Coronavirus category, Page 100
Nursing home industry: Pennsylvania illegally withheld funds
The nursing home industry has filed suit against Pennsylvania, claiming the state illegally withheld more than $150 million that was intended to help long-term care facilities shoulder the financial burden of the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit, filed in state court and announced Tuesday, contended the Department of Human Services is...
Allegheny County reports 693 new covid cases, 6 deaths
Allegheny County reported 693 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the county Health Department. There were six new coronavirus-related deaths also reported. Total cases and total deaths now stand at 34,814 and 585, respectively. The seven-day new case average is now 830 and seven-day case total is 5,807, both records....
Pfizer vaccine moves closer to getting the OK in the U.S.Video
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators Tuesday released their first scientific evaluation of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine and confirmed it offers strong protection, setting the stage for the government to green light the biggest vaccination effort in the nation’s history. The analysis by Food and Drug Administration scientists comes ahead of a Thursday...
FDA posts early positive review of Pfizer data
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators say in their initial review that the vaccine from Pfizer is 95% protective against covid-19. The review posted online Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration offers the world the first detailed look at the evidence behind the shot, which was co-developed with BioNTech. The...
UPMC expects to receive covid vaccine soon, distribute to health care workers after authorization
Pending emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, UPMC hopes to have the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine distributed to all of its front-line workers by the end of January, leaders in the hospital system said Tuesday. The system anticipates arrival of its first allocation of Pfizer vaccine doses in...
Pennsylvania reports 10,170 new covid cases, 169 new deaths
Pennsylvania reported 10,170 new covid cases and 169 new deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. Total cases and total deaths in the state now stand at 436,614 and 11,542, respectively. Thus far in December, the state has reported 75,150 covid cases and 1,159 deaths. The seven-day average...
Westmoreland County reaches 250 covid deaths; 80% have come since September
With new covid-19 deaths reported, Westmoreland County reached a milestone Tuesday. The eight new coronavirus-related deaths reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health bring the county’s total to 250 deaths. To put deaths in Westmoreland County in perspective, it took from March 19 (when the county’s first cases were reported)...
Westmoreland County Commissioner Sean Kertes, Clerk of Courts Bryan Kline test positive for coronavirus
Two Westmoreland County elected officials said Tuesday they tested positive for coronavirus. Sean Kertes, chairman of the county commissioners, and Clerk of Courts Bryan Kline both said they are experiencing symptoms of the virus and both are at their respective homes in isolation. “I had a 100-, 101-degree temperature and,...
Covid-19 vaccines can cause side effects. But don’t let that stop you from getting the shots
A friend of Paul Offit’s volunteered for one of the covid-19 vaccine trials but, like everyone who participated, was not told whether he was injected with a placebo or the real thing. The morning after getting the second dose, the North Carolina man woke up feeling crummy, with a headache...
‘Turning point’: UK giving 1st doses of covid-19 vaccine
LONDON — British health authorities rolled out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed covid-19 vaccine Tuesday, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval. The first shot was given to Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, at...
‘Health tops education’: Hempfield Area school officials explain remote learning call during virus surge
More than 350 people tuned in to a virtual Hempfield Area School Board meeting on Monday to hear the rationale for why the administration chose to move students to remote learning until after the holidays — a decision made days after the board reaffirmed students would return to the hybrid...
Trump administration passed up chance to lock in more Pfizer vaccine dosesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration opted last summer not to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of one of the leading coronavirus vaccine contenders, a decision that could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts. The revelation,...
Lawmakers who met with Rudy Giuliani scramble after covid newsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was “doing very well” after being hospitalized with the coronavirus as lawmakers in battleground states that Giuliani visited last week scrambled to make sure they did not contract the virus. The 76-year-old former New York mayor, hospitalized in...
Excela to add more covid-19 beds at its hospitals as cases continue to rise
Officials at Excela Health plan to add beds for coronavirus patients, possibly as early as Tuesday, at one of its Westmoreland County facilities as hospitalizations continue to increase. Dr. Carol Fox, Excela’s chief medical officer, said Monday the move to convert a procedure room into one for inpatients will add...
No new covid restrictions for Pa., but possibility looms
Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday issued his most dire warning yet as covid-19 mitigation efforts fail to stem the rising tide of cases, and he hinted that more drastic, targeted measures could be on the horizon if the situation remains grim. He pointed to the warning he and Secretary of...
Whitmer administration extends partial shutdown in Michigan by 12 days
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration on Monday lengthened, by 12 days, a partial shutdown of businesses and schools to curb the coronavirus. The extended order, now due to end Dec. 20, will enable the state health department to assess how Thanksgiving travel affected the spread of covid-19,...
Pittsburgh doctor: ‘Covid vaccines are lights at the end of the tunnel, but we’re still in the tunnel’Video
Coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are likely to be released later this month. The announcements bring excitement for what could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic. But some people have concerns about the safety of the vaccines. Just how safe are vaccines? How do they...
Pennsylvania reports nearly 15,000 new covid cases, 111 deaths over 2 days
Pennsylvania added 14,960 new covid cases over the past two days, according to a report Monday from the Department of Health. Officials said there were 8,630 new cases Sunday and 6,330 cases Monday. While down nearly 40% from the previous two days (24,647), it’s more than 50% higher than last...
Virus spreads quickly among Westmoreland County Prison inmates
A massive coronavirus outbreak at Westmoreland County Prison has seen more than 100 inmates and a number of staffers infected over the past 10 days, and officials believe additional cases are possible at the lockup in Hempfield. Interim Warden George Lawther said Monday two units are in lockdown in an...
Westmoreland County reports over 500 new covid cases in 2 days, 3 new deaths
Westmoreland County added another 522 covid-19 cases over the past two days, according to a report Monday from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Of the new cases, 285 were reported Sunday, 237 on Monday. With those additions, the county’s seven-day total surpassed the 2,000 mark for the first time, standing...
Trudeau: Canada to get Pfizer vaccine by end of this year
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday Canada will get up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech before the end of December. The vaccine is expected be approved by Health Canada as soon as Thursday. Trudeau had come under criticism from...
Despite drop in new cases, Allegheny County’s record covid numbers continue
After posting record high daily covid-19 cases last week, Allegheny County saw a slight reprieve in the numbers over the past two days. The county health department reported 854 new cases Sunday and another 616 cases Monday. While encouraging, officials have long cautioned that weekend numbers generally run lower because...
NYC again reopens schools to in-person learning
NEW YORK — It’s back to school again for some New York City schoolchildren, weeks after the schools were closed to in-person learning because of rising covid-19 cases. The nation’s largest public school system, which shut down in-person learning last month, on Monday brought back preschool students and children in...
Sinovac aims for 600 million dose capacity for covid vaccine
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chinese vaccine company Sinovac announced Monday that it is planning to complete a new facility to double its annual vaccine production capacity to 600 million doses by the end of the year, while also securing a $500 million investment in a boost to its covid-19 vaccine development...
Pa. Department of Corrections reports 3 covid deaths in 2 days
Prison officials in Pennsylvania reported three inmate deaths in two days as the active covid-19 case count in state correctional facilities neared 1,800. The Department of Corrections reported two deaths Friday, at SCIs Mercer and Smithfield and one on Saturday at SCI-Pine Grove. Two of the incarcerated individuals were in...
