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COVID-19

Second closure strains eateries

Restaurants starving for business because of COVID-19 restrictions received an injection of hope with the recent start of vaccinations, but having a base of loyal customers has provided an early inoculation from pandemic damage, according to one local ownership family. Gratitude for faithful customers marks the attitude of Texas Hot Dogs’ Dane Lamont, after nine months of struggling with coronavirus restrictions — while for other owners, the pandemic has given birth to resentment, resignation, creativity, concern for employees and even a recognition that sometimes terrible things ...

Frontline workers get first vaccines

Just as many health care workers have set an example for the community with mask-wearing during the coronavirus pandemic, participants in the launch of UPMC Altoona’s employee vaccination program on Friday cited the importance of their exemplary role in helping to promote COVID-19 ...

Hospitalizations continue climb

The coronavirus outbreak in the region seems to be calming a little, according to the state’s Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard, although hospitalizations are rising in four of the six local counties — a reflection of the lag between when patients test positive and when they seek treatment. All six local counties remain far beyond the thresholds of concern for the two key dashboard indicators related to positive cases: an incidence rate for the previous week of 50 per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 5%. The most egregious incidence rate is in Blair County, at 596 cases ...

Pence celebrates ‘medical miracle’

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and the leaders of the House and Senate received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday as they tried to reassure the American public that the shot is safe. Pence, in a live-television event, celebrated the milestone as “a medical miracle” that could eventually put an end to a raging pandemic that has killed more than 310,000 people nationwide. Conspicuously absent: President Donald Trump, who has remained largely out of sight five days into the largest vaccination campaign in the nation’s history. “I didn’t feel a ...

Congress averts shutdown

WASHINGTON — Congress swiftly passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The virus aid talks remain on track, both sides said, but closing out final disagreements is proving difficult. The House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote as lawmakers headed for a Sunday session. The Senate approved the bill by voice vote almost immediately afterward, sending it to President Donald Trump. Senate Majority ...

1 in 5 inmates have COVID-19

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One in every five state and federal prisoners in the United States has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half of prisoners have been infected, according to data collected by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project. As the pandemic enters its 10th month — and as the first Americans begin to receive a long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine — at least 275,000 prisoners have been infected, more than 1,700 have died and the spread of the virus behind bars shows no sign of ...