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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As numbers grow, has COVID fatigue turned into COVID apathy? We are in a new wave of COVID and there is a growing trend away from testing which experts have said is disturbing. This week, the top doctors in all our local healthcare institutions came out with a joint statement warning against "COVID complacency." In their offices and emergency rooms, they're seeing it. "This is a real thing," said UPMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Don Yealy. "We see that the biggest threat now with COVID and soon to be with flu is what we call 'presenteeism' that...

Face masks become mandatory in certain UK hospitals. Face masks now required to be worn in area of some UK hospitals. Amid a drastic rise in Covid cases, people in certain areas of Leicester’s hospitals will be required to wear a face covering once again. It now seems like a long and distant memory or even a nightmare for a lot of people, the whole of the UK and large parts of the world were being told they had to wear a face mask when entering public places to help stop the spread of Covid 19. This saw people in...

Just 36% of registered Republican voters who got a Covid-19 vaccine say it was worth it, while 57% say it was not, according to new NBC News polling. The survey results highlight deep partisan divisions about how Americans view the vaccines — as public health officials recommend Americans get new booster shots this fall. While more than half of Republicans who received a Covid-19 vaccine believe it wasn’t worth it, that sentiment was shared by just 29% of independents and 5% of Democrats who say they are vaccinated. Of those who say they got a vaccine, 67% of independents and...

People are becoming more concerned about COVID-19 amid the recent uptick in cases and new variants, according to Gallup’s latest quarterly poll. Gallup polled more than 5,000 U.S. adults between Aug. 29 and Sept. 5. Thirty percent of respondents said they believe the pandemic is getting worse — up from 5% in late May/early June and 8% in February, according to a news release on Gallup’s website.

Some California college students are fighting to have mask mandates reinstated amid ongoing discussions around the return to some COVID-19 precautions. Last week, the Disabled Students Union (DSU) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), announced on Instagram that a proposed resolution titled "A Resolution to Mandate Masking, Weekly PCR testing, and Upcoming COVID-19 Vaccines, and to Improve Ventilation, and Reinstate the COVID-19 Task Force" failed to receive enough votes from the university's Undergraduate Student Association Council (USAC). Some of the main aspects of the resolution proposed by the DSU included mask requirements for indoor and crowded outdoor spaces,...

… While some families never stopped masking, a recent Yahoo News/YouGov survey of 1,665 adults in the U.S. found that just 12% had practiced regular mask-wearing outside of the home over the previous week. … Dr. Zachary Hoy, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Pediatrix in Nashville, says he doesn’t believe that families should overreact to the uptick in COVID-19 cases just yet, though it is worth monitoring. … If your family decides to return to masking, Amodio suggests including kids in any discussions. “Help them to understand the reasons behind the choice, and be sure to validate their emotions...

Seems like COVID's everywhere again. But here's good news from Pfizer! This season's updated COVID-19 shots are now available for ages 6 months and up, and they're designed to help protect against recent variants. That is why today, at 8pm, the Empire State Building turned its iconic building blue to announce that the CDC recommends everyone 6 months of age and older get this season's updated COVID-19 shot. The blue light symbolizes our gratitude and appreciation for the updated vaccines and all those who made it possible.

Former White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that there were “a number of studies that show that masks actually do work” to stop the spread of COVID-19. Anchor Jon Karl said, “There’s a new study out that suggests that masks were actually not effective, at least not in a global sense, in containing the pandemic. What is your sense looking back at all of this? Did masks prove to be less effective than you anticipated?”

The White House announced Monday evening that Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 while on vacation in Delaware and is “experiencing only mild symptoms.” Jill Biden is double-vaxxed and twice boosted. Jill previously tested positive in August 2022 and again that month in a rebound case after treatment with Paxlovid. Jill’s case comes as a new wave of COVID hysteria has started with the emergence of a new variant (Pirola). A follow-up statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden tested negative for COVID Monday evening. The Bidens were on vacation this weekend in Rehoboth, Delaware....

The Biden administration estimates that 97% of Americans ages 16 and over have some level of COVID-19 immunity through vaccination, previous infection or both. The number may sound promising – so why do people need another round of shots? Because that protection can fade in a matter of months, leaving individuals vulnerable to COVID-19 once again. “Immunity is stronger today than at any other point in the outbreak,” Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent video statement. “That means we're moving towards COVID-19 being a more manageable illness with less severe...

Health officials in California recently spoke about the possible return of mask mandates in the state amid a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health held a press conference to speak about a rise in new COVID-19 cases, saying that over the past week cases have doubled. During the press conference, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer was asked about the potential return to mask mandates and if the county would ever make them mandatory again. "'Ever' is not a word I'm comfortable with. There's...

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo harshly criticized COVID-19 mask mandates and lockdowns, and urged people to consider "refusing to participate." "What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don't call it sanity," Dr. Ladapo posted last week on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate…" Some schools and companies are implementing mask mandates amid a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, even though some peer-reviewed research has suggested that face coverings may cause...

COVID-19 isn’t quite done with the world yet. Small surges of cases in the U.S., as well as upticks in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the summer, and new variants that weren’t around even three months ago, remind us that SARS-CoV-2 is still a health threat for the coming fall and winter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to make a decision about which strain to target in the updated vaccine, which the agency says will be available in mid-to-late September. The FDA will be considering recommendations by the panel of independent vaccine experts it convened in June, which...

Federal health authorities are laying out plans for taking on this year’s respiratory viral season, with officials emboldened by the new spate of preventive medications the U.S. has gathered heading into the fall and winter. “We are in our strongest position yet to be able to fight COVID-19 as well as the other viruses that are responsible for the majority of fall and winter hospitalizations, namely flu, COVID as well as RSV,” a CDC official said in a press call on Thursday. They cited the high rate of COVID-19 immunity — 97 percent — among U.S. individuals 16 and older...

A second American tested positive for the new highly-mutated BA.2.86 Covid variant that has been causing global alarm over its rapid transmission. The positive case was detected in an asymptomatic patient in Virginia who was tested August 10 after returning to the US from Japan. Scientists identified the case in a database that contains test samples from a small number of travelers entering the US. Independent experts told DailyMail.com they believe the new strain is spreading more widely and in more US states. The new variant, also spotted in Michigan last week, is causing concern because it stems from an...

A second American tested positive for the new highly-mutated BA.2.86 Covid variant that has been causing global alarm over its rapid transmission.A second American tested positive for the new highly-mutated BA.2.86 Covid variant that has been causing global alarm over its rapid transmission. The positive case was detected in an asymptomatic patient in Virginia who was tested August 10 after returning to the US from Japan. Scientists identified the case in a database that contains test samples from a small number of travelers entering the US. Independent experts told DailyMail.com they believe the new strain is spreading more widely and...

An Atlanta college announced this week that it is reinstating its mask mandate for everyone on campus. Morris Brown College began classes just last week, but will require all students and employees to wear face masks. Officials say there have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases among its students, but they have received reports from other schools in the Atlanta University Center. The mask mandate is a precautionary move for the next 14 days. Morris Brown College will also not allow any parties or large student gatherings on campus during this time. Other precautionary measures include: temperature checks upon campus arrival,...

As a new Covid variant emerges, pandemic-era guidelines including social distancing and mask mandates are popping back up in some places Morris Brown College is a private liberal arts school in Atlanta, Georgia where both students and employees are now being required to wear masks in crowded areas such as hallways and classrooms for at least two weeks. Reports of positive cases among the student body have driven concerns that the new variant is going to cause a renewed boom in Covid cases not just within the college but around the country. This also means that there will be no...

The Health and Human Services Department and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority on Tuesday announced a $1.5 billion initiative through Project NextGen for its partners to develop the "next generation" of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Several new COVID-19 variants have emerged and HHS officials said the department is closely monitoring the situation as the vaccines are developed.

Covid cases are on the rise again. Hospitalizations have spiked noticeably since the beginning of July. But doctors say we're far from a place of panic. There's also promising new protection on the horizon as a highly contagious new variant spreads. As North Texas prepares for the return to school and enjoys the last bit of summer, the CDC is keeping a close watch on those COVID cases. In the first hospitalization spike, we’ve seen this year, just over 8,000 hospital admissions were reported on July 22. That was up 12% compared to the prior week.