(NEW YORK) — Puerto Rico is the most vaccinated place in America, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 73% of its 3.3 million citizens are fully vaccinated, beating several states like Vermont and Connecticut with high vaccination rates.
The island also has the highest rate of total vaccine doses administered: 154,563 doses per 100,000 people.
Puerto Rico has outpaced several states in the race to the top vaccinated spot in the U.S. despite the odds stacked against it. Not only is it home to a larger population than 21 U.S. states, but it’s also been battered by COVID-19, poverty, climate change and an ongoing financial crisis.
“It’s impossible to talk about the pandemic without the context in which Puerto Rico encountered and faced the pandemic,” Daniel Colón-Ramos, a Yale medical school professor and the president of Puerto Rico’s Scientific Coalition, told ABC News.
“Vaccinations are an individual decision, but it’s an individual decision that has an impact on the collective health and I think this is something that Puerto Rico understood well after Hurricane Maria — how we’re so codependent,” Colón-Ramos said.
Hurricane María uncovered Puerto Rico’s fragile infrastructure that has yet to recover. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the island has a poverty rate of 43.5%, with some municipalities struggling with little to no operational clinics or hospitals for long periods of time. Residents have also been struggling with ongoing power outages triggered by the unstable electric grid.
COVID-19 only exacerbated the weight of these pre-existing structural issues on the territory, Colón-Ramos said.
COVID-19’s toll on Puerto Rico
The island was hit hard by the pandemic. Puerto Rico reported at least 151,432 COVID-19 cases and over 3,200 deaths linked to the virus, according to Puerto Rico’s Health Department. Amid the threat of the coronavirus, the island was the first place in the U.S. to implement the strictest COVID-19 restrictions, including a curfew that lasted over a year.
“Together, we have achieved good results through vaccination efforts and measures that were implemented,” Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi said in a press release written in Spanish. “Although we are doing very well, we still cannot let our guard down and we have to continue to protect ourselves.”
Until recently, the local government prohibited certain businesses from operating between midnight and 5 a.m. and banned alcohol sales after midnight. Some requirements, like indoor mask and vaccine mandates, remain.
Now, Puerto Rico is on a steady decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths, with a positive test rate of 2.43%, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Marieli González-Cotto, a molecular biologist and educator, urges the community to remain cautious and vigilant about their health and safety, even as the virus slows its course.
“People should understand that we still need to take care of ourselves, take care of our communities and really take this one step at a time because [we could regress] and start all over again,” González-Cotto told ABC News.
The method behind Puerto Rico’s successful vaccine rollout
“It was an all-hands on deck type of plan,” Colón-Ramos told ABC News.
The effort to get Puerto Ricans vaccinated included local officials, community leaders, health care providers, Public Health Department officials and scientific experts, according to Colón-Ramos.
TV ads, social media posts and radio commercials were rolled out to educate residents across the island and combat misinformation before it had a chance to spread.
“The information channels were flooded with the right kind of information,” Colón-Ramos said. “The scientific and the health care community got very engaged and proactive in educating people in collaboration with journalists, civic leaders, and public leaders.
“Communities had conversations with the population about concepts from flattening the curve to herd immunity,” he added.
A study by Direct Relief, Facebook Data for Good and the vaccination advocacy organization “Voces Coalición de Inmunización y Promoción de la Salud en Puerto Rico” found that influencers and celebrities were also powerful voices in the effort to educate people on the importance of vaccines.
The research showed that thousands of consumers were more accepting or knowledgeable about vaccines after viewing digital ads and messaging.
“At the very beginning, it was very hard for the people to grasp because it was an ‘info-demic’ — there was too much information out there,” González-Cotto said. “What we focused on was not only putting out the information but also putting it in a way that would be easy for people to understand.”
All educational efforts from public and private sectors towards individuals had a significant impact on Puerto Ricans’ response to the vaccine rollout. Public health policies, like lockdowns, curfews and mandates, helped solidify messaging and protocol across the island, according to Colón-Ramos.
Zayn Malik pleaded no contest Friday to harassment charges after he “shoved” Gigi Hadid’s mother Yolanda Hadid into a dresser and hurled expletives at her, according to court records obtained by ABC News.
Malik was issued four harassment citations in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where, following his no contest plea, he was put on probation for 360 days. He also was ordered to complete an anger management class and have no contact with Yolanda Hadid or John McMahon, a security guard who witnessed the incident.
According to the court documents, Zayn called Yolanda a “f****** Dutch sl**” and told her to “stay away from [his] f****** daughter.” Zayn and Gigi share one-year-old daughter, Khai.
The British singer also told McMahon to “Get the f*** out of my f****** house copper,” and also tried to engage McMahon in a fight, according to the docs.
The incident occurred September 29 in the home Malik shared with Gigi, whom Malik subsequently told to “strap on some f****** balls and defend your partner against your f****** mother in my house,” according to court records.
After dropping his new album = (Equals) at midnight, Ed Sheeran has released the music video for “Overpass Graffiti.”
In the video, Ed gets stranded at a rest stop after his tour bus leaves without him. He then embarks on a desert adventure with a group of strangers.
Also on Friday, Ed teased his new Christmas song with Elton John during an interview with BBC Radio 2.
“So kiss me under the mistletoe/Pour out the wine/Let’s toast and pray for December snow/I know there’s been this year but it’s time to let it go/Next year you never know/But for now, Merry Christmas,” he sings in the snippet.
(NEW YORK) — Darien Richardson, a 25-year-old woman in Maine, was sleeping in her apartment when armed intruders burst in and shot her several times in January 2010.
Her boyfriend survived the incident, but after weeks in the hospital, she died the following month due to complications from her gunshot wounds, Portland police said.
Finding her assailant seemed possible when authorities discovered that the handgun used to shoot her was apparently recovered at the scene of another murder, according to her family and news reports. But they were not able to trace it to the person who shot Darien.
“A sad and unfortunate twist in this case is that a little more than a month after Darien and her boyfriend were shot, the same gun was used in a murder on Park Avenue here in Portland,” Portland Police Assistant Chief Vernon Malloch told the Bangor Daily News in 2012. “That case is solved. We recovered the firearm. We know that it’s the same gun that killed both people. Unfortunately, we don’t know where the gun came from.”
The person who pulled the trigger remains a mystery in part due to a major loophole in the nation’s gun background check system: a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigation traced the gun back to a private sale at a Maine gun show, where the first owner sold it to someone he didn’t know, without a background check and without any record of the sale, the Bangor Daily News reported authorities said.
Not only did the loophole make the crime harder to solve, but it may also have made it easier for the crime to be committed in the first place.
(NEW YORK) — Some 911 call centers across the country say they are experiencing staffing shortages.
Some centers are struggling with as much as 30% to 50% vacancies, according to reports from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.
“We have actually been experiencing much higher staffing shortages throughout the pandemic,” April Heinze, operations director at the National Emergency Number Association, told “Good Morning America.” “It’s actually really starting to kind of take a head.”
For Ashley Bagwell, the mom of 6-year-old Hadlee, experienced the effects of those staffing shortages when she couldn’t get through to 911 earlier this month when Hadlee was having a seizure.
“I was terrified,” said Bagwell, whose oldest daughter also ran to the neighbors to try 911 but they also couldn’t get through. “I remember just screaming, I just said, ‘What do I do? I need them to talk me through what to do.’ It was the scariest moment of my entire life.”
In Lexington County, South Carolina, where Bagwell lives, officials say they are facing challenges when it comes to staffing shortages. Calls like Bagwell’s were not answered “due to a large volume of 911 calls received within a 15-minute period, which overload call takers,” according to officials.
But county officials say dispatchers called back the initial caller within three minutes and there was no answer. And “several other calls were made finally connecting with a caller” 10 minutes after the first call.
Other parts of the country that are seeing staffing shortages include Alabama, where there are 88 dispatcher jobs open across 10 agencies, and Chesapeake, Virginia, where a 911 call center is struggling to hire dispatchers.
“We’re about 30% short of overall staffing,” said 911 coordinator Lt. James Garrett of Chesapeake, who told “GMA” that there are delays in getting to 911 callers. “We’ve seen a drop in our ability to answer 911 calls and within 10 seconds and within 30 seconds, which is some of our standard, we’re not able to be as fast as we were because I don’t have enough and available people to answer those phones.”
Officials say COVID is playing a role in the staffing shortage, but so is burnout and low salaries.
To attract more people to apply for these open dispatcher roles, some states are working on or have passed legislation reclassifying 911 dispatchers as first responders so they can get better benefits. A similar bill is currently in Congress.
In the meantime, as call centers try to keep up with the large volume of 911 calls, dispatchers are urging the public to be patient. They’re also advising folks not to hang up if they don’t get to a dispatcher on the phone right away, otherwise, it will move them back to the end of the queue.
“I just hope no one ever has to experience the terror of this,” Bagwell said. “I just don’t want anyone to have to go through the stress of 911 not answering when your child is unresponsive.”
Otis Williams, the last surviving original member of The Temptations, celebrates his 80th birthday this Saturday.
Williams continues to perform with the legendary Motown quintet, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and he tells ABC Audio, “I’m still enjoying it, 60 years later. Turning 80, and still having fun.”
As for the enduring popularity of his group’s music, Otis says, “We never [would’ve] imagined that people would still be loving The Temptations 60 years later, because…show business can be very fickle…I’m very happy that we’ve had long stalwart fans to enjoy us.”
The Temptations have had so many classic songs, but Williams says his all-time favorite is one of their earliest and biggest hits, the 1964 chart-topper “My Girl,” which was co-written by Smokey Robinson.
Otis says that when Smokey first brought “My Girl” to The Temptations, Otis didn’t realize what a classic it was.
Williams says that changed “when the strings and horns were added to such a wonderful melody and the structure of the song, [which] gave it a whole ‘nother kind of daylight.“
Otis tells ABC Audio that he’s glad that the group has been able to start playing concerts again after a 16-month layoff because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s also excited that the Broadway musical based of the group’s story and music, Ain’t Too Proud, has reopened.
Williams says he’ll celebrate his 80th birthday in New York City, and he and The Temptations will be going to a performance of Ain’t Too Proud that day.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Otis will take part in a virtual Q&A event at New York’s City College Center for the Arts that will be streamed live for free at 7:30 p.m. ET. Visit CityCollegeCenterfortheArts.org for more details.
Reggie Rock Bythewood, series creator of Swagger, admits that 2020 put an unexpected wrench in his Kevin Durant-inspired Apple TV+ sports drama.
“Like most people, I could have never imagined what would’ve happened,” Bythewood tells ABC Audio of the challenges that 2020 brought to his production.
Bythewood says his initial plan for the series was to follow “youth [basketball] players and…their journey.” However, his plan quickly changed when COVID-19 hit, along with the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
“[T]he world…felt like it was being disrupted,” he shares. “So when we shut down during the pandemic…I just really felt like we needed to address what was going on… in the show.”
In addition to capturing “real time” events, Bythewood made sure to capture the DMV culture through the use of the funk-inspired go-go music genre, which he says was a “big part of his storytelling.”
“One of my writers…was from the DMV and she spoke about it, [Durant] spoke about it, and it just felt…authentic,” he says of making go-go music a “small character” in the show.
Like the creator, the cast says they also connected with something authentic when portraying their characters.
“I channeled…my father [Ice Cube],” O’Shea Jackson Jr. says of playing Coach Ike. “My father was my basketball coach, and I went on to coach my little brother, so I already had that…love for the game.”
Meanwhile, Isaiah Hill says he tapped into his confident side when portraying rising basketball star Jace.
“I had to really bring out some anger — the desire to want that exposure, the desire to want to be seen by the world as a certain player,” he shares.
(NEW YORK) — Remains found in a Southern California desert have been identified as 30-year-old Lauren “El” Cho, a New Jersey woman who was missing for months, authorities said.
Her cause and manner of death are pending toxicology results, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.
The remains were recovered on Oct. 9 during a search for Cho “in the rugged terrain of the open desert of Yucca Valley,” the sheriff’s department said. Cho was reported missing on June 28 “when she reportedly walked away” from the Yucca Valley home where she was staying, the sheriff’s department said.
The search for Cho was launched this summer and included planes searching the remote mountain terrain and canines scouring the area for evidence, the sheriff’s office said.
The “Break Stuff” rockers announced late Thursday night that their first record since 2011’s Gold Cobra will drop in full on October 31. The long in-the-works album — which, at one point, was to be titled Stampede of the Disco Elephants — is officially called Limp Bizkit Still Sucks.
The record consists of 12 tracks, including the previously released single “Dad Vibes,” which first premiered during the Bizkit’s set at Lollapalooza over the summer.
“We are excited to share this with you,” Fred Durst and company say in an Instagram Story posted by their label Suretone Records. “The party has just begun. See you soon.”
Here’s the Still Sucks track list:
“Out of Style”
“Dirty Rotten Bizkit”
“Dad Vibes”
“Turn It Up, B****”
“Don’t Change”
“You Bring Out the Worst in Me”
“Love the Hate”
“Barnacle”
“Empty Hole”
“Pill Popper”
“Snacky Poo”
“Goodbye”
Oh, well imagine, your adorable baby is finally asleep, and you don’t even need to close the you-know-what door.
Rockabye Baby! is here to help you accomplish that dream. The long-running series, which has released lullaby versions of songs by artists including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Tool, has now put its spin on Panic! at the Disco.
A whole album of soothing, twinkling recreations of tracks from throughout the Panic! discography is out today. What’s more, ABC Audio has the exclusive premiere of the video for the Rockabye Baby! rendition of “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”
“What’s cool about Panic! is they started their big breakthrough right around the same time Rockabye did,” says series founder Lisa Roth. “So, there’s a chance that the teenagers and young adults who grew up with Panic! are starting families of their own, and it’s our hope they’ll share our lullaby renditions with their little ones.”
“Personally, I’ve always been intrigued by their genre-hopping music,” Roth adds of Brendon Urie and company. “And as a kid raised on musical theatre, I love the theatrical style of the videos and live shows.”
Here’s the Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Panic! at the Disco track list:
“Hey Look Ma, I Made It”
“High Hopes”
“I Write Sins Not Tragedies”
“Victorious”
“The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage”
“Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”
“Nine in the Afternoon”
“Death of a Bachelor”
“The Ballad of Mona Lisa”
“Miss Jackson”
“Say Amen (Saturday Night)”
“This is Gospel”
