(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 618,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:
Aug 13, 5:27 am
Alabama children’s hospital sees rise in patients
Children’s of Alabama reported a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 positive patients being treated at the hospital in recent weeks.
As of Thursday, the hospital said it is treating 22 COVID-19 positive patients, five of whom are on ventilators.
The hospital said in January, at the height of the last surge, their highest number of patients was 13.
“There are three proven ways to slow the spread of this highly transmissible strain of the virus: Vaccination for everyone 12 and up, masking, especially when indoors, and social distancing,” the hospital wrote in a Facebook statement.
Aug 12, 11:48 pm
FDA authorizes booster shot for immunocompromised
Immunocompromised Americans will be able to get a third shot of either of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer or Moderna, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced late Thursday.
The booster will be targeted specifically for people who did not have an ideal immune response to their initial vaccines, which has proven to be the case for many cancer patients, transplant recipients, people with HIV and people on immunosuppressant drugs.
“The country has entered yet another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FDA is especially cognizant that immunocompromised people are particularly at risk for severe disease,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement. “After a thorough review of the available data, the FDA determined that this small, vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Vaccines.”
(LAS VEGAS) — As many Americans hesitate to get vaccinated against COVID-19, NBA legend Spencer Haywood is teaming up with a medical school in Las Vegas to tackle the mistrust of the health care system prevalent in some communities of color.
The Basketball Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist has joined the dean’s advisory committee at Roseman University College of Medicine to work on programs increasing diversity in medicine to tackle this issue.
In an interview with ABC News Live on Thursday, Haywood said that his daughter Shaakira, who is a doctor, inspired him to lend his voice to this cause.
“This crisis that we are facing in the African American community, in particular, in the Hispanic community — we are not being vaccinated because of the fear. There’s misinformation that’s going out, you know, about the vaccine,” Haywood said.
Experts share best masking tips to protect against COVID-19 delta variant
According to Haywood, a lack of diversity in medicine is one of the factors that leads communities of color to mistrust the system and one that he hopes to tackle through his partnership with Roseman.
“It helps when you have a person of your own ilk and your color to come to you and say, ‘Hey, you know, it’s OK to get the vaccine,'” Haywood said, adding that it’s important to train more doctors of color who can serve their own communities.
Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer Jr., founding dean of Roseman University’s College of Medicine, told ABC News in a statement that the college is grateful to partner with Haywood in “increasing diversity in medicine through programs that inspire youth to pursue medical education and serve their community.”
As delta variant surges, COVID hospitalizations rise 30% over previous week
“As far as the African American community, we have so much fear about getting health care,” said Haywood, who played in the ABA and NBA from 1969 to 1983 and averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for his career.
“We need to get out and get vaccinated. It’s so important,” he added. “Otherwise we’re not going to pull out of this as fast as we should here in America.”
The NBA Summer League kicked off in Las Vegas this week after Nevada reinstated an indoor mask mandate.
Clark County, where Vegas is located, has experienced a 26% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past 14 days, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reports that as of Aug. 6 in Clark County, approximately 55.26% of adults age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. That is just shy of the national figure of 61.3%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And as the more transmissible delta variant surges, COVID-19 cases and deaths are up nationwide by more than 20% compared to last week’s seven-day average, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday, and hospitalizations are up over 30% over the previous week.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is urging Washington to evacuate Afghans who are under threat because of their work with the U.S. government — warning they cannot get out on their own and are in desperate need, according to an internal cable obtained by ABC News.
In an urgent and emotional appeal to State Department leadership, Ambassador Ross Wilson called for help for the thousands of Afghans who served the U.S., but will not be evacuated in the coming weeks by the administration.
President Joe Biden has said he is committed to helping Afghans who helped the U.S. But his plans only call for relocating Afghans who have received approval for a special immigrant visa — a program created by Congress for interpreters, guides and other contractors who worked for the U.S. military and diplomatic missions for two years.
With nearly one third of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals now captured by Taliban fighters, Afghans, U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging the administration to increase the tempo of evacuation flights and the scope of who qualifies for a coveted seat on one.
“They fear being watched walking in and out of the Embassy and lay awake at night fearing the Taliban will knock on their doors,” Wilson wrote of two Afghan staffers who spoke with U.S. officials.
Last week, the State Department announced that Afghans who did not qualify for the special immigrant visa program could instead apply for refugee status under a new initiative. That includes Afghans who didn’t meet the two-year employment requirement, who worked for a U.S.-funded program or a contractor instead of directly for the government, or who worked for a U.S.-based media outlet.
But that new program requires that these Afghans flee the country first — a barrier too high for the vast majority of them, according to Wilson.
“Any assumption that Afghan refugees can make their way to safety on foot does not reflect the new reality,” Wilson wrote — noting Taliban forces exercise control of more than half of the country’s border crossings, neighboring countries Iran and Pakistan are closing their borders to more refugees and other countries around the world are not offering Afghans visas to enter.
Instead, these Afghans embassy employees and close contacts are “under threat because of their work with the U.S. government … but cannot get out,” he added.
That group includes prominent women’s rights activists that the U.S. itself “raised as examples of progress toward gender equality” and are now threatened because of it, according to Wilson.
There are 2,000 Afghan embassy employees and their families, along with thousands more with U.S. ties who are seeking this new refugee status, according to the cable.
The administration, however, has already said it is not planning to help evacuate these Afghans.
“At this point in time, unfortunately, we do not anticipate relocating them, but we will continue to examine all the options to protect those who have served with or for us, and we will review the situation on the ground,” a senior State Department official told reporters last week.
Instead, it may struggle to evacuate all those special immigrant visa applicants, along with their families, that it has already committed to helping.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday that despite the evacuation of a significant number of U.S. diplomats, the embassy will continue to process visas in Afghanistan.
The administration also announced Thursday that is is moving 1,000 U.S. troops to Qatar shortly to help process evacuated Afghans there, as it increases the number of flights of Afghans directly to the U.S., too.
Some 4,000 Afghans — 1,000 interpreters and their family members — are being evacuated to Fort Lee, a U.S. Army post in central Virginia, and those flights will become daily in the coming days, Price said. These applicants have been approved for U.S. visas by the embassy and cleared security vetting, according to U.S. officials.
“We have a solemn, a sincere responsibility to these brave Afghans,” Price told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to honor that responsibility and increase the pace of those relocation flights.”
In total now, 1,200 Afghans have been relocated to Fort Lee, according to Price. Roughly 90% of them have been processed and cleared to depart the installation, moving to their new homes across the U.S., a State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Wednesday.
In addition, the administration has said it plans to evacuate 4,000 more interpreters, plus their family members, who have been approved by the embassy, but not yet vetted.
This group — estimated to be approximately 20,000 Afghans in total — will be relocated to safe third locations, such as Qatar, Kuwait or the U.S. territory Guam, but it’s unclear whether the administration has any agreements to host them yet.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the 1,000 service members — medical personnel, military police and engineers, among others — will support processing applicants, who could spend months at U.S. military installations in Qatar as they await their applications to be adjudicated. But a State Department spokesperson later told ABC News they have no announcements yet on third-country relocation sites.
(NEW YORK) — As universities prepare to welcome droves of students back to campus, some have announced additional fees for those who are not vaccinated — to help foot the bill for their supplementary COVID-19 testing — in a move that has courted controversy among the vocal faction of Americans resisting the shot.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, are imploring Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves and those around them from the virus that has left more than 600,000 dead in the U.S.
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective,” the CDC states on its website. “Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.”
Still, vaccine requirements or penalties for refusing the jab have emerged as a hot button issue in a nation that has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases.
West Virginia Wesleyan College, a private liberal arts college with about 1,500 students in Buckhannon, West Virginia, made national headlines when it announced it was charging a “non-refundable $750 Covid fee” for students who do not provide proof of vaccination by Sept. 7.
The college said it was not mandating the vaccine, but would as soon as the Food and Drug Administration formally approves it for use beyond the current emergency-use status.
“Students who do not submit a proof of vaccination status or who are not vaccinated will be required to undergo weekly surveillance testing,” the university stated on its website. “This testing will be conducted by WVWC officials. The cost will be covered by the Covid Fee charged to all unvaccinated students.”
Some 42.94% of the population of West Virginia is fully vaccinated, compared to the national benchmark of 50.3%, according to the CDC.
Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, similarly announced a $500 charge for students who are unvaccinated. The college cited the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, and implored students to get vaccinated to protect community members.
“Due to the lack of federal funds for pandemic precautions this term, all students will initially be charged $500 for the fall term to offset continual weekly antigen testing and quarantining,” the university stated on its website. “Students who are fully vaccinated prior to the beginning of the fall term will receive an immediate $500 rebate.”
Despite being a campus of just 1,283 students, the local backlash to the update was swift and aggressive in the state that CDC data indicates has the lowest vaccination rate. Just 35% of the population in Alabama is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
The College Republican Federation of Alabama called the small campus’ decision a “blatant attack meant to shame students who are not vaccinated,” in a statement on Twitter. The group called vaccines a “vital tool” in the fight against COVID-19, but added, “We are still a free society where one should not be held at ransom to the tune of $500 if they do not feel the vaccine is the best course of action for them.”
Alabama lawmakers have been especially resistant to vaccines, and had already implemented a law prohibiting vaccine requirements at universities.
Shortly after the university’s website update was posted, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office issued a “Public Notice.” The notice did not name Birmingham-Southern College, but stated that the burden of paying a fee essentially rises to the level of requiring proof of vaccination and violates the state law.
The university did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the notice.
At Indiana University, a group of students sued to block the school’s vaccine mandate. On Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied the plea, the first case pertaining to vaccine mandates to come before the Supreme Court, without comment.
“IU students are adults entitled to make medical treatment decisions for themselves, unless IU can prove in court that their COVID vaccine mandate is justified, which they have not done and that the courts have not required them to do,” attorney James Bopp Jr., who is representing the students who sued, said in a statement. He vowed to continue to fight the mandate.
More than 700 college campuses in the U.S. are requiring vaccines of at least some students or employees, according to data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education. A handful have separately announced vaccine incentives programs. Alabama’s Auburn University, which also isn’t able to mandate the shot, is offering prizes ranging from an unlimited meal plan upgrade to a $1,000 scholarship through its COVID-19 Vaccination Incentive Program.
In the private sector, a growing number of employers from Google to Disney have announced vaccine requirements. Late last month, President Joe Biden announced a vaccine requirement for all federal government employees, and said anyone not fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask, social distance and get tested once or twice a week.
Iggy Pop stars in a pair of new ads for the electric scooter company Unagi. One clip finds the “Lust for Life” rocker riding his scooter while suggesting “Maybe the should rename it Un-Iggy” as The Stooges‘ “Down on the Street” plays in the background. In the other, Pop posits that Unagi scooters allow you to “experience euphoria without the psychedelics.”
“Like Iggy, Unagi values personal freedom and individuality,” says Unagi founder and CEO David Hyman. “That’s why we built the ideal personal liberation device with our Model 1 e-scooter.”
“As a challenger brand, Iggy represents the spirit of Unagi,” Hyman adds. “We’re happy to debut this campaign as part of an ongoing collaboration.”
By the way, Pop isn’t the only musician you’ll see riding an Unagi. Billie Eilishpreviously collaborated with the company to create her own custom scooter.
John Illsley, who played bass with Dire Straits for the band’s entire career, has written a memoir about his life and his experiences with the famous British group led by singer/guitarist Mark Knopfler.
My Life in Dire Straits: The Inside Story of One of the Biggest Bands in Rock History will be released on November 9, and will feature Illsley’s first-hand recollections of the band’s journey — from playing U.K. pubs, to the stages of some of the world’s biggest venues. The bassist also shares details about the recording of Dire Straits many classic songs and albums.
“This book above all is about passion and pursuing your dreams — taking the unpredictable path, not the easy option,” Illsey says. “It charts the journey from my innocent teens strumming a few chords, to playing on the biggest stages in the world; a chance meeting in 1976 with Mark Knopfler that created a musical partnership that lasted 20 years, and a strong friendship that continues to this day.”
He adds, “Dire Straits was an idea that created a phenomenal musical legacy, an extraordinary journey of joy, fun, companionship and surprises. I am immensely proud of my contribution to this journey.”
Knopfler has penned the book’s foreword. He writes in one segment, “For us, it was a huge adventure and a hell of a ride, with all its comedy, absurdity, exhaustion, madness, and sadness…This ride is not for everyone, not for those who can’t take the pressures and the pace…It was a different world. And John has remembered a pretty big chunk of it.”
Besides Knoplfer, Illsley was the only Dire Straits member to play with the band from its inception to its 1995 dissolution. John also has released eight solo albums and is an accomplished painter.
Netflix has set an October 29 release date for their Colin Kaepernick-centered series Colin in Black & White.
As previously reported, the limited series, which follows Kaepernick’s journey to becoming a civil-rights activist and professional football player, focuses on the athlete’s young-adult years growing up in a mixed-race household after being adopted by a white family. Seventeen-year-old Jaden Michael will play Kaepernick as a teen, while Nick Offerman and Mary-Louise Parker will star as Colin’s parents.
In other news, Power universe creator Courtney A. Kemp is officially bringing her talents over to Netflix. According to Variety, Kemp has signed a multi-year creative partnership with the streamer where she will develop new projects via her End of Episode production banner.
Finally, DeVon Franklin is taking on a new project centered on relationships. Deadline reports that Franklin is developing a romantic comedy for Amazon based on Michael Todd‘s New York Times bestseller, Relationship Goals: How to Win at Dating, Marriage, and Sex. The book, which spent 13 straight weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and debuted at No. 1 on Amazon, is described as a guide to “finding lasting love and sustaining a healthy relationship.” Casting details have yet to be announced.
Sheryl: Ron Wolfson/Getty Images; Prince: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Sheryl Crow‘s career has brought her into contact with music legends like Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Stevie Nicks, most of whom went on to become friends and mentors to her. But only one music legend — that we know of — faced off against her on the basketball court.
Asked by SPIN if it’s true that she once shot hoops with Prince, Sheryl says, “That is hilarious…Yeah, he had a basketball [hoop] set up at Paisley Park and he invited me. Gosh, it’s so weird. I don’t even remember how I met him, but he recorded [my song] ‘Every Day is a Winding Road’ and invited me to come to Paisley Park.”
“I went and I recorded with him — I played harmonica on a couple of things — and he showed me around the studio, and he had a basketball court,” she adds. “He was an excellent basketball player. I, on the other hand, was, and still am, a terrible basketball player!”
Prince’s version of “Every Day is a Winding Road” appeared on his 1999 album, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. That same year, the late legend dropped in at a stop on the Lilith Fair tour to sing the song with Sheryl.
And speaking of touring, Friday, Sheryl is releasing a 27-track album called Live from the Ryman and More, recorded in 2019 with guest artists like Nicks, Brandi Carlile and Emmylou Harris.
She tells SPIN, “I guess my hope for it is that in the middle of all this weird separation that we’ve endured…it brings back memories of us all being together and being able to listen to music and be in the room.”
(HOUSTON) — The largest school district in Texas is among those poised to defy the governor’s ban on school mask mandates as students prepare to head back to school this month amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The Houston Independent School District board is set to vote on a mask mandate Thursday evening, though approval isn’t required for the policy to go into effect, the district confirmed to ABC News.
Superintendent Millard House expects the board to support his mandate, according to local reports, ahead of the first day of school on Aug. 23.
The mandate — which would require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks while in school and on district buses except while eating — goes against Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order barring government entities in Texas, including school districts, from requiring the use of masks.
“The last thing I want as a brand new superintendent in the largest school district in the state is any smoke or heat with the governor,” House, who officially became the superintendent of the school district in June, told Houston ABC station KTRK this week. “That’s not my intent here. My intent was solely focused on what we felt was best in Harris County and HISD.”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo have voiced support for leaders instituting mask mandates despite the governor’s order.
“I commend everyone — school superintendents, and elected judges alike who are taking whatever steps are needed to protect the lives of the people they serve,” Hidalgo said on Twitter this week while announcing that the Harris County attorney was authorized to file a lawsuit challenging the governor’s order. “Protecting the community during an emergency is a duty, not an option for government leaders.”
Houston joins other school districts in Texas, including those in Austin, Dallas and Spring, in issuing mask mandates.
On Wednesday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins signed an order requiring masks indoors in certain public spaces, including public schools.
In response, Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said they will fight the county mask mandate in court.
“Under Executive Order GA-38, no governmental entity can require or mandate the wearing of masks,” Abbott said in a statement. “The path forward relies on personal responsibility — not government mandates. The State of Texas will continue to vigorously fight the temporary restraining order to protect the rights and freedoms of all Texans.”
Statewide, the seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have reached their highest points since January, when Texas was emerging from its winter surge. COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by nearly 3,000 in the last week, the state health department said on Twitter Wednesday, warning that “risk of infection is very high.”
Pediatric cases have been surging in particular, with 94,000 reported in the last week, or 15% of all reported new infections, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. Also, pediatric COVID-19-related hospital admissions are at their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden said he stood with officials defying state mandates barring masks in schools.
“To the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders, who are standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids, thank you,” he told reporters. “Thank God that we have heroes like you. And I stand with you all, and America should as well.”
Britney Spears’ dream has come true: Her father is removing himself from her life.
ABC News has confirmed that Jamie Spears has filed documents agreeing to step down as Britney’s conservator. He is stepping down willingly, but the documents state he is doing so without any grounds for his removal. He has also denied testimonies regarding his actions by Britney’s lawyer Matthew Rosengart, Britney’s conservator of the person Jodi Montgomery and Britney’s mother, Lynne Spears.
In response to Mr. Spears filing, Rosengart said in a statement, “I announced in Court on July 14 that, after 13 years of the status quo, it was time for Mr. Spears to be suspended or removed as conservator and that my firm and I would move aggressively and expeditiously for that outcome. “
“Twelve days later, my firm filed a Petition for Mr. Spears’s suspension and removal based on strong, insurmountable legal grounds, which were unequivocally supported by the law and all parties involved, including Jodi Montgomery, Britney Spears, and her medical team,” he continued.
“We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed. It is vindication for Britney,” Rosengart added. “We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others.”
He concluded that he looks forward to continuing his “vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years,” and accused him of “reaping millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate.”
“I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future,” Rosengart went on. “In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should remain silent and step aside immediately.”
In statements to an L.A. Superior Court judge earlier this year, Britney accused her father of being “abusive” in his conservatorship of her, and said he and all those involved in the conservatorship “should be in jail.” She has also refused to work while he was still in his position.
