Covid 19

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Maryland recorded 7,870 new cases of COVID-19 while the state’s positivity rate and hospitalizations continued to drop, according to data released Sunday by the Maryland Department of Health. The latest round of health department data shows hospitalizations fell by 156 during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients currently being treated by hospitals throughout Maryland to 3,122. READ MORE: Maryland Assistant Faces Prostitution-Related Charges The statewide COVID-19 positivity rate is 21.91%, a 0.94% decrease. A total of 899,672 cases have been documented in Maryland since the outset of the pandemic. A total of 12,416 Marylanders have now died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 58 deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The latest metrics come as Maryland is under a state of emergency issued by Gov. Larry Hogan in response to elevated cases and hospitalizations. Several hospitals have shifted to crisis … [Read more...] about COVID-19 In Maryland: More Than 7K Cases Reported Sunday As Hospitalizations & Positivity Rate Continue To Decline

Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, on Sunday advised the Biden administration to get its agencies on the "same page" when it came to COVID-19 messaging, saying a consistent message would be "enormously helpful." Fox News anchor John Roberts asked Jha for his thoughts on the Biden administration's COVID-19 guidelines messaging, noting that Rochelle Walensky Rochelle Walensky Child hospitalizations reach record high amid omicron surge: WSJ CDC says N95 masks provide the most protection against COVID-19 CDC creating more confusion than calm, but it could be worse MORE , director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and President Biden Joe Biden Sunday shows preview: Democrats' struggle for voting rights bill comes to a head David Weil: Wrong man, wrong place, wrong time Biden's voting rights gamble prompts second-guessing MORE 's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci Anthony Fauci … [Read more...] about Public health expert: Biden administration needs to have agencies on the ‘same page’ about COVID

IRVINE (CBSLA) — Southern California experienced yet another weekend in the winter COVID-19 surge driven by the Omicron variant. In LA County this week, on average, the health department reported more than 40,000 new infections each day, with 1,000 more people hospitalized over the course of the last seven days. READ MORE: Authorities Increase Security At Local Synagogues Following Texas Standoff “One person who gets Omicron right now is easily infecting two and the rate of that speed is so fast. The individual is very contagious two days before the onset of symptoms,” said Dr. Jose Mayorga, the executive director of the UCI Health Family Health Center. Dr. Mayorga says an increase in testing is resulting in a rise of positive cases at his centers. “The drive-thru testing sites, we’re at about 63 percent positivity of the people who are coming to get tested,” he said. Elsewhere, in Ventura County, a record number of infections were reported with a positivity rate nearing … [Read more...] about Health Officials Describe Winter COVID Surge At ‘Near Crisis Level’

WASHINGTON — Companies are bracing for another round of potentially debilitating supply chain disruptions as China, home to about a third of global manufacturing, imposes sweeping lockdowns in an attempt to keep the Omicron variant at bay. The measures have already confined tens of millions of people to their homes in several Chinese cities and contributed to a suspension of connecting flights through Hong Kong from much of the world for the next month. At least 20 million people, or about 1.5 percent of China’s population, are in lockdown, mostly in the city of Xi’an in western China and in Henan Province in north-central China. The country’s zero-tolerance policy has manufacturers — already on edge from spending the past two years dealing with crippling supply chain woes — worried about another round of shutdowns at Chinese factories and ports. Additional disruptions to the global supply chain would come at a particularly fraught moment for companies, which are struggling … [Read more...] about Supply Chain Woes Could Worsen as China Imposes New Covid Lockdowns

The entire Bay Area has returned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s orange “substantial” and red “high” categories of coronavirus transmission — a step backward for some counties, like Marin and San Francisco, where transmission was previously classified as yellow, or “moderate.” This comes after Marin County lifted its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reaching key COVID-19 benchmarks agreed upon by eight Bay Area counties. However, the mandate is unlikely to be immediately reinstated; the county’s health officer Matt Willis said last week that an increase in cases alone will not determine whether masks come back; rather he will watch hospitalization numbers, which as of Friday were at a four-month low. San Francisco had reached the “moderate” level last week, but reverted to “substantial” on Tuesday. Under a framework agreed to by eight Bay Area counties , a county may lift its indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people when: 1) its … [Read more...] about Entire Bay Area is back in CDC’s orange and red tiers for COVID spread

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations across New York state continues to drop, along with the state’s positivity rate. The number of hospitalizations declined for the fourth straight day, dropping from 12,169 on Friday to 11,713 on Saturday. READ MORE: New York 'Turning The Corner' On COVID Surge As 7-Day Average Case Count Declines, Gov. Hochul Says There were 154 new deaths reported Saturday, down from 187 the previous day. #COVID Percent Positive Update: -397,524 Test Results Reported pic.twitter.com/ED6zZtE5JB — Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) January 16, 2022 The state’s positivity rate is 12.9%, down from 14.62% on Friday. READ MORE: Rapid COVID Test Kits Distributed In Wallkill, New Windsor Being Recalled There were 51,264 new positive cases reported Saturday, a slight uptick from the 47,870 new cases reported Friday. #COVID Case and Hospitalization Update: -51,264 New Cases pic.twitter.com/aAUPj5FZWy — Kathy … [Read more...] about COVID Hospitalizations Drop For 4th Straight Day Across New York State

2 WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump falsely declared in a weekend rally that public health authorities are denying the COVID-19 vaccine to white people because of their race. The former president seeded racial resentments in remarks that twisted the facts on public-health policy and exaggerated the effects of racially conscious antiviral treatment guidelines in New York. From his speech Saturday night in Florence, Arizona: TRUMP: “The left is now rationing lifesaving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating ... white people to determine who lives and who dies. If you’re white you don’t get the vaccine or if you’re white you don’t get therapeutics. ... In New York state, if you’re white, you have to go to the back of the line to get medical health.” THE FACTS: No, white people are not being excluded from vaccines, of which there is a plentiful supply. And there is no evidence they being sent to the “back of the line” for COVID-19 … [Read more...] about AP FACT CHECK: Trump seeds race animus with COVID falsehood

More than two dozen states are balking against the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses that have at least 100 employees, setting up the latest legal challenge between Republicans and the White House. Several coalitions — which include 25 attorneys general and one solicitor general — filed petitions with federal appeals courts asking for the mandate to be blocked. ADVERTISEMENT One, led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and including 10 others, filed a lawsuit in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that the requirement is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.” The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration did not have the constitutional authority to implement the mandate which “unconstitutionally infringes on the States’ powers.” It also claims that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which developed the rule, was not authorized to put in place such sweeping federal public health regulations. … [Read more...] about At least 26 states push back against Biden admin vaccine mandate

Six more U.S. states confirmed their first cases of the Covid-19 omicron variant Friday, as experts warned the highly contagious delta variant will likely remain the greater threat as winter sets in. New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Utah all reported omicron cases, while in New York City, officials reached out to a man who tested positive for the variant and had attended an anime conference at a Manhattan convention center last month along with more than 50,000 people. Five other attendees have also been infected with the coronavirus, though officials were unsure about which variant they had. Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , told “NBC Nightly News” there were about 90,000 new cases a day in the U.S. and “right now, 99.9 percent of them still are the delta variant.” But she said a number of omicron … [Read more...] about Omicron cases confirmed in 6 more states as delta remains biggest Covid threat

BELGRADE, Serbia — President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia blasted the Australian government on Sunday for what he called the “harassment” of Novak Djokovic, deriding the legal process that led to the tennis star’s deportation one day before the start of the Australian Open as “Orwellian” and saying that the player would be welcomed home. “I talked to Novak a while ago, and I encouraged him, and I told him that I can’t wait for him to come to Serbia and return to his country, and to be where he is always welcome,” Mr. Vucic said in a statement on the day that Mr. Djokovic left Australia after a legal dispute surrounding his coronavirus vaccination status. “They think that they humiliated Djokovic with this 10-day harassment, and they actually humiliated themselves,” Mr. Vucic said. In Serbia, where Mr. Djokovic is deeply revered and widely respected as one of his country’s greatest sports stars, even those who did not support his decision to remain unvaccinated said that he had … [Read more...] about Serbia’s Leader Denounces Australia’s Treatment of Djokovic as ‘Orwellian’