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Restaurant owners face challenges to balance rising costs, keep customers happy

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Award-winning restaurateur Michael Scelfo has run kitchens post-9/11 and through the 2008 economic downturn, but he said the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring inflation have brought on prolonged issues businesses are still trying to figure out.

“What’s so different this time around is it’s this sustained, evolving-downward spiral since March of 2020 when things hit the fan with COVID and the shutdown,” Scelfo told Good Morning America. “What we’re left with is the economic rubble of the aftermath.”

Restaurant owners are accustomed to dynamic changes, but even industry veterans like Scelfo said, “it feels like we’re continually taking punches and not necessarily getting the relief that we expected.”

And problems that began at the onset of the pandemic — mandated restaurant closures, safety restrictions, staffing shortages and broken supply chains — have been exacerbated by rising costs on food, fuel and materials, failed federal relief packages and inflation, experts said.

Soaring inflation hits cost of ingredients

Food prices have outpaced the overall inflation rate, which is up nearly 11% year-over-year in July, according to the latest data from Bureau of Labor Statistics. Common restaurant staple ingredients like flour — when purchased in a U.S. city — rose 22% in the last year, while eggs have increased 38%.

“It all trickles down to what the baseline cost of whatever the product is,” Scelfo said. “If you’re paying more for it on the home front, you can be assured that we’re paying more.”

Scelfo, who has not passed along increases to his guests, looks at that as a last resort.

“I don’t want to raise prices on the consumer any more than I have to because I’m sensitive to it too. And I do think there’s a limit to what you can realistically charge,” he said. “If you’re a restaurant that’s operating on thin margins, you’re really probably up against it right now — there’s kind of this feast or famine out there for restaurants who have the means to navigate this period.”

“Inflation is having a tremendous impact on everyone across the board,” Leslie Silverglide, co-founder of California casual restaurant chains Split and Mixt, told GMA. “[We’ve tried to] hold price as much as possible,” she added, and “be smarter about how we run our business.”

Food shortages, costs impact menus and availability

Brooklyn-based chef-owner Sal Lamboglia of the newly opened Italian hotspot, Cafe Spaghetti, thinks customers may relate more than ever to the challenges of rising food costs as they shift their own spending on groceries.

“So many things that we use that aren’t even specialty items — eggs, milk, cream, butter – have gone up 10, 20 30% — I’m sure every restaurant is going through this, but I also feel also for the diner,” he said. “It’s scary because I don’t know if things will make their way down again.”

And he said Lamboglia’s menu has taken a hit.

“We’ve been getting shorted on certain pastas, and certain grains and flour — I’ve had to actually change a brand of pasta,” he said. “[We] go back to the drawing board each time and say, ‘OK, how valuable is this dish with this exact pasta? Can we change the shape? Are people going to like it? And that’s what we deal with now. It’s a lot.”

Chef David Nayfeld, owner of Che Fico and Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) board member, told GMA that some think inflation is “just now happening.” “Our costs have been rising steadily and aggressively for nearly two years,” he said.

“We’ve decided to actually lean into quality,” Nayfeld said. “It may mean that people will dine out less,” but he believes diners will choose restaurants “based on quality.”

He also hopes the decision to spend more on employees, products and farms will ensure the support of key players who share his values to “offer a better quality of product to our guests, knowing that they’re smart enough to know the difference.”

Paying for quality labor impacts every facet of the supply chain: “If nobody is there to support and prop the supply chain up, [it] will collapse,” he said. … when we believe in product and believe in farms — we need to support them.”

New strategies to stay afloat

Jake Dickson, owner of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats — a butchery, restaurant and bar — called “huge increases in labor costs, packaging costs and meat inputs” a “triple whammy” over the last six months.

“Our labor costs per head were up 30%,” he told GMA of the overhead and “first punch” at the start of the pandemic. “And that’s pretty tough in a business where labor costs are already massive.”

Where Dickson was initially “insulated from food cost increases” and able to keep meat prices steady thanks to longstanding relationships with purveyors, he said “unfortunately, those things don’t hold right now.”

“Our farmers’ costs are now going through the roof,” he said, noting fertilizer and fuel costs have prompted higher prices.

“They don’t want to increase prices on us because they don’t want me to buy less and they know that if I raise my prices, we’ll probably sell less,” Dickson said.

Four months ago, he made a “very purposeful decision to add a beer and wine license,” opening a bar that serves as “a high margin business” to offset other new costs.

“We’ve kept either small increases or no increases in many places because the bar’s margins are so much higher,” he said, hailing it “a bulwark.”

He also strategized his labor costs.

“Now they’re pretty much flat because we made a choice to pay our employees really well then and we haven’t had to keep giving raises — we’re very competitive — now we’re just kind of figuring out all the other pieces.”

Adapting to skyrocketing expenses

In 17 years of opening restaurants across California, Texas and Arizona, Silverglide said her growing list of challenges has been unlike any other.

“We joke that it’s like Whac-A-Mole. We solve one thing, then something else pops up,” she said. “Especially as we’re looking to build out new restaurants, we’re finding it really hard to just get standard equipment — we place the orders and then as we get closer, they’re like, ‘Oh, actually, it’s gonna be another four to six months.'”

“It’s a hard place to be running a restaurant today,” Silverglide told GMA.

Lamboglia thinks restaurants can strike a balance by offsetting expensive entree lists with a section of the menu that’s affordable.

“At least giving the guests the option not to feel like, ‘Wow, I almost can’t even go out to eat because it’s just too much,” he said.

Rather than constantly revising menu prices as inflation rose to 7% this spring, Leslie Whitney, the owner of Sunset Grill in Virginia, told GMA she and her husband decided on a “temporary fix” to add an “inflation fee” of 3.5% to diners’ checks.

“As food prices were literally rising and changing every day … we had to do something to recoup some of the money loss,” she said. Although the flat fee won’t cover all their new costs, they are “simply trying to stop the bleed.”

Staffing has been one of the “lasting effects of COVID” that Whitney has grappled with.

“We can fluctuate with rising food prices, but not having appropriate staff really puts a wrench in our operations of service — we’re constantly trying to hire where we are short staffed,” she said. “Back-of-the house positions are the hardest to hire because we have high expectations and aren’t willing to cut corners in knowledge and experience.”

A push for federal funding

“The one big player here that has not done enough is the government,” Nayfeld said. “[The government] has had the ability with multiple bills to refill the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which would really do a tremendous amount – not just for now, but for a couple of years, making sure that these restaurants can stabilize.”

Scelfo, who applied and said he never received money from the bill that was part of the American Rescue Plan, added that the “RRF only funded maybe a third or half of restaurants that applied for it and they’ve still never replenished that.”

Despite the constant battering, resilience has created a resounding sense of gratitude and respect in the industry.

“To look for a positive in all this, I’ve never been more proud of our teams,” Scelfo said of the staff who continuously rises to the occasion.

“Restaurants are continuing to find a way to provide a great customer experience so that they really try to minimize the effect of what’s happening out there and make you feel like you’re escaping it … that’s why I’m trying not to pass along that cost.”

“None of that would be possible without a lot of dedicated people that continue to work in this industry and work harder than they ever had before,” Scelfo said.

New York City’s monkeypox vaccine rollout has had some issues. What went wrong?

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Since the monkeypox vaccine began being distributed in New York City, the rollout has been plagued with issues.

The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has cycled through several scheduling platforms in a matter of weeks, which have experienced crashes as people tried to book appointments.

Additionally, the demand for the vaccine has far outpaced the supply. Whenever the city has released a few thousand vaccine appointment slots, they have been filled up within a matter of hours, sometimes minutes, officials said.

“My general thought about the rollout is that it is a hard situation,” Dr. Dana Mazo, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, told ABC News. “The good news is that there has been a high demand, that the high-risk communities are definitely interested in the vaccine. And so that is good.”

“But when there is a limited supply, we are put in a hard situation and all of us feel the difficulties,” she added.

Shortage of vaccine doses

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in mid-July it had ordered nearly 7 million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, which is a two-dose vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent smallpox and monkeypox. However, they will not all be available until mid-2023.

As of Tuesday, the Biden administration has shipped more than 630,000 doses to states, according to HHS data. An additional 786,000 doses have been allocated, but it will take several weeks to distribute the doses.

So far, New York City has received more than 77,800 doses, HHS data shows, but local health officials estimate that as many as 150,000 residents may be at risk for monkeypox exposure.

Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of health policy and management at City University of New York School of Public Health, said there are only so many doses that can be sent to the city and state when other places are suffering from large outbreaks.

“New York City obviously has had the most cases, but then you’ve had a lot of cases in other places like California, Illinois, Florida, for instance,” he told ABC News. “So how then do you determine how much of those vaccines are supposed to be in New York versus the other locations?”

There have been some attempts to try to stretch out the supply. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it is prioritizing administering first doses to get as many people as possible at least some level of protection.

“If you have received the first dose, you will be contacted about scheduling the second dose in the coming weeks,” the department states on its website. “You can wait longer than four weeks between doses.”

To increase the number of JYNNEOS doses available, the FDA authorized a new strategy to inject the vaccine intradermally, just below the first layer of skin, rather than subcutaneously, or under all the layers of skin.

This will allow one vial of vaccine to be given out as five separate doses rather than a single dose.

In theory, this should work because the supply would be quintupled and, for example, 6,000 slots being opened would now increase to 30,000 slots, experts said.

However, there are a few roadblocks. Administering vaccines intradermally is a skill that most health care workers are not trained or experienced in, although it can be taught.

It also would require patients to be told that this way of administering is under emergency use authorization rather than full FDA approval.

“The concern is whenever you do things that are off label or splitting doses you have to make sure you get the same efficacy, you get the same protection,” Lee said. “If you do split doses that basically convert the same amount of vaccine to like multiple doses for a greater number of people, we have to ask ourselves what will be the impact in terms of protection?”

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has not stated whether it intends to adopt this strategy.

Glitchy websites and slots filled within minutes

Another problem that has plagued the rollout is the multiple websites that resulted in crashes and glitches as people intend to access them.

In June, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene partnered with MedRite, a chain of urgent care centers, to operate the appointment scheduling website.

The website was scheduled to launch on July 6, but some people were able to access vaccine appointments before the launch time. Officials quickly took down the portal but, when it went back up again, it crashed.

Next, the department turned to Affiliated Physicians, a health care provider, to schedule vaccine appointments.

The website went live on July 12. Less than half an hour later, the health department tweeted the site was down due to a “high level of traffic.”

Eventually, the department switched over to VAX4NYC, the portal that was used for scheduling COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Amish Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said VAX4NYC should have been used from the start.

“[The health department] should have used systems that anyone had been familiar with,” he told ABC News. “That was a tried and tested system and had been working fine rather than contracts with certain companies, where they’ve had glitches.”

He continued, “A new system that people had to learn on the fly when there was such demand, I think is not ideal when you’re trying to be as efficient as possible with a resource that was in a very limited supply.”

During a City Council oversight hearing last week looking at “failures of New York City’s technological response under critical demand,” Matt Fraser, the city’s chief technology officer, said the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene contracts with MedRite and Affiliated Physicians were drafted under the administration of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“This vendor had been previously cleared by another administration,” he said during testimony. “Our look at this is that it’s a vendor that’s done similar work in the city for this purpose, and unfortunately, it did not work out this time.”

Questions have also arisen over MedRite’s role due to being cited for fraud in the past. In 2016, then-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman settled with MedRite after paying for fake positive reviews on various websites.

“I would just say that this is an important question to ask: how was the trust established that they would be able to deliver in an emergency situation when they’ve already been deemed a fraudulent company?” Adalja said. “They should have articulated the rationale. ‘This is why we use it, and we know we’re going to use it, or they should have said that upfront’ They should be transparent about their decision-making process.”

Liz Cheney loses primary as Trump topples his most prominent GOP critic

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is projected to have lost her primary on Tuesday to Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, ABC News reports, after Cheney built her political profile — and her campaign — around criticizing the former president as an existential threat to American democracy.

Cheney’s defeat was largely expected, given the partisan makeup of her seat and polling that showed her trailing Hageman. Trump won Wyoming in the last presidential election with some 70% of the vote. Still, Cheney’s defeat marks Trump’s biggest win in his revenge tour against intraparty detractors and a warning sign for other anti-Trump Republicans thinking of crossing him.

“Tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. This primary election is over,” Cheney said in a speech Tuesday night from a ranch in Jackson, contrasting that call with Trump, who still refuses to concede the 2020 race.

The choice between Cheney and Hageman, both of whom staked out conservative policy platforms, played out largely along national themes and loyalty to Trump.

Cheney focused on criticizing Trump over his role in last year’s deadly Capitol insurrection, casting her reelection bid as a fight to maintain the GOP’s principles.

Hageman, meanwhile, echoed Trump’s unfounded election fraud claims and berated Cheney — whom Hageman had previously advised — as a lawmaker more focused on toppling the de facto GOP leader.

Cheney boasts a famous last name and significantly out-raised Hageman. But over time it became clear that the three-term lawmaker was the underdog as polls showed Wyoming Republicans increasingly favoring her opponent.

In a sign of Cheney’s tenuous footing with members of her own party, her campaign started an outreach effort to voters to explain how they could change their party registration the day of the primary to vote for her — though operatives said there was little hope there were enough Democrats to change Cheney’s fate.

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear,” Cheney said in her speech Tuesday. “But it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic — that was a path I could not and would not take.”

“No House seat, no office in this land, is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect,” she said. “And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.”

Hageman now is expected to coast in the general election — against projected Democratic opponent Lynnette Grey Bull — in one of the country’s reddest states and be a staunch Trump ally in the House.

“Absolutely the election was rigged. It was rigged to make sure that President Trump could not get reelected,” she said at a campaign event earlier this month indicating her ideological alignment with Trump. “What happened in 2020 is a travesty.”

Hageman on Tuesday touted her win over Cheney, describing it as returning Wyoming’s House seat to the people.

“I will be accountable to the voters and citizens of Wyoming because I am one of you and, just like you, I am sick and tired of having no voice in the U.S. House of Representatives,” she said. “Today we have succeeded at what we set out to do — we have reclaimed Wyoming’s lone congressional seat for Wyoming.”

“Assume that if we put you in power, you will be accountable to us and you will do what is in our best interest. And if you don’t, we will fire you,” she said.

Cheney’s defeat marks a bookend to a meteoric rise and swift fall for an erstwhile GOP star.

She was first elected in 2016 and became the No. 3 Republican in the House in late 2018, a climb that fueled rumors she had an eye on the speakership one day.

However, after last year’s insurrection, she became the highest-ranking House Republican to back impeaching Trump and ultimately became the vice chair of the special committee investigating the Capitol riot.

Her consistent condemnations of Trump infuriated both other House Republicans who accused her of derailing their messaging strategy and some voters in Wyoming who viewed Cheney as an absentee representative more focused on the former president than state issues.

Beyond her tough primary challenge, she also lost her leadership spot in the House and was censured by the Republican National Committee and the Wyoming Republican Party.

Still, Cheney refused to modulate her messaging — given, she said, the danger Trump represented — and indicated that she would continue her focus on combating election conspiracies even after her expected loss.

“Like many candidates across this country, my opponents in Wyoming have said that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. No one who understands our nation’s laws — no one with an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our Constitution — would say that. It is a cancer that threatens our great Republic,” she said in her closing ad. “If we do not condemn these lies, if we do not hold those responsible to account, we will be excusing this conduct and it will become a feature of all elections. America will never be the same.”

All eyes now will be on what Cheney plans to do after leaving the House, with her hinting that “now the real work begins.”

Speculation has bubbled that Cheney is eyeing a presidential bid in 2024 to challenge Trump, should he run again in two years, a theory that gained more ground in her concession speech in which she noted Abraham Lincoln’s own failed House and Senate bids before he won the presidency.

“Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union, and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history,” she said.

Regardless of what form her advocacy takes, Cheney indicated that she will still hold candidates’ feet to the fire over unproven claims of election fraud.

“Today, as we meet here, there are Republican candidates for governor who do deny the outcome of the 2020 election and who may refuse to certify future elections if they oppose the results,” she said in her concession speech. “We have candidates for secretary of state who may refuse to report the actual results of the popular vote in future elections. And we have candidates for Congress, including here in Wyoming, who refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and suggest that states decertify the result.”

“No American should support election deniers for any position of genuine responsibility where their refusal to follow the rule of law will corrupt our future,” she said.

Cheney’s loss marks the end of a largely successful campaign by Trump to expel his impeachment-backers from the GOP, arguing they were not true Republicans.

Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year, four decided to not seek reelection. Of the six who did, four have now lost their primaries. Only two of the 10 have advanced to the general election.

“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now.”

ABC News’ Miles Cohen, Lalee Ibssa, Allison Pecorin and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.

Pyongyang fires two cruise missiles as South Korean president marks 100th day in office

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea fired two cruise missiles on Wednesday as South Korea’s president marked his 100th day in office.

Pyongyang has test-fired its missile system 19 times this year alone, including the latest launch of two cruise missiles Wednesday morning, as intelligence in the U.S. and South Korea has confirmed that North Korea is prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday at a press conference that if North Korea expresses a “steady will” to denuclearize, an “audacious” economic booster program could be on offer from the South but said that talks between the two Koreas will not take place unless it is to establish a substantive and long-lasting peace.

Unlike the previous pro-North government, Yoon’s new administration has taken a more aggressive approach to North Korea’s military provocations in the past 100 days.

When North Korea fired eight ballistic missiles from four different regions in the country, South Korea and the U.S. joint forces fired eight surface-to-surface missiles as a countermeasure the following day.

The joint forces are now gearing up for the 10-days-long Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise which is set to begin next Monday.

Public sentiment in South Korea has broadly indicated that, with no end in sight regarding the easing of tensions between the two nations, it might make sense for South to go nuclear itself.

“Those who assert that South Korea should develop its own nuclear weapons point out the unequal, threatening fact that North Korea has it and South Korea does not,” Kim Hyung-suk, president of the Council on Diplomacy for Korean Unification, told ABC News. “But it’s only an instantaneous idea. There are numerous restraints to actualize a South Korea-made nuclear weapons program.”

According to a public opinion poll report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 71% out of 1,500 people surveyed said that they are in favor of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapon while just 26% percent were against the idea.

Asked by ABC News whether he agrees with such sentiments, Yoon said he remains committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty which he referred to as an “essential prerequisite for lasting world peace.”

Yoon, however, is currently facing strong disapproval ratings in South Korea due to domestic political conflicts within his own party, a majority opposition in the National Assembly, and several scandals coming from within his own cabinet. Yoon apologized to South Korean’s on Wednesday for these issues and pledged to “listen” to the people with “modesty.”

Over-the-counter hearing aids can be sold following FDA ruling

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hearing aids can be sold over the counter in an effort to increase access and lower costs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday. The move will allow those with mild to moderate hearing loss to directly purchase hearing aids from retailers.

Previously, those with mild to moderate hearing loss needed a prescription to receive a hearing aid, which required a medical exam, possibly by a specialist such as an audiologist.

Not only can this process be costly, but it can also take time, depending on provider availability, experts said.

The news was celebrated by the Hearing Industries Association, a group representing hearing aid manufacturers and other industry stakeholders, which said in a statement the “change will expand access to hearing aids among the estimated 38 million Americans who have perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.”

“In the United States, we see wealthier individuals being able to access hearing aids and individuals who are living at or below federal poverty level struggling to access hearing aids,” Dr. Nicholas Reed, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.

This ruling came just prior to President Joe Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday, which proponents claim will further reduce drug prices and keep health insurance affordable for millions of Americans.

When will they be available?

“Americans could see over-the-counter hearing aids available as early as mid-October,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said at an FDA briefing Tuesday.

Califf said the ruling will clarify the regulatory requirements for hearing aids and personal sound devices, also referred to as PSAPs. He said it will take time for manufacturers to ensure that they are meeting these new requirements.

“These actions reflect the FDA’s commitment to safely lowering barriers to access, providing consumers with greater choices to lower prices, and helping to facilitate innovation in hearing aid technology,” Califf said.

Who can use them?

“The new over-the-counter category applies to certain air conduction hearing aids, intended for adults aged 18 and older who have perceived mild to moderate hearing loss,” Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said at an FDA briefing Tuesday.

Air conduction hearing aids are worn inside the ear or on the ear, with an inside the ear component and amplified sound into the ear canal. In an effort to prevent further hearing loss, these devices will have sound limits.

“Hearing aids for severe hearing loss or for users younger than age 18 will be prescription devices, to assure patient safety as well as effectiveness,” Shuren said.

What are the implications?

“The FDA estimates this rule will save consumers on the order of about $1,400 per individual hearing aid, or almost, or over $2,800 per pair. And that’s the direct savings,” Brian Deese, White House Director of National Economic Council, said at the FDA briefing Tuesday.

While these are just estimates in savings, Deese also believes this ruling will increase innovation and competition in the market.

“The requirement to see a doctor or a hearing specialist was an example of what economists call a barrier to entry. It was a regulation that kept more companies or more innovators from entering the market to compete,” Deese said.

Emma Egan is an MPH candidate at Brown University and a contributor to the ABC Medical Unit.

How to protect your pets from monkeypox after 1st-known case of human-to-pet transmission

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Monkeypox and related viruses are known for their ability to transmit between humans and animals, but with increasing global spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that household pets may be at risk after a dog in France apparently contracted monkeypox from its owners in July, according to a report published in The Lancet journal.

This is the first reported case of human-to-pet transmission of monkeypox.

“We are still learning what different animal species may be susceptible to infection, and this new case report is important because it shows that dogs are able to get the disease,” Dr. Meghan Davis, associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News. The CDC says it’s not clear if other animals, like cats, can develop monkeypox, but recommends that people sick with monkeypox take precautions around all animals to be safe.

Monkeypox cases continue to climb across the globe and in the United States, where more than 12,000 Americans have been diagnosed.

For anyone recovering at home, the CDC said it’s important to stay away from other household members — including pets — or take steps to reduce the risk of household transmission if isolating away isn’t possible.

Isolate away from pets if possible

Monkeypox transmission happens during close contact. With pets, this could be through cuddling, hugging, kissing, licking and sharing sleeping areas or food.

If you are diagnosed with monkeypox and have not yet exposed your pet — meaning you haven’t been in contact with the pet since your symptoms developed — try to find a friend or a neighbor to care for your pet. Your isolation period may last two to four weeks. Once your skin lesions are healed, clean and disinfect your home, including washing your bedding, before bringing your pet back home.

Understandably, this may not be possible for everyone.

Hand hygiene and physical distancing can still help

If your pet stays with you while you are isolated, you can still take steps to reduce their risk of transmitting monkeypox.

“Keep your pets, just keep your distance — and don’t let your pet share your bed — if you are diagnosed with or suspect you have monkeypox,” Davis said.

Echoing guidance given when isolating at home with COVID-19, wash your hands every time you touch your pet, wear a mask and try to keep your skin lesions covered. Maintain your distance and don’t let your pet get into contaminated clothes, towels or sheets.

“Pets that had close contact with a symptomatic person with monkeypox should be kept at home and away from other animals and people for 21 days after the most recent contact,” according to CDC guidance.

Call your vet and try to get your pet tested for monkeypox if your pet shows signs of monkeypox infection after exposure

Though we don’t understand all the symptoms of monkeypox in animals, symptoms could look like lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, fever and pimple-like or blister-like rashes.

If one pet gets sick, try to keep them separate from other pets or people at home — especially from anyone in the household who is pregnant, immune compromised or a child.

Keep caring for your pet, do not abandon or euthanize your pet

Monkeypox exposure or diagnosis is not a reason to consider abandoning or euthanizing your pet, the CDC said.

The CDC also recommends that people should not put a mask on their pets, or clean or bathe their pets with chemical disinfectants such as alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or hand sanitizer. Wash your hands often and clean any contaminated bedding or other pet materials following CDC guidance if your pet gets monkeypox.

Quickly dispose of the pet’s waste — do not just leave it on the ground or in the backyard — using a sealed, dedicated trash can, and contact your local public health department for further details on how to handle the contaminated waste.

Dr. Jade A Cobern, board-eligible in pediatrics, is a part of the ABC News Medical Unit and a general preventive medicine resident at Johns Hopkins.

ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

Updated COVID boosters could be available in 3 weeks, White House predicts

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Newly updated COVID-19 boosters tailored to target a dominant strain of the virus will be available in the next three weeks or so, assuming the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention work through their processes for authorization as expected.

That was White House COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha’s prediction Tuesday at an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

In late June, the FDA directed Moderna and Pfizer to make vaccines for the upcoming winter that targeted the more contagious BA.5 omicron subvariant, along with the original COVID strain. That work has been underway and the next step is for the FDA and CDC to review data from the companies, once they’ve received it.

Neither the FDA nor the CDC has announced a timeline.

The rollout was expected sometime in September, but Jha’s estimate on Tuesday was the most specific to date.

“We’re going to know more about this in the upcoming weeks and these vaccines will become available by early to mid-September,” he said, again including the caveat that FDA and CDC need to act before anything can be official.

“But the big picture, bottom line, is these are substantial upgrades in our vaccines,” Jha said. “And those vaccines are coming very, very soon.”

Jha also said that he was hopeful there will eventually be enough vaccine supply for any adult who wants a new booster to be able to get one, despite funding squabbles that forced the federal government to order only enough for the most vulnerable Americans.

“We’re still working on trying to pull more resources from other places. I would like to get to a point where every adult in America who wants a vaccine can get one. I’m hopeful we will be there. We’re not quite there yet in terms of how many vaccine doses we’ve been able to buy,” Jha said.

“What’s really limited us is a lack of resources, but we are pulling from other high-priority items. So my hope is that we’re gonna be able to have this for every single adult in America. We will know more about that in the upcoming weeks I think,” he added.

So far the U.S. has contracted for 105 million doses of the newly-updated boosters from Pfizer and 66 million doses from Moderna, the two leading COVID vaccine manufacturers for the country. Both contracts with Pfizer and Moderna include an option for hundreds of millions of more doses down the line, should the U.S. secure the money.

Between Pfizer and Moderna, if both companies were able to complete their orders, the U.S. would have about 171 million doses of the new shots. But more than 260 million Americans have had at least one vaccine dose already and would theoretically consider getting a booster.

On the other hand, demand for boosters has dropped with each campaign for people to get another shot. About 108 million people have received their first booster shot, for example.

The White House said it had pulled $5 billion to cover the cost of vaccines for this fall and winter. Between the $3.2 billion awarded to Pfizer and the $1.74 billion awarded to Moderna so far, the government has hit that ceiling.

Because fall and winter usually bring a high volume of flu cases, Jha also urged the public to get both their flu shots and updated COVID boosters as soon as they could — or else risk a harsh winter of disease with far looser mitigation efforts than each winter of the pandemic so far.

“Our health care system is going to get into serious trouble unless we are very proactive about preventing it — so if we do nothing and just sort of hope for the best, I think we could end up getting into a lot of trouble this fall and winter,” Jha said.

People can get their flu and COVID shot on the same day, Jha noted, and he said he hopes that next year technology will have improved to the point that there’s a two-in-one combination booster available for both the flu and COVID.

He also emphasized the importance of improving ventilation in businesses and schools, which was also prioritized in the latest CDC guidance issued last week.

Colorado River Basin reservoir levels drop to record lows amid drought

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DENVER, Colo.) — Federal government officials announced a more severe water shortage level in the Colorado River Basin Tuesday, saying it is essential that states like Arizona dramatically reduce water use before drinking water supplies or power production are affected.

“The system is approaching a tipping point and, without action, we cannot protect the system and the millions of Americans who rely on this critical resource,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said in a briefing with reporters.

Reservoirs in the Colorado Basin, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are both at historically low levels after 23 years in drought conditions. Currently, Lake Powell is at 26% capacity, and Lake Mead is at 27% capacity. Combined storage of the two reservoirs is 28% of capacity.

More than 70% of the western U.S. is experiencing extreme or severe drought conditions, amplified by climate change.

But the federal government is stopping short of forcing water cuts under its emergency authorities, saying that although state action has been insufficient, they would rather work together to find a solution that avoids harming people that rely on Colorado River water.

Arizona’s water allocation must be reduced by 21% in 2023, one of the largest cuts of the seven basin states.

California currently has no required water savings planned for the upcoming year. But the country of Mexico, which also receives an allotment, will need to reduce their allocation by 7% in 2023.

The Bureau of Reclamation could announce additional actions down the line if states don’t reach these targets. Officials said the drought threatens the entire future of the Colorado River Basin, including drinking water supplies, power generation, wildlife and the river itself.

“Without prompt, responsive actions and investments now, the Colorado River and the citizens that rely on it will face a future of uncertainty and conflict,” Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo told reporters.

Lake Powell is projected to be at 3,521.84 feet by the end of the year, which is 23% capacity. Glen Canyon Dam stops generating power at 3490 feet. Future projections show that under the driest scenario, Lake Powell may drop below 3,490 feet in the middle of 2023. ABC News is working to see if modifications can be made to Glen Canyon Dam to operate below this critical threshold.

Lake Mead is projected to be at 1047.61 feet by the end of the calendar year. Under the driest scenario, Lake Mead could drop below Level 3 shortage as early as the summer of 2023 and reach below 1000 feet as early as 2024.

ABC News is also looking to see if modifications can be made at Hoover Dam to operate below current minimum elevations.

New York City Department of Education relaxes COVID-19 rules for public schools

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The New York City Department of Education will no longer randomly test students for COVID-19 when the new school year begins Sept. 8, the department said Tuesday.

Instead, test kits will be sent home for students, parents and teachers to use if they are exposed to the virus.

As part of the department’s new COVID-19 protocols, students will no longer be required to submit a daily health screening form.

Masks will no longer be required but are strongly recommended if or when a student is exposed.

The department said that students and staff who test positive or exhibit symptoms must quarantine for five days and then wear a mask on the sixth through 10th day upon their return to school.

Masks are also required when entering a medical office in a school or exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.

Schools are now required to report positive cases to “The Situation Room,” a group within the department that tracks COVID-19 cases within the schools.

Recent New York City Education Department data shows that between Sept. 13, 2021 and Aug. 15, 2022, there have been over 250,000 positive COVID-19 cases within the schools, with students making up 190,301 of those cases.

New York City schools will still require all adults, including teachers and contracted employees, entering public school buildings to be vaccinated, the department said. Any other adult entering a building must show proof of at least one vaccination dose.

Students will still not need to be vaccinated to attend classes but will once again need to show proof of vaccination to participate in extracurricular activities, including high-risk public schools athletic league sports.

The city’s department of education will distribute over 160,000 air purifiers to schools, track ventilation in buildings daily and upgrade HVAC systems aligned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Last week, the CDC laid out new guidance regarding COVID-19 as millions of students return to school.

Some rules include: unvaccinated kids no longer having to quarantine; test-to-stay, which allows students who are in contact with someone who has COVID-19 to continue to attend in-person school as long as they stayed asymptomatic and tested negative; and loosening the 6 feet social distancing requirement.

“We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools — like vaccination, boosters, and treatments — to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19,” the CDC’s Dr. Greta Massetti, one of the authors of the updated guidance, told ABC News in a statement last week. “This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.”

ABC News’ Katie Kindelan contributed to this report.

Authorities announce new phase in search for missing teen Kiely Rodni

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LAKE TAHOE, Nev.) — Authorities in Northern California have announced a new phase in the ongoing search for a teenager who disappeared after a party 11 days ago.

“We are moving into a more limited but continuous search-and-rescue effort,” Capt. Sam Brown of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said during a press briefing on Monday. “We are going to have to switch modes and kind of focus on the investigative end and try to figure out where do we go from there.”

Kiely Rodni, 16, was last seen on Aug. 6 around 12:30 a.m. local time near the Prosser Family Campground in the small town of Truckee, some 20 miles north of Lake Tahoe. She was at a party with upwards of 300 people when she vanished along with her vehicle, a silver 2013 Honda CRV with California license plates and a sticker of a ram below the rear wiper blade, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the search and investigation.

Rodni’s cellphone has been out of service since then.

“Her cellphone went dead and became virtually untraceable shortly after,” Angela Musallam, public information officer for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News during an interview that aired Aug. 9 on “Good Morning America.”

With no trace of Rodni or her car, detectives are not ruling out a possible abduction, Musallam had said. Though, “right now we don’t have any evidence that supports an abduction,” Placer County Sgt. Scott Alford told reporters during a press briefing on Aug. 9.

“We’re considering everything,” Alford said. “This is a missing person’s case, this is a search-and-rescue effort.”

Dozens of law enforcement personnel have been involved in the search, including foot patrol, aircraft, canine and dive teams. Other local, state and federal agencies, including the Truckee Police Department, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol and the FBI, are assisting the Placer County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation, according to Musallam.

Rodni has also been added to the FBI’s missing persons database. Among the more than 1,200 tips the FBI said it has received and combed through, investigators have pursued several leads, including digging up a burial site near the Prosser Family Campground — only to find the remains of a dog.

“It’s important to hold onto hope,” Rodni’s mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, told ABC News during an interview Tuesday on “GMA.” She then added: “It’s OK to feel sad and frustrated, it’s OK to feel this anguish.”

Rodni-Nieman told ABC News the last text message she received from her daughter said she was planning to leave the party in about 45 minutes and would be coming “straight home.” That was about an hour before Rodni’s cellphone last pinged near a lake.

Authorities, as well as Rodni’s family, are urging anyone who saw her the night she vanished to come forward as well as anyone who attended the party to cooperate with the investigation. In particular, investigators are asking for any photographs or videos from that night to help them piece together a timeline. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to Rodni’s safe return.

Last week, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said its detectives have located surveillance footage from a local business in Truckee where Rodni was spotted on Aug. 5 at 6:08 p.m. local time, prior to her disappearance. She was last seen wearing a black spaghetti-strap bodysuit, green Dickies pants with a black belt and black Vans shoes. She also may have a dark gray Lana Del Ray hoodie with the lyrics: “You don’t want to be forgotten. You just want to disappear.”

However, on Sunday, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said its detectives “have developed information” that Rodni was seen in another video, taken that night at the party, wearing a white sweatshirt with the pink writing “odd future.” It remains unclear whether she was wearing that sweatshirt when she vanished.

“I recognize both sweatshirts,” Rodni’s mother told ABC News. “The darker one belongs to her best friend. The lighter one is something that I’ve seen her wear time and time again.”

Anyone with information about Rodni or her whereabouts can call the Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s tip line at 530-581-6320 and select option seven. Callers can remain anonymous.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Veronica Miracle contributed to this report.

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