Coronavirus category, Page 158
Tom Purcell: Amid pandemic, take pen in hand
I can’t recall the last time I wrote or received a handwritten letter — but it’s time to send such letters again. The reasons why the handwritten letter died are obvious: e-mail, text messaging and cellphones. With how quick those innovations make whipping off a note, why would anybody take...
West Virginia governor reinstating coronavirus restrictions as cases rise
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice moved Monday to close bars in the state’s largest college town and reimpose restrictions on large gatherings as coronavirus cases rise to record levels. Justice, a Republican, ordered bars in Monongalia County to close at midnight for 10 days as the county, which includes West...
Pennsylvania health department puts additional coronavirus restrictions on hold
Plans to restrict dining and gatherings in some Southwestern Pennsylvania counties where covid-19 cases have increased have been put on hold following discussions with local leaders last week, Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday. “We had a robust discussion, but none of that influenced our decision,”...
California shuts bars, indoor dining and most gyms, churchesVideo
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday extended the closure of bars and indoor dining statewide and ordered gyms, churches and hair salons closed in most places as coronavirus cases keep rising in the nation’s most populated state. On July 1, Newsom ordered 19 counties with a surging number...
L.A. schools will not reopen campuses for start of school year
Los Angeles campuses will not reopen for classes on Aug. 18, and the nation’s second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice, because of the worsening coronavirus surge, Superintendent Austin Beutner announced Monday. The difficult decision became unavoidable in recent weeks, Beutner said, as coronavirus cases have...
Westmoreland County passes 1,000 coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County had 16 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total case count to 1,010, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday. The count includes 982 confirmed cases and 28 probable cases. There were no new deaths Monday. The county’s coronavirus death counts remains at 39, according to the department. Monday...
Pennsylvania reports 7 new coronavirus deaths, 328 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported 328 new coronavirus cases and seven new deaths. That brings the state’s total case count to 95,742, with 6,911 deaths. The state considers 635 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. Monday’s state report doesn’t include new numbers for the...
Allegheny County reports 71 new covid-19 cases, 6 new hospitalizations
Allegheny County on Monday saw a decrease in newly reported covid-19 cases, but health officials said they aren’t “reading anything into a single low number.” The county reported 71 new cases, six new hospitalizations and no new deaths, which come from 741 test results. The low number comes a little...
What Pittsburgh doctors say about link between blood type and coronavirus
People should not believe they are more protected, or at greater risk, for contracting covid-19 or suffering worse effects from the coronavirus because of their blood type, a doctor with Allegheny Health Network says. “We already know with covid patients there are a multitude of other factors that will predispose...
Blessed Trinity Parish churches, buildings closed after employee tests positive for covid-19
An employee of Blessed Trinity Parish in the South Hills tested positive for covid-19, the Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Sunday. The church building involved is St. Albert the Great in Baldwin. As a precaution, churches and other buildings in the parish will be closed for extra cleaning and sanitizing, the...
Texas patient in 30s dies after reportedly citing ‘mistake’ of attending ‘covid party’
DALLAS — A 30-something patient has died from the coronavirus after reportedly attending a “covid party” and ultimately telling their nurse they had acted in error, San Antonio’s WOAI-TV reported. “Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said, ‘I think I made a mistake, I thought...
Houston leaders call for city lockdown amid coronavirus case surgeVideo
HOUSTON — Top officials in Houston are calling for the city to lock back down as area hospitals strain to accommodate the onslaught of patients sick with the new coronavirus. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, said this weekend that a stay-at-home order is...
Coronavirus spread, not politics should guide schools, doctors sayVideo
As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. They’re urging a more cautious approach, which many local governments and school districts are already pursuing. But Education Secretary...
Dr. Fauci doesn’t weigh ‘whole national interest,’ coronavirus task force member saysVideo
One of President Trump’s coronavirus task force members said Sunday that infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci doesn’t necessarily “have the whole national interest in mind” in suggesting responses to the pandemic. Fauci, who’s also on the task force, “looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view,”...
5 residents at Concordia at Villa St. Joseph in Baden test positive for covid-19
Five residents of a Beaver County nursing home have tested positive for covid-19, officials at the facility confirmed over the weekend. The infected residents at Concordia at Villa St. Joseph in Baden have been quarantined and staffers have investigated where those residents have been in the facility to determine who...
Pennsylvania reports 725 new cases of coronavirus
Pennsylvania health officials on Sunday reported 725 additional covid-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to 95,414. The data section of the state Department of Health’s website was down for maintenance Sunday and because of that only new cases were reported, according to a news release emailed Sunday evening. Earlier in...
19 new coronavirus cases reported in Westmoreland County, no new deaths
Westmoreland County reported 19 new covid-19 cases and no new deaths on Sunday, according to state health department officials. That brings the total number of covid-19 cases in Westmoreland County to 994. Of those, 968 are confirmed and 26 are probable cases. The department reported 23 new covid-19 cases Saturday,...
Allegheny County reports 200 new coronavirus cases, no new deaths
Allegheny County Health Department officials reported 200 new covid-19 cases Sunday. There were no new deaths reported. The death total stands at 198. The county reported eight new hospitalizations out of 1,990 test results. Allegheny County now has seen 4,962 cases of covid-19 since the first ones were reported March...
Vandergrift pool closed due to possible covid-19 exposure
Residents of Vandergrift will have to find new ways to beat the heat for the time being. Vandergrift’s Joseph A. Petrarca Pool is closed, at least temporarily, due to a pool employee possibly being exposed to covid-19. “To be clear, this is not a confirmed case but rather a possible...
Buses pose particular challenge for Pa. schools’ pandemic plans
HARRISBURG — A proposal to construct plastic barriers around school bus drivers as a covid-19 mitigation tactic was shot down by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, a sign of one particular challenge — among many — schools face as they plan for a fall reopening. The state Education Department told...
Coronavirus deaths take a long-expected turn for the worse
NEW YORK — A long-expected upturn in U.S. coronavirus deaths has begun, driven by fatalities in states in the South and West, according to data on the pandemic. The number of deaths per day from the virus had been falling for months, and even remained down as states like Florida...
Dozens of U.S. Marines in Japan’s Okinawa get coronavirus
TOKYO — Dozens of U.S. Marines at two bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have been infected with the coronavirus in what is feared to be a massive outbreak, Okinawa’s governor said Saturday, demanding an adequate explanation from the U.S. military. Gov. Denny Tamaki said he could say...
Widow condemns ‘barbaric’ death of driver beaten over masks
BAYONNE, France — The wife of a French bus driver savagely beaten after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” after he died of his injuries. The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the...
23 new covid-19 cases reported in Westmoreland County but no new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 23 new covid-19 cases and no new deaths in Westmoreland County. The numbers bring the countywide case total to 975. The death total remains at 39. The department had reported 35 new cases Friday, 21 new cases Thursday, 33 on Wednesday, 35...
813 new covid-19 cases reported in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 813 additional positive cases of covid-19, bringing the statewide total to 94,689. There were 17 new deaths reported bringing the total number of covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania to 6,897. All 67 counties in the state have cases of covid-19. “As the entire...
