Coronavirus category, Page 16
Pa. health officials visit Youngwood pharmacy to boost covid vaccine efforts
The 25,000 covid-19 vaccines delivered over the past year by a Westmoreland County community pharmacy were lauded Wednesday by acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Keara Klinepeter. However, there is still work to be done in a county that ranks 27th in Pennsylvania in percentage of residents fully vaccinated, according to state...
Army to immediately start discharging vaccine refusers
WASHINGTON — The Army said Wednesday it will immediately begin discharging soldiers who have refused to get the mandatory covid-19 vaccine, putting more than 3,300 service members at risk of being thrown out soon. The Army’s announcement makes it the final military service to lay out its discharge policy for...
Virus enters Tonga along with disaster aid; lockdown planned
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Tonga will enter a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the Pacific nation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami. The urgent announcement by Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni appeared to confirm fears that accepting the aid following...
Pfizer asks FDA to allow covid-19 vaccine for kids under 5
WASHINGTON — Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its covid-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March. In an extraordinary move, the Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and...
Western Pa. health care facilities in compliance with federal vaccine mandate
Western Pennsylvania’s health care facilities largely are in compliance with the first deadline of a federal mandate requiring employees to be vaccinated against covid-19. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month upheld the mandate requiring all employees at health care providers that receive federal funding to be fully vaccinated by...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized again for not wearing a mask
LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing new criticism for shedding his face mask, rekindling a politically sensitive issue that has shadowed the Democratic governor since he was caught without a face covering at a private 2020 party that defied his own pandemic safety orders. The latest scrutiny...
UPMC says new treatment Evusheld reduces covid risk for immunocompromised
UPMC doctors say they are encouraged by the effectiveness of a new, preventative monoclonal antibody treatment that is administered to immunocompromised people before they contract covid-19. The two-shot Evusheld treatment received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in early December, and UPMC got its first doses later...
Westmoreland prison officials say covid cases on the decline
The most recent surge of coronavirus cases at Westmoreland County Prison appears to have peaked. Warden Bryan Kline said Monday that no additional cases among inmates have been diagnosed since late last week. The number of inmates who were in quarantine reached as high as 102 on Jan. 26. That...
Highmark announces process for obtaining no-cost rapid covid-19 tests
Millions of Highmark members with prescription drug coverage are now able to obtain over-the-counter rapid covid-19 tests with no out-of-pocket costs. Bob Wanovich, vice president of provider strategy for Highmark, said Monday that customers will now be able to get the tests at their regular pharmacy counter through a partnership...
Moderna announces full U.S. approval for its covid vaccine
WASHINGTON — Moderna announced Monday that U.S. health regulators granted full approval to its covid-19 vaccine, a shot that’s been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago. The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same...
Pa. hospitals wrestle with nursing shortages as pandemic drags on
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Holding onto hope inside a covid ICU: ‘It’s like working in a war zone’Video
Inside a room in the intensive care unit at Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital, a covid-infected man lies prone on his stomach, hooked up to a ventilator that is breathing for him. The room is noisy, even though the man can’t speak. Chimes and beeps are accompanied by the constant,...
Pa. hospitals wrestle with nursing shortages as pandemic drags on
The stress of a two-year pandemic combined with an aging workforce and shortage of teachers has led to a critical staffing shortage among nurses. Joy Peters, chief nursing officer for Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital, said staffing levels in almost every department at Jefferson are down 30% to 40% from...
Charges: Nurses made $1.5 million off fake vaccination cards
AMITYVILLE, N.Y. — Two nurses on Long Island are accused of forging covid-19 vaccination cards and pocketing more than $1.5 million from the scheme, prosecutors and police said. Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and her employee, Marissa Urraro, are both charged with felony forgery,...
Penn State neared pandemic record with 631 covid cases last week
Penn State neared a pandemic record last week with 631 covid cases, University Park’s highest number of campus infections since the 2020 fall semester — but, with cases declining statewide, the hope is that Penn State’s cases will soon follow suit. Based on data from Jan. 17-23 on the university’s...
Sarah Palin dines out again in New York days after positive virus test
NEW YORK — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was spotted dining out at a New York City restaurant two days after testing positive for the coronavirus. The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee’s visit Wednesday to the upscale Manhattan eatery Elio’s drew attention from photo-snapping bystanders. It came shortly after she...
District court in Pittsburgh split on school masking, issue likely to be decided by appellate court
The underlying facts in each case are the same. The North Allegheny and Upper Saint Clair school boards voted recently to reverse mandatory masking policies. Medically vulnerable students argued that the reversal put them at risk of contracting covid-19 and the decision violated their rights under the Americans with Disabilities...
Visitation and inmate transfers halted as covid-19 surges through Westmoreland County Prison
Westmoreland County Prison brass on Thursday suspended inmate visits as another surge of covid-19 cases has erupted at the lockup in Hempfield. Warden Bryan Kline said more than 100 inmates have the coronavirus and additional cases are expected once pending test results are reported. The outbreak involves about 20% of...
Vaccine mandate for 1st wave of health care workers to kick in
Health care workers in Pennsylvania and about half the states face a Thursday deadline to get their first dose of the covid-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks. While the requirement is welcomed by some,...
Hospital patient without covid vaccine denied heart transplant
MENDON, Mass. — A Boston hospital is defending itself after a man’s family claimed he was denied a new heart for refusing to be vaccinated against covid-19, saying most transplant programs around the country set similar requirements to improve patients’ chances of survival. The family of D.J. Ferguson said in...
Covid-19 hospitalizations set record in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia set a pandemic record Wednesday for the number of residents hospitalized for the coronavirus. Covid-19 daily hospitalizations hit 1,043, breaking the mark of 1,012 set on Sept. 24, according to state health figures. The number of virus patients in the hospital has increased 52% over...
Pennsylvania fast-tracks $225M in pandemic aid to hospitals
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday fast-tracked legislation to spend $225 million to help hospitals struggling to keep staff on board as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has packed hospitals with unvaccinated patients. The bill has backing from Gov. Tom Wolf and House leaders, and was expected to...
Pfizer opens study of covid shots updated to match omicron
Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original covid-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the hugely contagious omicron variant. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday. Covid-19 vaccine makers have been updating their shots to better match omicron in case global health authorities decide the...
FDA halts use of antibody drugs that don’t work against omicron
WASHINGTON — Covid-19 antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly should no longer be used because they don’t work against the omicron variant that now accounts for nearly all U.S. infections, U.S. health regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration said it was revoking emergency authorization for both drugs,...
Here’s how and where to pick up free N95 masks in Western Pa.
The federal government this week will begin providing free N95 masks to those who want them by dipping into the Strategic National Stockpile and distributing the masks throughout the country. The administration will make 400 million N95 masks available to be picked up for free at local pharmacies and community...
