(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 912,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.2% 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 Thursday. All times Eastern:
Feb 10, 7:44 am
Prince Charles tests positive for COVID-19 again
Charles, Prince of Wales, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson for Clarence House, his official London residence.
The 73-year-old heir apparent to the British throne “is now self-isolating” and “is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today’s events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.
It’s the second time that Charles has contracted COVID-19. He previously tested positive in March 2020, early on in the pandemic before vaccines were available, but he had mild symptoms.
Both the Prince of Wales and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a Clarence House spokesperson has said.
The couple attended a British Asian Trust event at the British Museum in London on Wednesday night, along with hundreds of other guests, including several British politicians such as Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Health Secretary Said Javid. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, was also in attendance.
(LONDON) — Cases of Lassa fever have been identified in the United Kingdom for the first time in over a decade.
The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed in a press release Wednesday that two people have been diagnosed with Lassa fever in England, while a third “probable case” is under investigation.
All three cases are within the same family in the East of England and are linked to recent travel to West Africa, where the potentially deadly infectious disease is endemic.
“Cases of Lassa fever are rare in the U.K. and it does not spread easily between people. The overall risk to the public is very low,” Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor at the UKHSA, said in a statement Wednesday. “We are contacting the individuals who have had close contact with the cases prior to confirmation of their infection, to provide appropriate assessment, support and advice.”
Hopkins noted that the UKHSA and the National Health Service (NHS) in England “have well established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be reinforced.”
Prior to these cases, there had been just eight cases of Lassa fever imported to the U.K. since 1980. The last two occurred in 2009. There was no evidence of onward transmission from any of these cases, according to the UKHSA.
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness caused by Lassa virus. People usually become infected with Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or feces of infected rats that are present in parts of West Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The virus can also be spread through infected bodily fluids. People living in endemic areas of West Africa with high populations of rodents are most at risk. Imported cases rarely occur elsewhere in the world and such cases are almost exclusively people who work in endemic areas in high-risk occupations, like medical or other aid workers, according to the UKHSA.
Lassa fever is known to be endemic in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Libera, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria, but probably exists in other West African nations as well. It’s not easy to distinguish from other viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola virus disease and malaria, and clinical diagnoses are often difficult, especially early in the course of the disease, because the symptoms are so varied and non-specific, according to the WHO.
Symptoms are usually gradual, starting with fever, general weakness and malaise. Then, after a few days, headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough and abdominal pain may follow. Patients with severe cases may develop facial swelling, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract and low blood pressure. Deafness occurs in 25% of recovered patients and in half of these cases, hearing returns partially after one to three months, according to the WHO.
About 80% of people who become infected with Lassa virus have no symptoms and one in five infections result in severe disease, where the virus affects several organs such as the liver, spleen and kidneys. The overall case-fatality rate is 1%, while case-fatality among patients hospitalized with severe cases is estimated at around 15%. Death usually occurs within 14 days in fatal cases. Diagnosis and prompt treatment are essential, according to the WHO.
Although severe illness can occur in some individuals, most people with Lassa fever will make a full recovery, according to the UKHSA.
One of the patients with a confirmed case has recovered, while the other will receive specialist care at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, a London-based NHS foundation trust consisting of several hospitals and clinics. Meanwhile, the patient with the probable case is being treated at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs two hospitals in Bedfordshire county in the East of England. The U.K. High Consequence Infectious Disease Network is engaged with the ongoing care of the infected individuals, according to the UKHSA.
“The Royal Free Hospital is a specialist centre for treating patients with viral hemorrhagic fevers, including Lassa fever,” Dr. Sir Michael Jacobs, consultant in infectious diseases at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, said in a statement Wednesday. “Our secure unit is run by a highly-trained and experienced team of doctors, nurses, therapists and laboratory staff and is designed to ensure our staff can safely treat patients with these kind of infections.”
Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
(BOULDER, Colo.) — Nearly a year after a gunman opened fire at a King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10 people, the grocery store has reopened.
A marching band helped mark Wednesday’s reopening — a joyful yet somber celebration attended by local officials and community members that honored the victims and paid tribute to the first responders of the March 22, 2021, mass shooting.
Instead of a ribbon-cutting, the manager of the Table Mesa King Soopers store and the city’s mayor tied a ribbon together to signal their strength.
“Just like the strength of this knot, we are strong,” King Soopers spokesperson Kelli McGannon told the crowd.
There was also a moment of silence for the workers, shoppers and Boulder police officer killed in the shooting: Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Officer Eric Talley, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.
King Soopers officials said they would also be installing a remembrance tree garden on the west side of the store, planting one tree for each victim.
The 10 trees will “remind us of the dark day, the day of evil that occurred here,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told the crowd, though he noted that the reopening marks a “turning point for the community to move forward.”
“Today is really a symbol of that perseverance. It’s the beginning of a new chapter,” the governor said. “I want to thank everybody whose hard work led to this occasion and wish everybody affected — family members, team members, shoppers — well in the journey of healing that we are all undertaking and for which today is a very important step.”
The store’s manager, Sheri Bosman, gave emotional remarks at the reopening.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. We’ve come a long way in the past year,” she said, getting choked up.
“We were strong in the beginning. We continue to build our strength. We’re stronger than ever,” she continued. “My heart is thankful we are back together with our incredible Table Mesa associates and the South Boulder community.”
The redesign includes a new entry and higher ceilings with more lighting, as well as safety enhancements. The company hasn’t elaborated on those features because it is proprietary information and could pose a risk to share.
Local shoppers came by to support the workers and community and to lay flowers at the site.
“There’s been a lot of grieving and I feel the fact that the store’s open again will give everybody a chance to regroup and celebrate the fact that our spirit is strong,” Michelle Weiner-Davis, a family therapist who shops at the store, told Denver ABC affiliate KMGH-TV.
In the wake of the shooting, King Soopers committed a $1 million donation to the Colorado Healing Fund to help provide mental health services and other financial relief to survivors and others who have been traumatized by the event.
Mental health partners were also on site for the opening, Bosman said.
As the store reopens, the case against the alleged shooter is ongoing. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, faces 10 counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, in connection with the shooting. A possible motive has not been released.
In December, a judge ruled that he was incompetent to stand trial and the suspect was ordered to undergo further treatment in the state mental hospital. A hearing has been scheduled for March 15 to review his condition.
(NEW YORK) — Two Oklahoma men were indicted by a federal grand jury after authorities accused them of committing hate crimes in connection with an alleged assault against two people outside of a bar in 2019.
The two-count indictment in the Western District of Oklahoma alleges that Brandon Killian and Devan Johnson “willfully caused bodily injury to two victims” because one of them was a Black man, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The assaults occurred in the parking lot of a bar in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in June 2019, the Justice Department said in a press release.
If convicted, Killian and Johnson each could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the release.
An attorney for Killian did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. Information for Johnson’s attorney was not immediately available.
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5 have not yet been authorized, but the U.S.’ rollout plan is already in the works.
The federal government is prepping an initial 10 million doses of the under-5 Pfizer formula, which will be ready to go out as soon as the Food and Drug Administration gives their final sign-off, sources familiar with the situation told ABC News.
The new three-microgram doses for this young population will be distributed in maroon-capped vials, according to a preliminary planning chart from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to states and obtained by ABC News.
This is to differentiate that specific formula from the vials for 5- to 11-year-olds, which are orange-capped. The formula for adults and older adolescents will have grey caps (previously it had purple caps, but that color will no longer be used).
A CDC spokesperson confirmed the rollout plans.
Supply of the under-5 vaccine formula is abundant, with enough for all children in the age group, sources familiar with the rollout said. Now, all that is needed is FDA authorization and CDC recommendation.
The Biden administration has promised there will also be enough needles, syringes and kits, for the roughly 18 million children aged six months to 5 years old in the U.S. who will soon be eligible.
States will be putting in their orders this week and next week, sources said, so the government can start sorting out where the doses will ship.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that the plan for the vaccine rollout for kids under 5 is “well underway,” and the CDC is working with state leaders to help them prepare.
The new formula for these young children will be available at “thousands of locations across the country, locations that parents know and trust,” Zients said, and the Biden administration is working “closely” with pediatricians, family doctors, children’s hospitals and pharmacies to ensure access.
The Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisory committee (VRBPAC) is set to meet and publicly debate Pfizer’s request to authorize their under-5 vaccine on Feb. 15, after the company submitted that application at the start of February.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday subpoenaed Trump White House official Peter Navarro for records and testimony.
Navarro, who served as President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, supported the former president’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump through widespread voter fraud.
In addition to producing multiple reports of unproven voter fraud claims for Trump, Navarro, in his memoir, claimed to have come up with a plan with Trump ally Steve Bannon to contest the election results by delaying the Jan. 6 certification of the Electoral College vote in order to keep Trump in office.
“Mr. Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol,” said committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. “He hasn’t been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former President’s support for those plans.”
“President Trump has invoked Executive Privilege; and it is not my privilege to waive,” Navarro said in a statement to ABC News regarding the subpoena. “They should negotiate any waiver of the privilege with the president and his attorneys directly, not through me.”
Under Navarro’s plan, dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep,” former Vice President Mike Pence was to send disputed election results back to the states, thereby forcing hours of debate on Capitol Hill.
“It was a perfect plan,” Navarro said in an interview late last year with the Daily Beast. “And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill. We didn’t even need any protesters, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it.”
But rioters disrupted the official count, and when the proceedings resumed, Pence certified the vote count over the objections of Trump and his allies who claimed he could have challenged the results.
“The last three people on God’s good earth who wanted chaos and violence on Capitol Hill were President Trump, Steve Bannon, and I,” Navarro said Wednesday.
“More than 500 witnesses have provided information in our investigation, and we expect Mr. Navarro to do so as well,” said Thompson.
(WASHINGTON) — The National Archives has asked the Justice Department to investigate former President Donald Trump’s handling of White House records, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday.
The request follows recent reporting around Trump’s handling of documents following his departure from the White House last year, including earlier this week when the Archives confirmed it recently retrieved 15 boxes of records from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that were improperly taken in violation of the Presidential Records Act.
The news was first reported by The Washington Post.
A source confirmed to ABC News that discussions in the department around the Archives’ referral are in the very early stages, and it is not clear whether DOJ would open a formal investigation into the matter.
Legal experts reached by ABC News earlier this week expressed skepticism that the department would take the unusual step of seeking criminal charges against a former president for violating the Presidential Records Act.
A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the referral. The National Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Trump provided the following response to ABC News in response to an inquiry on the Archives’ referral:
“Following collaborative and respectful discussions, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) arranged for the transport of boxes that contained Presidential Records in compliance with the Presidential Records Act. Much of this material will someday be displayed in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library for the public to view my Administration’s incredible accomplishments for the American People.
“The media’s characterization of my relationship with NARA is Fake News. It was exactly the opposite! It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 911,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.2% 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:
-Fauci says we’re heading out of the ‘full blown pandemic phase’
-US hospitalizations at lowest point since early January
-New York lifts indoor mask mandate effective Thursday
-Massachusetts lifts statewide school mask mandate
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 09, 6:10 pm
Washington state to lift mask mandates
Washington became the latest state Wednesday to announce it will be easing mask requirements.
Gov. Jay Inslee said the state’s outdoor mask mandate will be lifted on Feb. 18, and he will provide a date next week on when the indoor mask mandate will end.
The state health department has required that everyone ages 5 and older wear a mask at indoor public settings, as well as at outdoor events with 500 or more attendees, regardless of vaccination status.
The announcement comes as COVID-19 cases have been declining rapidly in the state.
Feb 09, 4:56 pm
Fauci says we’re heading out of the ‘full blown pandemic phase’
Dr. Anthony told the Financial Times that the U.S. is “heading out of” the “full-blown pandemic phase” and that he hopes masks and other measures can be dropped entirely in the coming months.
“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated,” Fauci said. “There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”
“There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus,” Fauci cautioned. “But I hope we are looking at a time when we have enough people vaccinated and enough people with protection from previous infection that the COVID restrictions will soon be a thing of the past.”
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Feb 09, 4:07 pm
Illinois looks to end indoor mask mandate
Illinois plans to lift its indoor mask mandate at the end of month, Gov. JB Pritzker said, citing “hospitalization rates declining faster than any other point in the pandemic.”
“If these trends continue — and we expect them to — then on Monday, Feb. 28, we will lift the indoor mask requirement,” he said Wednesday.
Masks will continue in Illinois schools “subject to pending litigation which impacts a number of schools,” the governor’s office said. “As the CDC reaffirmed just today, masks remain a critical tool to keep schools safe and open.”
The governors of New York and Rhode Island also announced an end to their indoor mask mandates on Wednesday.
Feb 09, 2:01 pm
Rhode Island lifting indoor mask mandate
Rhode Island will lift the statewide indoor mask policy on Friday, Gov. Dan McKee announced.
Rhode Island’s school mask mandate will be extended until March. 4. At that time, school masking policies will be decided by individual school districts.
This comes hours after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York’s indoor mask mandate will end on Thursday.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — A new round of key talks aimed at de-escalating the Ukraine crisis are set to take place in Berlin on Thursday.
The talks will follow the so-called Normandy Format, the name of the long-running negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by France and Germany, and are aimed at ending the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.
The talks have been largely deadlocked since 2015, but Thursday’s meeting is being closely watched for signs that a flurry of diplomatic activity this week, spear-headed by French President Emmanuel Macron, might point toward a broader de-escalation of the growing crisis.
Macron visited Kyiv Tuesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following marathon talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that resulted in a glimmer of hope that Putin may be open to taking Western offers of diplomacy to end the crisis.
Macron has said Putin assured him there would be no escalation around Ukraine, and French officials have since said they believe the visit has achieved a “pause” that allows de-escalation and gives more time for negotiations.
With Russia continuing to move troops close to Ukraine, where it has already massed over 100,000, the hope expressed by Macron and Zelenskyy is that Thursday’s talks can widen that diplomatic path and help bring down tensions. In Kyiv, both leaders spoke optimistically about Thursday’s talks, saying they expected progress.
The talks will be held between Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Zelenskyy’s top aide Andriy Yermak, and Dmitry Kozak, a deputy chief of staff to Putin. No breakthrough or even substantial progress is expected, but Western countries and Ukraine are pushing to reinvigorate the format to try to get Russia to engage or at least keep diplomacy going for now. Macron has said the talks should provide a “clarification” of what’s possible.
Macron has said making progress in the Ukraine talks should be combined with the launching of a separate dialogue with Russia on European security to address Kremlin concerns about NATO. It is still not clear if Macron’s initiative means the Kremlin is ready to take a diplomatic exit. But it’s hoped some positive steps at the talks could reduce the risk of military escalation.
“Unless Russia is serious about de-escalation, I think buying time is all we can hope for,” a former adviser to Zelenskyy told ABC News.
Russia’s buildup has already reinvigorated the talks — a round held in Paris two weeks ago was the first in two years and ended with the sides recommitting to a much-violated ceasefire.
The Normandy talks are intended to negotiate the fulfillment of the so-called Minsk agreement, a peace deal that ended large-scale fighting in 2015, but which has been effectively stillborn since. The deal envisages Ukraine regaining control over the eastern separatist Donbas regions in return for granting them broad autonomy in its constitution.
The talks have been deadlocked because Russia and Ukraine disagree over the order the agreement should be fulfilled. Russia demands that Ukraine first change its constitution to give the Russian-occupied regions special autonomous status and hold elections in them before it regains any control there. Ukraine says the separatists must disarm and Russian forces there leave before any elections to decide the regions’ statuses can be held.
Russia has pushed for Ukraine to reintegrate the separatist regions because it would give it a lever in Ukraine’s government, and a de facto veto on Ukraine joining NATO or the European Union. For that reason, accepting the Minsk agreement on Russia’s terms has become politically impossible for any Ukrainian government, which would face huge backlash at home.
Most experts believe Russia is massing troops near Ukraine in part to try to force Kyiv into moving toward Moscow’s interpretation of the Minsk agreement.
But Ukraine’s government has feared that in the face of the Russian military threat, Western countries might force it to make concessions.
In Ukraine, there was media speculation Wednesday that Macron may have pressured Zelenskyy to make concessions in Thursday’s talks, in particular to begin direct negotiations with the Russian-controlled separatists, the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DNR and LNR).
If true, that would be politically explosive in Ukraine and would mean Macron had pushed Zelenskyy into a major concession.
But Ukraine’s foreign minister on Wednesday bluntly denied it would ever hold direct negotiations with the separatists.
The minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said France understands Ukraine’s “red lines and do not demand to implement things that are not acceptable to Ukraine.”
Kyiv refuses to negotiate with the separatist because it sees them as puppet governments controlled by Russia. Talking to the rebels directly would accord them recognition and also legitimize the Kremlin’s false claim that the conflict in Ukraine is a civil war, in which Russia is not involved.
Macron’s office also denied it had pressured Ukraine. French officials said Thursday’s talks would focus on how Ukraine can move toward introducing a draft law granting special status for the separatist areas and get comments on it from the separatists as an exception set out by the Minsk agreements.
“We are basically preparing to be able to put on the table all the practical options which will ultimately have to receive the approval not only of the Ukrainians, but of the Russians,” the officials said.
Oleksiy Semeniy, a former adviser to Ukraine’s national security council and currently director of the Institute for Global Transformations in Kyiv, told ABC News on Wednesday he did not believe it was politically possible for Zelenskyy to start direct negotiations with the separatists.
He said an important sign of success would be if it was announced following the talks that a leader’s summit, involving Zelenskyy and Putin, would take place.
(NEW YORK) — A man was arrested after he was accused of raping a woman on a United flight.
Police at London’s Heathrow Airport were alerted to “an incident” on an inbound trans-Atlantic flight from Newark, New Jersey, on the morning of Jan. 31.
“Officers met the aircraft on arrival and arrested a 40-year-old man on suspicion of rape,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement to ABC News. “He has been released under investigation.”
The woman is “being supported by specialist offers and enquiries are ongoing,” officials explained.
United Airlines said their crew “called ahead and notified the local authorities as soon as they became aware of these allegations” adding they “will cooperate with law enforcement on any investigation.”
Both individuals were sitting in the business class cabin and other passengers were sleeping when the alleged rape occurred, according to the Sun.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney and Mike Trew contributed to this report.
