Over the past few days, three members of BTS have tested positive for COVID-19, Variety reports.
Suga tested positive on Friday, while RM and Jin tested positive on Saturday. According to Variety, all three were fully vaccinated, and hadn’t had contact with each other or the rest of the group, their management company announced. Their symptoms are mild or non-existent.
All three members were tested upon returning to South Korea after personal travel. Suga tested positive the day after returning to South Korea on Thursday. RM self-quarantined after returning on Friday and tested positive on Saturday night.
Jin, who’d returned to South Korea on December 6, had tested negative twice, but after developing mild symptoms on Saturday, he was tested again and came up positive.
BTS are currently on a break after a very busy few months. After the break, they have a tour planned for March in South Korea, and also plan to work on a new album.
(NEW YORK) — The parents of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man killed by police during a chaotic traffic stop in Minnesota earlier this year, spoke out after a former officer was convicted of manslaughter in his death.
Katie Bryant, Wright’s mother, said she could “never forgive” former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who was found guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter charges Thursday.
“When they read first guilty my heart dropped and I let out a wail and buried my head in his chest. Tears of joy,” said Bryant.
Potter, who was a 26-year veteran on the force and training officer, claimed that she mistook her service weapon for her Taser during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021.
The 49-year-old had pleaded not guilty to both manslaughter charges. During the trial, Potter delivered emotional testimony in her own defense, saying that she “didn’t want to hurt anybody.”
“Never. I could never forgive that woman. She took my son away from me,” said Wright’s father, Aubrey Wright, on “Good Morning America.”
The mostly white Minnesota jury, which was composed of six men and six women, deliberated for nearly 27 hours over the course of four days to reach both guilty verdicts.
The trial took place at the Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis which is the same courthouse where former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the murder of George Floyd.
Dozens of people had gathered outside of the courthouse on Thursday to support Wright and his family. Bryant said that the verdict is a small step toward justice.
“For us, as a family, it gives us a sense of hope that police in America won’t be able to pull a gun instead of Taser and there hopefully will be no other Dauntes,” said Bryant.
Potter was immediately taken into custody on Thursday without bail.
The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine, and for second-degree manslaughter, it’s 10 years and a $20,000 fine.
Potter’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 18.
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 815,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.7% 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.
Dec 24, 1:25 pm
Another outbreak reported on cruise ship
A COVID-19 outbreak has been reported on the South Florida-based cruise ship Carnival Freedom as Florida sees a massive surge in cases.
Carnival said a “small number” of people tested positive and are in isolation, but the cruise line did not disclose how many.
All passengers were vaccinated and tested ahead of the trip, Carnival said.
Carnival Freedom left Miami on Dec. 18 and stopped in Curacao on Dec. 21. Stops in Bonaire and Aruba were canceled but instead the ship will visit Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic on Friday, Carnival said.
The ship will return as planned to Miami on Dec. 26, Carnival said.
This is the third cruise ship outbreak this week. On Thursday, Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas ship reported 55 positive cases, days after setting sail from Florida. On Saturday, Royal Caribbean’s arrived in Miami with at least 48 confirmed cases, according to The Miami Herald.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Mina Kaji
Dec 24, 12:44 pm
UK breaks case record for 3rd day in a row
The United Kingdom recorded 122,186 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to official government data, setting a new record high for the third day in a row.
The U.K. has recorded 707,306 cases in the last week — a 48.2% jump from the previous week.
London has the highest proportion of cases for any region in England, with one in 20 people testing positive last week, according to new interim data from the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics.
ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud
Dec 24, 11:36 am
New York sees record-smashing 44,431 cases in 1 day
New York state has set yet another daily case record with 44,431 new positive COVID-19 cases, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday. This comes as New Yorkers seek testing in record numbers ahead of the holidays.
This breaks Thursday’s record high of 38,835 cases.
The governor on Friday also announced new return-to-work guidelines for critical workers who test positive. If a critical worker has tested positive but is vaccinated, they can return to work after five days if they are asymptomatic or no longer have symptoms.
In New York state 95% of adults have had at least one vaccine dose, Hochul said, but she stressed that one dose isn’t enough.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul, Will McDuffie
Dec 24, 11:18 am
Delta cancellations continue into the weekend
Delta’s flight cancellations are continuing into the weekend, with the airline citing “a combination of issues,” including weather and omicron.
“Up to 200 of 3,004 flights on Saturday may be canceled, and up to 150 are expected for Sunday,” Delta said.
So far on Christmas Eve there are 331 canceled flights between Delta, United and Alaska Airlines.
ABC News’ Mina Kaji
Dec 24, 9:39 am
White House to lift travel restrictions on southern African countries
The travel restrictions on eight southern African countries, put in place by the White House when omicron emerged, will be lifted on Dec. 31, according to a senior administration official.
This decision was recommended by the CDC for two reasons, the official said: vaccines and boosters have been determined to help prevent severe disease from omicron; and omicron is already prevalent in the U.S. and around the world so travel from those eight countries won’t have a major impact on U.S. cases.
Dec 24, 8:43 am
New record highs set in Illinois, Ohio, New York, New Jersey
New York and New Jersey set record case highs again on Thursday with 38,835 and 18,660 new daily cases respectively.
The new high came as New York saw a record high for testing as people check their status before seeing relatives for the holidays.
Illinois and Ohio also shattered pandemic case records Thursday with 18,942 and 15,989 new cases respectively, according to ABC Chicago station WLS and ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO.
Until this week, Ohio hadn’t seen over 12,000 daily cases since January, WCPO reported.
In response to the case surge in Cook County, Illinois, which encompasses Chicago, customers must show proof of vaccine inside restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues beginning Jan. 3.
Dec 24, 8:19 am
Hawaii Bowl canceled
Friday’s Hawaii Bowl has been canceled after the University of Hawaii pulled out.
“The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has forced us to not participate in the game,” the university’s athletics director, David Matlin, said in a statement.
The team in a statement cited “COVID issues within the program” as well as “season-ending injuries and transfers.”
Friday’s game was supposed to be against the University of Memphis.
(WASHINGTON) — The temporary travel ban placed on eight Southern African countries will be lifted by the New Year, the White House announced Friday.
The restrictions were initially issued Nov. 29 in an effort to curb the spread of the new COVID-19 omicron variant. It limited travel for all non-U.S. citizens coming from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
White House Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz tweeted Friday saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the change now that we know vaccines and boosters are effective against the variant.
The restrictions will be lifted the morning of New Year’s Eve.
(NEW YORK) — Gabby Petito’s parents and stepparents have established a foundation in her name aimed at fighting domestic violence and finding missing people.
The 22-year-old Petito went missing during a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, and was later found killed in Wyoming. Laundrie, who was named a person of interest in the case, but never charged with her death, disappeared three days after Petito was reported missing by her family and was later found dead. His death was ruled a suicide.
Petito’s disappearance and death due to strangulation started a nationwide conversation on domestic violence.
“I don’t want to see this happen to another person. I know that we can’t save everybody, but I think that this — just awareness alone is giving people the strength,” Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt said in an interview that aired on “Good Morning America.”
The foundation said it has already donated $50,000 to the Aware Foundation, Safe Space and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, all foundations with similar missions to fight domestic violence and help find missing persons.
The hotline said in a news release that in just over two months, it has been able to help more 300 people who contacted them after visiting the Petito Foundation website.
“If we can even be a small piece of support network for somebody else in a similar situation and try to just help them get through it, that’s it goes a long way,” said Jim Schmidt, Petito’s stepfather.
Despite saying they will never get closure in the case of Petito’s tragic death, they said their foundation’s work gives them hope.
“She’s doing a lot of good and she’s touched a lot of people,” said Joe Petito, Gabby Petito’s father.
On the eve of their first Christmas without their daughter, Gabby Petito’s mother said some days can be harder than others.
“We have our days where we just need to shut down and take a moment. But … the whole goal is prevention and helping other young people,” Nichole Schmidt said. “We hope that we save lives and in Gabby’s name and because of what happened to her, that that gives us a lot of hope.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The 14-year-old girl believed to have been killed by a stray police bullet in a dressing room in Los Angeles was identified by the local coroner — a death the city’s police chief called “tragic.”
Two people were fatally shot in the incident, when officers opened fire during a confrontation with a suspect at the clothing store, police said.
The 14-year-old girl was identified by the LA County Coroner on Friday as Valentina Orellana Peralta. The coroner did not provide any further information regarding cause of death, but police said Thursday that preliminarily they believed she was struck by one of the rounds fired by officers at the suspect.
“This chaotic incident resulting in the death of an innocent child is tragic and devastating for everyone involved,” Chief Michel Moore said in a statement. “I am profoundly sorry for the loss of this young girl’s life and I know there are no words that can relieve the unimaginable pain for the family.”
The incident occurred shortly before noon Thursday at a Burlington store in North Hollywood, where police responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
While searching for the suspect, “the officers encountered an individual who was in the process of assaulting another, and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell told reporters during a news briefing.
The male suspect was shot by police and declared dead at the scene, LAPD said.
Police found the teenage victim during a search for additional suspects and victims and she was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Officials said the dressing room was directly behind the suspect and out of the officer’s view.
“At this time we believe it was a round coming from an officer,” LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi told reporters Thursday evening.
The identity of the suspect has not been released.
A third person, a woman, was also injured during the alleged assault, Spell said, and was transported to the hospital. Investigators were still determining the extent and nature of her injuries.
It is also unclear if there was any connection between her and the suspect, Choi said.
Investigators were still determining what prompted the officers to open fire and what the alleged weapon was. Police have not found a gun during the search of the area at this time, Choi said.
“We’re at the very preliminary stages of this investigation,” Spell said. “There’s still a lot of surveillance video to review, there are witnesses to interview.”
Investigators will also be looking at police body-worn camera footage, which was on during the incident, Choi said. The officers involved in the shooting also still need to be interviewed, he said.
A Burlington spokesperson said the company is supporting authorities during the ongoing investigation.
“At Burlington, our hearts are heavy as a result of the tragic incident that occurred today at our North Hollywood, CA store,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our top priority is always the safety and well-being of our customers and associates.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 815,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dec 24, 9:39 am
White House to lift travel restrictions on southern African countries
The travel restrictions on eight southern African countries, put in place by the White House when omicron emerged, will be lifted on Dec. 31, according to a senior administration official.
This decision was recommended by the CDC for two reasons, the official said: vaccines and boosters have been determined to help prevent severe disease from omicron; and omicron is already prevalent in the U.S. and around the world so travel from those eight countries won’t have a major impact on U.S. cases.
Dec 24, 8:43 am
New record highs set in Illinois, Ohio, New York, New Jersey
New York and New Jersey set record case highs again on Thursday with 38,835 and 18,660 new daily cases respectively.
The new high came as New York saw a record high for testing as people check their status before seeing relatives for the holidays.
Illinois and Ohio also shattered pandemic case records Thursday with 18,942 and 15,989 new cases respectively, according to ABC Chicago station WLS and ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO.
Until this week, Ohio hadn’t seen over 12,000 daily cases since January, WCPO reported.
In response to the case surge in Cook County, Illinois, which encompasses Chicago, customers must show proof of vaccine inside restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues beginning Jan. 3.
Dec 24, 8:19 am
Hawaii Bowl canceled
Friday’s Hawaii Bowl has been canceled after the University of Hawaii pulled out.
“The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has forced us to not participate in the game,” the university’s athletics director, David Matlin, said in a statement.
The team in a statement cited “COVID issues within the program” as well as “season-ending injuries and transfers.”
Friday’s game was supposed to be against the University of Memphis.
Dec 23, 7:11 pm
Major nurses’ union condemns new CDC health care quarantine guidance
Not long after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its quarantine guidance for health care workers, the largest union of registered nurses fired back at the agency calling the shorter isolation period “dangerous.”
National Nurses United (NNU) contended the update, which allows workers with COVID-19 to return to work seven days with a negative test if they are asymptomatic, would result in more transmission of the virus and focuses on profit margins, rather than stopping the spread.
“Sending frontline nurses and other health care workers to work while infected would be dangerous,” NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez said in a statement.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik
Dec 23, 6:41 pm
CDC updates quarantine guidance for health care workers
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to health care workers who need to quarantine.
The updated rules come as health care facilities around the country are reporting staff shortages brought on by the rise in omicron cases.
Under the new guidance, the CDC said health care workers with COVID-19 and who are asymptomatic can return to work after seven days with a negative test.
“Isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages,” the agency said in its updated guidance.
Health care workers who received both vaccine doses and a booster don’t need to quarantine following high-risk exposures, the CDC said.
(NEW YORK) — As pre-pandemic level crowds hit the airports for the holidays, three major U.S. airlines have been forced to proactively cancel more than 300 Christmas Eve flights due to the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19.
United Airlines has cancelled 169 flights for Christmas Eve, as of Friday morning.
MORE: Winter holiday travel rush likely to approach pre-pandemic levels
“The nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said in a statement. “As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport.”
“We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays,” the airline added.
A United Airlines airplane is pushed back from its gate at Newark Liberty International Ai…Read More
And it’s not just United that’s feeling the impact of the variant on crews.
Delta Air Lines has cancelled 124 flights for Christmas Eve. The airline says the “flight cancellations are due to a combination of issues, including but not limited to, potential inclement weather in some areas and the impact of the omicron variant.”
“Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying — before canceling around 90 flights for Friday,” Delta said in a statement to ABC News. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.”
Alaska Airlines has resorted to offering extra pay to their healthy employees who can work added shifts into this upcoming Christmas weekend.
The airline says they have had to cancel 10 Christmas Eve flights due to some of their employees quarantining after reporting that they may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Airlines for America (A4A), the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the quarantine time for fully vaccinated individuals, saying the omicron surge may create “significant” disruptions.
People wait in line to check in at the United Airlines ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson…Read More
“The omicron surge may exacerbate personnel shortages and create significant disruptions to our workforce and operations,” Nick Calio, A4A’s CEO, said in a letter on Thursday to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.
Calio proposed the isolation period to be shortened to five days from symptom onset for breakthrough infections.
“In turn, those individuals would be able to end isolation with an appropriate testing protocol,” Calio wrote.
The letter comes after Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, both A4A members, also asked for isolation periods for fully vaccinated individuals to be shortened.
(NEW YORK) — For weeks now, as public health experts have warned about the COVID-19 omicron variant and its incredible ability to infect people, they’ve followed the bad news with good: booster shots available to every adult in the U.S. drive protection against omicron back up.
One of a few glimmers of scientific optimism in the omicron era is that the variant can be held at bay or kept to a very mild infection when people get a boost. And yet, just four in 10 eligible Americans have gotten a booster shot.
Among the most vulnerable Americans — those over 65 years old — it’s slightly higher, but still low: Just over 60% have gotten their booster shots, according to White House data presented last week.
Despite the demand for other pandemic tools, like at-home rapid tests or new treatment pills from Pfizer and Merck, many experts point to booster shots as the best method to actually prevent sickness — and they’ve been there, widely available, for weeks.
“The booster is exponential. It’s not just a little bit different. It’s a lot different,” said Janet Hamilton, an epidemiologist and the executive director at Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, a group that works closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I don’t know that we have really communicated that effectively enough for people to say, ‘I really need to get this, this is a big deal,'” she said.
Why are the rates so low?
Public health directives can take a long time to circulate and have historically reached marginalized populations even slower.
But when it comes to boosters, that message was particularly muddled.
“The recommendation for the booster has come out in bits and pieces, and the most recent recommendation for everyone to get a booster is pretty new still,” Hamilton said.
The confusion began after President Joe Biden and his administration called for boosters for everyone eight months after their second dose. But experts at the CDC and Food and Drug Administration didn’t jump onboard, instead spending the summer months debating if there was a need for boosters for the whole population or only the most vulnerable.
By the time boosters were recommended in November — a recommendation that applied to all adults who’d been fully vaccinated for six months — the data was strongly backed by most in public health.
But, as Hamilton noted, “it takes time for people to hear the information.”
Unfortunately, the country didn’t have the luxury of time. It took just a few weeks for omicron to gather steam in the U.S. By Dec. 18, it was nearly 75% of all cases in the U.S., and nearing 90% along the East Coast and Midwest, the CDC found.
And because the variant evades vaccine immunity — whittling down protection from the first shot to somewhere between 30-40%, according to a study out of the U.K. — the booster shot, which brings protection up to nearly 70-80%, became an urgent public health missive.
Among nursing home residents
In nursing home patients, the CDC released data last week that showed the highest COVID cases were among the unvaccinated, but cases were also increasing among fully vaccinated patients without a booster.
Meanwhile, fully vaccinated and boosted nursing home patients had a 10 times lower rate of getting COVID, the CDC found.
“We’re sitting on an enormous vulnerability right now,” said Dr. Ali Khan, a primary care physician and executive medical director at Oak Street Health, a practice in Chicago.
MORE: Fauci says omicron can evade vaccine protection, but boosters help
Khan, who treats patients at nursing homes, said he thinks omicron has shed new light on booster urgency — but only in certain areas.
“I think it’s leading to increases in booster enthusiasm around relatively privileged populations,” he said.
“But we have a lot of work to do in people receiving those messages like nursing home residents, like minority communities that may have had more complex reactions to vaccines in the first place, to really say, ‘Hey, this is super crucial’,” he said.
Disparities in messaging
Dr. Jay Bhatt, an internist also practicing in Chicago, said among his patients on the city’s Southside, largely low-income people of color, the reasons about half have rejected a booster shot is because of “changing messages.”
Patients say they “lost trust in government,” and the different timelines on when to get a booster led to feelings that it was optional.
“They feel like they can wait longer before they get it,” Bhatt said.
But the doctors noted that the same investments the country made in the initial vaccine rollout can be made on boosters, with positive results.
“I’d say most of my patients, if they’ve already been vaccinated and we can reach them, they’re often very willing to do what’s right to protect themselves and get boosted,” said Dr. Atul Nakhasi, a physician and policy advisor with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
Only a handful of vaccinated patients are hesitant to get a booster, Nakhasi said, and through discussions, he’s able to walk through their concerns — particularly if they’re logistical, like taking off work.
If that effort is not made, Nakhasi warned that disparities that have already manifested will only continue to grow, erasing much of the progress that has been made to close the racial gaps on vaccine uptake.
Outreach is needed
In Los Angeles County, Black and Hispanic people account for 60% of the population, but only 30% of people who have gotten a booster — a much smaller proportion.
“Disparities are again appearing within the data on who is getting the boosters,” Nakhasi said.
And the omicron variant has made it clear that the outreach, especially among communities that already have a shortage of health care, will need to be a long-lasting effort, not a one-and-done.
“I think that goes to the core. We want that closure but unfortunately COVID is not giving it to us,” he said. “So we need to make sure we build long lasting bonds to our communities, because it’s become evident that there’s a need for more than just the initial series.”
Khan, the physician in Chicago, also said outreach has been effective. While more patients have reached out to doctors asking for a booster in light of surging omicron cases, far and away it’s the doctors who are initiating the conversation.
“If we’re prompting them, they’re saying yeah I’ll take it. But only now is that message starting to turn,” Khan said.
(NEW YORK) — While Santa Claus may be busy this time of year, Shawn Triplett is certainly the next best thing.
Nearly two weeks ago, a slew of tornadoes upended the lives of thousands near Triplett’s hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky. Triplett, a retired Marine, said he rushed to town immediately to see how he could help.
“I’ve been deployed three times, and I’ve seen the worst,” Triplett said. “It was just absolute war zone destruction everywhere.”
Triplett said that while he was visiting a storm shelter, he overheard a little boy tell his mother, “I lost my Christmas.”
After that, he put a call out on social media, he said. His goal was to help 20 to 30 kids who were at storm shelters for the holidays.
“I reached out to my social media, friends and family and said, ‘This is what I’m doing. Please trust me that this is going to happen. Let’s get to work,'” said Triplett, whose post went viral.
Since then, he has raised nearly $95,000 from donations all over the world to buy holiday presents for Kentucky storm victims in just over a week.
“It’s really been pretty cool, because I don’t really I don’t speak Japanese or French, so I’ve had to go use Google Translate to reply back to people and just thank them,” Triplett said.
After partnering with a local Walmart, Triplett and his hardworking team of volunteers have wrapped each gift.
“They probably wrapped close to 4,000 toys in three days,” Triplett said. “It was an assembly line of epic proportions, and they were so good at it.”
Once the gifts are tied with a Christmas bow, Triplett puts on his red hat and coat and gets to work. He and his team of volunteers have delivered more than 20,000 toys and counting.
“If we can distract them from that trauma even for just a few hours, it can mean the world to them,” he said. “They can have all this destruction all around them, but still find happiness.”
