Got to Category

Coronavirus category, Page 22

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Covid-19 fears dash hopes for the holiday season — again
Lines again stretch around blocks at some covid-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections. This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a...
Florida sees biggest jump in covid cases since September, with 6,381 added 
MIAMI — Florida on Thursday reported 117 more deaths and 6,381 additional covid-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data. This is the largest jump of newly reported cases since September. The CDC backlogs cases and deaths for Florida on...
With omicron in ‘full force,’ New York City to hand out masks, tests
NEW YORK — Alarmed by a rapid rise in covid-19 cases and the increasing prevalence of the omicron variant, New York City officials will distribute one million masks and 500,000 home tests, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. The mass distributions are part of a broader plan to counter the...
CDC panel recommends Pfizer, Moderna vaccines over J&J shot 
Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health advisers recommended Thursday. The strange clotting problem has caused nine confirmed deaths after J&J vaccinations — while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t...
Can your pet get covid-19?
NEW YORK — Can your pet get covid-19? Yes, pets and other animals can get the coronavirus that causes covid-19, but health officials say the risk of them spreading it to people is low. Dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, otters, hyenas and white-tailed deer are among the animals that have tested...
British surge seen as warning on omicron but responses vary
LONDON — Spiraling infections in Britain driven in part by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus sent shockwaves Thursday into the rest of Europe, fueling a familiar dread that tighter restrictions will scuttle holiday plans again this year. Much remains unknown about omicron, but increasingly officials are warning that...
Pennsylvania asks FEMA for help with covid surge
Pennsylvania asked the federal government on Wednesday to send health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under stress from persistent staffing shortages and the latest covid-19 surge. The Wolf administration requested Federal Emergency Management Agency “strike teams” for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in...
Westmoreland Co. lawmaker offers to help with vaccine exemptions as covid-19 infections surge
A state lawmaker is offering “vaccination exemption assistance,” while local health officials plead with residents to mask up and get vaccinated and Excela Health struggles to deal with covid-19 infections that have pushed its three Westmoreland County hospitals beyond capacity. State Rep. Leslie Rossi, R-Unity, said she offered help to...
Health worker vaccine mandate blocked in half the states
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, instead blocking the requirement in only certain states and creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country. The decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S....
Omicron to be dominant variant in EU by mid-January
BRUSSELS — Omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the European Union’s 27 nations by mid-January, the bloc’s top official said Wednesday amid concerns that a dramatic rise in infections will leave Europe shrouded in gloom during the holiday season. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen...
German police conduct raids over alleged covid death threats
BERLIN — Police in eastern Germany carried out raids Wednesday in an investigation of alleged threats to kill a state governor and others by opponents of coronavirus restrictions and vaccinations. They said they found weapons including crossbows, but it wasn’t clear whether they were usable. Five properties in Dresden and...
U.S. covid death toll hits 800,000, a year into vaccine drive
The U.S. death toll from covid-19 topped 800,000 on Tuesday, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic, given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after the vaccine became available practically for the asking last spring. The number of deaths, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about...
Covid cases create ‘desperate’ situation at Westmoreland hospitals
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the omicron variant of covid-19 has eclipsed delta in terms of transmissibility, rising caseloads have created a “desperate” situation at local hospitals, according to the medical director of Westmoreland County’s 911 center. In an email addressed Monday to all county...
Data indicate omicron is milder, better at evading vaccines
JOHANNESBURG — The omicron variant is offering more hints about what it may have in store as it spreads around the globe: A highly transmissible virus that may cause less severe disease, and one that can be slowed — but not stopped — by today’s vaccines. An analysis Tuesday of...
Covid toll nears 800,000 to close out year filled with death
MISSION, Kan. — Carolyn Burnett is bracing for her first Christmas without her son Chris, a beloved high school football coach whose outdoor memorial service drew a crowd of hundreds. The unvaccinated 34-year-old father of four died in September as a result of covid-19 after nearly two weeks on a...
Air Force discharges 27 for refusal to get covid vaccine
WASHINGTON — The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the covid-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots. The Air Force gave its forces until Nov. 2 to get the vaccine,...
Pfizer confirms covid pill’s results, potency versus omicron
WASHINGTON — Pfizer said Tuesday that its experimental pill to treat covid-19 appears effective against the omicron variant. The company also said full results of its 2,250-person study confirmed the pill’s promising early results against the virus: The drug reduced combined hospitalizations and deaths by about 89% among high-risk adults...
California brings back mask mandate as coronavirus cases rise
SACRAMENTO — California is bringing back a statewide indoor mask mandate. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced the new mandate will start Wednesday and last until Jan. 15. The order comes as the per capita rate of new coronavirus cases in California has jumped 47% in the past two weeks. “We...
Concert industry ponders: What impact will omicron variant have in U.S. as live events in Europe start to be curtailed?
Can the world of concerts, theater and other performing arts survive another covid-fueled shutdown of live events? How many commercial and nonprofit arts organizations can weather going dark again without crucial government funding? And, if worse comes to worse, what happens to culture, the artists who create it and the...
Philadelphia to require vaccine proof for indoor dining
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia will require proof of covid-19 vaccination to dine indoors at bars, restaurants, indoor sporting events and other food-related establishments starting Jan. 3, city and public health officials announced Monday. Public Health Director Cheryl Bettigole said Philadelphia has seen infection rates double in the last few weeks and...
Acting Pa. Secretary of Health Alison Beam resigning at year’s end
Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, who led the state’s occasionally bumpy covid vaccine rollout, will resign at the end of the year, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday. Neither Beam nor Wolf indicated a reason for her departure. Wolf said he intends to name the department’s executive deputy secretary, Keara...
Excela reopens Unity testing center in response to rising covid-19 numbers
In response to the increasing number of covid cases in the region, Excela Health has reopened its testing center at 443 Frye Farm Road in Unity. The center will be staffed from 2 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and is by appointment only. Appointments can be made by calling...
GOP leaders call for task force to meet to fight covid surge; Wolf says it still meets
A group of key Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, have urged Gov. Tom Wolf to reconvene a state covid-19 joint task force as hospitals across Pennsylvania are besieged by new cases and shrinking bed space. “The information-sharing capabilities established through the development of the task force helped...
Pa. Supreme Court upholds lower court decision throwing out mask mandate
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a lower court ruling that the state’s acting secretary of health did not have the authority to issue a mandatory mask mandate for schools in August. The ruling ends the mandate effective immediately. Going forward, school districts can implement their own masking policies...
Covid-driven hospital surge ‘not a sustainable situation’ in Western Pa., expert says
Hospitals across Western Pennsylvania are operating at or near capacity, a situation mirrored across the state and country as covid-19 cases spike — particularly among people who are unvaccinated. All UPMC facilities — including those in New York and Maryland — are operating at or over capacity, said Susan Manko,...


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
More Editor's Picks >