Comic explores cybersecurity issues in health care industry
In the field of cybersecurity, words like “infected” and “virus” are typically references to one of the ways computer hackers worm their way into a company’s technology and exploit it. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, that vernacular has taken on a double meaning, as a wide variety of health care services...
Trump tempers officials’ grave assessments with optimismVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, while the nation’s infectious disease chief warned that the new coronavirus may never be completely eradicated from the globe. Those were some...
Report: Navy Capt. Brett Crozier tests positive for covid-19Video
Brett Crozier, the Navy captain who sounded the alarm of a coronavirus outbreak aboard an aircraft carrier he led, has tested positive for covid-19, the New York Times reported. Crozier began showing symptoms of coronavirus before he was removed from the USS Theodore Roosevelt last Thursday, the paper reported, citing...
Louisiana officials report 68 more coronavirus-linked deathsVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana health officials reported 68 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, marking the state’s biggest jump in reported deaths since the outbreak began. The Louisiana Department of Health reported the figures on its website Sunday. The number of infections reported to the state also increased by more than 500...
Tybee Island mayor battles Georgia governor over coronavirus limitations
SAVANNAH, Ga. — A small coastal city in Georgia that thrives on tourism closed its beach, fearing carefree crowds of teenagers and college students posed too great a risk for spreading the new coronavirus. Two weeks later, the state’s governor has reversed that decision, saying people weathering the outbreak need...
Doctors, nurses leave homes to protect families from virus
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Lisa Neuburger was caring for a patient with the coronavirus when the person’s ventilator tube became detached. As she worked to help the patient, she knew fluid from the person’s lungs could be spraying into the air, possibly exposing her to the virus, despite the protective...
Tiger at NYC’s Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus
NEW YORK — A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the United States or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said Sunday. The 4-year-old Malayan tiger named Nadia...
Sidewalk notes bring smiles to hospital staff during outbreakVideo
NEW ORLEANS — The messenger is anonymous — but the messages are heartfelt and appreciated. In recent days, workers at New Orleans’ Ochsner Medical Center who take the familiar stroll from the parking lot to the main entrance have been greeted with expressions of gratitude from an unnamed artist, sketched...
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with coronavirusVideo
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital Sunday for tests, his office said, because he is still suffering symptoms, 10 days after he was diagnosed with covid-19. Johnson’s office said the admission to an undisclosed London hospital came on the advice of his doctor and...
Chaos invades U.S. oil patch as prices plummet
NEW YORK — In Montana, a father and son running a small oil business are cutting their salaries in half. In New Mexico, an oil truck driver who supports his family just went a week without pay. And in Alaska, lawmakers have had to dip into the state’s savings as...
Researchers discover anti-parasite drug kills coronavirus in labVideo
Researchers from Australia have found a drug already available around the world that can kill coronavirus in a lab setting in under 48 hours. In a study published Friday, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne said the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin was found to halt the SARS-CoV-2 virus from growing in...
Defense Secretary defends firing of Navy Capt. Brett Crozier over coronavirus warningVideo
WASHINGTON — With the military under broad pressure to step up its coronavirus response, Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday defended the firing of an aircraft carrier commander who sought help for sailors during an outbreak as a matter of holding leaders “accountable.” He also said the matter was under...
Liberal groups: Allow extended voting in Wisconsin election
MADISON, Wis. — Democrats and liberal groups Sunday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand an extended absentee voting period for Wisconsin’s spring primary, an election unfolding amid public health fears over the coronavirus. The groups argue a federal judge’s order this week extending absentee voting from Tuesday to...
‘Surreal’: NY funeral homes struggle as virus deaths surge
NEW YORK — Pat Marmo walked among 20 or so deceased in the basement of his Brooklyn funeral home, his protective mask pulled down so his pleas could be heard. “Every person there, they’re not a body,” he said. “They’re a father, they’re a mother, they’re a grandmother. They’re not...
NY’s death count nears 4,200, but there’s a glimmer of hope
NEW YORK — A slight dip in new coronavirus deaths in New York over the past 24 hours may be a glimmer of hope the spread is slowing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday as overall fatalities in the state climbed to nearly 4,200. Cuomo said it was too soon to...
Italy reports lowest daily coronavirus fatalities since March 19
Italy reported the lowest single-day coronavirus deaths in 2 1/2 weeks, even as the northern Lombardy region around Milan announced tougher containment measures. Fatalities fell Sunday to 525, the lowest since March 19, bringing the total in Italy to 15,887. New confirmed cases totaled 4,316, compared with 4,805 the day...
Surgeon general warns U.S. of ‘saddest week’ and ‘9/11 moment’
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general offered some of the starkest warnings yet Sunday as he braced Americans for the worsening fallout from the new coronavirus, warning “this is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly.” The public was advised separately by...
Joe Biden raises idea of Democrats holding an online convention
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said Sunday that the Democratic National Convention, already delayed until August because of the coronavirus, may need to take place online as the pandemic continues to reshape the race for the White House. The party “may have to do a virtual convention,” the former vice president...
U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic
WASHINGTON — After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. A review...
No covid-19 testing at home yet but quicker options coming
WASHINGTON — Home testing for the new coronavirus may sound like a good idea, but U.S. regulators say it’s still too risky. They’ve stopped companies that quickly launched home-testing kits until they can show their products can accurately detect the virus. For now, the only way Americans can get tested...
Coronavirus pandemic disrupts Appalachian Trail dreams
COSBY, Tenn. — When Alexandra Eagle first mentioned plans to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alongside her new husband, her sister told her they’d either be divorced in five months or married forever. Eagle, 33, and Jonathan Hall, 36, had just moved out of their Brooklyn apartment when they married...
Jews prep for a pandemic Passover: Smaller but no less vital
Passover and its epic story — how the Jewish people escaped to freedom after plagues struck their oppressors — are uniquely resonant this year, as Jews find ways to honor the holiday amid the outbreak of what feels like a real-life plague. The coronavirus has forced Jewish families to limit...
Palm Sunday services held without public; some on rooftops
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in the shelter of St. Peter’s Basilica without the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, while parish priests elsewhere in Rome took to church rooftops and bell towers to lead services so at least some faithful could follow the familiar ritual....
Police arrest hospital aide in connection to thefts of equipment, supplies
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — A housekeeping employee at a Prescott hospital has been fired after being arrested on suspicion of stealing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies in recent weeks as the coronavirus outbreak unfolded, police said Saturday. Keith Brown, 49, of Prescott was arrested Friday at Yavapai Regional Medical Center...
Wisconsin GOP vows Supreme Court appeal on extended voting
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Republicans say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block extended absentee voting in Tuesday’s primary, despite public health fears about in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic. Wisconsin stands apart from other states in trying to hold to its April election date even though Gov....
