POLITICO NIGHTLY: Why the Yankees should bench Covid tests

 

BY MYAH WARD With help from Dan Goldberg and Tyler Weyant EIGHT MEN OUT — The New York Yankees confirmed eight cases of Covid this week, with shortstop Gleyber Torres being the first player sidelined by the positive result. All eight people who tested positive were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine. Only one player showed symptoms, while the rest were asymptomatic. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, talked with Nightly about why this may have happened and what it means for the future of Covid testing. This conversation has been edited. A vaccination sign on the concourse before a game at Yankee Stadium in New York City. | Getty Images Eight breakthrough infections seems like a lot for one baseball team. Why would something like this happen? There’s a possibility that there were false positives, so there was some problem with the testing. That would be an obvious answer. I think the other, though, and this gets to a more profound question about Covid testing in sports, where we may see a change in guidelines. I’m maybe getting over my skis a bit, but I think what that may mean is in a short while, we may see that individuals who are fully vaccinated, they may just stop routine testing in Major League Baseball and other sports. Because it doesn’t mean anything. Even if they’re PCR positive, they’re not shedding enough virus to cause transmission. One of the things we’ve learned now about these vaccines is that the performance features are really good. So not only is it halting symptomatic illness, 95 percent, but it’s halting asymptomatic transmission. And now, there’s some new data coming out of Israel that was just published this month, showing that individuals who are vaccinated have this really deep, big decrease in virus shedding. Just because they’re PCR positive, and they have viruses, it’s not enough virus to cause transmission. What I hope is the CDC will issue some new guidelines, sooner rather than later, about halting routine testing in vaccinated individuals. So you’re not worried about this? No. But I’ll tell you what we do need to know, which is that I don’t know that we’re collecting enough information about the breakthrough cases to understand them better. Is it because of variants? Is it because they’re immunocompromised? Especially for the serious infections. I don’t even know how much surveillance testing the CDC is doing right now in breakthrough cases. But I think that’s going to be really important to understand this. Do you agree with the latest mask guidance? I do. I thought it would come a little later, as we were getting better at fully vaccinating the American people. We still have this big problem in the southern states, and in Wyoming and Idaho and our red states, where vaccination rates are still really low. So what I'm worried about is, by the summer, we could be two Covid nations. One in which the blue or bluish states will be fully vaccinated, transmission will really slow, but there will still be a lot of vulnerability in the deep red states, and especially in the South. So I worry about another southern surge, like we saw last year. I worry about a fifth peak. It may not be as bad because you do have some people vaccinated and some people with previous infections, but that’s something I’ll watch very closely. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at mward@politico.com and rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @myahward and @renurayasam.   SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.     FROM THE HEALTH DESK THE 4 KINDS OF PEOPLE WHO AREN’T VACCINATED — Health care reporter Dan Goldberg emails Nightly: Governors and public health officials have spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking about the so-called movable middle, an amorphous group of people who aren’t opposed to getting the vaccine but aren’t eager to do so either. It’s led to a lot of creative thinking, culminating this week with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine offering five $1 million prizes to adults who get their shot. But these incentive-laden efforts get at only one segment of the population. There are actually four main groups of people who aren’t getting the vaccine: The ‘hell no’ group: Polls show roughly 20 percent of Americans are dead set against getting the vaccine and that number has held stable for months. Some in this group believe wild conspiracy theories, while others don’t believe Covid-19 is all that serious. The general consensus among public health experts is this not a group worth spending a lot of time on. The truly hesitant: The number of Americans taking a wait-and-see approach has been declining for months, as millions did exactly that and found that the vaccines are safe. Still, others have seen posts on social media that spread false rumors about vaccines causing sterility or changing your DNA. State and federal officials feel this is a group that can be reached, which is why the White House is now scrambling to get vaccines to pediatricians and primary care doctors. Polling shows that people with some hesitancy around safety and efficacy are mostly likely to be persuaded by a community physician, nurse or pharmacist. The unmotivated: Should a pollster ever ask, I’d confidently assert that I am not dentist-hesitant. But I also don’t get my teeth cleaned twice a year. There’s a good number of people who fall into that category when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine. Some may have had the virus already, some consider the risks of catching Covid to be minimal, while others are just unmotivated. This is the group likely to be enticed by DeWine’s millions or a shot at a free car, or even something as simple as a free beer. It’s a nudge to people who don’t object to the vaccine but just don’t see any urgency either. And, if you’re wondering, I’d happily go to the dentist for a chance at a million dollars. Access issues: These are people who’d like to get vaccinated but can’t because they don’t have transportation to a clinic or can’t find child care should they feel sick following their shot. These are typically, but not exclusively, issues in low-income, minority communities. The national failure to adequately address them is one reason why we see vaccine inequities. Reaching these people requires a far more targeted approach. Brian Castrucci, president of the de Beaumont Foundation, said this is a group that would benefit from $5 million being spent on things like pop-up clinics, mobile vans and community health departments that send health workers to knock on doors and ask people if they’d like to get vaccinated right now. “I want 24-hour walk up clinics,” Castrucci said. “I want it to be as easy to get vaccines as it is to get cigarettes.” WHAT'D I MISS? — Stefanik elected as House GOP’s new No. 3 leader: Elise Stefanik cruised to victory in a vote to replace Liz Cheney as House Republicans’ third-ranked leader , capping off a tumultuous month in the GOP conference sparked by its bitter divisions over Donald Trump. Stefanik won in a 134-46 secret-ballot vote, defeating her sole challenger, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. — Death toll surges as Palestinians flee Israeli fire in Gaza: Thousands of Palestinians grabbed children and belongings and fled their homes as Israel barraged the northern Gaza Strip with tank fire and airstrikes, killing a family of six in their house and heavily damaging other neighborhoods in what it said was an operation to clear militant tunnels. As international efforts at a cease-fire stepped up, Israel appeared to be looking to inflict intensified damage on the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel. — House Democrats unveil sweeping response to Jan. 6 attacks: House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) released a $1.9 billion emergency funding bill that would provide tens of millions of dollars to the Capitol Police department, foot the bill for deploying National Guard soldiers at the complex and authorize funding for “future” security needs such as a retractable fence system. — Biden kills Trump’s sculpture garden of ‘American heroes’: Biden today revoked several of the executive orders issued in his predecessor’s last year in office, including the sculpture garden Trump proposed on July 4 at an event at Mount Rushmore. PUNCHLINES THE BUZZ ON CICADAS — As people around the Mid-Atlantic start finding loud insects, Matt Wuerker’s Weekend Wrap has found the latest in political satire and cartoons, including the House GOP leadership vote, the gasoline shortage and the continued vaccination push. AROUND THE WORLD RANSOMWARE HITS IRELAND — Ireland’s hospitals were forced to shut down IT systems and cancel many appointments today after an overnight ransomware attack against the central servers of the Health Service Executive. Vaccine appointments to fight the pandemic were not disrupted. HSE chief executive Paul Reid said investigators from the state’s Computer Security Incident Response Team were working with police and military specialists to aid the state agency’s own efforts to protect patient data and isolate the threat. “It's a very sophisticated attack,” Reid told RTÉ radio. Hospital staff switched this morning to using whatever paper records existed for patients and canceled at least some outpatient services until they could get the all-clear to go back online. At the nation’s biggest maternity hospital, the Rotunda in central Dublin, most appointments were canceled except for patients over 36 weeks pregnant.   SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     NIGHTLY NUMBER At least 14 The number of states, including North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina, that have moved to cut off enhanced federal jobless benefits that were supposed to last until September . Federal and state officials, who spent the last year trying to keep Americans safe in their homes during the pandemic, are suddenly grappling with the opposite problem: how to lure them back to work. PARTING WORDS WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN? Nightly’s Tyler Weyant emails: Have you ever tried to jaywalk in Berlin? A tip from your friendly neighborhood newsletter: Don’t. Even on the quietest street, if the walk sign isn’t on, strangers will shout at you, imploring you to think of the children. You aren’t just breaking the law; you’re breaking a social compact. My recollections of law-abiding German pedestrians have been in the back of my mind for the last year as I’ve walked around D.C. Yes, mask wearing has been required by law here. But masks, at some point, moved from a public health measure to something more. They became an outward expression of values: What does wearing a mask say about me? And it went beyond “I follow the science” or “I’m helping you not to get sick.” The universal mask, even outdoors, became the latest sign that Washington is a city of Organization People, the ones who have found success by following the rules and coloring inside the lines. The sense of joy we’ve felt when taking our masks off outside this week likely seems foreign to those for whom outdoor masking was just never a thing. (See: vast portions of the country.) For I too have masked up outside until this week in D.C., because it was the law, but also to project values of embracing public health. Many have called for patience and grace toward still-cautious mask-wearers after the CDC’s Thursday announcement. I’d call for something else: A rethinking of how we view masks. They aren’t Sneetch stars, or mark-of-the-Beast harbingers of tyranny. They’re simply a public health tool that’s saved countless lives. Now that the CDC has changed the rules, we no longer know what mask wearing means. And that’s something to celebrate. Perhaps your mask means, “I am not vaccinated.” Or it means, “I am immunocompromised.” Or maybe it means, “I'm still afraid.” For all of us, when we see a masked face, we have been given a chance to try something new: to look behind it, and practice a little empathy. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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Here Are The Current NYPD Officers With The Most Substantiated Misconduct Complaints

TomDispatch

 

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Gothamist dug into the recently released NYPD misconduct records and detailed the abuses committed by the seven officers with the most substantiated complaints. Here's the first.

—Erika

Michael Raso: 14 Substantiated Allegations in 8 Separate Complaints

In 2008, Michael Raso was accused of pointing his gun at a 22-year-old Black man during a stop in the North Bronx. The CCRB investigated and substantiated that complaint, recommending “command discipline” for the then 27-year-old police officer. Instead, the NYPD opted to give him “instruction,” the least severe form of discipline, intended for those who “misunderstand a policy.”

Over the next twelve years, the CCRB substantiated seven more complaints against Raso — the most of any police officer in the database. On three separate occasions, the CCRB found he had abused his authority during vehicular stops. Each time the CCRB recommended he face departmental charges that could have resulted in a suspension or termination. But in each case, the police department let him off with either “instruction,” or no penalty at all.

Raso has also been named in three civil misconduct suits since 2014. During a 2013 arrest, Raso was accused of violently removing a man from a cab and falsely accusing him of having a gun (the man was later acquitted of all charges). The city settled the suit for $62,500, according to CAPstat. Typically, the city settles these cases without admitting liability.

Despite more than 18 CCRB investigations into his conduct, Raso has steadily risen through the ranks of the NYPD. He was promoted to sergeant and then lieutenant in the North Bronx’s 47th precinct, and recently transferred to the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a controversial unit tasked with policing protests, counterterrorism investigations, and gang operations. The SRG has been involved in some of the NYPD’s most brutal crackdowns against recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Raso took home $195,000 in total compensation in 2018, the most recent year that data is available.

GOTHAMIST.COM

Here Are The Current NYPD Officers With The Most Substantiated Misconduct Complaints

Approximately four thousand of the NYPD’s 36,000 active officers have at least one substantiated complaint of police misconduct, according to data from the Civilian Complaint Review Board published by ProPublica on Sunday.

Gothamist/WNYC has identified seven officers in the CCRB’s data set with substantiated allegations in at least six separate complaints—the most of all current NYPD officers. All enjoyed high-ranking positions as of last month, according to the dataset. All are white men. Some have been the subject of extensive news coverage.

We have reached out to each officer named here individually and through their unions. Some did not reply and others referred us to the NYPD or their union.

“The NYPD has for many years worked to increase transparency to gain the trust of the communities we serve,” the department said in a statement, when asked specifically about these officers.

A representative for Mayor Bill de Blasio did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Raso: 14 Substantiated Allegations in 8 Separate Complaints

In 2008, Michael Raso was accused of pointing his gun at a 22-year-old Black man during a stop in the North Bronx. The CCRB investigated and substantiated that complaint, recommending “command discipline” for the then 27-year-old police officer. Instead, the NYPD opted to give him “instruction,” the least severe form of discipline, intended for those who “misunderstand a policy.”

Over the next twelve years, the CCRB substantiated seven more complaints against Raso — the most of any police officer in the database. On three separate occasions, the CCRB found he had abused his authority during vehicular stops. Each time the CCRB recommended he face departmental charges that could have resulted in a suspension or termination. But in each case, the police department let him off with either “instruction,” or no penalty at all.

Raso has also been named in three civil misconduct suits since 2014. During a 2013 arrest, Raso was accused of violently removing a man from a cab and falsely accusing him of having a gun (the man was later acquitted of all charges). The city settled the suit for $62,500, according to CAPstat. Typically, the city settles these cases without admitting liability.

Despite more than 18 CCRB investigations into his conduct, Raso has steadily risen through the ranks of the NYPD. He was promoted to sergeant and then lieutenant in the North Bronx’s 47th precinct, and recently transferred to the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a controversial unit tasked with policing protests, counterterrorism investigations, and gang operations. The SRG has been involved in some of the NYPD’s most brutal crackdowns against recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Raso took home $195,000 in total compensation in 2018, the most recent year that data is available.

David Leonardi: 11 Substantiated Allegations in 7 Separate Complaints

Five of Lieutenant Leonardi’s incidents of substantiated misconduct were determined by the CCRB between 2014 and 2015 when he was a sergeant in Bedford Stuyvesant, a gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn that has historically suffered underinvestment and high rates of crime. Most of these complaints came from Black residents upset about stops, frisks, and strip searches. Over the course of his career, the CCRB recommended Leonardi be brought up on departmental charges, its most serious determination, five separate times. But the NYPD has the final say, and the most discipline Leonardi ever faced was lost vacation days, according to the database.

In a 2015 lawsuit, a man named Jason Crushshon accused Leonardi and several other officers of an unprovoked assault during a drug arrest the previous year in Bedford-Stuyvesant. According to court documents, Crushshon was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where he received five stitches on his head. The case settled for $40,000. Since then, Leonardi has risen to become a lieutenant in Queens’ 103rd precinct, according to the CCRB database. Leonardi made over $109,000 in 2018, according to CAPstat. Reached by phone, Leonardi declined comment.

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Help us hold the NYPD accountable—tell us about your encounters with the NYPD. An encounter with a certain officer that didn't seem right? Certain cops who have a bad reputation in your community? Gothamist/WNYC is working with THE CITY, ProPublica and The Marshall Project to pool our collective resources to share disciplinary records with you.

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Joseph Tallarine, 23 Substantiated Allegations in 6 Separate Complaints

Over his 34-year career at the NYPD, Detective Tallarine has been the subject of CCRB complaints for use of force, discourtesy, and use of racist language. Records show that only Black New Yorkers have filed complaints against Tallarine. The most recent of those substantiated complaints occurred in 2004, for abuse of authority. For that complaint, Tallarine was punished with “instruction.” The CCRB records do not show any other form of discipline.

In 2014, now-Detective Tallarine was named in a lawsuit filed by Clarence Bailey, who was wrongfully convicted of a 2007 attempted murder, and was released from prison in 2013. Bailey’s lawyers claimed that Tallarine and two other NYPD officers from Brooklyn’s 83rd Precinct had “threatened” a witness with parole revocation if he did not testify that Bailey was to blame. After recounting the many previous scandals coming out of the 83rd Precinct, Bailey’s attorneys wrote that prosecutors had failed to provide evidence to Bailey’s original defense attorneys that “Tallarine...had a history of dishonesty and poor judgement.”

The city settled the case for $750,000. Tallarine is named in two other lawsuits that the city settled for a total of $125,000, according to CAPstat.

Detective Tallarine received $186,000 in total compensation in 2018, and is currently on the board of the Detectives’ Endowment Association.

Christopher McCormack: 16 Substantiated Allegations in 6 Separate Complaints
In February of 2013, Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormack advised a subordinate to specifically stop “male Blacks” in Mott Haven in the Bronx. The officer, NYPD whistleblower Pedro Serrano, was recording him, and his tape soon sparked a scandal over the NYPD’s Stop & Frisk program. But previously, secret CCRB investigations had provided warning signs for years before. Between 2004 and 2010, the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated complaints against McCormack over inappropriate stops and frisks of Black and Latino men at least three times. The most discipline he ever received was instructions from a supervisor. Two months after Serrano’s secret recording was played publicly at a trial, the CCRB substantiated another inappropriate stop and frisk of the then Bronx commander for which he received no discipline.

In the years that followed, McCormack continued to rise to the highest echelons of the department. McCormack took home over $223,000 in 2018, as an Assistant Chief Inspector, according to CAPstat.

Daniel Sbarra: 16 Substantiated Allegations in 6 Separate Complaints

A longtime member of the notorious Brooklyn North Narcotics team, Daniel Sbarra has been the subject of 16 allegations proven by the CCRB. In one 2004 incident, a Black barbershop owner said that he was driving home from work in Bushwick when Sbarra and another officer dragged him out of his vehicle, demanded to know “where are the drugs and guns at," and called him the n-word. The officers, who were driving in an unmarked car, wore black tape over their badges and refused to identify themselves as police, according to the barbershop owner, who was eventually released without any citation.

The CCRB investigated and substantiated the complaint, and Sbarra was ultimately found guilty by the Deputy Commissioner of Trials. Records show he was docked two vacation days for the offense.

After his promotion to lieutenant in 2013, the Daily News ran a lengthy investigation into Sbarra’s history of misconduct, which found that allegations of unprovoked violence, intimidation and racial profiling had cost city taxpayers nearly $500,000. In response to that investigation, Sbarra was reportedly transferred to desk duty, where he was permitted to keep his $102,000 salary but “expected to make less overtime.”

Both Sbarra’s salary and overtime have steadily increased in the years since. In 2018, he took home a $125,000 salary, along with more than $45,000 in overtime. He has not been investigated by the CCRB since 2012.

Mathew Reich, 7 Substantiated Allegations in 6 Separate Complaints

Reich spent his early years as a young police officer in East New York, a working-class Brooklyn community that has historically suffered high rates of violent crime. There in the 75th precinct, he only received two complaints, one of which was substantiated in 2005 for a stop and refusal to provide his shield number. The department gave him instructions for that finding, though the CCRB pushed for charges. As Reich transitioned into South Brooklyn’s narcotics unit, he began to attract far more complaints for vehicle searches, strip searches, and use of force. Narcotics policing can lead to numerous tense encounters with residents, and nearly all of these accusations were unsubstantiated. But later, after joining Staten Island’s narcotics unit, he began to receive substantiated determinations. Between 2013 and 2016, residents accused Reich of unjustified vehicle stops, excessive force, and other violations. Of the five complaints that the CCRB substantiated during this period, Reich’s only punishments were command discipline and formalized training.

Detective Reich has also been named in twenty-one lawsuits, which cost the city over $700,000 according to CAPstat. In a 2014 lawsuit, a man said he was inside a car with a friend at a street corner when Reich and other officers allegedly approached them, guns drawn. Police ordered the pair out of the vehicle. The man claimed that police threw them to the ground, kicking and punching them. Afterwards, the suit alleged, Reich falsely swore that the man had been transferring pills to a friend. The man claimed he had gotten the pills with a valid prescription, but had been beaten when he had tried to explain this to the officers. The man refused to plead guilty and prosecutors dropped the charges a few months later.

Reich received $142,000 in total compensation in 2018, including more than $47,000 in overtime.

Robert Henderson, 21 Substantiated Allegations in 6 Separate Complaints

Since starting his career at the NYPD in 1997, Lieutenant Henderson has been the subject of six separate substantiated complaints from the CCRB for discourtesy, improper use of physical force, and abuse of authority. The complaints contain 44 total allegations — 21 of them substantiated — related to stops and searches of people and their property, as are the 12 lawsuits that name Lieutenant Henderson as a defendant. According to CAPstat, the City has paid out at least $278,000 to settle those lawsuits, and several remain pending (the Daily News pegged the actual figure at “more than $500,000.”)

One CCRB complaint in 2003 involved a 27-year-old Black man in the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn, who complained that Lieutenant Henderson abused his authority and used improper force. Henderson was docked 10 vacation days. For other substantiated complaints, he was given “instruction,” the least severe form of discipline, intended for those who “misunderstand a policy.” In at least three of the complaints that the CCRB substantiated against Lieutenant Henderson, the NYPD found him “not guilty” and did not issue punishment, according to the CCRB’s records.

Lieutenant Henderson received more than $185,000 in compensation in 2018, including more than $43,000 in overtime.

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NYMAG.COM

Trump Made Up His Yankees Opening Pitch Invite: Report

Last Thursday, Trump announced he would throw out the opening 

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