Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 92.4 million people worldwide and killed over 1.98 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:
Jan 14, 9:50 am Another member of Congress tests positive
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said Thursday morning that he’s tested positive for COVID-19, one day after attending the impeachment vote on the House floor.
Espaillat said he’s quarantining at home.
He tweeted, “I received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine last week and understand the affects take time. I have continued to be tested regularly, wear my mask and follow the recommended guidelines.”
Jan 14, 8:46 am 965,000 workers filed jobless claims last week
A total of 965,000 workers filed jobless claims last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday, an increase of 181,000 from the prior week.
The Labor Department also said that more than 18 million people were still receiving some form of unemployment benefits through all government programs for the week ending Dec. 26. For the comparable week in 2019, that figure was just above two million.
The weekly unemployment tally has fallen since peaking at 6.9 million in March but still remains elevated by historical standards.
The pre-pandemic record for weekly unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982.
That record has been broken every week since late March.
As of last month, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 6.7%. It was 3.5% last February.
Jan 14, 8:32 am WHO experts arrive in Wuhan
An international team of scientists researching the origins of COVID-19 arrived on Thursday in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus was first discovered, the World Health Organization said.
“The experts will begin their work immediately during the 2 weeks quarantine protocol for international travelers,” the WHO tweeted.
Jan 14, 8:19 am US could see up to 477,000 deaths by Feb. 6
This week’s national released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that 16,200 to 29,600 more Americans will likely die in the week ending Feb. 2.
The national ensemble estimates a total of 440,000 to 477,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by that date.
(NEW YORK) — As a member of the New York Mets in the 1980s, team legend Darryl Strawberry watched the franchise go through a change they are once again experiencing: new ownership.
Strawberry played for the Mets from 1983-90, during which the franchise’s ownership was shifting. Real estate developer Fred Wilpon bought a small stake in the Mets in 1980, eventually becoming an equal partner in owning the team. The Wilpon family went on to become the sole owner with Saul Katz, and Fred served as Mets team president for more than two decades.
In 2020, the Mets underwent a less protracted ownership change: hedge fund manager Steve Cohen purchased the team from the Wilpons and Katz, with Cohen immediately becoming the majority owner.
Strawberry, who played for the Mets the last time they won a championship in 1986, spoke to ABC News about his new book, “Turn Your Season Around,” and the state of the franchise prior to their acquisition of Lindor. He believes adding talent through free agency or trade is helpful, but that the best way new ownership can build a championship team is through effective player development:
“We had a great general manager [Frank Cashen] and he had people underneath him. They went through the process of player development… and I think that is so, so critical to be able to develop your younger core players so they can play at the major league level. I think over the years, the Mets have gotten away from that kind of development. I think that’s important to get back to and I think they will get back to it.”
The Mets made several front office changes this offseason, first bringing Sandy Alderson back to the franchise and hiring him as team president. The Mets then hired former Arizona Diamondbacks executive Jared Porter as general manager and former Red Sox executive Zack Scott as their new senior vice president and assistant general manager.
The Mets have developed young talent in recent years, such as outfielder Michael Conforto and pitcher Jacob deGrom. Strawberry hopes that trend will continue. He views new ownership and the front office overhaul as promising:
“I think new ownership is very excited… That can make a whole difference about ideas and about putting the people in the right places and understanding that if we’re going to get better, our minor league system has to get better.”
Strawberry recounted his experience coming up through the minor leagues. He believes with homegrown talent like himself, Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, and others, the team developed strong chemistry, learned how to win consistently, and came to believe that they could rely on one another. From there, they added pieces via free agency or trade, such as Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter. He believes the Mets in the 1980s needed years to develop chemistry and never got “used to losing,” something he thinks can happen if players do not have time together as a team.
Strawberry points to the Mets’ crosstown rivals as a model for effective player development:
“When you think about the Yankees and why the Yankees have been so good for so many years, it’s because their minor league system has been great. If you keep development in your mind and put your minor league system in a place, you’ll be great. You can bring in young players who could play and could come to the big leagues at a younger age and stick around for a long time. So, I think that’s what they [the Mets] need to really focus on.”
MLB.com ranked the Mets’ minor league system in the bottom half of MLB last summer, and they already traded away one of their top prospects, Andres Gimenez, in the deal for Lindor. The Yankees were ranked 19th, just one spot ahead of the Mets.
Strawberry did not contend that there is one set formula that would make the Mets World Series champs, but believes that drafting young talent and expanding their skills in the minor leagues is a good place to start building a championship club.
Strawberry also discussed the challenges so many people have faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic and how baseball provided a sense of relief for many last summer. He hopes with new ownership, Mets fans will feel renewed excited about their club. He also wants people to think about hope as they face more challenges in the coming year, and why his personal experience with faith and battle with addiction during his playing days reminds him there will be better days ahead.
“We’ve had a real poor half of the year in 2020 and are going into a new year. We’re going to have to get up for it… We have to be strong. We’re going to have to believe you can’t quit. You can’t give up… I could easily have quit in the second half and not gone on to have a strong season. You know what? You can easily quit in the second half of your life here after the pandemic and not get up and say, ‘I’m giving up, I’m quitting.’ And that’s happening to a lot of people. They don’t see hope. There’s hope. There’s light.”
ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE, NATURE) Armie Hammer has broken his silence about the alleged DMs that depicted bizarre and disturbing messages from him. Due to the controversy, the Golden Globe-nominee has dropped out of a movie where he was set to star alongside Jennifer Lopez.
In a statement toEntertainment Tonight, Hammer called the allegations “bulls*** claims” and added, “but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic.”
“Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that,” the Call Me By Your Name star concluded.
A spokesperson for the upcoming film confirmed Hammer’s role will be recast and added, “Given the imminent start date of Shotgun Wedding, Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision.”
The alleged DMs from Hammer went viral over the weekend, where an Instagram user claimed that the 34-year-old actor messaged her about his sordid fantasies, which included his desire to drink her blood. Those allegations have not been confirmed.
However, skeptics brought up Hammer’s 2013 interview with Playboy, where he identified himself as a “dominant lover” and enjoyed “grabbing women by the neck and hair” in the heat of the moment.
In the same interview, the Lone Ranger star spoke of Elizabeth Chambers, whom he was married to at the time, and revealed that marriage changed his tastes for the better.
“It gets to a point where you say, ‘I respect you too much to do these things that I kind of want to do,'” he had said.
After that interview was printed, Hammer jokingly told E! News, “Don’t drink during an interview” and remarked that “hindsight is 20/20.”
Greg Doherty/Getty Images for Brooke Lewis and Mark Bellas(NEW YORK) — Reality TV personality Jon Gosselin recently revealed a scary bout with COVID-19 that landed him in the hospital with a 104.8 fever and close to being put on a ventilator.
“I was in a wheelchair. I had to wait in the ER,” Gosselin tells Dr. Mehmet Oz in a sneak peak of Thursday’s The Dr. Oz Show posted on the syndicated program’s official Twitter page.
“[The ER] was packed…and then they put me on a gurney and put me in the hallway in the waiting room, so I could get a temporary room, and then once they evaluated me and once they drew my blood and did all my blood work, all of a sudden I’m getting antibiotics, steroids and a plasma antibody transfusion for COVID,” he recalls. “It happened really fast.”
Adds the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star, “And then they moved me…up to…a more permanent room, and then I just remember sleeping…It was just surreal.”
Campbell in 2000 — Scott Gries/ImageDirect(OREGON) — Jessica Campbell, the actress best known for playing Tammy Metzler in the 1999 film Election, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, died suddenly in her Oregon home on December 29, her family tells TMZ. She was 38. The cause of death is unknown.
“So heart broken to hear this,” Oscar winner Witherspoon tweeted about the news. “Working with Jessica on Election was such a pleasure. I’m sending all my love to Jessica’s family and loved ones.”
Campbell, who worked as a naturopathic physician in Oregon, had worked her normal shift the day she died. She was found collapsed in the bathroom, according to her cousin, and EMTs were unable to revive her. The results of an autopsy are expected soon.
Campbell also appeared in TV’s Freaks and Geeks, as well as the films The Safety of Objects and Junk before retiring from acting. There’s a GoFundMe page set up to support her 10-year-old son Oliver. Freaks and Geeks executive producer Judd Apatow donated $5,000.
Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
