Coronavirus

By DAVID KOENIG and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are extending the requirement for masks on planes and public transportation for one more month — through mid-April — while taking steps that could lead to lifting the rule. The mask mandate was scheduled to expire March 18, but the Transportation Security Administration said…

Read More

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) People from all major racial and ethnic minority population groups in the United States report experiencing more COVID-19–related discrimination than white adults, a new study shows.  COVID-19-related discrimination includes experiences of being threatened or harassed based on someone’s perception of another having COVID-19. To date, this…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO: A woman wears a mask while knitting in a park in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. Americans who have been clamoring for an end to mask-wearing have welcomed new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It says healthy people in most areas of the country can safely stop wearing…

Read More

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia health officials announced Wednesday that the city was lifting its indoor mask mandate, and officials expect to lift the school masking rules on March 9. The change comes as city health officials moved the city into the “all clear” category of its COVID-19 pandemic response metric. If infections, hospitalizations and the…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO: Bottles and syringes holding a two-shot dose of AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, the first set of antibodies grown in a lab to prevent COVID-19, rest on a table, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022 at a University of Washington Medicine clinic in Seattle. The drug is supposed to give immune-compromised patients who can’t make their own virus-fighters…

Read More

  The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has announced new COVID Response Levels which tie the City’s public COVID mandates to specific pandemic metrics. As the metrics get better, the City will stop enforcing certain mandates. Should the metrics get worse, the City will start enforcing those mandates again. Given the improving situation following the…

Read More

Full city statement in response to the suit: Since it was announced in November, the City has worked diligently with Local 22 to move forward with implementing the vaccination mandate using an arbitration process agreed upon by Local 22, a process by which the City has successfully negotiated agreements with our other labor partners. The…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO: A technician inspects filled vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the company’s facility in Puurs, Belgium in March 2021. COVID-19 vaccines are saving an untold number of lives but they can’t stop the chaos when a hugely contagious new mutant bursts on the scene, leading people to wonder: Will we need boosters…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO: Syringes and colorful bandages are prepared as children from local schools prepare to get COVID-19 vaccines in Pittsfield, Mass., on Monday Dec. 13, 2021. COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5 may be available in the U.S. as early as March 2022, but there are several hurdles still to clear. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO: Nurse manager Edgar Ramirez checks on IV fluids while talking to a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. Some conservatives are taking aim at policies that allow doctors to consider race as a risk factor when allocating scarce COVID-19 treatments, saying the protocols discriminate against…

Read More