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COVID-19

Workers looking to advance

Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories about the area’s shortage of employees. The “perceived” labor shortage that businesses blame on COVID-related expansion of unemployment compensation is due to various causes — and it also reflects an ongoing major reevaluation of the place of labor in people’s lives, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor and Industry. Businesses are having problems finding workers not so much because of unemployment compensation, but more because “many Pennsylvanians are still waiting to complete the full vaccination ...

COVID-19 Q&A: Why do some get vaccine side effects

Temporary side effects including headache, fatigue and fever are signs the immune system is revving up — a normal response to vaccines. And they’re common. Here’s what’s happening: The immune system has two main arms, and the first kicks in as soon as the body detects a foreign intruder. White blood cells swarm to the site, prompting inflammation that’s responsible for chills, soreness, fatigue and other side effects. This rapid-response step of your immune system tends to wane with age, one reason younger people report side effects more often than older adults. Also, some ...

Area’s COVID-19 stats continue to improve

The COVID-19 situation continues to improve in the region, as the number of new cases in the past week, the number of new cases per 100,000 residents — the incidence rate — and the test positivity rate all went down in all six counties, according to Friday’s update from the state’s early warning dashboard. For the first time in a long time, all the counties’ incidence rates and all the counties’ positivity rates are below the thresholds of concern, although Clearfield’s positivity is exactly 5%. The biggest decline in the number of new cases was in Blair County — by ...

COVID numbers improve

The COVID-19 status of the six local counties continues to improve, according to Friday’s update of the state Department of Health’s early warning dashboard. The improvements are especially definitive for new case numbers and incidence rates — the number of new cases per 100,000 residents — as those metrics improved for all the local counties. Blair’s new case numbers dropped the most this week — by 45 to 77 — although that 77 still leaves Blair as the local county with the highest new case number. Huntingdon has the fewest new cases this week, with 18. Blair’s ...

HARRISBURG (AP) — The Pennsylvania Department of Health has dropped its legal action against more than 40 restaurants that were accused of defying state orders to close indoor dining and maintain social-distancing protocols. The Health Department had filed two separate complaints alleging that restaurants were violating pandemic restrictions that Gov. Tom Wolf imposed in December in response to a winter surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. The state had sought an order to shut down in-person dining, as well as damages. Department officials said that most restaurants ...

Council weighs options for rescue funds

Altoona last week received $19.6 million that was authorized through the American Rescue Plan — half the amount the plan calls for the city to receive — but local officials remain a long way from figuring out how they’ll use the funds. Between now and City Council’s June 15 meeting, however, Manager Omar Strohm and Mayor Matt Pacifico will work on it, cobbling together suggestions for projects and outlining responsibilities for a proposed spending plan advisory council. Based on provisions in the law and comments from local officials, there are uses for the “fiscal recovery ...