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COVID-19

Scientists say COVID not going away anytime soon

New booster shots have arrived and social distancing guidelines have eased but COVID-19 infections aren’t going away anytime soon. Experts predict the scourge that’s already lasted longer than the 1918 flu pandemic will linger far into the future. Vaccines and protections are making the virus easier to live with — for now. But it is still killing more than 400 Americans every day, and it may well keep evolving in worrisome ways, such as becoming better able to get around immunity from vaccination and past infection. It’s possible it could also evolve to cause more serious ...

New COVID variant melds traits of delta, omicron

The coronavirus mutant that is now dominant in the United States is a member of the omicron family, but scientists say it spreads faster than its omicron predecessors, is adept at escaping immunity and might possibly cause more serious disease. Why? Because it combines properties of both omicron and delta, the nation’s dominant variant in the middle of last year. A genetic trait that harkens back to the pandemic’s past, known as a “delta mutation,” appears to allow the virus “to escape pre-existing immunity from vaccination and prior infection, especially if you were ...

Senate bargainers reach $10B COVID agreement

WASHINGTON — Senate bargainers reached agreement Monday on a slimmed-down $10 billion package for countering COVID-19 with treatments, vaccines and other steps, the top Democratic and Republican negotiators said, but the measure dropped all funding to help nations abroad combat the pandemic. The compromise drew quick support from President Joe Biden, who initially pushed for a $22.5 billion package. In a setback, he ended up settling for much less amid administration warnings that the government was running out of money to keep pace with the disease’s continued — though ...

UPMC adjusts as COVID cases fall

A week and a half ago, five of the six local counties were at a high level for COVID-19 — with Blair County at medium, according to a newly established scale from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Tuesday, only Huntingdon County remained in the high category, with Centre and Clearfield at medium and Blair, Bedford and Cambria low — a shift that reflects the ebbing of the omicron variant. UPMC Altoona and the three other regional UPMC hospitals with which it is grouped have accordingly adjusted operations to account for the pandemic’s easing. As of Tuesday, ...

Local counties mostly remain in high-COVID group

A new federal framework for dealing with COVID-19 that recognizes there is widespread immunity and declining cases, hospitalizations and deaths nationwide nevertheless categorizes five of the six local counties as high-level for coronavirus — with Blair the exception at medium. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced the new framework Friday, relaxing its universal indoor masking recommendation for public spaces and replacing it with guidelines based on the status of local counties. Seventy percent of Americans live in counties in the low or medium COVID levels, ...

CDC: Most can stop masking

Most Americans live in places where healthy people, including students in schools, can safely take a break from wearing masks under new U.S. guidelines released Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals. The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those ...