Health officials weigh boosters as polio reemerges in New York and London - August 12, 2022

Executive Leadership Briefing

Law enforcement officials confirmed they shot and killed a man who was accused of trying to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office with a nail gun and AR-15 Thursday after an hours-long standoff. Investigators are looking into the man’s possible ties to far-right extremist groups, including those involved with the Jan. 6 insurrection, following posts on Truth Social claiming responsibility for the attack. Authorities have warned of increasing threats against federal agents following the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home. FBI Director Christopher Wray called threats circulating online “deplorable and dangerous.” The Justice Department moved to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant Thursday as Trump called for its “immediate release.”

Another heat wave is developing over Europe, prompting warnings as parts of the continent are expected to top 90 degrees just three weeks after breaking all-time temperature records. The heat wave has put pressure on the European power grid as residents try to keep cool. High temperatures and worsening drought conditions propelled a massive wildfire in southwestern France as firefighters work to contain the blaze that burned 18,000 acres and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. Officials in southwest England are considering restricting the water supply in the area as the country’s Environment Agency officially declared a drought across parts of western, southern, central and eastern England.

A man accused of fatally shooting two Muslim men with a potential connection to two other murders made his first appearance in Albuquerque court this week after tips from the public led to his arrest. Community members described suspect Muhammad Syed as “volatile,” and new court documents showed Syed had a domestic violence arrest warrant open for four months prior to his arrest. The Muslim community in Albuquerque is fighting to keep Syed in jail as police search for a motive and evidence of whether additional attacks were planned.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Thursday that the first confirmed U.S. case of polio in a decade could be one of “several hundred cases” within a New York community. Rockland County, where the case was found in late July, is known to be vaccine-resistant, and the populace has a polio vaccination rate 20% lower than the general U.S. population. The CDC is considering offering an extra shot of the vaccine for children or for certain groups of at-risk adults. British health officials will also offer a booster dose to children ages 1 to 9 after traces of the virus showed up in sewage samples in a quarter of London’s boroughs despite no confirmed cases.

The CDC relaxed its coronavirus guidance Thursday, dropping recommendations for social distancing and quarantining after exposure. The shift indicates that officials have decided the lower fatality rate amid a highly vaccinated population allows for less demanding guidelines, though the CDC acknowledged that the virus is “here to stay.” The Food and Drug Administration advised those who were exposed to COVID-19 to take three at-home tests instead of two as studies showed the previous two-test protocol can miss too many infections.

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