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(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 798,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 60.9% 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:

Dec 14, 6:45 am
Pfizer says COVID-19 pills could be FDA authorized by end of year

Pfizer’s forthcoming COVID-19 treatment could be authorized for emergency use in the United States by the end of this year or early next year, pending the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory timeline, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News.

The pharmaceutical giant announced Tuesday that it has submitted promising new data to the FDA, including lab experiments showing its oral antiviral medicine, Paxlovid, will likely work against the omicron variant. And in updated clinical trial data, Pfizer found the treatment reduces the risk of being hospitalized or dying by 89% when taken within three days of being diagnosed with COVID-19, and 88% when taken within five days of being diagnosed among high-risk, unvaccinated patients.

“It is a game changer,” Bourla told ABC News. “But at the same time, I want to emphasize that no one should use the existence of the pill as an excuse to avoid vaccination.”

Bourla said the medicine could save thousands of lives.

“We did some calculations how many deaths or hospitalizations can be avoided based on the current U.S. mortality rates and the current U.S. hospitalization rates,” he said. “On the back-of-the-envelope calculation, we estimate that 100,000 people if they take the pill, we will avoid 6,000 hospitalizations and 1,200 deaths approximately.”

-ABC News’ Sony Salzman

Dec 14, 5:57 am
France mulls tightening entries from UK due to omicron

France is considering tightening restrictions for travelers arriving from the United Kingdom, where the omicron variant appears to be spreading swiftly.

“Regarding Britain, the current rule is to show a negative test less than 48 hours old in order to enter France,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told France Info radio on Tuesday. “But we are always looking at means to tighten the framework, we are currently working on that and we should, I think, come to a conclusion in the coming days.”

Dec 14, 5:44 am
Mainland China confirms 1st case of omicron variant

China has confirmed its first case of the omicron variant on the mainland, state-run media reported Monday.

The variant was detected in a traveler from overseas who arrived in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Dec. 9. The individual tested positive for COVID-19 last week and subsequent genome sequencing confirmed it was the omicron variant.

The patient, who showed no symptoms, is being treated in isolation at a hospital, according to state-run media.

Dec 14, 5:31 am
UK reports 1st death from omicron variant

At least one person has died in the United Kingdom after being infected with the omicron variant, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday.

It’s the first publicly confirmed death globally from the new variant of the novel coronavirus, which was initially identified in southern Africa last month and has since spread rapidly around the world. Deaths from omicron may have already occurred in other countries but no others have been publicly confirmed yet.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to a vaccination clinic in London, Johnson said the death was a patient who had been diagnosed at a hospital but gave no further details.

“Sadly, at least one patient has now been confirmed to have died with omicron,” the prime minister said. “So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that’s something we need to set on one side and just recognize the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters.”

Dec 13, 9:59 pm
NFL to require vaccinated Tier 1 and 2 employees receive boosters by Dec. 27

The NFL will require that all its vaccinated Tier 1 and 2 employees receive their COVID-19 booster shots by Dec. 27, according to a memo they sent all 32 teams on Monday.

This group of employees includes coaches and other employees who work closely with players and help in essential league operations.

“On November 29, the CDC issued a study showing that the effectiveness of the approved COVID-19 vaccines may decrease over time and has recommended that all eligible vaccinated individuals over the age of 18 should receive a booster shot,” the memo reads. “Given the increased prevalence of the virus in our communities, our experts have recommended that we implement the CDC’s recommendation.”

The memo came as 36 players were added to the league’s COVID-19 reserve list. Players are currently not required to receive boosters, but in Monday’s memo, the NFL said clubs should consider making boosters available for players and their families.

“Any individual who is not currently subject to the requirement for boosters will be required to obtain the booster within 14 days of becoming eligible,” the memo reads.

-ABC News’ Katie Conway

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(NEW YORK) — Requiring proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to eat at a restaurant, go to a movie or take part in other indoor group activities may have a ripple effect, according to researchers.

A study published Monday in Lancet Public Health found that some countries that implemented “COVID-19 certifications” such as vaccine passports providing proof of complete vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test or a COVID-19 recovery certificate saw an increase in the number of people getting their shots.

The study, which looked at vaccination rates in France, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany where such certifications were made mandatory, found there were major jumps in the number of vaccine doses given once the rules were put in place.

“Overall, we observed a significant uptick in anticipation of restrictions coming into place around 20 days before introduction, which lasted up to 40 days after,” Melinda Mills, director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford and the study’s lead author, said in a statement.

Researchers said the data showed a significant increase in the number of vaccine doses per million people: 127,000 in France, over 243,000 in Israel, over 64,000 in Switzerland and over 66,000 in Italy.

There was a significant increase in vaccinations among people under 30, the study found. Researchers believe COVID-19 certifications used at leisure and hospitality spots, such as nightclubs, likely precipitated the jump in younger people.

“We know that certain groups have lower vaccine uptake than others and it may be that COVID-19 certification is a useful way to encourage vaccine complacent groups, like young people and men, to get vaccinated,” Dr. Tobias Rüttenauer, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a statement.

Researchers noted the study had some limitations. For instance, there was no data available to examine vaccine uptake by sociodemographic, gender and ethnic groups. Researchers also acknowledged concerns that COVID-19 certifications raises the “risk of exacerbating inequalities among certain ethnic or socioeconomic groups that have lower uptake and trust in authorities.”

The study recommends that other measures should be used to complement the COVID-19 certification, such as vaccine drives targeted at hesitant groups.

“COVID-19 certification is only part of a constellation of multiple policy levers that could be used to counter vaccine complacency and hesitancy and increase uptake,” the researchers wrote.

Anyone who needs help scheduling a free vaccine appointment can log onto vaccines.gov.

Alexis E. Carrington, M.D., an ABC News Medical Unit associate producer and a rising dermatology resident at George Washington University, contributed to this report.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Victims of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar reached a $380 million settlement with USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and their insurers on Monday, a lawyer representing some of the victims said.

This decision brings the total compensation the victims have received to $880 billion following the May 2018 settlement reached with Michigan State University, where Nassar was a former employee.

Lead attorney John Manly in a statement credited the resolution to the courage and tenacity of the survivors, who he said “relived their abuse publicly, in countless media interviews” to prevent others from facing similar abuse.

The settlement also included some nonmonetary provisions, including a restorative justice program that USAG has committed to establishing in collaboration with the victims, giving them influence over the organization’s sexual assault procedures, according to ESPN.

Attorney Rachel Denhollander, the first woman to accuse Nassar, lauded the nonmonetary provisions in a tweet.

“This represents so much hard work from members of the committee and I am eager to see these changes through,” she wrote.

USAG also committed to having at least one survivor in their Board of Directors, Safe Sport Committee and Athlete Health and Wellness Council, among other commitments, a statement from the organization said.

“The Plan of Reorganization that we jointly filed reflects our own accountability to the past and our commitment to the future,” USAG President and CEO Li Li Leung said.

In a statement provided to ABC News, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said she was grateful to have reached a resolution and praised the women who raised their voices against Nassar.

“We have the deepest respect for the tremendous strength and bravery these women have shown. We recognize our role in failing to protect these athletes, and we are sorry for the profound hurt they have endured,” Hirshland said.

Manly said the victims’ fight for justice has not ended with this settlement, as a recent investigation also shed light on the role the FBI played in protecting Nassar.

In September 2021, gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman testified before the Senate over the alleged failures of the FBI in handling the case against Nassar.

“There is one more chapter yet to be written, the criminal prosecution of the FBI officials who failed to investigate and stop Nassar together with the USAG and USOPC officials who conspired with them to impede the investigation,” Manly said.

“We will continue to pursue justice on behalf of the hundreds of little girls and young women who were molested as a direct result of their obstruction of justice,” he added.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is expected to plead guilty on federal civil rights charges in the death of George Floyd on Wednesday, Dec. 15, according to a court filing added to the case docket Monday. He had previously pleaded not guilty.

Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao were also charged, and the three of them have pleaded not guilty.

A grand jury indicted the four of them for depriving Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force when they saw him lying on the ground “in clear need” of medical care but “willfully failed to aid Floyd, thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm.”

They were attempting to place him under arrest on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store.

During the encounter, Chauvin held his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed and in a prone position on the pavement, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe, before falling unconscious and losing a pulse, according to evidence presented at Chauvin’s state trial. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Video footage — from police body cameras, security cameras and civilian witnesses — played at the trial, showed Kueng and Lane helping Chauvin hold Floyd down, and Thao keeping away witnesses who were expressing concerns for Floyd.

In April, Chauvin, 45, was found guilty on three counts in Floyd’s death — second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — for pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes.

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 798,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 60.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:
-US reaches 50 million confirmed cases
-US daily cases up 85% since October
-Omicron appears to spread faster and vaccine less effective against it, WHO says

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Dec 13, 4:09 pm
164,000 new pediatric cases reported last week

Last week, another 164,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19, up by 24% from the week prior, according to a report released Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

COVID-19 cases among children are “extremely high,” the organizations wrote.

Last week the Northeast saw its highest number of pediatric cases since the onset of the pandemic, with nearly 40,000 new cases.

So far, 21 million children ages 5 to 17 — about 39.6% — have received at least one vaccine dose.

Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. But AAP and CHA continue to warn that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on kids, including the physical, emotional and mental health impacts.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 13, 3:28 pm
US reaches 50 million confirmed cases

A total of 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has reported more cases than any other nation in the world. The U.S. currently represents nearly one-fifth of the globe’s total 270.5 million cases.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 13, 2:59 pm
US daily cases up 85% since October

In the weeks following Thanksgiving, the COVID-19 resurgence in the U.S. has escalated rapidly.

The U.S. is averaging more than 118,000 new cases each day — up by about 41.8% in the last two weeks and up nearly 85% since late October, according to federal data.

Six states with some of the nation’s highest vaccination rates are also among the states with the highest new case rates: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and New York. Experts say cases could be rising in the Northeast partially due to people heading inside in the cold weather.

Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions increased by 14.4% in the last week and jumped by 48% in the last month, according to federal data.

Pediatric admissions are up by 23.8% in the last week.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 13, 1:07 pm
Omicron expected to be dominant variant in London within 48 hours

Omicron is expected to be the dominant variant in London in the next 48 hours, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, warned in a statement to Parliament Monday.

Omicron represents 20% of England’s cases and 44% of London’s cases, Javid said.

“No variant of COVID-19 has spread this fast,” Javid said.

Ten people with omicron are in U.K. hospitals.

“Hospitalizations and deaths lag infections by around two weeks,” Javid said, “So we can expect those numbers to dramatically increase in the days and weeks that lie ahead.”

“In preparation, the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers raised the COVID Alert level to 4, its second-highest level, this was done over the weekend. And NHS England has just announced it will return to its highest level of emergency preparedness: Level 4 National Incident,” Javid said. “This means the NHS response to Omicron will be a coordinated as a national effort, rather than led by individual trusts.”

Javid also urged people to get booster doses, stating that 40% of adults in the U.K. have gotten boosters so far.

ABC News’ Zoe Magee

 

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(NEW YORK) — The tornadoes that barreled through the South and the Midwest Friday night have claimed at least 88 lives, mostly in Kentucky.

So many survivors have lost loved ones, homes, belongings, and sense of security.

Here are the stories of some Kentuckians who survived the storm and are picking up the pieces.

In hard-hit Mayfield, Kentucky, Steve Sasseen huddled in the basement with two neighbors, putting laundry baskets and blankets over their heads when the twister closed in.

Sasseen said the tornado “sounded like someone picked the house up and dropped it — extremely loud.”

It was over within a few minutes, and Sasseen said all he could see was “haze and dust.”

Once he went outside, the neighborhood “looked like a war zone,” Sasseen said.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and this is the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through,” he said. “I keep thinking it’s a nightmare and I’ll wake up.”

Dakota, who did not share his last name, was working at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory when the tornado hit.

“The top of the building got ripped off. And then we told everyone, ‘Get down,'” Dakota told ABC News. “I started pushing people under the water fountain. We were trapped. I was trapped under the water fountain for like two hours.”

He said he was then able to wedge a fire hydrant under the fountain and he and a colleague dug their way out.

“We started pulling the rest of our team out and then we were able to get first responders to the areas that were needed,” Dakota said. “I found people [with] broken legs, pulling them out. Some were non-responsive. It was rough.”

Meanwhile, Dakota’s fiancée, Brandi, was in agony waiting for news. Dakota had texted her to say “we’re hit” by the twister, but then she said, “his phone just dropped and I couldn’t get ahold of him.”

“A while later, he called me and he said that he’s trapped, that he’s under all the debris,” Dakota said. “He didn’t know if anyone was gonna be able to find him. I could hear people screaming.”

“He called me and he said, ‘I love you. Tell mom I love her. I’m sorry, I tried.’ And in that moment I collapsed because I thought he was gonna die,” she said. “I thought my worst nightmare was coming true, and I didn’t hear from him for hours, not knowing he was OK.”

“The moment that he called me when he got out of the rubble, you know, it was just instant relief,” she said. “He said that he wasn’t gonna go get checked out, he had to go back for his people. He had his people back there. He had to go save them.”

Several factory workers died from the tornado.

Mayfield resident Rick Foley said parts of his home collapsed on top of him.

“I heard it coming,” he told ABC News. “My ears popped and everything just hit all at once. And I ducked down and just everything piled on top of me — all the debris.”

Covered in insulation and dirt and overwhelmed with shock, Foley spent the night in his bed after the tornado tore the walls apart.

“I’m 70 years old and I got to start over,” he said, holding back tears.

In Gilbertsville, Kentucky, miles of homes are completely leveled.

At what used to be the two-story home of 88-year-old Wilbert Neil and his son, 63-year-old Jerry Neil, all of their belongings, cars and clothes are buried in debris.

“Everything is destroyed,” Jerry Neil said. “We almost didn’t make it.”

Jerry Neil said if he and his father didn’t move to the basement when they did, they wouldn’t have survived.

When they went to survey the damage on Sunday, they managed to find a safe with cash, their wallets, a few spare clothes and their guns.

Wilbert Neil was visibly emotional when volunteers found old photographs and the belongings of his 85-year-old wife. She has Alzheimer’s and has no idea the house is destroyed, according to the family. Wilbert Neil said he couldn’t bring himself to tell her.

The Neils bought the house in 2000, one year after they retired. It was the place where their grandchildren gathered during the holidays.

“This was the dream house for my wife,” he said tearfully. “We got it. She loved it. She’ll never see it again.”

ABC News’ Marcus Moore, Elwyn Lopez, Briana Stewart contributed to this report.

 

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(NEW YORK) — A woman was killed and 13 people were injured when a drive-by shooting erupted at a candlelight vigil Sunday evening in a suburb of Houston, officials said.

An unidentified gunman opened fire on a crowd of about 50 people, including children, participating in a celebration of life for a recent homicide victim in Baytown, a community about 25 miles east of Houston, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference near the scene of the shooting.

A Harris County sheriff’s sergeant told ABC station KTRK in Houston that a mother was holding a vigil for her son who was killed at his home a couple of weeks ago. Gonzalez said the shooting happened around 6:40 p.m.

“Right as they were releasing the balloons up in the air was when the vehicle came, and almost at that exact time is when they opened fire into the crowd,” Gonzalez said.

On Monday morning, Gonzalez identified the woman killed in the shooting as Disha Allen, who he said was in her mid-20s.

He said three of the people wounded were in critical condition.

Sidney Williams, a witness who attended the vigil, told KTRK-TV he heard 20 to 30 gunshots.

“People were screaming and running to their cars,” Williams said.

Witnesses said two of the victims who were shot were a pastor and his wife who were in attendance at the vigil, according to KTRK-TV.

Gonzalez said many of the shooting victims were taken in private cars to an area hospital, where a fight broke out and required sheriff’s deputies to intervene.

The sheriff said no arrests have been made. He said the assailant or assailants were in a small, dark-colored sedan.

He said a motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

“Bullets don’t have eyes,” Gonzalez said, “so it puts everyone at risk.”

ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.

 

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