(ALBANY, N.Y.) — With COVID-19 cases in New York state reaching all-time highs, demand for testing has increased as well, bringing with it concerns of price gouging and falsely advertised turnaround times.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office issued an alert Tuesday asking consumers to report any potential price gouging of at-home testing kits after the office received some reports of testing kits being sold for double or triple their retail price.
The office said it has received reports of BinaxNOW brand tests being “unlawfully” sold for between $40 to $70 per package, when the tests typically cost between $14 to $24 at stores such as Walgreens.
“As New York sees an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases, more and more New Yorkers are looking for at-home tests and other tools in the fight against the coronavirus,” James said in a statement. “If New Yorkers see exorbitant price increases on testing kits or other goods vital and necessary for health, safety and welfare, they are encouraged to report it [to] my office immediately. And fraudsters are on notice that if they attempt to price gouge during this new surge, we will not hesitate to take action.”
New York law prohibits merchants from taking unfair advantage of consumers by selling products “vital to their health, safety or welfare for an ‘unconscionably excessive’ price,” according to James’ office.
The attorney general also announced Tuesday it issued a warning to Brooklyn-based LabQ Diagnostics for allegedly misrepresenting its COVID-19 test turnaround time.
In a letter to the lab, which has mobile locations throughout New York City, the attorney general said some consumers have reportedly been waiting over 96 hours for COVID-19 test results to come back, even though the lab advertised that results would come back within 48 hours.
The letter, dated Monday, instructed the lab to update its website and signage at its test sites “immediately” to reflect how long people can expect to wait before they receive their test results.
“LabQ’s own website states, ‘Turnaround Time Matters,’ but so does being honest with consumers,” James said. “LabQ and all other labs should ensure that they are giving consumers accurate information about when to expect test results.”
LabQ did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
As of Tuesday afternoon, LabQ’s website says consumers can expect their results within one to five days, “due to a significant increase in COVID testing.” Earlier on Tuesday, it had stated that consumers could expect their results within one to four days.
The attorney general’s office also asked LabQ to contact all customers currently awaiting test results to inform them when they should expect to get them, according to the letter addressed to LabQ.
“We appreciate that there is undoubtedly an increase in demand for COVID-19 testing due to the holidays and omicron variant. However, it remains important, especially during the holidays, to advertise and otherwise convey accurate information to consumers about when they can receive their test results so that they can plan accordingly,” Mary Alestra, special counsel for the attorney general’s office, said in the letter.
(NEW YORK) — With on-site work in a state of flux due to the pandemic, small towns, big towns, regions and even states, have launched programs to incentivize people to move.
Anela Malik and Ahmed Zuhairy have worked from their home in Washington, D.C., for over a year. They say that over the course of the pandemic, what they were looking for in a hometown, has changed.
“Though we loved our apartments, our various apartments over the years, they were all really small. With two people and two cats that were now working from home, fighting for space on calls, and trying not to interrupt each other’s Zooms,” said Malik. “Our life shifted dramatically during the last year.”
Anela Malik is a social media influencer and her husband, Ahmed Zuhairy, is a financial crimes analyst. They said they were looking to find more space, a good community and a place that suited their other interests outside of work.
“[My husband] really wants to be in a place with a great cycling infrastructure. We both really like nature,” said Malik. “I was looking for a place that had a thriving or at least a growing food scene. When we started our Google searches, Northwest Arkansas came up every single time.”
The couple decided to take advantage of an incentive program in Northwest Arkansas called, “Life Works Here,” that offered $10,000 and a credit that can be used at any local shop that piques interest. The two were chosen for the program out of more than 35,000 applicants.
“I filled out the application late at night on a whim and then we booked a trip here and right before we came, they notified us we were selected,” said Zuhairy. “So that was on our minds when we visited, but I would say that, in my view, it was the people here that made up our minds for us.”
Malik and Zuhairy signed a lease in October for their new home in Lowell, Arkansas, a town with a population less than 10,000.
The “Life Works Here” program was launched in November 2020 and only 64 applicants have been accepted, according to Nelson Peacock, the CEO and president of the Northwest Arkansas Council.
“People are finding that they can come here, have an exciting employment opportunity, just live their life and excel here,” said Peacock, who oversees the program. “And so I think that’s what we’re taking advantage of.”
Peacock said that the program focuses on accepting three different categories of professionals: remote workers, STEM workers and creative entrepreneurs.
“We also want to bring in these entrepreneurs so they can build, grow, and scale their companies to help us with job growth in the future,” said Peacock. “And then the creatives to help us build out a well-rounded quality of life here.”
Northwest Arkansas isn’t the only place taking advantage of newfound remote-work flexibility and offering incentives to urge people to relocate.
Tyler Jaggers, a 41-year-old video game designer, moved from his home in San Jose, California, to Topeka, Kansas, in October 2020.
He said the high cost of housing in Silicon Valley was a wake-up call.
After applying to the “Choose Topeka” relocation incentive grant, Jaggers was awarded $10,000 and decided to trade in his small rented California apartments for a house that he owns.
“There would be almost 20 people living in the same house where people were renting couches,” said Jaggers. “For me, when I saw that, I was like, ‘It’s time to start investing in my own personal, long-erm existence.'”
“Why would someone give you $10,000 if they don’t want you there, right?” he added.
Jaggers bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Topeka for $47,000.
“The real part of the move that was so exciting to me was the idea of home ownership,” said Jaggers.
In order to keep the awarded $10,000, relocated residents have to stay in Topeka for a minimum of a year.
It’s been a little over a year since Jaggers made the move, and he said he has no plans to leave anytime soon.
“I’m not planning on flipping this house, ever. I’m not planning on moving ever. It’s the best living experience I’ve ever had in my life,” said Jaggers, who is almost finished renovating his new home and continues to work remotely for a video game company.
Jaggers said that the pandemic forced him to rethink about what he values in a home.
“The pandemic years made me make the best decisions I’ve ever made and actually gave me that nudge to grow up in a sense,” said Jaggers.
Back in Arkansas, for Anela Malik and Ahmed Zuhairy it’s still too early to tell whether or not the move was the best decision for them, but they said they’re only optimistic.
“I think a lot of young people right now, especially, are thinking about leaving the bigger cities, because our work has changed so much, so our home lives also need to change to accommodate that,” said Malik.
She said one of the most important things to think about when thinking about relocating is to consider the community.
“I would say just make sure that you could imagine your life in that community and there are a lot of incentive programs out there,” she said. “And that is an opportunity. But just make sure you could imagine your life in that place.”
(NEW YORK) — U.S. traffic safety regulators have launched a formal probe into certain Tesla vehicles after reports emerged that drivers can play video games on the car’s touchscreen while in motion.
A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that the agency has opened a preliminary evaluation into certain Tesla vehicles, including the Model 3, S, X and Y, that were produced between 2017 and 2022.
The investigation seeks to “evaluate the driver distraction potential of Tesla ‘Passenger Play,'” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
“NHTSA based its decision on reports that Tesla’s gameplay functionality is visible from the driver’s seat and can be enabled while driving the vehicle,” the statement added.
The agency said it has received one owner complaint describing the gameplay functionality and has confirmed that this capability has been available since December 2020 in Tesla “Passenger Play”-equipped vehicles. Prior to this, enabling gameplay was only possible when the vehicle was in park, according to the NHTSA.
The agency said it seeks to evaluate scenarios in which a driver could interact with the “Passenger Play” feature through its investigation.
Earlier this month, the New York Times published an investigation into Tesla’s video game features highlighting the so-called “passenger play” option. The report stated that an update in Tesla’s software package added at least three games drivers could access while the car was in drive — and that in a warning that appears before the game starts, Tesla signals it is aware of this and that “playing while the car is in motion is only for passengers.” The outlet reports a button asks if the player is a passenger, but a driver can also play by simply touching it.
Distracted driving has been blamed for the deaths of more than 3,000 people in 2019, according to separate data compiled by the NHTSA.
Tesla, which previously disbanded its media relations team, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on Wednesday.
In its statement to ABC News, the NHTSA added that it “reminds the public that no commercially available motor vehicles today can drive themselves.”
“Every available vehicle requires the human driver to be in control at all times, and all State laws hold the human driver responsible for the operation of their vehicles,” the agency added. “Certain advanced driving assistance features can promote safety by helping drivers avoid crashes and mitigate the severity of crashes that occur, but as with all technologies and equipment on motor vehicles, drivers must use them correctly and responsibly.”
The latest investigation from regulators comes on the heels of separate, ongoing probe into Tesla’s Autopilot systems that was launched by the NHTSA in August.
(LOS ANGELES) — The Port of Los Angeles predicts it will break a new cargo record in 2021.
The port said it would process about 10.7 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) this year, a 13% increase from its 2018 record.
“As we approach a new cargo milestone amid this pandemic, I’m so proud of the resilience of this Port, our labor force and all of our partners,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a press release. “While there is much more that we need to improve upon, we’re delivering record amounts of cargo and goods are making their way into the hands of consumers and manufacturers.
Exports have actually been declining in 33 of the last 37 months, according to the release.
The increase in activity at the nation’s busiest port comes as U.S. firms are grappling with supply-chain issues and product shortages, The Associated Press previously reported.
(NEW YORK) — What comes around goes around: Your discarded plastic water bottle may soon become part of your next car.
Automakers are racing to make their vehicles more sustainable — the industry’s favorite buzzword — by turning environmentally unfriendly materials into seat cushions, floors, door panels and dashboard trims. First it was reclaimed wood. Then “vegan” leather. Now, plastic waste from the ocean, rice hulls, flaxseeds and agave are transforming the manufacturing process.
“Everyone is awakening to the problems of plastic and waste,” Deborah Mielewski, a technical fellow of sustainability at Ford, told ABC News.
Ford in particular has been championing the use of renewable materials in its vehicles. In 2008 it replaced the petroleum-based polyol foam in its Mustang sports car with seat cushions made from soy, an industry first. More recently Mielewski and her team started examining how to transform some of the 13 million metric tons of ocean plastic, which threaten marine life and pollute shorelines, into parts for future Ford vehicles. The result? Wiring harness clips in the new Ford Bronco Sport that were once nylon fishing nets.
“Two years ago there was a lot of publicity around ocean pollution and we felt an obligation to do something,” Mielewski said.
Ford acquires the recycled plastic from its supplier DSM, which collects the nets from fishermen who are paid to return them. The nets are harvested, sorted, washed and dried before they’re cut into small pellets and injection-molded into harness clips, which weigh about 5 grams and guide wires that power side-curtain airbags in the Bronco Sport.
Mielewski said Ford is currently testing the recycled plastic’s durability for the Bronco Sport’s wire shields, floor side rails and transmission brackets.
“My hope is we can replace many parts with this material,” she said, adding that more than half of Ford customers “care deeply about the environment and want to understand what companies are trying to minimize their footprint.”
Brian Moody, executive editor of Autotrader, said automakers like Ford have been attempting to produce environmentally responsible vehicles for years. He recalled Ford’s Model U concept which premiered on Jan. 5, 2003, at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. It had a hybrid engine and its door panels were built with a natural fiber-filled composite material.
“This is not just a passing trend. Sustainability is here to stay,” Moody told ABC News. “Environmental regulations are likely to become more strict in the years to come [and it’s] another incentive for automakers to start looking for a solution right now.”
Automakers deliberately added plastics to reduce the weight and cost of vehicles and increase performance and fuel economy, according to Gregory Keoleian, director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan.
“About 40 different types of basic plastics and polymers are commonly used to make cars today and state-of-the-art separation technologies are very capital intensive,” he told ABC News. “The majority of plastics are derived from petroleum and natural gas feedstocks and when vehicles are retired these materials are generally disposed of in landfills.”
For German automaker Audi, sustainable materials are a launching point to becoming net CO2 neutral by 2050. Recycled PET bottles are ground up and transformed into a polyester yarn, accounting for 89% of the seat material in Audi’s fourth-generation A3 car. An additional 62 PET bottles were recycled for the carpet in the A3. The carpet and floor mats in the all-electric e-tron GT are made from Econyl, a recycled nylon fiber constructed from fishing nets. The e-tron GT’s 20-inch wheels are also assembled from low-CO2 emission aluminum.
In August, the company showed off its skysphere electric roadster concept, which featured sustainably produced microfiber seat fabric, environmentally certified eucalyptus wood and synthetically produced imitation leather.
“Audi is committed to sustainable materials and we’re implementing these changes in new vehicles,” Spencer Reeder, director of government affairs at Audi, told ABC News. “We have very high standards and fully vet these products.”
Reeder, however, said Audi’s top priority is expanding its lineup of electrified vehicles. By 2025, 30% of Audi vehicles in the U.S. will be full battery electric or plug-in hybrid.
“We’re delivering on things that really truly matter to the environment,” he said. “The focus right now in the industry is on battery materials — nickel, lithium, magnesium — and sustainably sourcing those materials.”
Keoleian pointed out that 17% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are from automobiles.
“Automakers leading in sustainability are companies accelerating their launch of EV models,” he said.
Stephanie Brinley, an analyst at IHS Markit, said automakers are promoting these green efforts aggressively because consumers are more curious and aware of the manufacturing process. These eco-friendly materials “have to look good and be durable and work” to win over consumers, she told ABC News.
“If the material performs just as well, consumers will be happy,” she noted, adding, “You’d be hard-pressed to find a consumer who is against sustainable materials.”
Volvo, the Swedish automaker, said it’s addressing all areas of sustainability — not just carbon emissions — in its vehicles. The company said it will go leather-free by 2030 and use a material it developed called Nordico that consists of textiles made from recycled material such as PET bottles, bio-attributed material from sustainable forests in Sweden and Finland and corks recycled from the wine industry.
The automaker has even been “looking to reduce the use of residual products from livestock production which are commonly used within or in the production of plastics, rubber, lubricants and adhesives, either as part of the material or as a process chemical in the material’s production or treatment,” according to Rekha Meena, Volvo’s senior design manager for color and material.
“We see a growing trend in consumer demands for more sustainable materials, particularly alternatives to leather, in most of our key markets due to concern over animal welfare and the negative environmental impacts of cattle farming, including deforestation,” she told ABC News. “We share these concerns and are choosing to transition away from leather and focus on high-quality sustainable alternatives, like Nordico, to meet this customer need.”
Polestar, Volvo’s electric performance brand, cut plastic from its car interiors by choosing a composite made from flax.
The instrument panel in BMW’s all-electric iX SUV is treated with a natural olive leaf extract to avoid any production residue that is harmful to the environment, according to the company. BMW also chose FSC-certified wood and a large chunk of the iX’s door panels, seats, center console and floor are manufactured from recycled plastics.
For its all-new MX-30 EV, Mazda wanted to use materials that “show an even greater respect for environmental conservation,” a spokesperson told ABC News. The center console and door grips in the MX-30 EV are made of cork and the seats feature leatherette and a fabric that uses 20% recycled threads. The door trims also use recycled PET bottles.
Environmental aesthetics will certainly attract a discerning segment of drivers, according to Brinley.
“Some consumers will feel much better about their vehicles,” she said. “But we’re still pretty far away from having a car made entirely from renewable materials.”
Geoffrey Heal, a Columbia Business School professor, said automakers could make an even greater impact by powering their factories with renewable electricity and building cars that are easily recyclable at the end of their life cycle. Reusing plastic and biodegradable materials is laudable but would have to be done at a significant scale to truly be effective, he argued.
“Automakers are doing this because they feel pressure both by consumers and the government. But there is genuinely some concern [by automakers] to make the world a better place,” Heal told ABC News. “These are small steps but every little step helps.”
Ford’s Mielewski said the company will continue experimenting with innovative and earth-friendly materials — agave, potato peels, coffee chaff — to try to reduce Ford’s impact on the planet.
“We’ve been doing this for quite a long time. I hope everyone will join us,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 810,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.6% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 22, 9:33 am
Ohio hospitals take out an ad in local paper pleading for people to get vaccinated
Six hospitals in Ohio have taken out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer in a desperate plea for people to get vaccinated as the state faces a renewed surge.
The ad, which appeared in Sunday’s paper, says in big letters: “Help.”
“We need your help. We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before,” the ad says. “And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. This is preventable.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week that he would deploy the state’s National Guard to help with hospital strain. Ohio is now averaging more than 9,100 new cases every day — up 67.5% in the last month. Statewide, more than 5,200 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
“The best way to avoid serious illness is the vaccine,” the ad said. “So, get vaccinated and get your booster … we need you to care as much as we do.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 22, 8:48 am
Booster shots ‘will really help us’ with omicron: CDC director
About 73% of U.S. COVID-19 cases are now the omicron variant, but that number rises to 90% in areas like New York, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told “Good Morning America” Wednesday.
“Things are moving quickly,” she said. “The doubling times of this virus are very fast, around two days.”
But Walensky said the booster shot “will really help” with this variant.
“What we know about omicron is that it has a lot of mutations, and with more mutations we need more immune protection. And that’s really why this booster shot will really help us,” Walensky said.
Asked if President Joe Biden’s decision to mail 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans in January is too late to help the current surge, Walensky responded, “We have been ramping up testing.”
“We have much more testing now than we had just months ago,” she said. “And we were in the middle of a delta surge as omicron hit, so really right now there are so many things that we can do in addition to testing to keep safe — and that really does mean getting 40 million Americans who continue to be unvaccinated vaccinated and making sure that people get that booster shot.”
Dec 22, 3:46 am
Portugal bans outdoor drinking, large gatherings for New Year’s Eve
Portugal said it would limit outdoor gatherings to 10 people and prohibit outdoor drinking on New Year’s Eve.
The country, which has 52 confirmed omicron cases, will also require most people to work from home starting on Saturday, the president’s office told ABC News on Tuesday.
The new restrictions, which are set to expire Jan. 10, will require people to present negative COVID-19 tests as they enter sporting events, theaters, weddings and other large gatherings.
Bars, discos, and schools will close on Saturday, the president’s office said.
The country reported an uptick in COVID-19 cases between Dec. 16 and Dec. 19, but numbers were slightly down on Tuesday, with 2,752 newly diagnosed cases and 18 deaths, according to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard. Portugal’s adult population is 87% fully vaccinated.
-ABC News’ Aicha El-Hammar Castano
Dec 21, 7:53 pm
California to require all health care workers to get booster
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Tuesday evening that he will require that all health care workers in the state to get their booster shot.
“With Omicron on the rise, we’re taking immediate actions to protect Californians and ensure our hospitals are prepared,” he tweeted.
More details about the order will be shared on Wednesday, according to Newsom.
Dec 21, 7:05 pm
Chicago to institute vaccine mandate for indoor events
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a vaccine mandate for most indoor events as the city grasps with a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Starting Jan. 3, anyone over the age of 5 will have to show proof that they are fully vaccinated to “to dine indoors, visit gyms, or enjoy entertainment venues where food or drink are being served,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Patrons 16 and older will also need to “provide identification that matches their vaccination record,” according to the statement.
Chicago is averaging more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases a day — a 79% increase from one week ago, the mayor’s office said.
Dec 21, 4:36 pm
New Hampshire hospital seeing record-high number of patients
Elliot Hospital in New Hampshire is now seeing three to four times as many patients as it had at the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Laura McPhee told ABC News.
She said their ICU is full with COVID-19 patients and staff is running thin.
“We’re tired. It’s been extremely hard on everybody,” McPhee said, stressing that “most of the patients that we’re seeing are unvaccinated.”
“Most days I’ve been angry and frustrated. … Because this is preventable. It doesn’t have to happen,” she said. “I’ve not ever seen a patient here in the ICU who has been fully vaccinated with a booster.”
(ATLANTA) — Life expectancy in the United States decreased by nearly two years in 2020, mainly because of the pandemic, a new federal report suggests.
In 2019, Americans had a life expectancy — the average number of years a person is expected to live — of 78.8 years.
But new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) found this figure fell to 77.0 years in 2020, marking the biggest drop seen since World War II.
“The thing that stands out to me is just this staggering decline,” Dr. Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the NCHS, told ABC News.”I know 1.8 years doesn’t seem like a whole lot but, on a population scale, that’s a huge decline in life expectancy.”
This is the biggest decrease seen since World War II, when life expectancy fell by 2.9 years from 66.2 years in 1942 to 63.3 years in 1943.
Although the report lays bare the impact that the virus has had on life expectancy, the team behind the report said other factors also played a role, including an increase in deaths due to diabetes and accidental injuries, such as drug overdoses.
Diabetes deaths topped 100,000 for the first time, Anderson said, and accidental or unintentional injury deaths, such as drug overdoses, topped 200,000.
However, he said that COVID-19 is undoubtedly the biggest reason for the decline.
According to the report, there were more than 3.38 million deaths in the U.S. last year, about 530,000 more than there were in 2019.
Of that 3.38 million, more than 350,000 deaths were attributed to COVID-19, meaning 10.4% of all deaths in 2020 were caused by the virus.
“I can tell you it’s the primary driver in the decline in life expectancy and the increase in mortality,” Anderson said. “We’re talking about 350,000 deaths. That accounts for the bulk of the increase in morality — the overwhelming majority.”
Men saw a bigger decrease in life expectancy, losing 2.1 years — from 76.3 in 2019 to 74.2 in 2020 — compared to a decline of 1.5 years — from 81.4 in 2019 to 79.9 in 2020 — for women.
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2020, responsible for 85 deaths per 100,000 people.
Anderson said it is the first time a new disease has entered the top 10 leading causes of death so quickly.
“A disease that comes out of nowhere and ends up in the top 10 or top five? You’d have to go back to the early days of the HIV epidemic to see something similar.”
He said HIV never got higher than the eighth-leading cause of death and, even then, it took a few years after the virus was first identified before it reached the top 10.
“This is sort of similar, but even more dramatic, because in one year it goes from nothing to the third-leading cause of death,” Anderson added. “Remarkable.”
(NEW YORK) — With millions of Americans set to travel and gather for Christmas and the New Year, families across the country are scrambling to try to ensure they are adequately protected against the coronavirus.
Experts suggest a confluence of factors is likely driving the country’s case rate up amid the surge of the omicron variant, most notably the millions of Americans who remain unvaccinated.
Many of those who have yet to get the shot are children, despite the fact that in the U.S. anyone over the age of 5 is eligible for the vaccine. Pfizer shots were authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for those 5 to 11 at the end of October, 12 to 15 in May and are fully approved for those 16 and older.
Since the emergence of the delta variant, children have been a significant driving factor behind the nation’s latest coronavirus surges, accounting for about a quarter of the nation’s reported weekly COVID-19 cases. Since July, more than 3.3 million have tested positive for the virus, representing 1 in every 4 cases, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. In addition, the U.S. has not seen a week with fewer than 100,000 new pediatric cases since early August.
Now, given the potential for the highly transmissible omicron variant to cause an even greater wave of infections, experts say it is more critical than ever for children to be vaccinated in order to protect them and those around them, from severe disease and hospitalization, despite the fact that severe illness remains generally uncommon among children.
“[Omicron’s] increased transmissibility makes it possible that we’ll see very high case numbers in children, especially if they remain unvaccinated,” Dr. Kristin Moffitt, an infectious disease specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital told ABC News. “Even if severe infection remains relatively uncommon in children, if case numbers in children skyrocket, we’ll see many more pediatric hospitalizations.”
Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that models, which estimate the epidemic trajectory of coronavirus in the U.S., suggest that the new COVID-19 infections are likely to surge in the weeks to come and could exceed previous peaks, due to omicron.
“One of the fundamental drivers of ongoing community transmission is that there remains a significant portion of our population that is not immune to COVID,” C. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases, told ABC News.
More than 90 million Americans are currently unvaccinated — including 51 million children under the age of 18.
Child COVID-19 cases on the rise again
Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 7.4 million children and adolescents have tested positive for coronavirus, and in the last week alone, approximately 170,000 pediatric cases were reported, according to a new report from AAP and CHA, released on Monday.
“I think it is concerning to see these rates increasing,” Dr. Lee Beers, the AAP president, told “GMA3” on Tuesday. “It’s been a long, almost two years, and everyone is tired and everyone is frustrated and that’s all the more reason for us to be coming together to work together to really try to beat this thing and I think our kids are struggling.”
Since the first week of September, there have been nearly 2.3 million child cases — nearly a third of the total pediatric cases reported since the onset of the pandemic — and over the last month, pediatric COVID-19 related hospital admissions have increased by 33%, according to federal data.
“As children make up a larger portion of the unvaccinated population, they will account for a higher percentage of cases,” added Moffitt.
Although young people have largely been spared from acute COVID-19 illness, experts stress that children are not immune from the virus. According to the CDC, children are as likely to be infected with COVID-19 as adults and the virus now one of the top 10 causes of death for children ages 5 through 11 years.
There continues to be the misconception, among some, that children and teenagers may not be as severely affected by COVID-19 as adults, explained Creech. While that seemed to be the case early on in the pandemic, the delta variant proved otherwise.
“We began to see far more infections in children, some of which were severe. In addition, we continue to see long COVID, myocarditis, and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children who appear to have very mild symptoms at the outset,” said Creech.
Pediatric COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to lag
With less than a third of the pediatric population — those under 18 — fully vaccinated, officials, health experts and pediatricians alike have been urging parents to get their children vaccinated.
“If your child is five years of age and older, please get them vaccinated. We need to protect the children,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’ “This Week” earlier this month. “This idea that children are not vulnerable at all is not so.”
President Joe Biden echoed Fauci’s sentiment on Tuesday, pleading with all families to get their “children protected today.”
“If your children are not vaccinated, please get them vaccinated,” Biden said. “If you’re a parent, understandably you waited – to see how the first shots went with other kids, before getting your own kid vaccinated, you can stop waiting.”
However, about two-thirds of parents of elementary school-aged children are either holding off on getting their younger children vaccinated or refuse to do so, according to another recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, conducted before the discovery of omicron.
The safety profile of the Pfizer vaccine for eligible children remains “very reassuring,” added Moffit.
Earlier this month, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News that real-world monitoring revealed vaccines are safe for young children.
Notably, the agency has yet to identify any concerns with the temporary heart inflammation known as myocarditis, a potential side effect of mRNA vaccines seen in rare circumstances in teenagers and young adults.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” Walensky told ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. “We have an incredibly robust vaccine safety system, and so if [problems] were there, we would find it.”
Concerns over omicron
There is still not enough data to indicate how omicron will affect children, or whether it will potentially cause severe illness, compared to earlier variants.
Preliminary evidence indicates that omicron spreads at a rate two to three times faster than the delta variant, which experts say could result in a surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly among the unvaccinated.
“With delta, and now with omicron, we see the virus seeking and finding those who are either unvaccinated or whose circulating antibody levels have waned,” Creech explained.
Preliminary data from South Africa estimates that children had a 20% higher risk of hospitalization in the country’s omicron-driven fourth wave, given the fact that so many children were still unvaccinated, and therefore, unprotected.
In addition to the significant number of children and teenagers who are still unvaccinated, there is a large number of children under the age of five who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Late last week, the potential timeline for vaccines for children under 5 was pushed back after early data suggested that two lower doses of the Pfizer vaccine was not as effective for kids ages 2 to 5 as it was for the 16 to 25 population. Thus, scientists will add a third dose and see if the vaccine is as effective. Authorization for those 5 and younger may not come until the second quarter of 2022.
Experts therefore say it is critical for all those eligible to get vaccinated, in order to protect children who are still too young to get the shot.
“Vaccination will prevent infections, and fewer infections will mean lower transmission. Vaccinating everyone in a household who is able to be vaccinated will bring an added layer of protection to the entire household,” said Moffit.
(SAN ANTONIO) — The San Antonio Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding 3-year-old Lina Sadar Khil who authorities say may be in “grave, immediate danger.”
Lina was last seen on Monday between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at a playground in San Antonio, according to police. She was with her mother who left her alone for an unknown amount of time, police said. When Lina’s mother returned, the young girl was gone, according to police.
A department spokesperson told ABC News there is no indication that Lina is with a family member.
Lina is white, about 4 feet tall and weighs 55 pounds. She has straight, shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes.
Police said she was last seen wearing a black jacket, red dress and black shoes.
This case is still active and being investigated, according to police.
Authorities are asking anyone who has information on the case to call SAPD Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660.
(NEW YORK) — Medical researchers say there is renewed promise in reducing COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths by increasing the use of convalescent plasma treatments early on in a coronavirus infection.
And some medical experts are pushing the federal government to allow more patients to receive the treatment, as lab-based monoclonal treatments such as Regeneron have seen lessened effectiveness against the omicron variant.
Researchers at John Hopkins University on Tuesday released the results of a 16-month nationwide study on convalescent plasma use on COVID-19 patients and found it had a 54% relative risk reduction in COVID-19-related hospitalizations.
Dr. Arturo Casadevall, one of the study’s co-authors and chair of the department of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News that the results are promising, especially if the plasma is used early on in the infection period.
“The results show a 54% efficacy in reducing hospitalization if you give it up to day nine. It is clear and highly significant,” he said. “If you look to less than five days, the efficacy is much, much higher.”
Researchers observed 1,181 adults who contracted COVID-19, half of whom were given polyclonal high-titer convalescent plasma that contained a concentrated mixture of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The other half were given placebo control plasma with no COVID-19 antibodies,
None of the patients who received the convalescent plasma died, and only 17 were hospitalized within 28 days of their infection, the study said, whereas three patients who received the placebo died, and 37 were hospitalized within 28 days of their infection, according to researchers.
After the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for monoclonal treatments made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, the use of plasma treatments for hospitalized coronavirus patients decreased.
Unlike plasma treatments, monoclonal treatments are not derived from the blood of COVID-19 survivors but instead are a cocktail of lab-created antibodies. Those monoclonal treatments were shown to be very effective at preventing worsening symptoms and deaths in infected patients.
However, Casadevall, warned that plasma treatment options need to be more strongly considered as the omicron variant has made monoclonal antibody treatments less effective.
George Yancopoulos, the president and chief scientific officer at Regeneron, told ABC News his company does have a collection of antibodies that are effective against the omicron variant, but it will take at least a few months before it is authorized and shipped.
“People that are high risk who come down with COVID who receive plasma in lieu of monoclonals hopefully stay out of the hospital,” Casadevall said. “And so plasma holds the line until Regeneron comes out with a new set of monoclonals.”
The John Hopkins study comes two weeks after the World Health Organization advised against the use of treatments that use COVID-19 survivors’ plasma. The WHO said it used data from 16 trials involving more than 16,000 patients around the world and determined that the treatment did not “improve survival nor reduce the need for mechanical ventilation.”
Casadevall told ABC News that the WHO did not use the data from the John Hopkins research in its decision.
“We hope that they reverse their recommendation against convalescent plasma in light of the Hopkins study results, since this therapy is inexpensive and available in resource-poor countries where plasma can provide a major tool to reduce hospitalizations and mortality,” he told ABC News.
Andrea B. Troxel, a professor of population health and the director of the division of biostatistics at NYU School of Medicine who has also written studies on convalescent plasma treatments for COVID-19 patients, told ABC News that previous studies on the effectiveness of plasma treatment have been mixed, but she found the results of the John Hopkins University study to be very encouraging.
Troxel said the issue with plasma treatments is determining the right time for their use during the infection period, and the data in the new study gives doctors a better idea of its effectiveness.
“This is the sweet spot for plasma, early enough in the infection the plasma can do what it needs to do. For other studies, it maybe was a little late,” she told ABC News.
Casadevall said the Food and Drug Administration should extend its emergency use authorization for plasma treatments to the outpatient space to ensure the treatment is given at the right time.
Troxel echoed this call and said plasma treatments should be more widely used for infected patients
“There is a strong benefit for these patients in receiving plasma,” she said. “It is safe and there is no reason not to trust this evidence.”
