Coronavirus category, Page 239
U.S. border construction projects spur rural coronavirus fears
BILLINGS, Mont. — Major construction projects moving forward along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are raising fears that the coronavirus could race through temporary camps and workers could spread it to nearby rural communities that would not be able to handle an outbreak. Despite a clampdown on people’s...
Fauci says he feels safe despite threats, is focusing on job
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, said Thursday he feels safe despite reports he’s received online threats and has had uncomfortable personal encounters with admirers that prompted the Trump administration to assign him a security detail. Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus...
Westmoreland County adds 12 new coronavirus cases as total hits 84
Westmoreland County reported 12 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as the statewide total jumped by more than 1,200 cases, Pennsylvania health officials said. There are now 84 patients with covid-19 in Westmoreland County. The case count in Pennsylvania now stands at 7,016. The 1,211 new cases amount to a 21%...
Democratic convention moving from July to August
The Democratic National Committee is delaying its presidential nominating convention until the week of Aug. 17 after prospective nominee Joe Biden said he didn’t think it would be possible to hold a normal convention in mid-July because of the coronavirus pandemic. Convention CEO Joe Solmonese confirmed the decision in a...
Pennsylvania reports 1,211 new coronavirus cases, 16 more deaths
Pennsylvania reported 1,200 new coronavirus cases Thursday, and deaths now stand at 90, according to state health officials. The 1,211 new cases confirmed from midnight Tuesday through midnight Wednesday bring the statewide case count to 7,016. That’s about a 21% increase over the day prior. Sixteen more people have died,...
Russia’s Putin orders non-working month to curb coronavirusVideo
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered most Russians to stay off work until the end of the month as part of a partial economic shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Speaking in a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Putin said he was extending the...
Allegheny County coronavirus cases jump by 63 as total tops 400
Allegheny County reported 63 new cases of the coronavirus Thursday, an 18% increase from Wednesday, bringing the countywide total to 419. Of that total, two Allegheny County residents have died from complications from covid-19. Over the past week, about 500 people have been tested per day, a significant increase over...
Pittsburgh scientists develop possible coronavirus vaccine, hope FDA can fast-track itVideo
A potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus causing the covid-19 outbreak has been created in a University of Pittsburgh lab. Researchers say the first phase of human clinical trials — which would include healthy volunteers in the Pittsburgh area — could start in the coming months. Scientists at the University...
Alicia Santi: Charter schools under attack
My son, like many children in Pennsylvania, is a student with special needs — specifically, developmental disorders requiring him to receive individual tutoring. Like the experiences of many others who have found that the public cyber school option works best for their child, my son would easily get distracted by...
James Patterson sets up fund to help indie booksellers
James Patterson has a history of helping independent bookstores. The best-selling novelist has donated millions in recent years to booksellers, while also giving millions to schools and libraries and literacy programs. Now, with stores closed or closing nationwide because of the coronavirus outbreak, Patterson has launched a new initiative. On...
Pittsburgh pizza shop owner stitching facial masks for employees, neighbors
When Martina Hanoglu saw people in her native Czech Republic making homemade facial masks for possible protection against the coronavirus, she pulled out her small sewing machine. For the past two weeks, Hanoglu stitched together cotton masks and distributed them to employees and Downtown Pittsburgh neighbors from her pizza shop...
PennDOT further extends expirations on licenses, vehicle requirements
Pennsylvanians have until the end of May to renew driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and inspections that were scheduled to expire between March 16 and April 30. The new May 31 deadline applies to the following, according to PennDOT: • Driver’s licenses, photo identification cards and learner’s permits expiring from March...
New England Patriots plane with 1.2 million N95 masks from China headed to U.S.
A plane full of needed medical supplies from China was set to land in Boston on Thursday afternoon. Rather than an airline or government logo, though, the plane features the New England Patriots design and their six Lombardi Trophies. According to The Wall Street Journal, the plane was permitted to...
Record 6.6 million Americans apply for unemployment in 1 weekVideo
WASHINGTON — More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week — doubling a record high set just one week earlier — a sign that layoffs are accelerating in the midst of the coronavirus. The stunning report Thursday from the Labor Department showed that job cuts are mounting...
Leonardo DiCaprio, others launch $12M coronavirus relief food fund
Leonardo DiCaprio will help launch America’s Food Fund, which has already raised $12 million to help communities impacted by the coronavirus. The organization said Thursday that the funds will be aimed to help low-income families, the elderly, individuals facing job disruptions and children who rely on school lunch programs. The...
Trump resists national shutdown, leaving it up to states
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is resisting calls to issue a national stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the new coronavirus despite his administration’s projections that tens of thousands of Americans are likely to be killed by the disease. One by one, though, states are increasingly pushing shutdown orders...
2 Laurel Highlands school employees test positive for covid-19
Two Laurel Highlands School District employees tested positive for covid-19, according to a letter posted on the district website by Superintendent Jesse Wallace. Neither employee has been inside a school district building in the last couple of weeks, he said. Both employees are assigned to Hutchinson Elementary School. The employees...
Israel’s health minister has virus, top officials to isolateVideo
JERUSALEM — The new coronavirus is forcing more top Israeli officials into isolation after the country’s health minister, who has had frequent contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tested positive, the Health Ministry said Thursday. The Middle East has over 81,000 confirmed cases of the virus, most of those in...
AHN turning Pittsburgh auditorium into covid-19 test kit production siteVideo
The Allegheny Health Network is proactively preparing for a local surge in covid-19 cases by producing test kits at its Highmark Health Penn Avenue Place in Downtown Pittsburgh, an AHN official said Thursday. The network aims to produce 20,000 to 30,000 kits in the coming weeks, continuing production through the...
Police looking for man who spit on Edgewood Giant Eagle manager
Allegheny County detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man accused of spitting on an employee at Giant Eagle’s store in Edgewood Wednesday morning. Store manager Aisha Mariner told the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, that the incident happened when she was trying to help a customer who...
Allegheny County court officials release information on remaining jail population
After 701 inmates were released from Allegheny County Jail to prevent the spread of covid-19, the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania released an update on the remaining population. As of Tuesday, 1,564 inmates were left in the jail, according to the court administrator’s office. That’s a 30% decrease from the...
Free hotel rooms, boxed lunches, child care money available to hospital workers via St. Margaret Foundation
The foundation that supports UPMC St. Margaret hospital announced Wednesday that it is offering free hotel room stays to workers afraid of spreading covid-19 to their loved ones by bringing the highly contagious disease home. The temporary housing option, now available to certain employees who may have been exposed to...
Murrysville Medic One gets massive anonymous donation of medical equipment
Murrysville Medic One received some good news this week: An anonymous benefactor was donating protective medical equipment. A lot of it. “We had the police department come down and block off part of the road because we had three wheelchair vans full of stuff,” said Matt Stromberg, a Medic One...
Air traffic plummets at Western Pa. airportsVideo
Josh Clevenger didn’t have to worry about having enough leg room or overhead bin space Wednesday on his flight from Fort Myers, Fla., to Pittsburgh International Airport. “I had five rows in front of me completely empty and five rows behind me completely empty,” said Clevenger, 31, of Englewood, Fla....
Harmar company that makes hemp- and algae-based medicines adds hand sanitizerVideo
Another local company has whipped up a new “craft” hand sanitizer in travel-size bottles to donate to the homeless, local police and others. Thar Process follows others including Wigle Whiskey, which has converted production facilities in the Strip District to produce the much in-demand product during the covid-19 pandemic. Thar...
