Coronavirus category, Page 83
‘Shameful’: U.S. covid deaths top 400K as Trump leaves officeVideo
As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of covid-19. Not to worry, Trump insisted, his administration had the virus “totally under control.” Now, in his final hours in office, after a year of presidential denials of reality...
Pa. residents 65 and older eligible for covid vaccine but most providers don’t have supply
Pennsylvania will prioritize people 65 and older and others with certain conditions for covid-19 vaccination, though many providers say the supply of vaccine is so low they cannot begin vaccinating any more groups. Cindy Findley, deputy secretary of Health and head of the state’s covid-19 vaccine task force, said Tuesday...
Pa. reports 77 covid deaths, 5,341 cases
Pennsylvania reported 5,341 additional covid-18 cases and 77 deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. The state now has 777,186 total covid cases and 19,467 total deaths. In January thus far, there have been 136,861 cases and 3,489 deaths reported. Tuesday’s case count is the second lowest in...
Westmoreland County covid cases down 40% from same point in December
Westmoreland County has six more covid-related deaths and 198 cases Tuesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The new figures bring total deaths in the county to 541 and total cases to 23,451. Thus far in January, there have been 4,118 covid cases and 118 deaths reported. As compared...
Pittsburgh to participate in national remembrance of covid victims Tuesday evening
Pittsburgh will participate in this evening’s national Memorial to Lives Lost to covid-19. The City-County Building Downtown will be illuminated in amber for the memorial at 5:30 p.m. Other government and private buildings are expected to be included. In Washington, President-elect Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris plan...
EU commission urges member states to speed up vaccination
BRUSSELS — The European Union is urging member states to speed up the pace of covid-19 vaccinations to ensure that at least 80% of the most vulnerable people to the virus — those over age 80 — are vaccinated by March. In nonbinding recommendations published Tuesday, the European Commission also...
Allegheny County sees lowest covid case average since mid-November
Allegheny County has 434 more covid-19 cases Tuesday, per the county Health Department. There were no additional covid-related deaths reported Tuesday. Total cases in the county increased to 65,114, while the death total remained at 1,225. Cases reported Tuesday in the county range in age from 1 year to 99,...
Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic
GENEVA — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the...
Chinese city reports coronavirus found on ice cream
BEIJING — The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government. The Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government...
New covid-19 cases in Pennsylvania continue to slow
New cases of coronavirus appear to be on a downward trajectory in Pennsylvania, with hospitalization numbers following suit. Over the past two days, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday, the state saw 10,068 new cases of the virus. When comparing it to last week’s numbers (12,844), that’s a 21.6%...
Westmoreland County adds 214 coronavirus cases, 9 deaths over past 2 days
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday that 214 new cases of coronavirus were added over the past two days in Westmoreland County. Cases seem to be on the decline in the county. This week’s Sunday-Monday total is 47% lower than last week’s (404) and 63% below the similar period...
Coronavirus deaths rising in 30 U.S. states amid winter surge
Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel...
Ex-Florida employee in jail after arrest warrant issued
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former Florida Department of Health employee, who was fired for insubordination after repeatedly violating the agency’s policy about communicating with the media, turned herself in to sheriff’s officials Sunday night on charges of accessing computer equipment without authority. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced...
Allegheny County covid cases, hospitalizations continue to decline
New cases of coronavirus are continuing to decline in Allegheny County. The Allegheny County Health Department on Monday reported that over the past two days, it saw 796 new cases — a 10% drop from a week ago and a 44% drop from this time in December. In a release,...
‘Dark weeks ahead’: Incoming CDC director expects 500,000 covid deaths by mid-February
The first month of Joe Biden’s administration could be the deadliest period in the nation’s covid-19 pandemic, one of his top officials warned Sunday. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is nominated to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expects the country’s coronavirus death toll to reach 500,000 by...
California warns doctors to avoid batch of Moderna vaccines after allergic reactions
California’s top epidemiologist told healthcare providers on Sunday to stop using a batch of Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine after a “higher than usual” number of people had apparent allergic reactions at a San Diego vaccination clinic. Dr. Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, said Sunday that “out of an extreme abundance of...
‘Little old West Virginia’ sets pace on vaccine rolloutVideo
KENOVA, W.Va. — Griffith & Feil Drug has been in business since 1892, a family-owned, small-town pharmacy. This isn’t their first pandemic. More than a century after helping West Virginians confront the Spanish flu in 1918, the drugstore in Kenova, a community of about 3,000 people, is helping the state...
Western Pa. hospitals struggle to minimize waste of covid vaccine doses
As they refine a complicated distribution strategy, health care workers in Western Pennsylvania have been forced to give covid vaccine doses to people who are not in top priority groups to avoid wasting precious leftover shots. After long days of vaccinating front-line health care workers, nurses have described calling friends...
Pandemic exposes weakness in Pa. counties without health departments, like Westmoreland
When Kim Ward was sworn in as a Westmoreland County commissioner in 2008, one of her first questions was: Who oversees the county’s health department? The former respiratory therapist was stunned to learn there wasn’t one. Westmoreland, like 61 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, leaves the issue of public health to...
Westmoreland County posts 173 covid-19 cases, 3 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 173 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area. The county’s total cases are at 23,039, which is an increase of more than 1,400 cases from last week’s 21,622. The week before had...
Pennsylvania reports 7,166 coronavirus cases, 231 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 7,166 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts are trending down in the Keystone State. The new data bring the total cases to 761,777. That’s a jump of nearly 48,500 cases from this time last week. The week before, the weekly increase was 56,000. Officials...
Allegheny County reports 526 coronavirus cases; 38 new deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 526 new coronavirus cases, as recent numbers continue to drop below the 1,000 case mark. Reports haven’t reached 700 cases in more than a week. The county has reported nine days of at least 1,000 new cases, but hasn’t posted one in the last two...
AP explainer: Why expansion of vaccine to smokers caused a stir
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey this week made millions of people eligible to get the covid-19 vaccine, including smokers, a move that prompted gripes about them skipping to the front of the inoculation line. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy made people 65 and older and those 16 and older with medical...
Giant Eagle, Rite Aid tapped as covid vaccine providers
Giant Eagle pharmacies will be part of the effort to get more covid-19 vaccine to the public as more and more doses become available, Pennsylvania health officials announced this week. TopCo Associates, which runs Giant Eagle’s pharmacies, was tapped by the Department of Health, along with Rite Aid, to provide...
Global coronavirus death toll hits 2 millionVideo
MEXICO CITY — The global death toll from covid-19 topped 2 million Friday, crossing the threshold amid a vaccine rollout so immense but so uneven that in some countries there is real hope of vanquishing the outbreak, while in other, less-developed parts of the world, it seems a far-off dream....
