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COVID-19

Conemaugh Nason adjusts visitation

Conemaugh Nason Medical Center in Roaring Spring has adjusted the hospital’s visitation policy. As of Tuesday, intensive care/medical-surgical units will allow one visitor per patient from noon to 8 p.m. daily; in labor and delivery, one support person for the duration of the stay, no other visitors are permitted at this time; in the emergency department, one support person during the ED visit; as far as ambulatory appointments, one support person is permitted to help patients who require extra assistance; and for end-of-life, as well as other situations where a patient’s ...

Local nursing homes deal with vaccine mandate

Blair County nursing homes are struggling with the federal mandate that all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 unless workers obtain medical or religious exemptions. Managers fear the mandate will aggravate existing worker shortages. It’s a reflection of a national problem. The “overall intent” of the vaccination mandate, which is being enforced through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is good, but the nursing home community is “concerned that the execution will exacerbate an already dire workforce crisis,” American Health Care ...

Area COVID numbers show ‘no improvement’

The COVID transmission rate remained high in all six local counties Friday, as it has for months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Among those local counties, Blair had the highest number of new cases (759) and the highest number of new hospital admissions (41), along with the second highest test positivity (14.54%). “No improvement,” said Blair Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor, citing more new cases, more new deaths and higher hospital numbers here than last week. “It’s tough to put a handle on it,” Taylor said, when asked to ...

Judge: End mask mandate Dec. 4

HARRISBURG (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday said an order that requires masks inside K-12 schools and child care facilities to contain the coronavirus must expire Dec. 4, although that is unlikely to be the final legal development in the case. The ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon comes a week after her court threw out the statewide mask mandate, and it lifts the automatic suspension of that decision granted when Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration appealed to the state Supreme Court. Cannon’s ruling, in theory, gives time for the state Supreme Court ...

Holiday sparks vaccine debate

NEW YORK — Thanksgiving is Jonatan Mitchell’s favorite holiday, usually spent with his wife co-hosting up to 20 loved ones. He’d been looking forward to the gathering this year after calling it off in 2020 due to the pandemic, but one of the most pressing issues of the times got in the way: Who’s vaccinated and who’s not? Mitchell, 35, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, has a rare neurological disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome and a smattering of related health issues that leave him at high risk should he contract COVID-19. Two relatives — his father-in-law and a brother-in-law ...

Hot spots could be COVID-19 indicators

The contagious delta variant is driving up COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Mountain West and fueling disruptive outbreaks in the North, a worrisome sign of what could be ahead this winter in the U.S. While trends are improving in Florida, Texas and other Southern states that bore the worst ...