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COVID-19

Vaccine mandate begins for health workers

Health care workers in about half the states face a deadline today to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks. While the requirement is welcomed by some, others fear it will worsen already serious staff shortages if employees quit rather than comply. And in some Republican-led states that have taken a stand against vaccine mandates, hospitals and nursing homes could find themselves caught between conflicting state and federal demands. “We would like to see staff ...

Options for COVID tests offered

Area residents in need of a COVID-19 test have several options and, for those who don’t need a test right now, the federal government is offering all households up to four free at-home tests to be used when needed. In Blair County, a drive-thru COVID-19 testing clinic will be held in the parking lot at Peoples Natural Gas Field, the Altoona Curve baseball stadium, 1000 Park Ave., Altoona. The clinic will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, Jan. 19, through Friday, Jan. 21. Testing is free and open to anyone 3 years old or older. Those requesting a test do not have to show symptoms ...

Spring Cove seeing rise in COVID cases

ROARING SPRING — Forty-four COVID-19 cases have been reported across the district over the last two weeks, Superintendent Betsy Baker told the Spring Cove School Board Tuesday. “COVID cases in our community have been surging over the past two weeks, and we are seeing a similar rise in cases in our schools,” Baker said. “Hopefully this is a short-term post-holiday surge and we will see a change in this trend soon.” The 44 reported cases have required the district to contact and provide exclusion instructions to 513 parents, according to Baker. Contact tracing is currently ...

COVID-19 death rates high in local counties

COVID-19 death rates in the six local counties — the number of deaths in the last week per 100,000 residents — are comparable to the statewide rate of seven, with two exceptions, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health. Those are Blair and Clearfield, both of whose death rates greatly exceeded the state’s. “There were a lot of deaths this week,” said Mark Taylor, the Blair County emergency management director. “That’s the saddest part.” Among the local counties, new hospital admissions went up in ...

Omicron admission rates rival 2020 peak

The recent proliferation of the omicron variant of COVID-19 resulted in an influx of inpatients at Penn Highlands Healthcare hospitals in December that matched the influx at the height of the pandemic in December 2020. There are currently 92 COVID-19 inpatients in the hospital system, including 15 at Penn Highlands Huntingdon and one at Penn Highlands Tyrone, according to Russell Cameron, Penn Highlands’ chief medical officer, during a virtual news conference Wednesday. The overwhelming majority of the inpatients that are doing poorly — either in intensive care, on ventilators or ...

Doctors: Vaccine cuts risk for kids

Children are not at high risk from COVID-19, but it’s important for them to get vaccinated anyway, according to a pair of pediatricians. Vaccinations greatly reduce the small personal risk kids face and reduce the risk of them transmitting the virus to people highly vulnerable to ...