(WASHINGTON) — Federal officials warned in a new bulletin that law enforcement officers and others in the government are facing increasing threats after last week’s unprecedented search of former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.
The joint intelligence bulletin from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security was released Friday and obtained by ABC News. It was disseminated “in light of an increase in threats and acts of violence, including armed encounters, against law enforcement, judiciary, and government personnel, in reaction to the FBI’s recent execution of a court-authorized search warrant in Palm Beach, Florida,” officials wrote.
The bulletin links the latest concerns of possible violence with a broader polarization in society, driven in part by statements from lawmakers themselves.
“Since the search, the FBI and DHS have observed an increase in violent threats posted on social media against federal officials and facilities, including a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters and issuing general calls for ‘civil war’ and ‘armed rebellion,'” officials wrote in the bulletin.
“Many of these threats include references to the perception that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and other claims of government overreach, which are narratives that have mobilized [domestic violent extremists] in the past to commit acts of violence, including against law enforcement and federal, state, and local governments,” the officials added.
Specifically, officials identified multiple articulated threats and calls for the targeted killing of judicial, law enforcement and government officials associated with the Palm Beach search, including the judge who approved the search warrant, the bulletin stated.
The FBI and DHS have also observed the personal identifying information of possible targets of violence, such as home addresses and identification of family members, disseminated online as additional targets, according to the bulletin.
The warning comes after FBI agents searched Trump’s home early last Monday in connection with the suspected improper handling of government information. A redacted copy of the search warrant shows agents took out boxes of sensitive, top secret and other classified files.
Trump denies wrongdoing and says he is being politically persecuted; his spokesperson has also claimed the documents that were retrieved were declassified.
The search caused an uproar among Trump’s allies, who painted it as overtly political. Some lawmakers, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., issued calls to “defund the FBI.”
Such comments built on baseless conspiracy theories by Trump and others that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that a so-called “deep state” has been supposedly acting to undermine the former president from within the government.
The law enforcement bulletin released Friday referenced officials’ rhetoric in being one of multiple possible contributors to the threats.
“Drivers that could escalate the threat environment include possible future law enforcement or legal actions against individuals associated with the Palm Beach search, statements by public officials which incite violence, a high-profile successful … attack that inspires copycats, or the emergence of additional conspiracy theories,” the officials wrote.
“The threats we have observed, to date, underscore that [domestic violent extremists] may view the 2022 midterm election as an additional flashpoint around which to escalate threats against perceived ideological opponents, including federal law enforcement personnel,” the officials wrote.
Days after the Mar-a-Lago search, authorities said, an armed man tried to break into the FBI’s Cincinnati field office before fleeing — and was ultimately shot and killed by police after a standoff.
The man, Ricky Shiffer, is a “suspected domestic violent extremist,” according to law enforcement officials briefed on the probe.
Investigators have been looking social media posts apparently linked to Shiffer, which called for violence in the days after the FBI raid of Trump’s home, officials previously told ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — A man fatally shot himself after ramming his car into a security barricade at the Capitol early Sunday morning, police said.
U.S. Capitol Police said in an initial, brief statement that a man exited his vehicle after crashing it around 4 a.m., after which the vehicle “became engulfed in flames.”
The man then “fired several shots into the air” and shot himself as officers approached, police said.
“They had heard the gunshots, and Capitol police officers were responding. As [the man] got just onto the East Front of the Capitol property, one of our officers observed him to put the gun to his head and shoot himself,” Chief Tom Manger told reporters later Sunday. “Our officers then made sure that he was not a threat and then approached him. And, in fact, he was deceased.”
Late Sunday afternoon, police identified the man as 29-year old Richard A. York III, of Delaware, and said his next of kin had been notified.
His motive remained unclear, police said then.
Nobody else was injured in the incident and York did not seem to be targeting members of Congress, which is in recess, the police said in their first statement.
“[I]t does not appear officers fired their weapons,” police said.
An investigation was underway into York’s background, according to authorities. D.C. police are “handling the death investigation.” In a separate statement D.C. police confirmed this but said they had “no further details on the identification of the decedent or motive” no share.
Manger said in Sunday’s press conference that it was unclear if the incident was the result of a mental health emergency.
“A very preliminary check didn’t reveal anything on social media,” he said, adding, “Part of the investigation is we talk to this individual’s family and friends to see, perhaps, if we can get more information from them.”
York was not known to Capitol Police prior to this incident, Manger said.
“We do know that the subject has a criminal history over the past 10 years or so,” he said. “But nothing that, at this point, would link him to anything here at the Capitol.”
The incident comes amid what law enforcement has called heightened concerns of political violence — and in the shadow of alarming attacks at the Capitol in the past two years.
A Capitol Police officer was killed in a car-ramming attack in April 2021 just months after the deadly insurrection in which a violent mob ransacked the building and sent lawmakers temporarily into hiding.
Several officers died following that riot, including some from suicide.
ABC News’ Tia Humphries and Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A 24-year-old man was being held without bail on Sunday after police alleged he deliberately drove a car into a crowd at a Pennsylvania fundraiser, killing a woman and injuring 17 people, before allegedly hitting his mother and bludgeoning her to death with a hammer in a neighboring town.
Pennsylvania State Police identified the suspect early Sunday as Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes after he was arraigned in court on two counts of criminal homicide.
A motive in the two unrelated fatal incidents is under investigation.
The deadly back-to-back episodes unfolded Saturday evening when Reyes allegedly drove a car into a crowd of people gathered at a Pennsylvania bar to support the victims of a recent deadly fire, state police said.
Geisinger Hospital confirmed in a statement it was providing care for more than 15 patients, including four in critical condition.
State police were called to the area near the Intoxicology Department bar in Berwick at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Anthony Petroski told reporters.
Police said a vehicle “drove through a crowd at a community event.”
Troopers then received a call about a man allegedly assaulting a woman in the neighboring town of Nescopeck, Petroski said. He said officers arrived to find a woman dead at the scene. Officers detained Reyes, who they said was a suspect in both incidents, police said.
The Luzerne County Coroner’s office identified the victim of the Nescopeck attack as Rosa Reyes, 56, and ruled her death a homicide after an autopsy showed she died from being hit by a vehicle and assaulted with a hammer.
The coroner’s office told ABC News that Rosa Reyes is the suspect’s mother.
The name of the person killed in the alleged Berwick attack has not been released.
“These investigations are very active,” police said in a statement.
Reliance Fire Company No. 1, which serves Berwick, said crews responded to the scene of a “mass casualty incident” at the bar Saturday evening.
The bar was hosting a benefit for the families affected by a deadly house fire that occurred in Nescopeck earlier this month. Ten people, including three children, were killed in the Aug. 5 blaze, while three adults were able to make it out safely. The cause of the fire, which destroyed the home, remains under investigation.
The restaurant where Saturday’s fundraiser was taking place issued a statement on its Facebook page.
“Today was an absolute tragedy. We will be closed until further notice. Please respect our privacy while we grieve and try to process the events that occurred. Thank you,” the statement read.
ABC News’ Darren J. Reynolds contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Eight people, including at least five Americans, were wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus in Jerusalem early Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Among those injured in the attack was a pregnant woman, who was forced to deliver her baby in an emergency room, officials said.
“Last night, a terrorist shot at a bus in Jerusalem wounding eight people, including a pregnant 30-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man who are in critical care,” the ministry said on Twitter. “We pray for their full recovery. This attack on Israel’s capital, a city sacred to all three religions, must be condemned.”
At least five U.S. citizens were injured in the attack, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The attack occurred early Sunday near the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, authorities said. The shooting happened as the bus was waiting for passengers in a parking lot near the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism where Jews from around the world make pilgrimages to pray.
The bus driver, Daniel Kanyevski, told local news media outlets that he was parked near the Tomb of King David waiting for worshippers to return from praying at the Western Wall when the gunfire erupted.
“We opened the ramp for someone on a wheelchair, and then the shooting started,” Kanyevski told news reporters. “Everyone got down on the floor, screaming. I tried to escape, but the bus couldn’t drive with the ramp open.”
Israeli police launched a search for the suspected shooter, who later surrendered to authorities, officials said.
A New York Police Department overseas liaison identified the suspected gunman as Amir Sidawi, a 22-year-old Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued a statement condemning the attack.
“Jerusalem is our capital city and a tourist center for all religions,” Lapid said in his statement, adding that Israeli security forces would “restore calm.”
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement Sunday denouncing the attack.
“The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack outside the Old City of Jerusalem that wounded at least eight victims, including at least five U.S. citizens. We wish all the victims a speedy recovery. We remain in close contact with our Israeli partners and stand firmly with them in the face of this attack,” the U.S. State Department said, adding that it “has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas.”
While a motive for the attack was not immediately clear, it came during a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Last weekend, Israeli aircraft launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip targeting the militant group Islamic Jihad and setting off three days of fierce cross-border fighting. Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets during the flare-up to avenge the airstrikes, which killed two of its commanders and other militants.
Israel said the attack was meant to thwart threats from the group to respond to the arrest of one of its officials in the occupied West Bank.
Two of the victims from Sunday morning’s attack are listed in serious condition at Shaarei Tsedek Hospital in Jerusalem, a hospital spokesperson told ABC News.
The hospital spokesperson said an American citizen in his 50s or 60s suffered gunshot wounds to his neck and upper back and was among those in serious condition. Two other Americans were treated at the hospital for mild to moderate injuries and released, the spokesperson said.
The pregnant woman wounded in the attack was undergoing surgery and is expected to survive, but is facing a long recovery process, the hospital spokesperson said. Her baby was delivered alive and doctors were doing their best to save the newborn, the spokesperson said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted a statement on Twitter, saying some of the Americans injured in the attack were from New York state.
“I’m horrified by the terror attack in Jerusalem, and by the news that a family of New Yorkers has been impacted,” Hochul tweeted, adding that her staff has been in contact with the U.S. State Department and offered to assist those injured.
“We condemn terror and stand with the Israeli people as they seek peace,” Hochul said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spoke about the shooting during an unrelated news conference Sunday. He said three of the people injured are from the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, including a man he identified as Shia Hersh Glick. Schumer said friends of Glick told him he was trying to protect his family when he was shot.
“He was very brave,” Schumer said. “He bent down over his family to protect them. He was shot in the neck and they had him on a respirator, but it looks like his condition is improving. His son was shot in the arm as he protected his son.”
Schumer added, “We’re all hoping and praying for the families that were shot in Israel. It hits so close to home because at least three of those eight on the bus were American, and Brooklynites.”
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Christine Theodorou and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Police in Texas have arrested a 17-year-old suspect in the murder of Yolanda N’Gaojia, officials said in a press release.
The Killeen Police Department identified Christian Lamar Weston in connection with N’ Gaojia’s March 22 death. He’s currently being held with no bond, police said Saturday.
In addition to murder, Weston was charged with the unlicensed carrying of a weapon, and that bond was set at $5,000. The charges are not related to one another, police said.
The 52-year-old mother was shot and killed while visiting her son’s grave on what would have been his 22nd birthday, according to ABC News Central Texas affiliate KXXV.
Police said when they responded to the scene at Calvary Baptist Church Garden of Memories Cemetery in March, they found two people with gunshot wounds. The second victim was treated and released at the scene with non-life-threatening injuries, Killeen police said.
Police said that N’Gaojia died from her injuries nearly two hours after she was shot.
Under Texas law, a 17-year-old can be charged as an adult, police confirmed. Weston is waiting to be sent to the Bell County Jail, police said.
Killeen, Texas, is near the Fort Hood military base and about 70 miles north of Austin.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Uvalde amid growing criticism of his level of engagement with a community still reeling from the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The Republican governor met with families of the 21 victims on Friday, his office confirmed to ABC News. Arriving Friday morning at the town’s municipal airport, Abbott said, “I’m here to help out the folks of Uvalde.”
But some have accused Abbott, who is currently in the throes of a heated reelection bid, of ulterior motives in quietly engaging with family members of the victims. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat from San Antonio, suggested that the governor’s visit might have been a political calculation — particularly given his hesitancy to heed their calls for gun reform.
“It is campaign season, so now, Governor Abbott is checking a box to say he met with families,” Gutierrez told ABC News. “He needs to do something real for them.”
Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jackie Cazares was killed in the Robb shooting, was among those who met with Abbott on Friday. Cazares said he and others took the opportunity to ask questions about school safety and again propose raising the age limit to purchase assault rifles. Cazares said the governor took notes but did not answer their questions directly.
“We just wanted to have a chance to ask him some questions,” Cazares told ABC News.
Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott, confirmed Abbott’s travel to Uvalde in a statement to ABC News and said the governor has “[visited] with every family who requested a meeting.”
“Governor Abbott visited Uvalde today and over the past several weeks, meeting with over 30 victims’ families privately to ensure they are receiving all the resources and support needed to heal,” Eze said.
Abbott has attracted the ire of some in Uvalde who perceive his posture toward the community as aloof and distant. Some family members were disappointed when Abbott did not attend any funeral services for the victims. Others cited news reports indicating that Abbott attended a political fundraiser on the night of the shooting.
Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for governor, has visited Uvalde five times since May 24 and has also criticized Abbott for his response to the shooting.
Eze, the Abbott spokesperson, said “many families requested private funerals, and the Governor and First Lady instead sent flowers and condolences to let the loved ones know they remain in their prayers.”
In July, Angel Garza, father of victim Amerie Jo Garza, told ABC News: “Governor Abbott has yet to reach out.” And Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said in mid-July that he had not been in touch with Abbott in the prior four weeks.
Eze pushed back on complaints that Abbott has not sufficiently engaged with the community.
“The Governor has been to the community every month since the tragedy,” Eze said. “Governor Abbott and his office remain in regular contact with local leaders to ensure all immediate needs for victims’ families and the Uvalde community are being met.”
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 1 million Michigan residents are under a boil water advisory after a leak was discovered in a major water main that serves the Detroit area.
The Great Lakes Water Authority said it discovered a break early Saturday on a 10-foot water transmission main that distributes drinking water from its Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility.
Out of an “abundance of caution,” the water authority issued a precautionary boil water advisory for the 23 communities that are serviced by the water main, it said in a statement.
An estimated 935,000 people, as well as businesses in Greenwood and Imlay Township, are potentially impacted, the water authority said.
GLWA is working to isolate a break on a 120-inch water transmission main that distributes finished drinking water from our Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility to communities in the northern part of GLWA’s drinking water service area. https://t.co/6GHbtiQdLjpic.twitter.com/X2z34yAUhN
The water authority listed the city of Flint among the affected communities. But city officials in Flint said they switched to a secondary water supply line following the emergency alert from the Great Lakes Water Authority, which is its primary water source. The city’s water quality therefore is unaffected and residents do not need to boil water, the officials said.
Great Lakes Water Authority crews were working to isolate the leak — which was identified in Port Huron, approximately one mile west of the Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility — to begin repair work.
“Once the leak is isolated, crews will begin to open emergency connections to other mains in the system to restore some flow to the impacted communities,” the authority said.
The water authority is also investigating the cause of the leak.
A loss of water pressure in a water system could lead to bacterial contamination, officials warned. As a precaution, impacted residents are urged to boil water for at least one minute before drinking it, or use bottled or disinfected water, until further notice.
The boil water advisory will be lifted once sampling shows the water is safe to drink, the water authority said.
It is unclear how long it will take to repair the water main break.
(NEW YORK) — Law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation into Salman Rushdie’s attack told ABC News that “a preliminary investigation into the suspected perpetrator’s probable social media presence indicates a likely adherence or sympathy towards Shi’a extremism and sympathies to the Iranian regime/Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Author Salman Rushdie was attacked while giving a lecture at an education center, the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, in southwestern New York, Friday morning. Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and abdomen, after a man ran up on stage and attacked him and his interviewer. The interviewer was not injured.
But, Rushdie’s agent told ABC News on Friday that he will likely lose an eye, the nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was stabbed and damaged.
Law enforcement have identified Rushdie’s attacker as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of New Jersey. Matar is currently in New York State Police custody. Matar is charged with felony attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault.
Matar was processed at SP Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned on Aug.13.
The suspect was born in California, sources told ABC News. On the suspect’s phone, investigators say they found photos of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Iraq’s pro-Iranian militia movement, also killed by U.S. forces. Police recovered a fake New Jersey driver’s license, which appears to have used the suspect’s picture with the alias “Hassan Mughniyah,” a possible reference to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah, and Imad Mughniyeh, who was the group’s No. 2 official before being killed in 2008, sources said.
Detectives are now calling the attack an “apparent assassination attempt” by “an individual with strong indicators of ideological support for the Iranian regime.” They said the incident occurred during a period of “plot disruptions” apparently connected to the current state of U.S.-Iran tensions.
Investigators are noting Iran continues to threaten its enemies around the world as part of its stated play for revenge for the killings of Soleimani and al-Muhandis.
Investigators say they do not know, at this point, whether the Ayatollah’s prior call to assassinate Rushdie was a motivator. No Iranian official has commented on the attack yet.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and a prominent Shi’a Muslim figure, issued a “fatwa,” a religious decree, on Feb. 14, 1989, calling for the death of Rushdie and his publishers over his book “The Satanic Verses.” Officials stress that the probe is ongoing and information is subject to change. The incident occurred less than 24 hours ago.
(ARLINGTON, Va.) — Authorities are investigating after a car crashed into a Virginia pub, injuring over a dozen people and sparking a fire.
The incident occurred Friday evening in Arlington, outside of Washington, D.C. Police and fire crews responded to the scene around 6:45 p.m. after the car slammed into Ireland’s Four Courts. Fourteen people were injured and the crash caused a structural fire, which was extinguished, the Arlington County Police Department said.
Four people were transported to local area hospitals with critical injuries and another four were transported with non-life-threatening injuries, police said Friday night. Six people were treated at the scene and released, police said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. So far there is “no information to suggest the crash was deliberate,” a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News on Saturday. “Background research on the driver revealed no derogatory or concerning information,” the official said.
Dramatic video from the scene showed smoke and flames coming from the pub before the blaze was extinguished.
The impacted building was determined to be structurally sound but could not be reoccupied, authorities said.
Ireland’s Four Courts thanked police and fire crews for their quick response and asked to keep “all the injured in your thoughts and prayers.”
“We are devastated,” the restaurant said on Twitter.
(NEW YORK)– Colleges and universities have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of students this fall, heralding a much-anticipated return to normalcy on campuses, with COVID-19 cases beginning to abate again across the country.
However, following the nation’s growing monkeypox outbreak, there are growing concerns from health experts that this second virus could once again disrupt the upcoming school year given the potential spread of the virus through sexual networks and close contacts during physical and social activities.
“Monkeypox is most likely to spread through dense social networks where frequent close contact occurs. College campuses are a potentially high-risk environment where this virus could take hold and should be a target for surveillance efforts,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Experts say the greatest risk of transmission is prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person with monkeypox. It is also possible to spread the virus through bedding and towels contaminated with infected lesions.
More casual contact, such as brushing past someone or speaking face to face, is significantly less risk, experts say.
A handful of universities, including Bucknell University, Georgetown University and West Chester University in Pennsylvania, have already reported cases in their communities, prompting college officials to roll out monkeypox education programs, and stock up on test kits.
“I think college campuses need to be very aware of the possibility” of monkeypox spreading into their student populations, Dr. Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at Montclair State University, told ABC News. “It would be foolish to think that it won’t happen on these college campuses where we know that infectious diseases have the opportunity to spread quickly.”
The shift to a more urgent strategy comes after the Biden administration declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency, last week, with the number of reported cases growing exponentially in recent weeks.
Across the globe, nearly 32,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported, including more than 11,000 cases in the U.S. — the most of any country. All but one U.S. state — Wyoming — have now confirmed at least one positive monkeypox case.
The majority of cases, in the current monkeypox outbreak, have been detected in gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. However, health officials have repeatedly stressed that anyone can contract the virus.
“As much as this has, thus far, been largely confined to a single population, it doesn’t take much for that expand when you have so many people living together or in close contact as frequently as you do at schools and colleges,” Dr. Alexandra Brugler Yonts, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., told ABC News.
Keeping students safe
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to release specific guidance for curbing the spread of monkeypox at colleges and universities, the agency recently published guidance for congregate living settings, which includes dormitories at institutes of higher education.
The CDC recommends that institutions provide clear updates on the status of the outbreak to residents, respond to cases by testing and keeping in contact with local health officials and ensure that those who test positive wear a mask and stay in isolation for monkeypox.
Similar to quarantine periods associated with COVID-19, experts noted that universities will once again have to consider how to best support students who are isolating with monkeypox.
“Drawing from the covid playbook, setting up infrastructure for testing and contact tracing, is a reasonable strategy ahead of any possible outbreak this fall,” Brownstein said.
At this time, no quarantine is recommended for individuals who have been exposed to the virus. However, for those who do test positive, isolation is recommended until the monkeypox lesions have completely healed with a new layer of skin which can take up to four weeks — significantly longer than what is currently recommended for those who are COVID-19 positive.
“Some universities had isolation housing for COVID, but most of those have sort of relinquished that inventory so that we can have more students living on campus, and so making sure we have the space for those students to stay safely is going to be very important,” Silvera said.
How colleges are preparing
In light of the recent upsurge in monkeypox cases, colleges and universities from coast to coast have begun to create informational programs to ensure students are educated on the risks associated with monkeypox, as well as the key symptoms and signs, in order to adequately spot potential cases within the community.
At the University of Texas at Austin, university officials recently sent a letter out to students and faculty, alerting them to the global spread of monkeypox.
“UT has a longstanding public health infrastructure and implements mitigation protocols when faced with known or emerging communicable diseases, and we collaborate on strategies needed to reduce the incidence or spread within our population. Monkeypox will be handled as we would most other communicable illnesses with similar modes of transmission,” wrote Dr. Terrance Hines, executive director and chief medical officer at the university.
Some universities, including Northwestern and Bucknell, have set up monkeypox pages on their websites, with information pointing students to resources about the virus.
“I think that level of information is really the first step,” Silvera said.
And at North Carolina State, officials confirmed to ABC News that the university has “limited testing and vaccines available by appointment” for monkeypox.
With students set to return to campus at Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, school leadership is preparing to urge students to follow the same health protocols as they have with COVID-19.
“I think that the key to being prepared is education and communication with our students, and so many of the same best practices that we encourage our students to follow around COVID-19 — hand hygiene, social distancing, monitoring for symptoms — are the same for monkeypox or any other infectious disease,” Summer McGee, Ph.D., president of Salem Academy and College, told ABC News.
In addition, health experts stressed that it will be critical that colleges not single out or stigmatize certain populations in their messaging.
Students should be on alert, health experts say
The increase in cases across the country has left some students feeling anxious about their return to school.
Camila Heard, a Los Angeles Community College District student who heads to campus this month, said she doesn’t “feel too good” about going due to the threat of monkeypox.
Heard noted the multiple precautions she’s taken to avoid contracting the virus, including always carrying sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and wearing a mask.
Experts say students with monkeypox should refrain from sharing towels, sheets and other materials and that all students should be honest about their symptoms and contact history with potential partners, roommates, or friends.
“I think you have to be very mindful of what, at this point, what your behaviors are,” Silvera said. “So think about who you’re interacting with, who you’re having that close physical contact with. Be open and honest in your communication about where you have been, and signs and symptoms.”
“This is not the time to ignore the signs and symptoms,” she added. “If you’re not feeling well, make note of that. Put on a mask, try to limit the amount of physical contact you’re having with other people, and that can hopefully help to prevent the spread of this disease.”
Avery Edelmon, who is immunocompromised, currently lives in a dorm and begins classes next week at Tarleton State University in Texas — one of the states leading the country in monkeypox cases.
“I’m pretty nervous about going to class and I kind of know that if I want to be as safe as can be, I’ll have to put that on myself,” she told ABC News.
Immunocompromised people are at higher risk for developing severe disease due to monkeypox, according to the CDC.
It will also be critical for students to responsibly monitor themselves and seek care, should they develop symptoms, health experts stressed.
“The same thing we tried to say with COVID-19, if you’re sick, stay home. Well, if you’ve got a pustules or vesicle or rash, cover it up, and go get it checked out,” Brugler Yonts said. “Don’t just go to that party, like it’s no big deal.”
