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D.C.-area health officials urge precautions as coronavirus cases rise

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D.C.-area health officials urge precautions as coronavirus cases rise


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With coronavirus circumstances within the D.C. area on a gradual incline and vaccine immunity waning, some public well being officers suggest residents take into account carrying high-quality masks, however haven’t any plans to reinstate mandates as folks be taught to stay and work amid the virus.

Most counties and cities within the area reported a medium degree of neighborhood unfold of the coronavirus this week, in line with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s tracker. Some counties within the area are toggling from low to medium with the occasional day at a excessive degree, reflecting the variable nature of the pandemic.

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The leap in circumstances stems primarily from the extremely transmissible omicron offshoot, BA.5, which, in current weeks, has turn into the dominant pressure in the USA driving a wave of circumstances throughout the nation.

In D.C., State Epidemiologist Anil Mangla mentioned officers seen an uptick in circumstances up to now week, shifting town between low and medium ranges of transmission.

Monitoring U.S. covid-19 circumstances, deaths and different metrics by state

D.C. public well being officers haven’t mandated that folks put on masks once more, as a substitute deferring to CDC steering, which says immunocompromised and at-risk folks might wish to speak to their health-care supplier about indoor masking when neighborhood unfold reaches a medium degree.

“It’s been two years and I nonetheless put on my masks, I maintain my distance. And contact wooden, I don’t have covid. It really works,” Mangla mentioned in an interview Friday, calling the observe “epidemiology 101.”

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Virginia and Maryland well being departments proceed to replace their covid information day by day and D.C. Well being updates weekly on Wednesdays, officers mentioned — though public well being officers imagine the variety of circumstances is underreported as extra folks take at-home coronavirus exams.

“We don’t imagine the extent of covid locally has decreased,” mentioned David Goodfriend, well being director in Loudoun County.

Well being officers in Montgomery County acknowledged the uptick in circumstances, urging residents to take precautions and recommending masking indoors for everybody, no matter vaccination standing — however not requiring them.

FDA accelerates booster marketing campaign to September, emphasizes new formulation

“The excellent news is that these with photographs within the majority of circumstances are saved from having to take care of severe bouts of the illness,” County Government Marc Elrich (D) mentioned in a information convention Wednesday. “The dangerous information is that many individuals have let their guard down they usually’re not taking significantly how devastating covid can nonetheless be in some circumstances, or the results of lengthy covid.”

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Appearing County Well being Officer James Bridgers mentioned there was no public well being suggestion to reinstate a masks mandate, however the county would proceed to observe the case figures and make changes as wanted.

“Ought to we fall beneath that 200 circumstances per 1,000 threshold we are going to change our narrative data accordingly. That is an additive course of,” Bridgers mentioned. “Covid is right here and we have to proceed to form our conduct accordingly as our neighborhood ranges change from low, medium to excessive.”

Prince George’s County, which was among the many hardest-hit jurisdictions within the area, continued to report a medium degree of neighborhood transmission this week. Officers mentioned they’ll proceed to observe circumstances and urged residents to remain updated on vaccines and proceed to comply with CDC steering.

“COVID-19 will more than likely be with us for some time and so now we have to be taught to stay with it,” Prince George’s County Well being Division spokesman George Lettis mentioned in an electronic mail. “Whereas authorities COVID mandates will not be in place anymore — as a result of residents have quite a few instruments to remain protected and wholesome — the Well being Division and County Authorities had all the time taken a extra cautious strategy to our pandemic decision-making.”

Since about mid-June, Virginia public well being officers have tracked a gradual rise in coronavirus circumstances, fueled by BA.5 — the “fittest variant” in line with Lilian Peake, the Virginia Division of Well being state epidemiologist.

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Second coronavirus booster photographs for folks beneath 50 on maintain amid drive to hurry up new vaccine

“It does have extra potential to evade immunity each from previous an infection and vaccination so that’s resulting in a rise in circumstances,” Peake mentioned in a telephone interview Friday, including that hospitalizations are additionally rising progressively.

Peake inspired everybody who’s eligible to get second booster photographs, though public well being officers are nonetheless finding out their effectiveness towards the dominant variants.

Hospitalizations for covid-19 in Northern Virginia have steadily gone up since late June to a weekly common of 180 as of Friday, in line with the Virginia well being division. Typically, a rise in hospitalizations follows a surge in circumstances.

Gabor Kelen, director of emergency drugs at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, mentioned the hospital has seen a current improve in coronavirus case admissions, bringing the quantity as much as about 160 systemwide from a low of about 40 in mid-April.

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Though many individuals locally have some safety from extreme illness and loss of life as a result of earlier an infection and vaccination, he burdened that “folks with comorbidities and different situations proceed to get into bother.”

Dying is a lagging indicator, however Kelen mentioned, “We haven’t misplaced a covid affected person within the ER, in like eternally,” in comparison with frequent deaths in earlier levels of the pandemic. Nationally, information present, a whole lot of persons are nonetheless succumbing day by day to the virus.

Kristen Ok. Coleman, an assistant analysis professor on the College of Maryland College of Public Well being, research the viral load emitted by folks contaminated with the coronavirus, and has discovered that individuals with the omicron variant usually tend to shed giant quantities of the virus, in comparison with these with earlier strains.

Utilizing the Gesundheit ll, a machine developed to measure flu transmission, she and her colleagues measure the quantity of the virus in exhaled breath, and their findings assist clarify why new variants are extra contagious along with their availability to evade immunity, she mentioned.

D.C. shifts monkeypox vaccine coverage to give attention to first dose

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“All the issues now we have been doing are much more essential now,” Coleman mentioned in an interview Thursday. “Infections are rising and hospitalizations are rising. So not solely is the present vaccine efficacy waning with these variants, they’re extra transmissible. In the event you actually wish to evade emission, you really want to put on a high-quality masks.”

Some locations nationwide are responding to the will increase in circumstances by ramping up precautions; Los Angeles County, which thought-about reinstating an indoor masks mandate, deserted the thought Thursday as circumstances dropped.

However nearer to house, some public well being officers are easing precautions. The Virginia Division of Well being final month loosened quarantine pointers for people who find themselves uncovered to the coronavirus. People who’re vaccinated or recovered from covid-19 inside the final six months would not have to quarantine, beneath the state’s pointers, even because the CDC says post-infection immunity lasts half so long as the state pointers replicate.

Arlington County’s native coronavirus emergency declaration will sundown on Aug. 15, formally lifting a measure that allowed digital authorities conferences for greater than two years and gave eating places a fast-track to arrange momentary outside seating areas.

Emergency declarations just like the one in Arlington had allowed native authorities our bodies to seamlessly shift from in-person to digital operations at the beginning of the pandemic. In Arlington, it allowed County Board members to fulfill over Zoom and gave residents the prospect to supply public remark just about — even after lawmakers returned to their in-person chamber final yr.

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Alexandria metropolis’s pandemic emergency declaration expired on June 30.

“It’s positively been an essential software. It gave us plenty of that flexibility,” Arlington County spokesman Ryan Hudson mentioned. “At this level, now we have realized to stay with this pandemic. It’s clearly going to be with us for the foreseeable future.”

Teo Armus and Antonio Olivo contributed to this report.



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Washington, D.C

Report: The Trumps are in talks to buy back D.C. hotel lease

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Report: The Trumps are in talks to buy back D.C. hotel lease


The Trump Organization is engaged in preliminary discussions to reclaim the lease on its former hotel in Washington, D.C., reports the Wall Street Journal. 

The hotel is currently operating as a Waldorf Astoria.

The Wall Street Journal said Trump Organization executive vice president Eric Trump met with an executive from BDT & MSD Partners at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week to discuss purchasing the lease rights to the former Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. 

BDT & MSD Partners currently controls the property’s lease, following a 2023 default and subsequent foreclosure by previous leaseholder CGI Merchant Group. The Trump Organization sold the hotel’s lease to CGI in 2022, and the hotel was reflagged as a Waldorf Astoria.

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The 263-room hotel, which occupies the Old Post Office building, opened as a Trump hotel in 2016. 

During President Donald Trump’s first presidency, the hotel was a prominent gathering spot for Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and others with business involving the administration. The property came under intense scrutiny because of ethical and legal concerns. 

The hotel has some of the largest guestrooms in the city. Top-tier accommodations include the 4,000-square-foot Presidential One Bedroom Suite and 6,300-square-foot Waldorf Townhouse Two Bedroom Bi-Level Suite.

The hotel is home to restaurants The Bazaar by Jose Andres and the Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa, plus 38,000 square feet of event space and a 10,000-square-foot Waldorf Astoria Spa.



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Man at the center of Washington DC ‘Pizzagate’ killed during North Carolina traffic stop

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Man at the center of Washington DC ‘Pizzagate’ killed during North Carolina traffic stop


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The man who stormed into a Washington D.C. restaurant with loaded weapons during an incident widely known as “Pizzagate” is now dead after North Carolina police shot him during a traffic stop.

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Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, was shot just after 10 p.m. last Saturday, Kannapolis Fire and Police wrote in a news release this week.

Welch is the same Salisbury, North Carolina man who in December 2016, showed up to Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington DC., with loaded weapons to investigate “unfounded rumors concerning a child sex-trafficking ring” that was allegedly operating out of the restaurant, federal prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in March 2017 to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, as well as a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. 

Three months later, he was sentenced to four years in prison.

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What is ‘Pizzagate’? What happened at Comet Ping Pong?

Welch’s initial reason for making headlines in 2016 stemmed from rumors of a child sex trafficking ring allegedly operating out of the pizza restaurant he stormed into, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

Rumors began circulating online that the restaurant was part of a trafficking ring operated by then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton – a fake news campaign targeting Clinton during the general election.

Welch allegedly tried to recruit people to participate in the storming of the restaurant leading up to Dec. 4. He’d texted someone saying he was “raiding a pedo ring” and sacrificing “the lives of a few for the lives of many.”

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Prosecutors said Welch traveled from North Carolina to Washington D.C. with three loaded firearms, including a 9mm AR-15 assault rifle loaded with 29 rounds of ammunition, a fully-loaded, six-shot, .38-caliber revolver and a loaded shotgun with additional shotgun shells.

Welch parked his car and around 3 p.m., walked into the restaurant, where multiple employees and customers were present, including children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia said in a news release.

“He was carrying the AR-15 openly, with one hand on the pistol grip, and the other hand on the hand guard around the barrel, such that anyone with an unobstructed view could see the gun,” the office wrote in the news release. 

Once customers and employees saw Welch, they fled the building. Welch was also accused of trying to get into a locked room by forcing the door open, first with a butter knife and then shooting his assault rifle multiple times into the door.

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Shortly after he walked into the restaurant, an employee who had no idea what was going on walked in carrying pizza dough, federal prosecutors said. When Welch saw the employee, he turned toward the worker with the assault rifle, which made the employee think he was going to shoot them. The employee then ran out, leaving Welch alone in the restaurant. 

Welch spent more than 20 minutes inside the restaurant, then walked out, leaving his firearms inside. Officials then arrested him.

When Welch was sentenced to four years in prison, he was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, during which he’d have to get a mental health assessment. 

He was also ordered to stay away from the Comet Ping Pong restaurant while released and to pay $5,744 in restitution for property damage.

What happened leading up to the Welch’s death?

The deadly traffic stop happened the night of Jan. 4, said Kannapolis Chief of Police Terry L. Spry in a news release. 

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Around 10 p.m., a Kannapolis Police Officer patrolling North Cannon Boulevard spotted a gray 2001 GMC Yukon. The officer recognized the vehicle because he’d previously arrested someone who frequently drove the vehicle, Welch. He also knew Welch had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, police said.

The officer stopped the vehicle and recognized the front seat passenger as Welch, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for felony probation violation, police said. While the officer was speaking with Welch, two additional officers showed up to help.

As the officer who made the traffic stop approached the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the front passenger door to arrest the individual, the passenger pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer. 

The initial officer and a second officer who was standing at the rear passenger side of the Yukon ordered the man to drop the gun. After the passenger failed to lower his gun, both officers fired at him, hitting him.

Officials called for medical assistance for Welch who was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was later taken to another hospital, where he died from his injuries two days after the shooting.

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None of the officers at the traffic stop were hurt and neither were the driver and back seat passenger in the vehicle with Welch.

The officers involved who fired their weapons were Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate. The third officer at the scene did not fire his weapon, police said.

District Attorney will decide next steps in traffic stop shooting death

An outside law enforcement agency has been requested to investigate the shooting.

“This practice ensures there is no bias during the investigation and the findings of the investigation are presented to the District Attorney without any influence by a member of the department,” the police chief wrote in the news release. 

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the shooting and the two officers who fired their weapons are on administrative leave, which the police said is standard protocol.  

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Cabarrus County District Attorney Ashlie Shanley will decide what the next steps are, police said.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.





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NBC Journalist Who Was Beloved in D.C. Dead At 62

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NBC Journalist Who Was Beloved in D.C. Dead At 62


Viewers and media industry professionals alike are sharing tributes to Derrick Ward, a longtime Washington, D.C., television journalist who died Tuesday at age 62.

Ward’s death followed complications from a recent cardiac arrest and was confirmed Wednesday by NBC 4 Washington (WRC-TV), where he’d been employed since 2006.

“Derrick has been an inspiration and cherished member of our family and his hometown community,” Ward’s family told the outlet in a statement that was shared during Wednesday’s broadcast. “As a distinguished journalist, Derrick’s storytelling, prolific writing, warmth and humor touched countless lives. Our children and our entire family will miss him dearly.”

As of Thursday afternoon, news of Ward’s passing had drawn an outpouring of condolences online.

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“Stunned to hear of his passing. Watched that great man for over two decades tell some riveting stories all with class, respect, and precision,” podcaster Lee Sanders wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Well diverse and extremely talented man. Thoughts to his friends, family and colleagues. Not a good start to 2025.”

Watch an NBC 4 report on Derrick Ward’s death below.

Fox 5 DC journalist Tom Fitzgerald felt similarly, describing Ward as “one of the most pleasant people I’ve ever spent time with.”

“I’ll miss the graciousness, professionalism, kindness and glowing smile of this true gentleman,” he wrote on X. “Peace to his family, friends & NBC 4 colleagues.”

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A Washington, D.C., native, Ward began his journalism career in radio, where he covered the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the D.C. sniper shootings of 2003, among other major stories. He then transitioned to television reporting when he landed a gig at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.

Appearing on the “Architecture Is Political” podcast in 2020, Ward recalled how his love of storytelling inspired him to pursue a career in journalism.

“I want to tell the stories of this town that I grew up in,” he said. “I like doing things that can resonate with somebody ― if you can say something or write something somewhere and it just gets someone’s attention or whatever point you’re trying to make gets off and they can say, ‘Hmmm’ or ‘Uh huh.’ It’s the same reason that people do music and other things, I guess, is to look for that resonance.”

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In addition to his professional background, Ward was known as an avid golfer and guitar player. He is survived by his three children: Derrick Jr., Ian and Marisa.



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