pandemic

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'Hospitals Are Full From Memphis to Natchez to Gulfport'

Hospital leaders say delta surge has pushed Mississippi system to breaking point

(Newser) - Mississippi's hospital system is buckling under a record-breaking load of COVID infections, a University of Mississippi Medical Center official is warning. Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC's COVID response leader, said Wednesday that case numbers and hospitalizations have soared over the last week, and "if we continue that trajectory...

More Than 1M Americans Have Wrangled a 3rd Dose

So says a CDC estimate seen by ABC News

(Newser) - Some 1.1 million Americans have gotten three shots in a bid to protect themselves from COVID-19, or so says an internal CDC briefing document seen by ABC News . That third one would be unapproved, of course, as the FDA hasn't given the green light for such third booster...

Stevie Nicks Makes a 'Challenging' COVID Decision

73-year-old singer cancels her 5 music festival performances in 2021 due to coronavirus

(Newser) - Stevie Nicks has canceled five forthcoming performances at music festivals, citing coronavirus concerns, she said in a statement Tuesday. Nicks had been scheduled to headline one day each of BottleRock Napa Valley in California and the Jazz Aspen fest in Colorado in September, per the AP . In October, she was...

YouTube Dumps Rand Paul for a Week Over Mask Misinfo

GOP senator calls his weeklong booting a 'badge of honor'

(Newser) - Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't the only Republican lawmaker who's temporarily lost social media privileges . On Tuesday, the same day that Twitter placed the Georgia congresswoman on a seven-day break for posting misinformation on the COVID vaccine, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky received his own weeklong suspension from...

Family Member Have a Baby? Hug a Bag of Rice

It's a workaround in Japan for relatives who can't visit with newborns during the pandemic

(Newser) - Congratulations, you're the proud new grandfather of a bouncing baby ... bag of rice? That's the idea behind a product created by Kome no Zoto Yoshimiya, a rice company in Japan owned by Naruo Ono. Relatives who can't visit new parents due to the pandemic will instead receive...

Texas to Use Out-of-State Medical Workers as COVID Surges

Gov. Greg Abbott also asks hospitals to voluntarily postpone elective surgeries to clear up beds

(Newser) - As COVID cases surge in Texas, with some of its largest school districts defying Greg Abbott's mask mandates ban so they can combat that surge, the governor is now confronting a different problem related to the spike. On Monday, Abbott announced he'd reached out to the Texas Hospital...

Thai Man Lost Job, Said He Killed Tourist for Her Money

Thailand recently started allowing visitors to enter without quarantining

(Newser) - Thailand wants tourists to come back, but a recent murder might make that a hard sell. A 27-year-old Thai man was charged Sunday in the death of a Swiss woman who was found dead near a waterfall in Phuket on Thursday. Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf, 57, was found wearing only a shirt...

Friends of Anti-Vax Radio Host: He Changed Mind Before Dying

Dick Farrel told people he should have gotten vaccinated, encouraged them to do so

(Newser) - Joining the ranks of vaccine skeptics who later changed their tune after they became seriously ill with COVID: a former Newsmax anchor and conservative radio host in Florida who didn't make it to tell his tale publicly in person. Per WPTV and NBC News , Dick Farrel died Wednesday of...

Residents of France Begin Flashing COVID QR Codes

Diners, travelers must show virus pass proving they're vaccinated

(Newser) - France took a big step Monday into a post-pandemic future by requiring people to show a QR code proving they have a special virus pass before they can enjoy restaurants and cafes or travel across the country, per the AP . The special pass is issued to people who are vaccinated...

Norwegian Cruises: 1, State of Florida: 0.

Company wins temporary stay against Florida's ban on businesses asking for vaccine passports

(Newser) - On Sunday, the Norwegian Gem will set sail to the Caribbean out of Miami, the cruise line's first sailing from Florida since the pandemic shuttered the cruise industry last year. Now, a judge has just given the parent company a win on its quest to make sure all passengers...

Another Pandemic Casualty: the Ski Bum

And it's a big problem for ski towns such as Jackson, Wyoming

(Newser) - A story at Outside magazine suggests that the pandemic has threatened to bring an end to a way of life, that of the modern ski bum. And it could be a big problem for ski towns around the US, which rely on such workers to staff their businesses. The piece...

8 Months After Vaccine Rollout, a Milestone

CDC says half of all Americans are now vaccinated

(Newser) - Eight months after the coronavirus vaccines got their first big push in the US, a milestone number. The CDC on Friday reported that 165.9 million Americans, or 50% of the nation, have been fully vaccinated, per Reuters . More than 58% of the total population—193,764,457 people, to...

FDA Speeds Up Plans to Help Immunocompromised

Agency said to be fast-tracking COVID booster shots for the most medically vulnerable

(Newser) - Conversations within the FDA, CDC, and NIH have begun regarding COVID-19 booster shots, with the Biden administration indicating plans will pick up steam early next month to get that plan going for the general population. "The agencies are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when...

Next Year Will See Most Weddings in Nearly 40 Years

Long-postponed celebrations are booking up vendors and venues

(Newser) - The hot wedding trend for 2022? Actually getting married. Restrictions on gatherings during the pandemic lockdowns meant planned big weddings had to be postponed. News of other people’s weddings sparking outbreaks gave brides and grooms pause. Typically, there are more than 2 million weddings a year in the US,...

United to 67K Employees: Get Vaccinated or Get Fired

United Airlines says workers will have to be inoculated by Oct. 25

(Newser) - In May, Delta Air Lines announced it would require new hires to get the COVID-19 vaccine. In June, United Airlines followed suit. Now, the latter is taking it a step further, mandating that all of its 67,000 US employees, from pilots and flight attendants to gate agents, get vaccinated....

Vanguard Reveals Hefty Vaccine Incentive: $1K

Any worker vaccinated by Oct. 1 will get the payment

(Newser) - It's a good day to work for Vanguard. Bloomberg on Wednesday reported by way of a source that the asset manager will be making a $1,000 payment to any of its 16,500 US employees who are vaccinated by Oct. 1. The offer reportedly applies to people who...

WHO Chief Calls for Global Pause of Booster Shots

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls for moratorium so people in developing world can get a first shot

(Newser) - The head of the World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on administering booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines as a way to help ensure that doses are available in countries where few people have received their first shots. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal mostly to wealthier...

Obama's Mega Birthday Bash Dashed by Delta

Ex-president to 'scale back' Mass. event with hundreds of invitees due to variant spread

(Newser) - Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and George Clooney were supposed to come. Pearl Jam was set to entertain the guests. Now, Barack Obama, who turns 60 on Wednesday, will have to settle instead for celebrating his milestone birthday with Michelle and a much smaller crowd. A huge outdoor bash for the...

Poll: Americans' Optimism Fades as Delta Spreads

Even a month ago, the public felt better about the pandemic

(Newser) - In June, 89% of Americans polled saw the COVID-19 outbreak as improving, with just 3% saying it was worsening. That was before the delta variant of the coronavirus made itself felt. In July, the Gallup Poll reports, more adults expressed pessimism than optimism about the pandemic—45% to 40%. It'...

School District Reverses Mask Mandate After DeSantis Order

Florida threatens to pull funding from schools that require face coverings

(Newser) - A South Florida school district that voted last week to require facial coverings has reversed itself after Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to cut funding. With coronavirus caseloads surging as the much more contagious delta variant spreads infections, the Broward County school board unanimously voted last week to require students, teachers,...

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