Coronavirus category, Page 128
Schools find ways to cope with substitute teacher shortage in age of coronavirus
Local schools are bracing for what could be a year filled with teacher vacancies as covid-19 potentially amplifies a yearslong substitute teacher shortage. Districts scrambling to find day-to-day substitutes during a typical school year now might have to work twice as hard to retain those positions as fears of returning...
Westmoreland sees highest week of covid cases in 2 months
With 34 new cases of coronavirus added Friday, Westmoreland County saw its highest seven-day total of cases since late July. From Saturday through Friday, 152 new cases were found in the county, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Prior to that, the largest seven-day total was 157, found from...
Pennsylvania adds 806 new covid cases, 2 new deaths
Pennsylvania added 806 new cases of coronavirus to its tally Friday, according to the state’s Department of Health. It marks the sixth day in a row new cases have been under 1,000. In the past week, there have been 5,520 cases, a nearly 5% decline from the previous seven days...
Virus cases rise in U.S. heartland, home to anti-mask feelings
MISSION, Kan. — It began with devastation in the New York City area, followed by a summertime crisis in the Sun Belt. Now the coronavirus is striking cities with much smaller populations in the heartland, often in conservative corners of America where anti-mask sentiment runs high. The spread has created...
Officials: Covid cases at Pitt are going down, for now
Cases of covid-19 at the University of Pittsburgh appear to be leveling out as students start returning to in-person class, but university officials say it’s too soon to loosen restrictions. While the university has one of the highest total case counts of any institution in the area, the last two...
Allegheny County nears 12,000 covid cases
Allegheny County closed in on 12,000 coronavirus cases Friday, adding 68 new positive residents to its total, the Allegheny County Health Department reported. With the new cases, the county now has seen 11,995 cases of the virus since the pandemic began in March. The new cases come from 1,035 tests...
Madrid resists government pressure to extend soft lockdown
MADRID — Authorities in Madrid are expanding restrictions on movement to a further eight areas of the Spanish capital, which is leading the country’s contagion curve, despite a recommendation from the national government that the partial lockdown should apply to all the city. Over 850,000 residents in 37 neighborhoods have...
Pa.’s failure to mandate quicker death reporting before the coronavirus fueled wild data fluctuations, mistrust
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 weekly newsletter. For years, Pennsylvania has had a hard time counting its dead. A new analysis shows that in 2017, Pennsylvania had...
Fraud, frustration continue to plague Pennsylvania unemployment claimants
As historically high unemployment compensation claims continue to inundate the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Labor Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said he knows people are struggling. Presiding over a virtual town hall Thursday afternoon, Oleksiak acknowledged that fraud is plaguing the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that temporarily expands unemployment insurance...
Allegheny County lifts covid restrictions in favor of state mitigation orders
Allegheny County health officials lifted the county-ordered covid-19 restrictions Thursday, allowing the state’s looser restrictions on outdoor gatherings to take effect immediately. County orders had limited indoor gatherings to 25 people and outdoor crowds to no more than 100 people. The state has limited indoor gatherings to 25 people and...
Allegheny County reports 60 new coronavirus cases
Allegheny County on Thursday reported 60 new coronavirus cases for a total of 11,927 since March. Of the new cases, 54 are confirmed and four are listed as probable. The 7-day average for cases in the county is 60. There were 1,140 new PCR tests reported. Allegheny County coronavirus by...
Westmoreland County reports 15 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County on Thursday reported 15 additional cases of coronavirus, bringing the total case number to 2,150. Of the new cases 11 were confirmed and four are considered probable, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The county’s 7-day average is 18 cases. There were 259 new negative results reported...
Pennsylvania reports 853 new coronavirus cases, 17 deaths
Pennsylvania on Thursday reported 853 new cases of covid-19, with 796 of those confirmed and 57 reported as probable. The total number of cases reported in the state has now reached 153,397, according to the Department of Health. The state’s 7-day average is 782 cases and the daily positivity rate...
More coronavirus cases found at Westmoreland Manor; county calls in National Guard to helpVideo
As coronavirus cases at Westmoreland Manor continue to rise, county commissioners on Thursday called in the Pennsylvania National Guard to take over testing of residents and staff at the county-owned nursing home. County officials said Thursday another 14 residents and four employees tested positive for the virus. That brings the...
Chinese company says coronavirus vaccine ready by early 2021
BEIJING — A Chinese pharmaceutical company said Thursday the coronavirus vaccine it is developing should be ready by early 2021 for distribution worldwide, including the United States. Yin Weidong, the CEO of SinoVac, vowed to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell CoronaVac in the United States...
As virus surges, critics say U.K. hasn’t learned from mistakes
LONDON — Britain bungled its response to the coronavirus the first time around. Now many scientists fear it’s about to do it again. The virus is on the rise once more in the U.K., which has recorded almost 42,000 COVID-19 deaths, with confirmed infections at their highest level since May....
Report: ‘Distressed’ Dr. Deborah Birx questions her future on the coronavirus taskforceVideo
A “distressed” Dr. Deborah Birx is wondering how long she can remain on the White House’s coronavirus taskforce, according to a report Wednesday from CNN. Birx has told aides and friends she is discouraged with the direction of the task force and has described the nation’s response to the covid-19...
Ordered to close, Brentwood’s Crack’d Egg restaurant cracks back with lawsuit
A Brentwood restaurant ordered to close for failing to follow the governor’s orders to stop the spread of covid-19 sued Allegheny County and the health department on Wednesday, alleging civil rights violations. The owners of the Crack’d Egg, which opened in 2015 on Brownsville Road, were the subject of an...
South Dakota reports single-day high for covid-19 infections
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota on Wednesday reported 445 new cases of covid-19, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic started. The state has seen the nation’s second-highest number of new cases per capita over the last two weeks. The rolling average of daily new cases...
Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has covid-19
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a...
Allegheny County officials concerned about local drop in testing
Allegheny County health officials said Wednesday that they continue to be pleased with local covid-19 case numbers. “We have continued to see relatively low numbers compared to maybe what we expected as we entered September,” said County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. The county has confirmed 1,152 cases in September so far,...
Westmoreland commissioners dole out $4.3 million in covid-19 relief grants
Westmoreland County commissioners Wednesday awarded more than $4.3 million in grants to 26o small businesses that suffered financial losses because of the covid-19 pandemic. The grants were funded through $31.5 million in federal funds funneled through the state as part of the government’s coronavirus relief program. “Our goal was to...
U.S. experts vow ‘no cutting corners’ as vaccine tests expandVideo
WASHINGTON — A huge international study of a covid-19 vaccine that aims to work with just one dose is getting underway as top U.S. health officials sought Wednesday to assure a skeptical Congress and public that they can trust any shots the government ultimately approves. Hopes are high that answers...
Restaurant owners sue W.Va. governor over bar closures
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The owners of 12 restaurants and bars sued the governor of West Virginia on Wednesday for indefinitely closing establishments in student-heavy Monongalia County because of the coronavirus. Gov. Jim Justice ordered bars closed there on Sept. 2 after pictures were posted online of college students in Morgantown...
50,000 residents download Pennsylvania’s covid app in 24 hours
Pennsylvania’s new covid-19 contact tracing app has been downloaded by 50,000 people, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said Wednesday. The mobile app, COVID Alert PA, was announced in August and officially launched Tuesday. The app notifies users if they have been exposed to covid-19 using Bluetooth technology. Without tracking identity or...
