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Coronavirus category, Page 39

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
FDA set to clear 3rd covid-19 shot for immunocompromised patients 
WASHINGTON — U.S. drug regulators are set to clear a third dose of covid-19 vaccines for people with weak immune systems as a new study showed the benefits of an extra shot in transplant patients. A third dose of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine significantly raised antibody levels against the coronavirus in...
Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of covid cases
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as covid-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, officials said Wednesday. Many Mississippi hospitals face a crunch for...
Philadelphia requiring masks at businesses indoors and large outdoor gatherings 
The city of Philadelphia announced it will be requiring masks for businesses indoors and for many large outdoor gatherings. The new mask policy goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. In a news release issued Wednesday, the city cites the rise of the delta variant of the coronavirus, as cases...
California to require covid-19 vaccine or test for teachers
SAN FRANCISCO — California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly covid-19 testing, as schools return from summer break amid growing concerns about the highly contagious delta variant, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday. Newsom announced the...
Court tosses ruling against Pennsylvania covid-19 measures
PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court has dismissed a judge’s ruling that threw out Gov. Tom Wolf’s sweeping covid-19 restrictions, saying the case is now moot because statewide mitigation measures have expired and Pennsylvania voters have since constrained a governor’s emergency powers. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled...
CDC urges covid vaccines during pregnancy as delta surges
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all pregnant women Wednesday to get the covid-19 vaccine as hospitals in hot spots around the U.S. see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated mothers-to-be seriously ill with the virus. Expectant women run a higher risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications from the...
Duquesne University invokes mask mandate as students head to campus 
Citing a troubling increase in covid-19 infections regionally, Duquesne University announced Wednesday it is invoking a temporary mask mandate, effective Friday. The Pittsburgh university, which has required covid-19 vaccines as a condition of attendance this fall, said officials are requiring all individuals on campus to mask indoors, both in public...
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear orders masks in schools as covid surges
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Masking up in Kentucky schools was mandated by Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday as the fast-spreading delta variant causes waves of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The new executive action requiring indoor mask wearing applies to K-12 Kentucky schools, regardless of vaccination status for covid-19, the Democratic...
Ambulances wait outside Florida hospitals as covid infections spread 
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Covid-19 cases have filled so many Florida hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to emergencies. In St. Petersburg, some patients wait inside ambulances for up to an hour before hospitals can admit them — a process that usually takes about...
Pa. is trying county fairs, text messages and door-knocking to raise the vaccination rate. Success is slow coming.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Nicole Diehl attended the Wayne County Fair in northeastern Pennsylvania last weekend, not for the livestock exhibitions, carnival games, demolition derbies,...
Unvaccinated students will have to pay $750 at West Virginia Wesleyan
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — West Virginia Wesleyan College says it will charge a $750 fee to students who aren’t vaccinated for covid-19 for the fall semester. The school in Buckhannon also said in its campus arrival guidance for the upcoming semester that students who come down with the virus and can’t...
Highmark, AHN step up covid vaccination requirements for employees
Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network officials said Tuesday they are taking strict measures to ensure their more than 43,000 employees get vaccinated against covid-19. The health systems said they expect to reach a 100% vaccination rate for all eligible employees by the end of September unless they have a...
Gov. Wolf mandates vaccination for new hires at state-run health care facilities, prisons
Pennsylvania will mandate covid-19 vaccination for all new hires at state-run health care and congregate care settings, and current employees at those facilities must either get vaccinated or test weekly for the virus, Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday. The mandate will affect around 25,000 employees at state hospitals, state homes...
UPMC expanding covid antibody treatment
UPMC will expand access to monoclonal antibody treatment across all its facilities, including urgent care centers, leaders announced Tuesday as they continue to implore the public to get vaccinated, wear masks and stay distanced. The expansion means the monoclonal antibodies will be used as a preventive measure: they will be...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appeals for out-of-state help against covid-19
Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help Monday to fight the third wave of covid-19 in Texas. The request came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate their covid-19 overflow. Private hospitals in the county already were requiring their staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Meanwhile,...
Arkansas reports new record for covid-19 hospitalizations
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas on Monday set a new record for the number of people in the state hospitalized because of covid-19 as its coronavirus surge continued. The state reported its covid-19 hospitalizations rose by 103, its biggest one-day increase, to 1,376. The state’s previous record during the pandemic for...
Florida capital schools go against Gov. Ron DeSantis, require masks 
MIAMI — The superintendent of the school district in Florida’s capital said Monday that he will require students to wear masks amid an increase in covid-19 hospitalizations fueled by the delta variant, defying the governor’s attempts to block schools from imposing such a mandate. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office responded by...
Coronavirus cases resurge in West Virginia as school year starts
CHARLESTON — Active coronavirus cases in West Virginia continued to resurge at an alarming rate as public school students in some counties returned Monday for the start of fall classes. The number of active cases statewide has reached at least 4,010, a startling jump since bottoming out at 882 cases...
Covid concerns prompt Westmoreland tax office to close Monday
The tax office in the Westmoreland County Courthouse complex was closed Monday because of coronavirus concerns. “We have no positive cases,” said Alexis Bevan, the county’s human resources director. The tax office is on the first floor of the Greensburg courthouse annex building on Pennsylvania Avenue and was locked Monday...
5 things to know about lambda and other covid variants
The delta variant of covid-19 is the main focus of health officials right now because it accounts for most new cases across the country, but experts also have an eye on the lambda variant that already swept through South America. The lambda variant was discovered in Peru in December ,...
Pentagon to require covid vaccine for all troops by Sept. 15
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will require members of the U.S. military to get the covid-19 vaccine by Sept. 15, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. That deadline could be pushed up if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. “I will seek...
From alpha to lambda — a guide to the Greek alphabet of covid variants
First, many called it simply the coronavirus, then covid or covid-19. Now, we are keeping track of descriptors like alpha, beta and gamma, the variants of covid-19. The World Health Organization created this naming system to make them easier to publicly discuss. Viruses are constantly changing through mutation, which results...
Fake covid vaccine cards online worry college officials
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — As the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities are requiring proof of covid-19 vaccination for students to attend in-person classes. But the mandatory requirement has opened the door for those opposed to getting the...
Austin in ‘dire’ situation with rise in covid-19 hospitalizations, officials warn 
AUSTIN, Texas — Available hospital space for covid-19 patients in the Austin area continued to be a source of anxiety over the weekend, leading officials to redouble their efforts to persuade residents to get vaccinated as a means of slowing new cases driven by the delta variant. An automated phone...
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy knocks bans on local mask mandates
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy says he disagrees with GOP governors in Florida and Texas who are blocking mask mandates even as covid-19 cases spike higher. Cassidy, a Louisiana physician, said Sunday that “local officials should be listened to” if hospital ICUs in a community are full because of...


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