Latest Epidemics News
COVID nursing home deaths claim is campaign trail mainstay
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor, has made a campaign staple out of the allegation that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's policy of readmitting COVID-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes caused thousands of deaths — a baseless claim for...
From one July Fourth to the next, a steep slide for Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last Fourth of July, President Joe Biden gathered hundreds of people outside the White House for an event that would have been unthinkable for many Americans the previous year. With the coronavirus in retreat, they ate hamburgers and watched fireworks over the National Mall. ...
Doctors look to athletes for clues to COVID’s heart impacts
BALTIMORE (AP) — Doctors learned early in the pandemic that COVID-19 was more than a respiratory disease. It was attacking bodily organs, including the heart — even in healthy, young athletes. Enough athletes with COVID were experiencing heart inflammation, called myocarditis,...
With hospitalizations up, France weighs return to masks
NICE, France (AP) — Tourism is booming again in France — and so is COVID-19. French officials have “invited" or “recommended” people to go back to using face masks but stopped short of renewing restrictions that would scare visitors away or revive antigovernment protests. ...
After two pandemic years, a summer travel bounce — and chaos
JERUSALEM (AP) — At a tourism conference in Phuket last month, Thailand’s prime minister looked out at attendees and posed a question with a predictable answer. “Are you ready?” Prayuth Chan-ocha asked, dramatically removing his mask and launching what's hoped to be the...
Monkeypox cases triple in Europe, WHO says, Africa concerned
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization's Europe chief warned Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the last two weeks and urged countries to do more to ensure the previously rare disease does not become entrenched on the continent. And African health...
WVa opioid trial verdict still pending nearly a year later
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Last July, a federal judge in West Virginia heard closing arguments in the first lawsuit to go to trial over the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic. With an avalanche of documents from the three-month trial, Judge David Faber didn’t indicate when he would...
Massachusetts man to plead guilty to pandemic relief fraud
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has agreed to plead guilty to fraudulently obtaining about $1.2 million in federal loans intended to help businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. James Joseph Cohen, 59, of Wenham, between April 2020 and September 2021 submitted six...
N. Korea suggests balloons flown from South brought COVID-19
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea suggested Friday its COVID-19 outbreak began in people who had contact with balloons flown from South Korea — a highly questionable claim that appeared to be an attempt to hold its rival responsible amid increasing tensions over its nuclear program. ...
WVa National Guard's full-time pandemic response to end
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia National Guard’s full-time response to the COVID-19 pandemic will end Friday, Gov. Jim Justice said. Justice first activated the National Guard to assist with the state’s pandemic response in March 2020. Among their duties, guard...
