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Premature births continue to rise for Black, Native American mothers: Report

November 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The rate of babies born premature in the United States has declined for the first time in six years, but experts warn it is not a cause for celebration, as a maternal and infant health crisis still exists.

Preterm birth rates in the U.S. decreased 0.1% from 10.2% in 2019 to 10.1% in 2020, according to a report published Monday by the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization focused on improving the health of pregnant people and babies.

Even with the decrease, the U.S. — where 1 in 10 babies are born premature — maintained a “C-” grade for its preterm birth rate, according to the report.

And the report also found preterm births increased over the past year for Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native people, who are up to 60% more likely to give birth prematurely as compared to white women.

“I think it’s really important to understand that around the issue of premature birth, we still have significant issues around health and equity, and we still have far too many women who are more likely to give birth prematurely than others,” said Stacey D. Stewart, president and CEO of March of Dimes. “So we don’t see this report card as a reason to really celebrate.”

“It just means that we have a lot more work to do, especially in the communities that are most impacted,” she said.

In addition to increases this year, the the rate of preterm birth for Black people has increased by nearly 8% since 2014, and by 11% for American Indian/Alaskan Native people, according to March of Dimes.

Preterm, or premature birth, is any birth that happens before 37 weeks of pregnancy have been completed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Babies born premature have higher rates of death and disability including breathing problems, cerebral palsy, feeding difficulties, developmental delays and vision and hearing problems, according to the CDC.

What causes a pregnant woman to deliver early is not always known, but risk factors include everything from a history of preterm birth to stress and substance abuse to socio-economic factors like being over the age of 35, having a low income and being Black, according to the CDC.

An emerging area of research has grown in recent years to look at why a pregnant person’s race, especially Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native, plays a role, according to Mirella Mourad, MD, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and co-director of the Preterm Birth Prevention Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

“We are just starting to delve into understanding why women of color are at increased risk, where before it was just a risk factor,” she said. “Now we can with confidence say that discrepancies in socio-economic status or baseline health, education level, do not explain the entire picture.”

Mourad continued, “That’s kind of a good conclusion face to reach, so that we can focus on other factors and things that have recently become a big focus, like areas of racism-related stress and institutional systemic racism.”

In addition to race, March of Dimes’ report card also showed disparities in preterm birth rates based on where people live.

The rates of preterm births increased in 13 states, with Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia and Puerto Rico earning an “F,” meaning they had a preterm birth rate of 11.5% or more.

Only the state of Vermont earned an “A” grade with a preterm birth rate of 7.7%.

Overall, the southern states, Appalachia and pockets of western states have higher levels of vulnerability, according to the March of Dimes.

Stewart said the report card looks at social vulnerability, like where a person lives, because they can contribute to maternal health, which also plays a role in preterm birth.

“We know that how any of us live, the social determinants of health, are primary determinants in our health overall,” she said. “So whether or not mothers have access to health care, whether or not they live in safe neighborhoods, have access to good nutrition, have access to health care, if those things are lacking, those issues can certainly increase the risk of a mother’s health declining and sometimes lead to premature birth.”

This year’s report card — released annually in November, National Premature Awareness Month — also looked for the first time at low-risk C-sections, defined by the March of Dimes as one that takes place when a pregnant person is at least 37 weeks pregnant and has not given birth before.

The low-risk C-section rate in 2020 in the U.S. was 25.6%, according to the report, around 10 points above the maximum of what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the ideal rate for C-section births.

“We included information about low-risk C-sections as as a way of thinking about the overall state of maternal health,” said Stewart, noting that C-sections are associated with increased risk of maternal morbidity and increased rates of NICU admission.

“The fact that the U.S. is considered the most dangerous developed nation in the world in which to give birth is very shocking and surprising to a lot of people,” said Stewart. “One of the reasons we want to make sure that people have this information from the report card is to shine a brighter light on the fact that we have a lot of issues in this country, still even the wealthiest country in the world, with respect to maternal and infant health.”

“It requires a lot more attention and awareness and action to make sure that every mom and every baby is healthy,” she said.

US condemns Russian anti-satellite test it says created ‘dangerous’ debris field

November 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The United States on Monday condemned a Russian anti-satellite test against one of its own satellites that the U.S. said created a field of more than 1,500 pieces of debris that could remain in orbit for decades and pose a threat to other satellites.

Previous Russian tests have been of missiles or “killer satellites” capable of bringing down a satellite, but the new test marks the first time Russia has brought down a satellite with a missile.

The State Department criticized the Russian test as another example of what it said was Russia’s “dangerous and irresponsible behavior” in its space military operations.

“Earlier today the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive test of a direct–ascent anti satellite missile against one of its own satellites,” Ned Price, the State Department spokesman told reporters Monday.

“This test has so far generated over fifteen hundred pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threatens the interests of all nations,” said Price.

“Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior jeopardizes the long term sustainability of our space and clearly demonstrates that Russia’s claims of opposing the weapons and weaponization of space are disingenuous and hypocritical,” said Price in language not typically seen in diplomatic statements.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the Defense Department shared similar concerns about the new Russian test.

“We watch closely the kinds of capabilities that Russia seems to want to develop which could pose a threat not just to our national security interests, but the security instance of other spacefaring nations,” said Kirby.

The new test marked the first time Russia destroyed an orbiting satellite with a ground-based missile, but previous tests have also sparked strong U.S. criticism. Last year, Russia carried out two similar tests with ground-based missiles that either demonstrated the capability or missed their targets. A third test in July of last year involved a different anti-satellite technology when a “killer satellite” deployed a projectile in the direction of another satellite.

In 2007, China drew international condemnation after it destroyed an orbiting satellite that created a large debris field. The following year the United States brought down an American satellite for which the remaining fuel supply posed a threat to human populations upon reentry but also showed that the U.S. could target an orbiting satellite.

In 2019, India destroyed one of its satellites demonstrating that it, too, was capable of anti-satellite technology.

“Russia has demonstrated a complete disregard for the security, safety, stability, and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations,” Gen. James Dickinson, the commander of U.S. Space Command, said in a statement.

“The debris created by Russia’s DA-ASAT will continue to pose a threat to activities in outer space for years to come, putting satellites and space missions at risk, as well as forcing more collision avoidance maneuvers,” said Dickinson. “Space activities underpin our way of life and this kind of behavior is simply irresponsible.”

Price said the test would “significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station, as well as to other human spaceflight activities.” That threat seems to have been borne out on Monday when the seven American and Russian crewmembers aboard the space station were ordered for a time to take refuge in their Dragon and Soyuz lifeboats as the space station repeatedly passed through an unspecified debris field.

Earlier on Monday, U.S. Space Command confirmed that it was “aware of a debris-generating event in outer space” and that it was “actively working to characterize the debris field and will continue to ensure all space-faring nations have the information necessary to maneuver satellites if impacted.”

Majorities back maintaining Roe v. Wade, oppose states’ abortion clinic restrictions (POLL)

November 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As abortion returns to the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket, majorities of Americans support maintaining Roe v. Wade, oppose states making it harder for abortion clinics to operate and see abortion primarily as a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, not lawmakers.

Americans — 60-27% — say the high court should uphold Roe in this ABC News/Washington Post poll, including majorities of men and women, young adults and seniors, college graduates and those without degrees and whites and racial and ethnic minorities alike. It’s 62% among Catholics and steady across urban, suburban and rural residents.

See PDF for full results, charts and tables.

A majority supports retaining Roe, the landmark 1973 ruling that established a woman’s right to an abortion, even in the 26 states where, according to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion bans or severe restrictions are anticipated if the ruling was overturned.

Roe v. Wade aside, the survey finds that 58% of Americans oppose state laws that make it harder for abortion clinics to operate vs. 36% who support them. Strong opposition far outstrips strong support, 45% vs. 26%.

The Texas law that empowers private citizens to sue those providing or assisting with abortions is even more unpopular: Two-thirds of Americans say the Supreme Court should reject it, including nearly a third of those who otherwise support additional state restrictions.

On a more personal level, 75% say the decision whether or not a woman can have an abortion should be left to her and her doctor, not regulated by law. It’s a sentiment held by majorities across the political spectrum, including by bare majorities of Republicans and conservatives and half of evangelical white Protestants.

What’s Next For Roe

While Roe v. Wade has faced challenges before, analysts suggest that it faces the strongest possibility in recent years of being overturned, citing the court’s hearing this term of a case challenging abortion restrictions in a Mississippi law.

While prospects for Roe in the high court have waxed and waned, public support for the ruling has been largely steady. Sixty percent support upholding it in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, which is consistent with 62% among registered voters last fall and 59 to 65% in results to a separate question asked from 2005 to 2010.

Support for retaining Roe runs especially high among liberals (87%), Democrats (82%), people with post-graduate degrees (73%), those under 30 and Black Americans (both 71%). It’s also 71% among women under 40 – compared with 54% among men that age. (Among all women, 64% support Roe; among all men, 56%.)

Opposition is more muted, reaching majorities in only a few groups, and mostly by smaller margins than in groups that back the ruling. Preference for Roe to be overturned peaks at 70% among people identifying themselves as strong conservatives, but drops to 38% among those who are somewhat conservative. It’s supported, by contrast, by nearly all strong liberals and 79% of those who are somewhat liberal.

In another leading opposition group, 58% of evangelical white Protestants support overturning Roe, while 30% favor upholding it.

In the 26 states where bans or severe restrictions on abortion are considered likely if Roe were overturned, 54% support upholding it.

State Laws

Like other abortion-related legal issues, views on state restrictions making it harder for abortion clinics to operate are highly partisan. Eighty-three percent of Democrats oppose these laws, with 71% strongly opposed, while Republicans support them by nearly 2-1, 62-32%. Independents fall closer to Democrats, with 61% opposed to such restrictions.

Even less popular than state restrictions in general is the Texas law, with the public saying by 65-29% that it should be rejected by the Supreme Court. This law gets majority backing only from evangelical white Protestants (60%), conservatives (56%) and Republicans (55%). Just 7% of liberals, 8% of Democrats, 16% of moderates and 26% of independents agree.

The Texas law was the subject of an expedited hearing in the Supreme Court earlier this month, with a ruling expected soon to determine whether the state can be sued by those challenging the statute. The court hears the Mississippi case Dec. 1.

Woman/Doctor

The most lopsided result in this survey comes in response to a question that poses the issue outside the legal context, asking if the decision whether or not a woman can have an abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor – preferred by 75% – or regulated by law, selected by 20%.

Among groups, 81% of women say the decision should be left to the woman and her doctor, compared with 69% of men. That reaches 86% among women under 40 as well as a similar 78% of older women. It’s higher still among Black people, 91%, compared with about seven in 10 whites and Hispanics alike.

Support for leaving the decision to the woman and her doctor ranges from 70% to 80% across age groups, encompasses three-quarters of Americans regardless of their education and income levels and crosses other customary attitudinal lines as well; for example, it’s 71 to 76% in rural, suburban and urban areas alike.

As noted, even narrow majorities of Republicans (53%) and conservatives (52%) say the decision should be between a woman and her doctor and evangelical white Protestants divide on the question, 49-47%.

Methodology

This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Nov. 7-10, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions in the full sample are 27-26-37%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Md. See details on the survey’s methodology here.

Trump allies pressed Defense Department to help overturn election, new book says

November 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In the aftermath of the 2020 election, some of Donald Trump’s closest allies embarked on an unprecedented effort to get the Department of Defense to chase down outlandish voter fraud conspiracy theories in hopes of helping Trump retain power, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl writes in his new book.

In Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, scheduled to be released today, Karl reports that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell tried to enlist a Pentagon official to help overturn the election.

According to the book, Flynn — who had just received an unconditional pardon from President Trump after pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI during the Russia probe — made a frantic phone call to a senior Trump intelligence official named Ezra Cohen (sometimes referred to as Ezra Cohen-Watnick), who previously worked under Flynn at both the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Council.

“Where are you?” Flynn asked the DoD official, who said he was traveling in the Middle East.

“Flynn told him to cut his trip short and get back to the United States immediately because there were big things about to happen,” according to the book. Karl writes that Flynn told Cohen, “We need you,” and told the DoD official that “there was going to be an epic showdown over the election results.”

Flynn, according to the book, urged Cohen that “he needed to get orders signed, that ballots needed to be seized, and that extraordinary measures needed to be taken to stop Democrats from stealing the election.”

“As Flynn ranted about the election fight, [Cohen] felt his old boss sounded manic,” Karl writes in the book. “He didn’t sound like the same guy he had worked for.”

“Sir, the election is over,” Cohen told Flynn, according to the book. “It’s time to move on.”

Flynn, according to Karl, fired back: “You’re a quitter! This is not over! Don’t be a quitter!”

Karl writes that after a heated few minutes, Flynn hung up the phone — and that was the last time the two men talked.

“Betrayal” also reports that Sydney Powell, Flynn’s former lawyer who was then advising President Trump, called Cohen shortly after the Flynn conversation and tried to enlist his help with one the most far-fetched claims about the election, involving then-CIA Director Gina Haspel.

“Gina Haspel has been hurt and taken into custody in Germany,” Powell told Cohen, pushing a false conspiracy theory that had been gaining steam among QAnon followers, according to the book. “You need to launch a special operations mission to get her,” Powell said.

Powell, according to the book, was pushing the outlandish claim that Haspel had been injured while on a secret CIA operation to seize an election-related computer server that belonged to a company named Scytl — none of which was true.

“The server, Powell claimed, contained evidence that hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of votes had been switched using rigged voting machines. Powell believed Haspel had embarked on this secret mission to get the server and destroy the evidence — in other words, the CIA director was part of the conspiracy,” Karl writes.

Powell wanted the Defense Department to send a special operations team over to Germany immediately: “They needed to get the server and force Haspel to confess,” Karl writes.

Cohen thought Powell sounded out of her mind, according to the book, and he quickly reported the call to the acting defense secretary.

A CIA spokesperson subsequently debunked the claim, telling news outlets that “I’m happy to tell you that Director Haspel is alive and well and at the office.”

Neither Powell nor Flynn responded to repeated requests for comment.

Reese’s new giant peanut butter cup pie for Thanksgiving sells out in hours

November 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Lovers of all things chocolate, dessert and Reese’s have another thing to be thankful for just in time for the holidays.

On Monday, a new Reese’s Thanksgiving Pie was announced. The sweet treat is the largest peanut butter cup ever, with a 9-inch diameter and weighing 3.4 pounds. That’s a lot of chocolate and peanut butter.

“When you bring together friends and family for Thanksgiving dinner, no table spread is complete without dessert,” said Bo Jones, senior associate brand manager at Reese’s, said in a press release. “At Reese’s, we wanted to create a dessert that everyone wants a piece of. You can thank us later.”

Social media erupted with comments ranging from people volunteering to taste test to remarks about the pie’s 7,680 calorie count. The brand notes it contains 48 servings.

Hershey’s made only 3,000 of the pies, which were available on its website for $44.99 each. All of the pies sold out within a matter of hours, according to the brand’s Facebook page.

Hershey’s, which owns the Reese’s brand, unveiled its new seasonal flavors in September, which included a new peanut brittle Reese’s peanut butter cups flavor for the 2021 holiday season and the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Yardstick, a super-sized pack with 18 full-size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup packs.

Six teens hospitalized after shooting at park in Aurora, Colorado

November 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(AURORA, Colo.) — Six high school students are in the hospital after they were shot at a park near their Aurora, Colorado, school, police said.

All injuries are non-life-threatening, Aurora police Chief Vanessa Wilson said at a news conference. School resource officers put a tourniquet on one victim who is in surgery, she said.

The students, who all attend Aurora Central High School, are ages 14 to 18, Aurora police said.

There are believed to be “multiple” suspects who are all at large in the wake of the shooting, which took place just north of Aurora Central High School, at Nome Park.

The shooting appeared to be a drive-by, Wilson said, adding that people may have also fled on foot.

The parents of all victims have been notified, Wilson said.

Wilson urged residents in the area to send authorities their home surveillance footage to help police with the investigation.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Jeff Cook contributed to this report.

Details emerge in case against mom of New Jersey teen who went missing

November 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Details have emerged in the criminal case against the mother of a 14-year-old who went missing in October from her home in New Jersey before being sound safe nearly a month later in New York. According to officials, she ran away in order to escape abuse at home.

The criminal complaint against 40-year-old Jamie Moore, filed Friday in Essex County Court, describes several instances of alleged abuse against the young girl, including “stabbing the victim to her shoulder causing a laceration that is still visible, spraying bleach in her eyes, pulling her braids out” and striking her with several objects, including a frying pan.

According to the complaint, Moore also allegedly struck her daughter with her hands and put her knees on her neck and back, “causing her to struggle to breathe.”
MORE: Mom of missing New Jersey teen charged with child endangerment

Moore is also accused of “educational neglect.” Officials stated in the criminal complaint that she forced the 14-year-old to not attend virtual learning classes during the 2020/2021 school year and did not enroll her in the 2021/2022 school session.

The charges against Moore were announced last week in a press release from acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens and East Orange Police Chief Phyllis Bindi. Police said her daughter had run away from home and did not want to return.

Moore was arrested Friday and is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility. Attempts to find a lawyer for Moore were unsuccessful. Her detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Moore’s daughter reportedly ran away Oct. 14 after stopping at Poppies Deli Store in East Orange, New Jersey, after Moore allegedly verbally scolded and cursed her for misplacing a grocery card, grabbed her by the neck, scratched her and physically assaulted her, according to the complaint.

The complaint stated that Moore told her daughter not to come back home until she found the card. Officials say she said did not return because her “mom would beat her and leave her all bruised up.”

At a Nov. 5 press conference, Moore tearfully recounted a different narrative about the grocery card than the one that was filed in the criminal complaint: “So, I said, ‘Baby backtrack your steps, because you lost it before and found it. So it’s probably right outside or when you went in your pocket, it probably fell out.’ So she did. She left, she backtracked her steps. That was the last time I saw her.”

“I cannot imagine what she might be going through just being away from us this long, being away from her family who loves her very much,” Moore said at the time. “If anybody knows anything, please, please come forward.”

The 14-year-old — who was found at a women’s shelter in New York after a weekslong search by local officials — and her 3-year-old brother have been removed from Moore’s custody.

Voluntary recall issued for ABUS youth helmets due to risk of head injury

November 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Consumer Product Safety Commissions (CPSC) announced on Nov. 10 a voluntary recall on the “ABUS Mountz Youth Helmets,” citing that the products pose a risk of head injury.

The recall involves the ABUS ACM (MountZ) youth medium-sized helmets and were sold in “velvet black” and “polar white” color,” according to the ABUS press release.

ABUS ACM (MountZ) youth helmets are pictured in velvet black and polar white colors.

No injuries have been reported, but CPSC urged consumers to return the helmets for a refund.

“Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled helmets and return them to ABUS’s Recall Administrator, Sedgwick, free of charge, for a full refund,” said the press release.

The helmets were manufactured in March 2020 or October 2020 and were sold at independent bike shops nationwide from April 2020 through October 2021 for about $81, according to CPSC.

The recall does not affect any other ABUS products.

Connecticut nursing home COVID-19 outbreak results in 89 infected, 8 dead

November 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A nursing home in Connecticut is recovering from a significant coronavirus outbreak, after 89 residents and staff tested positive for the virus, facility leadership reported Monday.

The outbreak at Geer Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in North Canaan, Connecticut, began in late September. Eight residents with “serious underlying health issues” died as a result of the outbreak, nursing home leadership said in a statement.

They said 78 residents and staff have since recovered since testing positive, and there are now only three active cases within the community of individuals living within the nursing home.

“We are encouraged to see only 3 active cases of covid-19 remaining within our nursing home. Of the total 67 residents affected over the course of this outbreak, 56 are fully recovered and off isolation. Sadly, we have lost 8 individuals with serious underlying health issues to Covid,” Kevin O’Connell, the Geer Village Senior Community CEO, wrote.

Facility leaders said 87 of the 89 infected residents and staff were fully vaccinated, so leaders are “obviously concerned we experienced some level of waning immunity.”

The outbreak occurred prior to boosters being made available, O’Connell told ABC News.

“We had it scheduled for Nov. 2, and then that got put aside because of the pandemic,” O’Connell said, stressing that officials from the nursing home reached out to Walgreens “right away,” when they were told that the booster was made available to residents.

However, O’Connell said that scheduling booster shots can be logistically complicated, because it entails coordinating it for all the staff and residents. “It takes a while to get that all set up,” he said.

Booster shots will be made available to all eligible staff and residents when there are no new positive cases for two full weeks.

“We’re following the guidance of the Department of Health,” said O’Connell, “and they do not recommend providing booster to anybody with active infections for 14 days after the outbreak.”

The CDC currently recommends that all individuals, 18 and older, who live in long-term care facilities, receive a COVID-19 booster shot, given the fact that residents are likely to live closely together, and are often older adults with underlying medical conditions, which cause them to be at “increased risk of infection and severe illness from COVID-19.”

“We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates for residents, staff, families and community stakeholders as the situation changes,” officials from the home said over the weekend.

Migrants stranded at Belarus border in new standoff with Polish police

November 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of migrants moved to a crossing point on the border between Belarus and Poland on Monday, encouraged by Belarusian security forces in what Poland’s government said was another attempt by Belarus’ authorities to exacerbate the migration crisis there.

Over 2,000 migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have been trapped in a makeshift camp at the border since last week, caught up in what European Union countries say is an effort by Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko to orchestrate a humanitarian crisis on its borders.

On Monday, hundreds of migrants packed up their belongings and moved toward the border crossing point itself at the Polish town of Kuznica in another attempt to cross. Polish guards in riot gear again blocked their path and the crowds halted.

Videos released by Poland’s authorities showed hundreds of people sitting on the road at the crossing in front of a razor-wire barrier and Polish police.

“An attempt is being made to force the border through, all under the supervision of Belarusian services,” Poland’s border service wrote on Twitter.

Belarus’ Lukashenko is accused of luring thousands of migrants to Belarus over recent months and funneling them to the border with Poland and neighboring Lithuania, in a form of retaliation against those countries for supporting Belarus’ pro-democracy movement that came close to toppling him last year.

Poland and Lithuania have blocked the migrants, and hundreds of people have become trapped in the forests along the border, often for weeks in freezing temperatures and without food.

The campaign blew up into a major European crisis last week after Belarus marched the 2,000 migrants up to the border close to Kuznica. For seven days, the migrants have been living in the open air in a make-shift camp pressed up against the border’s razor-wire fence and blockaded by dozens of Polish police and border troops.

Polish authorities over the weekend had accused Belarus of preparing to stage a fresh attempt to escalate the standoff at the border.

Activists from Polish refugee rights groups that have been providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the woods also accused Belarusian authorities of spreading misinformation to encourage the migrants to try to cross in the hope of inciting clashes.

“For several days now we have witnessed the migrants being subjected to a professionally prepared disinformation action,” Grupa Granica, an umbrella group for the activists said in a statement Sunday. It accused Belarus’ authorities of telling the migrants false information that Germany and Poland were preparing to settle them.

“This suggests attempts at raising the migrants’ hopes for a safe passage to western European countries, to then keep them in the camp at the Polish border, all in order to exert further pressure on the EU,’ the group said.

A Syrian man in the camp on Sunday told ABC News people there believed the EU on Monday would consider a plan for evacuating them, something that is not true.

The man, who asked to be identified as Yousef, said Belarusian guards had stopped handing out food and firewood on Sunday, in what he believed was an attempt to make people desperate.

“They are trying to make people crazy,” he said by phone. Yousef said he and nine Syrians with him had not eaten for four days and that they had been trapped in the forest for nearly a month.

“They treat us like animals,” he said.

Belarus has blamed the crisis on Poland and European countries, accusing them of failing to observe human rights.

EU foreign ministers were meeting on Monday for a planned summit where it was expected they will announce expanded sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities involved in the migration crisis.

The EU has been seeking to cut off the flow of migrants to Belarus by threatening sanctions against airlines flying them there. Those efforts appear to have borne some fruit in recent days.

Turkish Airlines has announced it will no longer fly Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens from Istanbul to Belarus’ capital Minsk, and the Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines has also said it is halting its flights.

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