Coronavirus category, Page 38

Federal officials are extending into January a requirement that people on airline flights and public transportation wear face masks, a rule intended to limit the spread of covid-19. The Transportation Security Administration was scheduled to enforce the rule until Sept. 13. An agency spokesman said Tuesday that the mandate will...

The nation’s roiling tensions over vaccination against covid-19 have spilled into an unexpected arena: lifesaving blood transfusions. With nearly 60% of the eligible U.S. population fully vaccinated, most of the nation’s blood supply is now coming from donors who have been inoculated, experts said. That’s led some patients who are...

CHARLESTON — West Virginia University said Tuesday that it is requiring masks to be worn in classrooms and labs for the next 30 days, citing several factors, including that not enough students and employees have submitted proof that they have been vaccinated against covid-19. The university announced the change effective...

AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, according to his office, who said the Republican is in good health and experiencing no symptoms. Abbott, who was vaccinated in December and has refused calls to reinstate mask mandates as the highly contagious delta variant surges in...

Masks will be required for the start of the school year at all schools within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. The mask mandate applies to all students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination status — unless a medical or developmental condition prevents an individual from wearing a mask, the diocese...

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Tribune-Review learned around noon Wednesday that this scheduled covid vaccine clinic has been canceled. No reason for the cancellation was immediately available. It was not immediately known if the clinic would be rescheduled. Original report follows: Allegheny Health Network will hold a covid vaccination clinic in New...

CALLAHAN, Fla. — In a rural stretch of northeastern Florida where barely half the people have gotten a coronavirus shot, Roger West had no problem telling others he was “adamantly anti-vaccination.” The co-owner of the Westside Journal weekly newspaper used his voice as a columnist to widely share his doubts...

NEW YORK — Americans cut back on their spending last month as a surge in covid-19 cases kept people away from stores. Retail sales fell a seasonal adjusted 1.1% in July from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was a much larger drop than the 0.3%...

WASHINGTON — U.S. health experts are expected to recommend covid-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. Federal health officials have been actively...

Allegheny, Westmoreland and several surrounding counties now have a high level of covid-19 transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines a “high” covid-19 transmission level as more than 100 cases per 100,000 people or a 10% positivity rate in a particular county over seven...

Certain individuals with compromised immune systems are eligible to receive a third dose of the covid-19 vaccine, with UPMC, Allegheny Health Network and Giant Eagle among regional providers offering the shot. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week announced that some people...

ENOLA — Pennsylvania will offer voluntary covid-19 testing in all K-12 schools, state health and education officials announced Monday. School districts will have to opt in, and parents must give consent. For participating school districts, the weekly tests will be conducted in classrooms. Students’ nasal swabs will be pooled and...

NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s top health official said Monday that just halfway through August, the state has already shattered its single-month record for new covid-19 hospitalizations. Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey told reporters the surge in covid-19 patients “really tips the scales” in hospitals even if there aren’t as many people currently...

MADISON, Wis. — Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken conservatives and a vaccine skeptic, said he has covid-19 and his staff said he is breathing through a ventilator. Burke tweeted Aug. 10 that he had caught the virus, was resting comfortably and was receiving excellent medical...

Dr. Danny Avula, the head of Virginia’s covid-19 vaccination effort, suspected he might have a problem getting pastors to publicly advocate for the shots when some members of his own church referred to them as “the mark of the beast,” a biblical reference to allegiance to the devil, and the...

As covid-19 surged last year, governments worldwide touted the hope of “herd immunity,” a promised land where the virus stopped spreading exponentially because enough people were protected against it. That’s now looking like a fantasy. The thinking was that the pandemic would ebb and then mostly fade once a chunk...

AUSTIN — The Texas Supreme Court stepped in Sunday evening to block lower-court orders that had allowed Dallas and San Antonio to impose mask mandates contrary to an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott. The temporary restraining orders, issued by separate District Court judges and upheld Friday by intermediate appellate...

Providing — and verifying — proof of covid-19 vaccine status largely comes down to the honor system. And this could prove problematic with calls for proof of vaccination status growing among employers, entertainment venues, restaurants and colleges. There is no national database of vaccine recipients. Record keeping varies from state...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s governor said Friday she will send up to 1,500 National Guard troops to hospitals around the state to assist healthcare workers who are being pushed to the brink by a surge of covid-19 cases driven by the delta variant. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said the...

WASHINGTON — When the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. first began to slow, President Joe Biden backed incentives like million-dollar cash lotteries if that’s what it took to get shots in arms. But as new coronavirus infections soar, he’s testing a tougher approach. In just the past two weeks,...

Twenty-seven people aboard a Carnival cruise tested positive for covid-19 just before the ship made a stop in Belize City this week, according to the Belize Tourism Board. The positive cases were among 26 crew members and one passenger on the Carnival Vista, which is carrying over 1,400 crew and...

WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Thursday said transplant recipients and others with weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the covid-19 vaccine to better protect them as the delta variant continues to surge. The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration applies to millions of Americans who are...