Coronavirus category, Page 12

Allegheny County health officials said Wednesday they have no plans to reinstate a mask mandate locally as officials in Philadelphia did. “Cases in Allegheny County continue to be low, particularly when compared to the omicron surge in late December and January,” said health department spokesman Chris Togneri. He said there...

BEIJING — The United States has ordered all non-emergency consular staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a covid-19 surge. The State Department said the order is an upgrade from the “authorized” departure issued last week that made the decision voluntary. The order covers “non-emergency...

Philadelphia became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant. Confirmed covid-19 cases have risen more than...

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S., sales of window coverings at Halcyon Shades quickly went dark. So the suburban St. Louis business did what hundreds of other small manufacturers did: It pivoted to make protective supplies, with help from an $870,000 government grant. But...

BERLIN — Germany’s health ministry said Monday that the country may have to discard 3 million doses of expired covid-19 vaccine by the end of June. Ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz told reporters in Berlin that “not many doses” have been destroyed so far, though he couldn’t give an exact figure....

BEIJING — Shanghai on Sunday discharged over 11,000 recovered covid-19 patients and health authorities emphasized that they must be allowed to return home despite the lockdown that has severely restricted movement in China’s largest city. “We hope their family and community will not worry about them or discriminate against them,”...

The family of a Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center employee who died from covid-19 after they said he contracted the illness at work filed a wrongful death suit against the owners on Thursday. Kevin Carroll, 54, worked as part of the housing and laundry staff at the facility in Brighton...

NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against covid-19 was upheld Thursday by a federal appeals court. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the mandate. The...

An all-star panel of covid-19 experts will convene this week to hash out how and when vaccines should be updated to address future variants as the virus continues to rapidly mutate. The meeting of U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers should provide some of the first hints of its strategy...

WASHINGTON — Confronting the pandemic’s lasting shadow, President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered a new national research push on long covid, while also directing federal agencies to support patients dealing with the mysterious and debilitating condition. Biden assigned the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate an urgent new...

WASHINGTON — Amid worries that the latest coronavirus variant could spark another rise in cases, Medicare announced Monday that millions of enrollees will finally have access to free over-the-counter covid-19 tests at drug stores. More than 59 million people with Medicare’s “Part B” outpatient coverage will be able to get...

WASHINGTON — Doctors and demographers recently noticed another tragic example of how polarization shapes America: The pandemic has killed more people in the nation’s Republican enclaves than its Democratic strongholds. They explain the gap by pointing to Republican resistance to vaccines and the GOP’s more cavalier approach to combating the...

Now that the Food and Drug Administration has authorized a second covid-19 booster for Americans age 50 and older, many people are probably wondering how to proceed. The Tribune-Review posed five questions to Pittsburgh-based infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health...

GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. — To administer this covid test, Todd Kautz had to lay on his belly in the snow and worm his upper body into the narrow den of a hibernating black bear. Training a light on its snout, Kautz carefully slipped a long cotton swab into the bear’s...

Many Americans have taken significant steps back from once-routine coronavirus precautions, with less than half now saying they regularly wear face masks, avoid crowds and skip nonessential travel. Americans are letting down their guard even as experts warn a new wave of covid-19 cases is coming. A new poll from...

Many Americans have taken significant steps back from once-routine coronavirus precautions, with fewer than half now saying they regularly wear face masks, avoid crowds and skip nonessential travel. Americans are letting down their guard even as experts warn a new wave of covid-19 cases is coming. A new poll from...

Americans 50 and older can get a second covid-19 booster if it’s been at least four months since their last vaccination, a chance at extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the coronavirus rebounds. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized an extra dose of the Pfizer or...

BEIJING — A two-phase lockdown of Shanghai’s 26 million people is testing the limits of China’s hard-line “zero-covid” strategy, which is shaking markets far beyond the country’s borders. China’s largest city on Tuesday entered the second day of the lockdown’s first phase, which includes the Pudong financial district and adjacent...

As dramatic as the covid-19 omicron variant spike was in early 2022, health experts around the world were encouraged to see it drop just as quickly. In Pennsylvania, the total number of reported statewide positive cases this past Friday was around 600, nowhere near the 33,398 cases reported at the...

NEW DELHI — The company behind a covid-19 vaccine touted as a key tool for the developing world has sent tens of millions of doses to wealthy nations but provided none yet to the U.N.-backed effort to supply poorer countries, a sign that inequity persists in the global response to...

Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers, the company announced Wednesday — and if regulators agree it could mean a chance to finally start vaccinating the littlest kids by summer. Moderna said in the coming weeks it would ask regulators in the U.S. and Europe to authorize two...

U.S. Senator Bob Casey, D-Scranton, has tested positive for covid-19, but said he is not experiencing symptoms. In a tweet posted Tuesday night, Casey said it was during regular testing that he received his positive result. Although he is grateful to be asymptomatic, he said he will isolate for five...

NEW YORK — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she has tested positive for covid-19 with “mild” symptoms. On social media, the former Democratic presidential candidate said she was “feeling fine” and that former President Bill Clinton had tested negative and was quarantining until their household was fully...