(NEW YORK) — The number of people who were hospitalized for eating disorders in the United States doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.
The increase in in-patient treatment for eating disorders came as early as May 2020, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, whose study was published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Rising cases were seen across anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and unspecified eating disorders, according to the study.
The researchers attributed the increased rates of hospitalization to several factors, including the conditions of the pandemic that may have promoted eating disorder behaviors, such as grocery shopping being a more “fraught” experience and the fact that schools and colleges were closed, which may have led to covert eating disorder symptoms being caught by families in close quarters.
A delay in outpatient care may have also led to increased hospitalizations, according to the researchers.
Data has previously shown the pandemic has brought on a mental health crisis in the U.S., of which eating disorders are a major part.
Throughout the pandemic, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) said it has seen a spike of more than 70% in the number of calls and online chat inquiries to its hotline compared to the same time period in 2019.
“This has been a time of heightened anxiety for everyone,” NEDA’s CEO Claire Mysko told Good Morning America last year. “For people with eating disorders, either those who are actively struggling or those who are pursuing recovery, there’s an added stressor with the pandemic.”
The Emily Program, a national network of eating disorder treatment centers, has seen inquiries both online and by phone “fly off the charts” during the pandemic, Dr. Jillian Lampert, the Emily Program’s chief strategy officer, also told GMA.
The nature of the pandemic, with its uncertainty and isolation, makes it a situation that “checks every box” for putting people at a higher risk for eating disorders, according to Lampert.
“We’re seeing people calling now in a more acute, intense stage [of an eating disorder],” Lampert said last year. “So we’re seeing not only are more people calling, but more people are calling in a more crisis situation.”
Eating disorders have remained second only to opioid overdose as the deadliest mental illness throughout the pandemic, with eating disorders responsible for one death every 52 minutes in the U.S., according to data shared by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
Nearly 30 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime, according to the association.
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.
Just months after losing her biological mother, Keyshia Cole has lost her father, Leon Cole.
The “Heaven Sent” singer revealed the heartbreaking news with fans on Tuesday in an Instagram post, sharing photos of the duo and writing, “Unfortunately my father didn’t make it through his complications, due to covid-19.”
Keyshia, 40, who was adopted by Leon and his wife, Yvonne, when she was two years old, added, “He’s the entire reason my last name is COLE, The only father I knew, he did such a great job here on earth!!!!! He made sure (Even tho he wasn’t my biological father) to keep a stable foundation and roof over all of our heads during our upbringing!!!!”
The powerhouse singer went on to reminisce about Leon and all that she’s learned from him over the years, including relationship advice and “how a man needs to treat a woman,” which she joked was “maybe the reason a man hasn’t been able to hold on to me too long.”
“He was the greatest example of love, 51 years of marriage to my mother Yvonne Cole. Seriously the most loving guy I’ve ever known. And he’s gonna be missed so much! I hate that this has happened !!!” wrote Keyshia, adding, “And that I’ve now lost two beautiful souls within a few months from each other.”
News of Leon’s death comes after her biological mother, Frankie Lons, sadly died of a reported drug overdose in July.
“This is so hard man. Can’t really even find the words. SMH. I honestly don’t even know how to feel,” Keyshia wrote at the time. “You can never prepare for something like this… Ever!!! but you will be missed.”
As previously reported, the new trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home debuted Tuesday night. Star Tom Holland himself surprised fans at an event in Los Angeles, and teared up after watching the preview along with them. In fact, he prompted the folks at the Regal Theater in Sherman Oaks to play it twice, addressing the crowd both times.
Holland didn’t dish any spoilers, but hinted that for all the multiverse madness in the trailer — which includes former Spider-Man movie villains Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro, Lizard, and enter the MCU — there’s more to come in the film.
“Trust me when I say that that is the tip of the iceberg,” promised Holland. “You’ll be on your feet, you’ll be screaming,” he enthused, before adding, “I want to tell you everything, but I can’t.”
Tom could be referring to persistent reporting that previous Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will enter Holland’s Spider-Verse to battle those baddies who’ve appeared in their films, played by Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Hayden Church, Jamie Foxx, and Rhys Ifans. However, Maguire and Garfield, weren’t seen in the trailer. In fact, Molina’s Dr. Otto Octavius hints he expected to see Maguire, too, telling Holland on screen, “You’re not Peter Parker.”
After the trailer played to thunderous applause, Holland said, “It’s really overwhelming…To see your reaction, means that we’ve been doing something right.” Holland, 25, also got choked up recalling when he was cast at age 18 to play the hero, for his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War. “[Marvel Studios head] Kevin Feige called me…and changed my life.”
Opening December 17,Spider-Man: No Way Home is a co-production of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, the latter of which is owned by ABC News’ parent company Disney.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is running headfirst into a number of fires as he makes his first trip to Africa as America’s top diplomat.
Nearly 10 months into his tenure, Blinken will bring U.S. President Joe Biden’s “America’s back” mantra to the world’s youngest continent. But for years now, the United States has been playing catch-up to China in many of Africa’s 54 countries. China has promoted deep business and diplomatic ties and invested in infrastructure, while the U.S. has said next to nothing about the region’s democratic backsliding.
Millions of donated U.S. vaccine doses have helped boost American influence, but Blinken’s visit to promote that generosity and increased U.S. engagement will also be sidetracked by growing crises that have consumed the State Department’s attention — the worsening conflict in Ethiopia and the derailed democratic transition in Sudan.
Notably, he will skip Ethiopia — once a staple of secretary of state visits because it was one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies and home to the African Union’s headquarters. But amid high concerns about the bloody war there, Ethiopia will still be a major topic, with Blinken expected to focus a fair amount of his time in Nairobi on the issue after warning on Friday the country could “implode.”
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday, pushing again for a ceasefire after a year of fighting that has pitted Abiy’s federal government against the forces in the Tigray region who once dominated national politics. As Abiy’s troops, backed by the neighboring country Eritrea and the neighboring region Amhara, continue to blockade Tigray, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has been joined by other ethnic-based groups in a march toward the capital, Addis Ababa, possibly to overthrow Abiy’s government.
“Certainly the Ethiopia matter is an important one and takes up a tremendous amount of time and attention by our leadership,” Ervin Massinga, a top U.S. diplomat for Africa, told reporters before the trip.
But while some have called for greater U.S. leadership, including sanctions against the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan leaders fighting on either side, Massinga said the U.S. is committed “to African partnerships and African solutions to African challenges.”
The African Union’s special envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been the leading mediator, shepherding quiet but intense diplomacy to achieve a ceasefire and start political negotiations. Obasanjo will return to Addis Ababa “in the coming days,” a senior State Department official said Tuesday, and while the administration may again deploy its special envoy for the region, Jeffrey Feltman, they will continue “supporting [Obasanjo’s] process as much as possible and looking for there to be progress,” they added.
The U.S. also remains engaged across the border in Sudan, where military leaders have derailed a historic transition to democracy that was celebrated around the world. The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Ambassador Molly Phee, arrived in Khartoum Sunday — the highest-level American official to visit since Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and other military leaders detained their civilian counterparts in a transitional government that was meant to steer the country toward democratic elections next July.
So far, U.S. cuts to economic aid, the suspension of loans from the World Bank and others and mass demonstrations across Sudan have not convinced Burhan to reverse course. As time goes on, some analysts warn it will be more difficult to dislodge Burhan’s newly installed picks in a transitional government.
But Blinken will try to pivot attention to what the Biden administration casts as a reinvigorated U.S. relationship with countries across Africa, after four years of the Trump administration largely ignoring or insulting Africans.
In particular, Blinken will focus on addressing the coronavirus pandemic, combatting climate change, investing in infrastructure and boosting democracy and the rule of law, according to Massinga, who added he would “really talk to the entirety of the continent” through speeches and engagements in the three countries.
It’s that first issue in particular that many hope to hear more about from Blinken. Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal have each vaccinated fewer than 6% of their populations, per the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data, as Americans are increasingly being offered booster shots. In fact, wealthy countries are administering nearly six times more booster shots than low-income countries are offering first shots, according to the ONE Campaign, an advocacy group.
“As the days go without enough vaccines, Africa remains exposed to a virus that has had hard-hitting effects on our health systems, threatened our fragile economic growth and stifled the capacity to provide basic services such as sanitation and education,” said Edwin Ikhuoria, ONE’s Africa executive director, adding that without vaccines, Africa faces “a perpetual pandemic, which has set us back and is reversing the developmental gains of the last 25 years on the continent.”
In addition to vaccines, many countries have been looking to the U.S. for infrastructure investment after years of China’s One Belt, One Road projects. Last week, senior White House official Daleep Singh concluded a tour through Ghana and Senegal, after a similar swing through Latin America, beginning conversations about what developments the U.S. and other Western countries could back — part of Biden’s “Build Back Better World” initiative with G-7 countries meant to raise climate, anti-corruption and labor standards in competition with Beijing.
The U.S. is seeking a partnership “based on increasing democracy and cooperation and that builds on people-to-people connections, fosters new economic engagements and reinforces our shared values grounded in renewed commitment to democracy and human rights,” Massinga said.
But there is much work to do on those issues, especially after six coups — in Mali, Guinea and Chad — or attempted coups across the continent this year. In Nigeria, for example, Africa’s most populous country and a “partly free” democracy, according to the think tank Freedom House, Blinken will have to address a president that has banned Twitter and security forces that were just found responsible for killing protesters.
While renewed U.S. interest is welcome in many capitals, it’s also unclear whether the U.S. and its partners will sustain it, especially after hearing similar rhetoric from U.S. lawmakers of both parties and previous administrations.
As perhaps a telling sign of some critics’ doubts, Blinken was scheduled to make this trip in August, but it was canceled as Afghanistan’s collapse and the massive U.S. evacuation operations consumed he and his team’s attention.
The fantasy series The Wheel of Time hits Amazon on Friday, based on the wildly popular novels by Robert Jordan. The streamer is hoping the series will be the next Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, and Zoe Robbins, who plays the sorcerer Nynaeve al’Meara, says to bring on the comparisons.
“It’s incredibly different from a lot of the other fantasy stories that we know,” she tells ABC Audio. “I think in particular, it’s so character-driven and the power dynamics and the gender dynamics and everything that we explore is, I think, quite different to what we’re used to in the fantasy genre.”
Robbins adds, “I think we all expect that the comparisons will happen, but I think I think ours is quite different and special.”
What makes The Wheel of Time different from fantasy series that have come before it? The gender and power dynamics, for one. Madeline Madden stars as Edwene Al’Vere in the series, a villager just learning how to tap into her powers. She reveals what makes this world unique.
“The Wheel of Time is set in a world where magic exists, but only women are allowed to touch this magic or wield it,” says Madden. “So obviously there is a power struggle between the genders that is explored throughout the course of the series.”
“There is this streak of the matriarchy throughout the world. And you know, it is that struggle between men and women, light and dark, but at the core of The Wheel of Time, it’s really a story about balance and finding that balance,” the actress adds.
Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Ralph Lauren, Karwai Tang/WireImage
It seems the beef between Kanye West and Drake has officially been squashed.
On Tuesday, both rappers took to social media to share a video of themselves hanging out. In the short clip, the two are standing next to each other and at one point, the “Way 2 Sexy” artists wraps his arm around Ye.
Drake, who shared the clip to Instagram, along with a video of Dave Chappelle, captioned it, “You have reached your destination.”
The Certified Lover Boy tagged the location as Toronto, and according to Chappelle’s speech, he gathered “some of the biggest stars on earth” at his home in the Canadian city — including West — sparking rumors the two have reconciled.
The reunion of the two artists comes after Ye recently extended an olive branch to Drake, inviting him to Los Angeles on December 7 to participate in a benefit to free former gang leader Larry Hoover from prison.
“I’m making this video to address the ongoing back and forth between myself and Drake. Both me and Drake have taken shots at each other. It’s time to put it to rest,” said Ye. “I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride to the side and come together.”
(NEW YORK) — It’s perfectly acceptable for 5- to-11-year-olds preparing to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 also to receive other protective shots they may have missing during the pandemic lockdown.
For some children, that could mean five or six shots in a single visit, but it’s safe to do so, doctors told ABC News.
“You can’t overwhelm the immune system with these vaccines,” said Dr. Margaret Fisher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in New Jersey and chair of the AAP Global Immunization Advocacy Project.
Autumn is often less hectic at pediatricians’ offices, which is serendipitous for parents looking to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
“We’re kind of in a sweet spot,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatric specialist in Kansas, with most children flooding doctors offices for back-to-school checkups over the summer.
Routine childhood vaccinations — jabs that help stave off devastating illnesses such as polio, measles, diphtheria and pertussis — are carefully laid out in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and all states require these vaccines for children attending public school.
While most kids are up to date on routine vaccines, according to Burgert, a significant number missed appointments over the summer. In August, the nonprofit group Health Efficient estimated that community health centers would need to increase the number of childhood vaccinations by 265% to match pre-pandemic levels — and maintain that pace for at least six months.
“If kids need routine shots, either we are giving them at the same time, or we are prioritizing the COVID shot right now,” Burgert added. “This is still a global emergency.”
Pediatricians of children who need to get back on a regular vaccination schedule should consult the CDC schedule for vaccine catch-ups, even if that means some kids will be getting their shots slightly later than would be ideal, said Dr. Alok Patel, a pediatric hospitalist at Stanford Children’s Health.
“I also have parents that prefer to space them out,” said Burgert, especially kids historically more reactive to the flu shot. “Parents are a little bit more hesitant to do both at the same time, just because they don’t want them to feel bad. And I understand that.”
Patel said he hears similar concerns: “A lot of parents say, ‘Hey, this is too many shots for my child to handle.'” But spacing out the vaccines, Patel added, is not without risk.
“The problem with spacing out the vaccines is you leave your child at risk to get the diseases while you’re spacing them out,” said Fisher, the pediatric infectious disease expert. “There’s no advantage. There’s no evidence that giving them at the same time increases the adverse events. And the disadvantage is you leave your child susceptible.”
According to Patel, parents should focus most on “getting their children the right protection, and getting them fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, but also making sure that they’re getting complete protection against the other major vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Pediatricians are urging eligible patients to seek out COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible — and to stay up to date on other routine vaccines.
“The last thing we want to do,” Patel told ABC News, “is see a resurgence of these preventable diseases because of lapses in coverage.”
Burgert also noted how children are eager to do their part.
“These kids have been living all of this stress with us,” Burgert said. “They have been living through it, and they want it to be over too. They want it to be over for their friends, and they want it to be over for their parents.”
Lauren Joseph, a student at Stanford Medical School, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Dr. Tushar Garg and Dr. Jay Bhatt contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The question of whether President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion rights should receive Holy Communion is at the center of a controversial draft document the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to vote on Wednesday.
The vote is the culmination of year-long debate between America’s largely conservative bishops and the Vatican about whether punitive measures should be taken against public officials who contradict the church’s teaching on abortion.
Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, who has said his “personal” views were a “private matter,” has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden’s rosary beads.
After his meeting last month with Pope Francis before the G-20 summit, and amid criticism from conservative bishops, Biden said that the pope told him that he should continue receiving Communion and said the pope called him a “good Catholic.”
Some bishops, however, see things differently, citing Biden’s vocal public support of abortion rights as a key reason why clarification on who can receive Communion is necessary.
Prominent Catholic politicians, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have typically been careful about where they attend Mass so as to avoid controversy.
While Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington has said that he doesn’t plan to deny Biden Communion, he has publicly questioned whether the president is living up to Catholic Church teachings on controversial issues, including abortion.
“The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception,” Gregory told journalists at the National Press Club in September. “So, the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”
While the document is expected to make no mention Biden or other pro-abortion rights Catholic politicians by name, its intent is to issue a stern rebuke of individuals, especially of public officials, who present themselves for Communion after breaking with church teaching on fundamental issues.
In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops write “there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church.”
“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ,” the document said.
An official at the bishop’s conference insisted that they are staying true to their mission of defending church teachings, pointing to the conference’s outspoken disagreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding undocumented migrants.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, many American Catholics are divided about whether Biden should be denied Communion over his support of abortion rights.
A majority of U.S. Catholic adults say Biden should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass, while nearly 30% say Biden should not be allowed to receive Communion.
The divide underscores a growing tension amongst American Catholics about who they see as the true authority on matters of faith and what they should believe.
“The U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis see things in very different ways,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University. “American Catholics for the first time in many decades have to decide if they want to follow Pope Francis or U.S. bishops, which is new, because U.S. bishops are traditionally very Roman, loyal to the pope.”
(WASHINGTON) — After a 34-day protest garnered local and national attention, Howard University said it has reached an agreement with its students, who demanded better living conditions in on-campus dormitories.
On Oct. 12, Howard students began occupying the Blackburn center, a student hub and cafeteria located in the central yard of the campus, transforming the area into a “tent city.”
The protests continued until Monday, Dr. Wayne Frederick, president of Howard University, said, and would come to be known as #BlackburnTakeover across social media platforms.
Several students told ABC News that they faced a host of health concerns, including mold, infestations, and flooding in some college dorms. In October, Howard University officials listed 34 reports of concerns related to discoloration, or suspected fungal growth, across more than 5,050 beds — 0.67% of all on-campus beds.
The problems were allegedly so bad that many students preferred to sleep outside, in tents and sleeping bags, rather than in the university’s dorms. That is how the “tent city” protests began.
Students take action
“About one month ago, student protesters initiated their occupation of Blackburn. Today, they agreed to leave,” Frederick said in a statement Monday, adding that he also expected non-student protesters to depart the surrounding area and end their occupation of the campus.
The agreement came after days of negotiations and various threats of legal action from the students.
“I was shocked that they were willing to have a conversation, because it took them a long time to even say anything to us about the protest,” said Lamiya Murray, an 18-year-old freshman and the main organizer of the demonstration.
“The students have achieved the objectives and something meaningful. What they got by their personal sacrifice was sunlight put onto Howard in a way that a private academy normally wouldn’t receive,” Donald Temple, the students’ attorney, told ABC News. “Howard is private, and so is Howard’s policy and procedures, but the accountability from students, faculty and alumni are bigger.”
Temple, a Howard alumnus, said he’s represented Howard University student protestors for years, including during a 1989 protest in which they were advocating for similar demands.
“This double standard exists within these HBCUs, and students are attending these colleges which are underfunded when all these kids are saying they want competitive education and proper conditions,” Temple added.
Demonstrators such as Murray and Deja Redding, a Howard University graduate student and director of The Live Movement, a campus-based organization focused on advocating for racial equity in education, said they faced verbal threats from University administrators due to their involvement in the movement. They were even told they could face expulsion.
Murray, who spent nearly 33 nights in a tent outside the center, said she was worried about the wellbeing of the students and fearful of what the outcome of the protests would be.
“I ended up having to talk myself into doing a lot of stuff anywhere from sleeping outside to using the bathroom and Porta Potty,” Murray told ABC News. “Am I willing to sit here in the cold for these demands? I had to talk myself into it most nights, and I just realized that what I’m doing is bigger than just me, bigger than Howard, bigger than an HBCU; it’s revolutionary.”
In their protests, students demanded an in-person town hall with Howard’s president and other officials, the permanent reinstatement of student, alumni and faculty affiliate positions that are being removed from the school’s board of trustees, a meeting with university leaders about housing and legal, disciplinary and academic immunity for protesters. Student organizers also want to weigh in on Howard’s new housing plan.
“As we close in on the Thanksgiving holiday, I am encouraged and excited about the work we have accomplished — and the work we will continue to do — together to reinforce Howard University,” Frederick said in his statement Monday. “I look forward to sharing details soon on our ideas that will address concerns and build a culture where all are heard.”
He added that Howard plans to make improvements throughout the campus, and is committed to maintaining “safe and high-end housing.”
Even though they reached an agreement with the university on Monday, students said the school did not agree to all their requests, specifically the re-election of the student and alumni on the board of trustees.
Murray and Redding said they plan to take legal action.
Protest goes viral
Howard, known to some as “The Mecca,” is one of the most notable Historically Black Colleges. The students’ outcry sparked attention from high-profile Howard alumni including Yandy Smith, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Debbie Allen.
“The leadership saw these students as renegades who did not represent the larger student body, even though their issues affected thousands of kids,” Temple said. “They weren’t by themselves. The alumni and the nation were right behind their shadows.”
Because Howard provides priority housing for freshman and sophomores, the alumni network plays a prominent role in providing additional housing resources to Howard’s juniors, seniors and graduate students.
“Some of the behind-the-scenes things that people don’t know or see is that alumni activated a platform to house a lot of these students who are unable to live in their dorms or just weren’t able to get housing,” Redding said.
Now, Howard students hope their successful movement inspires others at HBCUs in need of improvements to speak up.
“These students should be able to hold their administration accountable. Plenty of other HBCUs have reached out with the intention to go ahead and start moving towards holding a demonstration on their campus, maybe not to the magnitude of Howard’s, but they’re looking to have a demonstration of some sort on their own needs that they have,” Redding said.
Howard’s student organizers told ABC News, they’re expected to hold a town hall with the University on March 1, 2022, as part of the agreement.
They are also calling for Frederick’s resignation.
ABC News’ Adia Robinson contributed to this report.
(WARNER ROBINS, Ga.) — A search for five “violent” inmates who were at large days after escaping from a Georgia jail has ended, authorities said.
The Warner Robins Police Department announced via Twitter that its officers along with a fugitive task force from the United States Marshals Service had captured the fifth and final escapee on Tuesday night.
Tyree Montan Jackson, 27; Dennis Penix Jr., 28; Brandon Pooler, 24; Lewis Wendell Evans III, 22; and Tyree Williams Jr., 33, all fled the Pulaski County Jail in Hawkinsville, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, on the night of Nov. 12, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
All five inmates have “violent criminal histories,” including two who are charged with murder, the GBI said. They had two Tasers when they escaped and were seen traveling in a stolen white van, according to the GBI.
One of the escapees, Jackson, was captured Sunday. A second inmate, Evans, was taken into custody late Sunday night in Warner Robins, about 100 miles south of Atlanta, the GBI said.
As the search continued for the three other inmates, the U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to any arrests.
While the last remaining escapee was taken into custody Tuesday night in Warner Robins, it was unclear where and when the other two were captured.
