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Coronavirus category, Page 87

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Dr. Fauci: U.S. could soon give 1 million vaccinations a day 
The United States could soon be giving at least a million covid-19 vaccinations a day despite the sluggish start, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, even as he warned of a dangerous next few weeks as the coronavirus surges. The slow pace is frustrating health officials and a desperate public alike,...
Short on equipment, ambulances and oxygen, LA County hospitals face darkest month 
LOS ANGELES — The coronavirus crisis battering Los Angeles County’s medical system is reaching increasingly desperate levels, with health care providers running low on equipment, ambulance operators being told not to bring patients who have virtually no chance of survival to hospitals, and officials scrambling to ensure they can provide...
UPMC employees get 2nd dose of covid vaccine, describe ‘first step’ toward ending pandemic
Fifteen UPMC employees received covid-19 vaccines Tuesday, 10 of whom became the first employees to receive a second dose and complete the full course of the vaccine. “I feel like it’s the first step in ending this,” said Alli Okonak, a certified registered nurse practitioner who has been working at...
U.K. hospitals stagger as new virus variant takes huge toll
LONDON — Britain is facing a long, bleak winter as cold, wet weather and a more contagious variant of the coronavirus put unprecedented strain on the nation’s hospitals and force record numbers of patients to wait 12 hours or more, sometimes on ambulance gurneys, before receiving treatment. That picture made...
Westmoreland County adds 228 new coronavirus cases, 8 deaths
Westmoreland County added 228 new covid-19 cases and eight new deaths, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported on Tuesday. After topping the 20,000 mark on Monday, the total number of cases in the county now stands at 20,393 with 15,247 confirmed and 5,146 probable since the first cases were reported...
Pennsylvania reports 8,818 new covid-19 cases, 185 deaths
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health on Tuesday reported 8,818 additional cases and 185 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. The death toll for the state stands at 16,546 since the pandemic started last March. With the day’s report, there have been 568 deaths counted this month. Of the deaths newly reported on...
Brighton Rehab claims it is immune from lawsuit in federal court filing
Attorneys for a Beaver County nursing home where more than 70 residents died of covid-19 claim it has immunity from civil liability — even as a judge in the same jurisdiction has previously said, in a separate case, it does not. In a motion to dismiss filed Monday in federal...
If I’ve already had the coronavirus, can I get it again?
If I’ve already had the coronavirus, can I get it again? It’s possible, but such cases seem to be rare. Evidence is growing that people whose bodies mounted a strong defense to the virus are unlikely to test positive again for at least several months and maybe longer. It’s not...
Allegheny County tops 1,000 coronavirus deaths
Allegheny County on Tuesday reported 29 new coronavirus deaths, bringing the death toll for the county to 1,011. “Passing 1,000 deaths is a grim milestone that I had hoped Allegheny County would be spared,” Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen said in a release. “Each of the 1,011...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice defends his resort’s party on New Year’s Eve 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice brushed off criticism that the posh resort he owns did not follow coronavirus pandemic guidelines after video surfaced of a New Year’s Eve gala showing a tightly packed ballroom, with many people not wearing masks. The Republican governor, who did not attend...
Worries about vaccine rollout rise as New York finds coronavirus variant 
ALBANY, N.Y. — In an effort to speed up what has been a sluggish rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, New York’s governor threatened Monday to fine hospitals up to $100,000 if they don’t finish their first round of inoculations by the end of the week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the...
Prosecutor: Wisconsin pharmacist thought covid vaccine was unsafe 
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — A Wisconsin pharmacist convinced the world was “crashing down” told police he tried to ruin hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine because he believed the shots would mutate people’s DNA, according to court documents released Monday. Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, arrested...
South Africa testing whether vaccines work against variant
JOHANNESBURG — Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for covid-19 will be effective against the country’s variant virus. The genomic studies come as Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, and other experts in the U.K. have said they worry that vaccines may not be effective...
Allegheny County adds new vaccine distribution location for priority populations
The Allegheny County Health Department on Monday announced a new distribution location for covid-19 vaccines, and the county is expected to release the first version of its distribution plan on Wednesday. The new Point of Distribution (POD) will be for health care organizations and facilities in the Phase 1A category,...
U.K. prime minister orders new virus lockdown for England
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University...
Prosecutor says Wisconsin pharmacist thought vaccine was unsafe
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — A Wisconsin pharmacist told police he tried to ruin hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine because he felt the medicine wasn’t safe, a prosecutor said Monday. Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, arrested the Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist last week following an investigation...
Westmoreland commissioners extend courthouse restrictions
Most services at the Westmoreland County Courthouse will continue to operate by appointment as coronavirus cases continue to surge. County commissioners announced Monday that modified operations, originally set to expire earlier today, will remain in place indefinitely. “The cases aren’t slowing down,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli. She returned to the...
California’s covid-19 numbers grow with hospitals swamped
LOS ANGELES — California’s coronavirus death toll has topped 26,500 and confirmed cases have neared 2.4 million since the pandemic began, health officials said. The state’s swamped hospitals held more than 22,000 covid-19 patients, including nearly 4,700 in intensive care units, the Department of Public Health said Monday. Gov. Gavin...
Pa. will get more covid vaccine this week, availability to general public still ‘months’ away
Thousands more doses of covid-19 vaccines are set to arrive in Pennsylvania this week, with more than half reserved for health workers awaiting their second dose of the two-dose vaccination, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday. So far, 135,044 people across the state have received the vaccine in...
Pennsylvania reports 7,800 more covid cases, 122 deaths over 2 days
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest report, released Monday, shows another 7,805 more cases of covid-19 over the past two days. While still a high number of cases, the latest figures were nearly 10% less than were reported a week ago (8,663). Officials said the case counts are atypically low...
Westmoreland County reaches 20K covid-19 case mark
Westmoreland County reached a grim milestone on Monday, with the announcement it has now surpassed 20,000 cases of the coronavirus. With 359 more covid-19 cases over the past two days, health officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Westmoreland County has now amassed a total of 20,165 cases in...
Vaccination campaign picks up speed around the world
The campaign to vanquish the coronavirus is picking up speed, with Britain beginning to dispense the second vaccine in its arsenal Monday. But authorities in France and elsewhere in Europe are coming under fire for slow rollouts and delays. In the U.S., meanwhile, government officials reported that vaccinations have accelerated...
Allegheny County reports 850 more covid cases, 5 deaths in 2 days
Allegheny County health officials reported another 852 cases of coronavirus Monday. Of those new cases, 607 were confirmed through 2,361 PCR tests (from Dec. 28 through Sunday), with 245 cases listed as probable. Even in the wake of news that the latest new cases are a 43% increase from last...
Restaurants, gyms, casinos reopen as latest covid-19 restrictions expire 
Restaurants, bars, gyms and casinos reopened Monday morning at a still-limited capacity when Pennsylvania’s most recent set of covid-19 restrictions expired at 8 a.m. The restrictions, started Dec. 12, barred restaurants from allowing indoor dining and shut down gyms and casinos in the face of a post-Thanksgiving surge in virus...
Coronavirus outbreak at Kaiser San Jose hospital infects 43 people
Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center is investigating an outbreak of the coronavirus in its emergency department that has infected at least 43 staff members. Hospital officials are investigating whether the outbreak was affected by a staff member appearing briefly in the emergency department on Christmas Day wearing an air-powered,...


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