Month: March 2021

Three fires burning in the Midwest are threatening hundreds of homes and have forced the closure of Mount Rushmore Memorial National Park.

The Schroeder Fire, burning in Pennington County, has scorched through nearly 1,900 acres on Monday and remained active overnight, officials said. It is 0% contained.

At least one home and two pole barns in Pennington County have been destroyed by the blaze, authorities said. About 400 homes were evacuated, said Rob Powell, incident commander for the Schroeder Fire.

The 244 Fire shut down Mount Rushmore after it burned through 75 acres Monday afternoon, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told reporters Monday.

There were at least 15 structures in and around Mount Rushmore that were threatened, said Travis Mason-Bushman, spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service. Some of the structures are the homes of park rangers and others are places where tourists visit, Mason-Bushman said.

The 244 Fire, which is moving South, was not directly threatening the monument, Noem said. The fire sparked on private property but the cause is still under investigation, Noem said.

Another fire, the Keystone Fire, was contained to 15 acres on Monday night, according to the latest update on the Great Plains Fire Information website.

The wildfires are occurring outside of the normal fire season, making it difficult for agencies to battle them, State of South Dakota Wildland Fire Division Director Jay Esperance told reporters Monday.

“A lot of the agencies aren’t really geared up for fire season, so it might be a while before we get a lot of those outside resources,” Esperance said.

Critical fire conditions, including gusty winds up to 55 mph, low humidity and dry vegetation, is expected to continue through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts clocked up to 70 mph on Monday.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio, Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

“Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jennifer Shah has been arrested and charged with running a nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme, according to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Stuart Smith, Shah’s assistant, has also been charged in the alleged scheme.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

The pair was arrested Tuesday and will appear in court this afternoon.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A judge has ruled New York must offer the COVID-19 vaccine to all inmates in state prisons and jails immediately, condemning their exclusion from the shots as “unfair and unjust.”

On Monday, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alison Y. Tuitt called the exclusion of incarcerated populations from the vaccine “arbitrary and capricious” and “an abuse of discretion.”

She said New York “irrationally” prioritized other populations living in congregate facilities, such as nursing homes and long-term care facilities, but not prisons, putting “great risk to incarcerated people’s lives during this pandemic.”

The state allowed staffers of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to get vaccinated in late January.

On Feb. 5 the state allowed inmates 65 years old and up to get the vaccine, about a month after the state opened the vaccine to everyone 65 and older, and as of Tuesday, 822 of 1,066 eligible inmates were inoculated, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said. Youth living in juvenile detention facilities were declared eligible for the vaccine in late February, and inmates with comorbidities were given access to the shots on March 5, after New York opened eligibility to people with comorbidities on Feb. 15.

The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed last month by two Rikers Island inmates, Charles Holden, 52, and Alberto Frias, 24.

“[Rikers Island] is very unsanitary and risky. It is impossible to stay six feet apart,” Holden said in a statement through the Legal Aid Society. “You eat together, you use the same showers. DOC does not supply masks within the housing area, so people are walking around without masks. I am simply asking to be treated fairly and with dignity.”

The judge’s ruling noted that Cuomo announced Monday that all New York residents 30 and older will be eligible to the vaccine effective Tuesday. “However, as of today, Petitioner Frias and other incarcerated individuals under the age of of 30 years of age are still not eligible for the vaccine,” Tuitt wrote.

Advocates praised the move to allow all inmates to get the vaccine.

“Governor Cuomo’s decision to withhold the vaccine from the people confined to dense, congregate settings of jails and prisons always ignored the unambiguous public health guidance that called for priority vaccinations in this uniquely dangerous setting, and exacerbated the vastly disproportionate toll of this virus on Black and Latinx communities,” Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, told ABC News.

“These New Yorkers should have had priority access to the vaccine, and this never should have required litigation,” she added.

The governor’s office did not comment on why the vaccine was initially withheld from the entire inmate population.

“Our goal all along has been to implement a vaccination program that is fair and equitable, and these changes will help ensure that continues to happen,” acting counsel to the governor Beth Garvey said in a statement.

The decision over whether to inoculate incarcerated populations was a contentious issue in the early days of the vaccine rollout, following COVID-19 outbreaks at prisons across the country.

As of February, just 15 states allowed inmates to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine before New York joined them this week, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that covers national health issues.

The Legal Aid Society said jail and prison populations are now surging to pre-pandemic levels of COVID-19 infection.

As of March 19, 577 people in New York DOC custody have COVID-19 — an increase from 306 people at the beginning of 2021, according to state data. There are currently 31,342 incarcerated people in state correctional facilities, according to Cuomo’s office.

A total of 6,273 COVID-19 cases among the incarcerated population have been documented by DOCCS, 6,099 of whom have recovered, according to last week’s COVID-19 update. There have been 35 reported incarcerated population deaths due to the virus.

A Texas state trooper and married father of children, who remains hospitalized after being shot while in the line of duty, “no longer displays signs of valuable brain activity,” authorities said.

“After extensive life-saving efforts conducted by the Baylor Scott and White medical professionals, it has been determined that Trooper Chad Walker no longer displays signs of viable brain activity and he remains on life-support until he can share the gift of life as an organ donor,” the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Monday. “This final sacrifice embodies Trooper Walker’s actions throughout his life and service as a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper. The Walker family is grateful for the continued support and prayers as they remain at Chad’s side.”

Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Chad Walker was ambushed on Friday evening while responding to what he apparently thought was a disabled vehicle parked on the side of a rural road just outside of Mexia, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Waco. Walker, who was alone, pulled up behind the vehicle and was shot in the head and abdomen before he could get out of his patrol car, according to a statement from Todd Snyder, regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Snyder alleged the suspected gunman, identified as 36-year-old Dearthur Pinson of Palestine, Texas, allegedly saw the patrol car and “immediately emerged from the driver’s seat of the disabled vehicle armed with a handgun and fired multiple rounds at Trooper Walker through the patrol unit’s windshield.” Pinson then allegedly walked back to his vehicle, retrieved a backpack and fled the scene on foot, Snyder said.

Walker, who has been a member of the Texas Department of Public Safety since 2015, was transported to a Waco hospital in critical condition. Counselors and a Texas Rangers chaplain have been with Walker’s wife and their 15-year-old son, 7-year-old twin daughters and 2-month-old baby girl, according to Snyder.

Since the shooting, more than $135,000 has been donated to Walker’s family via an online crowdfunding campaign to assist with the family’s medical expenses.

On Saturday night, Pinson was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a house in Mexia, where he had barricaded himself during a standoff with authorities, according to a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The Texas Rangers are leading the investigation into the incident.

According to criminal records, Pinson had a history of run-ins with the law. In November 2007, he was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison for armed robbery in Texas’ Houston County.

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

At least one American has been safely evacuated from Mozambique following deadly attacks by ISIS-linked rebels who left beheaded bodies strewn on beaches and streets, according to a senior official with the U.S. Department of State.

John Godfrey, the State Department’s acting special envoy for the global coalition to defeat ISIS, condemned the “sheer brutality” of the attacks in the coastal northeastern town of Palma and said the local jihadist group responsible has become increasingly brazen.

“The situation there is still unfolding but the U.S. government is closely monitoring events on the ground, and the attacks there are horrific, frankly, and show a complete disregard for the life, welfare and security of the local population,” Godfrey said during a press briefing Monday afternoon. “We were aware of one American citizen who was on the ground in Palma and that individual, as we understand it, has successfully been evacuated.”

ISIS, officially known as the Islamic State, claimed responsibility Monday for the attacks in Palma in Mozambique’s natural gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, saying the offensive was carried out by fighters from its Central African Province division, which also has a presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a company that tracks extremist groups. ISIS alleged its insurgents had seized the “strategic city” in the southern African nation, taking control of buildings, factories, government offices and banks, and killing more than 55 people there, including Mozambican soldiers, Christians and foreign nationals.

“Attacks such as these are clear indicators that ISIS continues to actively seek to spread its malign activity to new fronts,” Godfrey told reporters Monday. “Ensuring the enduring global defeat of ISIS will entail effectively countering ISIS branches and networks outside of Iraq and Syria, and we as a coalition recognize that.”

On March 10, the U.S. government designated the group in Mozambique as a foreign terrorist organization, issuing sanctions and making it a criminal offense to provide material support to them. The State Department said the group, referred to as ISIS-Mozambique, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and was acknowledged as an affiliate in August 2019. But the group, known locally as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, has been waging its own Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique since 2017, according to Chatham House, a London-based independent policy institute.

The port of Mocimboa da Praia, located in Cabo Delgado province about 50 miles south of Palma, was briefly occupied during attacks claimed by the group in 2017, according to Chatham House. Last year, the group orchestrated “a series of large-scale and sophisticated attacks resulting in the capture of the strategic port” once again, the State Department said. The Mozambican government has yet to regain control of Mocimboa da Praia, and the violence has led to the displacement of nearly 670,000 people within northern Mozambique.

The attacks on Palma began March 24, when rebels raided the town from three different directions and killed dozens of people, according to Col. Omar Saranga, spokesman for the Mozambican Ministry of Defense.

“The defense and security forces are pursuing the enemy’s movement and are working tirelessly to restore security and order as quickly as possible,” Saranga said in a statement on March 25.

A number of people, including foreign nationals, reportedly sought refuge in a local hotel as the rebels clashed with security forces. When some of them finally tried to flee over the weekend, the rebels ambushed their convoy and killed seven people, according to Saranga.

More than 1,300 people fleeing the violence have arrived by boat in the port city of Pemba, but “hundreds” remain unaccounted for in Palma, according to Human Rights Watch, a New York-based non-governmental organization that investigates and reports on abuses happening around the world.

“Media reports and witnesses said bodies, some of them beheaded, were lying on the streets and beaches of Palma,” Zenaida Machado, researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, wrote in a dispatch Monday. “Phone lines to Palma have been down, making it hard to obtain information.”

A State Department spokesperson told ABC News that the “U.S. Embassy in Mozambique is in touch with Mozambican authorities, international missions, and the private sector regarding the ongoing situation and humanitarian relief efforts.”

Palma is situated next to liquefied natural gas projects reported to be worth billions of dollars with investments from Total, Exxon Mobil and other companies.

A Total spokesperson told ABC News that there are no casualties among personnel in the region and that the company has reduced staff at its nearby Afungi site to an absolute minimum in response to the Palma attacks. Meanwhile, an Exxon Mobil spokesperson told ABC News that the company continues “to monitor security developments in the region.”

ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud, Cindy Smith and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

As states continue to open up eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine and more services start to require proof of vaccination, experts are warning of a rise in fraudulent activity surrounding vaccine passports.

Vaccine passports and certificates are being touted around the world as a way for various industries to start returning to normal while minimizing the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Consumers are already being required to use the passes at venues ranging from sports arenas and movie theaters to services like international travel.

But with the rollout of vaccine passports, experts tell ABC News they are seeing an increase in websites and online forums advertising fraudulent certificates and passports.

“The darknet is booming with activity related to the vaccines,” said Ekram Ahmed, spokesperson for Check Point, a cybersecurity firm. “Cyber criminals are looking to capitalize on the public’s interest to both get the vaccine or avoid the vaccine.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, scams surrounding coronavirus testing, fake protective equipment and fake COVID-19 vaccines have circulated on the internet. Now experts are concerned about a rise in fake vaccine certificates.

“Vaccination certificate for Covid (for those who do not want to be vaccinated),” said one ad found on the dark web, according to Check Point.

“Not every body will like to take the covid19 vaccine and we provide proof of having been vaccinated,” said another.

Check Point reports that overall, the number of false advertisements related to vaccines has more than tripled since January.

“It’s only a matter of time before hackers find a way to organize fraudulent activity for digital passports,” said Ahmed. “With a digital passport in each person’s hand, it could make for some serious fraud.”

As of now, New York is the only state that has officially announced a digital vaccine passport to fast-track the reopening of businesses and entertainment venues statewide.

“New Yorkers have proven they can follow public health guidance to beat back COVID, and the innovative Excelsior Pass is another tool in our new toolbox to fight the virus while allowing more sectors of the economy to reopen safely and keeping personal information secure,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press release last week.

IBM, which helped the state develop the digital passport system, told ABC News that the pass is built on blockchain technology that allows individuals to share their health status through an encrypted digital wallet on their smartphone, without the need to share underlying medical and personal information.

Alex Holden, chief information security officer for Hold Security, a cybersecurity firm, told ABC News that the market for counterfeits means that vaccine passports “will likely be a target for abuse similar to fake COVID-19 test kits and protective equipment.”

“The notion of potential profit and abuse is in the air,” Holden said.

Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina, told ABC News that people who are hesitant to get vaccinated may instead seek fake vaccine passports or certificates.

“When you institute the use of a vaccine passport you are essentially forcing individuals to get vaccinated, and for those who may not feel comfortable or want to, there may be a greater propensity to falsify information,” Kuppalli said. “This will only make the market for these types of things stronger.”

Nevertheless, new tools like the vaccine pass will allow vaccinated people to “reap the benefits” of normal daily activities, said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

“I think there’s real opportunity to think through how these cards could actually become a form of immunity identity,” Brownstein said. “We just have to make sure to understand the potential unintended consequences.”

Leah Croll, M.D., a neurology resident at NYU Langone Health, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

The World Health Organization and China released a long-awaited joint report into the origins of COVID-19 on Tuesday, pointing to transmission from bats to another animal and subsequently to humans as the most likely way the pandemic began.

The review, which was conducted by a WHO team of international experts in Wuhan, China, between Jan. 14 and Feb. 10, is considered a first step in what will likely become a years-long investigation into the virus’ origins.

Many of the report’s conclusions were already discussed during a press conference back in February, at the conclusion of the weeks-long investigation.

Although the report did not contain any startling new revelations, Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity, called the report “extraordinarily detailed and exhaustive.” While scientists previously believed several transmission pathways for the virus to be most probable prior to the Wuhan trip, there’s now data to substantiate those theories.

“First and foremost is the idea that this originated in a bat and moved through some intermediate host that allowed it to adapt and become better capable of infecting humans,” Lipkin said.

Reaching a definitive conclusion about the virus’ origins might take years, or might not be possible at all. “You’re trying to reconstruct events from year and a half ago with incomplete sampling and data,” Lipkin explained. “We may never know exactly what happened.”

If previous infectious disease investigations are any clue, the virus’ origins could remain shrouded in mystery. Researchers pointed to the 2003 SARS outbreak, which was caused by a close cousin of the virus that causes COVID-19 and eventually traced back to a single population of horseshoe crab bats.

But that search took more than five years. “I think they were quite lucky,” Vincent Racaniello, a microbiology and immunology professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, said of the SARS investigation.

“We’ve still not found the source of Ebola virus outbreaks after many years of looking,” he added. “It’s not easy.”

In the WHO-China report, the authors investigated four possible pathways through which the virus could have emerged:

I. Direct transmission from animals to humans: ‘Possible to likely’

Also known as zoonotic spillover, this theory suggests that SARS-CoV-2 was passed directly from an animal, most likely a bat, to humans. This transmission could have happened through farming, hunting or other close contact between humans and animals.

II. Transmission to humans through intermediary animal host, such as a pangolin: ‘Likely to very likely’

This theory proposes that the virus was transmitted from an original animal host to an intermediate host, such as a minks, pangolins, rabbits, raccoon dogs, domesticated cats, civets or ferret badgers, and then directly infected humans through live contact with the second animal.

III. Introduction to humans through the frozen food chain: ‘Possible’

The “cold-chain” theory suggests that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from animals to humans might have happened through contaminated frozen food. A frozen food product contaminated with animal waste that contained SARS-CoV-2 could have transferred the virus to humans without any direct live contact between humans and animals.

IV. A laboratory accident: ‘Extremely unlikely’

This highly political theory, which was previously rejected by experts at the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, proposes that SARS-CoV-2 escaped a laboratory in Wuhan through negligent biosafety practices.

The team ranked the four scenarios in order of likelihood, finding that spillover virus transmission via an intermediary animal was “likely to very likely.” Direct transmission from bats to humans was “possible to likely.” Virus introduction through frozen animal products or foods was considered to be “possible.”

A laboratory origin of the pandemic was “extremely unlikely” and the only one of the four scenarios that the team did not recommend scientists investigate further.

Huanan seafood market likely a ‘super spreader’ event, but not ground zero of the outbreak

While many early cases of COVID-19 were connected to a seafood market in Wuhan where animal products were sold, the report found that a similar number of cases were associated with other markets, or no markets at all. Extensive testing at the Huanan seafood market found no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in those animals. However, viruses from some of the Huanan market cases were identical, the report detailed, suggesting the market contributed to spreading the virus — an early super spreader event — even if it did not originate there.

“No firm conclusion therefore about the role of the Huanan market in the origin of the outbreak, or how the infection was introduced into the market, can currently be drawn,” according to the report.

While the new report is important, Racaniello said, “It doesn’t change much, except to tell the people who have conspiracy theories or accident theories that it’s not true.” People who don’t study viruses may not realize that there’s a common and predictable link between animals and viruses in humans, Racaniello explained.

“This investigation is not done,” said Dr. Angela Rasumssen, a virologist and affiliate at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security and incoming research scientist at VIDO-InterVac. “Sometimes it takes years and sometimes you may never find the actual source.”

In lieu of immediate answers, it will be tempting for many to “put the blame somewhere,” including a tantalizing but ultimately far-fetched lab-leak theory, Racaniello said.

“Part of being a scientist is you get comfortable with some things never being explained,” Rasmussen said. “But I think the general public is not, especially when it’s about something that is impacting our lives so profoundly.”

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

San Antonio emergency room physician Dr. Nayeli Rodulfo-Zayas spent much of last summer treating patients with severe COVID-19 infections in the intensive care unit, too often watching them die from the insidious disease.

Dr. Rodulfo found out that she was expecting her second child during the height of the pandemic. As it did for so many pregnant women, the raging virus sparked an avalanche of additional anxiety within Rodulfo.

“This year has changed my life completely,” she told ABC News’ Erielle Reshef. “At the same time, of course, I was pregnant and I wanted to be careful and protect myself and not catch the disease.”

As she continued to work on the front lines, Rodulfo also feared for her mother, a 57-year-old who had been on dialysis. In June 2020, she received the news she had dreaded: her mom had tested positive for the virus.

“She called me and told me she was positive,” she said. “I became really concerned. My mom had end-stage renal disease and she had liver disease and diabetes, so I knew that this could be pretty bad.”

Rodulfo’s mother knew she was pregnant, and Rodulfo tried using that to inspire strength in her.

“I was trying to give her hope or give her something to hold on to so she could fight through,” Rodulfo said. “But it became clear that she was just getting sicker and sicker.”

She watched as her mother’s condition deteriorated quickly. Soon, Rodulfo found herself in the same position as she’d been with many of her own patients, standing at her mother’s bedside in her final moments.

“She was admitted and then passed away four days later in the ICU,” Rodulfo said. “I was the physician who pronounced her.”

After months grieving the loss of her mother and the deaths of her patients, Rodulfo found a ray of hope. In December 2020, the Food and Drug Administration issued its first emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Rodulfo was 31 weeks pregnant when she was given the first dose of the vaccine that month.

“I basically was excited and happy and felt a sense of relief to get this vaccine,” Rodulfo said. “It was a bittersweet moment for me as well, because I was thinking about my mother. If she would have made it through, she would have gotten the vaccine and she would still be here.”

Amid the vaccine rollout, misinformation about the vaccine and pregnancy have spread online, fueling skepticism among some pregnant women.

Yet, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines might cause any problems for a mother or her child, according to Dr. Laura Riley, chief OB-GYN at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine.

“We also can say that now well over 40,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated and we have not seen any safety signals in these women,” she told ABC News in mid-March.

However, pregnant women were excluded from the early ‘randomized’ clinical trials considered the gold standard in medical research. Those studies in pregnant women are ongoing now, with results expected in the coming months.

While Riley said she understands that patients might want to wait for more data before getting vaccinated, the danger of contracting COVID-19 while pregnant is still present and real.

“The problem with waiting and seeing is that you increase the risk that you’re going to get COVID-19 while you’re waiting,” Riley said. “Pregnant women are at greater risk for severe outcomes due to COVID-19, and that means more likely to need an ICU stay, more likely to need mechanical ventilation and also an increased risk of death.”

And since the first vaccines were authorized in December, many thousands of women have opted for the shot. And these months of experience with these vaccines has given leading experts confidence that they are safe for pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant.

“We stand by our recommendation that pregnant women and those seeking to become pregnant should be vaccinated,” the American Society for Reproductive Medicine said in a statement.

Last week, a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines generated immunity and greater immune responses in pregnant and lactating women, and also indicated immunity transferred to the newborn via placenta and breastmilk.

In February, Pfizer began clinical trials of its vaccine with 4,000 pregnant women in 44 study locations across the U.S. Participants will receive doses between the fifth and eighth month of their pregnancy and will be studied for seven to 10 months, even after they give birth.

Ginger Bennett, an Idaho mother of four, volunteered to participate in the Pfizer trial. She spoke exclusively to ABC News before her second shot.

“To my knowledge, I am the first pregnant woman in the state of Idaho doing this test,” she told Reshef. “I figure, if I can show or tell something to these other women that are wondering, ‘Hey, what’s going on for me,’ then I want to show that to them.”

Bennett is due in April with a baby girl, and she won’t know if she received a placebo or the actual vaccine until then. She hopes that sharing her experience with the trial will help assuage some fears for other pregnant women, she said.

“I’m glad I get to be a part of this, because in my case, I know there are other women out there in my place and maybe they’re worried or maybe they just have questions,” Bennett said. “Seeing this, hopefully they’ll say, ‘Hey, she’s doing OK or she’s not worried about it, maybe I shouldn’t be worried about it, either.’”

While recent polls show vaccine hesitancy has declined overall as more doses are administered, Rodulfo said it was important to her to share her story for other Latinx women to see.

“There is a lot of hesitancy and misinformation also floating around, so I was just trying to set an example for women and for Hispanic women in particular who are at higher risk,” she said.

In January, Rodulfo gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Benny. She’s since found out he has COVID-19 antibodies as a result of her vaccine.

“I am just just grateful that he was able to get these antibodies and that once I go back to work and he has to go to daycare, he has that extra protection,” she said. “So I’m very, very happy and very grateful that I made this decision.”

For the mom of two, getting the shot was about more than protecting herself and her family.

“My mother was a very caring individual and she always took care of herself and wanted to protect others. So, I know she would have been on board with getting the vaccine,” Rodulfo said. “In this way, I felt like I was honoring her.”

Riley’s message to pregnant women is simple.

“I think given how serious COVID-19 could be in pregnancy and the fact that we’re getting more and more safety data, I say get vaccinated,” she said. “Protect yourself and protect your baby.”

Authorities believe that the massive “SolarWinds” hack allegedly carried out by Russia last year successfully breached the email accounts of then-DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf and dozens of other officials at the Department of Homeland Security, three sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

In fact, the email accounts of top officials at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — the very DHS agency charged with fighting cyber threats — may have been compromised by the cyberattack, according to one former government official familiar with the matter.

In a statement, DHS acknowledges a “small number” of employees accounts were targeted in the breach, but there are no indicators that their networks are compromised as of now.

“A widespread intrusion campaign targeted many federal government and private sector entities, including DHS,” according to a DHS spokesperson.

“Upon learning about the campaign, the Department took immediate steps to respond to the incident, including leveraging response teams from CISA and private sector partners, to continue executing its mission,” the spokesperson said. “However, this widespread intrusion campaign has again shown that our strategic adversaries are sophisticated, persistent, and have increasing capabilities.”

The massive hack, discovered in December, affected nine federal agencies, according to Deputy National Security Adviser for cyber Anne Neuberger.

Those responsible were “likely of Russian origin,” that the hack was “launched from inside the United States” and that it could take “several months” to complete the investigation, she said at a press briefing in February.

The administration has yet to outline what exactly their response will be to the hack.

FBI Director Chris Wray, asked earlier this month by Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., what the U.S. government’s response should be to the SolarWinds hack, said he didn’t want to answer specifically because “discussing the response in any detail is probably something that would be better done in a classified setting. That by itself might give you a little bit of a hint.”

Wray said more generally that coming back from the SolarWinds hack would be a “long, hard slog,” even using the strategy that has been most effective for the U.S. in the past regarding countering cyber adversaries.

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

A mother of a 3-year-old girl has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly slashing her daughter in the neck with a pair of scissors before doing the same to herself.

The incident occurred on Saturday, March 27, in the Wheaton-Glenmont area of Montgomery County, Maryland — just north of Washington, D.C. — when emergency services received a call at approximately 10:50 a.m. after a relative who had arrived at the family home observed blood on the floor of the residence, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police.

When officers entered the home they discovered a pair of scissors and blood on the floor of the home before locating 28-year-old Anne Catherine Akers on a bedroom floor suffering from a laceration to her neck.

However, when first responders began to assess her injuries and administer aid, they removed a blanket that Akers had been holding onto and found her 3-year-old daughter underneath with a life threatening wound to her neck.

Officers immediately began performing life-saving measures on the 3-year-old, according to a statement from the Montgomery County Department of Police.

“Fire and Rescue personnel arrived and transported Akers to a local hospital with serious injuries. A Maryland State Police helicopter transported Akers’ daughter to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries,” the statement read. “Physicians who treated Akers’ daughter at the hospital stated to detectives that in their opinion, without the officers’ immediate life-saving actions, the three-year-old’s injuries would have been fatal.

Authorities did not disclose possible motivations or reasons behind the slashing.

Detectives have now charged Akers with one count of attempted second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, and one count of first-degree child abuse and will be held without bond at the Rockville District Court.