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Coronavirus category, Page 2

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
The great grift: Covid-19 aid thieves bought fancy cars, a Pokemon card — even a private island
YANKEETOWN, Fla. — A freshwater spring bubbles amid the mangroves, cabbage palms and red cedars on Sweetheart Island, a two-acre uninhabited patch of paradise about a mile off the coast of this little Gulf Coast town. Pelicans divebomb nearby into the cool waters of Florida’s Withlacoochee Bay and the open...
Covid-19 treatments to enter market with hefty price tag
WASHINGTON — The covid-19 treatments millions of Americans have taken for free from the federal government will enter the private market next week with a hefty price tag. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is setting the price for a five-day treatment of Paxlovid at $1,390, but Americans can still access the pills...
2% of kids and 7% of adults have received the new covid shots, U.S. data show
NEW YORK — A month after federal officials recommended new versions of covid-19 vaccines, 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children have gotten a shot. One expert called the rates “abysmal.” The numbers, presented Thursday at a meeting held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from...
Long covid study links lingering virus with bowel-to-brain havoc
Covid may trigger complex biological reactions from the bowel to the brain, leading to persistent neurological symptoms in some people, according to a study that points the way toward a treatment. Viral vestiges in the gastrointestinal tracts of a subset of long-covidpatients may drive chronic inflammation that interferes with a...
No vaccine card needed to get updated covid shots at local pharmacies
To get the latest updated covid vaccine, you no longer need that paper vaccine card you may have been carrying in your wallet for the past few years. The CDC announced Wednesday that, because the federal government itself is not distributing covid vaccines, the organization no longer will be giving...
Updated covid vaccines can be covered for uninsured by federal Bridge program
Uninsured individuals can get an updated covid vaccine at no cost through a new federal program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bridge Access Program, a new public-private partnership, works to maintain access by providing free covid vaccines to adults who are underinsured or uninsured. Covid vaccines were free...
Here’s how to get your free covid-19 tests
Beginning Monday, every household in the country can again order free at-home covid-19 tests. People can order four free rapid tests at covid.gov/tests or by calling 1-800-232-0233. The U.S. Postal Service will begin shipping the covid-19 tests to people’s homes the week of Oct. 2, according to its website. Families...
Booking a covid-19 vaccine? Some are reporting canceled appointments or insurance issues
MILWAUKEE — Some people seeking the newest covid-19 vaccine are running into high demand, insurance headaches and supply delays coast to coast. Millions of the newly formulated vaccines have shipped out since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on them last week for ages 6 months and...
Biden administration announces $600M to produce covid tests and will reopen website to order them
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home covid-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases...
4 free covid tests to be available, federal department says
A program that previously mailed free covid tests to households across the country will restart on Monday, allowing people to order another set of at-home tests for free, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. “Beginning Sept. 25, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive...
New covid booster can update protection from severe disease, Western Pa. doctors say
Western Pennsylvania doctors say the newly approved covid booster vaccine will help protect from severe impacts of the most recent variants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially approved updated covid vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer on Monday. The vaccines have been tweaked to correspond to the Omicron variant XBB.1.5,...
Covid cases up slightly as health care providers prep for respiratory illness season
As students return to school and residents of Western Pennsylvania head inside for the fall, covid-19 cases are on the rise, local health care providers say. The increase in cases is modest compared with the past three years of larger pandemic waves, but it’s still representative of a seasonal uptick...
U.S. covid-19 hospitalizations rising again, but not like before
Here we go again: Covid-19 hospital admissions have inched upward in the United States since early July in a small-scale echo of the three previous summers. With an updated vaccine still months away, this summer bump in new hospitalizations might be concerning, but the number of patients is far lower...
Covid cases rise slightly but remain low compared to previous years in Western Pa.
Despite a slight increase in the number of covid-19 cases across the country, rates remain low, and they are far below the past few summers, both regionally and nationally. “Overall, we’ve had a pretty flat trajectory,” LuAnn Brink, chief epidemiologist for the Allegheny County Health Department, said Monday. “The changes...
Brain fog and other long covid symptoms are the focus of new small treatment studies
WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health is beginning a handful of studies to test possible treatments for long covid, an anxiously awaited step in U.S. efforts against the mysterious condition that afflicts millions. The announcement on Monday from the NIH’s $1.15 billion RECOVER project comes amid frustration from patients...
Covid infections ‘a much less scary beast’ now for region, health experts say
Hospital systems and experts say covid-19’s impact on health care and everyday lives is decreasing, while cautioning that the virus is and will remain present in Western Pennsylvania. New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that nationally, the number of people dying in the United States every week...
Did you get covid but never feel sick? New study hints at why
As the coronavirus emerged, so did a mystery: Why did some who got infected never develop symptoms? One likely explanation is it may be a person’s lucky genes. A new study published Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature suggests people with a specific version of a gene were far more...
Attorney who challenged Trump’s 2020 loss gives up law license as states weigh disciplining him
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorney Lin Wood, who filed legal challenges seeking to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, is relinquishing his law license, electing to retire from practicing rather than face possible disbarment. Multiple states have weighed disciplining him for pushing Trump’s false claims that he defeated Joe Biden. On...
More than $200 billion in covid-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says
WASHINGTON — More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large covid-19 relief initiatives, according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs that helped small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years. The numbers issued Tuesday by the...
The Great Grift: How billions in covid-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted
WASHINGTON — Much of the theft was brazen, even simple. Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of dead people and federal prisoners to get unemployment checks. Cheaters collected those benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags...
Ron DeSantis reduced Miami Beach covid testing out of spite, mayor says in CBS documentary
MIAMI - A new documentary about Gov. Ron DeSantis delves into whether the governor’s team silenced Florida’s former Surgeon General Scott Rivkees throughout the covid-19 pandemic and pushed to close a testing site on Miami Beach in response to criticism by the mayor. Released Thursday, the documentary by CBS News...
Allegheny County ends covid vaccine requirement for employees
Allegheny County government is ending its requirement that current employees and new hires be vaccinated against covid-19. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced Thursday the lifting of the mandate. The move comes a week after the federal government ended its covid health emergency. Fitzgerald said it is time for Allegheny County...
WHO downgrades covid pandemic, says it’s no longer emergency
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said that covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. The announcement, made more than three years after WHO declared the coronavirus an...
WHO downgrades covid pandemic, says it’s no longer emergency
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Friday that covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed at least 7 million people worldwide. WHO first declared covid-19 to be an emergency more than...
Half a million at-home covid tests sold at CVS may be contaminated with bacteria, FDA says
More than a half a million covid-19 at-home test kits distributed to CVS Health and on Amazon should not be used because the liquid in the test tubes may be contaminated, according to the FDA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a safety warning on May 4, 2023, saying...


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