Health category, Page 93

The ability of uninsured Pennsylvanians to be tested for coronavirus was an early concern in the fight against covid-19. Now those without health insurance can be tested for free. Gov. Tom Wolf has announced that federal stimulus funds will be used to reimburse providers who test uninsured patients. Access to...

FAIRLESS HILLS — Johnson & Johnson is ending sales of its iconic talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder in the United States and Canada, where demand has dwindled amid thousands of lawsuits claiming it has caused cancer. The world’s biggest maker of health care products said Tuesday the talc-based powder will still...

KENSINGTON, Md. — The world cut its daily carbon dioxide emissions by 17% at the peak of the pandemic shutdown last month, a new study found. But with life and heat-trapping gas levels inching back toward normal, the brief pollution break will likely be “a drop in the ocean” when...

Westmoreland County on Sunday continued to report no new deaths from the coronavirus, but did see an increase in positive covid-19 cases. State officials said 427 people have tested positive for the virus as of Sunday, an increase of four from Saturday. Neither the coroner nor state officials reported any...

Pennsylvania on Sunday reported 15 more covid-19 deaths and 623 additional cases, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 62,234, state officials said. A total of 4,418 people have died from the virus, which has been reported in all of the state’s 67 counties. More than 270,600 people have...

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is declining to criticize local leaders amid images of crowded bars and boardwalks in areas where coronavirus restrictions are being lifted. Azar told CNN in an interview Sunday that “the president has left it up to states to know their local...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Conservative lawmakers in Alabama last year tried to enact the nation’s most stringent abortion ban, but the attempt to outlaw the procedure may have had one ironic twist. An Alabama-based abortion rights group used a flood of donations that poured in from across the country after the...

NEW YORK — The Big Apple is running out of blood. The blood bank that supplies all of New York City’s public hospitals — as well as nearly 200 private hospitals throughout the state and in parts of New Jersey — is stocked with only enough donations to last the...

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are alerting doctors to a potential accuracy problem with a rapid test for covid-19 used at thousands of hospitals, clinics and testing sites across the U.S., including the White House. The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday it is investigating preliminary data suggesting Abbott...

As coronavirus cases in nursing and personal care homes continue to rise, a growing chorus is calling for those numbers to be recorded separately from the overall number of cases and deaths. Those cries are getting particularly loud in Pennsylvania, where one of the metrics for easing pandemic-related restrictions focuses...

Parents and doctors around the world have expressed fears over a severe inflammatory syndrome in children that some have tied to the covid-19 pandemic. But doctors in Pittsburgh stress there is not enough information to be alarmed. The condition, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, is comparable to Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare...

Area restaurant owners have seen their sales slashed while restricted to takeout or delivery service during the covid-19 pandemic. But several say they don’t intend to go beyond guidelines of the governor’s phased plan for restarting the economy, because of the risk of penalties and out of consideration for their...

Dr. David L. Bartlett, a widely recognized cancer researcher and innovator in the use of advanced surgical therapies for abdominal cancers, has taken over as chair of the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute. In addition, Bartlett has opened a surgical practice at AHN’s Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie. Bartlett comes...

HARTFORD, Conn. — Cassandra Callender, who was forced by Connecticut courts as a teenager to undergo chemotherapy for cancer, has died after a five-year battle with the disease, her mother said Thursday. She was 22. Callender, of Windsor Locks, died Tuesday at home, where she had been in hospice care...

The coronavirus test from Abbott Laboratories used at the White House to get rapid answers to whether someone is infected may miss as many as half of positive cases, according to a report from New York University. The analysis, which has yet to be confirmed, found that Abbott’s ID NOW...

UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh will be the only hospital in Western Pennsylvania to receive dosages of an antiviral medicine that is being used to treat the symptoms of patients with covid-19, the state Department of Health said Tuesday night. The health department stated it will distribute the first shipment...

A Forbes Hospital executive has been tapped to the senior leadership team at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison, officials announced Tuesday. Krista Bragg, chief operations officer at Forbes, will take on the chief operations officer responsibilities at Allegheny Valley, effective immediately. In a similar expanded-role job change, Jason Roeback, chief...

Amber Dean had recovered from a mild bout of the coronavirus and her family of five had just ended their home quarantine when her oldest son, 9-year-old Bobby, fell ill. “At first it was nothing major, it seemed like a tummy bug, like he ate something that didn’t agree with...

WASHINGTON — A new type of coronavirus test offers a cheaper, quicker way to screen for infections, moving the U.S. toward the kind of mass screening that experts say is essential to returning millions of Americans to school and work. But the first so-called antigen test — announced Saturday by...

Allegheny Health Network said Monday it is launching a new mobile initiative to take covid-19 testing into underserved Western Pennsylvania communities. The first AHN mobile covid-19 testing site is scheduled to be open for appointments from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday outside the Alma Illery Medical Center...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A federal court halted the Kentucky governor’s temporary ban on mass gatherings from applying to in-person religious services, clearing the way for Sunday church services. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove on Friday issued a temporary restraining order enjoining Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration from enforcing the...