Coronavirus category, Page 93
South Africa says new strain driving resurgence
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has announced that a new variant of the covid-19 virus is driving the country’s resurgence of the disease, with higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths. According to health officials and scientists leading the country’s virus strategy, the new variant, known as 501.V2, is dominant...
Covid-19 vaccinations will start at long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania next week
Pharmacy workers from CVS Health will begin administering the covid-19 vaccine to residents and staff members in 2,283 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Pennsylvania starting Monday, Dec. 28. The Pfizer vaccine is being distributed under a phased plan starting with health care workers and residents and staff members...
Congress seals agreement on $900 billion covid relief bill
WASHINGTON — After months of Washington gridlock, Congress is set to act on a $900 billion pandemic relief package, finally delivering long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in covid-19 cases and deaths. The relief package, agreed to on Sunday and...
Westmoreland County coronavirus rate five times higher than ‘substantial’ threshold
Westmoreland County’s coronavirus incidence rate — a statistic that tracks the spread of the virus through the population — has more than tripled in the last month. It was 516.5 for the most recently measured 7-day period, which ended Thursday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health data. That’s down...
U.S. airport traffic rising despite holiday travel warnings
SAN RAMON, Calif. — More than 1 million people have passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints in each of the past two days in a sign that public health pleas to avoid holiday travel are being ignored, despite an alarming surge in covid-19 cases. It marks the first time U.S....
People over 75, essential workers next in line for covid vaccineVideo
NEW YORK — An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic...
Dr. Deborah Birx travels, family visits highlight pandemic safety perils
WASHINGTON — As covid-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.” For many Americans that guidance has been difficult to abide, including for Birx herself. The day after...
West Virginia reports another week of record virus deaths
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia has smashed another weekly record for deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic, while the number of residents hospitalized for covid-19 has come down in recent days. According to health officials, 160 people died in the state from the virus for the week ending Sunday, breaking...
2nd covid-19 vaccine authorized in US is shipped out
OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — Initial shipments of the second covid-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S. left a distribution center Sunday, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control. The trucks left the Memphis-area factory with the vaccine developed by Moderna and the National...
Racism targets Asian food, business during covid-19 pandemic
As the coronavirus spread throughout the U.S., bigotry toward Asian Americans was not far behind, fueled by the news that covid-19 first appeared in China. Some initial evidence suggested the virus began in bats, which infected another animal that may have spread it to people at one of Wuhan, China’s...
Pa. misses deadline to spend $108M in rent, mortgage relief from CARES Act
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan 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 newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state...
Lacking legal immunity, businesses fear covid-19 lawsuits
PORTLAND, Maine — Plans for a lawsuit against a Maine venue that hosted what became a “superspreader” wedding reception underscore the liability risks to small businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic and an uphill push by Republicans in Congress to give such outfits legal immunity. Behemoths like Walmart and Tyson Foods,...
West Virginia spent little on masks, gloves in early pandemic
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia, the last state to report a coronavirus case, spent relatively little on protective medical gear during the early months of the pandemic compared to other states, an Associated Press analysis shows. While other states spent tens of millions of dollars, sometimes trusting new companies that...
‘Hurting for hope,’ South Dakota rural churches mark Advent
CANTON, S.D. — The Nativity stable at Canton Lutheran Church will be silent this year, breaking from a community tradition of gathering for a live Christmas performance. Instead, churches in this rural corner of South Dakota are grappling with how to approach an Advent filled with quiet mourning after the...
California hospitals struggle as coronavirus cases explode
LOS ANGELES — California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers. As of Friday, nearly 17,000 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected covid-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached...
Westmoreland County posts 410 covid-19 cases; 8 more deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 410 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County. It was the fourth consecutive day the county reported fewer than 500 cases. On Friday, 248 cases were reported, marking the first time there were less than 250 cases since Dec. 7. Eight...
Pennsylvania posts nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases; 217 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 9,834 new coronavirus cases, as the Keystone State gets nearer to accumulating 550,000 cases. The new data bring the total cases to 548,489. That’s a jump of more than 67,000 cases from this time last week (481,118). Officials said 50,157 of total cases are considered probable....
Allegheny County reports another 1,000-new covid case day, 7 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 1,015 new coronavirus cases — after a two-day reprieve from 1,000-case counts — as the community continues to rack up covid-19 infections during the holiday season. The report is a 188-case jump from Friday’s total of 827. On Thursday, 850 cases were reported. It’s the...
Pittsburgh doctor shares his covid vaccination experience
Pittsburgh-based infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja has been front and center on national news programs, in newspaper articles and on radio shows since the coronavirus pandemic began. Adalja, who is a critical care, infectious disease and emergency medicine physician, has been treating patients at his hometown Butler Memorial Hospital...
Pence, top congressional leaders get vaccines; Trump absent
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and the leaders of the House and Senate received their first doses of the covid-19 vaccine on Friday as they tried to reassure the American public that the shot is safe. Pence, in a live-television event, celebrated the milestone as “a medical miracle” that...
U.S. clears Moderna vaccine for covid-19, 2nd shot in arsenal
WASHINGTON —The U.S. added a second covid-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day. Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout...
House passes bill to avert government shutdown; Senate next
WASHINGTON — The House passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night to avert a partial government shutdown, trying to buy time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion covid-19 economic relief package. Senate action wasn’t guaranteed but appeared likely before the midnight deadline. The House passed...
Giant Eagle’s pharmacists prepared to step up to administer covid-19 vaccines in Pa.
Giant Eagle is offering up its staff of pharmacists to help distribute the initial doses of the covid-19 vaccine, the O’Hara-based chain said Friday. The company assisted in administering the vaccine to long-term care workers Thursday and Friday in Morgantown, W.Va., its Vice President of Risk and Chief Compliance Officer...
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh receives Mellon Foundation grant for vaccine freezers
The Richard King Mellon Foundation has awarded $250,000 to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for the purchase of ultra-cold storage units – to help them hold and distribute the covid-19 vaccine. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first doses of which were administered last week, requires storage in extremely cold temperatures –...
Voting still open for People’s Choice award in Pittsburgh’s Gingerbread House Display and Competition
There are 14 more days remaining to vote for the People’s Choice award in the City of Pittsburgh’s Gingerbread House Display and Competition. The recognition is new for the 18th annual event, which went virtual this year because of the pandemic. More than 1,500 votes have been cast for the...
