Hundreds of area residents — some waiting for hours — turned out for the first day of the state’s temporary coronavirus test site at the Blair County Convention Center on Sunday. Cars began lining up 45 minutes early and were soon backed onto Convention Center Boulevard in both ...
The Associated Press Michigan has joined Washington and several other states in announcing renewed efforts to combat the coronavirus as more than 11 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported in the United States — with the most recent million coming in less than a week — and as many Americans prepare to observe a Thanksgiving holiday marked by the pandemic. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration on Sunday ordered high schools and colleges to stop in-person classes, closed restaurants to indoor dining and suspended organized sports — including the football ...
A state Department of Health contractor will begin operating a free COVID-19 testing site at the Blair County Convention Center this weekend in response to the area’s worsening viral outbreak. The site will accept patients from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for eight days over a 10-day stretch: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, then Sunday, Nov. 22, and the following Monday and Tuesday, according to a DoH news release on Friday. The Convention Center is at 1 Convention Center Drive in Altoona. Patients, who must be at least 3 years old, don’t need to have COVID-19 symptoms and ...
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials are taking a new tack to encourage Americans to wear masks: They’re emphasizing recent research that a mask protects the person who wears it. Previously, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised people to wear masks because of evidence that it stops people who are infected with coronavirus — whether they know it or not — from spreading it to others. But this week, the CDC posted a new scientific brief discussing recent studies finding that a wearer gets some protection. The agency’s guidance didn’t change. It continues to ...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The governors of Oregon and New Mexico ordered near-lockdowns Friday in the most aggressive response yet to the latest wave of coronavirus infections shattering records across the U.S., even as many of their counterparts in other states show little appetite for reimposing the hard-line restrictions of last spring. “We are in a life-or-death situation, and if we don’t act right now, we cannot preserve the lives, we can’t keep saving lives, and we will absolutely crush our current health care system and infrastructure,” Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ...
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Some Blair County court proceedings were canceled Thursday after the sheriff’s department reported not having enough deputies to transport inmates, partly due to COVID-19 exposure or potential exposure. While sheriff deputies were working Thursday in some areas of the courthouse, adult parole officers filled in for absent deputies who would generally staff the front door of the courthouse and handle security screening procedures. “My office, like other offices in the county and in the community, has had COVID-19 exposure,” Sheriff James Ott said Thursday. ...
