(NEW YORK) — Nearly 94% of all NFL players and 99% of the league’s football-related staff members are at least partially vaccinated, ESPN reported Wednesday.
The season begins Thursday night with a match between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The league has mandated that coaches and staff be vaccinated and has been going back and forth with the NFL Players Association about a requirement for players.
Currently, unvaccinated players are being tested daily and required to follow a series of protocols, while those fully vaccinated are tested once a week. Still, the NFL Players Association has now demanded all players be tested daily, regardless of their vaccination status.
(RAMSTEIN-MIESENBACH, Germany) — The 8-year old Afghan girl, housed at Ramstein Air Base without her parents, decided to share her dreams with the U.S. staffers running the “youth pod” where she was staying.
She wanted to be a pilot, she told them.
When word got to U.S. Air Force personnel, they decided to let her know that dream could come true. They sent three female U.S. pilots to meet with her, give her a challenge coin and tell her that in the U.S., she could become anything she wanted to be.
The road to becoming one will be difficult, to say the least.
The young girl, whose name was withheld by the State Department to protect her identity, is one of 275 unaccompanied children evacuated from Afghanistan, according to UNICEF, as part of the massive U.S.-led evacuation operation.
Many of them lost their parents in the crowds and were sent on separate military aircraft or chartered flights out of Afghanistan. Others were pushed inside Kabul airport’s fortified walls by parents desperate to give their child a better life than what may come next in Afghanistan as the Taliban take control. And others still were orphaned in the final days of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan — losing parents on the battlefield or in the crush of crowds outside the airport gates.
“They were all traumatized,” said one State Department official who served at Kabul airport as a consular officer. Children there were brought to a reunification center run by the Norwegian government, where some were able to be reunited with family. But as the clock ticked down on evacuation efforts, U.S. officials knew they couldn’t leave any children behind, per the official, taking them all out on evacuation flights to Qatar.
Some children were even separated there, according to the State Department. Safe from the chaos of Kabul airport, one 17-year old boy was told by his parents to guard his family’s luggage. But when the bags were loaded onto an aircraft to Ramstein, in Germany, he went with them — without his family. His family was later flown to Ramstein, and U.S. officials were able to reunite them.
But for the scores of other separated and unaccompanied children, finding close family members to reunify them with is now a challenge. U.S. officials from several agencies are working at military installations in Qatar, Germany and even the U.S. — with technical advice from UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration — amid concerns that some children could be trafficked or others may be claimed as child brides.
Visiting Ramstein Air Base Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with several of the 25 unaccompanied children currently housed there.
“Many, many, many Americans are really looking forward to welcoming you and having you come to the United States,” he told a group of them.
Already, there are at least over several dozen children that have been moved from Ramstein and other U.S. bases to the U.S., where their cases are handed off to the Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement — the same agency that has handled cases of unaccompanied minors at the southern U.S. border.
HHS “works to find extended family or other appropriate sponsors to care for the child using established sponsor assessment procedures. Unaccompanied minors not immediately unified with an appropriate caregiver are placed in culturally and age-appropriate facilities,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Friday.
He declined to specify who qualifies as an “appropriate sponsor,” but said judgments are made on a “case-by-case basis.”
Blinken was briefed by one official from USAID at Ramstein, who told him before reporters that 11 minors would be departing Wednesday evening after 21 others had left in the last five days. Virtually all of them have been flown to Dulles International Airport in Virginia and onward from there to military bases across the U.S., where tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are being housed as their cases are processed.
Blinken asked the official where the 11 departing that evening, some of whom he met, would end up, but she said she did not know.
When he met with a group of them earlier that day, he engaged in small talk, asking where they were from and what sports they were playing. He toured some of their sleeping quarters in the pop-up facilities on Ramstein’s tarmac, passing sleeping bags and Spiderman pillows — each facility marked with a cartoon animal on its door to help kids remember their pod, like the giraffe outside Door #7.
Inside one tent, Blinken saw some of the kids’ artwork — drawings and paintings, including an eye, the Genie from Aladdin, boxing gloves and a couple landscapes — a beach and palm tree, a mountain valley.
“I know you all have a lot of questions. There are a lot of people who will look out for you and help you,” he told the group he met on his tour.
One young boy gifted Blinken a T-shirt — and he told them, “I will wear this in Washington and be able to tell everyone where I got it.” They laughed and applauded, according to the print pool of reporters.
Fatella, a 21-year old woman in a head scarf and black and brown checkered shirt, told reporters about how difficult it was to get to Kabul airport, with bullets “flying.” Her father died some years ago, and her mother was unable to escape — left behind in Kabul.
Fatella, along with U.S. authorities, have been in touch with her, but it’s unclear how the U.S. will reunite them with Kabul airport still not functional. Her mother would have to be evacuated from Afghanistan, as State Department officials have made clear they will not send anyone who has been evacuated back into the country.
But among the other challenges with reunification, officials are also concerned about child trafficking. There have been “multiple cases” of young girls being claimed as brides by adult Afghan men at one U.S. base in Wisconsin, according to an internal State Department situation report obtained by ABC News.
The State Department’s task force requested “urgent guidance” after staff at Fort McCoy reported “multiple cases of minor females who presented as ‘married’ to adult Afghan males, as well as polygamous families,” according to the Aug. 27 report.
Child marriage is not uncommon in Afghanistan, but it is illegal under U.S. law, and the State Department sanctions countries that don’t crack down on it and other forms of human trafficking.
U.S. officials in the United Arab Emirates reportedly sent a cable to Washington to warn that some young Afghan girls had been forced into marriages in order to escape Afghanistan and reported being sexually assaulted by these older men, according to the Associated Press, which first reported about the Aug. 27 report.
The State Department declined to confirm whether there have been any cases of forced marriages among Afghan evacuees or other forms of human trafficking, but a spokesperson told ABC News last Friday that they take allegations “seriously” and are “committed to protecting vulnerable individuals globally.”
“We are coordinating across the U.S. government and with domestic and international partners to detect potential cases of forced marriage among vulnerable Afghans at relocation sites and to protect any victims identified,” they added in a statement.
After touring the base in her home state, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told reporters that an investigation had concluded there were no child brides at Fort McCoy, according to the AP.
ABC News first reported on the concerns about human trafficking, especially of unaccompanied minors, when Qatari officials raised it amid a wider warning about the conditions at U.S. facilities in the country. Qatar’s assistant foreign secretary told U.S. officials there was a “danger of human trafficking in such circumstances and highlighted the cases of unaccompanied minors coming from Kabul,” according to another internal situation report dated Aug. 23.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is set to speak to the nation Thursday afternoon to lay out what the White House said is a new six-part strategy to combat the delta variant, but it was unclear whether he would call for more vaccination mandates in the private sector and for the nation’s schools.
“He’s going to outline the next phase in the fight against the virus and what that looks like, including measures to work with the public and private sector,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily briefing Wednesday.
She said he would be “building on the steps that we’ve already announced, the steps we’ve taken over the last few months, requiring more vaccinations, boosting important testing measures and more, making it safer for kids to go to school, all at a time when the American people are listening. Again, this will be six steps that we’ll work to be implementing over the months ahead.”
According to a White House official, the president’s plan will include six areas of focus: vaccinating the unvaccinated; furthering protection for the vaccinated; keeping schools safely open; increasing testing and requiring masking; protecting the economy’s recovery; and improving care for those with COVID-19.
Psaki confirmed there will be new components as part of the president’s announcement but wouldn’t go much beyond general comments about testing access, mandates and making sure kids are protected from the highly transmissible virus as they return to school and Americans return from summer vacations.
Psaki said plans were still being finalized as Biden met with with his COVID-19 response team Wednesday afternoon.
“Will any of those new steps influence the average American’s day-to-day life? Should we expect any new mitigation recommendations, as an example?” a reporter asked.
“It depends on if you’re vaccinated or not,” Psaki replied, but gave no further details.
She highlighted efforts the administration already has taken to try and get the delta variant under control.
“We’ve been at war with the delta variant over the course of the last couple of months. And just to remind you of some of the steps that we have announced, we have announced new government mandates on DOD, our military forces, NIH, other — the VA, the Veterans Affairs — Department of Veterans Affairs, folks who are serving on the front lines on the health — on health — in health roles in that department. We’ve also incentivized additional mandates, whether it is in home — in health care facilities, nursing homes, and others,” Psaki said.
“And we’ve also lifted up and — and incentivized private sector — private sector mandates, because we’ve seen that they have been effective. We’ve also deployed over 700 surge response teams across the country and work closely, again, with the private sector to institute more requirements on vaccinations,” she continued.
“We have more work to do, and we are still at war with the virus and with the delta variant,” she added. “So, we’re going to build on that work. And he’s speaking to it now, because this issue, of course, is on front of mind, top of mind to Americans across the country. People are returning to schools. Workplaces are either reopening, some brick and mortar, or some people are just returning to work after spending some time with family or loved ones over the summer.”
But besides ordering the nation’s 2.1 million federal employees and 1.3 million active duty service members get vaccinated, Biden has limited legal authority to institute a broad vaccine mandate for most Americans.
About 75% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose and 64.4% of the adult U.S. population is fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Tuesday, Psaki did seem to suggest that Biden will call on the private sector to institute more vaccine mandates. Major corporations such as Facebook, Google and Citigroup have already announced vaccination requirements.
“I will note that we’ve seen that there are a range of ways that we have increased vaccinations across the country, or vaccinations have increased, I should say. One of them is private sector companies mandating in different capacities that their employees get vaccinated. Or certain school districts mandate,” Psaki said.
Biden previewed some of what he planned to say when he spoke about the August jobs numbers, which were much lower than predicted.
“There’s no question the delta variant is why today’s jobs report isn’t stronger. I know people were looking, and I was hoping, for a higher number. But next week, I’ll lay out the next steps that are going to — we’re going to need to combat the delta variant, to address some of those fears and concerns,” Biden said Friday.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Americans in August souring on Biden’s handling of the pandemic, with his approval rating for his handling or the response dropping 10 points from June, down to 52%
Biden’s remarks are scheduled for just 11 days before the administration is set to begin widely rolling out booster shots of Pfizer on Sept. 20, a process mired by confusion as some public health experts say the data doesn’t yet support the need for boosters.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Texas 8, Arizona 5
Detroit 5, Pittsburgh 1
San Diego 8, LA Angels 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Seattle 8, Houston 5
Minnesota 3, Cleveland 0
Boston 2, Tampa Bay 1
Baltimore 9, Kansas City 8
Toronto 6, NY Yankees 3
Oakland 5, Chi White Sox 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 7, Colorado 4
Miami 2, NY Mets 1
St. Louis 5, LA Dodgers 4
Chi Cubs 4, Cincinnati 1
Washington 4, Atlanta 2
Milwaukee 4, Philadelphia 3
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Phoenix 76, Atlanta 75
Las Vegas 102, Minnesota 81
As the final days of summer approach, Luke Bryan ends the season with his 27th #1, “Waves,” topping the chart for the second week in a row. Once again, it’s a song like “Roller Coaster” and “One Margarita” that’s perfect for warm weather.
“I always love to have a big summer song out there,” Luke reflects, “and ‘Waves’ certainly really checks a lot of those boxes, and talks about the love of summer and being at the beach.”
“But the main thing is vocally, I loved doing something different like that,” he adds. “And production-wise, I just thought it was a new sound for me.”
While Luke may love to stretch his wings, he warns that fans shouldn’t worry: he’s always coming back to his country roots.
“As long as I can kinda teeter back and forth between a song like ‘Waves,'” he explains, “and then have songs that have more country sounds, too…I mean, all these songs kinda, they move back and forth within a framework of what I try to do. And I think potentially my next single may be something pretty, pretty country,” he hints.
“Waves” is Luke’s fifth #1 from his Born Here Live Here Die Here album. So far, he hasn’t revealed whether his next release will be another track from that record.
Fifty years ago today, on September 9, 1971, the late John Lennon released his classic second solo album, Imagine, which featured his enduring peace anthem of the same name.
Imagine was Lennon’s first solo effort to top the Billboard 200 chart, and it’s gone on to sell more than 2 million copies in the U.S.
Imagine‘s centerpiece, of course, was the title track, which was the only single released from the album. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Imagine” includes lyrics urging people to envision a peaceful world without possessions, without countries that separate us and without religion. Before his death in 1980, Lennon credited his wife, Yoko Ono, with much of song’s lyrical ideas and content.
Other memorable songs featured on the album include “Jealous Guy,” “Gimme Some Truth,” “How Do You Sleep?” and “Oh Yoko!” Lennon wrote “How Do You Sleep?” as a vitriolic response to Paul McCartney‘s then-recent musical and media digs at John and Yoko.
Among the well-known musicians who contributed to Imagine were George Harrison; lauded session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins; bassist Klaus Voormann; drummers Alan White, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon; and Badfinger members Tom Evans and Joey Molland. Lennon and Ono co-produced the record with Phil Spector.
Of course, hundreds of artists have recorded and performed “Imagine” over the years. Just a few examples: The song was performed as part of the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and at the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and this year’s 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Visit JohnLennon.com to find out about the various events planned to commemorate the anniversary.
Meanwhile, in the lead-up to the milestone anniversary, a few famous artists discussed their admiration for Imagine and its title track:
John Fogerty: “[Lennon] stated a philosophy in ‘Imagine’ that’s one of those wonderful times where…it’s a really great song, but it’s also got a really great message, you know…The concept of having no borders and everybody is one and that there are many dreamers. And just a completely compelling melody…Yeah, that was a wonderful record, certainly.”
Heart‘s Ann Wilson: “‘Imagine’ [turned] out to be one of the most beloved standards of our culture…I mean, it’s just been done and redone and believed in. What an amazing mantra. And actually, it turns out that…those were Yoko’s words…I think that song probably was the real fruit of [John and Yoko’s] union, creatively.”
Heart’s Nancy Wilson: “The Imagine album was so intimate, more intimate than any Beatles album…would have been able to be, ’cause you would have had a George song, and maybe Ringo song, and Paul and John trading and…doing their Paul and John thing together. But, I think John…was going through a catharsis, like as a human, having been let out of the Beatle pen…and being able to do his own thing with the new love of his life.”
Oscar Isaac plays as an ex-military interrogator turned gambler haunted by his past in The Card Counter, a new crime drama from the man behind such classic films as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Paul Schrader.
Isaac tells ABC Audio that despite serving prison time for the bad things he’s done, his character, William Tillich — a.k.a. William Tell — can’t seem to shake off the trauma and guilt.
“Even after he’s done his time, he doesn’t feel like it’s enough,” the 42-year-old actor explains. “So he sentences himself to indefinite purgatory by finding the most lonely, kind of miserable existence that he can think of, which is low stakes blackjack, poker, you know, forever.”
Tell is the latest in what Schrader calls his “series of man alone in his room” characters, according to Isaac, who says a role like this was a lifelong goal of his. Films like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and First Reformed “are about the pressure of this person in his room and the mystery of what has happened and letting that unravel. So, yeah, I got to do that. I got to be a Paul Schrader anti-hero.”
Tiffany Haddish plays La Linda, a mysterious gambling financier who agrees to back Isaac’s character financially, and recalls it wasn’t Schrader’s iconic films, but an erotic horror film he directed in 1982 that convinced her attracted her to the film.
“I loved him since Cat People,” she tells ABC Audio. “I thought it was shot so beautifully. And I loved the story. And I still love the story.”
“[I said] I want to work with that man! I’ve been saying that for years, and then bam, he called me,” she gushes.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Wednesday asked all 18 of former President Donald Trump’s appointees to the boards of the nation’s military academies, including former adviser Kellyanne Conway, press secretary Sean Spicer and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, to resign by Wednesday evening or be dismissed.
Trump had filled some of the positions at West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, in the final couple months of his presidency. They come with three-year terms, which President Joe Biden is cutting short.
A White House official confirmed the White House sent letters out today and that the appointees had until 6:00 p.m. to resign, or they would be terminated.
The boards of visitors are like boards of trustees who oversee affairs at a university; the president can appoint six people to each, while Congress appoints the rest.
Several of Trump’s appointees were highly political and controversial, and some pushed back on Twitter.
The former director of the White House budget office, Russ Vought, appointed to the board of the Naval Academy, posted the letter he received on Twitter, with the caption, “No. It’s a three year term.”
Spicer, appointed to the Naval Academy as well, tweeted his letter, too, suggesting Biden should focus on Afghanistan.
Conway, meanwhile, appointed to the board of the Air Force Academy, said Biden should resign instead — then suggested she was kidding.
“I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified or not political, to serve on these boards,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. “But the president’s qualification requirements are not your party registration. They are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you are aligned with the values of this administration.”
Biden wanted “nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with [his] values,” Psaki said.
Among others being asked to resign are those Trump appointed to the board of the U.S. Military Academy, McMaster and former Gen. Jack Keane, who often appears on Fox News.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — With six days to go until ballots are due, Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the Bay Area Wednesday afternoon to stump for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of Tuesday’s recall election.
Newsom is facing a two-part question on next week’s recall ballot: whether voters would like to recall him and who they would like to replace him with.
Harris, who appeared with Newsom before President Joe Biden is set to do so next week, told the crowd at a rally with union workers that helping get out the vote for the governor was a priority.
“I came home for one purpose, it was really important for me to come home to stand and speak in support of my dear friend,” she said.
“We want our leaders in California to have a vision of what is possible, to see the opportunity of a moment to inspire and uplift all people. That’s what the people of California have always wanted. And that’s why the Republicans’ recall will fail,” Harris continued.
Harris is the latest big-name Democrat to stump for Newsom. Shortly before the rally his campaign began airing an ad featuring former President Barack Obama, who encouraged Californians to vote against the recall. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have also appeared on the air in support of Newsom, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., rallied with him to get out the vote earlier this month.
Newsom has come under fire from critics and recall hopefuls for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, including recent vaccine and mask mandates in some public settings across the state.
Harris lauded his decision making when it came to the pandemic.
“Gavin stepped up to the moment. Over 22 million Californians have been vaccinated because of the programs that he led and put in place, because he was not afraid. He didn’t say, “This problem is too big for me.’ He didn’t say ‘My state is too big for me.’ No, and he led with courage,” she said.
Newsom and other Democrats have attempted to nationalize the race by highlighting the thin margins in the Senate — and what could happen if a Republican governor is able to make an appointment should Sen. Diane Feinstein’s seat become open.
“What’s happening in Texas, what’s happening in Georgia, what’s happening around our country with these policies that are about attacking women’s rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, workers rights, they think if they can win in California they can do this anywhere, but we’re gonna show them they can’t,” Harris said Wednesday.
So far, according to data collected by Political Data Inc., a firm that works with campaigns in California, 29% of California’s 22 million active voters, who all received ballots in the mail, have returned them. Based solely on partisan breakdown of ballot returns, Democrats and Republicans are returning ballots at similar paces, 33% and 30%, respectively, although the number of Democratic voters in the state is nearly double that of Republicans.
Newsom, during his remarks introducing Harris, painted Larry Elder — the controversial recall candidate who said he believes the minimum wage should be $0 and that women are not as smart as men — as the type of governor Californians should expect if the recall passes and pointed to the risks he believes the state would be in if Elder were to be his successor.
“He said the first thing he’ll do after he gets sworn in — he said the first thing he’ll do before his first cup of tea — is he will sign an executive order, eliminating mask wearing for our kids in public schools and eliminating vaccine verification for health care workers. Consider the consequences of that,” Newsom said.
Although many voters said they are still undecided on who they’d choose as a replacement, Elder, a nationally syndicated conservative radio host, leads most public polling of the recall field.
Newsom also referenced the balance of power in Washington if Elder had been governor last year and appointed a Republican to fill Harris’ seat.
“Would there have been that last stimulus? Would there be Majority Leader Chuck Schumer? Think of the consequences, California. That’s what’s at stake … you have the opportunity to determine the fate and future of this state. And I would argue impact the fate and future of the United States of America. This is a consequential election,” he said.
Every voter in California was mailed a ballot for this election, so there is less pressure on Newsom when it comes to cultivating high turnout in order to defeat the recall. The latest poll from the Public Policy Institute of California released last week showed 58% of Californians opposing the recall.
In that poll, 49% of respondents said that they either will not vote on the second question to choose a replacement candidate or they do not yet know who they’d like to pick.
Newsom also nodded to former President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party and the lies about a stolen election that have turned into a platform for many in the GOP.
“What a remarkable moment it is in American history. But we have a chance, and an opportunity, to make history of our own here in the state of California. By rejecting that — well, that cynicism, rejecting that fear, by rejecting that kind of dismissiveness. California, we are better than that, we have the opportunity by voting no on this recall. We’re better than that,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 650,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 62.3% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 08, 6:45 pm
Kentucky reaches record number of hospitalizations
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced new grim COVID-19 data and said the state has reached a record high positivity rate of 14.1%, and a hospitalization rate of 2,424.
There are 674 residents in ICUs, Beshear said.
In the last 24 hours, 4,468 newly coronavirus cases and 30 new deaths, including that of a young teen, were reported, according to the governor.
“No matter what age you are, this thing is deadly and it’s out there. You need to get vaccinated and you need to wear your mask,” he wrote on Twitter.
Today I am sad to share another tough report in our battle with COVID-19. For Wednesday I am announcing 4,468 newly reported cases and 30 new deaths, including a 15-year-old from Shelby County. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/jMOWZtcT6B
Nearly 94% of all NFL players and 99% of the league’s football-related staff members are at least partially vaccinated, ESPN reported Wednesday.
The season begins Thursday night with a match between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The league has mandated that coaches and staff be vaccinated and has been going back and forth with the NFL Players Association about a requirement for players.
Currently, unvaccinated players are being tested daily and required to follow a series of protocols, while those fully vaccinated are tested once a week. Still, the NFL Players Association has now demanded all players be tested daily, regardless of their vaccination status.
Sep 08, 3:53 pm
Biden to lay out next steps on testing, vaccine requirements, school safety
President Joe Biden will lay out a six-prong strategy to combat the delta variant on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“He’s going to outline the next phase in the fight against the virus and what that looks like, including measures to work with the public and private sector, building on the steps that we’ve already announced, the steps we’ve taken over the last few months, requiring more vaccinations, boosting important testing measures and more, making it safer for kids to go to school,” Psaki said Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Sep 08, 2:38 pm
Over 95% of US counties reporting high community transmission
More than 95% of U.S. counties are now reporting high community transmission, the highest level since CDC tracking began, according to federal data.
The average daily case rate (per 100,000) is now higher among children ages 5 to 17 than all adult age groups.
Death rates are continuing to surge with about 1,000 Americans dying from COVID-19 each day, according to federal data.
Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 made up about one-third — 34.4% — of the patients hospitalized as of Aug. 28.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Sep 08, 2:32 pm
Over 95% of US counties reporting high community transmission
More than 95% of U.S. counties are now reporting high community transmission, the highest level since CDC tracking began, according to federal data.
The average daily case rate (per 100,000) is now higher among children ages 5 to 17 than all adult age groups.
Death rates are continuing to surge with about 1,000 Americans dying from COVID-19 each day, according to federal data.
Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 made up about one-third — 34.4% — of the patients hospitalized as of Aug. 28.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Sep 08, 1:30 pm
Fauci: 3rd shot likely going to become standard regimen
In an interview with the podcast “In the Bubble,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told former White House adviser Andy Slavitt that he predicts three doses will become the standard dosing regimen for COVID-19 vaccines going forward.
Fauci cited new data from Israel that vaccine protection against hospitalization dropped in recent months from some 97% to 77% or 78%.
The vaccines still provide extraordinary protection, but the combination of the delta variant and waning immunity with time are causes for concern, he said.
Fauci added that that he thinks it will probably be the end of 2022 or early 2023 before much of the world is vaccinated.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Sep 08, 1:06 pm
Kentucky hospitals on brink of rationing care: Governor
Kentucky is “quickly approaching that point” where hospitals will need to start rationing care, Gov. Andy Beshear warned on CNN.
Over two-thirds of Kentucky’s hospitals have critical staffing shortages, the governor said. FEMA and National Guard teams have been called in and nursing students have been deployed across the state, he said.
“We’ve got one hospital in Morehead called St. Clair that’s closed three operating rooms to expand ICU bed space,” he said. “We had a hospital in Danville, Kentucky, that’s not used to treating really sick patients, that had a morgue for two — and had seven individuals pass away in their hospital over one weekend.”
“We’ve set up tents outside Pikeville Medical Center to triage whether people really need to be in the hospital or not,” Beshear continued. “We’re in a very precarious situation.”
-ABC News’ Brian Hartman
Sep 08, 11:09 am
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade participants must be vaccinated
All participants in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade must be vaccinated and wear face coverings, the department store announced Wednesday. Singers, dancers and musicians may be exempt from wearing face masks.
The number of participants will see a 10 to 20% cut this year and social distancing will be followed, Macy’s added.
Last year, much of the parade was pre-taped due to the pandemic. There were no high school band performances and limited spectators on the street.
The marching band and other specialty group performances that were initially set to perform last year will get to participate in this Thanksgiving’s parade, Macy’s said.
Sep 08, 10:40 am
Supreme Court to resume in-person oral arguments
The Supreme Court will resume in-person oral arguments on Oct. 4 for the first time since the pandemic began.
All arguments will be in person from Oct. 4 through the rest of the year. The courtroom will only have staff, counsel of cases on the docket and hard-pass court reporters there in person, with the court staying closed to the general public.
The court says it will continue to offer a real-time live audio feed of arguments.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Sep 08, 10:03 am
Only 20% of people in low, lower-middle-income countries have had 1st vaccine dose
Just 20% of people in low and lower-middle-income countries have received their first vaccine dose, compared to 80% of people in high and upper-middle income countries, according to the World Health Organization and COVAX, the initiative aiming to provide equitable vaccine access across the world.
“The global picture of access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable,” COVAX said, adding that its ability to reach lower income countries is “hampered by export bans, the prioritisation of bilateral deals by manufacturers and countries, ongoing challenges in scaling up production by some key producers, and delays in filing for regulatory approval.”
COVAX said it expects to have access to 1.425 billion doses of vaccine this year, with about 1.2 billion available for lower income economies participating in COVAX’s Advance Market Commitment.
“This is enough to protect 20% of the population, or 40% of all adults, in all 92 AMC economies with the exception of India. Over 200 million doses will be allocated to self-financing participants,” COVAX said. “The key COVAX milestone of two billion doses released for delivery is now expected to be reached in the first quarter of 2022.”
Sep 08, 6:02 am
US surpasses 40 million cases and 650,000 deaths
The United States has recorded more than 40 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 650,000 deaths from the disease since the start of the pandemic, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. surpassed the grim milestones on Tuesday, as the highly contagious delta variant continued to spread across the nation. The U.S. has reported more COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other country in the world.
Sep 07, 9:56 pm
Pediatric cases reach highest point of pandemic
The U.S. reported 251,781 COVID-19 cases among kids during the week ending Sept. 2 — the highest week of pediatric cases since the pandemic began, according to the weekly report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
After declining in the early summer, new cases among kids are rising “exponentially,” the organizations wrote, with the weekly figure now standing nearly 300 times higher than it was in June, when just 8,400 pediatric cases were reported over the span of one week.
Last week children represented 26.8% of all reported COVID-19 cases. Regionally, the South had the highest number pediatric cases, accounting for approximately 140,000 of last week’s cases.
The rate of pediatric hospital admissions per 100,000 people is also at one of its highest points of the pandemic, up by 600% since the 4th of July, according to federal data.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. According to the nearly two dozen states which reported pediatric hospitalizations, 0.1%-1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization. Similarly, in states which reported virus-related deaths by age, 0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.
However, the AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, “including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
About 37.7% of children ages 12 to 15 and 46.4% of adolescents ages 16 to 17 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sep 07, 9:50 pm
About 1 in every 500 Americans has died from COVID
The country’s daily death average continues to surge, now standing at more than 1,100 deaths reported a day. This marks the nation’s highest average in nearly six months.
On Tuesday, the death toll crossed 650,000 Americans lost to the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, meaning that 1 in every 504 Americans has died from the virus.
The U.S. COVID death toll is now more than 218 times higher than the number of lives lost during the U.S. attacks on Sept. 11. It is also rapidly approaching the total number of American deaths that were recorded during the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Prior to the Labor Day holiday, the U.S. daily case average stood around 150,000 cases a day. About a year ago, around Labor Day, the country was averaging about 38,000 new cases a day.
Sep 07, 6:36 pm
Tucson pauses vaccine mandate for city employees following AG legal threat
Tucson, Arizona, officials announced a pause on the city’s policy to require its public employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich called it illegal and threatened to cut funding if the city went through with the plan.
Tuscon City Manager Michael Ortega said in a statement the city council is evaluating the mandate’s legal position.
“Until we have a better understanding of our legal position in relation to today’s report, I have instructed staff to pause on the implementation of the policy,” he said.
Brnovich said Tuscon’s rule violated Gov. Doug Ducey’s July executive order that banned any state or local office from requiring their staff get a vaccine against the coronavirus or any vaccine that has only received an emergency order.
“COVID-19 vaccinations should be a choice, not a government mandate,” he said in a statement.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said in a statement that the attorney general was “prioritizing his political ambitions over his responsibility to objectively interpret the law.”
As of Tuesday, over 606,000 residents in Pima County, Arizona, the county that includes Tucson, have had one COVID-19 shot, according to the Pima County Health Department. That represents roughly 56.7% of the county’s 1.07 million population, according to the U.S. Census numbers.
The county has recorded more than 4,000 new cases since Aug. 5, according to health department data.
Sep 07, 5:57 pm
Idaho hospital officials plead with public to get vaccinated as they run out of beds
Idaho hospital officials are pleading for the public to get vaccinated and take COVID-19 warnings seriously after the state declared a crisis in its standards of care.
Kootenai Health, a northern Idaho hospital, currently has 113 patients with COVID-19, an increase from the 90 patients they had last week, officials said. Administrators had to set up 22 beds in a conference room to deal with the influx of patients.
Dr. Robert Scoggins the chief of staff at Kootenai Health, said the hospital was not built for a pandemic this size. Currently, 39 patients are in the intensive care units and 19 are on ventilators, all on high levels of oxygen, he said.
The hospital said it could see as many as 140 patients in the coming weeks.
“The message that I’d like to send out to people is that we’re near the limit that we can handle in this facility,” Scoggins said in a news conference. “We’ve done a lot of things to expand our care to take care of more patients, but it keeps growing. If we had everyone in the community vaccinated, we would not be in this position.”
-ABC News’ Flor Tolentino and Nicholas Kerr
Sep 07, 4:00 pm
Louisiana hospital reports significant decline in number of patients
In hard-hit Louisiana, the Ochsner Health System is seeing a significant decline in COVID-19 patients, now down to 530 — dropping by nearly 250 patients in the last week, hospital CEO and president Warner Thomas said.
But in the wake of deadly Hurricane Ida, releasing patients from hospitals has been difficult, as some patients have no homes to return to, he said.
Sep 07, 3:30 pm
Oregon hospitals ‘scrambling’ with cases, hospitalizations ‘hovering at or near pandemic highs’
Hospitals in Oregon are “scrambling” to stay afloat with cases and hospitalizations “hovering at or near pandemic highs,” the state epidemiologist, Dean Sidelinger, said at COVID-19 briefing Tuesday.
Oregon saw 16,252 new cases in its most recent weekly report – which is 13 times higher than the reported cases for the week ending July 4, Sidelinger said.
Hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions are “alarmingly high” and hospitals are at a “saturation point” where they aren’t “able to provide care to everyone arriving at their door,” Sidelinger warned.
Sep 07, 3:08 pm
Former NBA player on 10th day in ICU
Former Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers player Cedric Ceballos, 52, tweeted that he’s on his 10th day in the ICU battling COVID-19.
On my 10th day in ICU, COVID-19 is officially kicking my but, I am asking ALL family, friends , prayer warriors healers for your prayers and well wish for my recovery.
If I have done and anything to you in the past , allow me to publicly apologize.
My fight is not done…..
Thx pic.twitter.com/r9QZBpfmEI
Military medical personnel head to Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama
About 60 military medical personnel are heading in three, 20-person teams to Arkansas, Alabama and Idaho to help treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients following a request from FEMA, the U.S. Army North said.
The personnel, including doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, were sent to hospitals in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Ozark, Alabama; and Little Rock, Arkansas.
Six teams had previously been dispatched to six other hospitals: three in Louisiana, two in Mississippi and one in Dothan, Alabama.
Sep 07, 1:43 pm
Crisis Standards of Care enacted as ‘last resort’ at 10 Idaho hospital systems
A Crisis Standards of Care plan has been enacted at 10 hospital systems in Idaho, which is only done as a “last resort,” Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said in a statement Tuesday.
The hospitals were chosen due to their “severe” shortages in beds and staffing as a result of a “massive increase” in COVID-19 hospitalizations, state officials said.
Crisis Standards of Care “means we have exhausted our resources to the point that our healthcare systems are unable to provide the treatment and care we expect,” Jeppesen said. “This is a decision I was fervently hoping to avoid.”
“When crisis standards of care are in effect, people who need medical care may experience care that is different from what they expect,” state officials said. “For example, patients admitted to the hospital may find that hospital beds are not available or are in repurposed rooms (such as a conference room) or that needed equipment is not available.”
Sep 07, 12:37 pm
75% of American adults have had at least 1 vaccine dose
Seventy-five percent of U.S. adults have now had at least one vaccine dose, Cyrus Shahpar, the White House’s COVID-19 data director, tweeted Tuesday.
Sunday-Tuesday just in: +1.51M doses reported administered over Saturday’s total, including 681K newly vaccinated and 105K additional doses. As usual, lower reporting over the holiday weekend. Just hit 75% of adults with at least one dose!
Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
Sep 07, 10:36 am
Biden to layout administration’s strategy to combat delta
President Joe Biden on Thursday will deliver remarks on his plan to stop the spread of the delta variant and to boost vaccinations, the White House confirmed Tuesday.
Biden “will lay out a six-pronged strategy … working across the public and private sectors,” a White House official said.
On Friday, while addressing August’s disappointing jobs report, Biden said, “there’s no question the delta variant is why today’s jobs report isn’t stronger. … Next week, I’ll lay out the next steps that are going to — we’re going to need to combat the delta variant, to address some of those fears and concerns.”
Part of the strategy Biden referenced Friday is to ask states and local governments to consider using federal funding to extend unemployment benefits in hard-hit areas.
“I want to talk about how we’ll further protect our schools, our businesses, our economy, and our families from the threat of delta,” Biden said Friday. “As we continue to fight the delta variant, the American Rescue Plan we passed continues to support families, businesses and communities. Even as some of the benefits that were provided are set to expire next week, states have the option to extend those benefits and the federal resources from the Rescue Plan to do so.”
Sep 07, 7:05 am
3rd person dies in Japan after receiving contaminated Moderna vaccine
A third person has died in Japan after receiving a dose from one of three batches of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that have since been recalled due to contamination, according to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The 49-year-old man died on Aug. 12, one day after getting his second shot of the two-dose vaccine. His only known health issue was an allergy to buckwheat, the Japanese health ministry said in a statement Monday.
Two other men, aged 30 and 38, also died in August within days of getting their second Moderna shot. In all three cases, the men received doses from a batch manufactured in the same production line as another lot from which some unused vials were reported to contain foreign substances at multiple inoculation sites in Japan.
The deaths remain under investigation, and the Japanese health ministry said it has yet to establish any casual relationship with the vaccine.
The contaminated lot and two adjacent batches were suspended from use by the Japanese health ministry last month, pending an investigation. Moderna and its Japanese distribution partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. ultimately recalled the three lots, containing about 1.63 million doses, after an investigation confirmed the foreign matter to be high-grade stainless steel from manufacturing equipment.
The Japanese health ministry said that, based on the companies’ analysis, it is unlikely the stainless steel contaminants pose any additional health risk.
Moderna and Takeda have yet to release statements on the third fatality, but the companies have previously said there is currently no evidence that the other two deaths were caused by the vaccine.
