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Coronavirus category, Page 7

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Stacey Abrams tests positive for covid, has mild symptoms
ATLANTA — Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has covid-19, her campaign said Wednesday. Abrams campaign spokesperson Alex Floyd said Abrams tested positive for the respiratory illness Wednesday morning after giving a public speech on the economy Tuesday night in Atlanta. Abrams tests daily for covid, Floyd said, and had...
‘I didn’t really learn anything’: Grads face college after covid pandemic
Angel Hope looked at the math test and felt lost. He had just graduated near the top of his high school class, winning scholarships from prestigious colleges. But on this test — a University of Wisconsin exam that measures what new students learned in high school — all he could...
Biden tests negative for covid, isolating until 2nd negative
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden tested negative for covid-19 on Saturday but will continue to isolate at the White House until a second negative test, his doctor said. Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in his latest daily update that the president, “in an abundance of caution,” will abide by the “strict...
CDC: Allegheny, Westmoreland counties move to ‘high’ covid-19 level
Rising cases and hospitalizations pushed Allegheny and Westmoreland counties into the “high” covid-19 community level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which set standards for defining the amount of the virus within a community. Allegheny County, which recorded nearly 2,700 additional infections over the past week, was...
How common are Paxlovid rebound cases? Experts weigh in
President Joe Biden’s covid-19 “rebound” case has created concern for people around the world who are wondering if such cases are becoming more common. Dr. Donald Yealy, UPMC’s chair of emergency medicine, defines a rebound case as having covid and then redeveloping some symptoms after fighting off the infection and...
Covid cases drop 9% globally last week, deaths stable
LONDON — New coronavirus cases fell 9% globally last week while deaths remained stable, according to the latest weekly assessment of the pandemic released Wednesday by the World Health Organization. The U.N. health agency said there were 6.5 million cases reported last week with more than 14,000 deaths. WHO said...
Biden tests positive for covid-19, returns to isolation
President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 again Saturday, slightly more than three days after he was cleared to exit coronavirus isolation, the White House said, in a rare case of “rebound” following treatment with an anti-viral drug. White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter that Biden...
‘A very lonely place to be’: Take covid-19 seriously, long-haulers warn
ORLANDO, Fla. — On the rare occasions when Vero Beach resident Neil Passmore goes out in public, he’s often the only one in a mask. When Passmore caught covid-19 in June 2020, the virus hit him hard: He shook with chills, struggled to breathe, his heart raced and he had...
Allegheny County rises to medium level of covid spread
Allegheny County’s covid-19 cases and hospitalizations rose high enough this week to put the county back into the medium level in terms of community transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC calculates a county’s transmission level — low, medium or high — by looking at...
U.S. reaches deal with Moderna for next-gen omicron covid vaccine
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Friday it has reached an agreement with Moderna to buy 66 million doses of the company’s next generation of covid-19 vaccine that targets the highly transmissible omicron variant, enough supply this winter for all who want the upgraded booster. The order of the bivalent...
BA.5 now dominant covid-19 variant in Allegheny County
The Omicron BA.5 variant is the dominant strain of the covid-19 virus in Allegheny County, health officials said Thursday. According to the county health department’s weekly covid-19 report, the variant accounts for about two-thirds of the covid cases in Allegheny County. The variant, which experts say is the most contagious...
Should you wait for the omicron booster? Why experts say you should ‘get it now!’
If you’re like most Americans, you’ve gotten your primary doses of a covid-19 vaccine, but you haven’t gotten the recommended booster shots. So if it’s been several months since your last primary dose, you’re probably due for a booster. But the companies behind two of the more popular covid-19 shots,...
‘Never covid’: Some people have managed to avoid contracting covid-19, but their numbers are dwindling
Jordan Berkes is a member of a shrinking fraternity — he’s never contracted covid-19. For two and a half years, the Shaler resident has managed to dodge the virus, its numerous variants and the occasional surge of cases. As the latest wave of covid — the omicron subvariant known as...
Biden tests negative for covid, ends ‘strict isolation’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is ending his covid-19 isolation after testing negative for the virus on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday. That’s according to a letter the White House released Wednesday from Biden’s physician. Dr. Kevin O’Connor writes that Biden has completed his course of treatment with the...
New studies bolster theory coronavirus emerged from the wild
Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold — further bolstering the theory that the virus emerged in the wild rather than escaping from a Chinese lab. The research, published online Tuesday by the journal Science, shows...
Biden tests positive for covid-19, has ‘mild symptoms’ 
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 on Thursday and is experiencing “very mild symptoms,” the White House said, as new variants of the highly contagious virus are challenging the nation’s efforts to get back to normal after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions. White House...
More than 2 million covid vaccines discarded across Pa. as doses expire
A year and a half ago, as the demand for the newly released covid-19 vaccines far and away outstripped the minute supply, shot-seekers rushed clinics and fought desperate battles to snag short-lived appointment openings online. Now, however, as demand for the vaccines falls to its lowest point, thousands of vaccines...
CDC advisers endorse more traditional Novavax covid shot
U.S. adults who haven’t gotten any covid-19 shots yet should consider a new option from Novavax — a more traditional kind of vaccine, influential government advisers said Tuesday. Regulators authorized the nation’s first so-called protein vaccine against covid-19 last week, but Novavax shots cannot begin until the Centers for Disease...
WHO: Covid triples across Europe, hospitalizations double
LONDON — The World Health Organization said Tuesday that coronavirus cases have tripled across Europe in the past six weeks, accounting for nearly half of all infections globally. Hospitalization rates have also doubled, although intensive care admissions have remained low. In a statement on Tuesday, WHO’s Europe director, Dr. Hans...
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he will retire by end of Biden’s 1st term
The United States will grapple with covid-19 long after Dr. Anthony Fauci leaves his post as the president’s chief medical adviser, the Brooklyn native said in a Politico interview announcing his plans to retire by the end of Joe Biden’s first term. Fauci, 81, became the face of the covid-19...
U.S. regulators OK new covid-19 shot option from Novavax
The United States is getting another covid-19 vaccine choice as the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cleared Novavax shots for adults. Novavax makes a more traditional type of shot than the three other covid-19 vaccines available for use in the U.S. — and one that’s already available in Europe...
New covid subvariants highly contagious, immune evasive, experts say
A rapidly spreading covid variant is highly contagious and can cause breakthrough infections, but it’s not more severe or dangerous than prior strains, local experts say. The omicron subvariant — known as BA.5 — has “really taken off, nationally and locally,” said Dr. Lee Harrison, professor of infectious disease and...
‘The virus is not done with us yet’: New covid-19 variants better evade antibodies, doctors say
CHICAGO — For people who contracted covid-19 during earlier omicron surges, doctors have some unwelcome news: You are again susceptible to catching the virus. Two new variants of the virus appear to more easily evade immune protection from prior infections, meaning even some who have recovered from a case of...
White House urges caution on covid variants, pushes boosters
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about covid-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible and wearing masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country. The new variants, labeled BA.4 and BA.5,...
Pennsylvania’s covid phone app ends its run
Pennsylvania’s smartphone app that updates covid-19 cases and deaths will stop operating as of Wednesday. The state health department says covid Alert PA, in use since early in the pandemic, is no longer an essential tool, even though the threat isn’t over. “As we move forward through this phase of...


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