(NEW YORK) — Black New Yorkers were hit disproportionately hard during the omicron wave compared to white New Yorkers, according to a new analysis from the city’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene published Wednesday.
Black New York City residents were hospitalized for COVID-19 at a rate more than two times greater than white residents.
For example, during the week ending Jan. 1, 2022, Black people were being hospitalized at a rate of 120.45 per 100,000 while white people were hospitalized at a rate of 47.14 per 100,000 that week, according to city data.
This is a much larger gap than seen during previous waves such as the delta wave in fall 2021 or the winter wave of 2020-21.
“This finding represents the impact of multiple points of failure in our system to adequately safeguard the health of Black New Yorkers,” the authors wrote. “It mirrors extensive national evidence documenting racial inequities in COVID-19 outcomes affecting Black persons across the United States.”
The report also found COVID-19 hospitalizations were much higher in New York City neighborhoods with a high percentage of Black residents.
For example, in the Bronx ZIP code 10469, which is about 53% Black, the hospitalization rate during January 2022 was about 274 per 100,000.
By comparison, the Manhattan ZIP code 10075, which is 87% white, had a hospitalization rate of 112 per 100,000 for the same period.
To address why there are such disparities, and how to narrow the gap, the NYC DOHMH also detailed structural racism that has played a role in why Black New Yorkers experienced worse outcomes.
One of these factors is that Black New Yorkers were at greater risk for COVID-19 exposure because they were less likely to be able to work from home since the start of the pandemic.
Additionally, the report also noted that Black residents are more likely to live in “multi-generational homes without adequate space for quarantine and isolation” which increases the risk of being exposed to the virus.
There have also been inequities in making such Black New Yorkers get vaccinated or boosted.
At the start of the omicron wave — Dec. 11, 2021 — only about 50% of Black residents were fully boosted compared to about 60% of white residents and a citywide rate of about 70%.
What’s more, by that same date, about 10% of Black New Yorkers had received a booster shot compared to about 25% of white New Yorkers “in part because fewer had completed their primary vaccination to be eligible for an additional dose,” the report states.
There were also delays in diagnosing Black residents with COVID-19.
The report found about 1 in 4 Black New Yorkers were not diagnosed until five days or longer after symptoms appeared compared to about 1 out of 4 other New Yorkers who took four or more days to get diagnosed.
“These extended times from COVID-19 symptom onset to diagnosis are driven in part by structural barriers such as decreased access to COVID-19 testing or time off work to seek testing,” the authors wrote.
However, there were some bright spots in the report. To close racial gaps, the city’s Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity initiative identified 74 ZIP codes where vaccination rates needed to be boosted.
By February 2022, 73 of those ZIP codes had at least 70% of residents fully vaccinated compared to 14 ZIP codes as of July 2021.
“While the drivers of health inequities are complex and rooted in centuries of structural racism and disinvestment, the Health Department is committed to identifying solutions to protect and promote health today while also building long-term strategies to address structural factors,” the authors wrote.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy is opening up for the first time since escaping Ukraine a week after Russia invaded the country.
The former Dancing with the Stars pro, who was born in Ukraine but immigrated to the U.S. with his family in the 90s and is now a U.S. citizen, exclusively spoke to Good Morning America‘s T.J. Holmes.
Chmerkovskiy was in Kyiv filming a dance show when Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Since then — and even after arriving safely back in the U.S. — Maks has posted on Instagram about what Ukranians are going through.
“At the time of war, I realized you do what you can, right?” Chmerkovskiy, 42, said of his social media videos documenting his experience. “This was not me trying to publicize the situation. This was me trying to cry for help. I was just screaming out like, ‘…I just want you to see it, whoever you are.'”
“It’s a bit surreal, to be honest,” he said. “This is a country, you know? And the country is on fire,” adding it’s “very difficult to process.”
Chmerkovskiy, who’s married to DWTS dancer Peta Murgatroyd, said he knows he’s “going through something mentally” after what he experienced.
“I get into these crying moments. I can’t control it. I cried on the way from the airport,” he said. “I felt embarrassed the entire ride back because I was the only man on the train amongst all women and children.”
Chmerkovskiy recalled the moment he was arrested in Ukraine for breaking curfew, saying the authorities who stopped him recognized him from DWTS and let him go.
“I felt like things got real.” He recalled thinking at the time, “I’m not built for this at all. I’m just realizing that I’m not at the place where I should be.”
Chmerkovskiy escaped via a train to Poland, calling the scene at the train station “horrible.”
“After we took off, I realized that all the people that didn’t get in have to now sleep right there in that train station. It’s not heated. It’s just a giant building,” he said. “I’m dying inside because this is still, you know, very emotional stuff for me. There’s kids everywhere, babies everywhere. It’s negative temperature.”
When asked by Holmes how he feels about getting out of the country, which is still under attack from Russia today, Chmerkovskiy didn’t mince words.
“I feel guilty. I feel bad,” he said. “I feel shame. I feel upset.”
Camila Cabello laughs off heartbreak in the video for her new Ed Sheeran collab, “Bam Bam.”
Though the video begins with Camila crying and getting drunk outside a convenience store while yelling “F***!,” she soon cheers up and hit the dance floor with a bunch of female friends. Meanwhile, Ed, sporting a black eye, tosses down a shot at the bar and then grabs his guitar and joins in the fun.
Back on the street with her pals, Camila face-plants but keeps on smiling and singing as they wheel her and her bandaged face around in a shopping cart. She and her friends then run into a laundromat where they strip down and dance in their underwear. Camila ends the video by walking into a yoga class, sitting down on the mat, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
Speaking to Apple Music 1‘s Zane Lowe about the song, Camila explains, “I think what we were trying to get across in the verse is just that things change and things take really unexpected turns and just showing that through the actual details of it.”
She adds, “So this song is mostly just about like, ‘Okay, how do I make a song that shows the cycles of love, and life, and…whatever it is that’s going on in your life, whether it is a breakup, or a divorce, or…a friend breakup, or you’ve just gone through something that just is really s***ty, hopefully, this can make you be like, “It is that way now. But things are always taking crazy turns.”‘”
While acknowledging that the song is about her breakup with Shawn Mendes, Camila told Zane, “I f**king love Shawn. And I feel like there is literally nothing but love for him.”
Coinciding with the announcement, Beckley has released one of the album’s tracks, a catchy pop gem titled “Friends Are Hard to Find,” via streaming services.
Gerry explains that the new song “seeks to relieve the isolation all of us felt during the last nearly two years,” and was written with inspiration from “the spontaneous creativity” of famed songwriter Jimmy Webb, who is Beckley’s good friend.
Aurora is an 11-song collection that Gerry recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at his two home studios, in Sydney, Australia, and Venice, California. The tracks on Aurora include tunes that began as unfinished demos and scratch recordings that date back as far as the early 1970s, as well as brand-new songs written during the past two years.
Beckley co-wrote one of the new songs, “Tickets to the Past,” with his America band mate Dewey Bunnell, marking the first time a tune that they wrote together will not first appear on an album by their band.
Aurora is sequenced like a traditional two-sided vinyl LP, with songs that are arranged to flow with a beginning, a middle and an end. Reflecting on the new collection, Gerry says, “When you hold a mirror up to your life, it’s hard to control how much of your life is in that reflection. I don’t want to say it’s about one thing in particular, I’d rather leave it more open-ended.”
America’s currently on tour in the U.S., and has more than 20 upcoming dates lined up this year. The band’s next concert is March 11 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Here’s the full Aurora track list:
“Aurora”
“I Fall Down”
“Never Know Why”
“Tickets to the Past”
“Way to Go”
“Friends Are Hard to Find”
“Peace of Mind”
“Indy’s Gatho”
“Aerial”
“Superscope”
“Tears”
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was swiftly rebuked by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for remarks he made suggesting that Russians ought to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service,” Graham tweeted Thursday evening. “Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate.
Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?
The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.
You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., tweeted, “I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWIII. As the world pays attention to how the US and its leaders are responding, Lindsey’s remarks and remarks made by some House members aren’t helpful.”
But some of Graham’s fellow Republicans were equally miffed by his comments. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called Graham’s suggestion an “exceptionally bad idea”.
“Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves,” Cruz tweeted. “But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., known for her frequently controversial positions on Twitter, also rebuked Graham, calling his position “irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged.”
“We need leaders with calm minds & steady wisdom. Not blood thirsty warmongering politicians trying to tweet tough by demanding assassinations,” Greene tweeted. “Americans don’t want war.”
The administration has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia aimed at chocking their economy. Some lawmakers have called for the Biden White House to go even further, urging additional sanctions and a ban on Russian oil imports to the United States.
But Graham’s call, which he repeated on Fox News Thursday night, is far beyond what other lawmakers have sought.
The White House has stopped short of even calling for Putin’s ouster.
During an interview on ABC News’ Good Morning America on Thursday, co-anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Vice President Kamala Harris on what the United States hopes is the end game for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“What is the best possible outcome here? Does the United States want the Russian people and Putin’s fellow oligarchs to rise up and depose him?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, what we want is that he will leave Ukraine. What we want is that the Ukrainian people will be free and that they will be safe,” Harris said, stopping short of calling for Putin to be removed from power.
Graham has been a vocal critic of Putin for years, and has in recent weeks called on the administration to impose harsher sanctions of the Russian leader, his oligarchs and his exports.
On Thursday, Graham led a bipartisan group of senators in introducing a resolution encouraging the investigation of Russia for war crimes abuses in Ukraine.
While they may change their minds after seeing Robert Pattinson in the cape and cowl in The Batman — if strong preview numbers are any indication — moviegoers say Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton have been the best Batmen so far.
This is according to a poll of 1,000 moviegoers in anticipation of director Matt Reeves‘ film, which debuts today.
Affleck, who portrayed the Caped Crusader in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, and Zack Snyder‘s re-cut of the same, edges out Keaton by a vote of 31% to 30%.
Following close behind, however, is Kevin Conroy, who voiced the hero in the beloved Batman: The Animated Series; 28% chose him over Christian Bale (26%) and Adam West (25%).
And while George Clooney gamely admits to nearly killing the franchise with his much-maligned Batman and Robin, 23% liked him. Twenty-one percent preferred Will Arnett‘s voice portrayal in the LEGO animated films. Oddly, Batman Forever‘s Val Kilmer didn’t rank.
Millennials preferred Affleck’s Batman, Gen Xers were partial to Keaton’s, and Baby Boomers preferred West’s.
As for who was the best Bruce Wayne, however, Conroy topped all comers with 34% of the vote to Affleck’s and Keaton’s 33%, while West edged out Bale, 30% to 29%.
As for The Batman, 58% of respondents think Pattinson is “better-than-average,” with 25% saying he could become the best Bat.
As far as Catwoman’s portrayals to date, there’s a three-way tie at 29% between Michelle Pfeiffer from Batman Returns, Anne Hathaway from The Dark Night Rises, and Adrienne Barbeau, who voiced her for The Animated Series. Halle Berry came in fourth with 28% for 2004’s Catwoman, tied with Julie Newmar, who was replaced by Eartha Kitt in the original 1966 TV series.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
Beyoncé is celebrating Bobbi Kristina Brown on what would have been her 29th birthday, by posting a baby picture of the late star on her official website.
“Happy Heavenly Birthday Bobbi Kristina Brown,” reads the message on the homepage of Beyonce.com.
Bobbi Kristina, daughter of legendary musicians Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, died an untimely death on July 26, 2015 at age 22, six months after being found unconscious and immersed in water in a bathtub in her Atlanta home, after which she remained in a vegetative state. An autopsy report obtained by ABC News revealed that the aspiring actress and singer died from lobar pneumonia and lack of oxygen, themselves a result of her bathtub accident, as well as drug intoxication.
In a special edition 20/20 interview, Bobby Brown opened up about his daughter’s passing, saying, “We should have been better…We could have been better.”
On the fourth anniversary of her death in 2019, Brown penned a special message to his daughter and announced the newly found Bobbi Kristina Serenity house in her honor.
A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel has premiered his first solo single, “Poison Flowers.”
The track, which you listen to now via digital outlets, features Howerdel on vocals and every instrument except drums, which are played by his former APC band mate, Josh Freese. It’s the first preview of Howerdel’s forthcoming debut solo album, title and release date TBA.
“‘Poison Flowers’ began with the bass guitar part and all of the pieces flowed from there,” Howerdel explains. “It’s a rare feeling when the process of writing blocks out all distractions.”
“The upcoming songs reflect back to my earliest influences,” he adds. “‘Poison Flowers’ leads well into the rest of the album.”
The premiere of “Poison Flowers” follows Howerdel’s first live show as a solo artist, which took place in Las Vegas in February. His band for the show included Freese and former Nine Inch Nails touring member Danny Lohner, who also previously played in APC.
Howerdel formed A Perfect Circle alongside Tool‘s Maynard James Keenan in 1999. The band has released four studio albums, the most recent of which being 2018’s Eat the Elephant.
(NEW YORK) — The Donbas region of eastern Ukraine was once known for its coal and steel manufacturing, but thanks to a long-running conflict there fanned by Russia, it has played an important role in the Kremlin’s ongoing invasion.
The Donbas contains two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, that touch the Russian border and since 2014 have been controlled by two puppet separatist governments that Moscow armed and helped establish.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, saying he sent Russian troops into Ukraine to keep the peace at the request of rebels in the region.
But experts on the long-running conflict said Moscow largely created the separatist movement and is now using that as grounds for the invasion.
“Those two regions have a lot of people who are not just Russian citizens, but also sympathetic to Russia still, unlike most of the country,” said ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and former deputy assistant secretary of state. “So the reason that the Russians were able to sort of maintain puppet governments there is that they had people who are sympathetic to Russia and to their cause.”
During the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, which toppled the Russian-friendly regime of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia responded by annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and throwing its support behind an insurgency in Donbas.
Russia-backed fighters, led by former Russian intelligence officer Igor Girkin and supported by Russian special forces, seized several administrative buildings in Donbas, setting off the conflict.
‘People’s republics’
In April 2014, the Russian-backed rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk proclaimed the creation of “people’s republics” and months later held a popular and unrecognized referendum to declare independence from Ukraine in an effort to become part of Russia, experts said.
“Russia sent operatives in, both military and political, to create the appearance of separatist movements, and then they sort of brought them to life. These movements would take over city halls in the region, and we’d see pictures of Russian special forces with them,” Matthew Schmidt, a national security and political science professor at the University of New Haven, told ABC News.
Ukraine used its military to try to regain control of the region, and as the Russian-backed insurgency faltered, Moscow sent its regular forces in to prop them up, covertly sending tank regiments and other units into battle.
About 14,000 people have been killed in the eight years of fighting in Donbas, and more than a million residents of the area have been displaced since the fighting broke, according to the Ukrainian government.
Amid the fighting, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing 298 people aboard, most of them from the Netherlands. An international investigation determined the jet was hit by a Russia-supplied missile fired from the rebel-controlled territory in Ukraine. Russia denied any involvement in the incident.
In early 2015, with Russian troops inflicting heavy damage on Ukraine, Kyiv agreed to a peace deal known as the “Minsk agreements.” Although the deal ended large-scale fighting, the conflict continued to smolder with both sides dug in along trenches.
“It turned into sort of like a World War I-kind of Western Front stalemate, and it’s been that way since 2015,” Ganyard said, adding that prior to the invasion, indiscriminate shelling occurred on both sides of the conflict.
Schmidt added, “The most important thing about that area is that it has caused this war, or it is the justification for this war.”
‘Minsk agreements’
The 2015 Minsk agreements called for Ukraine to reintegrate the separatist regions by giving them broad autonomy enshrined in its constitution. The Kremlin hoped that by doing so it would create a permanent pro-Russian lever of influence within Ukraine’s government that would act as a veto on the country joining the European Union or NATO.
Ukraine refused to fulfill that part of the Minsk deal while Russian troops remained on the separatists’ territory, seeing the separatist governments as puppets of the Kremlin. Any possibility of solving the conflict was made far more difficult because the Kremlin refused to even acknowledge its troops were in the separatist areas, falsely claiming the conflict was entirely an internal civil war in Ukraine, the experts said.
Meanwhile, Russia continued to falsely accuse Ukraine of waging a “genocide” against Russian speakers in the separatist areas.
The Kremlin and the separatist proxies have drawn on a conception of the region dating from the 19th century when it was part of an area known as “New Russia.”
“So, that’s where Putin is starting, and he’s saying essentially these people are majority Russian speakers and if you go back to the 19th century they are really part of Russia or should be. And he’s used that term New Russia before,” Schmidt said.
But the Ukrainian government counters that Donetsk and Luhansk have been legally recognized as part of Ukraine dating back to 1917. During a referendum in 1991, a majority of people in the regions voted in favor of Ukrainian independence.
A barrage of fake reports
In the run-up to the current invasion, Russia manufactured a pretext for it by claiming Ukraine was preparing to attack the separatist regions, backing it with a barrage of fake reports and staged videos showing supposed Ukrainian outrages that were quickly debunked by independent researchers.
The separatist authorities also ordered mass evacuations of civilians to create the illusion of a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
After Russia recognized the “republics,” the puppet governments appealed for help from Russia, creating a false pretext for the Kremlin to invade. Putin accused Ukraine of failing to implement the Minsk agreements to justify Russia recognizing the separatist “republics” as independent.
By recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics, Putin is saying that “Ukraine is illegitimate in claiming them,” Schmidt said.
“And when he claims them as independent republics, then they are — in his mind and in Russian legal theory at that point — capable of asking a neighboring country to assist,” Schmidt said.
When the fighting stopped in 2015, the separatist “republics” only held around a third of the territory of Donbas that they claim should belong to them. As part of Russia’s invasion, it has launched a full-scale offensive from the separatist areas that it claims is to retake that territory.
Many experts say Russia is using the separatist conflict as a pretext for forcing Ukraine to concede to Russian demands that it never join NATO and remain part of Moscow’s orbit.
The two separatist regions — likely enlarged — could be important in any eventual peace agreement to end the fighting.
Ganyard said that while Donetsk and Luhansk have been key to the start of the Russian invasion, they are also a vital “piece of the puzzle” to ending it.
“It’s one thing to invade a country; it’s another thing to hold it — and it’s particularly difficult if you don’t have the support of the indigenous people,” Ganyard said. “If Ukraine has to give up the Donbas, it’s probably not a deal killer. I think that might be part of the deal just to give Putin something to allow him to save face.”
Machine Gun Kelly has premiered a new song called “Ay!”, which will appear on his upcoming album, Mainstream Sellout.
The track features rapper Lil Wayne, who concludes his verse with the line “I smell like guns and roses,” in reference to the “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers.
“Ay!” is available now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video, which finds Kelly singing along with a paper cut-out of Wayne, is streaming now on YouTube.
Mainstream Sellout, the follow-up to 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall, will be released March 25. It also includes MGK’s WILLOW collaboration, “Emo Girl.”
