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Coronavirus category, Page 46

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Biden pushes shots for young adults as variant concern grows
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to get younger Americans vaccinated for covid-19 as concerns grow about the spread of a new variant that threatens to set the country back in the months ahead. The push is underway as the Delta variant, first identified in India, has...
5 things to know about delta variant of coronavirus
Even as covid-19 vaccines become widely available and pandemic restrictions begin to relax, a new variant of the virus raises new worries. The delta variant, first identified in India, is classified as a “variant of concern,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the variant circulates in...
Watchdog: Nursing home deaths up 32% in 2020 amid pandemic
WASHINGTON — Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of covid-19 among its most vulnerable victims. The report from the inspector general of the...
U.S. hitting encouraging milestones on coronavirus deaths and shots
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms approached another encouraging milestone Monday: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated. The coronavirus was the third leading cause...
U.S. hitting encouraging milestones on virus deaths and shots
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms approached another encouraging milestone Monday: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated. The coronavirus was the third leading cause...
Is it better to get immunity from catching covid-19 — or from vaccines? What science shows
Research shows both coronavirus infection and vaccination offers immunity that can protect people from getting sick again. But by how much and for how long remains unclear — a scientific gap that only time could fill. Regardless of how immunity is acquired, there’s no telling whose bodies will or won’t...
Indoor mask mandate ends on West Virginia’s 158th birthday
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared an end to the state’s indoor mask requirement Sunday as a $1 million winner was revealed in a drawing for residents who have received the coronavirus vaccine. Karen Foley of Mineral Wells won the top prize announced on a sweltering Father’s...
‘Protected them to death’: Elder-care covid rules under fire
Barbara and Christine Colucci long to remove their masks and kiss their 102-year-old mother, who has dementia and is in a nursing home in Rochester, New York. They would love to have more than two people in her room at a time so that relatives can be there too. “We...
Biden to announce 300 million covid-19 shots given in 150 days
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is marking another milestone in his quest to bring the covid-19 pandemic under control and help Americans return to a more normal way of life. Biden will announce that 300 million covid-19 shots have been administered in the 150 days since he took office on...
Covid-19 still a threat in nursing homes
Covid-19 is still a threat in Pennsylvania nursing homes even as vaccination rates climb and the number of new infections decline, acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Alison Beam said this week. Although state officials designated nursing home residents and health care workers a top priority for vaccination when the first...
Some vaccine experts having 2nd thoughts about rushing to inoculate kids
From the earliest days of the pandemic, doctors and public health officials have seen widespread vaccination as the most effective way to stop covid-19 in its tracks. But a growing contingent of medical experts is now questioning whether that conventional wisdom ought to apply to children. Their doubts are not...
U.S. to spend $3.2B on treatments for covid-19, other viruses 
WASHINGTON — The United States is devoting $3.2 billion to speed development of antiviral pills to treat covid-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics. The new program will invest in “accelerating things that are already in progress” for covid-19 but also would work to come up with...
Fired Pa. contractor seeks to secure contact tracing data after learning personal info still online
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. HARRISBURG — The company responsible for administering Pennsylvania’s contact tracing program has called on current and former employees to help it...
Covid cases delay long-awaited Royal Caribbean cruise
MIAMI — Royal Caribbean International is postponing for nearly a month one of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began because eight crew members tested positive for covid-19, the company’s CEO said. The brand new Odyssey of the Seas was to set sail from Fort...
Vaccine effort turns into slog as infectious variant spreads
As cases tumble and states reopen, the potential final stage in the U.S. campaign to vanquish covid-19 is turning into a slog, with a worrisome variant gaining a bigger foothold and lotteries and other prizes failing to persuade some Americans to get vaccinated. “The last half, the last mile, the...
Pockets of unvaccinated Americans threaten to prolong pandemic
As much of the country emerges from masking and social distancing, undervaccinated pockets in the U.S. still threaten to bring the virus roaring back. Less than 25% of the population is fully vaccinated in at least 482 counties, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data...
CDC: Nearly 100% of Pennsylvania’s 65+ residents have at least 1 covid shot
Just about every Pennsylvanian 65 and older is now at least partially vaccinated for covid-19, according to the latest covid vaccination data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Wednesday morning, the CDC’s covid vaccine tracker shows 2,393,193 of the state’s 65+ population have at least one...
California fully reopens after being 1st to shut during pandemic 
SAN FRANCISCO — California, the first state in America to put in place a coronavirus lockdown, has turned a page on the pandemic. The nation’s most populated state lifted most of its restrictions Tuesday, meaning no more state rules on social distancing or capacity limits at restaurants, bars, supermarkets, gyms,...
Nearly all Allegheny County seniors at least partially vaccinated against covid, health official says
Almost all senior citizens in Allegheny County are at least partially vaccinated against covid-19, a virus that ravaged the older population, including those in care facilities, both locally and nationwide, officials said. Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen noted the milestone after a tour of UPMC’s vaccine and testing...
N.Y. lifts more covid rules as it hits vaccination mark
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that 70% of adults in New York have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a threshold he said the state would celebrate by easing many of its remaining social distancing rules and shooting off fireworks. “What does 70% mean? It means that...
899 people got expired vaccine doses at Times Square site
NEW YORK — Nearly 900 people received expired covid-19 vaccine doses at a vaccination site in Times Square this month, health officials said Tuesday. The 899 people who received doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the former NFL Experience building in Times Square between June 5 and 10 should schedule...
U.S. covid-19 deaths hit 600,000, equal to yearly cancer toll
The U.S. death toll from covid-19 topped 600,000 on Tuesday, even as the vaccination drive has drastically brought down daily cases and fatalities and allowed the country to emerge from the gloom and look forward to summer. The number of lives lost, as recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is greater...
Panel approves Pa. House GOP bill to ban employer vaccine mandates
HARRISBURG — A ban on employers mandating vaccines for their workers inched ahead in the state House on Tuesday with a committee vote supported by all Republicans and opposed by every Democrat. The main sponsor, Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, called it “a very simple question of workers’ rights.” Diamond has...
More evidence suggests covid-19 was in U.S. by Christmas 2019
NEW YORK — A new analysis of blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year is the latest and largest study to suggest that the new coronavirus popped up in the U.S. in December 2019 — weeks before cases were first recognized by health officials. The analysis is not...
GOP bill would prohibit requiring any vaccination in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No employer, either public or private, could require employees to receive vaccinations under GOP legislation pending in the Ohio House. Also, workers could not be fired as a result of refusing. The measure before the Republican-controlled House Health Committee has attracted multiple opponents of covid-19 vaccines but...


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