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COVID-19

Tyrone secondary schools to return

One week after the district’s elementary school students returned to school in person on a full-time basis, Tyrone Area middle and high school students will return to a full-time, in-person learning model Monday. In a letter to families of middle and high school students, Superintendent Leslie Estep said that while the district “will still face challenges” in the spring, a transition to a full-time, in-person model can be done as a result of recent decreases in cases and hospitalizations in Blair County. “Things are looking up,” Estep said. “Things are coming together to ...

Drugmakers in ‘good spot’

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 vaccine makers told Congress on Tuesday to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month, and the companies insist they will be able to provide enough for most Americans to get inoculated by summer. By the end of March, Pfizer and Moderna expect to have provided the U.S. government with a total of 220 million vaccine doses, up sharply from the roughly 75 million shipped so far. “We do believe we’re on track,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said, outlining ways the company has ramped up production. “We think we’re at a very good ...

US virus deaths match toll of 3 wars

The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. topped 500,000 Monday, a staggering number that all but matches the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined. The U.S. recorded an estimated 405,000 deaths in World War II, 58,000 in the Vietnam War and 36,000 in the Korean War. President Joe Biden held a sunset moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House and ordered American flags lowered at federal buildings for the next five days. “We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow,” Biden said. “We have to resist viewing each life as a ...

COVID-19 cases continue to fall

The COVID-19 situation in the region continues to improve, and for the first time in months, more than one of the 12 key regional metrics in the state’s early-warning dashboard — two per county — are below the thresholds of concern. Those include Blair’s test positivity, which, at 4.4%, is under the 5% threshold — as are Clearfield’s positivity of 3.6%, Cambria’s positivity of 4% and Centre’s positivity of 4.5%. Also under the threshold of concern is Bedford’s incidence rate — the number of new cases per 100,000 residents over the last week — which, at 43, is ...

Race on to vaccinate homebound

A group of health care workers hurried out of a Boston hospital on a recent weekday morning, clutching small red coolers filled with COVID-19 vaccines. Their challenge: Beat traffic, a looming snowstorm and the clock. They had to get shots in the arms of their homebound patients before the vaccines expired in a few hours. “That clock is in the back of my mind the whole time,” said Dr. Won Lee, a home care specialist at Boston Medical Center. Millions of U.S. residents will need COVID-19 vaccines brought to them because they rarely or never leave home. Doctors and nurses who ...

Weather disrupts vaccine delivery

Deliveries to most vaccine providers in the state were delayed by the bad weather this week, but the state still hopes to work out its recently discovered snafu with second doses of the Moderna vaccine within the three weeks initially planned for that effort, Department of Health senior adviser Lindsey Mauldin said in a virtual news conference Thursday. Thursday’s snowstorm dropped a few inches in the Altoona area, but, according to state meteorologist Jeff Jumper, about a foot of snow fell in parts of southeastern Pennsylvania. The DoH is working with providers and the ...