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(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 690,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 64.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Sep 28, 7:29 pm
FDA approval for kids’ vaccinations could take longer: Source

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval for the Pfizer vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old could begin in November, possibly before Thanksgiving, a federal official with knowledge of the agency’s process told ABC News.

This prediction comes after Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday kids will likely start getting vaccinated by late October.

Another official told ABC News that Pfizer has yet to complete its full submission, and that the FDA is not going to be rushed on this.

Pfizer submitted it initial data on younger children to the FDA earlier Tuesday.

The FDA already has scientists reviewing that initial data submitted by Pfizer, according to the official.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Eric Strauss

Sep 28, 5:07 pm
Forecasters expect US pandemic to continue to improve

The COVID-19 Forecast Hub’s ensemble forecast, used by the CDC, predicts that U.S. hospitalizations will continue to fall — perhaps to as low as 4,600 per day — by Oct. 11.

Forecasters say around 1,600 fewer people are likely to die over the next two weeks than during the past two weeks. In the two weeks ending Sept. 25, at least 27,755 people died from COVID-19 in the U.S. Over the next two weeks ending Oct. 19, just over 26,000 deaths are expected.

-ABC News’ Brian Hartman

Sep 28, 4:33 pm
Pfizer CEO says timeline on shots for kids up to FDA

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told The Atlantic Tuesday that the timeline on shots for children ages 5 to 11 is up to the FDA.

“I think it’s not appropriate for me to comment how long FDA will take to review the data. They should take as much time as they think it’s appropriate for them to have high levels of comfort,” Bourla said. 

“If approved, we will be ready to have the vaccine available,” he added.

Vaccines may be authorized and available for 5- to 11-year-olds in October or November.

Bourla said he thinks once kids get vaccinated, the U.S. will get a “strong push” toward herd immunity.

Bourla said he thinks booster protection from Pfizer vaccines will likely last one year.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Sep 28, 3:46 pm
More data on mixing/matching vaccines is coming within weeks, Fauci says

At Tuesday’s White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a loose timeline for when the FDA could have enough data to consider approving mixing and matching vaccines.

Moderna has already submitted data about using its shot as a booster for people who have received the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.  J&J will submit data on mixing its shot with the other vaccines in the next week, according to Fauci, and then Pfizer will submit its data within the first two weeks of October. Finally, the data will be examined by the FDA.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Sep 28, 3:43 pm
More data on mixing/matching vaccines is coming within weeks, Fauci says

At Tuesday’s White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a loose timeline for when the FDA could have enough data to consider approving mixing and matching vaccines.

Moderna has already submitted data about using its shot as a booster for people who have received the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.  J&J will submit data on mixing its shot with the other vaccines in the next week, according to Fauci, and then Pfizer will submit its data within the first two weeks of October. Finally, the data will be examined by the FDA.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Sep 28, 2:37 pm
Over 400K Americans got booster shot at pharmacies this weekend: White House

Over 400,000 Americans received a booster shot at a pharmacy since Friday and nearly 1 million more have scheduled appointments in the next few weeks, according to the White House.

The U.S. is expected to hit a milestone of 200 million Americans with at least one shot on Wednesday, White House COVID-⁠19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said.

The White House also touted another important milestone: racial equity in vaccinations nationwide.

According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 73% of Latinos and 70% of Black Americans have now gotten at least one shot, compared to 71% of white Americans. In May, this same poll found that 65% of white Americans were vaccinated compared to 56% of Black Americans.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Sep 28, 2:09 pm
US hospitalizations drop

At the beginning of the month, there were more than 104,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. As of Tuesday, there were 81,000 patients hospitalized — a drop of about 23,000 patients, according to federal data.

Nearly 50% of those patients — 11,000 — are from Florida, where cases and hospitalizations have been plummeting since mid-August.

In recent weeks, however, 16 states have reported higher hospital admission metrics, according to federal data: Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.

Five states — Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and Texas — have ICU capacities of 10% or less, according to federal data.

Alaska has the country’s highest case rate, followed by West Virginia, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and Kentucky.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Sep 28, 1:21 pm
Vaccine mandates work, NYC mayor says

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there’s been a 45% increase in the daily vaccination rate since vaccine mandates were launched in July.

All city-run and private hospitals appear to be operating normally after health workers faced a midnight deadline to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs. About 500 nurses for NYC Health + Hospitals are not at work.

NYC Health + Hospitals now has a 91% vaccination rate, up from 90% on Monday. City officials said about 5,000 employees were unvaccinated in the hospital system, down from more than 8,000 a week ago.

Northwell, New York state’s largest private hospital system, said it fired about two dozen “unvaccinated leaders,” management level or above, for not getting vaccinated.

“We are now beginning the process to exit the rest of our unvaccinated staff,” Northwell said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky

Sep 28, 1:00 pm
3rd Pfizer dose has similar side effects to 2nd dose: Preliminary CDC data

A new preliminary CDC report of 306 people who received a third Pfizer dose found that side effects were similar to the second dose.

The most common side effects are fatigue, headache and a sore arm. These symptoms usually last one or two days.

The CDC will continue monitoring third doses for any potential new side effects or safety issues but says so far no “unexpected” patterns have been identified.

-ABC News’ Sony Salzman

Sep 28, 8:55 am
Pfizer submits initial child vaccine data to FDA

Pfizer on Tuesday submitted data for the Phase 2/3 vaccine trial for 5- to 11-year-olds to the FDA.

Pfizer will make a formal request for authorization in the coming weeks.

The FDA will review the data and make a decision, possibly by the end of October. The timeline for authorization is not set in stone.

Sep 27, 8:00 pm
Judge upholds NYC school staff vaccine mandate

A three-judge panel from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dissolved a temporary injunction that halted New York City’s vaccine mandate for school staff.

The panel offered no explanation and cleared the way for the city to enforcement the public school vaccine mandate.

“Vaccinations are our strongest tool in the fight against COVID-19 – this ruling is on the right side of the law and will protect our students and staff,” New York City’s Department of Education said in a statement.

As of Monday night, 87% of DOE employees, including 91% of teachers and 97% of principals, have at least one shot, according to the DOE.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said public school employees will have until the end of day Friday to get at least one dose of vaccine.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, released a statement Monday night saying, “We will be working with our members to ensure, as far as possible, that our schools can open safely as the vaccine mandate is enforced.”

Sep 27, 7:02 pm
First lady Jill Biden receives booster shot

First lady Jill Biden received her COVID-19 booster shot Monday, according to Michael LaRosa, her spokesman.

The shot was administered at the White House in the afternoon, LaRosa told ABC News.

Sep 27, 6:10 pm
Judge rules Arizona ban on school mask mandate unconstitutional

An Arizona judge ruled Monday that the state’s ban on mask mandates in schools is unconstitutional.

Judge Katherine Cooper sided with the Arizona School Boards Association, which contended that the Arizona State Legislature’s law to ban school districts from issuing a mask mandate violates the state constitution’s title requirement and single subject rule.

The association argued that the legislature included policy regarding 30 subjects into one bill.

“The single subject rule precludes legislators from combining unrelated provisions into one bill to garner votes for disfavored measures. Together, these requirements promote transparency and the public’s access to information about legislative action,” the judge wrote in her decision.

The law was slated to go into effect on Sept. 29.

The state has until Nov. 1 to file an objection or response to the ruling.

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(NEW YORK) — The parents and stepparents of slain travel blogger Gabby Petito not only asked on Tuesday for the public to help authorities locate Brian Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in their daughter’s homicide, but also assist in helping other families find their missing loved ones.

“I want to ask people to help all of the people that are missing and need help,” Petito’s father, Joe Petito, said during a news conference at the office of the family’s lawyer in Long Island, New York. “It’s on all of you, everyone in this room, to do that and if you don’t do that for other people who are missing, that’s a shame because it’s not just Gabby that deserves that.”

Joe Petito joined his wife, Tara Petito, Gabby’s mother, Nicole Schmidt, her husband, Jim Schmidt, at the news conference in showing tattoos they each got Monday night to honor their daughter.

The parents each had the words “Let it Be” tattooed on their right forearms like one their daughter had. They also had tattoos on their left arms of flowers and the word “Believe” they said their daughter designed.

“I wanted to have her with me all the time,” Nicole Schmidt said of why she got the tattoos. “I feel that this helps that.”

Nicole Schmidt said she has been deeply moved by letters and messages her family received from people worldwide, touched by her daughter’s zeal for life and travel, and heartbroken by her death.

“I just hope that people are inspired by her,” the mother said. “It’s hard to put into words, but it means a lot to me that she’s touched so many. I’m so proud for her and we’re going to keep that light going and help a lot of people if we can.”

Rich Stafford, a lawyer for the family, said the parents have complete faith in the FBI to achieve justice for their daughter. However, he said the FBI has asked the family to refrain from speaking publicly about Laundrie and their relationship with his family.

“Justice for Gabby is that we see justice for her homicide,” Stafford said.

He also had a message for Laundrie if he was listening.

“Brian, we’re asking you to turn yourself into the FBI or the nearest law enforcement agency,” Stafford said.

Stafford declined to answer questions concerning Laundrie’s parents. Law enforcement officials have said they were uncooperative in their search for Petito after her family reported her missing on Sept. 11.

“The Laundries did not help us find Gabby. They are sure not going to help us find Brian,” Stafford said.

The Laundrie family issued a statement Monday evening through their attorney reiterating they do not know of their son’s whereabouts.

“They are concerned about Brian and hope the FBI can locate him,” the statement reads.

In response to a question from ABC News on whether the parents are bothered that the FBI has yet to name Laundrie as a suspect in their daughter’s death, Stafford would only say, “The parents are 100% happy with the FBI. They’ve been with us at every single step of the way.”

Jim Schmidt said the family has yet to bring their daughter’s remains back to New York from Wyoming, where they were recovered on Sept. 19 in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. He said the FBI and law enforcement agencies working on the homicide investigation in Wyoming asked the family if they could hold on to their daughter’s remains.

“We want to make sure that no matter what, we do not impede their investigation in any way,” Schmidt said. “We wanted her home immediately but we understand their position and we know that she’s safe with them.”

On Sunday, hundreds of friends, family, and strangers, some from as far away as California and Florida, attended a funeral for the 22-year-old woman near the Long Island town where she was raised.

The parents also spoke of the Gabby Petito Foundation they have established to assist other families going through the turmoil of having a loved one missing.

“We can’t let her name be taken in vain. We need positive stuff,” said Joe Petito. “Anything we can do to bring that up and help people, that’s what we want.”

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(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Family members of Miya Marcano said they’re holding out hope the 19-year-old woman missing since Friday will be found safe.

Caili Sue, a cousin of Marcano, spoke to reporters in Orlando on Tuesday as she and other relatives put up posters with Marcano’s photo and searched the woods near her apartment.

“I’m determined, and I’m still very hopeful we’re going find her,” Sue said.

Marcano, a Valencia College student, was last seen at approximately 5 p.m. on Friday at the Arden Villas apartments in Orlando, where she lived and worked, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Armando Manuel Caballero also worked in the building as a maintenance employee and had expressed interest in Marcano, but she rebuffed his advances, police said.

Sue told reporters that Caballero, 27, was constantly texting Marcano, and that he “made her uncomfortable.”

Investigators said Caballero’s job included use of a key fob to access apartments, and his was used at Marcano’s unit just before her disappearance. Family who entered Marcano’s apartment after she went missing discovered broken jewelry on dirty floors and a messy bed, Sue said.

“It looked like there was a struggle because of the dirt and jewelry on the ground,” she continued. “The family is very meticulous with cleaning and keeping their place clean, so bed unmade and things scattered was odd.”

Caballero, identified as a person of interest in the case, was found dead on Monday from an apparent suicide, authorities said.

“I was really angry,” Sue said, “because if he knew anything, he took that information with him and could have given us a lead.”

Sue and other relatives said they urging anyone who may have any information to call the police. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said anyone with details can call them at 407-836-4357.

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(NEW YORK) — The unions representing American and Southwest airlines pilots are asking lawmakers and the White House for an exemption or an alternative to the federal mandate requiring companies with more than 100 people to get vaccinated.

Roughly 30% of American Airlines pilots are not vaccinated, according to the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American’s 14,000 pilots. Southwest’s pilot union could not say how many of its members were unvaccinated.

“Some of APA’s members are unable to undergo vaccination for documented medical reasons, while others are reluctant to get vaccinated based upon concerns about the potential for career-ending side effects,” union president, Captain Eric Ferguson wrote in a letter to more than 15 people at the DOT, White House, and Congress.

Commercial airline pilots adhere to strict medical requirements and some pilots fear vaccine side effects like blood clots or heart problems could prevent them from maintaining a medical clearance, thus ending their careers as pilots.

The CDC reports there have been more than 200 million doses of vaccine administered already in the U.S. and serious safety problems are very uncommon.

Most side effects from COVID vaccines are mild and temporary and include things like soreness at the injection site or fatigue, headaches, chills and nausea. These side effects usually go away within a day or two.

There have been rare adverse events of blood clots — about 7 per million vaccinated women between 18 and 49 — with the J&J vaccine. Women in that age range may want to select a different vaccine.

There have been a small number of temporary heart problems associated with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for young men. These reports are rare and the known and potential benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks of getting COVID — which include myocarditis or pericarditis.

The union representing Southwest’s pilot’s echoed American’s request to the federal government, saying in a statement: “Our pilots have shouldered an elevated risk of illness from the start of the pandemic, including well before the vaccines became available. And we are hopeful that our contributions are recognized and accounted for as we seek approval of an alternate means of compliance and an operationally feasible implementation period.”

Both unions say the 60-day-timeline for the requirement to get vaccinated could have a significant impact on holiday travel if pilots who choose not to get vaccinated are forced off the job.

“We are also concerned that the Executive Order’s anticipated 60-day implementation period for mandatory vaccinations could result in labor shortages and create serious operational problems for American Airlines and its peers. Airlines generate a substantial portion of their annual revenue during the holiday period, with a great many travelers depending on us to get them to their destinations. Our nation’s airlines, and the traveling public, cannot afford significant service disruptions due to labor shortages,” Ferguson wrote in the letter.

Meanwhile, United Airlines says 98.5% of its employees are now vaccinated after the company mandated the shot. At least seven United employees are suing the company to avoid getting the vaccine.

Delta Air Lines will soon charge unvaccinated employees $200 more per month for health insurance. The company says at least 82% of its employees are vaccinated.

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(NEW YORK) — All eyes are on New York as its vaccination mandate for health care workers — among the first in the nation — takes effect on Tuesday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order just before midnight on Monday that aims to alleviate potential health care staffing shortages as the mandate takes effect. The order removes barriers and expands eligibility to allow additional health care workers to provide care.

The executive order, which also allows many out-of-state and out-of-country health care workers to practice in New York, waives re-registration fees and expedites the re-registration process for retirees looking to re-enter the workforce, and it allows practitioners to work or volunteer in certain facilities.

Moreover, it allows physician visits in nursing homes to be done using telemedicine and allows New York State-licensed providers without current registration to practice without potential penalties. It also lets recent grads in a variety of health care programs to get straight to work.

Finally, it removes barriers for EMTs to practice and assist in additional settings and allows basic EMTs to vaccinate and test for COVID-19. It also expands the scope of practice to let midwives, registered nurses, physicians and nurse practitioners to more easily administer and order COVID-19 vaccinations and tests, as well as flu vaccinations.

Hochul also said she plans to work with the federal government to look at ways to expedite visa requests for medical professionals from other countries.

Northwell Health, New York’s largest employer of health care workers with more than 74,000 staffers, said in a statement on Monday that almost 91% of its workforce had been vaccinated.

“Northwell wants to reassure the public that patient care will not be affected by the New York State’s 9/27 vaccine mandate,” the statement said. “A system-wide workforce planning taskforce is working on contingency plans to ensure that we can meet staffing needs.”

Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, similarly downplayed any risk of a health care worker shortage, saying at a conference Monday, “I do believe that that hospitals will be prepared to get through this, again without a major impact to patient care.”

On Tuesday, all city-run and private hospitals appeared to be operating normally. About 500 nurses for New York City Health and Hospitals were not at work, but they had been preemptively replaced.

“We anticipated there would be some losses of staff. We knew that no matter what our efforts, some people would not get vaccinated, we planned appropriately,” Health and Hospitals President Dr. Mitch Katz said at a Tuesday news conference.

The sweeping action from Hochul’s office comes as small factions of health care workers in New York are still resisting the vaccine, despite a resurgence of virus cases linked to the highly contagious delta variant.

Despite some pushback, preliminary data from Hochul’s office indicates the mandate has been effective in boosting vaccination rates. The percentage of nursing home staff who had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was at 92% as of Monday evening, up from 70% on Aug. 15, before to the mandate was announced. Moreover, 89% of adult care facility staff members have received at least one dose of the vaccine, up from 76% on Aug. 15.

Some 92% of hospital staff in the state had received at least one dose as of Monday evening, and 84% had been fully vaccinated as of Sept. 22 — up from 77% on Aug. 10.

“The only way we can move past this pandemic is to ensure that everyone eligible is vaccinated, and that includes those who are taking care of our vulnerable family members and loved ones,” Hochul said in a statement accompanying the executive order.

Hochul said she’s also directed an “around-the-clock operations center to assist local partners and troubleshoot staffing issues in real time.”

Workplace vaccine mandates have courted controversy for months despite assurances from public health officials that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission said employers legally can require COVID-19 vaccines to re-enter a physical workplace as long as they follow requirements to find alternative arrangements for employees unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons or because they have religious objections. Still, the mandates have spurred a handful of lawsuits across the U.S.

As of Monday, 83.7% of New Yorkers 18 or older had received at least one dose, and 75.1% were fully vaccinated. Nationally, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicated that 77.1% of the population ages 18 and up had received at least one dose, and 66.6% were fully vaccinated.

-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Matt Foster contributed to this report.

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(Az.) — One Arizona dad wants to give immunocompromised kids some of their childhood back by creating a hyper-clean space where they can safely play.

Brad Taylor’s daughter, Lily, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was 3 years old in December 2017. The diagnosis came after the family took Lily to the hospital for what they thought was an ear infection.

“We went into the hospital with an ear infection expecting to get some antibiotics and go home,” Taylor, 41, told “Good Morning America.” “We were told our daughter has cancer at 10 o’clock at night and by the following morning, she was in surgery. That’s how fast it changed my life.”

For the next two and a half years, Taylor said Lily underwent a treatment program that included chemotherapy and she became immunocompromised as a result.

“When Lily would go through chemotherapy, her body would go in and out of a place called neutropenia, which means you have no immune system,” he said.

According to the National Cancer Institute, leukemia is the most common cancer found in children ages 0-19. The main treatment for the disease is chemotherapy, though depending on the case, treatment can include surgery, radiation therapy, targeted therapy drugs, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplants.

“Chemotherapy is going to kill the cancer cells, but it’s also going to kill some good cells along the way,” Dr. Bijal Shah, of the Moffitt Cancer Center, told “GMA.” “For folks who are neutropenic, when those neutrophil cells are low, it sort of unlocks the barriers, so when you’re exposed to infection, it’s much more easy to succumb to that infection.”

Being immunocompromised meant the things Lily could do were heavily impacted, from playing in public spaces to interacting with people outside her home and the hospital to the food she could eat.

“We try to do a lot of things to protect our patients,” Shah said. “Normally, we tell them to avoid fruits and vegetables unless their parents can wash them at home. With meats, it has to be well done — no medium, no rares, nothing. We have to be very careful, even on a fundamental dietary level. And if anyone’s sick, you can’t be around them.”

 

How Lily’s Pad came to be
The idea for Lily’s Pad came after one particular day in Lily’s cancer journey.

“Lily had no life, so I asked the doctors, ‘We’ve watched all the YouTube videos, we’ve watched all the shows, we’ve played all the games. There’s got to be somewhere I can take her,'” Taylor recalled. “They said, ‘Why don’t you take her on a drive? That way you can at least have her in a confined area.'”

While on a drive through a quiet residential area full of nature, Taylor said they passed by what looked like a brand-new park and Lily was “begging to get out of the car” to go play in it.

“By that time, she had kind of learned the rules like we couldn’t go to public places,” he said. “She finally was at her breaking point and lost it. She was throwing shoes at me from the back, just furious that I wouldn’t stop the car. She cried herself to sleep, she was so worked up.”

The next day, Taylor began researching to see if there was a space specifically for immunocompromised kids to play in so that he could take Lily to it. When he saw that there really wasn’t anything available, he decided to make it happen himself.

“I had checked with social workers and they had never heard of anything like it,” he said. “So that’s where the concept of Lily’s Pad was born. I just wanted to give her back a piece of her childhood.”

A healing space for kids to just be kids and a resource for caregivers
One of the hardest things for Taylor, he said, was seeing Lily go to chemotherapy and then have nothing afterward for her to look forward to.

“After the hospital, what do you do?” Taylor said. “So kids have to suit up every single day to go through painful procedures and then to look forward to what? To go home? So we’re trying to give them an opportunity to mentally heal along with physically.”

In addition to the physical changes brought on by chemotherapy, Taylor noted that Lily was affected mentally and emotionally as well.

“My child went from the leader of the pack to a very shy child,” he said. “She never spoke like a child anymore. Her friends and playmates were nurses and doctors.”

On a psychosocial level, the idea of Lily’s Pad is hugely profound, according to Shah.

“When you’re getting this kind of therapy, there’s lots of changes that occur — like losing hair — and you become very conscious of it,” Shah said. “Being able to be in a particularly fun space outside of the hospital where you can interact with others who may be going through similar issues without having to think twice is amazing.”

“My daughter was the only bald one in her school, and that was devastating for her,” Taylor said. “It became a fight every day to get her to school.”

Another of Taylor’s goals for Lily’s Pad is to give caregivers a place to rest and regroup. There will be a parent lounge, marriage and grievance counseling, and information on financial resources available.

“One of the hardest things my wife and I dealt with was there’s no time when the child is not begging for your attention or comfort because they don’t feel good and they’re going through really tough times,” he said. “So this would give parents time to step away from the battle for a minute.”

To protect the immunocompromised kids that will be visiting Lily’s Pad, Taylor said he consulted the medical community on the feasibility of the space as well as safety measures needed to operate.

“We’re having an HVAC system designed right now that’s similar to a hospital so it’s got HEPA filters in it and it’s got UV cleaning in it as well,” he said.

When completed, Lily’s Pad will offer three 90-minute play sessions daily, which parents have to reserve online in advance, with a maximum of 15 kids allowed per session. Kids will be looked after by the qualified nursing students on staff. The facility will be cleaned with Decon7 in between each session, with a deep cleaning in the evening. Masks will also be required.

“We wanted to give kids back a chance to go to the park — a chance to go to a playground,” Taylor said. “My daughter is so excited to be able to open this place and point to the name on the wall and say ‘I’m Lily, and you can beat this.'”

Construction on the 5,800-square-foot space was scheduled to begin in April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor now hopes to finish everything by April 2022, for the two-year anniversary of Lily’s last chemotherapy treatment.

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