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Coronavirus category, Page 43

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Full FDA approval of covid-19 vaccines might lead more people to get them. What’s the holdup? 
PHILADELPHIA — More than eight months ago, large studies found that both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna covid-19 vaccines reduced the risk of illness by more than 90%. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet granted them full approval, to the dismay of public-health officials eager to boost...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opposes masks in schools as covid cases rise 
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose re-election campaign is selling koozies quoting him saying, “How the hell am I going to drink a beer with a mask on?” held a private meeting this week with doctors to oppose mask mandates in public schools. DeSantis said he fears that the...
CDC reverses course on indoor masks in some parts of U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course Tuesday on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant of the coronavirus is fueling infection surges. Citing new information about the variant’s ability to spread among...
Tokyo reports record virus cases days after Olympics begin
TOKYO — Japan’s capital, Tokyo, reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to avoid non-essential outings but said there was no need to consider a suspension of the Games. Tokyo reported 2,848 new covid-19 cases, exceeding...
Florida mayor: ‘We are in crisis mode,’ as coronavirus cases surge 
ORLANDO — The mayor of the county that hosts Florida’s theme park mecca said Monday that “we are now in crisis mode” when it comes to dealing with soaring numbers of covid-19 infections. Florida accounted for a fifth of the nation’s new infections last week, more than any other state,...
Moderna expands child vaccine trial to get more safety data
Moderna Inc. said it would expand an ongoing trial of its coronavirus vaccine in children under 12 years old to gather more safety data amid worries that messenger RNA shots may trigger rare heart side effects. “The objective is to enroll a larger safety database which increases the likelihood of...
Mississippi sees big jump in covid-19 positive test results 
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi health officials reported Monday that the state is seeing its highest number of new covid-19 cases in months as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread. The state is also experiencing a sharp increase in the percentage of positive tests. “COVID-19 testing...
Veterans Affairs mandates covid-19 vaccination for health care workers 
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get covid-19 vaccines, as the aggressive delta variant spreads across the nation and some communities report troubling increases in hospitalizations among unvaccinated people. The VA’s move came on a...
NYC to require vaccines or weekly testing for city workers
NEW YORK — New York City will require all of its municipal workers — including teachers and police officers — to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly covid-19 testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. The rule is expected to affect about 340,000 city employees, making the city...
States scale back virus reporting just as cases surge
OMAHA, Neb. — Several states scaled back their reporting of covid-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities. The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Nebraska, Iowa and...
L.A. County sees over 2,000 new coronavirus cases daily because of delta variant 
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County health officials reported 2,089 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with hospitalizations rising as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread. There are 716 people currently hospitalized with covid-19, up from 452 on July 16, officials said. The county also reported four new deaths,...
As Florida becomes U.S. epicenter of covid-19, it reports a wrong death count 
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida recorded more coronavirus cases this week than California, Texas, New York and Illinois combined, a Palm Beach Post analysis of state and federal data shows. The state logged 73,199 more infections in this week’s state Department of Health report. That’s the biggest one-week surge since...
Officials in Michigan county will return coronavirus bonuses
CORUNNA, Mich. — Elected officials in a conservative Michigan county who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal covid-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism. Shiawassee County commissioners acted after the prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported. The Michigan Constitution bars...
Fauci says U.S. headed in ‘wrong direction’ on coronavirus
WILMINGTON, Del. — The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring covid-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday. “We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as “very frustrated.” He said recommending...
French protesters reject virus passes, vaccine mandate
PARIS — Some 160,000 people, including far-right activists and members of France’s yellow vest movement, protested Saturday across the country against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and mandating covid-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Similar protests were held in neighboring Italy....
As delta variant spreads, CDC is pressured to revise mask guidance
A growing number of public-health experts are urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear face masks in public amid the resurgence of virus cases fed by the delta variant. Doctors including former surgeon general Jerome Adams say the CDC acted prematurely...
‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine myths cripple U.S. uptake as delta surges
The excuses range from the merely false to the absurd. The shots don’t work. They impair fertility. They’ll alter your DNA. They’ll magnetize you. They actually spread the virus. Unvaccinated Americans cite a litany of myths to explain their hesitance to get shots, confounding local health officials battling yet another...
Pa. health officials request $124 million in pandemic-related emergency contracts as GOP calls for oversight
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. Wolf administration officials doubled down this week on pursuing more than $100 million in new pandemic-related emergency contracts as they faced...
Excela eyes covid vaccine mandate for hospital employees as delta variant spreads; nearly 40% of workers remain unvaccinated
Westmoreland County’s largest hospital system and employer is contemplating requiring health care workers to get vaccinated for covid-19 as concerns mount over the delta variant spreading rapidly among the unvaccinated. Excela Health, which employs about 4,300 across three hospitals and more than a dozen outpatient, testing and therapy providers, does...
China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further covid-19 origins study 
BEIJING — China cannot accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of covid-19, a senior Chinese health official said Thursday. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “rather taken aback” that the plan includes further...
Death rates soar in Southeast Asia as virus wave spreads
Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from covid-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep...
Covid-19 cases in U.S. triple over 2 weeks amid misinformation 
MISSION, Kan. — Covid-19 cases tripled in the United States over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. “Our staff, they are frustrated,” said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital...
Medical experts not alarmed by recent rise in Pa. covid cases 
The number of new covid-19 cases is increasing in Pennsylvania, but the uptick — fueled by the highly contagious delta variant — is not yet cause for alarm among experts in the Pittsburgh region. In the past week, there have been 2,930 new cases of the virus reported by the...
Report: U.K. border officers to stop routine covid checks
LONDON — U.K. border officers have been directed to stop routinely checking whether travelers from many countries have tested negative for covid-19, British media reported Wednesday, citing leaked government documents. While the change is designed to reduce waiting times for airport immigration checks, it has raised concerns about importing new...
Fauci, Sen. Paul trade barbs in fiery covid-19 hearing
No lost love between these two. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul accused each other of lying during a contentious Senate hearing on Capitol Hill. The world-famous pandemic doctor bristled on Tuesday when Paul insinuated that the U.S. helped fund research...


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