(WASHINGTON) — A record number of law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2021, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund Wednesday, with most losing their lives to COVID-19.
In 2021, 458 law enforcement officers died — up 55% from 2020, according to the report.
In 2020, 295 federal, state, local and tribal officers died in the line of duty. The closest number to 2021’s was recorded was in 1930, when there were 312 law enforcement deaths.
The vast majority of deaths — 301 — were due to COVID-19 according to the report, the second year in a row COVID-19 was the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths. The vaccination status of the 301 is not known.
Customs and Border Patrol Agent David Ramirez was among those who died due to complications of COVID-19. Ramirez, a father of three, was assigned to the Sector Intelligence Unit/Joint California Forensics Center in San Diego, according to Customs and Border Protection.
“This year’s statistics demonstrate that America’s front-line law enforcement officers continue to battle the deadly effects of the Covid-19 pandemic nationwide,” the report said. “Law enforcement officers nationwide continue to be exposed to the Covid-19 virus in the course of their daily assignments; therefore, the number of line-of-duty deaths is sadly ever-increasing.”
Officers like Lubbock County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Joshua Bartlett were among the 62 officers killed by guns in 2021.
In the morning hours of July 15, a man was stopped by the Texas Highway Patrol for reckless driving. According to the NODEM page, the subject returned home after the incident and began walking around his neighborhood with a gun. When the SWAT team and Bartlett showed up, the suspect allegedly opened fire after barricading himself in his house, killing Bartlett, a military veteran.
The increase in officers killed by a gun increased by 36% from 2020. Handguns were the leading cause of death in the firearm category — with eight in October, making it the deadliest month in 2021.
Traffic-related incident killings, such as during stops, saw an increase of 38% from 2020.
Cordae announced a star-studded lineup for his second studio album, including Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Lil Wayne and Nas.
They will be joined by H.E.R., Roddy Ricch, Gunna, Lil Durk, and Freddie Gibbs on the 14-track project, titled From a Bird’s Eye View, which will be released Friday. Wayne is featured on the second single from the album, “Sinister.”
From a Bird’s Eye View is the followup to the “Gifted” rapper’s 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy.
The two-time Grammy nominee will promote the project with his From a Bird’s Eye View tour. Cordae will perform in 28 cities, beginning February 3, in Dallas. Tour stops will include New Orleans, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and his hometown, Raleigh, North Carolina.
In the summer, Cordae announced he was launching his own label, High Level Records.
“I had this epiphany right in the middle of the pandemic. It’s a frame of my mind. Everything I do, I must do it at the highest level,” he said Monday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Cordae also revealed that despite his success, when he returns home, his mother makes sure to keep him grounded.
“She’s not that impressed to be honest,” he said. “I go back home. I gotta wash the dishes, mow the lawn, for real. That’s her way of, hold on, don’t put too much dip on your chip now,” Cordae said with a laugh.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Joe Biden prepared to head to Capitol Hill on Thursday to rally Senate Democrats on election reform, a visibly angry Republican Leader Mitch McConnell fired back Wednesday, saying that he didn’t recognize the man who delivered the fiery speech in Georgia on voting rights one day earlier.
McConnell characterized Biden’s speech — in which the president called for the Senate to change its rules by “whichever way they need to be changed” in order to pass Democrats’ voting bills — as “profoundly, profoundly un-presidential,” deeming the remarks a “rant” that “was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office.”
The Kentucky Republican repeatedly took issue with Biden linking Republicans to Jim Crow-era legislation for standing in the way of election reform, as at least 19 GOP-led states have passed laws in the last year that experts at the Brennan Center for Justice say restrict voting access.
“We have a sitting president — a sitting president — invoking the Civil War, shouting about totalitarianism and labeling millions of Americans his domestic enemies?” McConnell said. “Yesterday, he poured a giant can of gasoline on the fire.”
Biden, one day earlier in Atlanta, spoke forcefully in favor of changing the Senate filibuster rule so that Democrats could pass two key voting bills that have stalled in the Senate.
“Nowhere does the Constitution give a minority the right to unilaterally block legislation,” Biden said. “The American people have waited long enough. The Senate must act.”
McConnell, in turn, closed his floor speech on Wednesday by imploring his colleagues — including an indirect call to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whom he has courted to change parties — that it’s up to them to defend tradition in the Senate.
“Unfortunately, President Biden has rejected the ‘better angels of our nature.’ So, it is the Senate’s responsibility to protect the country. This institution was constructed as a firewall against exactly — exactly the kind of rage and false hysteria we saw on full display yesterday,” McConnell said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had promised to move toward a showdown on votes on Democrats’ voting legislation as soon as Wednesday.
The Democratic leader met Tuesday night with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — another Democrat who has not committed to a filibuster carveout but says she supports election reforms — and then with Manchin on Wednesday morning for around an hour as he navigates a way to push through Biden’s agenda.
While acknowledging he likely doesn’t have the votes to move the bills forward, Schumer said he wants to force a vote to put senators on the record to show Americans — and history — where they stand on the issue that Democrats call vital to democracy.
A recorded vote on those bills could be seen as the first move toward another vote on changing or eliminating the filibuster on the measures, which could potentially fall on Monday given the symbolism of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Ahead of his visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday, Biden in Atlanta on Tuesday attempted to shame the 16 sitting Republicans who voted to extend the Voting Rights Act before — to support voting rights now.
“Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect America’s right to vote, not one,” he said. “Not one.”
While Biden, having served in Congress for 36 years, has defended the filibuster in the past, he changed his tune regarding election reforms, saying Tuesday that a minority of senators shouldn’t be permitted to block actions on voting rights for all Americans.
In conjunction with the upcoming release of the Dark Knight’s latest onscreen adventure, The Batman, Warner Bros. has teamed up with the world’s darkest cookie for a limited run of Oreos.
“Two icons unite,” a moody new spot teases, as the cookies animate to portray the superhero, and his Batmobile.
“Who? Have you got a clue? Let’s play a game, just we and you,” a narrator intones in the spirit of the Caped Crusader’s nemesis in the film, Riddler.
One side of each cookie is embossed with Batman’s face, and the treats come packaged in The Batman-branded sleeves.
Unfortunately for fans in the States, the limited-edition Oreos won’t be on store shelves here, however you can bet they’ll be up for sale on eBay and elsewhere.
The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Paul Dano as Riddler, hits theaters March 4.
Thomas Rhett‘s family grew once again in November when he and his wife, Lauren, welcomed baby girl Lillie Carolina. But the singer’s not too phased by the prospect of life with four young kids.
“Minus the lack of sleep, not a whole lot has changed,” he says, adding that he got some parenting advice from fellow country star dad Walker Hayes, who’s got six children of his own.
“Walker Hayes told me one time that anything after four is just more kids,” Thomas notes. “And I said, ‘There’s no way that that’s possible,’ but I’m starting to understand that that’s true.”
Going from “two to three was definitely harder than three to four,” the singer admits, adding that his almost-two-year-old daughter Lennon Love has had to adjust to not being the youngest child in the family.
“Lennon is still a bit jealous, and I would say that is the hardest part, is that she’s not the baby anymore,” Thomas explains, adding that it’ll be awhile before he and Lauren further expand their family.
“We’ll see what happens in the next five or six years, but we’re definitely gonna take a small break from trying to have babies right now,” he says.
For now, Thomas’ oldest children — Willa Gray and Ada James — are eager babysitters who can’t wait to take care of their baby sister.
“You know, they beg to hold Lillie every day,” Thomas says. “I literally could put Lillie in Willa Gray’s arms and be like, ‘Are you good for five minutes?’ And she’d be like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ She’ll feed her a bottle. Ada James can hold her.”
In music news, Thomas is looking ahead to a big year in 2022. His current single, “Slow Down Summer,” is inside country radio’s top 30.
Silk Sonic co-founder Anderson .Paak is skating on over to Sesame Street to sing about the holidays with its cast of lovable muppets.
In a new promo, the “Leave the Door Open” singer is seen teaming with Elmo to teach Cookie Monster what makes a holiday and why they’re so special. While the lesson goes on, images play in the background showcasing all types of celebrations and the activities families enjoy during those moments — such as dancing, singing and craft making.
“Holidays remind us of an event that we remember/ Like Memorial Day, Juneteenth / Not to mention Veteran’s Day and Purim and 4th of July / And, sometimes, things that happen every year,” Anderson raps while playing the drums. He also lists off a few dates that honor people, like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Mother’s Day.
Between him and Elmo, they cover a broad spectrum of holidays celebrated by different cultures and religions across the world. They also pull an April Fools’ prank on Cookie Monster by convincing him the world ran out of his favorite treat.
Anderson is just the latest celebrity guest to make a cameo on the long running children’s show, with previous guests including Kacey Musgraves and Tennis star Naomi Osaka. Billie Eilish is set to appear on the show in June.
Catch Anderson when he joins the cast of Sesame Street tomorrow, January 13, on HBO Max.
“Life Goes On” singer Oliver Tree will release his new album, Cowboy Tears, on February 18th. He’s also released a music video for the album’s title track, in which he co-stars with Bella Thorne.
The album is now available for pre-order. In a statement, Oliver explains the concept of the song, noting, “Cowboys are the toughest guys. It’s okay for us tough guys to cry, and the thing is, it’s okay for everyone to cry.”
“There’s a lot of anger that comes out of holding in your emotions, and that’s really popular for guys,” he continues., “Cowboy Tears is teaching people how to let it out and be able to put it out in a way that isn’t going to be violent or self-destructive.”
Thursday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Oliver will perform a medley of “Cowboys Don’t Cry” and “Life Goes On,” the latter of which is currently rising up Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart.
After 12 years as a recording artist, K. Michelle says she is about to release her sixth and final R&B album in March.
The “V.S.O.P.” singer tweeted that the project, titled I’m the Problem, “is definitely some ole school 90’s R&B crying s***.”
In a separate tweet, the former Love & Hip Hop star noted about the current state of R&B, “It’s a lot of awesome R&B music out now. The sound is just different right now. Every artist has their o[w]n take and version of R&B, and that’s what makes it so dope. I love 90’s vibes. The Jagged Edge, Mary [J. Blige], Brandy, Usher.”
Michelle says she was “going to pick the songs that show my true emotions,” and wants her R&B career to “end honest.” The 39-year-old entertainer plans to changes lanes and segue into country music.
As she records her upcoming album, her Lifetime series, My Killer Body with K. Michelle, will premiere on Thursday, February 3, at 9 p.m ET. The show will focus on her recovery from harmful body enhancements and document the journeys of other women who’ve had traumatic cosmetic surgery experiences.
“I decided to have an open form of communication that could save someone’s life. I WISH someone had told me the truth,” Michelle wrote about the series in an Instagram post.
“This world is a tough place and will tear you down if you let it, she added. “I’m so blessed to have met a group of individuals who are struggling to live, who just want to heal, and they want to share their true story to help other woman and men.”
The Memphis, Tennessee, singer will also star in the Lifetime film Single Black Female, premiering Thursday, February 3.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 842,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.6% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 12, 2:32 pm
More than 15 million new cases reported globally last week
More than 15 million new COVID-19 cases were reported globally last week, according to the World Health Organization.
“By far the most cases reported in a single week, and we know this is an underestimate,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
He said this “huge spike” is driven by omicron.
“While omicron causes less severe disease than delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated,” Tedros warned.
WHO officials said new vaccines may be needed for different variants, and until those vaccines are developed, the current vaccines may need to be updated.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jan 12, 1:59 pm
White House considering making high-quality masks available to all
The White House is considering making “more high-quality masks” available to all Americans, according to White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients.
“We’re in the process right now of strongly considering options to make more high-quality masks available to all Americans,” he said at Wednesday’s briefing.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Jan 12, 1:35 pm
Rhode Island reporting nation’s highest new case rate, California reaches pandemic case high
Deaths in the U.S. are on the rise. The average now stands at more than 1,600 new COVID-19-related fatalities each day — up by about 48% in the last two weeks, according to federal data.
Out of the 3,220 U.S. counties, just 26 counties are not reporting high transmission, according to federal data.
In the last week alone, the U.S. has reported more than 5.2 million new cases — that averages out to nearly nine Americans testing positive for COVID-19 every second.
Rhode Island is reporting the nation’s highest new case rate, while California is now averaging more than 100,000 new cases every day — a pandemic high for the Golden State.
But, according to experts, the surging national case numbers may not be indicative of what is happening in every region, and the nation’s overall continued increase does not necessarily mean that some areas will not see a decline.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 12, 1:12 pm
91% less risk of death with omicron: Study
At Wednesday’s White House briefing Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked if people are protected from getting omicron again, and he said the information isn’t available yet.
But CDC director Rochelle Walensky outlined a study from Kaiser Permanente Southern California that showed, compared to delta, omicron had a 53% reduction in adjusted risk of symptomatic hospitalization, a 74% reduction in adjusted risk of ICU admission and a 91% reduction in adjusted risk of death.
“The data in this study remain consistent with what we are seeing from omicron in other countries, including South Africa and the U.K., and provide some understanding of what we can expect over the coming weeks as cases are predicted to peak in this country,” Walensky said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Jan 12, 1:00 pm
CDC will update mask ‘information’ but won’t tell Americans which ones to wear
At Wednesday’s White House briefing, when asked about changing the CDC’s mask guidance CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the guidance won’t change but the CDC will update its website to reflect which masks work best, without telling Americans which one to wear.
“CDC continues to recommend that any mask is better than no mask and we do encourage all Americans to wear a well-fitting mask to protect themselves and prevent the spread of COVID 19. And that recommendation is not going to change,” Walensky said.
“We are preparing an update to the information on our mask website to best reflect the options that are available … and the different levels of protection different masks provide. And we want to provide Americans the best and most updated information to choose what mask is going to be right for them,” she said.
“The best mask that you wear is the one that you will wear and the one you can keep on all day long that you can tolerate in public indoor settings and tolerate where you need to wear it,” Walensky said. “We will provide information on improved filtration and that occurs with other masks such as N95s and information that the public needs about how to make a choice, which mask is the right one for them. But most importantly, we want to highlight the best mask for you as the one that you can wear comfortably.”
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Jan 12, 12:34 pm
Quebec considering health tax for unvaccinated residents
COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing in Quebec and Quebec Premier François Legault says the biggest challenge is staffing.
“To get through the next few weeks, we’re going to need 1,000 more employees in hospitals and 1,500 more employees” at one of Quebec’s long-term care facilities, Legault wrote on Facebook.
About 10% of adults in Quebec are unvaccinated, but they make up half of the COVID-19 ICU hospitalizations.
“This means that unvaccinated adults are nine times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated adults. This is a huge burden on our health network,” he said. “This is why we are considering a payable health contribution for all adults who refuse, for non-medical reasons, to get vaccinated,” he said.
“The amount has not been decided yet, but it will be a significant amount,” he added.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jan 12, 11:55 am
COVID is leading killer of law enforcement for 2nd year in a row
The vast majority of law enforcement deaths last year — 301 out of a total 458 deaths — were due to COVID-19, the second year in a row COVID-19 was the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths, according to a new report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund.
“Law enforcement officers nationwide continue to be exposed to the Covid-19 virus in the course of their daily assignments; therefore, the number of line-of-duty deaths is sadly ever-increasing,” the report said.
The vaccination status of the 301 officers who died is not known.
Jan 12, 10:22 am
CDC says it will update mask guidance
The CDC says it plans to update its mask guidance to “best reflect the multiple options available to people and the different levels of protection they provide.”
The CDC did not say when its guidance will be updated. In the meantime, the CDC said in a statement, “any mask is better than no mask, and we encourage Americans to wear a well-fitting mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Since the arrival of omicron, health experts have urged Americans to upgrade their cloth masks to an N95 or KN95 because the new variant is so highly transmissible. But these higher-grade masks are costly and hard to find.
Prior to omicron, CDC director Rochelle Walensky resisted suggesting N95 masks for the average American because the CDC didn’t want to discourage people from wearing any mask.
Dawn O’Connell, a top official at the Health and Human Services Department, said Tuesday that the Biden administration plans to increase production of N95s. There are already 737 million N95 masks in the strategic national stockpile available for medical workers.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Jan 12, 9:50 am
22,000 more Americans may die from COVID over next 2 weeks
Forecast models used by the CDC suggests COVID-19-related deaths will significantly increase over the next four weeks.
The model forecasts that 22,000 more Americans could die from COVID-19 in just the next two weeks.
The CDC obtains these forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, where a team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. The team then creates an ensemble — displayed like a hurricane forecast spaghetti plot — usually with a wide cone of uncertainty.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 12, 9:50 am
22,000 more Americans may die from COVID over next 2 weeks
A forecast model used by the CDC suggests COVID-19-related deaths will significantly increase over the next four weeks.
The model forecasts that 22,000 more Americans could die from COVID-19 in just the next two weeks.
The CDC obtains these forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, where a team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. The team then creates an ensemble — displayed like a hurricane forecast spaghetti plot — usually with a wide cone of uncertainty.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 12, 8:51 am
British prime minister apologizes for attending lockdown party
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Wednesday for attending a party during England’s strict lockdown in 2020.
It was the first time that Johnson acknowledged he went to a garden party at his official residence and office on London’s Downing Street in May 2020. He is facing growing anger and calls for his resignation over claims he and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions by holding a “bring your own booze” party. At the time, Johnson’s government had imposed restrictions barring people in England from meeting more than one individual outside their household.
During the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday, Johnson said he had considered the garden party to be a work event to thank his staff for their efforts during the pandemic.
“I want to apologize,” Johnson told lawmakers. “With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside.”
The prime minister urged people to await “the full conclusion” of an investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray into several alleged parties by government staff. Gray will report her findings by the end of the month.
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said Johnson’s defense was “the pathetic spectacle of a man who has run out of road” and demanded he “do the decent thing and resign.”
The prime minister declined to resign and didn’t explicitly admit that he had broken any rules, but said he understood “the rage.”
“I know that millions of people across this country have made extraordinary sacrifices over the past 18 months,” he added. “I understand the anger, the rage that they feel at the thought that people in Downing Street were not following those rules.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies, Ian Pannell and Joseph Simonetti
Jan 12, 7:56 am
Russia sounds alarm over imminent wave of omicron infections
Russian officials are warning that an omicron-fueled wave of COVID-19 infections will soon hit, amid fears about how deadly a surge of the highly contagious variant — even if milder — might be in a country with a low vaccination rate.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, who is overseeing the COVID-19 response, and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Wednesday that the situation could be “more critical” than previous waves of infections in Russia — a worrying prospect since earlier waves led to a high number of deaths.
Russia has reported more than 312,000 fatalities from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. However, the country registered just under 1 million excess deaths in 2021.
The Russian government has said the country will soon see six-figure daily cases. Less than 50% of Russians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, amid widespread reluctance across the nation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has largely tried to downplay the scale of his country’s COVID-19 outbreak, warned Wednesday of the imminent increase in infections. Putin said Russia is “on the threshold of possible new outbreaks.”
Meanwhile, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the country is at a “turning point,” which will decide how bad the wave will be. Russian authorities are calling for people to take precautions and observe social distancing measures. However, there are relatively few restrictions in most parts of the country.
Denis Logunov, deputy director of Russia’s Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, said Tuesday that the nationwide number of omicron cases is expected to rise considerably in late January and early February. The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, also warned Tuesday that omicron is expected to infect more than half of Europe’s population within the next two months.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Jan 12, 5:00 am
US government to send schools millions more COVID-19 tests
As U.S. President Joe Biden vows to keep all schools safely open for full-time in-person learning amid the pandemic, his administration announced Wednesday that it will provide schools with an additional 10 million COVID-19 tests per month.
The federal government will send 5 million more rapid tests and 5 million more lab-based PCR tests to schools nationwide each month, at no cost. The rapid tests will be delivered starting later this month, while the PCR tests will be available immediately. The additional tests every month will allow the country’s schools to “more than double the volume of testing that took place in schools across the nation in November,” according to a fact sheet from the White House.
Moreover, as the Biden administration continues to surge testing sites to hard-hit and high-risk communities, the federal government will also “consider how these sites can support the safe operations of K-12 schools,” the White House said.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also help connect schools with testing providers so they can use money allocated to them last year through the $1.9-trillion COVID-19 stimulus package. Later this week, the CDC will provide new training, resources and materials to help schools implement “test-to-stay” policies, according to the White House.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Jan 12, 4:21 am
West Virginia’s governor says he feels ‘extremely unwell’ after testing positive for COVID-19
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Tuesday evening that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing moderate symptoms.
Justice, who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and has received a booster shot, said he has started a course of monoclonal antibody treatment, as recommended by his physicians. Everyone who has been in close contact with the governor over the past few days is being notified. His wife, Cathy Justice, tested negative for the virus on Tuesday evening, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The governor was scheduled to deliver his State of the State address that night but was forced to do so via a written statement to the West Virginia Legislature instead.
“I feel extremely unwell at this point, and I have no choice but to postpone my State of the State address to the Legislature,” Justice said in a statement Tuesday evening. “I woke up this morning with congestion and a cough. A little while later, I developed a headache and fever, so I decided to get tested right away.”
“The rapid test that I took came back negative, but by the late afternoon, my symptoms were still getting much worse,” he continued. “My blood pressure and heart rate were extremely elevated, and I had a high fever. Finally, my PCR test results this evening confirmed I was positive. Because of all this, I began receiving my antibody treatment and I hope this will lessen these symptoms.”
Jan 12, 3:53 am
‘Most people are going to get COVID,’ FDA head warns
The acting head of the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday that most people in the United States will contract COVID-19, as the country grapples with record levels of infections and hospitalizations.
“I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is most people are going to get COVID,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the FDA, said while testifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. “What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, [and] transportation, you know, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”
