Latest Pandemics News

MLB average salary rose 2.9% to record $4.66 million last year

Jan. 29, 2025 12:41 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — The rate of increase for Major League Baseball’s average salary slowed to 2.9% last year to a record $4.66 million, according to the annual report of the players’ association. The average of $4,655,366 was up from $4,525,719 in 2023, which marked a 7% increase...

Pork giant Smithfield's CEO touts growth outlook, minimizes threats from deportations, bird flu

Jan. 28, 2025 18:06 PM EST

Smithfield Foods' CEO says he hopes that everything the company has done to make working in its plants more attractive ever since COVID tore through the industry during the pandemic will help it weather the impact of President Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations. Smithfield...

The CIA believes COVID most likely originated from a lab but has low confidence in its own finding

Jan. 26, 2025 11:54 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion. ...

Trump ends Fauci's security detail and says he'd feel no responsibility if harm befell him

Jan. 24, 2025 13:08 PM EST

FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Fauci is the latest in a string of former Trump...

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has memoir coming out in June

Jan. 21, 2025 21:44 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Two years after her shocking decision to resign as prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern is set to publish a memoir. Crown, a division of Penguin Random House, announced Tuesday that Ardern's “A Different Kind of Power" is scheduled for June 3. Only 37...

Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here's what may happen next

Jan. 21, 2025 13:26 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear...

Meet the Americans who still take COVID-19 precautions seriously

Jan. 16, 2025 11:47 AM EST

Susan Scarbro stares down a bowling lane at the distant pins. She hears a sound that breaks her focus. Was that a cough? Will her mask protect her? COVID-19 remains a very present threat for the 55-year-old. Scarbro has multiple immune disorders, making her vulnerable...

Biden health officials say they built up US pandemic defenses. Trump promises changes

Jan. 14, 2025 12:16 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration on Tuesday released a “roadmap” for maintaining government defenses against infectious diseases, just as President-elect Donald Trump pledges to dismantle some of them. The 16-page report recaps steps taken in the last four years against...

The rate of HMPV infections in northern China is declining, Chinese health official says

Jan. 12, 2025 06:51 AM EST

BEIJING (AP) — The rate of infections with the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in northern China is declining, a health official said Sunday, amid some international concern over a potential pandemic. HMPV, which belongs to the same family as the respiratory syncytial virus,...

Working Well: Returning to the office can disrupt life. Here are some tips to navigate the changes

Dec. 26, 2024 14:38 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason LaCroix felt privileged to work from home, especially as a father to two young children. He needed flexibility when his son, then 6, suffered a brain injury and spent 35 days in intensive care. LaCroix, a senior systems engineer based in Atlanta, took time off...