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COVID-19

Hospitalizations drop for US senior citizens

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 hospitalizations among older Americans have plunged more than 70% since the start of the year, and deaths among them appear to have tumbled as well, dramatic evidence the vaccination campaign is working. Now the trick is to get more of the nation’s younger people to roll up their sleeves. The drop-off in severe cases among Americans 65 and older is especially encouraging because senior citizens have accounted for about 8 out of 10 deaths from the virus since it hit the U.S., where the toll stands at about 570,000. COVID-19 deaths among people of all ages ...

State House passes bill to halt retail shutdowns

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania state House on Wednesday gave divided approval to a Republican-sponsored bill to let many retail stores remain open during a declared state of disaster emergency, which backers said would safely prevent smaller businesses from going broke. The chamber voted 117-84 to allow retailers to be open if they restrict operations to a single employee and a single customer, or can fulfill drive-up sales that limit contact. Six Democrats joined the unanimous Republican caucus in voting for the legislation. Retail stores have long reopened, but the bill would ...

Tax credit offered to spur virus shots

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced new employer tax credits and other steps to encourage people reluctant to be inoculated to get the COVID-19 vaccine as his administration tries to overcome diminishing demand for the shots. The moves came as Biden celebrated reaching his latest goal of administering 200 million coronavirus doses in his first 100 days in office. With more than 50% of adults at least partially vaccinated and roughly 28 million vaccine doses being delivered each week, demand has eclipsed supply as the constraining factor to vaccinations in much of ...

LONDON — The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Tuesday that it found a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and extremely rare blood clots and recommended a warning be added to the label. But experts at the agency reiterated that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks. The European Medicines Agency made its determination after examining a small number of clot cases in people vaccinated in the U.S. It said these problems should be considered “very rare side effects of the vaccine.” J&J immediately announced it will revise its label ...

India’s hospitals buckle amid surge

NEW DELHI — Seema Gandotra, sick with the coronavirus, gasped for breath in an ambulance for 10 hours as it tried unsuccessfully to find an open bed at six hospitals in India’s sprawling capital. By the time she was admitted, it was too late, and the 51-year-old died. Rajiv Tiwari, whose oxygen levels began falling after he tested positive for the virus, has the opposite problem: He identified an open bed, but the resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh can’t get to it. “There is no ambulance to take me to the hospital,” he said. Such tragedies are familiar from surges in ...

Blair to resume inmate programs

Programs to help inmates at the Blair County Prison prepare for release have been nonexistent for the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that is beginning to change, according to a deputy warden who addressed the Prison Board on Thursday. Jay B. Whitsel said several programs that ceased when the county commissioners implemented COVID-19 restrictions February and March 2020 are once again starting up. The effort began in late February when Intermediate Unit 8 initiated GED classes. Four inmates have been enrolled in the men’s in-prison drug and alcohol program, which ...