In Iran, false belief a poison fights virus kills hundredsVideo
TEHRAN, Iran — Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus. The boy, now...
Appeals grow to close U.S. national parks during pandemicVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is sticking with its crowd-friendly waiver of entrance fees at national parks during the coronavirus pandemic, as managers at some parks try and fail to keep visitors a safe distance apart and communities appeal for a shutdown at other parks that are still open. While...
Pennsylvania now leaves it up to those with covid-19 to warn others about exposure
An auto parts store in New Kensington. A Derry Township skilled nursing center. Colleges from Greensburg to Pittsburgh. All have reported positive coronavirus tests in recent days. And all are on their own to let others know about potential exposure. State officials no longer perform that service. The Pennsylvania Department...
If you don’t laugh, you cry: Coping with virus through humor
BOSTON — Neil Diamond posts a fireside rendition of “Sweet Caroline” with its familiar lyrics tweaked to say, “Hands … washing hands.” A news anchor asks when social distancing will end because “my husband keeps trying to get into the house.” And a sign outside a neighborhood church reads: “Had...
Florida’s number of coronavirus cases jumps sharplyVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Miami-area hospitals were treating about a dozen crew members from two cruise ships and Florida’s second-largest county ordered residents to stay home as the state’s number of coronavirus cases jumped sharply on Thursday. The state health department said more than 2,350 people had tested positive for...
Pa. state universities anticipate up to $100M loss from providing students refunds for room and board
Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities are facing a severe financial hit because they won’t resume in-person classes for the last half of the spring semester because of the coronavirus. The State System of Higher Education is projecting a loss of $100 million in total for the universities, due to refunding tens...
Fanatics, MLB partner to use baseball uniforms to make coronavirus masks, gowns
Major League Baseball and sports apparel maker Fanatics are combining efforts to produce hospital gowns and protective masks out of the material used to make uniforms. The top provider of MLB hats, jerseys and other merchandise has converted its Easton factory to produce the protective gear for health care professionals...
U.S. leads world in confirmed coronavirus cases
NEW YORK — The number of people around the world who have contracted the coronavirus has surged past 535,000, and the United States tops the list, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. U.S. deaths have now topped 1,200, in another grim update for a global outbreak that has wreaked...
Brazil’s governors rise up against President Jair Bolsonaro’s coronavirus stanceVideo
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s governors are defying President Jair Bolsonaro over his call to reopen schools and businesses, dismissing his argument that the “cure” of widespread shutdowns to contain the spread of the new coronavirus is worse than the disease. Bolsonaro contends that the clampdown already ordered by many governors...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker seeks federal disaster declaration; help for homelessVideo
BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday submitted a request to the federal government for a major disaster declaration for Massachusetts. If approved, the declaration would provide Massachusetts with additional assistance beyond what was included in an emergency declaration issued by President Donald Trump on March 13, the Republican governor...
Space Force launches its 1st mission with virus precautions
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The newly established U.S. Space Force launched its first national security satellite Thursday with a leaner staff because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Nothing stops the space launch mission!” the 45th Space Wing tweeted from Cape Canaveral. The approximately $1 billion satellite is the sixth and final...
Feds close Title IX investigation at Penn State, nearly a decade after Jerry Sandusky scandal
Nearly a decade after state prosecutors charged former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky with multiple counts of child sexual abuse in and around campus facilities, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has closed its Title IX investigation. That portion of the Civil Rights Act prohibits...
Trump says feds developing new guidelines for virus risk
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, as he aims to begin to ease nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to the nation’s governors, Trump said the new guidelines are meant...
Gov. Wolf pledges $50M toward supplies for virus-battered Pa. hospitals
Gov. Tom Wolf said he will spend up to $50 million to get equipment into the hands of medical workers to help fight the continued spread of the coronavirus. “We’re not fighting a battle here, we’re fighting a war,” Wolf said Thursday. “We need to do everything we can to...
Trump say feds developing new guidelines for coronavirus risk
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, as he aims to begin to ease nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to the nation’s governors, Trump said the new guidelines are meant...
Canada tells U.S. not to put troops at border during pandemicVideo
TORONTO — Canada has told the United States it is strongly opposed to a Trump administration proposal to put troops at the U.S.-Canada border amid the pandemic and said if it goes ahead it would damage relations between the two longtime allies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has...
Autism diagnosis more common in the U.S. as racial gap closesVideo
NEW YORK — Autism has grown slightly more common in the United States, but a gap in diagnosis of white and black kids has disappeared, according to a government report released Thursday. Closure of that gap — thanks to increased screening — is the main reason autism diagnoses are up...
Pregnant women with coronavirus infection can pass it to their babies, study finds
A study of 33 pregnant women in China who were infected with the new coronavirus found that three of them gave birth to babies with COVID-19. All three infants survived after receiving treatment for their symptoms, doctors reported Thursday in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics. One of those infants was...
Trump camp threatens local TV stations over Democratic ad
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is threatening legal action against local TV stations in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin if they don’t pull a Democratic anti-Trump commercial that uses clips of the president talking about the coronavirus outbreak. The campaign says the ad is false. Priorities USA Action Fund,...
Congress’ relief bill would vastly expand unemployment aidVideo
NEW YORK — With record-high numbers of Americans seeking unemployment benefits after losing their jobs because of the coronavirus, Congress is set to significantly enhance the program. The $2.2 trillion rescue package nearing final approval will, for four months, add $600 a week to standard unemployment benefits, which vary by...
In drastic move, Italy shuts most factories to halt virusVideo
SOAVE, ITALY — Italy has become the first Western developed nation to idle most of its industry to halt the spread of the coronavirus, a potential cautionary tale for other governments, such as the Trump administration, that are resisting such drastic measures. After more than two weeks of a nationwide...
Dreaming of lottery riches? Virus could cut jackpots
DES MOINES, Iowa — Hoping to escape all the coronavirus-caused economic uncertainty by winning a giant lottery jackpot? Think again. Those jackpots are going to shrink as the pandemic tamps down lottery sales. The group that oversees the Powerball game announced Wednesday night that it would cut minimum jackpots in...
U.S. indicts Venezuela’s Maduro on narcoterrorism chargesVideo
MIAMI — Nicolás Maduro effectively converted Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups as he and his allies stole billions from the South American country, the Justice Department charged in several indictments against the embattled socialist and his inner circle that were made...
Sister: N.Y. nurse treating coronavirus patients dies of virusVideo
NEW YORK — A health care worker at one of the New York City hospitals under siege by the coronavirus has died, according to coworkers and his sister. Kious Kelly, an assistant nurse manager at the Mount Sinai West hospital in Manhattan, died Tuesday from the virus after he got...
Pa. grocery store dumps $35,000 worth of food after woman coughs on it
A grocery store in Hanover Township in Luzerne County said it dumped $35,000 worth of produce, meat, bread and other groceries after a woman coughed on the products. Gerrity’s Supermarket posted on Facebook Wednesday that the woman, “who the police know to be a chronic problem in the community, came...
