will be fully paid for.

The Joint Committee on Taxation said in its latest analysis released Thursday that the new tax provisions included in the social spending plan would raise nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years — meaning the plan nearly meets Democrats’ mark.

“It’s very solid,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference, noting that the JCT is an “objective” body providing analysis.

JCT’s latest score does not include revenue raised by providing the IRS more money for enforcement or savings from prescription drug pricing changes since those provisions were added in just the last two days.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., also told reporters the JCT score indicates that the bill will be fully paid for when the tax increase, IRS and drug pricing provisions are all taken into account.

Feds charge Russian national who worked on Steele dossier with lying to FBI

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A researcher who worked with Christopher Steele in assembling Steele’s controversial dossier that contained explosive and unproven claims about former President Donald Trump has been arrested on charges stemming from the special counsel’s investigation of the Russia probe, according to an indictment made public Thursday.

Igor Danchenko, a Russian national living in the U.S., has previously defended his role in gathering information that Steele used in his dossier, including the salacious claim that Russian officials may have had a videotape of Trump watching prostitutes in a hotel room during a 2013 trip to Moscow. Trump has vehemently denied the claim and no evidence has surfaced to support the allegation.

Danchenko has been charged with five separate counts of making false statements to the FBI in interviews where he discussed how he obtained information that he later provided to Steele for inclusion in the dossier.

In the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury and signed by Special counsel John Durham, Danchenko is accused of falsely telling the FBI he had never communicated with an unidentified U.S.-based individual “who was a long-time participant in Democratic Party Politics” about any allegations included in the dossier — whereas the indictment says Danchenko had actually sourced one or more of the allegations to that individual.

The indictment also accuses Danchenko of lying when he told the FBI that he had received an anonymous call in July 2016 from a citizen who he believed to be president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and who provided him information about possible Trump-Russia ties that Danchenko later passed along to Steele. The indictment alleges that “as he well knew, [Danchenko] never spoke” with the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and he was lying when he suggested otherwise to the FBI.

The indictment says Danchenko’s lies were material to his interviews with the FBI because their investigation of the Trump campaign “relied in large part” on the Steele dossier to obtain FISA warrants against former Trump adviser Carter Page, and that “the FBI ultimately devoted substantial resources attempting to investigate and corroborate the allegations contained” in the dossier.

The dossier, originally compiled as opposition research against Trump’s presidential candidacy, created an international scandal when it was published by BuzzFeed News 10 days before Trump was sworn into office.

Danchenko was taken into custody Thursday. Details regarding the charges Danchenko is facing were not immediately available.

Last year former Attorney General William Barr declassified documents sent to Congress that showed Danchenko was previously the subject of a counterintelligence investigation examining whether he was an agent of Russia. Danchenko has denied such claims.

Barr also declassified a transcript of an interview Danchenko had with the FBI in January 2017, in which he said many of the most explosive claims he brought to Steele were based on rumors and hearsay.

An attorney for Danchenko did not immediately respond for a request for comment. Steele declined to comment to ABC News when asked for a response to Danchenko’s arrest.

Senate Republicans target Biden vaccine mandate Fauci supports

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — With the nation’s top public health officials as their audience, Senate Republicans on Thursday aired complaints about a new wide-reaching vaccine mandate for large businesses being implemented by the Biden administration.

“I’m just telling you it’s a hard sell to tell people who have had COVID that they’re now under a mandate — a mandate by the federal government — to be vaccinated. I think you’ve got an extremely tough sell,” Sen. Richard Burr, the top Republican on the Senate Health Committee, told the heads of the Biden White House COVID response team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky and chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a hearing.

The new mandate, announced in September but finalized Thursday, will apply to nearly 100 million U.S. workers and require them to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID tests. The mandate will take effect on Jan. 4, after the holidays.

Both Fauci and Walensky were supportive of the mandate, pointing to 745,000 American deaths and thousands more each week, the vast majority of which are among the unvaccinated.

Burr was one of several Republicans who made the case during the hearing that unvaccinated Americans who have had COVID-19 should be exempt from the new mandate because they would now have “natural” immunity to the virus, an argument made by business organizations that oppose the mandate.

While studies have shown that people still carry immune response to the virus after recovery, it’s not clear how long that immunity lasts and it doesn’t appear to be as robust as immunity from vaccination. One recent CDC study found that people with “natural” immunity through infection were five times more likely to develop COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated, something Wallensky and Fauci pointed out.

Still, Burr argued that health care professionals were already suffering from worker shortages and couldn’t afford to lose more people because they refused to comply with mandates. Under the mandate for health care workers, which applies to any place receiving federal funding through Medicare or Medicaid, workers are required to get vaccinated without an option to do weekly tests instead.

“You start doing this to people, Medicare, Medicaid providers, community health centers, we’re not going to have the people to surge,” Burr said, referring to surge responses to states that need more doctors and nurses when COVID cases spike.

He called the decision not to allow for “natural” immunity qualifiers “confusing.”

“There’s every reason to believe that people can look at this and say, ‘What the hell are you guys doing? What are you judging this based on?’ It’s not common sense and it’s certainly not science.”

Walensky said the data on how natural immunity lasts is “murkier” but the CDC can track with certainty how long vaccines work, and referenced the recent study showing more infections in people who have had COVID than in those who are vaccinated.

“CDC recommendations suggest that you have more both more durable and robust and known immune response if you are vaccinated after you’ve been previously infected, and those are our recommendation,” Walensky said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, also told the public health officials that she was worried about worker shortages.

“When we’re talking about vaccine and vaccine hesitancy, we need to be talking to those who are putting in place some of these standards that in my state are causing an extraordinary issue and problem within our workforce,” Murkowski said.

Both Fauci and Walensky defended the mandates, which the Biden administration hopes will stifle COVID cases that have disrupted everything from education systems to supply chain and the economy.

“We’ve had 745,000 deaths from this disease and we’re continuing to have about 75,000 cases every single day,” Walensky said.

“We know the most disruptive thing in our workforce is to have a COVID outbreak and to have workers in that workforce come down with COVID infection, severe disease, and in some cases death. Vaccination as we’ve seen, decreases your risk of infection by sixfold, decreases your risk of hospitalization and death by tenfold even during this delta surge. So there’s absolutely a public health priority to get people vaccinated and to continue the important prevention and mitigation strategies including masking to keep them safe,” she said.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, asked Fauci, “If we do have a mandate, will it save lives? And is there an estimate of, of the number of lives that might be saved by virtue of having our private companies that have over 100 employees, either having their employees receive a vaccination or get a weekly test? If that occurs, will it save lives and you have an estimate of the number of lives that might save?”

Fauci said he did not have a model on hand, but had “a very firm and confident answer” to the first question.

“We know that vaccines absolutely save lives. And we know that mandates work,” he said.

Majority of US workers to fall under vaccine mandate on Jan. 4

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 100 million U.S. workers will be required to get the COVID vaccine by Jan. 4, with some workers allowed to test weekly instead, under sweeping federal rules released Thursday by the Biden administration that identifies COVID-19 as an occupational hazard.

The regulations are aimed at health care workers and businesses with 100 or more employees, covering two-thirds of the nation’s workforce. Businesses that don’t comply could be fined $14,000 per infraction, and hospitals could lose access to Medicare and Medicaid dollars.

It’s part of President Joe Biden’s aggressive new plan to try quell a pandemic that’s overshadowed his presidency and hobbled the economy. At the same time, the Jan. 4 date is a nod to industry groups that insisted the administration wait until after the holidays to impose mandates in the midst of a worker shortage.

“This is good for the economy,” a senior administration official told reporters late Wednesday on the rationale for the plan.

Since taking office, the Biden administration had avoided imposing nationwide vaccine mandates, focusing instead on incentives for businesses and individuals. But with the arrival of the delta variant, a surge in pediatric cases and pockets of the country remaining hesitant to get a shot, Biden’s COVID strategy shifted in recent weeks.

“We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us,” Biden said of unvaccinated Americans on Sept. 9 when announcing his plan to draft the rule.

Biden’s plan also gives federal contractors an extra month to comply, sliding a previous Dec. 8 deadline set by the administration. Federal workers are still required to be vaccinated by Nov. 22.

Like health care workers, federal contractors and federal workers aren’t given the option to test instead of getting vaccinated. In other businesses, employees could be given the option to test weekly and would be required to wear a mask in the workplace.

When asked whether the worker shortage was a factor in the decision, administration officials said the primary focus was on making compliance easier for workers and aligning deadlines across the private sector.

Once divided on how to address the pandemic, Republican governors have united against the plan, insisting it represents dangerous federal overreach and would cripple business owners already dealing with worker shortages.

“Rest assured, we will fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian,” tweeted the South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster last September following Biden’s announcement.

Supporters counter that many large businesses have already embraced vaccine mandates to both entice employees who want a safe workplace and end a pandemic that has hobbled the economy. They argue too that whenever employees have enacted mandates, the vast majority of workers comply.

CISA issues sweeping federal directive for government cybersecurity

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is ordering federal agencies to fix hundreds of vulnerabilities in software and hardware that hackers have been known to exploit, according to a new government directive released Wednesday.

The first-of-its-kind directive, issued by the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, includes a list of vulnerabilities “that carry significant risk to the federal enterprise” with technical specifics that agency leaders are required to review and address within 60 days. Some areas will require a more immediate fix, according to CISA.

“Cybersecurity threats are among the greatest challenges facing our Nation,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Wednesday. “Organizations of all sizes, including the federal government, must protect against malicious cyber actors who seek to infiltrate our systems, compromise our data, and endanger American lives.”

U.S. information systems have fallen victim to an increasing number of cyber attacks in recent years targeting schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure.

A 2020 cyber intrusion into the U.S. company SolarWinds, which sells software to the federal government, was not discovered until months after malicious code was injected into a routine software update. The discovery sent government officials scrambling to determine if their systems were compromised.

Last July, the U.S. and its allies condemned China for a cyber assault on Microsoft email servers and said hackers supported by the Chinese government had carried out ransomware or cyber-extortion attacks for millions of dollars. The Chinese-backed hackers were able to string together multiple, lower-level vulnerabilities to exploit Microsoft systems, according to CISA.

The new directive aims to address this hacker strategy by restructuring its classifications for vulnerabilities and establishing a working catalog of flaws that need to be addressed.

“This directive will significantly improve the federal government’s vulnerability management practices and degrade our adversary’s ability to exploit known vulnerability,” CISA Director Jen Easterly told lawmakers at a House Homeland Security hearing Wednesday.

The directives do not apply to the Department of Defense or U.S. intelligence agencies.

The order is one of the most expansive federal cybersecurity mandates in U.S. history and it’s the first requirement of governmentwide fixes that spans both online and internal systems, according to the Wall Street Journal.

At the House hearing Wednesday, Republican Rep. Clay Higgins expressed concern the government was not taking enough proactive, offensive steps to defend critical infrastructure.

“Why are we not lighting these criminals up with a counter strike cyber attack?” Higgins asked.

“It is important to bring transgressors to justice,” National Cyber Director Chris Inglis responded.

“Equally important is a campaign that covers all the ways that we can thwart their efforts,” Inglis said. “We need to begin with increased resilience and robustness in the technology, in the skills of our people, in the roles and responsibilities.”

Up close with Prince William’s Earthshot Prize winners

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Eshrat Waris called just attending the COP26 climate summit and meeting Prince William in Glasgow, Scotland, this week an “out of body experience.” Being handed 1 million pounds for her Earthshot Prize-winning invention took it to another level.

“The fact that we’re in the room means that — I hope to God — they unlock that money because there are solutions like the 15 Earthshot finalists have shown,” Waris told ABC News. “But that financing that has been promised since Paris, I hope to God in Glasgow gets delivered and unlocked for all of us because these solutions are going to be game-changers.”

The 34-year-old from Bangladesh was one of five winners of the prince’s inaugural Earthshot Prize, each of whom received 1 million pounds, or about $1.38 million, in financial support. All 15 finalists received some funding to scale their climate change solutions.

Waris won the award for a smartmeter that allows people to sell excess solar energy developed by SOLshare where she is the director of product and business development.

Sam Teicher, from winner Coral Vita, echoed Waris’ emotions, saying, “It’s the honor of my life that Prince William knows our company, knows our name.”

Acknowledging the global scale of COP26, Olugbenga Olubanjo, a winner from Nigeria, told ABC News, “I’m very sure it’s going to unlock opportunities for us. … It sets us on the global stage.”

The three winners who spoke to ABC News were optimistic and determined to bring climate change to an end.

“Failure is not an option when it comes to solving for climate change,” Teicher said.

He also pointed to the world’s response to the pandemic as an example of the power we harness to create change.

“You saw during the COVID lockdowns that governments can unlock incredible amounts of funding to restructure societies,” Teicher said. “So the argument that there’s not enough money to fund climate change action is now underscored by the fact that the cost of inaction is so much greater than paying the bill right now, while then also creating all these opportunities through new solutions.”

And while the group said it was humbled and honored to be working with Prince William, the winners said they were also amazed by Prince Charles.

“We had the opportunity to meet Prince Charles the other night, and I honestly was very surprised and pleasantly blown away by how much this man knows,” Waris said.

“He got so excited,” Waris added. “He was actually grabbing the CEOs and saying, ‘Hey, come over here. Like, these guys, like, you need to finance them right now.'”

The finalists and winners met for the first time in person and were featured at a leaders’ event on Tuesday where William gave a speech.

The youngest finalist, 15-year-old Vinisha Umashankar from Tamil Nadu, India, joined the prince on stage and addressed world leaders including President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I’m not just a girl from India, I’m a girl from Earth,” Umashankar said.

Umashankar reached the final rounds of the prize for her invention, which replaces India’s traditional charcoal-powered roaming ironing carts with ones powered by solar energy.

“We won’t wait for you to act,” Umashankar added in her speech, earning her a standing ovation. “We will lead even if you don’t. We will act even if you delay.”

Got your booster? Here are five reasons to keep following public health measures for a bit longer

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — You did everything you could to stay safe. You socially distanced. You wore a mask. You avoided large gatherings and unsafe indoor environments. When the coronavirus vaccine became available, you got in line and got your shots. Now that eight months have passed, you’re getting ready to get a booster.

And now, you think, finally, it’s time to throw caution to the wind and return to the life you lived pre-pandemic.

I wish I could tell you that was the case. But for your safety and the safety of those around you — including kids who are about to start getting their vaccinations — it’s time to take a deep breath, tap the brakes, continue using your mask indoors, and not re-engage with large crowds just yet.

Here are five reasons why:

1. Your body needs time to build immunity to COVID-19.

The three authorized COVID-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective at preventing even mild infections. When first authorized, Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines proved 95% and 94% effective, and Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine proved 75% effective.

Nevertheless, studies have shown that all three vaccines lose some ability to protect against infections over time. For that reason, experts recommend that people in high-risk groups — such as older adults and people with weakened immune systems — get booster shots.

Like the initial vaccines, booster shots have been shown to be extremely effective at preventing serious illness. In fact, new research shows that people who received booster shots were at a 93% lower risk of being hospitalized and an 81% lower risk of death from COVID-19 compared to people who had only received their initial two shots.

The booster builds on the immunity protection you have developed through your primary vaccination series. But the added protection from a booster doesn’t happen overnight.

“The booster doesn’t work right away; it takes a week or so to have full effect,” says Dr. Megan Ranney, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Brown University. “I frequently see people who take risks before the vaccines have had a chance to protect them.”

Instead, said Ranney, people should continue to take common-sense precautions. “Wash your hands, maintain a little distance and, if you are in an area with high COVID prevalence, wear a mask when you are in crowded public indoor locations,” she said. The guidance about masking indoors doesn’t change, regardless of whether someone has had two doses or three doses of vaccine.

How will you know your immune system is building a response to COVID? You’ll likely feel some side effects. These could include pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain and fever.

You can predict what type of side effects you might develop based on which ones you experienced with your previous shots. If your arm hurt for a couple of days last spring, it will likely hurt for a couple of days after you get a booster.

Remember that these side effects are generally mild and temporary, and the vaccines can provide long-lasting protection against COVID-19. Whatever you may experience, it’s crucial to understand that side effects are generally a good sign. They mean your body is responding to the vaccine and building immunity to COVID-19 infection.

2. COVID-19 is still a risk.

Getting a booster shot doesn’t guarantee you won’t be infected with the coronavirus. But it can help your immune system build protection against severe disease or hospitalization — including from the delta variant.

So in order to protect yourself and those around you from infection, continue to follow public health guidance and regulations in your local area regarding masking and social distancing. Both of those, as well as washing your hands regularly with soap and warm water, will provide you with maximum protection against the coronavirus and other viruses circulating this fall and winter as more people are out and about.

3. It’s flu season.

We’ve spent so much time talking about COVID-19 that we may lose sight of the health effects posed by the very common influenza virus, which usually pops up in early autumn and can lead to serious illness.

During the 2019-2020 flu season, 38 million people became sick with flu, resulting in more than 400,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths. Studies have shown that levels of flu last year were at their lowest since 1997, the first year for which data is available. That’s likely because people wore masks, used hand hygiene often, and socially distanced, in order to suppress the spread of COVID-19. Those actions also had the effect of suppressing the flu.

Unfortunately, last year’s mild flu season might lead to a more severe flu season this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned. That’s because people weren’t exposed to flu last year, so they didn’t build up an immunity to the virus.

The good news is that flu vaccines are widely available. In fact, the CDC says it’s perfectly safe to get the COVID and flu vaccines during the same visit. So whether or not you get a booster shot, “we should always prepare for the flu season by planning to get vaccinated,” Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in New York, told ABC News.

In the meantime, masks, hand-washing and all of the other measures that you used to protect against COVID-19 will generally also protect you against flu.

4. Other viruses are out there.

No, they’re nothing to panic about — but just as with flu, the CDC warns that there’s likely to be a resurgence of other non-COVID-19 respiratory viruses this year. These include adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which are frequent causes of the common cold during the winter months.

COVID-19 shutdowns and other precautions kept RSV from spreading during the winter of 2020-21. But when the shutdowns ended in the spring, RSV numbers started to rise. In fact, the CDC warns it has “observed an increase in RSV detections reported to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), a nationwide passive, laboratory-based surveillance network.”

With a resurgence of these viruses, you want to be careful that you don’t increase your risk of exposure to them while you’re reinforcing your COVID-19 protection. Though you won’t be more susceptible to these other viruses the week after you take the booster, it will make it difficult to determine whether any symptoms you exhibit are side effects from a booster shot or actual symptoms of illness. I would suggest waiting a week after your booster before participating in any medium- or large-sized gatherings, and using an elbow or fist bump rather than shaking hands.

Dr. Sachin Jain, a doctor of internal medicine who serves as president and CEO of SCAN Health Plan, also cautions people against spreading common cold viruses because they can have outsized effects on older adults. “Some older adults, especially those with chronic illness, can be more susceptible to viruses like RSV,” said Jain. “For that reason, it’s best to keep practicing behaviors that will protect the health of older adults in our communities.”

These viruses might pose an even greater threat to those with long-term COVID-19 symptoms, known as long COVID. “Those with long COVID may be at higher risk for other infections such as flu and RSV, based on their immune status and history of pre-existing conditions,” said Dr. Sritha Rajupet, primary care lead for the Post-COVID Clinic at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. “Preventive measures such as vaccination against flu, shingles and pneumonia, to name a few, are essential.”

5. Community transmission matters.

Even though you may have gotten your vaccinations, the COVID-19 virus is still prevalent in many communities. And the best way to protect yourself and others is through what ABC News contributor Dr. John Brownstein calls “layers of protection.”

“For many, boosters provide additional protection for those that have underlying concerns of severe disease or increased risk of exposure,” said Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Nevertheless, Brownstein said, “If community transmission continues to be high, it’s important to follow public health guidance regardless of your number of shots.”

So yes, if you’re an older adult or your body is immuno-compromised, it’s a good idea to get a booster shot. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to brush aside those public health measures that keep us, our loved ones, and our communities safe.

Dr. Jay Bhatt, an ABC News contributor, is an internal medicine physician and an instructor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

COVID-19 live updates: Don’t give kids pain reliever before vaccine, CDC says

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 750,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 68% 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:

Nov 04, 8:45 am
Majority of US workers to fall under vaccine mandate on Jan. 4

Nearly 100 million U.S. workers will be required to get the COVID vaccine by Jan. 4, with some workers allowed to test weekly instead, under sweeping federal rules released Thursday by the Biden administration that identifies COVID-19 as an occupational hazard.

The regulations are aimed at health care workers and businesses with 100 or more employees, covering two-thirds of the nation’s workforce. Businesses that don’t comply could be fined $14,000 per infraction and hospitals could lose access to Medicare and Medicaid dollars.

Biden’s plan also gives federal contractors an extra month to comply, sliding a previous Dec. 8 deadline set by the administration. Federal workers are still required to be vaccinated by Nov. 22.

Nov 03, 3:11 pm
White House says central vaccine website will be live for kids on Friday

Vaccines.gov is not yet live with appointments for children, but White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients says the site will be up and running Friday.

“You need to get the vaccines to those sites,” he said at a Wednesday White House briefing. “Over the next 24 hours alone there will be millions more doses in the air and on trucks heading to cities and towns across the country. From Bar Harbor, Maine, to Anchorage, Alaska, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Packing and shipping will continue over the weekend and into next week, with doses arriving at thousands of vaccination sites in every state, tribe and territory.”

CVS said it will offer the pediatric vaccine at “nearly 1,700” pharmacy locations across 46 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., beginning Nov. 7.

Parents can start scheduling CVS appointments online now.

Nov 03, 2:46 pm
Colorado now has its highest hospitalization rate since December

Health officials in Colorado are growing increasingly concerned as the state’s daily case rate has more than doubled in the last month.

Nearly 200 COVID-19 patients are being admitted to hospitals each day — the highest number of people seeking care since December 2020, according to federal data.

There are currently more than 1,300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across Colorado, the majority of whom — 80% — are unvaccinated, according to state data.

With the statewide hospital capacity falling under 10%, Gov. Jared Polis has signed a “particularly urgent” executive order that would permit the state’s health department to order hospitals to transfer or stop admitting patients after reaching or nearing capacity.

Federal data show just 61.7% of the state’s total population is fully vaccinated.

COP26 updates: Summit focuses on accelerating transition to clean energy

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern:

Nov 04, 8:10 am
US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say

The U.S. needs to lead by example in the clean energy transition and leaders should jump at the chance to scale up new technology to stay competitive on the global stage, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told ABC News.

As the “richest country in the world” and one of the biggest polluters, it will be incumbent upon Americans to “do our part,” Granholm told ABC News’ Maggie Rulli on Thursday.

“If you’re a businessperson, you want to be able to get in the game,” Granholm said. “And in the United States, we don’t want our economic competitors getting those jobs, getting those businesses. We want to be able to create it in the United States for our people to work.”

Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, said governors from states that have relied heavily on one fossil fuel industry, such as coal or oil and gas, should prioritize creating clean energy jobs for workers, adding that there are opportunities in clean energy, such as geothermal power, that use the same set of skills.

“If you’re a governor, you don’t want people moving to a new state,” she said. “They want to be able to create those opportunities inside of your state, and every single state in the United States has something to offer as a competitive advantage in clean energy.”

Nov 04, 7:34 am
Dozens of countries promise to phase out coal

A coalition of 190 countries and organizations have agreed to commit to the end of coal power at COP26, a potentially major step toward limiting global temperature increases.

Major coal-using countries such as Poland and Vietnam have committed to phasing out the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel for the first time, the U.K. government announced Wednesday night.

The coalition has committed to ending all investment in new coal power generation both domestically and internationally, rapidly scale up deployment of clean power generation, phase out coal power for major economies in the 2030s and the rest of the world by the 2040s and make a transition away from coal power in a way that benefits workers and communities.

China, Japan and Korea, the three largest public financiers of goal, have already committed to ending overseas finance for goal generation by the end of 2021.

Nov 03, 8:04 pm
Global carbon emissions set to rise after 2020’s COVID-induced reduction

Carbon emissions are on track to return to pre-COVID levels after dropping by 5.4% in 2020, according to the 16th annual Global Carbon Budget prepared by the Global Carbon Project.

Researchers from University of Exeter, University of East Anglia, CICERO and Stanford University found that coal and gas emissions are set to grow more in 2021 than they fell in 2020.

While all major emitters – U.S., China, India and the EU27 – are seeing a rise in emissions by a minimum of 4% in 2021, India and China are set to beat their respective 2019 emission levels.

“Investments in the green economy in post-COVID recovery plans of some countries have been insufficient so far, on their own, to avoid a substantial return close to pre-COVID emissions,” study leader Pierre Friedlingstein, who holds a chair in Mathematical Modelling of the Climate System at the University of Exeter, said.

Looking ahead, Friedlingstein said, “To achieve net-zero by 2050, we must cut emissions every year by an amount comparable to that seen during COVID.”

US paying a high price for climate change-induced weather disasters

November 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Weather globally and across the U.S. has grown increasingly violent, with Americans seeing a steady increase in tornado events since 1950. More than 900 tornadoes have been confirmed since Jan.1, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

However, Tornadoes are not the only severe weather event leaving behind a trail of destruction. Tropical storms and hurricanes also have been wreaking havoc, amassing billions of dollars in damages. Since 1980, when NOAA began calculating overall damage costs, the U.S. has seen more than 300 extreme weather events rack up bills of over $1 billion each. Collectively, these events exceeded $ 2 trillion.

In 2020, there were 22 weather and climate disasters totaling $1 billion — a new record. This also marked the 10th consecutive year the nation had at least eight disasters with billion-dollar tabs.

Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana in August, becoming just the third hurricane in history to make landfall in the state with winds of at least 150mph. Hurricane Laura in 2020, and the “Last Island” hurricane from 1856 are the other two. Costs from Ida are expected to surpass $64 billion, making it the second-most damaging hurricane in Louisiana, behind Hurricane Katrina.

According to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards the most recent disasters could have been worse as a system of flood gates, pumps and levees costing more than $14 billion were put to the test, avoiding disastrous flooding similar to those caused by Katrina.

“Our levees really did perform extremely well,” he said, adding, “There were a few smaller levees that were overtopped… but they did not fail.”

Still, more than a million people in Louisiana were left without power, over 90 people killed across eight states, and the remnants of Ida crippled parts of the Northeast. New York City issued a flash food emergency for the first time in history, and Central Park saw a record 3.15 inches of rainfall in a single hour, according to the National Weather Service.

“You have to meet a $30 million threshold in order to qualify for the additional FEMA assistance. We shattered that number. We’re at least $50 million in damages,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “Because of climate change, unfortunately, this is something we’re going to have to deal with with great regularity.”

Texas was sent into a deep freeze in February after historically low temperatures and multiple severe winter storms swept through northwest, central, and eastern states, leading to a catastrophic power outage. Millions suffered with no heat or drinking water, and over 125 people were killed in Texas alone. NOAA reports this as the most costly U.S winter storm on record at more than $20 billion, eclipsing the “Storm of the Century” in 1993.

Memories of being left cold and in the dark are still fresh for those like Houston resident Michael Ashby, telling ABC News, “Our temperature in the house went from 80 degrees, all the way down to 45. So, we were just snuggled together, bundled up.”

The tornadoes, hurricanes and even Texas’ deep freeze share a common source according to Stanford University climate specialist Noah Diffenbaugh.

“The heat in the upper layers of the ocean is increasing. That’s providing more energy for storms. We are seeing not just stronger storms, but also this rapid intensification of storms,” Diffenbaugh said.

More than 530 people have died this year due to severe-weather events with a price tag of about $350 billion, according to government meteorologists.

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