February 14, 2021 • No Comments • National News

ABC NewsBY: DAN MANZO, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — The major winter blast that is gripping the nation will reach its peak beginning today and lasting through much of the week with two major storms to track along with the Arctic air surging into the southern U.S.

Seattle recorded 11.1 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday which is a top 10 two-day snowfall for the city.

On Saturday alone, Seattle recorded 8.9 inches of snow which made it the snowiest day for the city since 1969, 52 years ago.

In Portland, significant freezing rain accumulation, with locally up to 1 inch of freezing rain and sleet, caused widespread power outages and dangerous roads.

On the East Coast, Virginia and much of the state stretching into Maryland saw over a half inch of freezing rain and sleet on Saturday.

The National Weather Service in Wakefield, Virginia, is calling this likely the worst ice storm in 20 years for the region.

In northern Minnesota on Saturday morning, an actual low temperature of -48 degrees was recorded.

The widespread winter weather is already causing hundreds of thousands of power outages.

At least 46 states now have weather alerts due to this major winter blast and two more major storms to track.

Today the main action will be in the southern U.S. as heavy snow is already moving to parts of southern Plains along with freezing rain and sleet across Texas.

Severe storms will be possible across parts of Florida with tornadoes possible from Tampa to Jacksonville.

Roads will become increasingly dangerous through the southern Plains today from Houston to Austin to Dallas and Oklahoma City.

By Sunday night, the heaviest snow will be from Dallas to Oklahoma City and the heaviest wintry mix will be near Austin and San Antonio.

By Monday, heavy snow, freezing rain and sleet will be falling from Houston into Louisiana which will make the morning commute incredibly difficult and road conditions will be extremely dangerous there.

Another area of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain will be falling across parts of the Midwest and into the Appalachians.

By Monday night, the heavy snow will overtake the Ohio and Tennessee Valley and there will be an area of wintry mix moving into the Northeast and impacting metro areas from Philadelphia to Boston.

On Tuesday morning, very heavy snow will be falling in in the interior Northeast and a wintry mix will be possible from Philadelphia to New York City and Boston.

Some of the latest computer guidance is suggesting that the major cities themselves will be just at or near freezing during this time frame.

While ice accumulation will be possible in the major cities, significant ice accumulation is expected north and west of Philadelphia, New York City and through much of southern New England.

Immediately after this storm, attention will turn to another major storm that will follow a very similar track.

Through Friday, snow accumulations from both storms could exceed a foot from northern Texas to New England.

Anywhere from San Antonio to Boston could see significant ice accumulation from these storms and when there is any ice accumulation, roadways become very dangerous.

In addition, fallen trees and power lines become a major concern and we could be seeing a situation for parts of this week that includes widespread power outages across large parts of the U.S.

In addition, all this winter weather is likely to continue to cause COVID-19 vaccine facilities to face delays and closures across large regions of the country.

All of this active weather is being fueled by a major Arctic blast that will surge south towards the Gulf of Mexico this week.

There will be widespread record lows across the central U.S. on Monday and Tuesday.

In the Southern U.S., particularly Texas and Louisiana, the wind chills will be absolutely brutal since this region does not usually see cold weather of this magnitude.

The good news is, by Saturday of this week, the weather pattern looks to become more stabilized and a period of quieter weather should begin.

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February 13, 2021 • No Comments • National News

pinkomelet/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(LOS ANGELES) — California marked a grim milestone this week, as it surpassed New York for the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States.

As of Feb. 12, 46,022 Californians have died due to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University. New York, which had held that morbid distinction since it was the epicenter of the pandemic last spring, has reported 45,453 deaths, per JHU’s tally.

The lead comes after a winter surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths that has only recently begun receding. But California’s death toll tells another troubling tale — as of Feb. 10, Latino people represent 46.3% of COVID-19 deaths, despite making up 38.9% of the state’s population, per state data. Latino people — who are often on the front lines as essential workers — also make up more than half (55%) of the state’s cases and have the greatest share of cases and deaths at every age group, except among ages 80 and up.

For Hernan Hernandez, executive director of the California Farmworker Foundation, the novel coronavirus has further illustrated that there are “two different worlds” in California.

“It took a pandemic to see exactly the devastation that it has brought upon our communities, but also the unequal world that we live in in California,” Hernandez told ABC News.

Hernandez’s foundation offers services to help improve the quality of life of the state’s agricultural workforce, an overwhelming majority of whom are Hispanic, he said. During the pandemic, that has meant bringing COVID-19 testing to work sites and, in recent weeks, helping register farmworkers to receive the vaccine. In the past two weeks, the organization registered over 500 farmworkers in the Central Valley — the hub of agricultural production in the state — he said.

Many workers are experiencing anxiety and depression as the pandemic has worn on, Hernandez said.

“It’s been quite tough,” he said. “A lot of them have suffered losses. They experienced COVID themselves.”

“You have no idea how many farmworkers we talked to already that lost parents, cousins, uncles or friends,” he said.

Hernandez has heard several incidences of workers bringing COVID-19 home, often to multigenerational housing, and family members subsequently dying from the virus.

“It’s horrible what’s happening,” he said. “It really took a toll on the whole family structure.”

Vaccination rates are only further exposing disparities. State data shows that out of 5.5 million vaccine doses administered, 15.8% of people who received at least one dose identified as Latino. That’s half the rate (32.6%) of white residents, who make up 36.6% of the state’s population.

Among its efforts to address health equity during the pandemic, the state is looking to ramp up vaccine distribution in the Central Valley by converting some of its COVID-19 testing sites created in partnership with OptumServe into vaccine distribution sites, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week. The state is also looking to open a mass vaccination site in the Central Valley, he said, calling the region a “top priority.”

Yet, Hernandez said COVID-19 testing has taught them that mega-sites “don’t encompass the population that we serve” — who can’t afford to take the day off of work and potentially wait several hours for an appointment.

“We need to go directly to their worksite, or to their communities, at appropriate hours, so that therefore they can receive the vaccine,” Hernandez said.

The foundation plans to open up vaccination pods, too — once there is enough supply.

In Santa Clara County, a walk-up vaccination site opened at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose, to target the area’s Latino immigrant community.

Fresno County, in the Central Valley, wrapped up a pilot vaccination program that offered approximately 3,200 doses to farm and agriculture workers on Thursday. The program helped bring the community together to protect themselves from the virus, Fresno County Community Health Division Manager Joe Prado said during a media briefing Friday.

“You saw farming groups come together and bring other farmers, other packing houses, to get people vaccinated,” he said.

This week, Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, launched mobile vaccine clinics to “take the vaccine directly to neighborhoods that need it most,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement.

Garcia told ABC News Live last week that the clinics are modeled after the city’s mobile outreach for COVID-19 testing, which brought bilingual workers into undocumented communities to help residents feel more comfortable.

“If we don’t hyperfocus on some of the cultural needs and awareness around the Latino population and how they relate to vaccination or testing, we’ll continue to lose a lot more lives,” he said.

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