Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A small handful of Instagram content creators can now directly charge followers a monthly subscription fee for exclusive content and benefits in the latest shakeup to impact the ever-evolving digital creator economy.
Instagram’s parent company Meta announced the news in a company blog post, saying it is part of an effort to help enable creators to make a living through its platforms. Meta-owned Facebook launched a similar subscriptions service in 2020 and is now rolling the service out as a test on Instagram after positive feedback from Facebook content creators.
Meta previously said it would not collect any fees from creators on Facebook Subscription purchases until 2023 at the earliest, and said this will also apply to Instagram Subscriptions.
“With Instagram Subscriptions, creators can develop deeper connections with their most engaged followers and grow their recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where they interact with them already,” Meta stated.
The test of subscriptions on Instagram rolled out Wednesday with a small handful of creators, who can set a monthly price of their choice, unlock a “subscribe” button on their profile and offer new benefits to these subscribers including exclusive Instagram Lives and Stories. Content creators will also see a subscriber badge next to comments and messages from their subscribers to more easily identify them.
“Creators do what they do to make a living, and it’s important that that is predictable,” Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter. “And subscriptions are one of the best ways to have a predictable income, a way that is not attached to how much reach you get on any given post, which is inevitably going to go up and down over time.”
The announcement comes as fellow social media giant Twitter recently announced a similar subscription business model for users, and as Meta and more social media platforms have invested heavily in content creators for their platforms.
Meta alone said last July that it plans to invest more than $1 billion in programs “that give creators new ways to earn money for the content they create on Facebook and Instagram.”
The major investments also come, however, as lawmakers and regulators have renewed scrutiny on the power and reach of U.S. tech giants in recent months — and particularly their impact on the mental health of young people. Just last month, Mosseri was called to testify before lawmakers for the first time specifically about the platform’s impact on young users.
Despite the high-profile attention out of Washington, D.C., policymakers have struggled to agree on any concrete law or regulatory changes to crack down on Big Tech.
(NEW YORK) — A peanut allergy treatment often used on children 4 years old and up in the U.S. appears to be safe for toddlers too, a new study has found.
Around 2% of children in the country suffer from the allergy, some to a debilitating degree, which is why the discovery is “extremely exciting,” said Dr. David Stukus, professor of clinical pediatrics and director of the Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
In the study, conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases across multiple hospitals, researchers added powder containing peanuts to the daily diets of children, and found that over time, a large majority of them became desensitized to peanuts.
A smaller group of children even achieved full remission, meaning they were no longer allergic to peanuts at all.
While almost all the children studied had reactions to the peanut products, most were mild to moderate in severity, experts said.
The study also found that the younger the patients were when they started the treatment, the better they were able to tolerate peanuts, and the more likely they were to achieve full remission.
This means the treatment may be more effective if started while children’s immune systems are still developing.
“This suggests that if we do start treatment younger, there is a potential to help some children become non-allergic,” said Dr. Lisa Wheatley, section chief at the NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation.
Pediatric immunology experts interviewed by ABC News said they believe the study marks an important step in allergy research; still, they said more studies are needed to better understand young children’s immune systems and how they change.
The experts said children with a history of severe allergic reactions were excluded from the study, and warned that adding peanut products to the diets of children with known peanut allergies can cause serious reactions and should only be done under the guidance of a physician.
They added that while the study’s findings are promising, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan for children with peanut allergies, and parents must weigh the risks, benefits and expectations before letting their kids receive a treatment of any kind.
Aubrie Ford is an emergency medicine resident at Northwell Health, in New York, and a contributor to the ABC News Med Unit.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 860,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.2% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 20, 10:44 pm
Breakthrough cases grew fourfold during omicron emergence: CDC
Despite waning immunity over time, vaccines still dramatically reduced the risk of severe illness caused by COVID-19 through at least the end of the delta wave, according to data updated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday evening.
In November, unvaccinated adults had a four times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and a 15 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 28 states and jurisdictions.
Additionally, unvaccinated adults had a 13 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 68 times greater risk of dying from it as compared to fully vaccinated individuals with a booster.
The emergence of omicron does appear to have increased the occurrence of breakthrough cases. Between late November and late-December, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated increased more than fourfold. Even so, unvaccinated Americans remained twice as likely to test positive for the virus.
Similarly, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated and boosted Americans testing positive increased by nearly tenfold. However, unvaccinated Americans remained 3.8 times as likely to test positive for the virus.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 20, 4:54 pm
Wastewater data finds omicron may have been in US as early as Nov. 21
A new CDC study finds that the omicron variant was likely in the U.S. more than a week before the first case was detected.
The first official case was detected on Dec. 1 in California. But a review of the national wastewater surveillance system indicates that the variant could have been present as early as Nov. 21, according to samples collected in New York City.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Sony Salzman
Jan 20, 4:37 pm
Hospitalizations at record high, cases dropping in some areas
More than 160,000 COVID-19-positive Americans are currently in hospitals — a pandemic high and double the number from about three weeks ago, according to federal data.
It’s still not clear how many were admitted with COVID-19 and how many tested positive for the virus after they were admitted for other reasons.
The U.S. is reporting an average of 760,000 new cases per day, according to federal data.
Although case levels remain high, there’s growing evidence to suggest the omicron surge is receding in the parts of the country first struck by the variant.
In New York, daily cases have dropped by 33% in the last week, while in New Jersey new cases are down by 43.7%.
Wisconsin now leads the nation in new cases per capita, followed by Rhode Island, Utah and South Carolina.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 20, 3:12 pm
San Francisco appears to pass peak of omicron surge: Officials
In San Francisco, COVID-19 cases are “dropping rapidly” following record highs that appeared to peak on Jan. 9, officials announced.
While “cases are still extremely high,” they “have plateaued and are starting to go down,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Department of Public Health.
“We’re looking at data from other places … the consistent data seem to show that cases go up very fast, they started to come down very fast. So we’re on that downward trend now,” Colfax said.
(NEW YORK) — There’s no denying therapy can be a valuable resource for guiding you through life’s ups and downs.
However, it’s also important to recognize that your first meeting with a therapist may not feel like the perfect match for your needs.
For Emily Maldonado, a 27-year-old New York City-based public relations and marketing manager, it took almost a year before she realized her first therapist was not a good fit. After opting to discontinue services, she realized what she actually was looking for in therapy, and that helped her evaluate other therapists with a clearer direction.
“Now, I love my therapist and we’ve been going strong for over a year,” said Maldonado. “My original therapist just listened, but now I know I’m the type that appreciates action items and homework.”
She added, “My current therapist is also Latinx like me so there are some things she just gets.”
Licensed therapist, relationship expert and New York Times bestselling author Nedra Glover Tawwab told Good Morning America the process of finding the best therapist can be done like speed dating.
“It’s a way for you to figure out pretty quickly, in 15 or 20 minutes by phone or video, if this person will be a good fit,” said Tawwab. “You just talk for 15 or 20 minutes and sort of figure out if it would be a good situation — and yes, you can talk to a few therapists within the same week to figure out who might be the best fit.”
What to know before you go to your first therapy session
Experts agree that nerves are normal as you’re talking to a stranger and telling them very deep, personal information.
“There is no other space in which we do that, so there’s nothing to compare it to. So it is an awkward and uncomfortable encounter, initially,” said Tawwab.
Talkspace therapist Elizabeth Keohan advised that you shouldn’t expect immediate resonance in the beginning.
“It takes time to acquire a good fit with a therapist, so an openness to feeling emotionally challenged can help navigate whatever is causing tension,” she said.
Kate Rosenblatt, another Talkspace therapist, suggested doing a pre-interview to ask questions such as, “What would our therapy look like together? And have you worked with other people in a similar situation? How were the outcomes?”
It’s generally recommended to attend a minimum of three sessions before evaluating if a therapist is or isn’t right for you.
Once you’ve had a few sessions, and you are unsure if your therapist is the right fit, Rosenblatt shared that there are quite a few factors to consider before choosing to “break up” with your therapist.
Three key questions to ask yourself before moving on
1. Am I making progress in therapy?
“If you’re not where you want to be, and you’ve brought this up to your therapist and you’ve tried something new in therapy, but nothing has changed, it might be time to consider finding a new therapist,” said Rosenblatt. Or, alternatively, if you have made incredible progress, she suggests letting your therapist know it might be time for a break.
2. What do I want more of in therapy that I’m not currently getting?
It’s common for your focus to change throughout therapy, but it’s important to work with someone qualified to support the specific needs you’d like to focus on.
“If you speak with your therapist about your needs, and your therapist cannot adequately meet them, it might be time to find a therapist who can best support you,” said Rosenblatt.
3. Is therapy in general making me feel uncomfortable, or am I feeling uncomfortable with my therapist?
As therapy can bring up some difficult memories or experiences, Rosenblatt highlighted that you’re not going to leave every session feeling better immediately. However, she also advised that it is important to distinguish between your experience in therapy versus with your therapist.
“If your therapist has said or done things that feel unprofessional, uncomfortable or demonstrate a lack of cultural competency, see if it would feel right for you to address these with your therapist and then go from there,” she recommended.
After closely examining your experience, and coming to the conclusion that you’d prefer to move on from your therapist, Tawwab said that it’s truly a matter of preference when it comes to “breaking up” and your therapist, as a professional, is prepared for your relationship to end on your terms. “Believe it or not, therapists are ghosted all the time,” she said.
“It’s a part of the culture. We know everyone won’t come back,” added Tawwab. Still, she suggests that it is helpful to give feedback to aid the therapist in understanding where things might not have aligned.
Once you’ve parted ways with your initial therapist, there are a few tips to help navigate the process of finding someone new without getting discouraged.
Rosenblatt’s best practices to keep in mind include being clear on your priorities in what you want, sourcing therapist referrals from your communities and doing your own research.
With patience and hope, many people have found amazing therapists after some trial and error, and experts concur that one bad experience shouldn’t be the end-all when it comes to taking care of your mental health.
“Meeting the right therapist is like any sort of relationship where you’re learning someone else,” said Tawwab. “If you’re in school, it’s going to be 20 people in your class and you may have one to two friends.”
“If you’re dating, every relationship won’t work out and it’s that same sort of thing,” she continued. “You keep going. Hopefully, you don’t give up on dating or making friends or any of these sort of things, so please don’t give up on finding the right therapist.”
(OKLAHOMA CITY) — Oklahoma doctors say they are seeing a massive surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations among children — more than during any previous wave of the pandemic.
Between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15, more than 16,000 children under the age of 18 tested positive for COVID-19, making up 18.7% of all cases in the state that week, according to a weekly epidemiology and surveillance report from the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
That’s a 138% increase from the 6,700 children who contracted the virus the week before and a 566% spike from the 2,400 children who tested positive for the virus the week before Thanksgiving.
“If l look back just to two months ago — kind of October, November — that number tended to be between five and 10,” Dr. Cameron Mantor, acting chief medical officer at OU Health, told ABC News. “In the past three weeks now, we’ve just seen it continue to skyrocket.”
At Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, more than 50 pediatric patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time ever — a tenfold increase from just two months ago and three times as high as last winter’s surge.
Kids of all ages have been admitted, from as young as 2 weeks old up through teenagers, according to Mantor.
He said it’s not clear whether more children have been hospitalized because the omicron variant — which is fueling the recent wave — causes more severe illness or because the number of children being infected is so high that, naturally, the hospitalization rate will rise too.
Compared to adults, though, children with COVID-19 at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital have required intensive care treatment at lower rates, he said.
About 10% of children who have been admitted to intensive care units need oxygen support or mechanical ventilation compared to 25% of adults at OU Health.
However, even though most children recover from COVID-19, this doesn’t mean they don’t suffer complications.
Mantor said more kids have been diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, during this wave than in previous waves.
MIS-C is a condition in which different body parts can become inflamed, such as the heart, lungs and kidneys, and is often seen in children after they are diagnosed with COVID, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Additionally, during an OU Health roundtable discussion held on Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Stephanie DeLeon, inpatient medical director at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, said the hospital has recently seen children diagnosed with COVID encephalitis, meaning these patients have inflammation in their brains and have symptoms including altered mental states and seizures.
Health officials have stressed the importance of vaccinating children.
The weekly report from the OSDH shows that as of Jan. 8 — the latest date for which data is available — there were 32 children aged 17 and younger hospitalized statewide over the last 30 days.
Of those children, 31 were unvaccinated, including 17 children aged 5 and older who are eligible to receive vaccines.
Just one fully vaccinated child was hospitalized and no partially vaccinated children were admitted to hospitals.
“When we look at the state of Oklahoma, around 60% have had at least one vaccine dose, but the kids 5 and older who can get vaccinated, that percentage is still very small,” Mantor said.
Only 33.6% of Oklahoma children between ages 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated, according to the OSDH report. For kids aged 5 to 11, just 9% are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccines for children under age 5 have not yet been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“It’s the same old message that we’ve been preaching for two years now that to try to prevent the transmission of the disease, both amongst our pediatric patients but also from our pediatric patients to mom and dad and to grandma and grandad, is we have to get vaccinated,” Mantor said.”The kids that haven’t been vaccinated have to get vaccinated. It’s safe, it’s effective, it works.”
He added, “It’s not perfect. People are still getting infected with the virus but their likelihood of requiring hospitalization or becoming severely ill is much, much less if you’re fully vaccinated, so vaccines are so important. We need to really continue to push that in our aged 5 and older patients.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Amazon has expanded in many ways throughout the years, and now the e-commerce giant is launching a brick-and-mortar clothing store.
The company announced Thursday that its Amazon Style fashion retail space will open later this year at The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Los Angeles.
The new concept will offer a selection of apparel, shoes and accessories. The items will have QR codes providing information from sizing to customer ratings, the company said.
With the Amazon Shopping app users can also send items to a fitting room where they can use a touch screen to look through more options as well as request more sizes or styles to be delivered directly to their room, according to Amazon.
While Amazon has not revealed which specific brands will be featured, it said customers will have the option to browse emerging designers across hundreds of its top brands.
“Shoppers will find great looks at a broad range of prices, including trend-inspired pieces at affordable price points and sought-after styles that will become wardrobe staples,” Amazon Style managing director Simonia Vasen wrote in the company’s blog. “With Amazon’s vast fulfillment center network, the selection at Amazon Style will be frequently updated so customers can discover new items each time they visit.”
The clothing store isn’t Amazon’s first foray into a physical fashion store, the retail conglomerate has opened physical grocery stores, book stores, and in 2017, it bought Whole Foods Market.
In 2021, Amazon launched a hair salon in London for augmented reality hair consultations.
An exact date for Amazon Style’s store opening has yet to be announced, but the company said it will be inviting a select group of customers to experience the store “soon” in its announcement.
(NEW YORK) — While the benefits of exercise are becoming increasingly well known, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that more than one-fifth of Americans remain physically inactive.
In the study, being physically inactive meant no physical activity at all over the past month — anything from running to gardening.
“Getting enough physical activity could prevent 1 in 10 premature deaths,” Dr. Ruth Peterson, director of CDC’s Division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, said in prepared remarks. “Too many people are missing out on the health benefits of physical activity such as improved sleep, reduced blood pressure and anxiety, lowered risk for heart disease, several cancers and dementia.”
The CDC specifically warned about higher rates of inactivity in the South compared with the rest of the country. Meanwhile, more than 29% of Hispanic, African American and Native American adults were inactive compared to 23% of non-Hispanic white adults.
But doctors said that for many Americans, getting more active isn’t as simple as it sounds.
“What this map shows us is that there are disparities, but we have to be better about tailoring our strategies to different populations,” said Dr. Alok Patel, an ABC News special correspondent and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford Children’s Health.
“It’s important that any message we send is met with equity, inclusiveness and relatability, so that individuals can understand how to adopt and integrate practices into their own unique lives,” Patel added. “Even a walk in the neighborhood can be sufficient, but not everyone has access to safe environments. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a teenage patient tell me there’s no park within a mile of where they live.”
This is partly why experts including Patel emphasize that public health and community-based programs need to be individually tailored. Language barriers and cultural beliefs play an integral role as well. Early education though school-based programs and community-based research used to shape public health initiatives can prove especially critical.
And, Patel said, programs able to “listen” to their communities are at the crux of improving health literacy: “It’s not a one-size fits all solution.”
Nitya Rajeshuni, M.D., M.S., a pediatrics resident at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) — Cybercriminals could use altered Quick Response (QR) codes to steal personal and financial information of unsuspecting customers, the FBI warns.
QR codes are all around us these days, and they’re used for everything from restaurant orders to donations. During the pandemic, many restaurants began using QR codes in place of paper menus.
How it works: A code is scanned via a phone camera app, and the user is then redirected to the relevant website.
Troubles can arise, the FBI says, in cases where the codes have been altered. Unwitting users can be directed to malicious sites that prompt them to enter their financial and login information or expose them to malware.
“While QR codes have been around for a very long time, certainly in recent years, they’ve gained more widespread use,” Dave Ring, section chief of the FBI’s Cyber Division told ABC News. “Part of that is with the pandemic and a drive toward being as contactless as possible, QR codes give people the opportunity to just use their phone camera and scan a QR code.”
Police in San Antonio, Texas, warned that fake QR codes were found on parking meters throughout the city. “People attempting to pay for parking … may have been directed to a fraudulent website and submitted payment to a fraudulent vendor,” a tweet from the department said.
Ring said the San Antonio scam was the “perfect example” of people exploiting a simple, daily exercise, and the FBI warned that criminals could be taking advantage of people through other similar tactics.
“A cybercriminal can swap out a completely innocuous legitimate QR code for one that directs people to a malicious site, and that malicious site may prompt someone to click a link and could potentially download malware onto their device,” Ring said.
The redirect can also take users to what appears to be a banking website but is actually fraudulent, he added.
“Malicious QR codes may also contain embedded malware, allowing a criminal to gain access to the victim’s mobile device and steal the victim’s location as well as personal and financial information,” the FBI bulletin said. “The cybercriminal can leverage the stolen financial information to withdraw funds from victim accounts.”
To avoid any trouble, the agency urges people to use caution by checking the URL of the code, and when entering financial and other personal information.
“Just always practice caution when you’re looking at putting in any login information, personal information or financial information when you navigate from a QR code or from any link that you that you don’t know for sure is where you’re trying to go,” Ring said.
(WASHINGTON) — Several state lawmakers are looking to expand abortion access this legislative session while a challenge to Roe v. Wade is before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two bills out of Maryland and Washington aim to increase the pool of abortion providers operating in the states, which will likely see an increased demand for the service should the conservative-leaning high court overturn or limit Roe in the coming months through its decision on the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
Washington state Sen. Emily Randall, the majority whip for the Senate Democratic Caucus, is the lead sponsor of a bill under consideration this session that would expand abortion providers recognized under state law to include physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners, in addition to physicians.
“Abortion providers in Washington are rapidly preparing for the increase in women and people … who will drive hundreds of miles to Washington’s borders from our neighbors in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, depending on what type of ban the Supreme Court institutes,” Randall said during a media briefing Thursday with the State Innovation Exchange, a strategy center that supports state legislators nationwide in advancing progressive policies. “That’s why this policy is more important than ever.”
Democratic Maryland Del. Ariana Kelly, a former executive director at NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, also plans to introduce legislation this session that would expand abortion access in the state by allowing qualified health care providers such as midwives and nurse practitioners to provide abortions and increase access to training for abortion providers. The so-called Abortion Care Access Act would also ensure Medicaid covers abortion procedures and eliminate copays and deductibles on abortion care.
“What we want to do is address what we see as a critical provider shortage and also affordability issues,” Kelly said during Thursday’s briefing, held two days before the 49th anniversary of Roe. “As we’re seeing an increased wait time for appointments, we can recognize that there’s a shortage of providers. In today’s climate, six months from now, I think we’re only going to see this getting worse.”
Kelly said that two-thirds of Maryland counties do not have abortion providers, particularly in rural areas, while the state is also seeing increased demand — including from patients flying in from Texas in the wake of a state ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Helping Maryland residents access abortion care “more efficiently and effectively” may also help providers care for those coming from out of state, Kelly said.
Georgia Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon said she plans to introduce a resolution next week that addresses abortion access in the state, including for women of color, while a law that would ban abortion as early as six weeks in the state is being challenged in court.
“We need to resolve measures that say that Georgia has a strong commitment to the protection of reproductive health, rights and justice, which of course includes the right to safe and legal abortion care, but also the right to make reproductive decisions on your own,” Cannon said during the briefing.
Other states moving to protect abortion rights while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to uphold the Mississippi abortion ban include New Jersey, which last week enacted a bill that codifies the right to an abortion into state law.
The Vermont state legislature is also considering Prop 5, an amendment that would enshrine “reproductive autonomy,” including abortion, in the state constitution. If ultimately passed, the proposal could go before voters in November.
Meanwhile, states looking to restrict abortion rights include Florida, where state legislators are considering a bill that, like the Mississippi law before the Supreme Court, would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Washington state Republicans have also introduced legislation this session that would roll back abortion access, including a bill that would make providing medical abortion methods a felony.
Additionally, voters in Kansas and Kentucky are expected to decide this year whether to amend their state constitutions to say there is no right to an abortion.
Last year, 108 abortion restrictions were enacted in 19 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization. That’s the highest total in any year since 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion with its decision in Roe v Wade, the organization said.
After hearing arguments last month over the Mississippi law, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to scale back abortion rights. A decision on the case is expected by the end of the court’s term in June.
Should the court overturn Roe, leaving the right to an abortion decided on a state-by-state basis, 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion, according to a report published in October by the Guttmacher Institute.
(MANITOBA, Canada) — Four people, including two adults, a teen and an infant, have been found frozen to death about 40 feet from the U.S.-Canada border while being smuggled into North Dakota, according to U.S. and Canadian authorities.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and law enforcement officers with the Department of Homeland Security performed a traffic stop Jan. 19 on a 15-passenger van about 1 mile from the border when they found two undocumented Indian nationals from Canada inside, according to the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Less than a quarter mile away from the border, law enforcement encountered and apprehended five additional undocumented Indian nationals that walked across the U.S. border from Manitoba, Canada, according to the RCMP.
One of the travelers who was taken into custody was carrying a backpack containing children’s items, such as clothes, diapers and toys, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He told authorities he was carrying the backpack for a family that was traveling with their group but got separated from them as they traveled to the border during the night.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, coordinating with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, began a search on both sides of the border for additional travelers when they found the bodies of four individuals on the Canadian side of the border in Manitoba.
The adult male, adult female, teen male and infant were found “frozen,” according to Canadian authorities, and are believed to have died due to exposure.
The DOJ said, according to the group of travelers, the border crossing took an estimated 11 hours. Two of the travelers were transported to a hospital with serious injuries, the DOJ said.
The low temperature in Emerson, Manitoba, which is at the U.S.-Canada border, dipped to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday.
Steve Shand, 47, a U.S. citizen from Florida who was driving the van, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol and charged with one count of knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law, having transported and moved or having attempted to transport and move such aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Shand made his first court appearance Thursday and is due back in court on Jan. 24. He is currently being held in custody in Grand Forks County in North Dakota.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death of the victims. The four travelers who died have not yet been identified.
The Mounted Police said it plans to continue searching for any additional people who may have been illegally crossing the border.
