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Coronavirus category, Page 26

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Boosters for all adults in U.S. closer with panel meeting set
NEW YORK — An influential U.S. advisory panel will discuss expanding eligibility for covid-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults Friday, a move that could make the shots available nationwide as early as this weekend. Some cities and states already allow all adults to get boosters of Pfizer’s vaccine, but...
5 questions with Pittsburgh doctor on rethinking covid mitigation measures
Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, has said it since the beginning of the pandemic — that covid-19 was a respiratory virus and we were going to be living with it for a long time. In a...
Pfizer asks U.S. officials to OK promising covid-19 pill
WASHINGTON — Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to authorize its experimental pill for covid-19, setting the stage for a likely launch this winter of a promising treatment that can be taken at home. The company’s filing comes as new infections are rising once again in the United States, driven mainly...
Austria locks down the unvaccinated amid covid surge
BERLIN — Austria took what its leader called the “dramatic” step Monday of implementing a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people who haven’t recently had covid-19, perhaps the most drastic of a string of measures being taken by European governments to get a massive regional resurgence of the virus under control....
Austria orders lockdown for unvaccinated in drastic covid step
Austria is putting unvaccinated people under lockdown starting Monday, the most drastic move by a Western European country to slow the latest wave of the coronavirus. European cases reached almost 2 million last week, the most in a single week in the region since the pandemic started. The Netherlands and...
CDC says 95% of Pa. adults have gotten at least 1 covid vaccine dose. That’s wrong.
PHILADELPHIA — The CDC’s color-coded vaccination map showed Pennsylvania had hit an impressive milestone this week: 95% of adults had gotten at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. Hours later, Gov. Tom Wolf touted the figure at a news conference. The staggering number would put Pennsylvania ahead of every...
Anthony Fauci says he won’t step down until covid is in ‘rearview mirror’
He’s not going anywhere. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert who’s provided reassurance to many Americans during the pandemic, says he won’t quit until the country gets past covid-19. “I’m the head of an institute that actually played the major role in the development of the vaccines...
Pittsburgh doctor on pandemic: ‘We will be living with this virus, there is no covid zero’
Pittsburgh-based Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and critical care and emergency medicine physician, wrote in a opinion piece this week that it is impossible “to eliminate or eradicate covid-19.” “This is not possible with an efficiently spreading respiratory virus that has an animal reservoir and can spread from...
Nursing homes can now lift most covid restrictions on visits
The government on Friday directed nursing homes to open their doors wide to visitors, easing many remaining pandemic restrictions while urging residents, families and facility staff to keep their guard up against outbreaks. The new guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructs nursing homes to allow visits...
A dozen Western Pa. health systems pledge to comply with vaccine mandate for hospital workers
UPMC’s top doctor affirmed Thursday that Pennsylvania’s largest health system and nongovernment employer will comply with a newly issued federal mandate that all health care workers get vaccinated for covid-19 by early January, in line with prior pledges by competing medical providers in recent months. Dr. Donald Yealy, UPMC’s chief...
Study: Fox News viewers more likely to believe covid falsehoods
NEW YORK — People who trust Fox News Channel and other media outlets that appeal to conservatives are more likely to believe falsehoods about covid-19 and vaccines than those who primarily go elsewhere for news, a study has found. While the Kaiser Family Foundation study released this week found the...
Experts say Pa. mask mandate appeal seeks broader precedent
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced last week that it was prepared to lift the school mask mandate by Jan. 17. Why then, after the Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday that Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam didn’t have the authority to issue the order in the first place, would the administration even...
Pennsylvania to begin counting covid reinfections
Thousands of new covid-19 cases could appear in the state Department of Health’s Monday report as Pennsylvania begins counting reinfections, officials said. For the past 19 months, state health officials have counted only one case per infected person, even if that individual contracted the virus again at some later time....
EU authorizes 2 medicines for people at risk of severe covid
AMSTERDAM — The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of two new medicines against the coronavirus for people at risk of severe disease. In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said it had concluded that the monoclonal antibody treatments — a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab, and...
Judge orders halt to Texas mask mandate ban in schools
AUSTIN — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to the enforcement of Texas’ ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in Austin that the ban ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott violated a federal law protecting disabled students’ access to public...
‘Strong’ start to kids vaccine campaign, but challenges loom 
WASHINGTON — The campaign to vaccinate elementary school age children in the United States is off to a strong start, health officials said Wednesday, but experts say there are signs that it will be difficult to sustain the initial momentum. About 900,000 kids aged 5 to 11 will have received...
Allegheny County leaders ask all businesses to require employee covid vaccinations
Allegheny County officials are asking all businesses to require their employees to be vaccinated against covid-19 by Jan. 1. “Jan. 1 will be a year since these vaccines have been available,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said during a news conference Wednesday. “We know how safe they are, we know...
Pandemic adds stress to already strained rural fire departments
Over the past 30 years, fire departments in both urban and rural areas have struggled to recruit new firefighters into a profession that’s more than half volunteers. In rural America, the pandemic has brought the crisis to a new apex. Rural firefighters have been on the front lines of the...
White House: About 900,000 kids got covid shots in 1st week
WASHINGTON — About 900,000 kids ages 5 to 11 will have received their first dose of the covid-19 vaccine in their first week of eligibility, the White House said Wednesday, providing the first glimpse at the pace of the school-aged vaccination campaign. Final clearance for the shots was granted by...
Pfizer asks FDA to OK covid-19 booster shots for all adults
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its covid-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings. Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third...
5 things to know about potential expansion of booster shots
Pfizer on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to give the go-ahead on covid-19 booster shots for anyone 18 or older. According to the Associated Press, the company is submitting early results of a 10,000-person booster study to back up its request. The study suggested a booster shot could...
Are you vaxxed? Some families face fraught divide over jabs
NEW YORK — Thanksgiving is Jonatan Mitchell’s favorite holiday, usually spent with his wife co-hosting up to 20 loved ones. He’d been looking forward to the gathering this year after calling it off in 2020 due to the pandemic, but one of the most pressing issues of the times got...
Senator is at war against vaccine mandates. His weapon of choice? Natural immunity
WASHINGTON — Roger Marshall, physician turned U.S. senator, is waging a battle in Congress against vaccine mandates. Last week, he signed onto an effort to overturn the new rule issued by President Joe Biden’s administration requiring most private employers to have their workers vaccinated or tested weekly by Jan. 4....
Vaccine proof required as strict mandate takes effect in Los Angeles
People entering a wide variety of businesses in the city of Los Angeles had to show proof of covid-19 vaccination starting Monday as one of the country’s strictest measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus took effect. The new rule covers businesses ranging from restaurants to shopping malls...
Officials: Gov. Wolf to let Pa. schools set mask rules in January
Pennsylvania school districts will be allowed to modify or end the mask mandate for K-12 students in January, Gov. Tom Wolf was set to announce Monday, according to two education officials who were briefed on the plan. The Democratic governor plans to turn over decisions about masking to local school...


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