(NEW YORK) — The deadly blaze that tore through a New York City building in the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx has left many residents homeless, displaced or in need of basic necessities that they lost in the tragedy.
The fire killed at least 17 people, including eight children, and injured more than 60 others, according to the New York City Fire Department.
The community has quickly gotten to work to address the demand of those in need by raising money and stockpiling donations for the cause.
Here are some ways to support the efforts:
Bronx Fire Relief Drive
Local elected leaders are collecting donations for impacted families.
According to Mark Levine, a New York City council member, the prioritized items are gift cards, new and unworn clothing and outerwear, diapers, baby items, packaged foods, bottled water, hygiene products and toiletries.
Donations can be brought to any of these locations in the Bronx:
-Monroe College Ustin Hall at 2375 Jerome Avenue. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
-State Sen. Gustavo Rivera’s office at 2432 Grand Concourse, Suite 506. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
-Assembly member Yudelka Tapia’s office at 2175C Jerome Avenue. Monday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
-Council member Oswald Feliz’s office 573 East Fordham Road. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City
Mayor Eric Adams and the City of New York are raising money for those affected by the tragedy on the NYC government website.
“Your cash donation will enable the distribution of emergency relief supplies and provide support for the victims and their families,” the website states. “Your entire donation will go towards helping those impacted by the fire.”
Community organizers hold Bronx Fire Victims Drive
Necessities are also being collected by community leaders at the Bronx office of the NYC Department of Education.
The Bronx Community Foundation
The Bronx Community Foundation, a local philanthropic operation that focuses on economic and social justice community building in the borough, said it is joining efforts to serve those impacted and is accepting donations.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors, families and friends impacted by today’s devastating fire in the Bronx,” the organization shared in a tweet. “As the needs of residents are shared with The Bronx Community Foundation, we will support wherever we can.”
(NEW YORK) — Robert Durst, a convicted murder who was awaiting trial on a separate murder charge, died of natural causes while in custody early Monday morning, his lawyer said.
Durst, 78, was sentenced to life in prison in October 2021 for the first-degree murder of his friend, Susan Berman, who was shot and killed in 2000 in her Los Angeles home.
Days after his sentencing, Durst was charged with the murder of his wife, Kathie Durst, who disappeared near their Westchester County, New York, home in 1982. Her body was never found.
Prosecutors allege Durst killed Susan Berman in 2000 because he feared his close friend would reveal details of Kathie Durst’s death.
The Westchester County District Attorney’s office said it plans to hold a news conference on the Kathie Durst case “in the coming days.”
“After 40 years spent seeking justice for her death, I know how upsetting this news must be for Kathleen Durst’s family,” Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said in a statement. “We had hoped to allow them the opportunity to see Mr. Durst finally face charges for Kathleen’s murder.”
Robert Abrams, an attorney for Kathie Durst’s family, said Monday that he’ll provide an update on Jan. 31, 2022 — the 40th anniversary of Kathie Durst’s disappearance.
Durst was also charged in the 2001 killing of his neighbor, Morris Black, in Galveston, Texas. Durst’s lawyers argued the real estate heir shot Black in self-defense and then dismembered Black’s body. Durst was acquitted.
Durst died of natural causes at 6:44 a.m. local time at an outside hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Durst’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, said in a statement Monday, “We understand that his death was due to natural causes associated with the litany of medical issues we had repeatedly reported to the court over the last couple of years.”
Durst was hospitalized in October 2021 with COVID-19. Durst’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said at the time that the real estate heir was on a ventilator.
In August 2021, during testimony in the Susan Berman trial, Durst detailed his health ailments, including esophageal and bladder cancers, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He spoke with a raspy, weak voice, impacted by surgery for his esophageal cancer and COPD.
Robert Durst was the eldest son of wealthy New York City real estate investor and developer Seymour Durst. Robert Durst was long estranged from his family and his brother, Douglas Durst, is currently the chairman of the Durst Organization.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The coldest air of the season is moving into the Northeast on Monday night, sending temperatures plummeting by Tuesday morning.
The wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to plunge Tuesday morning to minus 5 degrees in New York, minus 14 degrees in Boston and minus 24 degrees in Burlington, Vermont.
In Boston, where the wind chill is expected to stay below zero all day long, public schools will be closed Tuesday.
By 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the wind chill will only inch up to minus 3 degrees in Boston, 6 degrees in New York and 9 degrees in Philadelphia.
The Midwest and the South will also be feeling the freeze Tuesday morning. The wind chill is forecast to fall to minus 5 degrees in Chicago, minus 2 degrees in Detroit, minus 15 degrees in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 20 degrees in Nashville and 27 degrees in Atlanta.
But the brutal cold won’t last long — temperatures are expected to rebound by Wednesday.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — The San Francisco Department of Public Health said it is reducing hours at some COVID-19 testing sites due to staffing shortages.
The decision comes despite warnings from experts about the importance of COVID testing to keep up with the surge of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
“On Monday, some SFDPH-affiliated sites will temporarily reduce testing hours due to challenges beyond our control,” the department tweeted Sunday. “Please check your health system first for testing. Do not go to the ER for tests.”
In a statement released Monday, SFPDH said it expects testing capacity will only be reduced “by about 4%, or approximately 250 tests per day out of the current 7-day average of 6,000 tests per day at SFDPH-affiliated sites.”
Additionally, only four sites are being impacted by reduced hours and the department insists the change is temporary.
It’s unclear how many workers are out sick. San Francisco Mayor London Breed revealed last week that more than 400 city employees were out due to either COVID-19 infections or isolation after potential exposure.
It comes as San Francisco is recording an average of 1,245 new cases per day, which is the highest ever since the pandemic began and a 1,600% increase from one month ago, city data shows.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News he is worried the reduced hours will mean that COVID-19 cases are missed.
“It’s going to have a terrible impact,” he said. “It reminds me of early March 2020 when we didn’t have enough testing. Of course we have a lot more tests numerically, but the proportion seems to be the same because the percentage of those needing testing is definitely not met by the number of available tests.”
Matt Haney, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said reducing the hours of operation at COVID-19 testing sites is unacceptable.
“It was already hard to get a test in San Francisco and now it just got harder and that’s unacceptable,” he told ABC News. “Our department of public health had expanded capacity at a number of sites. But it wasn’t enough. Now they’re cutting back because of staffing shortages.”
Testing capacity has been stretched to an all-time high, according to SFDPH.
Haney, however, argued that testing sites need to make sure they are consistently meeting demand.
“The level of demand for tests exceeds anything we had seen,” he said. “Health officials also feel the private providers need to do more testing. I think all of those things are true, yet our residents need our public health department to step up and get the job done.”
Haney wants to call a hearing on testing to get more answers on why it’s been so difficult for residents to get tests.
“You may have heard that people are calling 911 to get tested,” he said. “When people get exposed or they’re not feeling well, if the county tells them go to get a test and then they can’t get tested, that’s freaking them out and they’re calling 911 — and our 911 lines are overwhelmed because what people are being told to do can’t be done.”
There are ways to prevent the staffing shortages from having a large impact, according to Chin-Hong, such as deploying the National Guard to sites, which Gov. Gavin Newsom did over the weekend.
“There are also some creative strategies like utilizing student volunteers who are in health professions, like medicine, nursing, pharmacy, to go out,” he said. “They have some medical background. It’s kind of an all hands on deck perspective. It doesn’t take a lot of training to do a swab; people do that at-home after all.”
He also recommended that testing sites become more diverse and be expanded to offices, community centers and banks.
(NEW YORK) — Seventeen people, including eight children, after dozens were injured in a fire at a Bronx apartment in New York City.
Officials previously reported that 19 people — including nine children — had died in the fire, but the death toll was revised Monday. The victims were taken to seven different hospitals, which led to the miscount, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Monday.
More than 200 firefighters responded to the scene of the five-alarm fire that originated Sunday morning in a duplex apartment on the third floor of a high-rise building, located in the Tremont section of the Bronx, officials said. More than 60 people were injured in the fire, according to the New York City Fire Department.
Many of the victims were located on the upper floors and likely suffered from severe smoke inhalation, Nigro said during a press conference Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters arrived on the scene within three minutes of the initial 911 call and were met with fire in the hallways, Nigro said. A door that was left open allowed the fire and smoke to spread, Nigro added, describing the fire as “unprecedented.”
The fire never left the hallway on the floor where it originated, he said.
The 19-story building was built in 1972 and has 120 units, according to city records.
The fire began due to a malfunctioning electric space heater in a bedroom, the FDNY said Sunday evening. Smoke alarms were operable, and it remains under investigation how the smoke traveled so far so quickly.
Guillermo Sanchez, a resident who lives on the 16th floor, was making breakfast when he began to smell smoke, he told ABC News.
“My son went to the door,” he said. “We opened the door. Smoke comes in immediately, so we closed the door.”
The smoke was so intense, Sanchez said he assumed it was from another apartment on the same floor.
Sanchez, emotional from the ordeal, said he and his son called 911 but felt they could not safely take the stairs to exit the building, he said, adding that they were calling family members to tell them they may not make it.
The firefighter who initially knocked on his door said everything was under control, but another firefighter who came a half an hour later said, “You have to come with us,” Sanchez said.
“This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed here in modern times in the city of New York,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Sunday.
Adams praised the first responders, saying many of the firefighters’ oxygen tanks eventually became empty but “they still went through the smoke.”
Dramatic pictures posted to social media show fire gushing out of multiple windows in the building. FDNY began receiving calls from multiple residents on upper floors just before 11 a.m.
Additional details, including the conditions of the other victims, were not immediately available.
The residents consisted of a largely Muslim and Gambian population and will be aided by the city with particular consideration to cultural needs, Adams told ABC News.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared at the news conference, saying that she spoke with a mother who lost her entire family in the fire, telling the victims, “We will not forget you. We will not abandon you.”
The Bronx Park Phase III Preservation LLC, the name of the joint venture that owns building at 333 E 181st St., said in a statement that it was “devastated” over the tragedy that occurred.
“We are devastated by the unimaginable loss of life caused by this profound tragedy,” the statement read. “We are cooperating fully with the Fire Department and other city agencies as they investigate its cause, and we are doing all we can to assist our residents. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured, and we are here to support them as we recover from this horrific fire.”
A total of 73 people died in New York City fires in all of 2021.
This was the second major fire in the Bronx over the weekend. A four-alarm fire in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx that began early Saturday morning injured a firefighter and displaced three families, ABC New York station WABC reported. A lithium-ion battery sparked the fire, officials said.
Last week, a fire that broke out on the second story of a row house in Philadelphia killed 13 people, including seven children.
(NEW YORK) — The man who bought Kyle Rittenhouse the AR-15-style rifle he used as a 17-year-old to shoot three people, two fatally, during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, pleaded no contest on Monday to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Dominick Black’s attorney appeared in Kenosha County Circuit Court to finalize the plea bargain agreement that spares Black from being tried on felony charges stemming from the purchase of the gun. Black, 20, did not attend the hearing.
Black agreed to plead no contest to a non-criminal county ordinance citation of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from his purchase of the semiautomatic weapon. Rittenhouse claimed he used the gun in self-defense when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and severely wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27.
A Kenosha County jury acquitted Rittenhouse in November of two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
Just hours before closing arguments in the high-profile case, Judge Bruce Schroeder threw out a misdemeanor charge against Rittenhouse of being a minor in possession of a dangerous weapon. Rittenhouse’s attorneys cited an exception in Wisconsin law that allows minors to possess shotguns and rifles as long as they’re not short-barreled.
“I do believe it is a serious offense to purchase a firearm for someone who is not legally able to do so. Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute those offenders,” prosecutor Thomas Binger said during Monday’s hearing. “And it is still our office’s position that 17-year-olds should not go armed with firearms.”
Binger credited Black for cooperating with police and prosecutors in the Rittenhouse case and testifying for the prosecution during the trial.
“He provided a statement early on, waived his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and testified at the trial truthfully. And I want to give him credit for those actions because those are responsible and appropriate actions to accept responsibility and to cooperate,” Binger said.
As part of the plea deal, Black agreed to pay a fine of $2,000, which Binger described as a “form of punishment and a deterrence” to anyone thinking of purchasing such as firearm for a minor.
Black’s attorney, Anthony Cotton, declined to make a statement at the hearing other than to say “this is our agreement.”
(WASHINGTON) — More than a year after the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is still covering numerous legal bills for the benefit of former President Donald Trump — and the price tag is ruffling the feathers of some longtime GOP donors who are now critical of Trump.
In October and November alone, the Republican National Committee spent nearly $720,000 of its donor money on paying law firms representing Trump in various legal challenges, including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York, according to campaign finance records.
Trump’s legal bills have sent the Republican Party’s total legal expenditures soaring in recent months, resulting in $3 million spent just between September and November. In contrast, the Democratic National Committee has been gradually winding down its legal expenses over the last few months.
Traditionally, national political parties have at times covered presidents and their advisers’ legal fees in matters related to their presidential campaigns. And throughout his presidency, the Republican Party has footed legal bills for Trump, his family members and his political allies, going back to the days of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election, through the impeachment proceedings following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But experts say the GOP’s recent payments of Trump’s attorney fees after he left the White House, for investigations that are not relevant to the next presidential campaign, is a very unusual move that’s indicative of the ongoing influence that the former president has over the party.
“Campaign finance law does not strictly prohibit a national party committee from paying for private legal expenses, but it is very rare for a party committee to use donor money in that way,” said Brendan Fischer, federal reforms director at nonpartisan government ethics group Campaign Legal Center.
“And it is entirely unprecedented for a national party committee to cover a former president’s private legal bills, especially when those legal expenses arise out of an investigation into activity that preceded Trump’s time in the White House, and when Trump is sitting on millions of his own PAC funds,” Fischer said.
RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn told ABC News that the RNC’s executive committee approved paying for “certain legal expenses that related to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,” while declining to comment on which specific cases are being paid for.
“As a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP,” Vaughn said. “It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats’ never ending witch hunt and attacks on him.”
The RNC has so far paid three law firms on behalf of Trump, paying $328,000 to NechelesLaw LLP, $200,000 to van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin, and $172,000 to Fischetti & Malgieri LLP, according to its recent disclosure filings. The Washington Post reported that the RNC has agreed to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s legal bills.
Fischetti & Malgieri represents Trump in the parallel investigations by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York state Attorney General Letitia James into the business practices of Trump’s eponymous company. Vance and James have said their investigations are not politically motivated.
Susan Necheles of NechelesLaw reportedly joined the legal team representing Trump and the Trump Organization last summer. Michael van der Veen was part of Trump’s defense team during the impeachment proceedings after Jan. 6.
The law firm payments haven’t sat well with some Trump critics within the GOP.
“It is very disheartening to see RNC donors funding Trump’s legal bills,” former Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., told ABC News.
Rooney, who is among several Republican lawmakers who announced their retirement after clashing with pro-Trump forces within the GOP, was previously a U.S. ambassador to the Holy See under the Bush administration and a generous donor to the Republican Party, giving upwards of $1 million to various GOP candidates and groups over the years.
“I used to support the RNC quite a bit, especially when Reince Priebus was there,” Rooney said. “But I don’t see myself doing it right now because they keep giving money to Trump.”
Many Republicans are “exhausted and bothered by” Trump allies’ continued election challenges, Rooney said, “because all it’s doing is giving a lot of grist to people who want to oppose the Republican Party, at least the one that I used to know.”
“We’re getting tarred with this big lie and this claim of election fraud, and that is damaging our most important institution in our country — belief in elections,” Rooney said.
The RNC’s financial support of Trump’s legal bills also complicates the party’s vow to remain neutral ahead of nominating process for the 2024 presidential election. “The party has to stay neutral. I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024,” RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel said last January. She has since reaffirmed that Trump “still leads the party.”
Financial support notwithstanding, the GOP and Trump have not always had a smooth relationship over the past year. In the final days of Trump’s presidency, Trump told McDaniel he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party, only to back down after McDaniel threatened to stop paying Trump’s legal bills for his post-election challenges, according to a book by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.
Both Trump and McDaniel have denied the story.
Not long after that, Trump and the party again clashed over the use of Trump’s name in fundraising appeals, with the GOP eventually reaching an agreement to use his name.
In addition to covering many of Trump’s legal bills, the RNC has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting lawsuits across the country “to ensure the integrity of our elections,” said RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez.
Gearing up for the 2022 election cycle, the RNC has been building an aggressive nationwide “election integrity program,” engaging in election-related lawsuits in states like Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Texas, stationing state-directors in battleground states, engaging hundreds of attorneys at the state level and training thousands of poll watchers.
The party is engaged in 30 such “election integrity” lawsuits, Alvarez said, with financial disclosures showing payments of $500,000 to the law firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, more than $260,000 to McGuireWoods, and $243,000 to Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.
Even with all the legal expenditures, the RNC has continued to build a huge war chest over the past year. Backed by megadonors that include Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and casino mogul Steve Wynn, the RNC ended November with more than $65 million in cash on hand.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 837,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 10, 6:37 am
UK launches campaign urging pregnant women to get vaccinated, boosted
The United Kingdom has launched a new advertising campaign that urges pregnant women who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot to do so as soon as possible.
Testimonies of pregnant women who have had the shots will be played out in ads across U.K. radio stations and on social media starting Monday. The new campaign urges pregnant women “don’t wait to take the vaccine” and highlights the risks of COVID-19 to both mother and baby as well as the benefits of getting vaccinated, according to a press release from the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care.
The press release cited the latest data from the U.K. Health Security Agency that suggests COVID-19 vaccination is safe for pregnant women and provides strong protection against the virus for both mother and baby. The press release also cited data from the U.K. Obstetric Surveillance System that shows more than 96% of pregnant women hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms between May and October 2021 were unvaccinated, and a third of them required respiratory support. Around one in five women who are hospitalized with COVID-19 need to be delivered preterm to help them recover, and one in five of their babies need care in the neonatal unit.
“Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is one of the most important things a pregnant woman can do this year to keep herself and her baby as safe from this virus as possible,” Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser to the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care, said in a statement Monday. “We have extensive evidence now to show that the vaccines are safe and that the risks posed by COVID-19 are far greater.”
Jan 10, 4:55 am
Spain reports more COVID-19 reinfections in 2 weeks than rest of pandemic
Spain has reported more COVID-19 reinfections in a recent span of two weeks than it has during the rest of the pandemic, according to the latest data from a Spanish public health research institute.
Data from the Carlos III Health Institute shows there were 20,890 repeat infections reported in Spain from Dec. 22, 2021, to Jan. 5, 2022. That figure tops the 17,140 reinfections reported in the European country from the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to Dec. 22, 2021. The data includes confirmed, probable and possible cases.
Alfredo Corell, an immunology professor at Spain’s University of Valladolid, told Spanish news site NIUS that the rising number of reinfections were due to the new and highly transmissible omicron variant.
“Prior to this variant, reinfections were anecdotal at the global level,” Corell told NIUS. “Omicron has changed this paradigm.”
In southern Africa, where the variant was first identified in November, preliminary research suggests that omicron is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to other known variants of the virus, including the highly contagious delta. However, symptoms of reinfected individuals appear to be mild, according to Anne von Gottberg, a microbiologist at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases who is studying omicron.
“Previous infection used to protect against Delta,” von Gottberg said during a press briefing on Dec. 2. “But now, with Omicron, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration’s plan to send 500 million at-home tests to Americans for free is an historic undertaking, but one that will take weeks or months to fully execute, recently released contracts and interviews with seven test manufacturers suggest.
Contracts for the first two batches of tests were announced on Friday, one for 13.3 million kits from a health technology company and another for an undisclosed amount from a distribution company in Virginia that had extras on hand — all to be distributed in an effort to reduce the massive testing shortage in the U.S.
And while a White House official told ABC News that the rest of the contracts to fulfill the 500-million pledge are expected to be awarded in the next two weeks, the cumbersome process of ramping up test availability indicates that the plan won’t deliver a quick fix.
Tests won’t be available to be ordered through a government website until later this month, the official said, meaning it’s unlikely the average American will get free tests delivered in time for the January peak of omicron cases predicted by most models.
In the last week alone, the U.S. has reported more than 4.1 million new COVID-19 cases — the highest number of cases seen over the span of a week on record.
And as cases soar, tests have become increasingly vital for basic day-to-day needs, including keeping kids in school and employees in the workforce.
ABC News reached out to all 13 testing companies that have an FDA authorization for at-home test kits. In interviews with seven, including five of the largest producers, the testing companies said they were each producing anywhere from a few million to 200 million tests per month.
But that total supply is intended for all customers, including pharmacies and grocery stores, not solely for the government.
Dr. Michael Mina, chief science officer for eMed, a health care technology company that proctors at-home rapid tests, said he expects to see around 100 to 200 million tests distributed in the month after the website launches, an estimate he made based on conversations with test manufacturers.
Tests are then expected to ramp up in February after two newly authorized rapid tests hit the market, which could contribute tens of millions of tests to the government’s supply. But it will take longer than just a month for testing companies to produce the half a billion tests promised by the government.
For experts focused on the near future, that’s a concern.
“We need the testing yesterday, we need those tests available,” Dr. Gerald Harmon, president of the American Medical Association, said in an interview with ABC News. “And that’s going to be incredibly important for us to overcome the spread and mitigate the spread of this virus.”
One of the leading producers, iHealth, plans to distribute 200 million tests this month to buyers like state governments and Amazon, the company’s chief operating officer, Jack Feng, told ABC News.
Feng said iHealth could increase its supply to work with the federal government, contributing 50 million in the next three weeks and an additional 150 million tests in February.
But Feng says manufacturing the tests isn’t the major issue for iHealth — it’s getting them into the country from China, where they’re made.
Abbott, one of the first major testing companies to produce an at-home rapid test, has invested in new plants and automation to further increase its supply, which is one of the biggest sources of U.S. tests, a spokesperson said.
“We’re running 24/7 to make 70 million tests per month with plans to surpass that,” said John Koval, a spokesperson for Abbott.
The two newest tests on the scene, from Roche and Siemens Healthineers, could give an extra boost if the companies are awarded contracts from the government. Both companies said they will be able to deliver “tens of millions” of tests per month, once they become available.
But for Roche, initial deliveries won’t begin arriving until “late January with capacity ramping up to full output throughout February and March,” a spokesperson said. Siemens told ABC News they anticipate a first supply of tests will be also available sometime in January.
Quidel, another large manufacturer, said it recently opened a manufacturing facility in California and is shipping “millions of QuickVue tests.”
And two smaller companies, Becton Dickenson and Ellume, will contribute 20 million between the two of them.
Taken altogether, the testing companies alone are unlikely to hit 500 million within a month.
Fast action requires manufacturing capabilities that the U.S. wasn’t prepared for, in part because of the unpredictability of the virus but also due to the country’s vaccine-focused approach over the past year, which drove down demand for tests and left the country with fewer tests when it needed them most.
“It is important for the U.S. to maintain the testing manufacturing capacity and supply during periods of low demand so we can respond to future variants and surges,” Koval, with Abbott, said.
“We’re on the right path now, but we can’t be complacent or think that testing won’t play a critical role in our ability to gather safely,” he said.
Unlike PCR tests, which are able to detect even small amounts of virus and can stay positive for up to three months after an infection, rapid tests are helpful for a person to know if they are likely to be contagious in that moment.
Increased access to rapid tests means Americans will be able to follow the advice of experts who say you should use rapid tests frequently, ideally a few times a week, to detect when someone becomes contagious to others.
For its part, the White House did not pledge to deliver all 500 million tests in January, but to just begin sending them then. Officials have not provided a concrete timeline on when the full amount of tests will be delivered to Americans.
It’s also not clear how many tests would be distributed to each American, though the White House has said people will request them through a website that will launch when enough tests have been acquired.
But the administration remains confident in the plan, maintaining that they are making significant progress and will deliver on the extra 500 million tests without dipping into the supply on pharmacy shelves.
“We expect to have all 500 million [tests] contracted over the next two weeks, and Americans will be able to begin ordering these tests online later this month,” a White House official told ABC News.
“We are ensuring that the tests contracted arrive as quickly as they are manufactured by the companies, and then immediately made available to the American people,” the official said.
The official said the first tests from the initial contracts awarded will be delivered to the government next week, then be distributed to Americans once the website launches.
“Securing half a billion tests will require agreements with multiple manufacturers and distributors, and the Biden administration continues to be an active partner to help accelerate production and distribution of at-home tests at large, including investing billions and using the Defense Production Act,” the official said.
A distribution plan is also in final stages between the White House and the U.S. Post Office, according to a source who was briefed on the plan last week.
In the meantime, Americans can buy tests where they can find them, though supply is spotty in many parts of the country. Beginning next week those tests will be reimbursable through health insurance, the White House said last week.
“Obviously this is an unprecedented action, to have a half a billion tests bought by the U.S. government and distributed for free,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Tuesday. “And we’ll continue to do more and more to increase access to testing.”
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the United States was open to discussing limits on missile deployments and troop exercises in Europe during talks with Russia this week over Ukraine.
“There are confidence-building measures, there are risk-reduction measures, all of which, if done reciprocally, I think can really reduce tensions and address concerns,” Blinken told told ABC This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos.
And after Russia sent troops to help quell unrest in neighboring Kazakhstan, Blinken did not rule out that events there could come up in talks — even though Russia has ruled that out.
He criticized Kazakhstan’s president ordering security forces to shoot to kill protesters.
“That is something I resolutely reject,” Blinken said. “The shoot-to-kill order, to the extent it exists, is wrong and should be rescinded.”
Delegations from the U.S. and Russia planned to hold talksSunday night and Monday in Geneva, kicking off a critical week of diplomacy between Moscow and the West over Russian President Vladimir Putin menacing neighboring Ukraine.
Blinken said it may be possible “to address whatever legitimate concerns Russia may have.”
For example, he said, “there may be grounds for renewing” the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, from which the Trump administration withdrew and which the U.S. accuses Russia of violating.
“Similarly, there are agreements on the deployment of conventional forces in Europe, on things like the scope and scale of exercises, that, if adhered to reciprocally — that is, Russia makes good on its commitments, which it’s repeatedly violated — then there are grounds for reducing tensions, creating greater transparency, creating greater confidence, all of which would address concerns that Russia purports to have,” Blinken said.
Stephanopoulos pressed, “So you’re willing to address troop levels, you’re willing to address missile deployments, you’re willing to address training exercises?”
Blinken said the United States was “not looking at troop levels.”
“When it comes to the deployment of forces and troop levels, we’re not looking at troop levels,” he said. “To the contrary, if Russia commits renewed aggression against Ukraine, I think it’s a very fair prospect that NATO will reinforce its positions along its eastern flank, the countries that border Russia.
“But when it comes to, for example, the scope and scale of exercises,” he continued, “things that were dealt with in the conventional forces in Europe treaty that Russia’s been in violation of, those are things that we can look at.”
The U.S.-Russia negotiations are expected to be followed by talks between Russia and NATO in Brussels on Wednesday and more discussions between the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna on Thursday. The U.S. will participate in those talks, too.
As President Joe Biden has threatened in the past, Blinken promised “massive consequences” for Russia if it invades Ukraine — promising they would go beyond those that the West imposed on Russia after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 — saying the U.S. and European allies have coordinated on “economic, financial and other consequences.”
But when asked by Stephanopoulos whether he thinks Putin has already made the decision to take control of the Ukraine, Blinken noted he wasn’t sure yet.
“It’s clear that we’ve offered him two paths forward,” Blinken said. “One is through diplomacy and dialogue. The other is through deterrents and massive consequences for Russia if it renews its aggression against Ukraine. And we’re about to test the proposition of which path President Putin wants to take this week.”
And the secretary of state tempered expectations about quick results.
“I don’t think we’re going to see any breakthroughs next week,” Blinken said.
It would be “very difficult” to “make actual progress,” he said, as long as “there’s an ongoing escalation, when Russia has a gun to the head of Ukraine with 100,000 troops near its borders, the possibility of doubling that on very short order.”
“If we’re seeing de-escalation, if we’re seeing a reduction in tensions, that is the kind of environment in which we can make real progress and, again, address concerns, reasonable concerns on both sides,” Blinken said.
