Health News

Antibody drug may be answer for breakthrough cases

CDC calls for a return to masks for vaccinated

Stats show the risks of not getting vaccinated

Tokyo officials alarmed as cases hit record high

Portugal eases virus limits, takes aim at freedom

Florida virus cases soar, hospitals near last summer's peak

COVID testing mandate seen as booster

Do breakthrough infections matter?

VA requires vaccination for health care workers

NY to require state employees to get vaccines, or get tested
New York will require all state employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by Labor Day or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing
July 28, 2021

26 minutes ago

Biden orders tough new vaccination rules for federal workers

The Biden administration has announced sweeping new pandemic rules for federal workers and some contractors

26 minutes ago

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

10 minutes ago

Florida virus cases soar, hospitals near last summer's peak

Hospital admissions of coronavirus patients continue to soar in Florida with at least two areas in the state surpassing previous peaks reached during last summer’s surge

10 minutes ago

Signage stands at the ready (foreground) in case COVID-19 testing at Barnett Park reaches capacity, as cars wait in line in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, July 29, 2021. The line stretched through the park for more than a mile out to West Colonial Drive near the Central Florida Fairgrounds. Orange County is under a state of emergency as coronavirus infections skyrocket in Central Florida. The Barnett Park site is testing 1,000 people a day and has closed early in recent days due capacity limits. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

1 hour ago

The Latest: Arkansas governor seeks end to school mask ban

Arkansas’ Republican governor is calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to lift the state’s ban on mask requirements in public schools

1 hour ago

FILE - In this Friday, July 23, 2021, file photo, people line up in front of a mobile testing site in Paris, as visitors now need a special COVID pass to visit French museums or movie theaters. Europe’s famed summer holiday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against coronavirus are not taking a break. From France’s Mediterranean coast to Italy’s Adriatic beaches, health authorities are trying to make a COVID-19 shot as much a part of this summer as sunscreen and shades. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh, File)

1 hour ago

Kentucky state officials refuse to enforce virus mask rule

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has defended his mask requirement for state workers, brushing off criticism by GOP officials who said they won't enforce the mandate in their offices

1 hour ago

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks during a media conference at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Beshear has announced that roughly 200 Kentucky National Guard members will deploy to the southwestern U.S. border in late 2021 as part of a federal government mission. The soldiers will provide operational and logistics support. The deployment is part of a federal border security mission that includes 23 states. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)

2 hours ago

Jill Biden getting procedure on foot after Hawaii visit

First lady Jill Biden is undergoing a medical procedure to remove an object that became lodged in her foot while walking on a beach in Hawaii last weekend

2 hours ago

First lady Jill Biden speaks after touring a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at a high school in Waipahu, Hawaii, Sunday, July 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

2 hours ago

Israel set to give senior citizens a 3rd vaccine dose as experts mull booster shots

In the U.S., hospitalizations are on the rise in 45 states.

2 hours ago

VIDEO: Israel set to give senior citizens a 3rd vaccine dose as experts mull booster shots

2 hours ago

Israel to offer 3rd COVID booster shot to older citizens

Israel’s prime minister has announced that the country will offer a coronavirus booster to people over 60 who have already been vaccinated

2 hours ago

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. file photo, a woman receives a coronavirus vaccine from medical staff at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced the country will offer a coronavirus booster to people over 60 who have already been vaccinated. The campaign makes Israel the first country to offer a third dose of a Western vaccine to its citizens on a wide scale. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

3 hours ago

Biden's COVID plan: Federal workers must report shot status

President Joe Biden's plan to stem the increase in coronavirus cases around the country requires federal employees to attest to their vaccination status

3 hours ago

President Joe Biden holds a face mask as he announces from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 29, 2021, that millions of federal workers must show proof they've received a coronavirus vaccine or submit to regular testing and stringent social distancing, masking and travel restrictions in an order to combat the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

3 hours ago

FDA allows automatic 'generic' swap for brand-name insulin

U.S. regulators have taken action that will make it easier to get a cheaper and similar version of a brand-name insulin at the drugstore

3 hours ago

Biden urges states and localities to offer residents $100 to get COVID-19 shots; aims to 'move dial' on vaccines

3 hours ago

Biden says he's directing military to develop plan for making COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for service personnel

3 hours ago

President Biden sets masking requirements, COVID restrictions for 4 million federal workers, including military

3 hours ago

Washington, DC, is back to requiring masks be worn indoors

In the face of rising regional COVID-19 infection numbers, the nation’s capital is returning to mandatory indoor mask requirements, regardless of vaccination status

3 hours ago

Capitol Police officers wear face masks by a signs stating that face coverings and social distancing are required, outside a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing, Thursday, July 29, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

3 hours ago

Research looks for possible COVID tie to later Alzheimer’s

Researchers are trying to unravel why some COVID-19 survivors suffer “brain fog” and other problems, with new findings suggesting some worrisome overlaps with Alzheimer's

3 hours ago

CDC mask guidance met with hostility by leading Republicans

Republicans are responding with hostility to new masking guidance from public health officials

3 hours ago

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the American Legislative Exchange Council Wednesday, July 28, 2021, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

July 29

Pfizer data show vaccine efficacy wanes after 6 months

The company is calling for booster shots but doctors say we’re not at that point yet.

July 29

VIDEO: Pfizer data show vaccine efficacy wanes after 6 months

July 29

Brazil begins mass vaccine study in poor Rio neighborhood

Brazilian authorities have begun the mass immunization of Rio de Janeiro’s Mare neighborhood in a novel bid to control COVID-19 in a poor community while studying vaccine effectiveness and the prevalence of worrisome variants

July 29

People arrive at a vaccination center on the first day of a three-day COVID-19 vaccination campaign for people over age 35 in the Complexo da Maré favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Brazil, Thursday, July 29, 2021. Some recipients will be monitored to study the rate of protection the vaccines provide and the extent to which virus variants are circulating. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

July 29

Emergent: FDA letting troubled COVID vaccine factory restart

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing the problem-plagued factory of contract manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions to resume production of COVID-19 vaccine

July 29

FILE - In this April 8, 2021 file photo, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is seen at a pop up vaccination site in the Staten Island borough of New York. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing the problem-plagued factory of contract manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions to resume production of COVID-19 vaccine bulk substance to resume, the company said Thursday, July 29. The Baltimore factory was shut down by the FDA in mid-April due to contamination problems that forced the company to trash the equivalent of tens of millions of doses of vaccine it was making under contract for Johnson & Johnson. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

July 29

Attorney: $35M settlement was opioid firm's best, last offer

An attorney who helped reach a $35 million settlement with an opioid manufacturer over the company’s role in the epidemic in Tennessee says his team accepted the drug maker’s “last, best and final” offer

July 29

Israel to offer COVID-19 booster shot to people over 60, making it first country to give third dose of Western vaccine

July 29

Portugal eases virus limits, takes aim at ‘total freedom’

Portugal is beginning its journey to what the country’s prime minister calls “total freedom.”

July 29

A tram conductor wearing a face mask drives through Lisbon's Graca neighborhood, Monday, July 26, 2021. The head of Portugal's vaccine rollout program says the country is experiencing steep shortfalls in expected deliveries of the Janssen COVID-19 jab. In August, only 200,000 Janssen doses will be delivered instead of the expected 600,000. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

July 29

World pledges $4B in push to repair COVID's education damage

International governments and companies have pledged more than $4 billion to educate 175 million children around the world and prevent a generation’s chances being blighted by the coronavirus pandemic

July 29

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson alongside former PM of Australia Julia Gillard during a summit to raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), in London Thursday July 29, 2021. The UK last month pledged 430 million pounds (dollars 700 million US) to the project, which aims to secure at least five billion US dollars over the next five years. (Tolga Akmen/PA via AP)

July 29

World pledges $4B in push to repair COVID's education damage

July 29

Aid group vaccinates migrants as France expands virus pass

Social workers in France worry that the growing use of virus passports will further marginalize migrants and other poor populations

July 29

People receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines by medical staffs at a tent site set up by Doctors Without Borders to vaccinate migrants, the homeless and other marginalized populations in Paris, Thursday, July 29, 2021. Vaccination rates are picking up again in France as the government requires a virus pass for more and more activities, but social workers worry that the measure will further marginalize migrants and other poor populations. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

July 29

Southeast Europe heat wave set to be among worst in decades

A heat wave expected to be among the most severe in decades is baking southeast Europe

July 29

A man dives into the Treska River, just west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday July 28, 2021. Authorities in North Macedonia have issued a weather warning and recommended a set of measures on Wednesday as the tiny Balkan country is facing extreme high temperatures rising over 43 Celsius degrees (109 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

July 29

Europe on vacation, but vaccinations not taking a break

Europe’s famed summer holiday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against the coronavirus are not taking a break

July 29

Camper vans are parked outside a cultural center on the outskirts of Milan, Italy, Wednesday, July 28, 2021, where people can receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19. A camper van will tour Milan and the Lombardy region to provide easy vaccinations without bookings in an attempt to boost the vaccination campaign. Europe’s famed summer holiday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against coronavirus are not taking a break. From France’s Mediterranean coast to Italy’s Adriatic beaches, health authorities are trying to make a COVID-19 shot as much a part of this summer as sunscreen and shades. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

July 29

Tunisia's leader wants corrupt tycoons to fund poor regions

Tunisia’s president is proposing that hundreds of tycoons suspected of embezzlement reach a deal with the state to finance public hospitals, schools and development projects in poor regions to avoid convictions

July 29

Police cars and a military armored personnel carrier block the entrance of the Tunisian parliament in Tunis, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. The Ennahda party, has called for dialogue, following President Kais Saeid's sacking of the prime minister and suspension of parliament on Sunday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

July 29

Officials in Tokyo alarmed as cases hit record highs

Japanese officials have sounded the alarm as Tokyo reported record-breaking coronavirus cases for the third straight day with the Olympics well underway

July 29

Spain to extend COVID-19 aid to most vulnerable until Oct 31

Spain has announced that existing measures to protect the most vulnerable from the pandemic’s economic fallout will be prolonged until the end of October

July 29

Burundi, in reversal, says it will accept COVID-19 vaccines

Burundi’s government now says it will accept COVID-19 vaccines, becoming one of the last countries in the world to embrace them

July 29

Thailand sets up hospital at airport; Cambodia closes border

Health authorities in Thailand are racing to set up a large field hospital in a cargo building at one of Bangkok’s airports as the country reports record numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths

July 29

Experts turn to antibody treatment following swarm of breakthrough COVID infections

With high-risk breakthrough COVID infections, monoclonal antibodies may help.

July 29

Handout picture released by the Austral University of Chile showing scientists working at the universiy laboratory in the development of antibodies in Valdivia, Chile, on May 26, 2021. - Scientists from Chile and Bolivia are working separately on the development of antibodies obtained from alpacas and donkeys to treat patients with COVID-19.

July 29

Nightmares, panic attacks: Belgian flood survivors struggle

The devastating floods that killed 38 people in Belgium this month have left hundreds of survivors struggling with mental trauma

July 29

Resident Patrick Martin, right, and a friend in front of their flood damaged home in the La Brouck neighborhood of Trooz, Belgium, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Patrick Martin and his companion Cindy Lacroix still find it hard to sleep after they feared for their lives during deadly floods nearly two weeks ago, isolated and trapped in the top floor of their house for two days before they were rescued on a small boat by firefighters. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

July 29

US extends expiration dates on J&J COVID vaccine to 6 months

Federal health regulators have again extended the expiration dates on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine by another six weeks

July 29

Carlos Arrendondo arrives for his appointment to get vaccinated, as banners advertise the availability of the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines at a county-run vaccination site at the Eugene A. Obregon Park in Los Angeles Thursday, July 22, 2021. The top health official in Los Angeles County on Thursday implored residents to get vaccinated as the region experiences a coronavirus surge similar to last summer's. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

July 29

Monsanto told to pay teachers $185M over chemical exposure

Three schoolteachers in Washington state who sued chemical company Monsanto over exposure to materials in fluorescent lights have been awarded $185 million

July 29

July 28

CDC mask guidance met with hostility by leading Republicans

Republicans are responding with hostility to new masking guidance from public health officials

July 28

The Latest: Sydney to remain in lockdown as cluster grows

The Philippines president is warning that Filipinos who refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus will not be allowed to leave their homes

July 28

FILE - A student wears a face mask while doing work at his desk at the Post Road Elementary School, in White Plains, N.Y., in this Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, file photo. U.S. health officials say the highly contagious delta version of the coronavirus is behind changes to mask guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week announced that fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is surging. CDC officials said new information about the spread of the delta variant forced them to reverse course. The agency also said teachers and students everywhere should go back to wearing masks in schools. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, FIle)

July 28

AP Interview: Japan minister urges young adults to get shots

Japan’s vaccination minister says the speed of the country’s inoculation campaign is less urgent than getting shots to young people, who are blamed for spreading the virus

July 28

Taro Kono, Japan's minister in charge of a huge vaccination campaign, wearing a face mask speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, July 28, 2021. As Olympics host Tokyo saw another record number of coronavirus cases Wednesday, Kono told that the speed of the inoculation campaign, which is averaging about 10 million shots a week after a late start, is less urgent than getting shots to young people, who are blamed for spreading the virus. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

July 28

St. Louis County doctor: ‘get a shot, get over your ignorance’

Dr. Faisal Khan, the director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, discusses the debate over mask mandates and low vaccination rates in his community as the delta variant surges.

July 28

VIDEO: St. Louis County doctor: ‘get a shot, get over your ignorance’

July 28

NY to require state employees to get vaccines, or get tested

New York will require all state employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by Labor Day or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing

July 28

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at New York's Yankee Stadium, Monday, July 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

July 28

Google delays return to office, mandates vaccines

Google is postponing its plans to bring most of its workers back to the office until mid-October

July 28

FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, signage sits outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google is postponing a return to the office for most workers until mid-October and rolling out a policy that will eventually require everyone to be vaccinated once its sprawling campuses are fully reopened in an attempt to fight the spreading Delta variant. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

July 28

Biden to launch vaccine push for millions of federal workers

President Joe Biden is set to announce that federal employees must show proof they’ve received a coronavirus vaccine or submit to regular testing and stringent social distancing, masking and travel restrictions

July 28

President Joe Biden holds a mask as he responds to a question as he arrives at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, July 28, 2021. Biden is in the area to visit the Lehigh Valley operations facility for Mack Trucks and advocate for government investments and clean energy as ways to strengthen U.S. manufacturing. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

July 28

Trial against opioid distributors wraps up in West Virginia

Attorneys for major drug distributors have made their final pleas to a federal judge to absolve them while placing the blame elsewhere for a prescription pill health emergency in a part of West Virginia

July 28

Paul T. Farrell Jr., an attorney representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against three major U.S. drug distributors, speaks to reporters Wednesday, July 28, 2021, outside the federal courthouse in Charleston, W.Va. Attorneys finished giving closing arguments in the case brought by Cabell County and the city of Huntington accusing AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson of creating a public nuisance by distributing 81 million pills over eight years. (AP Photo/John Raby)

July 28

New CDC guidelines set off rush to reimpose mask mandates

New guidance from the federal government set off a cascade of mask rules across the nation as cities, states, schools and businesses raced to bring back mandates

July 28