A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, MAY 7 , 2022

CORRECTIONS

l An article in the May 8
Magazine section, which was
printed in advance, about
Georgia political hopeful and
former athlete Herschel Walker
incorrectly said that Donald
Trump tweeted “Run Herschel,
run!” in March 2021. Trump, who
had been banned from Twitter
two months earlier, said it in a
statement released in March

2021. The article also incorrectly
      said that Trump admonished
      Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to find
      11,780 votes to reverse Georgia’s
      electoral results. Trump
      pressured Georgia Secretary of
      State Brad Raffensperger.

l A p hoto caption accompanying
a May 4 Style article about a
Garth Brooks concert in
Louisiana misspelled the title of
one of Brooks’s songs. It is
“Callin’ Baton Rouge.”

l An April 30 Real Estate article
about how the Washington-area
housing market fared in 2021
included a chart provided by
Bright MLS that gave incorrect
percentages for homes that sold
in 10 days or fewer in six of the 12
suburban Virginia jurisdictions
listed: Alexandria, Arlington
County, Fairfax County, Fairfax
City, Falls Church and Loudoun
County. Because of a production
error, a separate chart showing
median home sale prices and
sales by Zip code in Prince
George’s County, Md., was
misaligned and gave incorrect
Zip codes. Corrected versions of
both charts appear on Page T8 of
today’s Real Estate section.

Download The

Washington Post app

Stay informed with award-winning
national and international news,
PLUS complete local news coverage
of the D.C. metro area. Create
customized news alerts, save
articles for offline reading in My
Post, browse the daily print edition
and scroll through our the Discover
tab to find stories that interest you.
Free to download on the App Store
and Play Store, subscribers enjoy
unlimited access.

The Washington Post is committed to
correcting errors that appear in the
newspaper. Those interested in
contacting the paper for that purpose
can:
Email: [email protected].
Call: 2 02-334-6000, and ask to be
connected to the desk involved —
National, Foreign, Metro, Style, Sports,
Business or any of the weekly sections.
Comments can be directed to The
Post’s reader advocate, who can be
reached at 202-334-7582 or
[email protected].

KLMNO

NEWSPAPER DELIVERY
For home delivery comments
or concerns contact us at
washingtonpost.com/subscriberservices or
send us an email at
[email protected] or call
202-334-6100 or 800-477-

TO SUBSCRIBE
800-753-POST (7678)

TO ADVERTISE
washingtonpost.com/mediakit
Classified: 202-334-
Display: 202-334-

MAIN PHONE NUMBER
202-334-

TO REACH THE NEWSROOM
Metro: 202-334-7300;
[email protected]
National: 202-334-7410;
[email protected]

Business: 202-334-7320;
[email protected]
Sports: 202-334-7350;
[email protected]

Investigative: 202-334-6179;
[email protected]
Style: 202-334-7535;
[email protected]

Reader Advocate: 202-334-7582;
[email protected]

TO REACH THE OPINION PAGES
Letters to the editor:
[email protected] or call
202-334-
Opinion:
[email protected]
Published daily (ISSN 0190-8286).
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington,
D.C. 20071.
Periodicals postage paid in Washington, D.C., and
additional mailing office.

the January 6 insurrection in

preparation for the January 20

inauguration; and spearheading

efforts to create disability

education programs that have

reached 300,000 children

around the world.”

The winners will be

congratulated at a K ennedy

Center gala in September.

“This year’s Sammies finalists

show the tremendous breadth

and deep impact of federal

workers — at home and abroad.

With the many challenges that

face our country and the global

community, we should take pride

and comfort knowing that

dedicated public servants — our

friends and neighbors — are

working tirelessly to serve the

public and make our world a

better place,” said Max Stier, the

partnership’s president and CEO.

“These and all federal workers

deserve recognition and praise,

and we gladly take this

opportunity to honor them.”

and critical improvements to

physical and IT infrastructure; a

Department of Homeland

Security official who was

instrumental in the building of

the first-ever, risk-based

passenger screening system —

TSA PreCheck — which now has

over 10 million enrolled travelers

... and a member of the Health

and Human Services Office of

Inspector General who helped

developed a robust [anti-fraud]

network ... resulting in

thousands of criminal and civil

actions over the past five years,

as well as over $19 billion in

fines, penalties, and restitutions.”

Similarly, the partnership said

the accomplishments of the 2022

Sammies finalists include

“coordinating housing and

services for Afghan refugees

after the U.S. withdrawal from

Afghanistan — the largest

refugee resettlement in modern

U.S. history; successfully

restoring the U.S. Capitol after

Monday and as his policies

demonstrate, is a big fan of

federal workers. Recalling his

message to career civil servants

shortly before he was

inaugurated, Biden said, “I told

them that we’re a team. One

team. One America. And I meant

it....

“It was my honor to

reestablish these awards last

year after the previous

administration made the

decision to cancel them,” he

added. “Because these awards

are about more than individual

recognition. They’re a reminder

to all of us — to everyone — of

the extraordinary capacity,

creativity, diversity, and

dedication of our federal

workforce and a reminder — a

reminder of ... all the work you

do matters so much.”

The honorees this year

include, according to OPM, “a

Department of Commerce

employee who led significant

nicknamed the “Sammies” and

organized by the Partnership for

Public Service, a good-

government group that focuses

on federal employees and

agencies.

The two awards programs

each make a claim to fame.

“A Presidential Rank Award is

one of the most prestigious

awards in the federal career civil

service,” says the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM).

The Sammies are “affectionately

referred to as the ‘Oscars’ of

government service,” says the

partnership.

There were no 2020 rank

awards because former president

Donald Trump canceled them.

Unlike Biden, Trump’s

relationship with the federal

workforce was icy. The workers

resented being included in his

“drain the swamp” rhetoric and

his attempts to cut their

compensation.

Biden, as he reaffirmed

With Russia’s

horrific invasion

of Ukraine raging,

covid-19 deaths

nearing

1 million in the

U.S. and toxic

political divisions

surging, it’s time

for some good

news.

The good news

is the appreciation being shown

to public servants, including 2

million federal employees, who

are being honored separately

with Presidential Rank Awards

and the Samuel J. Heyman

Service to America medals

during this week’s Public Service

Recognition Week.

“America’s dedicated public

servants are the lifeblood of our

democracy,” President Biden

wrote in a proclamation. “Every

day, millions of public workers at

all levels of government do

extraordinary things to make our

lives better and our country

stronger. During Public Service

Recognition Week, we honor the

dedicated Federal, State, Tribal,

and local public servants who

embody the spirit of service and

endless possibilities that define

America.”

As he recognized public

employees generally, Biden

hailed the accomplishments of

230 winners of the 2021

Presidential Rank Awards during

a virtual ceremony Monday.

They were selected in

December but honored by Biden

now to kick off this week of

recognition.

The 1978 Civil Service Reform

Act created the awards in two

categories for members of the

Senior Executive Service. Other

senior leaders were included

later. The categories are

Distinguished Rank Recipients

and Meritorious Rank

Recipients. Only 1 percent of the

senior leaders may get the

distinguished honor, “for

sustained extraordinary

accomplishment,” which

includes a cash award of 35

percent of their base salary. No

more than 5 percent of senior

leaders may receive the

meritorious award, “for

sustained accomplishment,” and

its cash award of 20 percent of

base salary.

Also celebrated this week are

the 44 finalists, including some

teams, for the Samuel J. Heyman

Service to America Medals,

Federal

Insider

JOE

DAVIDSON

Biden and ‘Sammies’ honor federal workers

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST

In his comments, President Biden said the awards given this week are a r eminder “ of the extraordinary capacity, creativity, diversity, and

dedication of our federal workforce,” adding that “all the work you do matters so much.”

BY FRANCES STEAD SELLERS

AND KATIE SHEPHERD

The Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention is investigat-

ing 109 cases of severe hepatitis

of unknown cause in children,

officials said Friday. Five of the

children have died.

Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy

director for infectious diseases,

said the cases date back to

October and were found in 24

states and one territory. More

than 90 percent of the patients

were hospitalized, and 14 per-

cent received liver transplants,

he said. The majority have recov-

ered, he said.

The cases, which have been

discovered in at least 20 coun-

tries, continue to mystify scien-

tists, who have been unable to

pinpoint the cause. Officials say

severe hepatitis in young chil-

dren remains rare and urge

parents not to panic but be on

alert for unusual signs including

jaundice — which causes yellow-

ing of the skin and whites of the

eyes — dark urine and light

stool.

“Although rare, children can

have serious hepatitis and it’s

not uncommon for the cause to

be unknown,” Butler said. He

said there has not been a “signif-

icant increase” in the number of

pediatric hepatitis cases or liver

transplants, including before

the pandemic.

A chief suspect is the adenovi-

rus — a common family of some

50 viruses that cause symptoms

ranging from colds and stomach

upsets to pinkeye and, in rare

cases, to conditions that affect

the brain or spinal cord. About

half the U.S. children whose

hepatitis cases are under investi-

gation had a confirmed adenovi-

rus infection, Butler said, but

officials do not yet know if it is

the cause of the illnesses.

Officials said some of the

more common causes of viral

hepatitis — such as hepatitis A,

B, C, D and E — have not been

found. Officials do not yet know

what role other factors, such as

environmental exposure, medi-

cations or other infections might

play in the illnesses.

“This is a very rare presenta-

tion of a common scenario,” said

Helena Gutierrez, a pediatric

gastroenterologist at Children’s

of Alabama.

Nine children were diagnosed

at the hospital between October

and February, all of whom were

previously healthy and had the

adenovirus in their blood, offi-

cials said. Some of them had

adenovirus 41, which typically

causes stomach illness and can

cause hepatitis in immunocom-

promised children — though

none of the children in Alabama

were immunocompromised, of-

ficials said.

“Kids get sick, they get virus-

es,” she said.

Gutierrez, who was involved

in treating all nine cases, said

there have been no cases since

February at Children’s. Although

two of the nine children needed

liver transplants, all have recov-

ered or are recovering.

CDC officials said the children

sickened in Alabama had a me-

dian age of 2. None of them were

infected with covid-19 or had a

history of having had covid-19,

officials said. Officials are work-

ing to determine through blood

tests whether some of the chil-

dren had prior unknown corona-

virus infections.

None of the children in Ala-

bama had received a coronavi-

rus vaccine, officials said.

“Covid-19 vaccination is not

the cause of these illnesses,”

Butler said. “We hope that this

information helps clarify some

of the speculation circulating

online.”

Butler said cases have been

found in the following states and

territories: Alabama, Arizona,

California, Colorado, Delaware,

Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,

Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri, North

Carolina, North Dakota, Nebras-

ka, New York, Ohio, Pennsylva-

nia, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Tex-

as, Washington and Wisconsin.

As of May 1, the World Health

Organization has recorded more

than 220 cases in 20 countries in

children ages 1 month to 16

years. An additional 50 cases are

under investigation, according

to a WHO media briefing

Wednesday.

WHO officials said that notifi-

cations of new cases, together

with more extensive searches,

would lead to more cases being

detected before the cause could

be determined. Officials in Brit-

ain first alerted the WHO to

cases of severe hepatitis in Scot-

land in early April; the CDC

issued an alert on U.S. cases on

April 21.

Officials urged clinicians to be

alert for cases.

“Typically we don’t report cas-

es of acute liver failure to any

kind of public agency,” Gutierrez

said. “Because it is under investi-

gation, cases are going to come

to the surface; people are going

to be testing for adenovirus.”

Under normal circumstances,

doctors may miss cases of adeno-

virus-related hepatitis, because

with mild cases they don’t typi-

cally order up viral studies be-

yond looking for the common

hepatitis A, B o r C, said Ryan

Fisher, a pediatric gastroenterol-

ogist and transplant hepatolo-

gist at Children’s Mercy in Kan-

sas City.

“It could be that we miss

many cases of adenovirus-asso-

ciated hepatitis in otherwise

healthy kids because we don’t

check for it and the children

recover uneventfully,” Fisher

said.

Doctors may now go back to

earlier cases that resolved and

check samples to see whether

there is evidence of the virus,

further boosting the numbers.

Leina Alrabadi, a pediatric

gastroenterologist at Stanford

Children’s Health, had a case of

hepatitis in a 4-year-old in

March and reported it a couple

of weeks ago, after the CDC’s

April 21 alert. That particular

case did not result in liver

failure.

“We’ve always had children

that progress to transplant of

unknown etiology,” Alrabadi

said, adding that it’s too early to

know what is causing the out-

break of severe cases.

Still, WHO scientists said they

do not believe the adenovirus

alone accounts for the severity of

the liver inflammation. Investi-

gators in the United Kingdom

and elsewhere are looking into

other factors, including whether

young children have become

more susceptible to the adenovi-

rus after having less exposure

during the pandemic; whether a

novel adenovirus may have

emerged; and whether co-infec-

tion with the coronavirus could

be a factor, though that seems

unlikely: Although some chil-

dren tested positive for the coro-

navirus, according to the WHO,

the infection rate is only slightly

higher than in the general popu-

lation.

Doctors advised to see a pedi-

atrician if children are exhibit-

ing any unusual symptoms and

said the pandemic reinforced

the lessons of keeping kids safe

from the adenovirus and other

pathogens.

“Continue to enforce hand

hygiene,” Gutierrez said, “before

eating, after playing at the play-

ground, and before touching a

younger sibling who hasn’t been

at school or day care.”

CDC probes 109 cases of hepatitis among children, five deaths

S0136-6x2.

“Artsy vibe”

Discover great area

neighbor hoods in

“Where We Live,”

Saturdays in

Real Estate.

Banca do Antfer

Telegram: https://t.me/bancadoantfer

Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/

Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/