COVID hospitalizations are rising in kids under 6 months, CDC Director Walensky says
COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising among babies under 6 months old, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging mothers to get vaccinated to reduce the risk of infection in those not yet eligible for shots, Director Rochelle Walensky said.
“We’re seeing more and more of those younger babies getting hospitalized,” Walensky said in an exclusive interview at CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. “That’s really where we’re trying to do some work now because we think we can prevent those by getting mom vaccinated.”
Walensky, who just recovered from a COVID-19 infection and subsequent post-treatment rebound, spoke in advance of the release of an agency report that examines an increase in the rate of hospitalizations among infants. The infectious disease expert said that in recent months, children younger than 6 months old have faced the second-highest rate of hospitalization across all age groups, trailing only behind those ages 65 and up.
While the elderly and people with weak immune systems remain at highest risk of COVID hospitalization, they can get vaccinated, unlike the very youngest patients. Walensky didn’t cite figures from the study, which was to be released Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Publicly available CDC data shows hospitalizations of children under 5 years of age have remained persistent throughout the pandemic, rising during big waves of the virus. In the week ending Oct. 29, 46 children under 5 were hospitalized with COVID-19, the CDC said, more than double the number of kids aged 5 to 17.
—Bloomberg News
Work halted at Obama Presidential Center after noose is found
CHICAGO — Foundation officials are condemning a “shameless act of cowardice and hate” at the site of former President Barack Obama’s presidential center in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Chicago's South Side.
Officials say a noose was discovered at the project site Thursday morning and construction has been halted.
"We reported the incident to the police and will provide any assistance required to identify those responsible,” Lakeside Alliance, the construction team building the center, said in an emailed release.
”We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate on our worksite. Anti-bias training is included in our onboarding process and reiterated during sitewide meetings. We are suspending all operations on-site in order to provide another series of these trainings and conversations for all staff and workers,” the statement said.
They are offering a $100,000 reward to help find whoever was responsible.
“Our priority is protecting the health and safety of our workforce. We have notified authorities who are investigating the incident.”
Foundation officials have said the museum will pay tribute to Obama’s legacy as the country’s first Black president and has endeavored to economically uplift the neighboring majority-Black South Side.
—Chicago Tribune
Georgia elections chief Brad Raffensperger picks his own race for an audit
ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger decided Thursday to audit his own reelection in a statewide ballot review, an effort to show whether voting machines got the results right.
Raffensperger said he picked the secretary of state’s race for the audit because it had the largest margin of any statewide contest, with the Republican incumbent defeating Democrat Bee Nguyen by 9.3 percentage points, making the outcome easier toconfirm.
By auditing a race that wasn’t particularly close, Raffensperger said election workers will have to check a relatively small number of ballots by hand to validate the results while they’re also preparing for a U.S. Senate runoff on Dec. 6.
“Today is about ensuring confidence in the outcome of our elections in Georgia,” Raffensperger said during a press conference at the state Capitol. “Audits are incredibly important in the process to reinforce the importance and primacy of the paper ballots.”
The close Senate race wasn’t chosen for the audit because it doesn’t yet have a winner, meaning an audit wouldn’t be able to validate the outcome, according to state election officials. A state law passed in 2019 requires an audit of one statewide race after each general election.
Unlike Georgia’s first election audit after the 2020 presidential election, this ballot review won’t involve every single vote cast.
Two years ago, Raffensperger ordered a full audit of all 5 million ballots cast, which showed that Democrat Joe Biden had won by about 12,000 votes over Republican Donald Trump.
The audit this time will involve between 5% and 7% of votes cast, totaling up to 300,000 ballots, a number designed to give a 95% statistical confidence level that the outcome was correct.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
IAEA watchdog expresses concern over Iran's nuclear program
VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency has expressed concern about the uncertainty around Iran's nuclear program.
"The longer the current situation persists, the greater such uncertainty becomes," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Thursday.
The agency has not been able to access data from its monitoring systems in Iran since the beginning of 2021, and last June it had to dismantle 27 cameras.
Even with a return to the earlier inspection mode, information would still be lacking, it said.
Despite the problems with inspections, the IAEA — which promotes the peaceful handling of nuclear material — presented another quarterly report on Iran in Vienna on Thursday.
According to the report, the country owns more than 62 kilograms, or about 135 pounds, of highly enriched uranium.
About 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, would be needed to build a nuclear weapon, according to experts, if the material were enriched a little to reach 90%.
The report said Tehran has also continued to expand its enrichment facilities since September.
—dpa
