That means keeping gatherings small, making sure guests are vaccinated, trying to do as much as possible outdoors and avoiding large crowds, particularly indoors.
It’s especially important as COVID-19 cases have soared in recent days and the highly transmissible Omicron variant is becoming dominant.
Los Angeles County reported nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases Friday. According to data released Thursday by the California Department of Public Health, at least three state health systems have reported that Omicron appears to account for 50% to 70% of new cases.
Small and safe
“We do not encourage large gatherings indoors at all,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week. “We still think you’ll be much, much safer — if you need to have a large gathering — to take that gathering outdoors.”
If indoors, smaller gatherings are safer than larger ones, and Ferrer urged people to adhere to the order to wear masks in indoor public settings. She suggested that the time for eating and drinking be limited, so there’s not a situation where people are unmasked for hours at a time, raising the risk of transmission.
Los Angeles County reported nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases Friday as the highly infectious Omicron variant spread across California.
“The more people that you’re around — and particularly if you’re in close contact with lots and lots of different people — the greater your chance is going to be of getting infected,” Ferrer said. “That’s going to apply whether you’re vaccinated or you’re unvaccinated.”
People should also think about the risks to people in their family should they get infected. Those who live with people at high risk for severe complications should they get COVID-19 “may want to delay for a while the kinds of activities you do that put you in a lot of contact with potentially other people who could be infected,” Ferrer said.
Ventilation
There are other factors to consider.
“The risk really is when you’re in close contact with poor ventilation,” Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, an Orange County deputy health officer, said last week. “The transmission occurs when people are not being careful about the preventive measures.”
In terms of ventilation, L.A. County suggested:
Opening windows and doors
Turning on a fan and placing it near an open window, or if you have a heating and air system, keep it running as much as possible
Running a portable air cleaner to improve air filtration.
Testing
COVID-19 testing before and after gatherings can also help.
L.A. County officials said the expanded testing, effective Friday, includes extended hours of operation at testing sites across the county, “additional week and weekend dates,” as well as more mobile testing units dispatched to “hard-hit areas,” according to the news release.
The county health department is also relaunching a holiday home test collection program whereby residents can request an at-home nasal test swab kit and have it delivered by FedEx within two days.
Cases are expected to spike, but holiday gatherings can be safe, even without masks, if everyone is vaccinated and boosted, Fauci says.
County health officials said that demand for testing has climbed as residents prepare for holiday celebrations. The county’s testing positivity rate has reached 9.6%, up from 4.6% on Tuesday, officials said.
“L.A. County residents are doing right by getting tested as a precaution before gathering, if they have been exposed and at the first sign of symptoms,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the county’s Department of Health Services, said in a news release. “We will continue to closely monitor testing needs and adjust capacity as needed in the coming weeks.”
Here is information on getting tested in specific areas:
Testing at L.A. County-run sites are free, regardless of immigration status.
“Even if you’re fully vaccinated, getting tested before or after gatherings or parties … can make a difference in whether you expose someone you love to the virus,” said Dr. Dawn Terashita, associate director of L.A. County’s acute communicable disease control program.
Our species lived through the Spanish flu, polio, ebola, SARS, and swine flu. How have humans gotten themselves out of pandemics in the past? And how might we get out of this one?
A Central Point father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar.
“At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job,” said Jared Schmeck, 35, who works for an electric company and was previously a Medford police officer for six years until he resigned in July 2018. “I mean no disrespect to him.”
The phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon” has become a conservative dig at the Democratic president, a code for “F— Joe Biden,” which resulted from an Oct. 2 NASCAR race in Alabama, where a crowd was shouting the vulgar chant, but a TV reporter suggested during an interview with the driver, Brandon Brown, who had just won his first Xfinity Series, that the crowd actually was chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”
Schmeck said he’s not a “Trumper,” but described himself as “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.”
Schmeck said he and his family call into the NORAD Santa tracker every Christmas Eve. He said he wasn’t aware the call would be livestreamed.
When he called Friday night from his sons’ Christmas-decorated bedroom, he was told First Lady Jill Biden would be taking calls.
“I thought it would be automated. We just waited on hold and then they answered,” he said. “And I thought, ‘wow, this is real.’ “
When Jared shared the names of his children, President Biden immediately honed in on the boy named Hunter, sharing that they have a son and grandson named Hunter as well.
Jared’s 11-year-old Griffin told the president he wanted a piano for Christmas. His son Hunter said he wanted a Switch.
“Switch?” Biden questioned.
Schmeck, kneeling between his sons’ beds and holding his cell phone out so all could hear, explained to the president that it’s short for Ninetendo Switch. Schmeck went on to share that his daughter Piper wanted a Barbie doll airplane and his 2-year-old daughter Penelope would be happy with any presents from Santa. Schmeck asked for a “quiet night.” The president retorted, “Lucks of luck dad,” and all laughed.
Biden urged all the children to get to bed by 9 p.m. and stay asleep until midnight or Santa wouldn’t show.
“Well, have a Merry Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas,” the First Lady said.
“I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas as well,” Schmeck responded, and added, “Merry Christmas and Let’s Go Brandon!”
The First Lady winced, and the president immediately responded, “Let’s Go Brandon, I agree.”
Then President Biden attempted to find out if Jared was calling from Oregon.
“By the way are you in Oregon? Where’s your home?” the president asked. With no response, Biden said, “I think we lost him,” and moved on.
By then, though, Schmeck had gotten off the phone. He said he didn’t hang up on the president but that he was disconnected.
Soon afterward, Schmeck’s wife on Instagram posted, “My husband may or may not have just told joe and jill Biden ‘let’s go Brandon’ on the phone,’ “ punctuated by two crying emojis. Schmeck also posted a video of their conversation with Biden and the First Lady on his YouTube channel, writing, “We talked to President Joe Biden on Christmas Eve! #letsgobrandon”
From Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, Schmeck’s parting remark to Biden fueled fury on social media.
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-CA, wrote on Twitter, “I refuse to believe we are this indecent as people. Not on Christmas Eve. And not to a person who lost his wife and daughter at Christmastime. We are better than this. Be kind and #Merry Christmas.”
Another on Twitter wrote: “Imagine being a grown man so infantile and disrespectful that you say the slur ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ to the president in front of your own kids and dozens of others. This is a sad time.”
Others lambasted his remark. One person wrote on Twitter, “Some of us celebrate Christmas Eve w gratitude for the birth of Jesus, others shout obscenities to entertain their son and @YouTube audience.”
“Wow. #jaredschmeck is gonna trend for the first time in his life, and not in a good way,” wrote another on the social media site.
Schmeck called his remark a “joke,” and a reflection of his frustration with Biden’s policies, including the federal vaccine mandates, inflation and global supply chain problems that have caused shortages in consumer products.
“And now I am being attacked for utilizing my freedom of speech,” Schmeck said, adding that he’s been receiving some vague but threatening phone calls since the Santa tracker call.
“I understand there is a vulgar meaning to ‘Lets go Brandon,’ but I’m not that simple minded, no matter how I feel about him,” the 35-year-old father said Christmas morning. “He seems likes he’s a cordial guy. There’s no animosity or anything like that. It was merely just an innocent jest to also express my God-given right to express my frustrations in a joking manner…I love him just like I love any other brother or sister.”
Asked why he resigned from Medford police on July 15, 2018, Schmeck wouldn’t say.
He went on to say he “stood 100% behind what I did and what I said.”
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — A Christmas turned tragic in Bucks County. A father and two sons have died after their house caught fire overnight in Quakertown, police said Saturday morning.
Firefighters were called to the scene on the first block of Essex Court around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The home is a twin home, and both homes caught on fire. Essex Court is a cul de sac off of East Broad Street.
Police say the three people who died in the fire are a 41-year-old father and his two sons — believed to be 11 and 8 years old, respectively. The other two victims, police say, are a mother and another son, a 13-year-old. They were rushed to the hospital and treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
The Quakertown School District Community identified the father as Eric King and the two sons as Liam, a fifth grader, and Patrick, a third grader. The mom, Kristin, and son Brady, an eighth grader, survived.
(Credit: CBS3)
“This news is devastating for the District community and the Quakertown area at large. Eric and Kristin are very active in the community, and the kind of people who make this a special place to live and attend school. The School District sends its heartfelt sympathy to the King family and their many friends and relatives,” the school district wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Residents of the second home were able to get out OK, according to police.
The official cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Quakertown police believe it’s possible a Christmas tree caused the blaze.
“Right now, it’s our understanding that we’re looking at the Christmas tree that may have ignited as a result of Christmas lights on that Christmas tree,” said Scott McElree, Quakertown’s chief of police.
The fire was placed under control overnight.
The state fire marshal was also on scene and will make the final determination on the cause of the fire.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help the King family. It has raised $240,801 as of 6 p.m. Saturday.
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger purchased 25 homes for homeless veterans living on the street in Los Angeles.
The one-time Hollywood action star ponied up $250,000 of his own money for the “tiny homes” which were built by the nonprofit Village for Vets.
Schwarzenegger said every person has the power to make a difference.Twitter/@Schwarzenegger
“Today, I celebrated Christmas early,” Schwarzenegger said in a tweet Thursday. “The 25 homes I donated for homeless veterans were installed here in LA. It was fantastic to spend some time with our heroes and welcome them into their new homes.”
The former California governor welcomed the vets to their new homes.Twitter/@Schwarzenegger
The Austrian muscle man said his act of generosity was what Christmas is all about.
“All of you have the power to do something for someone else this holiday season,” said Schwarzenegger, 74. “It doesn’t have to be big. Just give a few minutes of your time to help someone else.”
Los Angeles has increasingly embraced the “tiny home” model to address the city’s famously teeming homeless population. The units are 64 square feet and can be rapidly assembled. They have two beds, full heating and air-conditioning and a small desk, according to Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission.
Hope of the Valley launched its first “Tiny Home Village” in North Hollywood in February.
The new homes from Schwarzenegger will be a lifesaver for vets like Ferris Keams, who spent months living outside in a tent.
“No squirrels and no rats,” he told Fox 11 in LA approvingly of his new digs. “It’s home.”
Commercial airlines around the world cancelled more than 5,700 flights over the Christmas weekend according to a flight tracker website, as a mounting wave of coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant created greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travellers.
On Saturday, Pope Francis prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge vaccines for the poor and health care for all.
“Grant health to the infirm and inspire all men and women of good will to seek the best ways possible to overcome the current health crisis and its effects,” Francis said in his address.
Here are the latest updates for Saturday:
33 mins ago (20:47 GMT)
Sale and Cardiff Rugby games called off
The English rugby Premiership match between Newcastle and Sale and the last surviving Boxing Day game in the United Rugby Championship were cancelled on Saturday because of COVID-19 positives.
Sale said that following overnight tests results “a significant number” of their squad had been ruled out of the match, Premiership Rugby said in a statement.
The announcement followed confirmation that Cardiff’s Boxing Day derby clash with Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship had been postponed.
48 mins ago (20:32 GMT)
Canada’s tennis star Shapovalov tests positive
Denis Shapovalov, who is part of Canada’s team for the 2022 ATP Cup, has tested positive for COVID-19 in Sydney, the 22-year-old said.
Shapovalov played last week at the World Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, where he beat 20-times major winner Rafa Nadal in the third-place playoff match.
Nadal, Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and Tunisian Ons Jabeur all tested positive for the virus after playing the tournament.
60 mins ago (20:20 GMT)
Steinmeier thanks German people for virus action
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on Germans to stick together against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In democracy, we don’t all have to agree. But please let us remember: we are one country. We must still be able to look each other in the eye after the pandemic. And we still want to live together after the pandemic,” Steinmeier said in Christmas message.
Steinmeier also expressed understanding for all those who have uncertainties and fears over pandemic restrictions and the vaccination campaign.
He said that freedom of expression in Germany was guaranteed to everyone and that everyone was allowed to speak their mind.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier [Michael Sohn/Pool/AFP]
1 hour ago (20:01 GMT)
Ravens in a QB quandary as Tyler Huntley enters protocol
The Baltimore Ravens added quarterback Tyler Huntley to the reserve/COVID-19 list, and he won’t play Sunday in a key AFC North clash with the Cincinnati Bengals, NFL Network reported.
Huntley missed Friday’s practice with what was termed a non-COVID illness, and the Ravens listed him as questionable – be he still was expected to start in place of the injured Lamar Jackson. A day later, all that changed when Huntley became the 11th Ravens player on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
2 hours ago (19:43 GMT)
Biden commends Americans’ COVID resilience in Christmas greeting
United States President Joe Biden commended Americans for their strength and resilience in the face of the raging coronavirus pandemic, urging “hope and renewal” during the holiday season.
In his first Christmas address as president, Biden praised “the enormous courage, character, resilience, and resolve in all of you who heal, comfort, teach, and protect and serve in ways big and small.”
“You show there is much to gain in appreciation and gratitude for the gift of time and goodwill we share as we look out for one another,” Biden said in a statement with First Lady Jill Biden.
President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and their new dog Commander meet virtually with service members around the world, Saturday, December 25, 2021 [Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]
2 hours ago (19:12 GMT)
Villa manager Gerrard to sit out two games after testing positive
Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard will miss the team’s next two Premier League matches after testing positive for COVID-19, the English club said.
Gerrard, 41, who joined the club last month, will miss both Sunday’s home game to Chelsea and Tuesday’s trip to Leeds United while isolating.
3 hours ago (18:41 GMT)
France reports record 100,000 daily cases
Coronavirus cases in France hit six figures, health officials recording 104,611 cases in the previous 24 hours, the third consecutive day the numbers have hit record highs.
The latest official figures come ahead of a meeting Monday in which President Emmanuel Macron and key members of his government are set to discuss new COVID-19 safety measures.
French border police check the COVID health passes of travelers on the Thalys arrivals platform at Gare du Nord train station in Paris, France [Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
3 hours ago (17:58 GMT)
Italy reports third consecutive record of cases
Italy reported a third successive record tally of coronavirus cases, with new infections hitting 54,762 against 50,599 a day earlier, the health ministry said.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose to 144 from 141 on Friday.
Italy has registered 136,530 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second highest toll in Europe after the UK and the ninth highest in the world.
4 hours ago (17:28 GMT)
Portugal says Omicron dominant amid rising infections
Omicron has become the dominant strain of coronavirus in Portugal where more than 10,000 daily coronavirus cases had been registered, the national health agency said.
Portugal, one of the countries with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates worldwide, has begun inoculating children over five years old.
“The Omicron variant is already dominant in Portugal, accounting for 61.5 percent of cases on December 22,” the General Directorate of Health said.
On Saturday, Portugal recorded 10 deaths and 10,016 cases, slightly fewer than Friday when 11 deaths and 12,943 cases were reported.
Portugal has reported more than 1.2 million cases to date [File: Rafael Marchante/Reuters]
4 hours ago (17:04 GMT)
Timberwolves D’Angelo Russell enters protocol
Minnesota point guard D’Angelo Russell is the eighth member of the Timberwolves in COVID-19 protocols, ESPN reported.
Russell, 25, joins a list that includes backcourt partner Anthony Edwards and All-Star centre Karl-Anthony Towns.
The other Minnesota players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols are Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince, Jarred Vanderbilt and McKinley Wright IV.
4 hours ago (16:50 GMT)
Indian PM Modi announces booster shots to healthcare workers next month
India will start administering COVID-19 booster shots to healthcare and frontline workers from January 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
In an address to the nation, he also said those aged 15-18 would start receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations from January 3.
Turkmenistan to register Russian Sputnik Light vaccine
Turkmenistan became one of the first nations to approve the use of Russian COVID-19 vaccines, including Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and Sputnik Light, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Medical Industry.
The ministry said in a statement that it registered the Sputnik Light vaccine and issued a corresponding certificate for its use.
5 hours ago (15:56 GMT)
Another Top14 Rugby games gets postponed
Clermont’s visit to Brive became the third game in the post-Christmas round of Top 14 Rugby matches to be cancelled because of a cluster of coronavirus cases.
The match, scheduled for Sunday, was called off after Clermont reported coronavirus cases in their squad, the French league (LNR) announced.
“Due to the health situation of the squad of Clermont, following new tests, the match Brive-Clermont, is postponed. The rearranged date will be communicated later,” said the LNR in a statement.
6 hours ago (15:22 GMT)
More than 5,700 flights scrapped on Christmas weekend
At least 5,743 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the long Christmas weekend and thousands more were delayed, a tracking website reported.
According to Flightaware.com, more than 2,500 flights were scrubbed around the globe on Christmas Day, including more than 870 originating from or headed to US airports, with some 4,200 delays as of 1430 GMT.
On Friday, there were approximately 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, while Sunday cancellations have already topped 800.
Passengers check the flight board in a terminal at the international airport in Frankfurt [File: Michael Probst/AP Photo]
6 hours ago (15:05 GMT)
Two more members of Korean group BTS test positive for virus
Two more members of the K-pop group BTS tested positive for COVID-19 following their return to South Korea from the band’s first pandemic-era concerts in the United States, their management company Big Hit Music said.
Rapper RM, 27, and vocalist Jin, 29, were diagnosed with COVID-19 a day after Suga, a songwriter and rapper for the seven-member group, tested positive.
All three had completed second doses of a coronavirus vaccine in August, the company said.
South Korean K-pop band BTS pose for photographers ahead of a press conference to introduce their single “Butter” in Seoul, South Korea [File: Lee Jin-man/AP Photo]
7 hours ago (14:45 GMT)
Japan’s Fukuoka finds first Omicron case
Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture has confirmed its first infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, its governor Seitaro Hattori said.
The case was a result of possible community transmission as the infection route was unclear, Hattori told a news conference.
7 hours ago (14:19 GMT)
Pope prays for end of pandemic in Christmas blessing
Pope Francis prayed for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge health care for all, vaccines for the poor and for dialogue to prevail in resolving the world’s conflicts.
“Grant health to the infirm and inspire all men and women of good will to seek the best ways possible to overcome the current health crisis and its effects,” he said on Saturday.
“Open hearts to ensure that necessary medical care – and vaccines in particular – are provided to those peoples who need them most.”
Pope Francis waves after delivering his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech to the city and the world from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, December 25, 2021 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]
7 hours ago (13:55 GMT)
Djokovic ‘won’t go’ to pre-Australian Open ATP Cup: Local media
Novak Djokovic will not play in the ATP Cup ahead of the Australian Open, where his participation is in doubt as the Serbian tennis star refuses to say if he has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, his team have told Serbian newspaper Blic.
“It is 99 percent sure that Novak won’t go to the ATP Cup. He is training here (in Belgrade) but he has decided to give that tournament a miss,” an unnamed member of his team said.
The ATP Cup in Sydney is a team tournament that traditionally kicks off the men’s season.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic [File: William West/AFP]
8 hours ago (13:29 GMT)
Kenya to start booster shot drive amid virus fears
Kenya will offer COVID-19 booster shots to individuals six months after their initial shots, the health ministry said in a document published a day after the country logged its highest rate of positive COVID-19 tests.
Kenya last month said it would demand proof of vaccination to access public spaces and transport from December 21. The move met with a combination of bemusement, dismissal and occasional spot enforcement, given the country’s low vaccination rate.
By Friday just more than 14 percent of Kenyan adults had been fully vaccinated.
13 hours ago (07:56 GMT)
US hit by further flight cancellations
According to Flightaware.com, at least 2,000 flights were cancelled worldwide on Christmas Day.
On Friday, there were about 2,400 cancellations and almost 11,000 delays. The site also reported more than 600 cancellations for Sunday.
Pilots, flight attendants and other staff have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19, forcing Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines and many other carriers to cancel flights during one of the year’s peak travel periods.
16 hours ago (05:47 GMT)
China’s COVID-hit Xian city reports rise in infections
China’s Xian city has reported an increase in daily COVID-19 infections and local companies curtailed activity as the country’s latest COVID-19 hot spot entered its third day of lockdown.
Xian, a northwest Chinese city of 13 million, detected 75 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for December 24, its higest daily count of the year and reversing the previous day’s decline, official data showed on Saturday.
Residents are banned from leaving town without clearance from employers or local autorities and households can send only one person to shop for necessities every two days.
Workers in protective suits stand at an entrance to a university’s residential area under lockdown following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Xian, Shaanxi province, China [File: China Daily via Reuters]
17 hours ago (04:28 GMT)
India COVID deaths rise by 387
India’s health ministry reported on Saturday that daily COVID-19 deaths in the country have risen by 387, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to at least 479,520.
COVID cases have also risen by 7,189 to at least 34.8 million.
18 hours ago (03:08 GMT)
In Omicron-free New Zealand, Christmas without restrictions
New Zealanders celebrated Christmas on Saturday in the warmth of southern midsummer with few restrictions, in one of the rare countries in the world largely untouched by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Ninety-five percent of adults in New Zealand have had at least one dose of a vaccine, making it one of the world’s most vaccinated populations. The only Omicron cases that have been found in New Zealand have been safely contained at the border.
As COVID-19 spread across the globe in the past two years, New Zealand used its isolation to its advantage. Border controls kept the worst of the virus at bay, and by Christmas this year, New Zealand had recorded just 50 deaths in a population of 5.5 million.
19 hours ago (02:00 GMT)
Daily COVID cases in Australia’s New South Wales top 6,000
Australia’s most populous state recorded more than 6,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time Saturday, adding a sombre note to Christmas celebrations.
Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, reported 2,108 new cases and six deaths on Saturday.
20 hours ago (01:20 GMT)
Health expert highlights importance of wearing mask to fight COVID
📍Just went to a major retail store—almost nobody wearing masks, and even then—only flimsy masks under their noses. I asked two mask wearers why not wear a KN95–their response… ➡️“I don’t know what that is” & “I can’t afford that fancy stuff”. We’ve failed somewhere horribly.😢 pic.twitter.com/vUh8jaQejt
A US Navy warship has paused its deployment to South America because of a coronavirus outbreak, the Navy said Friday.
The USS Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship, is staying in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where it had stopped for a scheduled port visit. It began its deployment from Mayport, Florida, on December 14 and was heading into the US Southern Command region.
The Navy said in a statement that the ship’s crew is “100% immunized” and that all of those who tested positive for COVID-19 have been isolated on the ship away from other crew members. The number of crew testing positive was not disclosed. The ship has a crew of a little more than 100.
The Navy said that “a portion” of those infected are having mild symptoms and that the specific variant is not yet known. COVID-19 cases have surged across the country due to the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant.
23 hours ago (22:43 GMT)
Antetokounmpo clears NBA’s COVID protocols
The Milwaukee Bucks received an early Christmas present in the form of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo clearing the National Basketball Association’s health and safety protocols on Friday.
However, Antetokounmpo’s status remains up in the air for Milwaukee’s Christmas Day showdown against the visiting Boston Celtics on Saturday afternoon.
For their part, the Celtics officially placed five more players into COVID protocols on Friday, bringing the team’s total to 12.
23 hours ago (22:35 GMT)
Blinken thanks South Africa in call with counterpart Naledi Pandor
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke via phone with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor about an earlier announcement that the US plans to lift travel restrictions on several southern African nations, imposed last month amid fears over the Omicron variant.
“The Secretary again thanked South Africa’s scientists and government for their transparency and expertise,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement describing the call.
“He emphasized the importance of the longstanding partnership between the United States and South Africa to combat the impacts of COVID-19.”
24 hours ago (21:29 GMT)
More than 4,000 Christmas flights cancelled worldwide
Airlines around the world called off more than 4,000 flights over the Christmas weekend, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant.
The website FlightAware showed 2,314 flights had been cancelled worldwide on Christmas Eve, a typically robust day in passenger transit. About a quarter of those suspended itineraries were in the US.
Another 1,404 flights scheduled for Christmas Day were cancelled globally, the website said, along with 340 more that had been scheduled for Sunday, Boxing Day.
AUSTIN, Minn. (WCCO) — A man who was observed walking in traffic holding a machete Wednesday afternoon was shot and killed by an officer with the Austin Police Department.
The incident began around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, as officers responded to the area of 7th Street Northwest and 8th Avenue Northwest.
Police said they tried to get the man to comply, but he ducked into a residence. They deployed Tasers in an attempt to get the man into custody, but they proved to be ineffective.
Police say the man was threatening to hurt other people, and retreated into an apartment on the 1200 block of 4th Avenue Northwest.
A standoff ensued that lasted more than 24 hours, and involved officers trying to subdue the man with pepper gas and foam bullets.
At about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the man left the apartment and went to a nearby gas station with officers in tow. In the parking lot, the man, armed with a knife, confronted the officers.
That’s when one of the officers fired, striking the man. He was pronounced dead on the scene. He has not yet been identified.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.
A man who had been on a boogie board off the coast of central California died after he was apparently attacked by a shark near Morro Bay, the authorities said on Friday.
The man, who the authorities did not identify, was found floating and unresponsive off Morro Strand State Beach at about 10:40 a.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement from California State Parks.
If confirmed, the attack would be the first fatal shark attack in the United States in 2021, according to an incident log kept by the Global Shark Attack File, which tracks data on interactions between humans and sharks. The log indicates there have been eight fatal attacks this year worldwide, including three in Australia.
The local authorities have posted shark warning signs within a mile radius of the scene of the attack, as is standard procedure, Adeline Yee, a parks spokeswoman, said in an email late on Friday. Beachgoers are advised to avoid going into the water in that area, near Morro Rock, the landmark volcanic rock that towers over the water, for the next three days, she added.
“He coughed on me last night when I hugged him,” she said. “I don’t feel scared. I never was scared.”
Dr. Luciana Borio, a former chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration who advised Mr. Biden during the transition, said reaching the unvaccinated was now arguably “the hardest aspect” of the U.S. response — one that would require a change of course in federal and state priorities, such as reopening community vaccine sites or urging providers to put more focus back on first doses.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to a wide-ranging vaccine public education campaign still underway at the agency, with special attention now to reaching young children and those in need of a booster. New ads this week targeting rural, younger Americans featured the language: “When you’re done with Covid, it doesn’t mean it’s done with you.” Other ads targeting rural adults warned of the financial costs of contracting the virus.
In Cleveland, the Covid picture is one of the bleakest in the country. Intensive care units are crammed with patients with the Delta variant, with a surge of new Omicron infections looming. New infections in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, have grown by 234 percent in the past two weeks.
Ohio, where 60 percent of people have gotten at least one shot, now has the country’s highest rate of Covid-19 hospitalization, and doctors say emergency rooms and I.C.U.s are running out of beds. They are being forced to call people in from holiday vacations as growing breakthrough infections whittle away at their staff levels.
There was just a single open bed in a sixth-floor intensive care unit at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday morning, where about 90 percent of I.C.U. patients were unvaccinated. The demand for intensive care has gotten so great that when a bed opens up, nurses are cleaning rooms and moving patients themselves to make space for the next patient.
“It feels like it will never end,” said Claire Strauser, a nurse manager in the intensive care unit whose adult son still has refused her entreaties to get vaccinated. Ms. Strauser said she will probably not see him over Christmas to reduce her own chances of getting infected and sidelined from a job she is devoted to.
“I don’t know what can change,” she said. “They’re just dug in.”
Dec 24 (Reuters) – (Please note language in second paragraph some readers may find offensive)
A vulgar anti-Biden slogan made for an awkward moment on Friday during President Joe Biden’s phone calls with children tracking Santa’s flight when a father said, “Let’s Go Brandon.”
The refrain, a sanitized version of “Fuck Joe Biden,” has been an internet sensation since a television journalist told race car driver Brandon Brown that a NASCAR crowd shouting the vulgarity was actually saying, “Let’s go Brandon.”
Biden and his wife Jill Biden were taking calls into the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa Tracker, which follows the progress of Santa’s reindeer-guided sleigh for millions of children.
At the end of one call, a parent who gave his name as Jared said, “Merry Christmas and Let’s go Brandon.”
“Let’s go Brandon, I agree,” a relaxed Biden responded, before asking Jared if he was in Oregon. By that point, the call was disconnected.
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U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden participate in NORAD Santa tracker phone calls from South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 24, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Much about the Christmas Eve exchange was not immediately clear, including what the caller intended, why Biden repeated the slogan and whether either knew the origin of the phrase.
The White House did not respond to requests seeking comment. Jared’s full name and contact information were not immediately available.
The slogan has become popular among supporters of former President Donald Trump, who caused a social media storm during his own Christmas Eve phone call with children in 2018.
Trump asked seven-year-old Collman Lloyd from South Carolina if she still believed in Santa “because at seven it’s marginal, right?” Lloyd later told the media that she did indeed believe in Santa and had no idea what marginal meant.
Brandon Brown himself has expressed displeasure at the appropriation of his name for an anti-Biden slogan.
“I don’t want to be the substitute for a cuss word,” he recently told The New York Times.
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New Yorker. It’s what residents of the Empire State have long called themselves.
It’s even the name of a magazine – and for more than a half-century it was the name of a model of Chrysler automobile.
So it’s probably no surprise that a Democrat hoping to win a primary next year and then unseat GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik in New York’s 21st Congressional District drew some mockery Friday when he referred to the state’s voters as “New Yorkians.”
“While Elise Stefanik is focused on starting culture wars, I’m focused on helping everyday New Yorkians,” candidate Matt Putorti posted on Twitter on Friday morning.
A short time later, Stefanik responded to the Christmas gift by posting a Christmas card to her constituents.
“Merry Christmas New YorkERS!” Stefanik wrote. “Sending you peace, love, and joy this holiday season.”
The post was accompanied by a family photo of Stefanik, husband Matt Manda and their 2-month-old baby son Sam.
“Santa came early to #NY21 !!” Stefanik wrote in a separate post, reacting to Putorti’s gaffe.
Stefanik, 37, has been serving in Congress since January 2015 and since May of this year has been serving as chair of the House Republican Conference, the GOP caucus in Congress.
But in May of this year she faced criticism when the website FiveThirtyEight reported that Stefanik’s votes in Congress aligned less frequently with the thinking of former President Trump than the votes of Trump critic U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., did.
Putorti, a lawyer from Whitehall, New York, is one of at least five Democrats hoping to face Stefanik in a general election in 2022, WAMC Radio of Albany, New York, reported. The other candidates are Ezra Watson, Bridie Farrell, Keith Sherrill and Matt Castelli, the report said.
At least one Republican, Lonny Koons, plans to challenge Stefanik, WAMC reported.
Putorti’s original Friday post was soon gone from his Twitter page – replaced by a corrected version saying “New Yorkers.”
But many social media users saw screen captures of the errant post and offered reactions of their own. Some samples:
Not long after Los Angeles police killed a teenage girl while firing at a suspect in a North Hollywood clothing store Thursday, Albert Corado started getting texts from friends and jumped on the phone with his father to process the familiar emotions together.
The similarities to the fatal LAPD shooting of his 27-year-old sister, Melyda “Mely” Corado, as she worked a shift at a Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake in July 2018, were clear, he said — and infuriating.
“To think, over three years after what happened to Mely happened, that there’s been no change whatsoever in the way the police deal with these situations, just shows the police have no desire to change,” Corado said. “They use deadly force pretty much whenever they feel like it.”
Much about the fatal LAPD shooting of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta — who was at the Burlington store with her mother trying on dresses for a quinceañera when she was shot through a dressing room wall — remained unclear on Christmas Eve.
But it has already sparked widespread anguish and outrage, particularly in a year in which shootings by Los Angeles police officers increased after years of declines. The violence has also brought scrutiny about the tactics used by the responding officers and whether there were ways to de-escalate the situation without opening fire or at least not putting Valentina in harm’s way.
“Two things I promise is to be deliberate and thorough, and to be totally transparent,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said Saturday. “That’s what everybody deserves — that we get to the bottom of what happened and share [it] with the public. It’s just a horrible, horrible tragedy.”
Many questions loomed Friday at the bustling North Hollywood shopping district where the shooting occurred.
“Cómo se pueden disparar a lo loco?” asked 70-year-old Graciela Cornejo, who lives nearby and stood outside the store Friday as workers inside vacuumed and swept shattered glass. “How can they shoot crazy like that?”
“They’re trained for all of this,” Cornejo said of the officers. “I just can’t understand.”
Edwin Arroyo, supervisor of Nancy’s Cleaning Services, spent Friday morning cleaning up broken glass near the front doors before heading inside to the second-floor dressing rooms. There, he said, was blood smeared on a wall, on a cream-colored dress left on a hanger, and on more than a dozen other items — which he called “a horrible scene.”
“I don’t know how many gunshots there were,” he said, “but there was a lot of blood.”
After wheeling a trash can filled with the dress and other items outside to dispose of, Arroyo said he was headed home. Once he got there, he said, he planned to hug his own daughters tight.
“The little girl was trying on a dress,” he said, his tone grim. “The parents never imagined their daughter would die here.”
According to police, officers responded to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon at the store in the 12100 block of Victory Boulevard about 11:45 a.m., and soon after shot the suspect a short distance from a woman who he had been assaulting and who was “suffering from various injuries and bleeding.”
The man, identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office Friday as Daniel Elena Lopez, 24, was fatally shot in the chest. The unidentified woman he had allegedly been assaulting was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Only after the shooting, as they searched the store for additional victims or suspects, did officers find Valentina, who had been struck by an officer’s round that had pierced a wall near Elena Lopez and struck her in a changing room, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A heavy metal lock was recovered near Elena Lopez, police said, but no gun. Video posted online appeared to show a man smash a front glass window of the store with a lock on a chain and then enter the store shortly before multiple police vehicles arrived and officers began walking toward the entrance with guns and projectile launchers drawn.
Police and city officials said video from the store and from officers’ body cameras would be released Monday, and that the investigation and review of the shooting will be thorough and fair. They asked for the public’s patience as detectives do their work reviewing the case.
Critics say they’ve heard the same before, and that it never changes the fact that LAPD officers are empowered to pull out their guns too quickly and fire them too freely — especially when they are confronting suspects who do not have guns of their own or who appear mentally ill or intoxicated.
In a year in which LAPD officers have shot 37 people, 17 of them fatally, such questions have become increasingly common. While those figures represent a significant decline from the highs of more than 100 police shootings per year in the early 1990s, they are a significant increase from the 27 people shot by the LAPD, seven of them fatally, in all of 2020, and the 26 shot, 12 fatally, in 2019.
An LAPD estimate earlier this year, when police had shot 30 people, indicated about a third of them were exhibiting signs of mental illness at the time. Officers in recent years have also shot suspects at much farther distances than they perceived them to be in relation to themselves, and when they were unarmed, according to investigations.
There has been much debate about whether there are better tactics for dealing with mentally ill people, including using trained medical clinicians alongside officers. Some have questioned why police are trained to shoot people with knives or blunt objects at a distance, and why officers can’t shoot people in the legs to stop them from getting closer rather than in the center of their bodies, where they are trained to aim.
It’s unclear whether the suspect in the Burlington case had mental issues.
Often in recent years, LAPD reviews have found officers broke policy in how they approached a situation or positioned themselves in relation to suspects, even in instances where the shots they later fired were ruled justified. In some cases, the shots themselves were ruled out of policy. Punishment for such breaches has been meted out, though rarely made public.
In other cases, officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing even when they cause harm to individuals who just happened to be in the vicinity of an incident — as was the case in the shooting of Mely Corado, a manager at Trader Joe’s who was fatally shot by LAPD officers who were chasing and exchanging gunfire with a suspect outside her store.
Police Chief Michel R. Moore and the Police Commission determined that the two officers who opened fire in the encounter that killed Corado were justified in doing so, given the threat posed by the gunman they were chasing, and prosecutors under former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey determined they had committed no crimes.
The killing, which devastated Corado’s family, enraged activists and spurred concerns about police tactics across the city, seemed to then be glossed over by some of the same officials who had called her killing a tragedy, her brother said.
Albert Corado, who is running to unseat City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell in Council District 13 in part to gain more leverage to force change in the police force, said he now fears the same will happen with Valentina’s killing.
“There’s not a lot of will in the LAPD for them to change and there’s not a lot of will in City Hall, in city government, to hold the police accountable,” he said. “That gives the green light to police to keep doing it.”
Valentina’s family could not be reached for comment Friday. The LAPD had not identified the officers who opened fire at the Burlington as of Friday. A woman who answered the door Friday at Elena Lopez’s home in North Hollywood declined to comment.
Records show that Elena Lopez had previously been convicted of car theft, carrying a loaded gun in public and carrying a gun as a felon. He was arrested by LAPD officers in the San Fernando Valley in August 2020 and charged with domestic battery, stealing a car and recklessly fleeing the police, records show.
He pleaded guilty to domestic battery and fleeing the police and was sentenced to two years in state prison. He was also convicted in Glendale in 2020 of stealing a car and identity theft and sentenced to 141 days in county jail, records show.
In June, Elena Lopez was transferred from Los Angeles County jail to the custody of the state prison system. Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for the corrections department, declined to release his commitment history, citing the LAPD investigation.
At the Burlington store on Friday, strangers came to pay their respects and leave flowers.
As rain started to come down, Leila Murca, 22, and her mother Linda ran up to leave white roses in front of a flickering candle outside the store.
“As a mom, I just wanted to leave flowers,” said Linda Murca. “My heart really goes out to the mom in this difficult time.”
Times staff writer Melanie Mason contributed to this report.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul shortened the quarantine period for many essential workers even as infections have surged because of the omicron variant.
Mary Altaffer/AP
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Mary Altaffer/AP
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul shortened the quarantine period for many essential workers even as infections have surged because of the omicron variant.
Mary Altaffer/AP
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says most of the state’s essential workers can return to work just five days after a positive coronavirus test if they’re fully vaccinated and meet other safety standards.
Previously, workers were required to stay away from their jobs for at least 10 days.
Hochul said Friday the change in quarantine guidelines will make it easier to maintain “critical services that New Yorkers need, healthcare, transportation, grocery stores.”
The policy shift will affect employees in a wide range of industries, from pharmacies and food processing plants to hospitals and taxi fleets.
The governor made the announcement as infections have surged nationwide because of the omicron variant.
In New York state, officials said the number of daily infections rose dramatically in recent days, up from roughly 22,000 on Tuesday to more than 44,000 on Thursday.
During a briefing Christmas Eve, Hochul also pointed to data suggesting the latest COVID strain may cause less severe infections.
“Positive cases don’t mean you’re too sick [to work] and require hospitalization,” she said. “We want to make sure our critical workforce … can get back.”
In a statement, New York’s acting Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said the impact of the winter omicron surge on the workforce “is already being felt.”
“A reduction of isolation from 10 days to 5 days is sensible guidance and in alignment with the recent CDC guidance for health workers,” Bassett said.
“[T]hat isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages,” the CDC said in a statement.
Officials in New York chose to cut the quarantine period even further — setting the state guideline at 5 days rather than 7. They also said workers returning to the job do not need to be retested.
Employees do, however, have to be fully vaccinated and wear a mask on the job site. They also have to be asymptomatic or “mildly symptomatic,” with no fever for 72 hours.
During her briefing, Hochul said rising hospitalization rates are also putting additional strain on health care workers. She voiced sorrow for those who’ve lost loved ones to the pandemic during the holiday season.
“Our hearts go out to their family members just on the verge of this beautiful holiday,” Hochul said. “To know there’s going to be an empty seat at the table has to be incredibly painful.”
Two people have died in a submerged car, evacuations have been ordered for wildfire-scarred California, and Seattle and Portland face the rare chance of snowy streets as a wave of storms rolled through the western United States.
The new storms, which could drop rain and snow over much of the region into next week and plunge the Pacific Northwest into a lengthy cold snap, follow a now-departed atmospheric river that delivered copious amounts of precipitation this week.
On Thursday, two people died when their car was submerged in a flooded underpass in Millbrae, California, just south of San Francisco. Firefighters rescued two people who had climbed on top of a car but they could not reach another fully submerged vehicle, San Mateo county sheriff’s Det Javier Acosta said.
In the Sierra Nevada, an evacuation warning was issued on Thursday for about 150 homes downstream of Twain Harte Lake Dam after cracks were found in granite that adjoins the manmade part of the 11-metre-high (36ft) structure.
The warning was lifted around 6pm after inspectors determined the dam was structurally sound and cleared it for continued use, according to the Tuolumne county sheriff’s office.
The Sierra range could see 1.5- 2.4m (5-8ft) of snow through the holidays, with 3m (10ft) possible at higher elevations, and authorities urged people to avoid travelling through the mountain passes, which could be treacherous.
A winter storm warning issued on Friday remains in effect until 10am on Tuesday for most of the Sierra, where almost 1m (3ft) of snow had fallen by early Friday at Mammoth Mountain south of Yosemite national park. About 0.6m (2ft) fell on Thursday at some Tahoe-area ski resorts.
Wind gusts over ridges could exceed 100mph (160km/h), the National Weather Service said, making travel difficult to impossible.
In southern California, evacuation orders were issued on Thursday night in Orange county because of possible mudslides and debris flows in three canyons where a wildfire last December burned the ground bare. The local fire authority reported a mudslide on Thursday night in one canyon that affected some roads but no injuries were reported.
On Thursday, a slow-moving front dumped the most rain and snow parts of eastern Nevada have seen on the date in more than a half century.
In preparation for freezing temperatures, snow and ice in the Pacific Northwest this holiday weekend and next week, state officials in Oregon declared an emergency and shelters were being opened throughout the region to help the homeless.
Recent forecasts show at least an inch of snow was likely to fall on Sunday in the Seattle and Portland regions, which do not typically see snow.
But forecasters and state officials said the main concern was cold temperatures in the region, with daytime highs next week struggling to reach above freezing, that are likely to impact people experiencing homelessness and those without adequate access to heating.
Oregon governor Kate Brown issued a state of emergency declaration on Thursday evening to remain in effect through to 3 January, saying expected snow and sustained temperatures below freezing could result in critical transportation failures and disruptions to power and communications infrastructure.
Portland and Multnomah county earlier declared states of emergency.
For Marcone Santos, no test or line or fear could stand in the way of his joy.
Mr. Santos, of Bethlehem, Pa., was at John F. Kennedy Airport on Friday, waiting for his mother and father to arrive from Brazil. It would be the first time they had seen one another in three years.
Despite his fears that the Omicron wave would cancel their trip, his parents had just landed and were making their way through customs.
“Everybody is tired of this pandemic and being apart from family, from friends,” said Mr. Santos, 37, a carpenter. “For me, waiting for three years to see my family, this is a great time.
“It’s the holidays,” he added, craning his neck to peer down the arrivals hall. “It’s Christmas tomorrow.”
Larry Buchanan, Melina Delkic, Lola Fadulu, Precious Fondren, Michael Gold, Joseph Goldstein, Sean Piccoli and Karen Zraick contributed reporting. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
As police canvassed Oakbrook Center following a shootout at the popular mall just two days before Christmas, several store windows were broken as officers worked to clear the scene.
Shoppers reported being huddled in back rooms as they took cover during the shooting Thursday evening, but as officers went store by store looking for a remaining suspect and other potential victims, numerous store windows were shattered in the process.
“That was just to make sure we’re able to gain entry and actually to search that area,” Administrative Sergeant Reid Foltyniewicz with the Oak Brook Police Department told NBC 5 Friday. “Some of the places were locked in. No one was left inside, other people were just afraid to come to the door. So we have to get in there because we don’t know what we may find. Once again, there may be someone that’s a victim that’s injured, or even an offender that’s injured or there’s evidence, so we do need to make entry at some point.”
Foltyniewicz said officers worked to clear the large mall following the shootout between gunmen that left one shooter wounded and four bystanders hurt.
Local
“Every inch of that mall was covered and we released it just before midnight,” Foltyniewicz said.
He praised store employees, mall security and responding officers for their response following the unexpected event in the midst of last-minute holiday shopping rushes.
“Unfortunately, we had this real world, you know, this real world scenario because we’ve trained for this all the time, but not only do we train, the mall security trains, the property management team trains and the employees at the mall all train,” he said. “So we even trained together, we host safety seminars, so it was excellent, excellent from all the employees that immediately when this happened stores were locked down, employees knew what to do. They helped, you know, people that were there shopping to get to cover and lock the store and turn the lights off, so excellent job on everyone’s part.”
Police are searching for a second suspected gunman hours after the shooting first took place.
Two suspects, including one alleged shooter and a “companion” of one of the suspected gunmen, were already in custody as of Thursday evening, but a third person, believed to be the second shooter, was still being sought Friday morning, police said.
Police released images of the suspect they are still looking for early Friday, asking anyone who may recognize him or have additional information on the shootout that sent holiday shoppers running for cover to contact Administrative Sergeant Reid Foltyniewicz via e-mail at RFoltyniewicz@oak-brook.org or phone (630) 368-8746.
Police say that at least five people were injured during the incident Thursday.
According to authorities, a police officer that was working at Nordstrom overheard gunfire at approximately 5:44 p.m. The gunfire originated from a corridor between the store and Ann Taylor, authorities said.
Police say two individuals were seen firing gunshots at one another, sending shoppers fleeing into stores for cover.
An eyewitness told NBC 5 that the mall was placed on lockdown at approximately 6 p.m. because of the incident, and said she was forced to hide in the stockroom of Nordstrom’s.
NBC 5’s Vi Nguyen was outside of Oakbrook Center shortly after the shooting:
When the officer moved to confront the suspects, they both attempted to run into the Nordstrom store to flee.
Police said one suspect, who was shot at least four times, was hospitalized and is expected to survive. Another suspect was taken into custody while trying to leave the area, authorities said, but one suspected shooter remained at large.
At least three other bystanders were struck by gunfire, according to officials.
A woman in her 40s was shot in the left thigh, another woman in her 40s was shot in the left thigh, and a woman in her 20s was shot in the right foot. A fifth victim, a woman in her 20s, fractured her ankle while fleeing the scene.
More than 100 police officers were at the scene into late Thursday, including multiple SWAT teams. NBC’s Sky 5 helicopter observed SWAT teams entering stores as they continued to work to clear the mall.
Brookfield Properties, the management company that runs the mall, issued a statement thanking police for responding to what they termed an “isolated incident.”
“Tonight’s isolated incident is extremely upsetting for our shopping community,” officials said in the statement. “We are grateful for our partners at the Oak Brook Police Department for their diligence in leading this developing investigation.”
The mall was expected to reopen at 10 a.m. Friday with a heightened police presence.
“We’ve amped up security, we’ve always had that anyway during this time but even more than usual, so it is completely safe,” Foltyniewicz said. “We want people to still enjoy their time, enjoy shopping, having a good time, enjoy spending time with their families and being out there.”
Driving the news: The restrictions will end on Dec. 31, according to Munoz. He said the decision to lift travel restrictions was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The restrictions gave us time to understand Omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against Omicron, esp boosted,” Munoz said in a tweet.
People traveling from the countries will now be subject to the same protocols the U.S. has imposed elsewhere — requiring foreigners be vaccinated and that all travelers get a negative COVID-19 test within a day of their departure.
Flashback: President Biden in late November restricted entry fromSouth Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi at the recommendation of medical experts and the COVID-19 response team.
The restrictions apply to people who were in the countries during the 14-day period before they tried to enter the U.S. It does not apply to American citizens and permanent residents.
Reuters first reported on the decision to lift the restrictions.
Between the lines: Officials in South Africa had criticized countries that imposed travel bans on the nation, saying it was being punished, rather than praised, “for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.”
The World Health Organization also condemned restrictions, saying they place a “heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.”
Matthew Manion, director of the Center for Church Management at Villanova University, which was founded to help Catholic parishes, said he doesn’t know if priest exits are rising, “but stress levels are through the roof.” Diocesan leaders say there is an increase in requests for emotional and mental support to deal with the pandemic, racial awakening and political polarization, he said.
President Biden said Friday that the recommended quarantine period for most Americans who test positive for COVID-19 will remain 10 days — despite the at-home period being cut to just seven days for healthcare workers one day before.
“I just listen to my team and the docs, and they think we should keep it the way it is for now,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question after he joined a NORAD Santa-tracking call on Christmas Eve.
The CDC said Thursday that asymptomatic healthcare workers who test negative for COVID-19 could be back on the job as soon as seven days after testing positive for the virus.
The revised guidance also noted that “isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages.”
The change was made to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed as the more contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus drives record infection rates in New York City and other areas of the country.
Director of the CDC Dr. Rochelle Walensky says that healthcare workers who test positive but are asymptomatic only have to isolate for seven days, so that hospitals do not become understaffed. EPA
“As the healthcare community prepares for an anticipated surge in patients due to Omicron, CDC is updating our recommendations to reflect what we know about infection and exposure in the context of vaccination and booster doses,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a Thursday statement.
“Our goal is to keep healthcare personnel and patients safe, and to address and prevent undue burden on our healthcare facilities,” she added. “Our priority remains prevention—and I strongly encourage all healthcare personnel to get vaccinated and boosted.”
The guidance stipulates that workers must test negative no more than 48 hours before their return.
Other industries have asked for the isolation window to be shortened to avoid worker shortages amid the Omicron surge.
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian asked the CDC to reduce the isolation time for vaccinated airline workers with breakthrough cases.Paul MartinkaDelta announced that they had to cancel some scheduled flights over staffing shortages. Paul Martinka
“Our employees represent an essential workforce to enable Americans who need to travel domestically and internationally,” he wrote,
“With the rapid spread of the [O]micron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations.”
President Biden says he is listening to his “team and the docs.”picture alliance / Consolidated
As of Friday evening, Delta had canceled 145 flights scheduled for Friday and 111 for Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. United had called off 175 scheduled Friday flights and 69 scheduled for Saturday.
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