(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans are bracing for a snow storm that’s expected to hammer the East Coast with blizzard conditions this weekend.
The storm, set to begin Friday night, will stretch from the Carolinas to Maine.
Blizzard warnings are in effect from coastal Virginia up to Maine, including Atlantic City, Long Island, Connecticut, Boston and Portland. This marks the first blizzard warning for Boston and the Jersey Shore in four years.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has declared a snow emergency and warned residents to stay home.
The snowfall is forecast to start on the East Coast late Friday night and continue into Saturday evening in New England, before the storm exits the area, according to ABC News meteorologists.
Snowfall totals are estimated to be higher than previously expected due to a number of factors. The storm is expected to move closer to shore, bringing heavy bands of snow inland, with a snowfall rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour. The light and fluffy nature of this snow will help it stack up higher than the wet, heavy snow that typically comes with coastal storms.
The latest forecast has 12 to 20 inches of snow for Boston, 6 to 12 inches for New York City, 4 to 6 inches for Philadelphia and 1 to 2 inches for Washington, D.C.
The frigid air in the forecast will allow the snow to accumulate quickly and create very slick conditions on roads.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has declared a state of emergency. He warned residents to be mindful of heavy snow and high winds as well as the possibility of tidal flooding and power outages.
Meanwhile, the wind chill on Saturday morning could make the temperature feel like it’s in the single digits for the Interstate 95 corridor and in the teens for the Carolinas, according to ABC News meteorologists.
Wind gusts are forecast to be over 50 mph for many areas from Maine to New Jersey on…
There’s also the possibility of coastal flooding, from Maryland to New Jersey and into parts of Long Island and New England. With wind gusts forecast to be over 50 mph for many areas from Maine to New Jersey, the strong winds could blow ocean water onto the shore and create flooding.
(PITTSBURGH) — Just hours ahead of President Joe Biden traveling to Pittsburgh to stress improvements needed for the nation’s infrastructure, a bridge in the area collapsed on Friday morning, coincidentally providing Biden an opportunity to tout how his bipartisan infrastructure law provides funding for badly needed repairs.
Biden was scheduled to make 2 p.m. ET remarks on Friday at Carnegie Mellon University, a few miles away from the collapsed bridge near Pittsburg’s Frick’s Park. Ten people were reported injured, according to local authorities.
The White House said not said whether Biden will visit the collapsed bridge, but he has been briefed on the situation.
“The President has been told of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh. Our team is in touch with state and local officials on the ground as they continue to gather information about the cause of the collapse. The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time. The President will proceed with trip planned for today and will stay in touch with officials on the ground about additional assistance we can provide,” the White House said in a statement.
While the president’s domestic agenda has taken the back burner over the past week in the face of threats from Russia on the Ukrainian border and major Supreme Court news, Biden’s appearance puts the spotlight back on his victory in getting the bipartisan infrastructure law passed.
The legislation would provide $1.63 billion to Pennsylvania in federal funding for bridges alone, the third-highest figure for any state. Pennsylvania has 3,353 bridges in poor condition, the second most after Iowa, according to administration data. The bridge program will provide $27 billion across the country.
Pennsylvania, Biden’s home state, has long been a politically symbolic state for him.
Pittsburgh was where he kicked off his 2020 candidacy, and the Keystone State ultimately cinched his presidency. He also unveiled what became the bipartisan infrastructure law there last March.
But several of Pennsylvania’s high-profile Democratic candidates told ABC News, while they support the president and his policy efforts, they also won’t be in attendance for Friday’s event in Pittsburgh, citing “scheduling conflicts.”
A campaign spokesperson for Attorney General Josh Shapiro — who is likely to become the Democratic gubernatorial nominee — tells ABC News the Attorney General is “focused on the issues that matter to Pennsylvania families” but won’t be in Pittsburgh on Friday.
“Like every American should, Josh wants our president to be successful and we’ll continue welcoming President Biden to his home state of Pennsylvania as he touts small businesses and jobs that have been saved by the bipartisan American Rescue Plan and the tens of thousands of Pennsylvania jobs that will be created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the campaign spokesperson said.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a leading candidate in the Democratic Senate primary, told ABC News, “It’s great that President Biden is coming to Pittsburgh to talk about infrastructure. If infrastructure is Elvis, then Pittsburgh is Graceland. It’s great to come to the city that helped build America to talk about rebuilding America. I’ll be in Harrisburg on Friday meeting with Democrats from across the commonwealth at State Committee and talking about the 2022 midterm election.”
Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Penn., running for Senate in the state, will meet with Biden.
With Pennsylvania’s primary elections are still months away, the unfavorable poll numbers looming over the Biden administration could factor into how Democrats interact with the president on the campaign trail.
(PITTSBURGH) — A bridge has collapsed in Pittsburgh Friday morning, sending three people to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Three or four vehicles were on the bridge at the time and everyone in those cars has been extricated, Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones said.
Ten people reported minor injuries including the three victims hospitalized in non-life-threatening condition, Jones said.
First responders trying to help in the icy conditions were among the injured, he said. Responders rappelled down about 150 feet to reach the collapse site, Jones said.
Crews are working to make sure there are no victims under the collapsed bridge, Jones said.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald called the bridge a major artery for the city.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation, Jones said.
This incident comes as President Joe Biden heads to Pittsburgh to tout his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is set to provide $1.63 billion to Pennsylvania in federal funding for bridges, the third highest figure for any state. The bridge program will provide $27 billion across the country.
Pennsylvania has 3,353 bridges in poor condition, the second most after Iowa, according to federal data.
But the Biden administration has repeatedly said it is up to local officials to determine which bridges receive how much money.
Biden has been informed about the bridge collapse and will continue with Friday’s planned trip, White House officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Facebook’s announcement in October that it was further embracing the metaverse and rebranding itself as Meta set off a firestorm. While experts say the metaverse is still many years away, the explosion of the term has many asking, what is the metaverse?
The metaverse aims to innovate the way people interact with each other on the internet, interacting in a way previously only thought possible in science fiction.
“The metaverse is essentially a massive, interconnected network of virtual spaces,” Rabindra Ratan, associate professor of media and information at Michigan State University. told ABC News Live. “In theory, we’ll be able to move from one virtual world to another in the metaverse, but we’ll be wearing virtual reality goggles or maybe augmented reality.”
Technologies like virtual reality, a computer-generated simulation of a 3D image or environment, and augmented reality, superimposing a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, will play a significant role in bringing the metaverse to life.
The metaverse could potentially use virtual reality, or augmented reality as we know it now, to immerse users in an alternate world. The technology is still being developed, but companies like Meta say they are building and improving these devices. Meta’s Oculus Quest, now in its second model, is one such device.
“When you’re in the metaverse, when you’re in a virtual reality headset, you will feel like you’re actually sitting in a room with someone else who can see you, who can see all of your nonverbal gestures, who you can respond to and mimic,” Ratan said.
Immersive worlds and creating online avatars is nothing new, as games like Grand Theft Auto Online, Minecraft and Roblox have already created virtual universes. Meta’s announcement last October aims to go beyond entertainment, and create virtual workspaces, homes and experiences for all ages.
“What’s happening now is the metaverse for social media without gaming,” Ratan said. “The new metaverse is designed to support any type of social interaction, whether that’s hanging out with your friends or having a business meeting.”
While the excitement around the concept of a metaverse is rapidly growing, Ratan said bringing that vision to reality is still many years away.
“People are building it in slow bits and pieces,” Ratan said. “We don’t know exactly how people are going to use the metaverse.”
Experts say companies are making sure they are prepared once the change takes place.
“I think no one really knows exactly what shape it’s going to take, but they need to make sure that they’re at the forefront of it,” Arun Maini, a tech YouTuber from England with over 9 million subscribers.
The possibilities of a virtual world, where everything is supported by lines of codes, could open new revenue streams for companies diving into this new venture. The opportunities are limitless, and based on how Americans have adopted an increasingly digital life, the change is already taking place. Walmart announced earlier this month it would step into the virtual world, providing currency and allowing customers to buy and sell NFTs.
“Over the next five years, you’re going to see Metaverse technology become real, concrete and sampleable,” said CNET Editor-at-Large Brian Cooley. “I think it’s going to be impressive, but I think it’s going to have many flavors, not just one.”
A Pew Research study from March 2021 found that 31% of Americans were almost always online, while 79% were online several times a day. Maini said the recent patterns show how people are starting to shift away from physical to virtual goods based on the time spent on apps and games.
“In the metaverse, you will still have those stupidly expensive designer Gucci trainers to be able to show that, ‘Oh yeah, look, I’m doing well for myself,’ even if really it’s just a line of code,” Maini said.
The efforts required to make that world a reality, however, could be extensive. Many people in the U.S. still don’t have access to high-speed broadband connections, and the price of reliable VR hardware could be high. But for Maini, he said the hardware is becoming more affordable and accessible as new technologies are developed.
“Like every day, the promise of this virtual land is increasing. So like a person’s willingness to pay is going up and up and up. And if at the same time that hardware is getting cheaper, there probably will be a point where there’s like mass adoption,” Maini said.
With a high demand, the need for innovation is even higher. Meta announced on Jan. 24 it’s developing a new AI supercomputer, describing it as a building block toward bringing the vision of a metaverse into reality.
“The AI Research SuperCluster, or RSC, will help Meta’s AI researchers build better models that can learn from trillions of examples; work across hundreds of different languages; seamlessly analyze text, images and video together; develop new augmented reality tools and more,” Meta said in a statement.
“Ultimately, the work done with RSC will pave the way toward building technologies for the next major computing platform — the metaverse, where AI-driven applications and products will play an important role,” the statement continued.
Virtual interactions offers enticing financial opportunities for big businesses, but they also raise concerns over the impact on users and safety of its users.
Meta continues to face scrutiny for alleged harmful effects on young users and how it monitors hate speech across its apps, including Instagram. With millions of users able to join different platforms, Maini said moderation is important.
“If you’re trying to moderate something of that level of freedom, then you’re going to have to be moderating in a way that’s like incredibly invasive,” Maini said. “So we either end up in a situation where it’s complete chaos and everyone’s allowed to do everything and you know, there’s racism, sexism, abuse and all that kind of stuff, or there’s incredibly tight moderation and no one’s allowed to do anything.”
With the speed at which technologies are being developed and companies are implementing innovative ideas around immersive reality, it’s only a matter of time before the metaverse becomes a reality.
“The experience of the web will be different in many ways than it is now,” Ratan said.
(CHICAGO) — It has been nearly a decade since 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot dead in Chicago, but the Obamas are still keeping her legacy alive in the South Side at the Obama Presidential Center.
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who attended Pendleton’s funeral in 2013, announced in a video message Friday that the Winter Garden at the Obama Presidential Center will be named after Pendleton.
“To this day, I carry Hadiya’s story with me everywhere I go,” she said. “I know that Hadiya’s loss is still raw and devastating for so many of us, especially on the South Side. But hopefully this garden can help share her light with even more people for generations to come.”
Pendleton, a Black girl who attended King College Prep High School, was shot in the back and killed on Jan. 29, 2013, about a mile away from the Obamas’ Chicago neighborhood. She was a majorette in school and one week before she was killed, her drill team performed at Obama’s second inauguration.
The then-first lady attended Pendleton’s funeral in 2013, where she met with Hadiya’s family and friends.
In the video, Obama said that while she never met Hadiya in person, she saw the “extraordinary power and potential that lay inside of this young woman” through speaking with her loved ones.
During the presidency of Barack Obama, Pendleton became a symbol for the tragedy of gun violence in Chicago, and her story became a rallying cry for gun reform around the country.
Her mother, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, also became outspoken about the issue of gun control since her daughter’s death and delivered an address at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 on the issue.
Lessons from a ‘violence interrupter’ as shootings continue to ravage Chicago
In a video message shared by the Obama Presidential Center, Cowley-Pendleton said that her “heart just melted” when she found out that the Winter Garden would be named in honor of her daughter, because she “knew people would be saying her name.”
Hadiya’s parents were guests of the Obamas at the 2013 State of the Union address, where the then-president mentioned Hadiya by name in a message about gun violence.
“One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends they all thought they were her best friend,” Obama said in his Feb. 12, 2013 address to the nation.
“Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote. They deserve a vote,” Obama added, calling on Congress to pass bipartisan gun control legislation.
In August 2018, two men were charged with first-degree murder for Pendleton’s killing.
2 found guilty of murder in shooting of 15-year-old Chicago schoolgirl
Ahead of the September 2021 groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Center, the former president reflected on the gun violence that has plagued Chicago in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts.
“Chicago alone can’t solve the gun problem,” Obama said, adding that Congress needs to pass “common sense gun safety measures.”
The former president said that tackling the problem is a “generational project” — one that he intends to address through Obama Presidential Center programs like My Brother’s Keeper, which works to create opportunities for boys and men of color in underserved communities.
“If we’re doing that in a systemic way, year after year, then over time we can reduce these incidents of violence,” he said.
Gun violence has continued to skyrocket in Chicago, and according to a January 2022 report from the Cook County medical examiner’s office, more people were shot to death in Chicago and the surrounding Cook County in 2021 than in any other year on record.
Report paints grim picture of Chicago-area gun deaths.
(WASHINGTON) — When word came that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was retiring, the spotlight almost immediately shifted to who might replace him — and getting a lot of attention has been Ketanji Brown Jackson, who clerked for Breyer about 20 years ago.
A Harvard Law School graduate, and now a federal appeals court judge, Jackson, despite her professional and academic accolades, considers hard work to be one of the most important factors, throughout her life, that got her where she is today.
She was born 51 years ago, in 1970, in Washington, D.C. Her parents, both public school teachers, had moved to Washington from Miami in the post-civil rights era.
She has recounted in a 2017 speech that her parents, wanting to show pride in their African ancestry, asked her aunt, who was then in the Peace Corps in Africa, for a list of African girl names.
Taking one of her suggestions, Jackson’s parents named her Ketanji Onyika, which she said they were told translates to “lovely one.”
In 2017, Jackson, in a lecture at the University of Georgia School of Law, revealed more of her personal side, reflecting not just on her legal career — but on dealing with motherhood at the same time.
“Right now, in fact, I’m in that peculiar stage of life when I experience near-daily whiplash from the jarring juxtaposition of my two most significant roles: U.S. district judge on the one hand and mother of teenage daughters on the other,” she said.
Jackson and her husband Patrick, a doctor, have two daughters, Talia who was 16 and Leila who was 12 years old at the time she told that story. During that same talk, Jackson said her family values include respecting everyone and making your best effort in everything you do.
“In our family, we have a mantra that emphasizes prioritization on work over play as one of our first principles,” Jackson said. “As the girls would testify, ‘do what you need to do before what you want to do’ is a constant refrain in our house.”
Jackson is currently serving on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, considered the most important federal court next to the Supreme Court. It has jurisdiction over cases involving Congress and the executive branch agencies.
During her confirmation hearing for her current position, Republican senators grilled her on whether she thought race would play a factor in her decision-making.
Jackson said when she considers cases, she is looking at the facts and the law.
“I’m methodically and intentionally setting aside personal views, any other inappropriate considerations,” she said. “I would think that race would be the kind of thing that would be inappropriate to inject in an evaluation of a case.”
The Senate eventually made her the first Black woman confirmed to an appellate court in a decade. Right now, there are only six Black women serving as judges on federal appeals courts.
President Joe Biden said Thursday he is committed to keeping his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court — and that pledge is bound to come up at confirmation hearings if he picks her.
She has noted she is “fairly certain” her ancestors were slaves on both sides of her family.
“It is the beauty and the majesty of this country, that someone who comes from a background like mine could find herself in this position,” Jackson said during her Senate confirmation hearing last year. “I’m just enormously grateful to have this opportunity to be a part of the law in this way, and I’m truly thankful for the president giving me the honor of this nomination.”
Former President Barack Obama interviewed Jackson in 2016 for the Supreme Court to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat after his death.
Before that, Jackson said during her speech at the University of Georgia, her youngest daughter, Leila, came to her and her husband and asked if they knew Justice Scalia had died, leading to a vacancy on the nation’s highest court. Jackson said Leila’s middle school friends decided she should apply.
“Getting to be on the Supreme Court isn’t really a job you apply for,” Jackson said she explained to Leila. “You just have to be lucky enough to have the president find you among the thousands of people who might want to do that job.”
Jackson then shared how her daughter decided to write President Obama, telling him to consider her mom for the Supreme Court.
She said her daughter’s handwritten note read, “she is determined, honest and never breaks a promise to anyone, even if there are other things she’d rather do. She can demonstrate commitment and is loyal and never brags.”
Maybe true to form, Jackson has had no public comment since the news broke about her old boss, Justice Breyer, and whether she might soon replace him — and make history.
(WASHINGTON) — With poll workers across the country resigning at an alarming rate, efforts to recruit their replacements have grown increasingly partisan – a troubling trend that experts fear will serve to undermine Americans’ faith in the vote.
This week, as part of National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, several state Republican parties issued rallying cries on social media meant to attract a new generation of poll workers. Their pleas included politically charged language, calling on followers to “join the fight,” “combat Democrats” and “SAVE AMERICA!”
While political parties have long engaged in recruitment efforts, experts say these latest overtures mark a “notable” escalation in the way partisans solicit interest in these critical roles.
“It’s only recently that I’ve started seeing widespread use of language that implies the other side is cheating, or that working as a poll worker could be characterized as joining a ‘fight,’ as opposed to an opportunity to serve the community and the democratic process,” said Larry Norden of the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
The politicization of poll workers reflects broader democratic challenges the country has faced in recent years. As the front line of election administration, these workers undertake the burden of ensuring a free and fair vote at polling stations in each community. The work is often described as tedious, but it is cited as among the most important jobs in a democracy.
In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, poll workers bore the brunt of false claims that the election was compromised by fraud. Many became targets of threats, and a survey from the Brennan Center for Justice found that one-third of election workers reported feeling unsafe because of their job. In some states, Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation that would impose criminal charges on poll workers for committing errors.
The fallout, combined with pandemic-related obstacles, has prompted a mass exodus of poll workers and raised questions about who would replace them.
“There is very much a coordinated effort underway to use criminalization of election officials’ jobs, intimidation and violence to drive officials from their jobs and to replace them with partisan activists,” said Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
To offset the widespread resignations and spur recruitment efforts, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission last year dubbed Jan. 25 National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, “with the goal of encouraging potential poll workers to sign up to help America vote.”
At least 19 state Republican parties from Connecticut to California promoted poll worker recruitment this week, and at least five injected their messaging with partisan overtones.
“Join the front lines of election security by being a poll worker! As @JoeBiden just stated, it matters who counts the votes. #LeadRight,” read one tweet from the Nevada Republican Party.
In North Carolina, the Republican Party Twitter account called on supporters to “combat Democrats’ unconstitutional assault on our most basic voting protections” by signing up to become a poll worker.
Democracy advocates have warned that a new generation of poll workers may put partisan loyalties above a commitment to democracy. This week they said the rhetoric used in Republican social media channels threatens to make that nightmare scenario a dangerous reality.
“The last thing we need are partisan appeals for non-partisan positions,” said Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of IssueOne, a democracy watchdog. “Election workers may be Democrats or Republicans, but our elections work in this country because the workers who run them put voters first.”
(NEW YORK) — With the highly infectious omicron COVID-19 variant spreading rapidly across the country and overwhelming the health care system, health officials have been pleading with Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
“The doctors and data have made crystal clear, vaccinations and boosters provide the best protection,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said during a press briefing on Wednesday. “Vaccines remain our single most powerful tool.”
But despite continued public urgings from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s vaccination initiation and COVID-19 booster rate continues to lag, which experts say is particularly worrisome, as efficacy continues to wane overtime.
“Booster shots are effective against both infection and serious disease,” Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News. “If people don’t get boosted, we as a population are more vulnerable to the virus. To my mind, the biggest concern is that people who are vaccinated but not boosted may infect people who haven’t been vaccinated.”
As of Wednesday, just under half of those who are eligible to receive a booster — about 85 million Americans — have yet to receive their additional shot, and data shows that each day, fewer and fewer Americans are getting vaccinated. Since mid-December, the number of Americans receiving their booster every day has been cut in half — falling from more than 1 million people boosted every day to just over half a million people. In addition, 63 million eligible Americans remain totally unvaccinated.
Experts say several factors are to blame for the nation’s drop in booster shots being administered, including confusion with the CDC’s messaging and an uncertainty and lack of understanding from many about the urgency and need for boosters.
Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky shared three new studies, all of which clearly demonstrated that unvaccinated individuals are at greater risk of severe illness, and even death, from COVID-19, compared to those who are vaccinated. The studies found that booster shots significantly increased protection against severe disease, both during the delta wave and at the beginning of the omicron wave.
“Protection against infection and hospitalization with the omicron variant is highest for those who are up to date with their vaccination, meaning those who are boosted when they’re eligible. There are still millions of people who are eligible for booster doses and have not yet received one,” Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 press briefing last week.
The first study found a third shot slashed the risk of visiting the ER or urgent care by 94% during delta and 82% during omicron. A second study found that the unvaccinated were nearly 14 times more likely to be infected and 53 times more likely to die, compared to the vaccinated and boosted, and a third study reported that although omicron was more likely to cause breakthrough infections compared to delta, even among the boosted, protection against more severe illness remained high.
“There may be a bit more pain and suffering with hospitalizations in those areas of the country that have not been fully vaccinated or have not gotten boosters,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told Martha Raddatz during an appearance on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday.
Messaging on vaccinations cause confusion
Health experts suggest the nation’s slowing booster campaign and the CDC’s unclear messaging and guidance are the reasons many Americans haven’t felt the need to get boosted.
“While the initial vaccination drive was met with clear communications, incentives and mandates, the booster campaign has had far less organization,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Complicating matters is the fact that the virus has already mutated several times, with new variants emerging, creating additional confusion.
“The changing science of variants and boosters has required real-time adapting of public health messaging and guidance, providing less time to prepare and convince people on the value of a third shot,” Brownstein said.
Further muddling the messaging is the discussion about whether a fourth dose of a coronavirus vaccine shot will be needed to offer protection against omicron. Israel is currently administering additional boosters to residents over the age of 60, and immunocompromised individuals, among others.
When asked whether a fourth shot will be necessary, Fauci told ABC’s This Week that it is still unclear whether an additional booster shot will be recommended, as scientists are still trying to determine how much protection is provided by the first booster.
Fauci added that it’s “quite conceivable, and I hope it’s true, that the third shot boost will give a much greater durability of protection.”
Some Americans may not understand the urgency for boosters, experts say
Although researchers report that the science behind the benefit of boosters is clear, some experts say many Americans still do not fully understand the urgency of getting boosted.
“There are many who may not yet understand the importance of [the] third dose of vaccine,” said Creech. “By giving an additional dose, particularly of an mRNA vaccine several months after those initial doses, we leverage the immune system’s ability to create long-term memory. That 1-2 punch is the best way to protect quickly and protect for a longer period of time.”
For other fully vaccinated Americans, a booster may seem unnecessary, for the time being, Dowdy said.
“For those who want protection against serious disease, but don’t care if they get a mild infection, the first series is probably sufficient. For those who want to avoid any infection at all costs, they’ve come to realize that a booster shot – while helpful – is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” Dowdy explained.
Despite the fact that omicron has been shown to cause less severe disease, Walensky stressed this week that as a nation, we are still facing a high overall burden of disease.
“Importantly, ‘milder’ does not mean ‘mild.’ And we cannot look past the strain on our health systems and substantial number of deaths — nearing 2,200 a day — as a result of the extremely transmissible omicron variant,” Walensky said.
Hospital officials have repeatedly stressed that the sheer number of infections caused by the new variant could still overwhelm the health care system. Nationwide, there are just under 150,000 COVID-19-positive Americans receiving care — a total which has just begun to fall after hitting a record high of 160,000 patients earlier this month.
When asked whether the C.D.C. might consider changing the definition of “fully vaccinated” to encourage more Americans to get the additional shot, Walensky reiterated that at this time, the agency is working to ensure people are “up to date” with their vaccinations.
“Right now, we’re pivoting our language, we really want to make sure people are up to date. That means if you recently got your second dose, you’re not eligible for a booster, you’re up to date. If you are eligible for a booster and you haven’t gotten it, you’re not up to date,” Walensky said.
Vaccination campaign must target both the unvaccinated and the unboosted
Experts stress the vaccination campaign must not only focus on the unboosted, but also on the 63 million eligible Americans who remain completely unvaccinated.The efforts should not be perceived as an “either/or situation, but rather a “both/and,” said Creech.
“While we want to respect the personal choices that individuals wish to make, we certainly need to invest resources to address misunderstandings or misconceptions that have led them to the decision not to vaccinate,” Creech said.
Strategies to increase overall vaccine confidence, as well as to raise awareness about the value of boosters, will also be applicable to vaccines as a whole, Creech said.
“It’s not about whether we should be prioritizing boosters over the primary vaccine series, it’s about how we message these in a way that prioritizes both,” Dowdy added.
Although the omicron surge seems to be sharply declining in many areas of the country, Americans must realize the pandemic is not over yet, Fauci stressed.
“It’s vital that we all remain vigilant in the face of this virus,” Fauci said. “It’s been a long two years. However, please now do your part to lean into this current moment. Now is the time to do what we know works: Wear a mask, get vaccinated and get boosted.”
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court will once again revisit the legality of affirmative action in higher education, after last upholding the decades-old precedent in 2016.
On Monday, the high court said it would take up a pair of cases that challenge the use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions at Harvard University, the nation’s oldest private college, and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest public state university.
That the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the cases together is seen by some experts as an indication that the conservative-leaning body could be willing to revisit its precedents and end race-conscious admissions in higher education — which proponents say will have wide-reaching implications for schools, and beyond.
Some studies suggest the policies — which consider race as one of many factors when reviewing applicants to further a diverse student body — have had a profound effect on opportunities for minority applicants, which in turn impact their job chances and careers. And they suggest that stopping them not only decreases the number of Black and Latino students enrolling in colleges but increases those of advantaged groups.
“It is a very, very significant threat to the continued constitutionality of affirmative action,” Tanya Washington, a professor of law at Georgia State University whose research focuses on educational equity, told ABC News.
Opponents — including the conservative group Students for Fair Admissions, which has brought both cases against the universities — have argued that the policies are discriminatory and violate students’ civil rights and the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
Since 1978, the court has said that race could be used as one factor among many in college admissions, barring the use of quotas or mathematical formulas to diversify a class.
In the landmark 2003 case Grutter vs. Bollinger, which the cases against Harvard and UNC are seeking to overturn, the court said that the goal of a diverse student body justifies the use of race, along with other factors, in admissions policies.
The court set the bar higher for schools with its 2013 decision in the case of Abigail Fisher, a white woman who attempted to end the consideration of race in the University of Texas’ admissions policies. In the majority opinion, former Justice Anthony Kennedy said that institutions must first exhaust all race-neutral means of achieving racial diversity, such as recruitment and socio-economic indicators, before considering race, Washington said.
The court last upheld affirmative action in 2016 when it again considered Fisher’s case, in a narrow vote that many at the time had expected to upend race-conscious admissions policies.
Since that decision, the makeup of the court has changed in a way that makes it seem likely the precedent could be overturned, according to Washington.
“The court has shifted to a more conservative bloc of justices — 6 to 3 — and I think there would be among that group of six a significant receptivity to overruling Grutter v. Bollinger,” Washington said, noting that the breakdown is unlikely to change with the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
With this latest case, the court could rule in one of several ways, according to Washington. It could say the use of race in admissions violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and overturn Grutter, ending affirmative action. It could uphold Grutter and find that the use of race in Harvard and UNC’s admissions policies was constitutional. Or it could uphold Grutter but find that the use of race in these contexts isn’t constitutional.
The court could also potentially further restrict the practice or require “higher standards” for schools to use it, Michael Olivas, the emeritus William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Houston Law Center, told ABC News.
The consolidation of the two cases signals to Washington that “a majority of the court may be ready to overrule Grutter.” That the court also appeared inclined to overrule another long-standing precedent in Roe v. Wade also might indicate the same here, she said.
Against the convention wisdom at the time, Olivas had said the court would uphold affirmative action in the 2016 case. He said he believes the same now, even with a different makeup of the court.
“The world has changed, but the common law hasn’t changed,” he said. “I would hope that 50 years of very clear law would stand.”
‘Cataclysmic’ impact
Should the court end affirmative action in higher education, the impact will be far-reaching, Washington said, as most institutions — save for those in several states where it is prohibited at public universities — are using race-conscious admissions policies.
“This is not just going to impact the elite,” Washington said. “What we are going to see, what I predict, is a cataclysmic drop in the numbers of Latino, Black and Indigenous students attending institutions of higher ed.”
A 2015 study published in the Journal of Higher Education that looked at the impact of affirmative action bans in six states found that the share of students of color in medical schools dropped after the bans went into effect.
In California, which has banned affirmative action policies at the state’s public universities since 1996, the education advocacy group EdSource found there was a double-digit enrollment gap between the percentage of Latino high school graduates and those enrolled in the University of California’s 2019 freshman class.
If Harvard were to stop considering race in its admissions process and solely use race-neutral factors, the proportion of African American students admitted to the class of 2019 would have likely dropped from 14% to 6%, and the proportion of Hispanic or “other” students from 14% to 9%, a university committee found. Meanwhile, “this decrease would produce a corresponding increase in students of other races, primarily white students,” its report said.
Disparities in admissions have implications for those who enter professional fields, like law or medicine, as well as higher education faculty, Washington said.
“I think it will make the quality of education less robust and less rigorous,” she said. “I think it will mean we also end up with fewer racially diverse professors and professionals. It’s going to have adverse and broad consequences for our society.”
For Olivas, one of the worst consequences of potentially ending affirmative action is the message it sends.
“I think it will send a signal to minority parents that their kids aren’t wanted,” he said. “I think that would be a mistake for all of us. I want a better-educated group no matter where they’re from.”
Whether or not affirmative action is upheld, disparities in admissions would still exist through policies like legacy admissions, which tend to disproportionately benefit white applicants, he added.
In the case against Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions alleges that Asian American applicants have been illegally targeted and rejected at a disproportionately higher rate in violation of the students’ constitutional rights. In the case against UNC, it alleges the university refused to use race-neutral alternatives to achieve the stated goal of a diverse study body.
“Every college applicant should be judged as a unique individual, not as some representative of a racial or ethnic group,” Edward Blum, the president of Students for Fair Admissions and a long-time affirmative action opponent and conservative activist, said in a statement.
In its complaint against Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions also argued that racial classifications “have a stigmatizing effect” on applicants.
“Irrespective of whether an individual African American or Hispanic applicant is admitted to Harvard because of a racial preference, so long as racial preferences exist, it will often be assumed that race is the reason for the applicant’s admission to the school,” the complaint stated. “This stigma can have a devastating effect on the psyche of impressionable students.”
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision this week, both Harvard and UNC said their admissions policies have been found to be constitutional by the lower courts.
“Considering race as one factor among many in admissions decisions produces a more diverse student body which strengthens the learning environment for all,” Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said in a statement.
Beth Keith, a spokesperson for UNC, said in a statement that its holistic admissions process “allows for an evaluation of each student in a deliberate and thoughtful way.”
Many experts, including Washington, expect the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case during its next term, which starts in October.
(WASHINGTON) — In a scathing rebuke of the nation’s current classification procedures, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has told lawmakers that the current system classifies so much information it puts national security at risk — because of how long it can take to process.
“It is my view that deficiencies in the current classification system undermine our national security, as well as critical democratic objectives, by impeding our ability to share information in a timely manner, be that sharing with our intelligence partners, our oversight bodies, or, when appropriate, with the general public,” she writes in a letter dated Jan. 5 and sent to Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
The classification system, she wrote, reduces the intelligence communities capacity to “effectively support senior policy maker decision making, and further erodes the basic trust our citizens have in their government.”
The challenge on how to protect national security information, but appropriately share it is not a new challenge, nor is it easy, she said.
The senators wrote the Haines in October to express concern about the current classification system, noting numerous reviews of the process have “documented concerns across the entire lifecycle of the current system.”
“In the meantime, the volume of classified material produced continues to grow exponentially in a digital first environment, bringing with it the expanding burden of mandatory declassification requirements,” Haines said.
Haines said there are already efforts currently underway, but those were not disclosed in the letter obtained by ABC News.
She says the issue of classification is also “great importance” to President Biden.
