Coronavirus category, Page 143
Answering The Call: Meet the expert helping UPMC employees work remotelyVideo
During the covid-19 pandemic, many people are working remotely, including tens of thousands of UPMC employees. The person largely responsible for making this happen is UPMC systems engineer Crystal Morgan, an online security expert and former songwriter from Los Angeles. In this edition of Answering the Call, Morgan discusses working...
State departments warn of scams related to contact tracing
Two state agencies issued warnings about contact tracing scams amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Pennsylvania departments of Health and Aging, scams include a caller asking for Social Security numbers or payment for services. Contact tracing is used to identify people who have come in close contact with someone...
Allegheny County reports over 100 new covid-19 cases, 17 new hospitalizations
Allegheny County reported 114 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the second highest new case total of the month. There were also 17 new covid-19 hospitalizations and five new deaths reported. New cases came from 1,799 test results with 110 being confirmed and four probable. The age range for the cases are...
Pete McCloskey: First coronavirus, next climate — the Republican threat to science
More than ever, our lives depend on medical science to provide reliable testing, diagnosing and mitigation of a deadly virus. Scientists in the United States and around the world are studying the coronavirus, working day and night to uncover the secrets of this disease and develop a safe, accessible vaccine....
Texas surpasses 9,000 coronavirus deaths as testing remains low
AUSTIN — Texas surpassed 9,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Wednesday while testing again dropped to the lowest levels since June, and infection rates hit another record. The state on Wednesday reported 324 additional deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed new deaths added from covid-19 over the past week alone to...
Students moving back to Seton Hill University for face-to-face classes
Slowly but surely students began moving in at Seton Hill University on Wednesday for what the school hopes will be a largely traditional semester — despite a global pandemic that has prompted many of the nation’s college campuses to remain largely shuttered. Unlike some local universities that have transitioned to...
Florida sheriff bans masks for staff, visitors with some exceptions
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A central Florida sheriff says his deputies won’t be allowed to wear face masks except under some conditions, and neither will visitors to the sheriff’s office. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said this week in an email to staff that he had weighed both sides of...
71 Fayette Co. inmates test positive for coronavirus; courthouse reopening for business
More than half of the inmates at the Fayette County Prison tested positive for covid-19 as county officials prepare to reopen its courthouse Thursday after a two-week closure. The county has seen big jumps in the number of confirmed cases in recent days, and 32 county employees have tested positive...
AG Shapiro confirms investigation into embattled Brighton Rehab nursing home in Beaver CountyVideo
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has launched a criminal investigation into the embattled Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County, the Tribune-Review has learned. A spokesperson for Shapiro confirmed Wednesday morning his office is exploring whether criminal charges are warranted related to the “conditions and practices” at the Brighton...
Westmoreland County adds 18 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County added 18 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The new cases — all confirmed — bring the county’s total to 1,573 cases. There were 260 new tests reported, for a daily positivity rate of 6.92%. Overall, the county’s positivity rate since the outbreak...
Pennsylvania reports 849 new coronavirus cases, 33 deaths
Pennsylvania remained in triple digits for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday — as it has so far in all of August. The state’s Department of Health added 849 new positive covid-19 results, bringing the state’s total to 121,130 since the outbreak began in March. For the month, daily new cases...
Allegheny County reports 13 new coronavirus deaths
Allegheny County added 13 new deaths attributed to coronavirus to its totals Wednesday, but some of the deaths reach back into July. The county Health Department’s report brings the total covid-19 related deaths to 273. It was the highest single-day report since the outbreak began in March, with previous reports...
Colin McNickle: Coronavirus and Pa.’s casinos
It should come as no surprise that Pennsylvania’s casinos have seen a major reduction in overall revenues during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. After all, the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf deemed them “nonessential” businesses early in the pandemic, forcing them to close in mid-March and all of April and May....
Township makes truck payment on behalf of East Huntingdon’s cash-strapped fire department
East Huntingdon Fire Chief Brian Kite knew $61,000 was a lot of money to request from the township. But the department’s $61,000 annual fire truck payment was looming. With several months worth of canceled fundraisers and a firemen’s club ordered closed by the state, the money was going to otherwise...
Gateway School Board allows Grace Life Church to continue services at high school despite concerns
The Gateway School Board narrowly voted down an administrative recommendation Tuesday to place a temporary moratorium on all facility rentals amid ongoing concerns of spreading covid-19. The vote, 5-4, means outside groups can continue to rent school district buildings throughout the school year. Those in favor of stopping facility rentals...
Monroeville nursing home reports 47 covid-19 cases, after reporting zero last week
A Monroeville nursing home has reported 47 cases of covid-19 to state health officials, after reporting none a week ago. Long-term care facility data from the state’s Department of Health shows that Monroeville Rehabilitation & Wellness Center reported zero cases of covid-19. In numbers updated on Tuesday, the center reported...
What Pittsburgh experts are saying about Russia’s covid-19 vaccine
Russia declared on Tuesday its covid-19 vaccine was ready for public use — an announcement met with global skepticism. While Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted the vaccine had proven to be efficient and had undergone proper testing, some health experts warned that it’s ill-advised to begin using a vaccine before...
New York’s true nursing home death toll cloaked in secrecy
NEW YORK — Riverdale Nursing Home in the Bronx appears, on paper, to have escaped the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, with an official state count of just four deaths in its 146-bed facility. The truth, according to the home, is far worse: 21 dead, most transported to hospitals before...
Rep. Natalie Mihalek: Anticipated drug shortages highlight need for health care industry collaboration
What do flour, hair dye and toilet paper have in common? Grocery stores ran out of these products as the coronavirus pandemic first crept its way into our country. In the same way that grocery stores experienced supply disruptions at the beginning of the pandemic, the drug supply chain is...
Pennsylvania surpasses 120K cases of covid-19
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced 828 new covid-19 cases on Tuesday, making a solid two weeks in which daily cases were below the 1,000 mark. With its latest tally of cases, Pennsylvania’s total of covid-19 cases stands at 120,281. For the second time in the past week, the state...
Westmoreland sees lowest new covid-19 case count in 56 days
Not since June 16 has Westmoreland County seen a day with so few new reported new cases of covid-19. The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced two new cases of coronavirus were added to the county’s total, which now stands at 1,555. Both of those new cases were confirmed. It’s the...
City Theatre reimagines 2020-21 season
Drive-in movies are universally known. Well, how about a drive-in stage play? It’s one way Pittsburgh’s City Theatre is reimagining its 2020-21 season. The updated schedule includes a live drive-in experience as well as virtual content. Without this shift in planning, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to...
Allegheny County continues to post lower new covid-19 case counts
For the first 11 days of July, Allegheny County posted 2,002 new cases of covid-19. In the first 11 days of August, the county had seen its new case count drop by more than 54%. On Tuesday, the county’s health department posted another day — its fifth straight — of...
U.S. skeptical of Russia’s virus vaccine safetyVideo
TAIPAI, Taiwan — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says it’s more important to have a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus than to be the first to produce a vaccine. Azar, on a visit to Taiwan, was asked by ABC on Tuesday what he thought of...
Scientists uneasy as Russia approves 1st coronavirus vaccineVideo
MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people. President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry’s approval and said one of his two adult...
