Coronavirus category, Page 76

Westmoreland County is averaging about 30% of the number covid cases it was seeing a month ago. The county added 93 additional covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health, bringing its seven-day average of covid cases to 78 cases per day. A month ago, Westmoreland County was...

Allegheny County on Tuesday reported 405 additional covid-19 cases, the most cases reported in a day in about two weeks. Tuesday’s reported cases were the most since Jan. 23, when 464 covid cases were added. Dates of positive tests range from Nov. 19 to Feb. 8. The county Health Department...

The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized because of covid-19 continues to decline at a rapid pace. According to the latest data from OpenData PA, which tracks hospital numbers in the state, the number of patients hospitalized has dropped 12% in the past week and 46% in the past month. As of...

Some college students will be eligible for SNAP food benefits based on their family’s income, a change that is temporary but will open up the program for a swath of students who otherwise did not qualify for the support, Pennsylvania officials announced Monday. Under normal circumstances, federal rules dictate that...

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto issued a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday, calling for the state’s Department of Health to immediately prioritize the vaccination of teachers. His letter follows weeks of sluggishness in the state’s covid-19 vaccine rollout, including confusion and frustration from many educators in the region. Many...

Evidence is mounting that having covid-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants. People also can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, new research suggests. How long immunity lasts from natural infection...

Russia’s updated statistics on coronavirus-linked deaths show that 162,429 people with covid-19 had died in the pandemic last year, a number much higher than previously reported by government officials. The state statistics agency, Rosstat, released figures for December on Monday, updating its count of coronavirus-linked deaths that includes cases where...

LOS ANGELES — In the early years of his illness, as his kidneys began to shrink and toxins coursed through his blood, the same four words often floated through Miguel Rangel’s mind: “I’m going to die.” Although some people live much longer, the average life expectancy of dialysis patients is...

Two Hempfield Area elementary schools are closed Monday because of positive covid-19 cases, district officials said. Fort Allen and West Hempfield elementary schools shuttered after cases were reported among staff and students, according to Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. District leaders announced Fort Allen’s closure Friday after an additional student tested positive...

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is considering giving a covid-19 vaccine that is still in the testing phase to health workers, after suspending the rollout of another shot that preliminary data indicated is not effective at preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country. The country is...

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has suspended plans to inoculate its front-line health care workers with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a small clinical trial suggested that it isn’t effective in preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country. South Africa received its first 1 million doses of...

Surveys from Carnegie Mellon University researchers show vaccine distribution is lower among Black and Hispanic Americans than white people across the U.S. Carnegie Mellon’s Delphi Research Group began surveying Facebook users nationwide about covid-19 symptoms in April 2020 and throughout the pandemic has released analyses on a variety of covid-related...

Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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. SULLIVAN COUNTY — Robert Keen figured his year of dodging the coronavirus was over. At 84, the retired ambulance driver —...

MISSION, Kan. — Mortuary owner Brian Simmons has been making more trips to homes to pick up bodies to be cremated and embalmed since the pandemic hit. With covid-19 devastating communities in Missouri, his two-person crews regularly arrive at homes in the Springfield area and remove bodies of people who...

RIO DE JANEIRO — In a normal year, Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome would preparing for its great moment of the year: the world’s most famous Carnival parade. But a week before what should be the start of Carnival, the pandemic has replaced pageantry, with the great celebration put on hold...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 72 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area. The county’s total cases are at 25,202, which is an increase of about 540 cases from the preceding week’s 24,661. The week before had...

Pennsylvania health officials on Saturday reported 3,930 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to trend downward in the Keystone State. The new data bring the total cases to 865,604. That’s a jump of more than 26,000 additional cases from this time last week. Two weeks ago, the...

Looking at photos from a specific period in history can be very telling. American photographs from the years of World War II, without any words, can tell the stories of battle-worn soldiers, the families they left behind and the efforts of those at home to support them. Pennsylvania First Lady...

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 271 new coronavirus cases, as recent daily numbers continue to decline. Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly three weeks and the county hasn’t reported any 1,000-case days in the past five weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department. Thirty deaths were...

Heinz Field has been offered up as a possible site for a mass covid-19 vaccine distribution — but there are no imminent plans to do so as Pennsylvania scrambles to get enough vaccine doses to people in top-priority groups. “We previously offered Heinz Field for use as a vaccination site...

Westmoreland County on Friday reported 62 more cases of the coronavirus, dropping the seven-day average to 79. That’s the lowest the average has been since early November. The total reported cases in the county is 25,130, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Of the new cases, 29 are confirmed...

While Pennsylvania on Friday reported 4,688 additional cases of the coronavirus — the highest since adding 5,191 on Saturday — the state’s seven-day case average continues to trend downward. Not since mid-November has Pennsylvania’s seven-day average — now at 3,947 — been as low. The current average is 30% lower...

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will deploy troops to assist getting Americans vaccinated against covid-19, the White House said Friday. Coronavirus senior adviser Andy Slavitt announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved a request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It means about 1,000 active duty military personnel...

Allegheny County on Friday reported 334 additional cases of coronavirus, the highest daily tally in a week. But the county’s seven-day case average continues to trend downward, according the latest data released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The seven-day average sits at 286, the lowest since mid-November. Of the...

As covid-19 vaccination efforts ramp up, health experts are urging people not to skimp on mitigation measures even after they receive the vaccine. Optimism about the vaccine is warranted, but that doesn’t mean vaccinated people should disregard mitigation efforts like mask wearing and social distancing, said Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC’s...