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The Governors office has declared a disaster over the states recent polio outbreak that some fear could have infected thousands in the Empire State

As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported, all of the patients tested negative for the hepatitis A, B, and C viruses, and also tested negative for COVID-19. They did test positive for adenovirus, a common family of at least 50 different viruses—including the common cold—that typically cause respiratory symptoms, but can also cause intestinal problems. Seven of the nine pediatric patients were suffering from vomiting or diarrhea before admission, and five of the nine tested positive for adenovirus 41—one of the strains known to affect the gut. None of the children were immunocompromised, none suffered...

SEATTLE — Passengers on a Carnival Cruise Ship that docked Tuesday in Seattle say more than 100 people aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19 and the ship was overwhelmed. Multiple people say they’re in quarantine at Seattle-area hotels after testing positive or being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Carnival Cruise Line would not confirm how many people tested positive, but said there were a number of positive cases, KING5 reported. Darren Sieferston, a passenger on the cruise from Miami to Seattle, is in quarantine after testing positive. He said the crew’s response was chaotic. “They didn’t have enough staff...

A new outbreak of Zika virus is quite possible, warn researchers, with a single mutation potentially enough to trigger an explosive spread. The disease caused a global medical emergency in 2016, with thousands of babies born brain-damaged after their mums became infected while pregnant. US scientists say the world should be on the lookout for new mutations.Lab work, described in the journal Cell Reports, suggests the virus could easily shift, creating new variants.Recent infection studies suggest those variants may prove effective at transmitting the virus, even in countries which have built up immunity from previous outbreaks of Zika, say the...

A truck carrying around 100 monkeys that crashed in Pennsylvania is now sparking fears of infection after a woman who came into contact with the primates began to feel unwell. Michelle Fallon, from Danville near Scranton, was driving directly behind the vehicle when it crashed, throwing animal crates all over the highway and smashing some to pieces. Four of the 100 animals escaped and were seen sitting among the wreckage before they fled. Police say they have now all been accounted for, with three known to have been euthanised. Fallon said she got out to help both the driver and...

Finally, after a month of living with a brutal, Wuhan-style lockdown, the 13 million residents of Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shanxxi, are finally free to go about their business. The CCP announced over the weekend that it would end the lockdown after a month, having officially triumphed over the virus yet again (although other outbreaks are vexing authorities in Beijing and elsewhere).On Monday, meanwhile, health authorities confirmed the first new confirmed case of COVID in Shanghai since the start of the latest round of outbreaks. While it's only one case for now (at least, according to what the CCP...

A research station in Antarctica is battling a COVID-19 outbreak despite being located in one of the most remote corners of the world.Since mid-December, 11 of the 33 workers at Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have tested positive for the virus.Joseph Cheek, a project manager for the International Polar Foundation, which manages the outpost, told ABC News that the first case was reported on Dec. 15 in a worker who had traveled to Antarctica with a group via South Africa despite strict testing and travel requirements.Before arriving in South Africa from their country of origin, the workers were required to...

China’s most famous defector to America warned US intelligence agencies a coronavirus was spreading in Wuhan in November 2019 – six weeks before China admitted there was an outbreak. Wei Jingsheng, the father of China’s democracy movement, reveals in a new book, “What Really Happened in Wuhan,” that he first heard of a mysterious new virus at the time of the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019. Highly alarmed, the former Chinese Communist Party insider, whose defection to the United States in 1997 made global news, alerted intelligence agencies, a US politician with links to the president and...

Two thirds of the 25 staff based at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught the virus, the Le Soir newspaper reported, proving there is no escape from the global pandemic. The outbreak took hold despite all staff passing multiple PCR tests, quarantining and living in one of the most remote places in the world. The situation has echoes of the plot of John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing, which was advertised on posters with the warning “man is the warmest place to hide.” An alien life form infects workers on an Antarctic station in the cult sci-fi thriller...

he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday said it is actively investigating or observing 86 cruise ships following COVID-19 outbreaks on board. Why it matters: The Omicron variant has driven up infections across the U.S., upending vacation plans and disrupting travel. The new strain is the latest sign of the pandemic's hold on the cruise line industry.

COVID-19 infections are prompting foreign governments to deny cruise ship passengers permission to leave the ship to visit their country. Passengers and crews aboard the MS Koningsdam left Puerto Vallarta soon after it entered the port in the Western Mexico state of Jalisco. State Health Department officials forbade disembarking after learning 21 crew members aboard the liner tested positive for COVID-19. The Koningsdam began its cruise in San Diego, California Dec. 19 with 874 crew and 1,035 passengers, according to the Mexican news outlet Sinembargo. The cruise ship reportedly made scheduled stops in Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan before arriving...

A U.S. Navy warship has paused its deployment to South America due to a COVID-19 outbreak among its “100 percent immunized” crew, the Navy announced on Christmas Eve. “USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), a Freedom variant littoral combat ship, remains in port as some Sailors test positive for COVID-19,” the U.S. 4th Fleet said in a statement. “The crew is 100 percent immunized and all COVID-19 positive Sailors are isolated on board and away from other crew members. A portion those infected have exhibited mild symptoms. The vaccine continues to demonstrate effectiveness against serious illness.” The ship currently remains in port...

Health Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday reminded Americans of how Beijing, about a year ago, had held back the truth about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak, allowing it to turn into a global crisis.Azar, during a speech at conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, said the early U.S. response to the CCP virus was particularly difficult because the virus emerged in China, which, given the nature of the communist regime, “severely limited” outside access to information about it.“Let’s consider when and how the United States became aware of the virus,” the nation’s health chief said. “We learned about an...

Conservative and political commentator Glenn Beck recently revealed to Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the Covid-19 vaccine was already in development since December 2019, months before the United States felt the full effects of the pandemic and at least two weeks before China confirmed its first official outbreak of coronavirus.Beck drew attention to the fact that gain-of-function research involving bat coronavirus samples began in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China as early as 2015. It is a known fact that these experiments were being partly funded by White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci and other organisations...

The Carnival Freedom became the third Florida-based cruise ship this week to be hit with a COVID-19 outbreak, according to the company. The vessel, which was scheduled to return to Miami Sunday following an 8-day journey, has since been denied entry to Bonaire and Aruba, Carnival said in a statement.

A US Navy combat ship has delayed its deployment to South America due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the crew, officials said Friday. The USS Milwaukee, which deployed from Mayport, Fla. on Dec. 15 will remain in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where it had stopped for a scheduled visit.

In my first piece on the Omicron variant last week, I cautioned against overreaction or panic while laying out three key questions: (1) Is the new variant more contagious than previous ones? (2) Is it more virulent, causing more severe outcomes? (3) Do our vaccines offer protection against hospitalization or death against Omicron? There were some initial indications that at least on the latter two questions, the answers were looking favorable. Where do things stand now? Most experts continue to say it's too early to tell, as information continues to be gathered and reviewed. But it is starting to look...

Rule #1 in White House communications: When you have information that can quash negative reports about the administration, you share it quickly, boldly, and as often as possible.Rule #2 in White House communications: When you know an unpopular report to be true and unlikely to be properly covered up in the near future, sidestep the question and mitigate damage with separate rhetoric.Considering that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki abided by Rule #2 when asked about a Covid-19 outbreak among White House staff, it’s a safe bet that there’s an outbreak of Omicron spreading across the executive branch of the...

A private liberal arts college in Vermont reverted to remote learning until the close of the fall semester due to 50 active COVID cases on campus. Final exams, which were scheduled to wrap up by Sunday, will be administered remotely, and students, 99% of whom are fully vaccinated, are encouraged to leave campus early. Read the Middlebury letter to students…