Coronavirus category, Page 11
WHO: Covid continues to decline, except in Americas, Africa
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of newly reported coronavirus cases and deaths globally continued to fall in the last week, continuing a decline that first began in March. In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were about 3.8...
Even as covid cases rise, mask mandates stay shelved
NEW YORK — An increase in covid-19 infections around the U.S. has sent more cities into new high-risk categories that are supposed to trigger indoor mask wearing, but much of the country is stopping short of bringing back restrictions amid deep pandemic fatigue. For weeks, much of upstate New York...
New coronavirus variants emerge: BA.4, BA.5 likely reinfecting omicron survivors
A pair of new omicron subvariants has emerged, raising the possibility that survivors of earlier omicron strains can get reinfected. BA.4 and BA.5 have gained increasing attention in South Africa as weekly coronavirus cases tripled in the last two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. “It really came...
Pfizer profit soars in 1st quarter, revises 2022 forecast
Covid-19 vaccine and treatment sales helped Pfizer breeze past Wall Street’s first-quarter expectations, as the drugmaker’s profit grew 61%. The coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty, which has been Pfizer’s top seller for about a year, brought in more than $13 billion in sales in the quarter. The pill treatment Paxlovid, which launched...
FDA sets June meetings on covid vaccines for youngest kids
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday set tentative dates in June to publicly review covid-19 vaccines for the youngest American children, typically the final step before authorizing the shots. The meeting announcement follows months of frustration from families impatient for a chance to vaccinate their little children, along with...
Still a pandemic? Endemic? Becoming like the flu? Whatever the term, covid-19 has become more manageable
Experts in the Pittsburgh region generally agree with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s assessment this week that the United States is “out of the pandemic phase” of covid-19, the virus whose death toll is closing in 1 million in the U.S. alone. “ ‘Over’ is a strong term,” said Dr. Donald Whiting,...
Latin American nations ease restrictions as covid cases drop
Colombians will soon be going to movie theaters without having to wear face masks. Chile opens its borders next week for the first time in two years. Mexico’s president has declared the pandemic over. And in Rio de Janeiro, tens of thousands attended Carnival parades just two months after the...
Moderna seeks to be 1st with covid shots for littlest kids
Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by summer. Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them...
Fauci: ‘Pandemic phase’ over for U.S., but covid still hereVideo
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the United States. but the pandemic isn’t over — and the challenge is how to keep improving the situation. “We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, in an...
Court says U.K.’s nursing home covid-19 policy was illegal
LONDON — A British court ruled Wednesday that the government’s decision to discharge hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for covid-19, which led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic, was illegal. Two High Court judges said the policy from March and April 2020 was unlawful because...
Researchers: Covid, Israel-Gaza war fueled antisemitism
JERUSALEM — The coronavrius pandemic and Israel’s overwhelming force during the Gaza war helped fuel a worldwide spike in antisemitism last year, Israeli researchers reported on Wednesday. The prominence of political extremism and the reach of social media also may have intensified the ancient phenomenon of scapegoating Jews in recent...
Explainer: Covid-19 pills must be taken within 5 days of symptoms
Newly infected covid-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear. The challenge is getting tested, obtaining a prescription and starting the pills in a short window....
CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections
NEW YORK — Three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers estimated in a report Tuesday. The researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans...
Vice President Kamala Harris positive for covid-19, Biden not ‘close contact’
WASHINGTON —Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady...
Beijing locks down some areas as covid-19 cases mount
China’s capital, Beijing, began mass testing of more than 3 million people on Monday and restricted residents in one part of the city to their compounds, sparking worries of a wider Shanghai-style lockdown. While only 70 cases have been found so far in the city of more than 21 million...
Shanghai erects metal barriers in fight against covid-19
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Volunteers and government workers in Shanghai erected metal barriers in multiple districts to block off small streets and entrances to apartment complexes, as China hardens its strict “zero-covid” approach in its largest city despite growing complaints from residents. In the city’s financial district, Pudong, the barriers —...
Mask mandates return to U.S. college campuses as cases rise
The final weeks of the college school year have been disrupted yet again by covid-19 as universities bring back mask mandates, switch to online classes and scale back large gatherings in response to upticks in coronavirus infections. Colleges in Washington, D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Texas have reimposed...
Philadelphia to end mask mandate, days after reinstating it
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia is ending its indoor mask mandate, city health officials said Thursday night, abruptly reversing course just days after people in the city had to start wearing masks again amid a sharp increase in infections. The Board of Health voted Thursday to rescind the mandate, according to the...
Allegheny County Executive Fitzgerald back at work after covid isolation
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald is back in the office five days after testing positive for covid-19. Fitzgerald, who is vaccinated and boosted, had no symptoms, said county spokeswoman Amie Downs. He was tested last week after he’d been in close contact with someone who had the virus, and he...
Poll: Majority of Americans want masks for travelers
A majority of Americans continue to support a mask requirement for people traveling on airplanes and other shared transportation, a new poll finds. A ruling by a federal judge has put the government’s transportation mask mandate on hold. The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds...
Feds will appeal mask ruling only if mandate still needed
The Justice Department said Tuesday it will not appeal a federal district judge’s ruling that ended the nation’s federal mask mandate on public transit unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the requirement is still necessary. In a statement released a day after a Florida judge ended the...
Moderna announces step toward updating covid shots for fall
Moderna hopes to offer updated covid-19 boosters in the fall that combine its original vaccine with protection against the omicron variant. On Tuesday, it reported a preliminary hint that such an approach might work. Today’s covid-19 vaccines all are based on the original version of the coronavirus. But the virus...
Why is Philadelphia requiring masks again today when other cities aren’t?
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s return to indoor masking on Monday has drawn as many different reactions as there are new variants of the coronavirus. Relief among those concerned about the recent rise in cases of covid-19. Grudging acceptance from others. And resentment among those who see the move as overcautious and...
How the test-to-treat pillar of the U.S. covid strategy is failing patients
The federal “test-to-treat” program, announced in March, is meant to reduce covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths by quickly getting antiviral pills to people who test positive. But even as cases rise again, many Americans don’t have access to the program. Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s Lagevrio are both designed to be started...
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, Allegheny Co. Executive Rich Fitzgerald test positive for covid
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald tested positive for covid-19 Thursday, officials announced Friday. Gainey is experiencing only minor symptoms and is in isolation at home, his office said in a news release Friday morning. He will continue working from home while following guidelines from the...
