(ALABAMA) — Forty-five years after an Auburn University student vanished on his way to school, his car — and possibly his remains — have been recovered.
Kyle Clinkscales and his white 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout went missing on Jan. 27, 1976, when Clinkscales was on his way from LaGrange, Georgia, to Auburn University, about 45 miles away, said James Woodruff, the sheriff of Troup County, Georgia.
The 22-year-old never returned to school and his parents filed a missing persons report, Woodruff said.
The sheriff’s office has searched for Clinkscales and his car for 45 years, following hundreds of leads, though nothing substantial ever developed, Woodruff said.
On Tuesday, a man called 911 when he spotted the car in a creek in Chambers County, Alabama, Woodruff said at a news conference Wednesday.
Apparent human bones were found in the car, Woodruff said. The bones have not yet been identified, he noted, adding that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is examining them.
Clinkscales’ ID and credit cards were found in a wallet in the car, Woodruff said.
The creek runs under a well-traveled road, officials said. The car was about three miles from the interstate Clinkscales would have taken to school, officials said.
Police said they don’t know what the 911 caller was doing by the creek, adding that his contact information has been provided to investigators.
The sheriff said he hopes the remains will help determine if this was foul play or a car crash.
Clinkscales’ father died in 2007 and his mother died in January of this year, Woodruff said. While the sheriff said he wished Clinkscales’ mother was alive to see this development, “just the fact that we have hopefully found him and the car brings me a big sigh of relief.”
GUATEMALA) — Ruben spent four years in Chile working as a housekeeper at a hotel and despite his experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, he was unable to get a higher paying job. Originally from Haiti, he said he was skipped over for promotions and paid higher rent than lighter-skinned immigrants.
After years of struggling financially, and with the pandemic affecting the tourism industry, he decided to migrate to Mexico, where he said he now faces the same Xenophobia he tried to flee. He’s been in Tapachula, Chiapas, for three months waiting to be interviewed for a humanitarian visa.
“The situation is very difficult for all migrants, not only Haitians, there is no hope here,” he told ABC News in an interview conducted in Spanish. “There are no jobs and they don’t want to give us our papers. All we want to do is leave Tapachula and be in another city while we have our cases processed.”
Ruben is among the tens of thousands of migrants whose asylum claim has seemingly ground to a halt as Mexico’s leading refugee agency deals with an unprecedented number of requests for humanitarian visas.
Human rights organizations warn that as they wait for their cases to be processed, migrants have become easy targets for price gouging and criminals who scam them with the promise of a way out of the city. As the Mexican government puts mounting pressure on migrants to keep them from continuing north out of the state of Chiapas, migrants said they have been forced to live in makeshift shelters in the streets and in overcrowded homes.
ABC News is not reporting Ruben’s real name in order to protect his privacy as he waits to see if he’ll be given protection under a humanitarian visa.
Tapachula is known as the main port of entry for refugees in Mexico as it borders Guatemala. Still, the number of asylum requests as of the end of November is unprecedented. According to COMAR, the Mexican government’s agency that processes refugee status, at least 123,187 requests have been filed so far in 2021, surpassing the record set in 2019 of over 70,000. The majority of those requests, 73%, were filed in the state of Chiapas. Haitians are the leading demographic in asylum requests in Mexico, the agency said.
Andrew Bahena, who works with the international programs team at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Chiapas, has been documenting instances of discrimination and violence targeted toward the migrant community. Migrants are relegated to renting rooms in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Those disparities are accentuated for migrants with darker skin tones like Haitians, the coalition said.
“If you’re a migrant and you’re just going to pay per person, there’s a certain stock of housing that you’re going to be living in, and it’s really hard to rent anywhere out of that once people understand that you’re a foreigner,” he said. “That happens with food where people get charged more for the same kilo of rice. The problems get worse as the system stops working.”
As the nation’s leading refugee agency, COMAR is the only entity able to grant refugee status and issue travel documents that allow migrants to move within the country freely. The agency’s director, Andres Ramirez, said they’re able to process up to 5,000 cases a month, less than a third of the requests that were filed in November alone.
“This year’s wave has been gigantic,” Ramirez told ABC News in Spanish. “In addition to the large quantity, some people who don’t fit the profile of a refugee as the law establishes have submitted requests because they don’t have other immigration alternatives.”
South American countries like Chile and Brazil have seen large quantities of Haitian migrants since 2010, when a devastating earthquake claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti. Those who are now fleeing Central and South American countries due to financial instability may have a harder time being granted refugee status in Mexico.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or ACNUR, as it’s known in Mexico, has been assisting the Mexican government in providing aid and temporary accommodations in three local shelters in Tapachula. Josep Herreros, a senior protection officer for UNHCR, thinks the congestion in the city can be eased by providing alternatives for people who do not qualify for refugee status, but still need support.
“People are suffering from the congestion,” Herreros told ABC News in an interview in Spanish. “This flow is what we call a mixed movement, where we have refugees who need protection and other migrants who have other needs. We think it’s important to provide alternatives to the asylum process.”
As another way of easing the congestion in Tapachula, the National Institute of Migration has been busing some migrants to other cities where they can continue their asylum process.
Buses have been departing from the Olympic Stadium but Arturo Viscarra, an attorney for CHIRLA, said those efforts have slowed to a “trickle” and thousands of people have descended upon the area. On Monday, Viscarra filmed how countless people took cover from the sun in makeshift shelters outside of the stadium.
“There’s this complete lack of response,” Viscarra said. “It’s both a result of the policies with the combination of the racism that makes it more difficult for Haitians to obtain work and housing.”
The National Institute of Migration did not respond to ABC News’ request for an interview.
Government checkpoints have been established outside of the city and throughout Mexico’s major highways, making it difficult for migrants to leave without the threat of being deported.
In recent months, groups of migrants sometimes referred to as “caravans” have formed in an effort to bypass the checkpoints and continue further into Mexico, with some hoping to reach the U.S. border, according to CHIRLA. In September, the U.S. Border Patrol was embroiled in a national controversy when images were published depicting mounted patrol agents using their horses to push back Haitian migrants as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas.
Ruben said he cried when he saw those images and felt disappointed in how the U.S. is treating Haitians. He has also grown increasingly frustrated with the asylum process in Mexico, but his dream is to settle in Mexico City and work in the tourism industry.
“I’m not trying to go to the United States; it’s not where I can have a better life,” he said. “I’m looking for a place where I can live peacefully. If I can realize my dream here in Mexico and have a good job, I’ll stay here.”
(COLORADO) — Rep. Lauren Boebert, the gun-toting Colorado Republican who is under threat of being removed from her committee assignment for Islamophobic comments targeted at fellow lawmakers, faced more backlash on Wednesday after sharing a family photo showing her four children posing with guns in front of a Christmas tree.
“The Boeberts have your six, @RepThomasMassie!” Boebert wrote on Twitter late Tuesday, in apparent solidarity with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a fellow gun enthusiast, who faced criticism for posting a similar photo last week of his family proudly holding firearms in front of their Christmas tree. Both families appeared smiling while heavily armed ahead of the holiday season.
“(No spare ammo for you, though),” Boebert added in her Dec. 7 tweet.
On the heels of Massie’s post last week but ahead of her own, Boebert offered her support to her colleague’s photo, tweeting, “That’s my kind of Christmas card!”
Boebert and Massie, appearing to share the photos of their families brandishing firearms in an apparent appeal to their bases, did so within a week of a mass shooting at a high school in Michigan that killed four students and left at least eight seriously injured. That shooting came days after the father of the 15-year-old suspect allegedly purchased him a gun as an early Christmas present.
Democrats have been quick to criticize both the photos of Boebert and Massie — with Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez mocking Boebert early Wednesday in a tweet that garnered nearly 100,000 likes and counting.
“Tell me again where Christ said “use the commemoration of my birth to flex violent weapons for personal political gain”?” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response to the photo. “lol @ all the years Republicans spent on cultural hysteria of society ‘erasing Christmas and it’s meaning’ when they’re doing that fine all on their own.”
“When you pose in front of a Christmas Tree and can name all those guns but can’t name the gifts of the Wise Men,” the New York progressive added.
When you pose in front of a Christmas Tree and can name all those guns but can’t name the gifts of the Wise Men 🥴🥴🥴
The backlash to Boebert’s photo comes as Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., plans to introduce a resolution on Wednesday to strip the Colorado Republican of her House committee assignments over her anti-Muslim remarks aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., — with the aim of forcing House Democratic leadership to punish Boebert before the end of the year. Omar said over the weekend she is confident House Speaker Nancy Pelos will take “decisive action.”
It’s far from the first time Boebert, a freshman in this Congress, has faced criticism.
The Colorado Republican who owns a gun-themed eatery called “Shooters” released a political ad earlier this year showing her walking around the Capitol, verbally attacking congressional Democrats and ending with the sound of a gunshot. She is also facing questions from Democrats over her potential ties to pro-Trump supporters that were present at the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The pro-democracy, progressive media PAC MeidasTouch tweeted late Tuesday that it would not post the “deranged” image of Boebert and her children “holding weapons of war” and instead, listed those killed last week in Michigan to “honor the teens who were murdered due to this fetishization of guns.”
We will not be posting the deranged photo of Lauren Boebert and her young children holding weapons of war.
Instead, let’s honor the teens who were murdered due to this fetishization of guns:
Hana St. Juliana, 14.
Tate Myre, 16.
Justin Shilling, 17.
Madisyn Baldwin, 17. pic.twitter.com/IdQnHXobNA
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, says the committee will move to hold Mark Meadows in contempt after the former Trump chief of staff failed to appear before the panel for his scheduled appearance this morning.
On Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that Meadows had informed the committee that he is no longer cooperating with the probe, after Meadows had earlier agreed to appear before the panel.
Meadows’ attorney George J. Terwilliger II told committee members in a letter that they had made an appearance for a deposition untenable because they have “no intention of respecting boundaries concerning Executive Privilege.”
In response, Thompson told Terwilliger in a letter last night that the committee has “no choice” but to recommend the former chief of staff be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate.
(CALIFORNIA) — The top elected official in Riverside County, California, said Tuesday that she was appalled by the abuse endured by the 13 Turpin children over the years, stressing that the county is determined to investigate allegations that the siblings continued to be mistreated after they were placed under the county’s care nearly four years ago.
Karen Spiegel, chairwoman of the Riverside Board of Supervisors, offered her first public comments since the plight of many of the Turpin children was detailed during ABC’s “20/20” Diane Sawyer special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror,” which aired on Nov. 19.
“I, like many of you, watched the recent ’20/20′ special on the Turpin children. The reaction for most of us was horror, disgust. What happened to those children during that time was something none of us would want ourselves or our children to ever live through,” said Karen Spiegel, chairwoman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, during a public meeting.
Spiegel underscored that the county remains committed to supporting its independent investigation of the Riverside County care of the Turpin children, as well as that of all the vulnerable children and adults in the county’s care.
“It’s of utmost importance to complete a full and independent evaluation of our county systems, and in the way that we provide care and deliver services,” Spiegel said.
In 2018, the Turpin children escaped from their Riverside County home, where they were subjected to violence and deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care at the hands of their parents.
An ABC investigation explored allegations that the county’s social services systems, for dependent children and adults, had failed the Turpin children, then aged 2 to 29, following their rescue.
Many of the siblings were still “living in squalor,” Mike Hestrin, the Riverside County District Attorney, told ABC News this summer.
“That is unimaginable to me — that we could have the very worst case of child abuse that I’ve ever seen, and then that we would then not be able to get it together to give them basic needs,” Hestrin told Sawyer.
Despite an initial outpouring of support in the weeks after their parents’ 2018 arrest, some of the Turpin siblings and their advocates told ABC News that the siblings are still struggling to access basic living necessities, including food and housing.
“Right now, I don’t really have a way to get food right now,” Jordan Turpin, 21, told Sawyer at the time of the interview in July.
However, at Tuesday’s meeting, Spiegel suggested there was “always more to a story.”
“Like many things we see on the media and the internet, I also had to step back and caution myself not to make total judgment from some of the facts. There’s always more to a story. And sometimes you get what they want you to hear, and only that, nothing with the backup,” Spiegel said.
When approached by ABC News about the allegations after a Nov. 9 meeting of the county’s Board of Supervisors, Spiegel declined to discuss specifics about what has transpired with the Turpin children since they were rescued.
“Well I am not — I don’t have the information you’re looking for,” Spiegel told ABC News at the county meeting last month. “We’re still in investigation stages, so I don’t have anything to share with you.”
The accusations ultimately prompted the county to initiate an independent probe into the care of the Turpin siblings, as well as that of other vulnerable children and adults, who are all under the supervision of the court.
In late October, the county appointed former U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson to lead the investigation, which is set to be completed by March 31, 2022.
Larson served nearly 10 years on the bench in California, including three years in district court after being appointed by George W. Bush in 2006, according to his biography.
“My firm and I are fully committed to conducting a thorough and transparent examination of these matters, as expected by this board, and the residents and citizens of Riverside County,” Larson told the supervisors during an introductory presentation on Tuesday.
The law firm’s investigation has two primary objectives, according to Larson.
The first is “identifying and scrutinizing” the services provided to 13 siblings while under the care and supervision of the county. The second is to assess the quality of the Riverside County services for all children in foster care and dependent adults.
“We have to care about all of our children,” Spiegel said.
Larson commended the county for initiating the investigation, telling the board that “the fact that the county promptly sought an independent review and that you are demanding swift and meaningful action underscores for me in this county, your commitment to addressing these critical issues directly, openly and effectively.”
Larson reported that his team has “complete autonomy to pursue all relevant lines of inquiry to answer the critical questions that our investigation will uncover.”
“I want you to know that the board stands ready to provide the full resources and not to leave a stone unturned,” Spiegel said, adding that she expects Larson to act as a neutral party in the investigation.
During the meeting on Tuesday, the board also approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee to assess inter-departmental systems improvement for the protection of vulnerable children and adults.
According to a county representative, the committee will receive regular status reports and updates from Larson LLP, ensure full and complete access to any and all relevant information to support the inquiry, and make recommendations to the full Board of Supervisors regarding policy directives, systems changes and service delivery improvements.
ABC News’ Michelle Mendez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Sarah Ransome, a woman who has accused notorious serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of sexual assault, opened up on “The View” on Tuesday about how Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, allegedly aided in her abuse.
In her new memoir “Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back,” Ransome, who grew up in both South Africa and the United Kingdom, describes meeting Epstein when she was 22 years old shortly after arriving in New York City as an aspiring fashion student. She was “befriended” by another young woman at a nightclub, Ransome said, who called her just days later to arrange her introduction to a “fantastic” philanthropist who, she was told, believed in supporting young talent.
During their first meeting, she said, Epstein promised Ransome to help her gain admission to the Fashion Institute of Technology. It wasn’t long, Ransome said, before she was invited to stay on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. It was during that trip, she said, that Epstein raped her for the first time, trapping her in a cycle of abuse that, she said, would last for the next nine months.
“I was just completely traumatized by the rape,” Ransome said. “I was very quickly told by Jeffrey that after he raped me if I ever went to the authorities, if I ever told my parents, if I ever told my friends, and if I ever tried to escape, he would kill me … and take out my entire family.”
Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate — faces a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in the recruitment, enticement and trafficking of underage girls between 1994 and 2004. Ransome, as well as other alleged victims of Epstein, have accused Maxwell of orchestrating Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking scheme and recruiting young women and girls for him to assault.
Ransome sued Epstein and Maxwell in 2017 for alleged sex trafficking. The suit was settled in 2018 with no admission of wrongdoing. In court papers, Maxwell denied being responsible for Epstein’s actions and argued that as a 22-year-old, Ransome could not be a victim of sex trafficking, but was a sophisticated, college-educated young woman engaged in a consensual relationship.
In a case that does not include Ransome, federal prosecutors say Maxwell played a “key role” in a multi-state sex trafficking ring, in which she allegedly “befriended” and later “enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein,” allegedly being “present for and involved” in the abuse herself on occasion. Maxwell has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s abuse and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
“It makes me sick to my stomach that Ghislaine is claiming to be innocent and claiming to be a victim, because she was the chief orchestrater. She was the engineer,” Ransome said.
Ransome said she was “led by complete fear” as she remained in Epstein’s orbit, visiting him both in New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As soon as Ransome felt it was safe to escape, she said, she boarded a plane to the United Kingdom to reunite with her mother.
In August 2019, one month after Epstein was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy in New York, he died by apparent suicide while being held in federal custody at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.
Now, as Maxwell stands trial, Ransome hopes Maxwell will face consequences for her alleged actions as well.
“She broke the sisterhood bond,” Ransome said of Maxwell.
(GUANTANAMO) — Through its nearly two-decade existence, the Guantanamo Bay detention center has sparked intense, partisan debate. At a Senate hearing on closing the camp, the first of its kind in roughly six years, lawmakers could find little common ground apart from dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
In his opening remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the chamber’s Judiciary committee, expressed his frustration with the president’s lack of response to Democrats’ calls to shut down the military prison.
“I am disappointed. Disappointed that the president and attorney general have yet to respond to my letters,” he said. “And I’m disappointed the administration declined to send a witness to testify at today’s hearing on how they’re working to close Guantanamo.”
Although the White House says shuttering the facility, located within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, is a goal, so far it has taken few steps toward accomplishing it and has declined to set a timeline.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee’s top ranking Republican, also lamented that the White House had not supplied any witnesses to testify on reports from the intelligence community or the administration’s progress toward shuttering the prison.
“No one from the administration has come to defend the president’s plan to close Guantanamo,” he said. “And I’m not sure there is a plan.”
Grassley accused the Biden administration of taking a “no plan approach” during this summer’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I fear that his plan to withdraw from Guantanamo Detention Facility may be no different,” he said.
Although Guantanamo has earned a dubious reputation as an indefinite holding space for war on terror suspects and a battleground over the admissibility of testimony obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques many equate to torture, Republicans argued Afghanistan’s return to Taliban control has intensified the need for the detention camp.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said “229 of the 729 released from Gitmo have gone back to the fight. This is nuts,” citing the number of former Guantanamo detainees the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has either confirmed or suspected of re-engaging in terrorist activities.
Durbin objected to that statistic, noting recidivism rates are much lower among former detainees released after 2009, when current rules for transfer were put in place by Congress. The chairman also noted that of the 39 men still imprisoned in Guantanamo, more than two-thirds have never been formally charged with a crime.
“How can that possibly be justice?” he asked.
Even in cases where charges have been levied, such as that of the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the process of the military tribunal has been a source of anguish for many. Mohammed was arraigned nearly a decade ago, and while pretrial hearings drag on, the trial itself doesn’t yet have a set start date.
Colleen Kelly, a witness at the hearing who lost her brother Bill when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked jet, testified that she and many other family members of those lost on that day now want to see a plea agreement reached in the hopes it provides some level of closure, even if it means taking the death penalty off the table for the defendants.
“Family members want a measure of accountability and justice before our deaths,” she said.
Chief Defense Counsel for Military Commissions Brig. Gen. John Baker, another witness, argued that the ongoing cases must be brought to “as rapid as a conclusion as possible.”
“Notice I don’t say as just a conclusion as possible. It is too late in the process for the current military commissions to do justice for anyone,” he said, calling the proceedings a “failed experiment” and noting they had only resulted in one final conviction.
As for the other detainees, beyond partisanship, a dearth of practical options for their relocation is a major hurdle, even for those who already met the criteria for transfer.
In the past, administrations have engaged in sometimes years-long negotiations with countries receiving prisoners to secure some level of security assurance. Congress’ requirements for transfer and destabilization in the Middle East have left few viable options.
“We can’t get countries to take them and give assurances they’ll keep an eye on them,” Jamil Jaffer, the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute, testified.
But the man who opened the camp– Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert — maintains it is past time for the camp to close.
“The issue isn’t whether to close Guantanamo, but how,” he said, adding that the White House should appoint a person to tackle the task and set a deadline. “I was given 96 hours to open it — 96 days to close it seems reasonable.”
(WASHINGTON) — Republican-led efforts to repeal President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate on private businesses will once again get a vote in the Senate Wednesday, and this time a repeal is expected to pass.
The Senate will likely vote Wednesday on Republican Sen. Mike Braun’s effort to repeal the mandate on private sector businesses with more than 100 employees. Every Republican signed onto the proposal.
Republicans are bringing up the repeal for a vote using a procedural tool called the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn rules created by federal agencies and only requires 51 votes to pass the Senate.
The bill would still need to go over to the House, where it is unlikely to be brought up by Democratic leadership. Republicans could use a procedural tool to push a vote on the measure early next year, but it’s unclear if they’d have the votes to do it.
But during a press conference on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that if Congress were to send the repeal to Biden’s desk, he’d strike it down.
“We certainly hope the Senate, Congress will stand up to the anti-vaccine and testing crowd. We’re going to continue to work to implement these,” Psaki said. “If it comes to the president’s desk, he will veto it.”
Still, this won’t be a party-line vote in the Senate. As vaccine mandates lag in popularity nationwide, some moderate Democrats are expected to back the repeal effort during Wednesday’s vote, giving it the necessary votes to clear the Senate.
At least two Democrats are also expected to vote to end the mandate: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
“I will strongly support a bill to overturn the federal government vaccine mandate for private businesses. I have long said we should incentivize, not penalize, private employers whose responsibility it is to protect their employees from COVID-19,” Manchin said in a statement last week.
He’s been on the record repeatedly about his opposition to mandates on private businesses, though he supports the mandate for federal employees.
Braun, in an MSNBC interview, said he’s spoken to three or four other swing state Democrats who may also vote with Republicans.
“Anybody that is listening to their people back home, this doesn’t poll when it’s vaccine or job,” Braun said. “Even when you say vaccine or get tested or job, most of the people that are digging in regardless of their reasons aren’t viewing it as an option.”
Every Republican is expected to support the repeal, following last week’s party-line vote to zero out funds for the mandate during government funding negotiations last week.
Most Democrats will vote to keep the mandate in place. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a press conference Tuesday, said the vote is “anti science” and “anti common sense”
“It’s ridiculous, it makes no sense, and Democrats think it is the wrong way to go,” Schumer said.
(HARTFORD, Conn.) — Connecticut has seen an “extremely concerning” rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks, health officials said, as the number of cases also continues to trend up.
The state health department reported at least 500 hospitalizations on both Monday and Tuesday, marking a roughly 80% increase in the past two weeks — and the highest numbers since April.
“To go from 300 hospitalizations to 500 hospitalizations in such a short period of time is extremely concerning,” Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, told ABC New Haven affiliate WTNH Tuesday.
Today’s COVID-19 update in Connecticut:
➡️23,047 tests were administered and 1,919 came back positive (8.33% rate)
➡️525 patients are currently hospitalized (increase of 25)
The state also reported an 8.3% COVID-19 test positivity rate Tuesday, up from 5.8% the day before, an increase that Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont called “distressing.” Though the governor said he is not so much concerned with the infection rate as he is hospitalizations.
“We have over 500 folks in the hospitals now, so that’s triple where we were a few weeks ago,” Lamont said on the Connecticut Public Radio show “Where We Live” Tuesday morning. “[It’s] one-quarter of where we were a year-and-a-half ago, but it still is reason to be cautious.”
The state’s COVID-19 test positivity rate, which is the highest it’s been in nearly a year, may be elevated due to the use of at-home tests, Juthani said. Negative tests may go unreported, leading to fewer tests overall being factored into the positivity rate. But there is still cause for concern, she said.
“What we can be explicitly clear about is that this is a concerning trajectory that we are headed on in terms of the number of cases we have in our state,” Juthani told WTNH.
The health commissioner attributed several reasons to the recent increase in transmission in Connecticut — and the region in general — including colder weather, waning immunity among vaccinated residents and indoor gatherings, including holiday celebrations.
“You put all of these factors together, and it is not surprising that we see a rise in cases,” she told WTNH. “This virus is equal opportunity, and this virus finds the unvaccinated, primarily, but we do know that breakthrough cases can happen also.”
Over 85% of the state’s population has gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to federal data. The “overwhelming majority” of those who are getting infected are unvaccinated, Lamont said. More severe cases are also largely in those who are unvaccinated; of those currently hospitalized, over 76% are not fully vaccinated, according to state data.
“We need to focus on those that are not vaccinated,” Patrick Charmel, president and CEO of Griffin Hospital in New Haven County, told reporters Monday during a press event encouraging vaccination and boosters. “We need folks to go out and protect themselves, because they are protecting the community, but they’re also preserving our capacity to take care of sick people.”
Amid concerns about the new omicron variant, which has been detected in at least two Connecticut residents, Charmel said the predominant delta variant has been contributing to the current surge in hospitalizations in the state.
“What we are seeing right in, in the increase in hospitalizations over the last two weeks … that’s not because of omicron. That’s because of the delta variant that’s still with us,” he said.
Charmel said Monday that 91% of hospital beds in New Haven County were full, leaving 200 available. Influenza cases are also starting to add another “layer” of strain on hospitalizations in the region, and he urged people to get the flu vaccine as well.
“There isn’t the capacity to handle what could come if we don’t do the responsible thing,” Charmel said.
As cases have gone up in recent weeks, Lamont said he isn’t considering implementing any new COVID-19 health orders, such as a universal indoor mask mandate. Currently, only unvaccinated people in the state are required to wear masks while indoors in public spaces. The governor has urged people to avoid large crowds, be cautious and get vaccinated or boosted. He told reporters Tuesday that he is “hopeful” that residents will “continue to do the right thing.”
Juthani has also encouraged people to get their boosters to help reduce transmission. About a quarter of eligible residents have gotten their boosters so far, federal data shows.
“Do not let your guard down,” she said. “This virus is not done with us, even if we’re done with it.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 791,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 60.1% 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 08, 8:50 am
New study suggests Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may only partially protect against omicron variant
Results from an initial laboratory study show that the omicron variant can partially dodge protection from two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The companies announced the findings in a joint press release Wednesday. The study, which was not peer-reviewed, found that omicron likely reduces efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine but does not render it ineffective and that a third dose offers even greater protection against the new variant.
“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement Wednesday. “Ensuring as many people as possible are fully vaccinated with the first two dose series and a booster remains the best course of action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
The study was conducted in a laboratory by exposing a vaccinated individual’s blood to omicron to see whether the vaccine would neutralise the variant. Some of the participants included in the study had received two doses of the vaccine, while others had gotten a third booster dose.
For those with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, researchers found there was a 25-fold less antibody neutralization ability of omicron compared to the original virus variant. But within a month after getting a booster shot, researchers found that antibodies were restored to a high level, even against omicron. Giving a third dose of the vaccine appeared to boost antibody levels 25-fold — roughly equivalent to a level seen after two doses against the original virus variant.
“Our preliminary, first dataset indicate that a third dose could still offer a sufficient level of protection from disease of any severity caused by the Omicron variant,” BioNTech co-founder and CEO Ugur Sahin said in a statement Wednesday. “Broad vaccination and booster campaigns around the world could help us to better protect people everywhere and to get through the winter season. We continue to work on an adapted vaccine which, we believe, will help to induce a high level of protection against Omicron-induced COVID-19 disease as well as a prolonged protection compared to the current vaccine.”
The study measured antibody levels, which are only one part of a person’s overall protection. The exact percentage of vaccine efficacy against the omicron variant remains unclear.
-Sony Salzman
Dec 07, 1:50 pm
Fauci: Omicron ‘almost certainly’ not more severe than delta
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday told news agency Agence France-Presse that the omicron variant is “almost certainly” not more severe than delta.
He stressed, however, that it is important to not overinterpret early data, as the patients being followed skew younger and are less likely to become hospitalized. Severe illness can take weeks to develop.
“There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalizations seems to be less than with delta,” Fauci said.
He also reiterated that it would take at least several more weeks to understand key questions surrounding omicron’s severity.
Results from labs testing current vaccines against omicron should come in the “next few days to a week,” Fauci said.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 07, 11:05 pm
US daily death average surges
The daily death average in the U.S. has increased to more than 1,150 — up by 57% in the last week, according to federal data.
The U.S. is about 10,000 deaths away from reaching yet another grim milestone of 800,000 Americans lost to COVID-19.
The U.S. is now averaging approximately 103,000 new cases per day, which is a 19% increase in the last week and a 62% jump since late-October, according to federal data.
Minnesota currently holds the country’s highest case rate followed by Vermont and Wisconsin. Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Louisiana have the nation’s lowest infection rate.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 07, 10:27 am
Near pre-pandemic travel volumes expected to continue through December holidays
The TSA screened nearly 21 million travelers during the 10-day Thanksgiving holiday period. Despite new concerns over omicron, the agency expects to see the near pre-pandemic travel volumes continue through the December holidays.
