One of COVID-19’s scariest mysteries is why some people are mildly ill or have no symptoms and others rapidly die — and scientists are starting to unravel why. An international team of researchers found that in some people with severe COVID-19, the body goes rogue and attacks one of its ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held an “extensive conversation” Wednesday on a huge COVID-19 rescue package, meeting face to face for the first time in more than a month in a last-ditch effort to seal a tentative accord on an additional round of coronavirus relief. After a 90-minute meeting in the Capitol, Pelosi issued a statement saying the two would continue to talk. “We found areas where we are seeking further clarification,” she said. “We made a lot of progress over the last few days. We still don’t have an ...
UPMC doctors speaking at a virtual news conference Tuesday said they don’t believe a coronavirus vaccine will be ready by the end of the year. The chances of having a vaccine that has been proven both safe and effective before January is “almost nil,” said David Nace, chief medical officer for UPMC Senior Communities. And even if a vaccine becomes available sooner than expected, studies show that up to half the population will refuse to take it, Nace said. Moreover, not everyone will generate good immunity with it, the doctors said. For now, the equivalent of a vaccine is the ...
The state Department of Labor & Industry expects that when it eventually begins handling unemployment claims through its long-anticipated — but now delayed — new electronic system, some problems that have bedeviled the current system will shrink or disappear. Ironically, some of those current problems are the very ones that have come to the fore because of COVID-19 — which in turn is the reason for postponing the launch from October to some indefinite date, to avoid the potential for additional havoc in the stressed UC claims system. The new system will make it easier for ...
Local advocates will march this weekend to call for Medicaid expansion to all Pennsylvanians during the pandemic. Put People First! PA will hold an Altoona Medicaid March that will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday outside UPMC Altoona, 620 Howard Ave, and will end at Heritage Plaza. UPMC is not affiliated with the event. Jennina Gorman, health care rights coordinator for Blair County and the Altoona Healthcare Rights Committee, said the key message of the march is that health care is a human right. “We want to make sure everyone has the health care they need regardless of income ...
HARRISBURG — When Pennsylvania officials started developing a new statewide outdoor recreation plan two years ago, no one could have foreseen the public demand for outdoor activities that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pennsylvania Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan for 2020-24 was released last week at a time when state and local parks and recreation facilities have seen record use since last spring when the pandemic and stay-at-home orders upended everyday life. These parks are also seeing wear and tear from the upsurge of hikers, strollers and kayakers ...
