A star-studded concert celebrating the career and philanthropic work of ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons that was held in May at Nashville’s famous Grand Ole Opry House will premiere on various U.S. television stations on different dates in August and September.
Gibbons himself took part in the benefit event, which was presented by America Salutes You and raised money for several charities that aid military members, veterans and first responders.
The show’s lineup included country stars Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Ronnie Milsap and Travis Tritt, ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, lauded singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams, and actor/musician Dennis Quaid.
The show featured a house band led by keyboardist Martin Guigui, who played in Gibbons’ solo backing band The BFG’s, and also included ex-Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed, as well as trombonist Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg and trumpet player Mike Pender of The Max Weinberg 7 and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes.
Fans who want to view the concert are encouraged to donate to America Salutes You via the organization’s website.
“A sold out audience at the Grand Ole Opry House enjoyed an amazing show honoring Mr. Gibbons,” says America Salutes You executive producer Bob Okun. “Now a national TV audience can enjoy the same dynamic concert special while supporting charities assisting our veterans and first responders with their generous on-line donations.”
Gibbons recently released his third solo album, Hardware, and he’s currently on tour with ZZ Top, whose longtime bassist, Dusty Hill, sadly passed away on July 28 at age 72.
Daryl Hall & John Oates haven’t performed live since February 2020 — the longest break they’ve ever taken in their careers — so they’re more than ready to hit the stage tonight as they kick off their new tour in Mansfield, Massachusetts, with opening act Squeeze.
There’s only one problem: How will the duo fit all their hits into a two-hour show? As John Oates admits, “We can’t!”
“We have the greatest problem in the world that we have so many hits,” Oates tells ABC Audio. “And we have, I think, a professional responsibility to play the hits that people expect to hear.”
As he explains, “You have to remember that every show we do, there may be a hardcore group of fans who have followed us over the years in that audience. But there may also be people who have never seen us and people who might be experiencing our music for the first time. So we can’t ignore either of those groups.”
Luckily, playing those songs — from “Sara Smile” and “Maneater” to “You Make My Dreams” and “Rich Girl” — isn’t a burden for Daryl and John. “We like the songs that we’ve written, we’re proud of them and it’s still fun to play them,” says John. “And we reinvent them on stage with the live arrangements and keep them fresh.”
So which of the duo’s countless hits do they look forward to performing the most?
“The first song!” laughs John. “That way, I’ll know immediately where we’re at: It’s either going downhill from there or uphill from there or staying the same!”
The tour’s second show, this Saturday, is the duo’s own HoagieNation music and food festival in their Philadelphia hometown. In addition to Daryl, John and Squeeze, it’ll feature Kool & The Gang, The Wailers, comedian Craig Robinson and more.
(TOKYO) — Team USA’s Matthew Centrowitz, the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 1500, will not repeat after failing to make it out of the semifinal round in Tokyo.
Centrowitz became the first American to win the men’s 1500 since 1908 during the 2016 Rio games. He won in 3:50.00, the slowest 1500 meter final since 1932.
Centrowitz finished ninth, 3:33.69, in a blistering fast second semifinal, which saw the Olympic 1500 meter record fall with Kenya’s Abel Kipsang taking the win in 3:31.65.
Team USA’s Cole Hocker made the final after finished second in the first semifinal with a time of 3:33.87.
Hocker edged out Centrowitz to win the USA trials.
The final will be at 7:40 am ET on Saturday.
Finalists
Kenya’s Abel Kipsang: 3:31.65
Norway’s Jacob Ingrebristen: 3:32.13
Great Britan’s Josh Kerr: 3:32.18
Spain’s Adel Mechall: 3:32.19
Australia’s Stewart McSweyrn: 3:32.54
Great Britain’s Jake Heyward: 3:32.82
Luxembourg’s Charles Grethen: 3:32.86
Great Britain’s Jake Wightman: 3:33.48
Team USA’s Cole Hocker: 3:33.87
Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot: 3:33.95
Australia’s Oliver Hoare: 3:34.35
Spain’s Ignacio Fontes: 3:34.49
Poland’s Michael Rozmy: 3:54.53* Advanced To Next Round By Referee
(WASHINGTON) — Virginia residents Travis and Kellie Campbell were unvaccinated when they both contracted COVID-19 in late July. Since then, Travis Campbell has been hospitalized for 12 days and spoke to ABC News from his hospital bed at the Bristol Regional Medical Center Hospital in Tennessee.
“When you feel like you have to fight for your life, you don’t realize that you’re fighting for every single breath all day long,” said Travis Campbell.
“If I have a day or two left, I don’t want to waste my time,” he said. “I want to help as many people as I can, to let them see the real truth, that [the delta variant] is real, and it’s only getting stronger and faster.”
The highly contagious delta variant now accounts for 93% of all sequenced COVID-19 cases in the U.S., compared to late May when it only accounted for 3%, according to data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kellie Campbell, who was previously hospitalized with the virus, said the family was not against the vaccine, but hadn’t prioritized getting it.
“We just put it in the back of our mind and we kept saying, ‘We’ll do it tomorrow, we’ll do it tomorrow.’ We have a very hectic life and it’s no excuse but that’s our excuse,” said Kellie Campbell.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, hospitals in Virginia reported that 99% of those infected, hospitalized or who died in the past six months were not fully vaccinated.
“We thought it wasn’t an urgent matter to get the vaccine and I was wrong,” said Travis Campbell.
As of Tuesday, vaccination rates have reportedly risen in all 50 states, according to an ABC News analysis of CDC data from the last three weeks.
Travis Campbell said he regrets not getting vaccinated and is now encouraging his loved ones to do so before it is too late.
“I would rather be covered and protected and if something does happen and I have to worry about repercussions of the vaccine versus being buried in seven days,” he said. “I beg you, please see your doctor and make an evaluated decision and protect your family or prepare yourself for your next life.”
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — If the U.S. does not get control over community spread of the delta COVID variant, the nation will continue to see more variants that evade the protection of the vaccines, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House.
“That will happen, George, if we don’t get good control over the community spread which is the reason why I and my colleagues keep saying and over again, it is very important to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can,” Fauci told “GMA” anchor George Stephanopoulos Thursday.
“People who say, ‘I don’t want to get vaccinated because it’s me and I’ll worry about me, I’m not having any impact on anybody else,’ that’s just not the case,” Fauci said.
When the virus spreads through the unvaccinated population, as it is doing rapidly now in many states with low vaccination rates, it can mutate regardless of whether the person gets mild symptoms, or even no symptoms at all.
“And when you give it ample opportunity to mutate, you may sooner or later get another variant, and it is possible that that variant might be in some respects worse than the already very difficult variant we’re dealing with now, which is a major reason why you want to completely suppress the circulation of the virus in the community,” Fauci said.
More than 70% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a vaccine and 60.7% of the adult U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Of all eligible Americans, meaning everyone over the age of 12, 67.9% have had at least one dose and 58.3% are fully vaccinated. But in some U.S. states, the vaccination rate is well below the national average.
Nationwide, there are still about 93 million eligible Americans who have not gotten vaccinated.
Fauci warned in an interview with McClatchy on Wednesday that he thinks the virus’s spread could increase to the point that the U.S. is reporting 100,000 to 200,000 new cases a day if more people don’t mask up and get vaccinated.
The delta variant, the most transmissible variant to take hold in the U.S. so far, accounted for 93% of U.S. cases during the last two weeks of July, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. In areas of the Midwest, it made up 98% of cases.
“The thing that’s important is that the delta variant that we’re dealing with is so capable of pushing out other variants, that we’re not expecting that to take over. Having said that, we follow it very closely,” Fauci said.
Since the onset of the initial delta variant, there has been a swift increase in cases among children who aren’t yet vaccinated, which experts chalk up to the faster spread of the virus.
Of the 58,000 people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 throughout the country, 18 to 49-year-olds account for 41%, according to CDC data. Pediatric hospitalizations are 3.5 times higher than they were a month ago, and the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that cases for kids under 17 nearly doubled over the last two weeks of July, from 39,000 a week to 72,000.
Some countries have published data showing that the delta variant also makes children more sick than past variants, even though children have had a very low risk of hospitalization or death throughout the pandemic. U.S. officials caution that the data is not strong enough to draw a firm conclusion.
While it’s “unquestionable” that the delta variant is more transmissible, it’s “less clear” whether or not it “actually makes individuals more seriously ill,” Fauci said.
NIH Director Francis Collins said in a CNN interview on Tuesday that the data coming in from other countries is “tipping in the direction” of showing higher risk to children, but it’s still not conclusive.
“I don’t want to overstate the confidence that we have about whether delta is more dangerous to children. The balance has not been fully settled there but it’s tipping in that direction,” Collins said.
But he also said that more children are being hospitalized because they’re part of the unvaccinated population, which is far more likely to get the virus as compared to older adults who have a much higher vaccination rate. Ninety precent of adults age 65 and older have had at least one shot of the vaccine, according to CDC data.
“So now we see perhaps in this spectrum of illness more emphasis on younger people, including kids,” Collins said.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 614,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:
Aug 05, 10:06 am
Arkansas governor reverses course on masks in schools
In Arkansas, one of the states hit hardest by the delta variant, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has reversed course, lifting a previously signed ban on mask mandates.
Hutchinson told “Good Morning America” Thursday that masks are not needed in schools if students are vaccinated but he’s “particularly concerned” about kids under 12 who are too young to get the shot.
In those cases, he said, schools should have the option to enforce masks.
The governor added that he’s pushing vaccine efforts with high school students and “making sure the faculty is vaccinated.”
Aug 05, 8:45 am
Moderna vaccine 93% effective against symptomatic disease after 6 months
Moderna says its vaccine is 93% effective against symptomatic illness after six months (though this data collection ended before delta emerged in the U.S.).
Moderna said its booster candidates also demonstrate robust antibody responses to variants of concern, including delta.
Moderna President Dr. Stephen Hoge told “Good Morning America” Thursday that the Moderna vaccine offers protection from delta right after receiving it, but it’s not known yet if that’ll hold up through the winter. He called winter “the biggest test of that vaccine which is why we need to be vigilant and careful.”
Hoge said he thinks booster shots will be needed and that the company is “preparing options,” but he added that that’ll be for public health officials, not the company, to decide.
He also noted that Moderna’s goal is to be vaccinating kids under 12 by the end of the year. Moderna isn’t authorized for kids ages 12 to 17 yet, but Hoge hopes authorization could come “any day.”
Aug 05, 8:28 am
US ‘may sooner or later get another variant’ if spread not controlled: Fauci
Without control over the community spread of the delta variant, the virus has “ample opportunity to mutate,” so “you may sooner or later get another variant,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told “Good Morning America.”
Fauci warned that it’s possible a new “variant might be in some respects worse than the already very difficult variant we’re dealing with now, which is a major reason why you want to completely suppress the circulation of the virus in the community.”
There are still about 93 million eligible Americans who have not gotten vaccinated.
Fauci added, “People who say, ‘I don’t want to get vaccinated because it’s me and I’ll worry about me, I’m not having any impact on anybody else,’ that’s just not the case.”
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 05, 4:33 am
Tokyo sees 5,042 positive cases — a new record
There are 5,042 new positive COVID-19 cases in Tokyo as of Thursday, according to the city’s coronavirus information website.
Of those cases, 135 are severe and one has resulted in death.
It’s a new record for Tokyo and a 178% increase since last Thursday, as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe.
Aug 04, 8:32 pm
Over 15,000 new COVID cases in Texas
Texas reported 15,558 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the highest one-day count since Feb. 3, according to state health records.
The state has seen a major jump in cases in the last month, brought on by the delta variant, according to officials.
The seven-day average of new daily cases has increased from about 1,500 on July 2 to nearly 10,000 on Aug. 3, according to state health data.
As of Wednesday, 62.58% of Texas residents 12 and older have received at least one shot, according to the state health department.
Aug 04, 7:32 pm
Hundreds of students, school staff quarantined in Arkansas district
Hundreds of student and staff members from the Marion School District in Arkansas are now quarantined in only the second week of the school year, officials announced.
The state has a ban on school districts imposing a mask mandate.
On Tuesday, the district said 253 students would begin their two-week quarantine due to 15 cases that were reported in the schools. This came after 168 students were already quarantined last week.
“If all students and teachers had been wearing a mask appropriately- then today’s 15 positive cases would be isolated- but there would be no resulting quarantines for anyone else,” the district said in a statement.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters Tuesday he regretted signing the bill that banned masks in schools and urged the state legislature to amend the law to give schools the option.
Aug 04, 7:11 pm
Florida school district says 2 employees dead from virus, pushes mask mandate
A Florida school district that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on school mask mandates said Tuesday that two of its employees died from the virus last weekend.
Carlee Simon, the superintendent for the Alachua County Schools, said in a statement that the district “is experiencing this spike first-hand.”
“Over the weekend two of our employees passed away from COVID,” she said in a statement. “We’ve had 18 new cases in the last three days alone. More than 80 employees are now in quarantine, and that number is rising fast.”
The school district, which includes which includes Gainesville, voted Tuesday night to issue a mask mandate for students and staff for the next two weeks. The mandate will be reevaluated on Aug. 17, Simon said.
Aug 04, 6:30 pm
Hawaii issues vaccine mandate for middle, high school athletes
The Hawaii State Department of Education announced that all middle and high school athletes, athletic staff and volunteers will need to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 24 in order to participate in activities.
The rule affects students who are eligible for the vaccines, meaning they must be over 12.
“This decision was not made lightly because we know the important role athletics play in a well-rounded education, but we cannot jeopardize the health and safety of our students and communities,” interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a statement.
The start of the athletic season was delayed to Sept. 24 due to the state’s rising positivity rate, according to the department.
This is the first state to require vaccinations for its student athletes.
-ABC News’ Bonnie McLean
Aug 04, 5:54 pm
Illinois governor issues mask mandate for schools
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday that all pre-K through 12th grade schools and day cares must follow universal masking indoors regardless of vaccination status.
Pritzker said the state is facing a growing threat from the delta variant and noted that children under 12 aren’t yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescription for keeping students and staff safe,” he said at a news conference. “Given the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped that a state mask requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but it is.”
Aug 04, 4:27 pm
Surge pushing hospital staffing to breaking point
The latest delta surge is once again pushing hospital staffing to breaking points across the U.S.
In Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, some “facilities are experiencing substantial shortages of both clinical and support staff,” according to a Department of Health and Human Services planning document obtained by ABC News Wednesday.
In hard-hit Missouri, many hospitals “don’t have the staff to support a surge without further modification to operational strategies,” the document said.
At a Shreveport, Louisiana, hospital, where the number of COVID-19 patients are multiplying, nurse Melinda Hunt told ABC News, “To be honest, I probably cry most days at work. And I cry at home. I’m tired. I’ve been doing this a year and half. It feels like it’s never going to end.”
Aug 04, 4:08 pm US daily case average jumped 45% in the last week
The U.S. daily case average has climbed to more than 84,000, a 45.3% jump in the last week, according to federal data.
The daily case average is now more than seven times higher than it was six weeks ago.
All but three states are now reporting high (a seven-day new case rate ≥100) or substantial (a seven-day new case rate between 50-99.99) community transmission, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Aug 04, 3:08 pm
Delta variant now 93% of all sequenced cases in US
The delta variant now accounts for 93% of all sequenced cases in the U.S., according to the latest CDC data, which was collected over the last two weeks of July.
Delta accounted for just 3% of cases sequenced in late May.
Across the Midwest, described as HHS regions 7 and 8, delta made up 97% to 98% of cases. This includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 04, 2:55 pm
WHO chief: No booster shots until at least end of September
The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots until more people from low-income countries have received a vaccine.
Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 shots for every 100 people due to lack of supply, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said Wednesday.
A moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September will “enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he said.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in response that the U.S. doesn’t have to choose.
“We feel that it’s a false choice and that we can do both,” Psaki said Wednesday.
The U.S. has ordered enough supply for every American to get vaccinated, plus get a booster shot, according to the White House. The U.S. has already pledged to donate 580 million doses to the international community by 2022.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Zoe Magee
Aug 04, 2:27 pm
Hospitalizations could more than triple this month
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forecasts that daily hospitalizations “will likely increase over the next four weeks.”
About 7,000 new COVID-19 patients are hospitalized each day right now. That may soar to 24,000 per day, according to the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at U Mass Amherst.
Aug 04, 2:11 pm
Fully vaccinated people susceptible to ‘long COVID’: Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that fully vaccinated people are also susceptible to “long COVID” if they have a breakthrough infection.
“We already know that people who get breakthrough infections and don’t go on to get advanced disease requiring hospitalization, they too are susceptible to long COVID,” Fauci told McClatchy. “You’re not exempt from long COVID if you get a breakthrough infection.”
As the delta variant surges, Fauci said, “there could be a variant that’s lingering out there that can push aside delta.”
“If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we could really be in trouble,” he said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 04, 1:40 pm
NY auto show canceled
The New York International Automobile Show, set to begin Aug. 20 in New York City, has been canceled due to the spread of the delta variant.
“All signs were positive” when planning began “but today is a different story,” show organizers said.
Aug 04, 1:30 pm
Louisiana hospitalizations reach all-time high
Louisiana now has 2,247 COVID-19 patients in hospitals — a new all-time high for the state.
This surpasses the previous record set Tuesday of 2,112 patients, the state’s Department of Health said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has reinstated a mask mandate for the month of August.
The governor said Wednesday that he won’t mandate vaccinations for state employees until the FDA grants full approval.
He said 37.1% of the Louisiana population is fully vaccinated.
Aug 04, 11:47 am
The Offspring drummer says he’s not playing at upcoming shows because he’s unvaccinated
Pete Parada, the drummer for pop-punk band The Offspring, says he is not playing with the band at upcoming shows because he is unvaccinated.
Parada wrote on Instagram that he’s avoiding the shot on his doctor’s advice, saying he’s had a lifelong battle with the rare neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome and the vaccine’s “risks far outweigh the benefits.”
Because he’s unvaccinated, “it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio, and on tour,” Parada said.
“I have no negative feelings towards my band,” he continued. “They’re doing what they believe is best for them, while I am doing the same.”
-ABC News’ Evan McMurry
Aug 04, 11:15 am
Florida hospitalizations reach highest point in pandemic
Florida has 12,408 COVID-19 patients in hospitals — the highest number to date of the entire pandemic.
Florida hospitals report that more than 95% of COVID-19 patients are not fully vaccinated, according to state data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Aug 04, 10:01 am
WHO chief: No booster shots until at least end of September
The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots until more people from low-income countries have received a vaccine.
Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 shots for every 100 people due to lack of supply, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said Wednesday.
A moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September will “enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he said.
Aug 04, 9:20 am
Alabama hospital sees deadliest day of pandemic
Four COVID-19 patients at Regional Medical Center in Anniston, Alabama — all unvaccinated — died within 24 hours, marking the hospital’s deadliest day of the pandemic, The Anniston Star reported.
As delta surges, patients are now getting sicker faster, a doctor at the hospital told the newspaper.
Only 28% of residents in Calhoun County are fully vaccinated, according to The Anniston Star.
Aug 04, 8:24 am
Obama to ‘significantly scale back’ 60th birthday party
Former President Barack Obama has decided to “significantly scale back” his 60th birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard due to the spread of the delta variant, according to a spokesperson. Hundreds of guests were expected to attend.
“This outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with covid safeguards in place. Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends,” spokesperson Hannah Hankins said in a statement.
Obama’s office did not give a new estimate of how many guests will attend.
While Miley Cyrus may have been disappointed by the seemingly homophobic comments made by “Levitating” rapper DaBaby, she doesn’t believe cancelling him is the right way to react.
Taking to Instagram Wednesday, Miley made the case for forgiving the embattled rapper and allowing him the opportunity to learn from his mistakes.
“As a proud and loyal member of the LGBTQIA+ community, much of my life has been dedicated to encouraging love, acceptance, and open mindedness,” Miley stated in a black and white infographic.
“The internet can fuel a lot of hate & anger and is the nucleus of cancel culture,” she agreed, “but I believe it can also be a place filled with education, conversation, communication & connection.”
She added, “It’s easier to cancel someone than to find forgiveness and compassion in ourselves or take the time to change hearts and minds. There’s no more room for division if we want to keep seeing progress!”
“Knowledge is power! I know I still have so much to learn,” Miley concluded before revealing in the caption that she already took her own advice.
Tagging DaBaby, she called upon him to “check your DMs” because she “would love to talk and see how we can learn from each other and help be part of making a more just and understanding future.”
He has yet to publicly respond to the offer.
The 29-year-old rapper experienced an intense fallout after making remarks that were widely considered homophobic during Miami’s Rolling Loud festival on July 25. Six festivals have since removed him from their lineup and a bevy of A-listers such as Elton John, Madonna and even his “Levitating” collaborator Dua Lipa have condemned his conduct.
DaBaby has twice apologized in the weeks since, most recently in a lengthy Instagram post on Monday.
(NEW YORK) — As New York City turns to vaccine passports to help limit the spread of COVID-19, other cities have pushed back against similar measures, with leaders citing a wide range of concerns, from equity to security.
This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the nation’s largest city would soon require proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for indoor dining, indoor fitness facilities and indoor entertainment facilities.
“This is crucial because we know that this will encourage a lot more vaccination,” de Blasio said Tuesday at a press briefing announcing the policy. “The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we’re going to stop the delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now.”
New York City is the first U.S. city to announce such a measure as the highly contagious delta variant is driving up cases nationwide.
When asked this week if Boston would do the same, acting Mayor Kim Janey said the city is focusing on vaccine access, while likening the idea of vaccine passports to slave papers and birtherism.
“There’s a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers,” the Democrat told ABC Boston affiliate WCVB Tuesday. “During slavery, post-slavery, as recent as you know, what immigrant population has to go through here. We heard Trump with the birth certificate nonsense. Here we want to make sure that we are not doing anything that would further create a barrier for residents of Boston or disproportionally impact BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] communities.”
Disparities in vaccination rates have raised concerns about vaccine passports disproportionately impacting communities of color. Vaccination rates among Black and Latino residents in Suffolk County — where Boston sits — lag behind those of white residents, state data shows.
Janey’s comments were met with some criticism, though, particularly from fellow mayoral candidates. Boston city councilor Andrea Campbell tweeted that “this kind of rhetoric is dangerous.”
“The acting mayor’s comments yesterday put people’s health at risk, plain and simple,” Campbell said during a press briefing Wednesday while outlining her platform policies, which include requiring proof of vaccination for crowded public indoor spaces, like restaurants and gyms. “Boston has an opportunity frankly to be an example to the rest of the country when it comes to getting residents vaccinated and preventing the spread of the delta variant.”
Following Janey’s comments, Michelle Wu, another Boston mayoral candidate, said she supports requiring proof of vaccination at restaurants, shops and other indoor venues. “Our leaders need to build trust in vaccines,” she said on Twitter Tuesday.
Janey further clarified her comments regarding vaccination “hurdles,” saying on Twitter Tuesday that “we must consider our shared history as we work to ensure an equitable public health and economic recovery.”
“While there are no current plans for business sector vaccination mandates, we are using data to inform targeted public health strategies,” she said. This includes working with the hospitality sector to build on-site vaccination clinics.
The debate comes as other leaders have continued to push back against vaccine passports and other mandates on the grounds of personal liberty.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — one of several state leaders who have moved to ban vaccine passports — spoke out against the measure during a press briefing Wednesday.
“I think the question is, is we can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state,” the Republican governor said. “I can tell ya — Florida, we’re a free state.”
Other GOP leaders have used more inflammatory rhetoric throughout the vaccination campaign by likening vaccination requirements to the Holocaust — drawing condemnation from Jewish organizations and fellow members of their party.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized for comments she made in June that compared being required to wear masks in the House to the Holocaust. Republican Washington state Rep. Jim Walsh also issued an apology last month after he donned a yellow Star of David to protest COVID-19 restrictions, saying it was “inappropriate and offensive.”
In the latest incident, John Bennett, the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, recently took to Facebook to equate vaccine passports to the yellow Star of David that Nazis forced Jewish people to wear.
“It’s not about the star, what it’s about is a totalitarian government pushing a communist agenda on top of us and forcing people against their own liberties to get this vaccine,” Bennett said in a video message Sunday following criticism to an earlier post on the Oklahoma Republican Party’s Facebook page, which included an image of the yellow Star of David with the word “Unvaccinated” on it.
Following Bennett’s initial post, local GOP leaders spoke out against the analogy, which the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City called “ill-informed and inappropriate.”
“It is sad and ironic that anyone would draw an analogy from the largest recorded genocide in the 20th century with public health attempts to save lives,” the organization said in a statement.
New York City’s vaccine mandate follows in the footsteps of the “health passes” in France and Italy.
“We do want to make as many of these settings as safe as possible,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said during a press briefing Tuesday. “And that means having them be for people who are only fully vaccinated. That is the thrust of the policy.”
Vaccine mandates are a smart policy for a dense urban place like New York City to help encourage vaccination, Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said.
“We have to start to think about new ways to get the population to recognize the value of these vaccines,” he said. “Creating some level of requirement is important. Of course that is going to be especially important in areas of high transmission, like health care organizations, or nursing homes … but also places where there’s potentially a high risk of transmission.”
“A city like New York, which experienced the worst of the pandemic … has a lot of concerns about a potential new surge,” he said.
Each city will have its own context and “nuance in applying public health measures,” Brownstein said, and there may not be a “one-size-fits-all approach” to increasing vaccination rates.
Following New York City’s announcement, Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said during a news briefing Tuesday that the city is “interested” in the idea but there aren’t current plans to implement a similar plan.
“We’ll be watching to see how this plays out, but we don’t have a current plan to do something like that at the city level,” she said, noting that New Yorkers seem to have “embraced this vaccine passport idea a little bit more than has been embraced here in the Midwest and across Illinois.”
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts may have to sit out the band’s rescheduled U.S. leg of their No Filter Tour this fall.
A spokesman for Watts, 80, confirmed that it is “unlikely” the drummer will be able to join the 13-date tour. Watts, who joined the Stones in 1963, is recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.
“Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation,” his rep said in a statement. “With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming.”
Watts wasn’t thrilled by the decision, but explained that this is what’s best for his health and the band.
“For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while,” he explained in a statement. “After all the fans’ suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation.”
Watts said his “great friend” Steve Jordan will be his No Filter Tour understudy. Jordan says that, while he’s looking forward to rehearsing with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — he is more excited about the possibility of Watts recovering in time to join the trek.
“No one will be happier than me to give up my seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he is good to go,” he said.
The No Filter Tour starts September 26 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Mike Richards is in “advanced negotiations” to become the new host of Jeopardy!, Variety reports. The classic game show was previously helmed for 36 years by Alex Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer in November 2020 at age 80.
Following Trebek’s final episode, Jeopardy! enlisted a rotation of celebrity guest hosts, including Ken Jennings, Aaron Rodgers, Robin Roberts, Anderson Cooper, LeVar Burton and more, to hold down the fort as they embarked on their search for a permanent replacement.
A spokesperson for Sony Pictures would not comment on Richards but did tell the outlet that they were having conversations with several potential candidates. However, an insider dished that Richards is leading the pack.
For his part, Richards has previous experience as a host on the game shows Divided and The Pyramid. He also hosted the reality shows High School Reunion and Beauty and the Geek. Aside from his hosting gigs, Richards has also served as an executive producer on shows like Let’s Make a Deal and the celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
