(LONDON) — The Nobel Prize Foundation is facing pushback after saying it would not implement gender or ethnicity quotas in selecting nominees. Only 59 women, or 6.2% of total winners, have ever received a Nobel Prize since its inception in 1901.
Göran Hansson, the secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science and vice chairman of the board of directors for the Nobel Foundation, told the AFP in an interview published on Tuesday: “We have decided we will not have quotas for gender or ethnicity. We want every laureate [to] be accepted … because they made the most important discovery, and not because of gender or ethnicity. And that is in line with the spirit of Alfred Nobel’s last will.”
UN Women, the UN branch dedicated to promoting gender equality around the world, criticized Hansson, saying in a statement, “Unfortunately, the underrepresentation of women Nobel laureates over the years is just another indicator of the slow progress on gender equality.”
Historically, women have been underrepresented in the scientific categories. Only 23 women have ever won Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry.
Over the years, the Nobel Foundation has put in place some measures to increase the representation of female scientists in the nomination process. In a 2019 interview with Nature, Hansson explained that the committee asked nominators to consider diversity of gender, geography and topic when proposing candidates. The committee also tried to increase the number of female nominators, raise nominations for up to three different discoveries and even submit several names for the same award.
“It’s sad that there are so few women Nobel laureates and it reflects the unfair conditions in society, particularly in years past but still existing. And there’s so much more to do,” Hanson said in 2019.
But since those remarks were made, Maria Ressa, the journalist who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Dimitri Mouratov, is the only female winner in all categories.
Tennis player and gender equality advocate Billie Jean King spoke out on social media to denounce the decision, saying, “Women’s accomplishments are routinely erased from the history books in which they belong. Gender equality is something we all must work toward, today & every day.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 714,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Latest headlines:
-Some states with colder climates begin to see an uptick in infections
-Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who isn’t vaccinated, won’t play until he can be a full participant
-Pediatric infection rates trending down
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 12, 1:59 pm
American Airlines continues with vaccine mandate despite governor’s executive order
Texas-based American Airlines is sticking to its plan to require vaccines for employees under the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate, despite a new executive order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banning mandates.
American said in a statement, “We are reviewing the executive order issued by Gov. Abbott, but we believe the federal vaccine mandate supersedes any conflicting state laws, and this does not change anything for American.”
On Monday, Abbott issued an executive order banning vaccine mandates “by any entity” in the state. Abbott said, “The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced.”
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney
Oct 12, 12:58 pm
Some states with colder climates begin to see an uptick in infections
While infection rates are plummeting in the South, causing national metrics to fall, some states in colder climates are beginning to see an uptick in cases, despite some impressive vaccination rates.
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNN on Monday,” “You’re starting to see an uptick in cases in the colder parts of the country and as people are driven indoors without masks on.”
These states have seen case rates jump by 20% or more in the last month, according to federal data: Colorado (22%), Idaho (21.6%), New Hampshire (54%), Vermont (42.6%), Montana (82.6%), Michigan (90.9%) and Minnesota (75.9%).
Alaska currently has the country’s highest infection rate, followed by Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho, according to federal data. California currently has the nation’s lowest infection rate.
Death rates remain high with about 1,400 deaths reported each day, according to federal data. But daily COVID-19 related hospital admissions down nationally by 13.4% in the last week.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Oct 12, 11:14 am
Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who isn’t vaccinated, won’t play until he can be a full participant
Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving, who has refused to get vaccinated, won’t “play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant,” General Manager Sean Marks said in a statement Tuesday.
Barclays Center, home to the Nets, requires proof of vaccination for entry.
“We respect his individual right to choose,” Marks said, but “the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability.”
“It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice,” Marks said.
Oct 12, 11:07 am
Federal judge sides with NY health care workers who object to vaccine mandate on religious grounds
A federal judge in Utica, New York, sided Tuesday with 17 health care workers who object to the state vaccine mandate for health workers on religious grounds, granting their request for an injunction.
Unlike other judges who have heard similar cases about vaccine mandates, Judge David Hurd concluded “the public interest lies with enforcing the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law” and not the wider public health.
The plaintiffs said they hold the sincere religious belief that they “cannot consent to be inoculated … with vaccines that were tested, developed or produced with fetal cell line[s] derived from procured abortions.” According to plaintiffs, the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available violate these sincere religious beliefs “because they all employ fetal cell lines derived from procured abortion in testing, development or production.”
(TETON COUNTY, Wyo.) — A Wyoming coroner is expected to announce the results of an autopsy Tuesday on Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old travel blogger whose remains were recovered in September in a national park.
Petito’s boyfriend and cross-country traveling companion, Brian Laundrie, has been named by investigators as a person of interest in her death and is the subject of a massive nationwide search being directed by the FBI.
Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said in a media alert Monday night that he plans to discuss “the ruling on the autopsy of Gabrielle Petito.”
After Petito’s body was discovered on Sept. 19 in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson, Blue said the manner of Petito’s death was a homicide.
Blue’s announcement will come amidst a nationwide search the FBI is leading for Laundrie, who drew suspicion after returning to his parents’ North Port, Florida, home on Sept. 1 without Petito but driving her van, authorities said.
Laundrie’s parents told police they last saw their son on Sept. 13, two days after Petito’s parents, who live in Long Island, New York, reported her missing. Laundrie’s parents told investigators their son may have been headed to the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre wildlife preserve near their home.
(NEW YORK) — The Lego Group says it will remove gender bias from its iconic toys.
The Danish toymaker announced in a statement Monday, that it will get rid of gender references among its famous building block sets, after new research in a study commissioned by Lego found that “girls today feel increasingly confident to engage in all types of play and creative activities, but remain held back by society’s ingrained gender stereotypes as they grow older.”
The study carried out by the Geena Davis Institute in recognition of the UN’s International Day of the Girl also marked the launch of Lego’s new Ready for Girls campaign, which celebrates girls who rebuild the world through creative problem-solving.
“What we found is not only from the parents, but also from the boys that they were worried — that they would be teased or made fun of for playing with toys that would be say, associated with girls, so it was the fear of being shamed and made fun of,” Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute told Good Morning America. “With girls, they felt more confident than boys to engage in a variety of playing activity.”
According to the research, 4 in 10 girls and nearly 3 in 4 boys surveyed said they felt uncomfortable to play with toys presumably targeted to the opposite gender.
Parents are four times more likely to encourage girls to engage in dress-up than boys and twice as likely to encourage boys in computer coding than girls, according to the survey, which also noted that the boys and girls surveyed agreed with the idea that some activities are gender-specific.
Another toymaker, Hasbro, recently rebranded its iconic Mr. Potato Head toy earlier this year and introduced a new gender-neutral potato head family with diverse body parts and clothes. And in 2019, Mattel released its first gender-neutral doll.
Retail giant Target announced in 2015 that its stores would not classify toy aisles by gender, a move that also paved the way for proposed legislation requring large retailers to provide gender-neutral toy sections.
A California law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend makes it the first state that mandates large department stores to display products like toys and toothbrushes in gender-neutral ways.
“This isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for every family — and parents should encourage what their kids love and what they’re interested in,” parenting expert Ericka Souter told GMA. “We want the world to be open to our children and don’t want them to feel limited by their gender — companies are responding to this growing demand.”
Lego said in a statement that it is “committed to making LEGO play more inclusive and ensuring that children’s creative ambitions – both now in the future – are not limited by gender stereotypes. We know there is work to do which is why from 2021, we will work closely with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and UNICEF to ensure LEGO products and marketing are accessible to all and free of gender bias and harmful stereotypes.”
(NEW YORK) — Southwest CEO Gary Kelly apologized to the tens of thousands of passengers who were stranded at U.S. airports over the weekend due to widespread flight cancellations.
“I want to apologize to all of our customers, this is not what we want,” Kelly said in an interview on Good Morning America Tuesday. “Unfortunately, it just takes a couple of days to get things back on track.”
One of those passengers, Fabricia Amara, couldn’t take her 14-year-old daughter to see her neurosurgeon in Miami because of the operational meltdown.
“They did not handle it properly,” Amara told ABC affiliate KTRK. “They have no answers for you, they tell you that there’s nothing we can do.”
Amara’s flight was just one of more than 2,200 flights Southwest has canceled since Saturday.
The airline initially blamed the multi-day mess on air traffic control issues, bad weather and “other external constraints.”
But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that “there had been no air traffic control shortages since Friday,” adding, “Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place.”
Kelly acknowledged air traffic control issues were not the cause, saying “a series of FAA Florida delay programs” on Friday contributed to the cancelled flights.
“There were no ATC issues over the weekend. That’s absolutely true,” Kelly said. “But I think any industry expert knows that it takes several days, if you have that large of an impact on the operation, to get the airplanes where they need to be and then to match the crews up with that.”
The head of Southwest’s pilot union blamed bad staffing for the disruptions.
“Until the company makes some changes in how they’re doing business internally and scheduling our pilots, we’re going to continue to see the problem,” Capt. Casey Murray told ABC News.
Kelly said operations are “back to normal.” According to FlightAware, there were 87 canceled Southwest flights as of 8 a.m. ET Tuesday.
“Things are much smoother today,” he said. “We have a few more cancellations than we would normally have, but things are pretty well back to normal.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 714,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 12, 9:36 am
Pediatric infection rates trending down
More than 6 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Although the weekly case rate remains exceptionally high, the U.S. is reporting about 95,000 fewer child cases now compared to one month ago, according to a weekly report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Even with the decline, last week children still accounted for 24.8% of the week’s cases, the report found.
The South is no longer reporting the highest number pediatric cases and has now been surpassed by the Midwest.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. However, AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, “including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
About 43.3% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated, according to federal data.
Oct 12, 9:15 am
Fauci: Best way to avoid resurgence is getting more Americans vaccinated
Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Monday night that “the best way to assure that decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths [will] continue is to continue to get a lot more people vaccinated.”
“We need the overwhelming proportion of those unvaccinated people to get vaccinated. Then we can be quite confident that if we can do that, you will not see a resurgence,” Fauci said.
About 68 million eligible Americans remain completely unvaccinated.
Despite continued pushback, Fauci said that newly implemented vaccine mandates are working.
“Sometimes mandates can help. As sensitive an issue as that is, it is really getting people more vaccinated,” Fauci said.
Oct 11, 6:41 pm
Abbott issues executive order banning vaccine mandates in Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that he issued an executive order that bans vaccine mandates “by any entity” in Texas.
The executive order prohibits entities from issuing a mandate to anyone who “objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.”
“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced,” Abbott said in a statement.
The governor also announced that the issue over vaccine mandates will be addressed in a special session of the state legislature.
As of Monday evening, 72.4% of Texas residents over 12 have received one vaccine dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas’s seven-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases is 7,447 as of Oct. 8, according to the CDC.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Beginning next school year, California public schools and colleges will be required to offer free menstrual products in restrooms under a new bill signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The bill, called the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021, applies to public schools serving students in grades six to 12, community colleges and the California State University System, according to the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Assemblymember Cristina Garcia.
“Our biology doesn’t always send an advanced warning when we’re about to start menstruating, which often means we need to stop whatever we’re doing and deal with a period,” she said in a statement. “Often periods arrive at inconvenient times. They can surprise us during an important midterm, while playing with our children at a park, sitting in a lobby waiting to interview for a job, shopping at the grocery store, or even standing on the Assembly Floor presenting an important piece of legislation.”
“Having convenient and free access to these products means our period won’t prevent us from being productive members of society, and would alleviate the anxiety of trying to find a product when out in public,” she said.
Garcia was also sponsor of legislation that was signed into law in 2017 that ensures low-income schools in California provide students with free menstrual products.
She said the new law that will provide free products to even more students was inspired by Scotland, which last year became the first country in the world to provide period products to all women for free.
“Just as toilet paper and paper towels are provided in virtually every public bathroom, so should menstrual products,” she said in a statement. “It is time we recognize and respond to the biology of half the population by prioritizing free access to menstrual products, and eliminating all barriers to them.”
Period poverty, when people cannot afford even the most basic of period supplies like pads and tampons, is an issue that affects women around the world.
At least half a billion women and girls globally lack facilities for managing their periods, according to a 2015 report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Poor menstrual hygiene poses health risks for women, including reproductive issues and urinary tract infections.
The taboo around menstruation and the lack of access to menstrual products also hurts women economically because it costs them money for products and may keep them from jobs and school, advocates say.
In the U.S., where women make up more than half of the population, women are more likely than men to live in poverty, and they spend an average of 2,535 days in their lifetime, or almost seven years, on their periods, according to UNICEF.
A lack of access to menstrual products and education affects one in 10 college students in the U.S., according to a study released earlier this year.
Congress last year passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that included a provision allowing people to use Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) dollars to buy menstrual products like pads, tampons, liners and menstrual cups.
Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., who was instrumental in adding that provision, re-introduced earlier this year in Congress the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021, which would, among other things, require employers with 100 or more employees to provide free menstrual products and would require all federal public buildings to provide free menstrual products in classrooms.
(CABO TIBURON, Colombia) — Three people are dead and six are still missing after a ship sank in Cabo Tiburon, Colombia.
Units of the Colombian Navy in coordination with Panamanian authorities are carrying out the search and rescue operation of the passengers who were transported in a ship that was wrecked in the general area of Cabo Tiburon, in the municipality of Acandí, the Navy said.
The vessel was sailing with approximately 30 migrants, including Haitian, Cuban and Venezuelan citizens, they said.
The Colombian Navy said 21 people have been rescued, and the bodies of three dead women have been found. Two were Haitian and one was Cuban.
The Navy, with the support of the Panamanian authorities and fishermen in the region, continues the search and rescue of six missing migrants — three adults and three minors — who were on board the boat that would have set sail from a clandestine point near Necoclí.
It’s unclear what caused the incident.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
(SANTEE, Calif.) — At least two people were killed and two others were hospitalized when a small plane crashed in a neighborhood in Santee, California, near San Diego, on Monday, officials said.
Part of the plane struck the back of a home, city fire officials said. The crash impacted at least two houses, a UPS delivery truck and a fire hydrant, city officials said.
UPS confirmed that one of the deceased victims was one of their employees.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of our employee, and extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We also send our condolences for the other individuals who are involved in this incident, and their families and friends,” Steve Nagata, a UPS spokesman said in a statement.
The FAA said the twin-engine Cessna C340 crashed at 12:14 p.m. local time. It’s not yet clear how many people were on board.
There are at least two burn victims who are believed to be from a home, Santee Fire Chief John Garlow said.
Multiple structures and multiple cars were on fire. The blaze has since been extinguished, officials said.
Residents have been urged to avoid the area.
On Monday night the Yuma Regional Medical Center said a cardiologist affiliated with the hospital is one of the fatalities.
“We are deeply sad to hear news of a plane owned by local cardiologist Dr. Sugata Das which crashed near Santee,” Dr. Bharat Magu, chief medical officer at YRMC, said in a statement. “As an outstanding cardiologist and dedicated family man Dr. Das leaves a lasting legacy. We extend our prayers and support to his family, colleagues and friends during this difficult time.”
(PRESIDIO COUNTY, Texas) — Americans remain deeply polarized over the renewed push to get the country vaccinated.
Nowhere is such a divide more evident than in Texas, where the vaccination rates tend to vary drastically from county to county.
Presidio County — a remote area of southwest Texas, home to approximately 7,800 people — while rural, boasts the state’s highest vaccination rate, with nearly every one of its eligible residents fully vaccinated.
In the county, cell service is often spotty, and the closest medical center is hours away from most homes, but residents who chose to get vaccinated said they saw it as a matter of life or death.
Rosendo Scott, a Vietnam veteran, who is battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, was more than willing to roll up his sleeve when he became eligible for a vaccine.
“We’re so isolated that we could easily just fall like dominoes, if something wasn’t done,” he told ABC News.
Big Bend Regional Medical Center serves approximately 25,000 residents in a vast 12,000 square mile area, Dr. Adrian Billing, chief medical officer at the hospital, said.
“It’s a 90-to-150-mile one-way trip to get to the emergency room, so I think some of that, just recognizing how limited we are for health care, contributed to our high vaccination rates,” Billing said.
Given the extremely high demand for vaccination, Billing said, all of the county’s available health care workers were pulled away from other duties in order to assist with the shots.
“We had to shut down our medical and dental service lines, and our behavioral health service lines, on these days that we did 500 or 600 vaccines at a time,” Billing said, adding that he has not recently seen a single vaccinated patient wind up in the hospital.
Scott explained that he has a very high level of trust in his health care providers, and thus, in their recommendation that he get vaccinated.
“I’m a believer in science,” Scott said.
The county’s impressive vaccination rate has kept residents safer, local leaders said, especially the community’s youngest members.
Scott’s wife, Allison, who is the principal of Marfa High School, in Presidio County, told ABC News that thanks to the county’s high vaccination rate, there have not been any coronavirus cases in the K-12 public school system since school started.
“So far — and this is our eighth week of school — we haven’t had a positive case, so we’re remaining hopeful,” she said.
However, more than 620 miles away, in Lamar County, the story is very different. Despite the availability of vaccines, only 40% of the residents have been fully vaccinated.
Klark Byrd, the managing editor of The Paris News, a small town newspaper, said he believes vaccine hesitancy in Lamar has been largely driven by residents’ “distrust in the government, distrust in the vaccine makers, [and] distrust, based on misinformation that’s found on social media sites.”
Given the low rate of vaccination in the county, Byrd has been printing op-eds, urging residents to talk to their doctors.
Although Byrd himself has not been vaccinated, due to a pre-existing health condition, he said he is taking all the necessary precautions to keep himself safe, with hand sanitizer, masks and social distancing.
“Sometimes, I’m the only one with a mask, and that’s concerning, but I maintain my distance with people. If I turn down an aisle at Walmart, and there’s a bunch of people, I will avoid that aisle and wait till it clears out,” he said.
Among the many who have opted not to get the shot is Kacy Cole.
Despite the fact that he has seen firsthand how serious COVID-19 can be, with several close friends and family, including his wife, contracting the virus, Cole said he has not reconsidered his anti-vaccine stance.
“It did not,” Cole told ABC News. “We prayed about it and we firmly believe that a lot of faith is involved in a lot of things we do.”
The decision of Cole, and other residents not to get vaccinated has been a tough pill to swallow for many front-line workers.
Dr. Amanda Green, the Lamar County health director and the local hospital’s chief medical officer, explained she wants to do her utmost to keep her community healthy, and the public educated about vaccines, but she tries to be realistic in her awareness that she may never be able to convince everyone.
“There are some people that I think they’ll just never change, no matter what,” Green told ABC News.
From Green’s perspective, such vaccine hesitancy can be a fatal choice. She pointed to Ronnie Stanley, the husband of a local nurse who chose not to get vaccinated. After falling ill to COVID-19, he wound up in the ICU, and died late last month.
“No one is invincible to this disease, it doesn’t care, it doesn’t discriminate,” Stanley’s widow, Amanda, told ABC News. She had urged him to get the shot, from the very beginning, but he was set in his ways, she said.
“He knew that it was as real as what it is, (but) he didn’t know that he would have been affected the way he did. I think had he known, then absolutely, he would have vaccinated and, you know, saved us all the torment that we’ve seen the last month. But yes, he was unvaccinated, and others believe that plays a big role in his death,” Amanda said
She is now seeking to convince those who are still hesitant, by telling his story.
“I don’t believe it has anything to do with politics,” she said about the COVID-19 vaccine. “I believe that this vaccine was created by brilliant doctors and scientists, and God gave them those abilities. And that’s what people need to understand, it’s a selfless act when you get vaccinated. It’s not for yourself, but it’s for those that you need to protect.”
