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Health officials in Contra Costa County are recommending the use of face masks in crowded indoor settings as a summer wave of COVID-19 cases sweeps through the Bay Area. On Tuesday, county health authorities renewed their advice for residents, especially those at high risk of severe illness, to use masks as a protective measure. This recommendation aligns with current state guidelines and San Francisco’s recent advisory that masks remain an effective tool to limit the virus’s spread. Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the Contra Costa County health officer, pointed to the emergence of highly transmissible coronavirus variants, referred to as FLiRT, which...

The number of Jewish residents considering leaving London is increasing daily in response to targeted hostility, Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) warned Monday. The group has exposed a series of antisemitic attacks in the capital amid reports of increasing nervousness among Jewish people about their safety, the London Evening Standard reports. CAA chief executive Gideon Falter said an earlier opinion survey had already shown about half of Jewish people were considering moving abroad and the trend was growing because of continuing hostility from sections of the community. Three Attacked in Central London ‘For Being Jewish’ by Gang of Arabic-Speaking Men, Victims...

The United States is in the throes of another covid-19 uptick, cementing a pattern of the virus surging around the holidays as doctors and public health officials brace for greater transmission after Americans return to school and work this week. Coronavirus samples detected in wastewater, the best metric for estimating community viral activity, suggests infections could be as rampant as they were last winter. A smattering of health facilities around the country, including every one in Los Angeles County, are requiring masks again. JN.1, the new dominant variant, appears to be especially adept at infecting those who have been vaccinated...

COVID-19 certainly didn't take a vacation this summer. Virus levels in the US have been on the rise for weeks, but it's hard to know exactly how widely it's spreading. Federal data suggests that the current increases have stayed far below earlier peaks and notable surges. But judging by word of mouth among family, friends and coworkers, it can seem like everyone knows someone who's sick with COVID-19 right now. "We have several folks down with COVID, unfortunately," one health-focused nonprofit told CNN when seeking comment for this story. Rates of severe disease may be staying at relatively low levels,...

New York City’s initial, and deadliest, COVID wave in 2020 started spreading weeks earlier than previously thought, according to a new analysis. The probe, conducted by conservative think tank The Empire Center, determined that the deadly outbreak began spreading about a month earlier than it was believed — in early March. “With the benefit of hindsight, it’s now clear that New York’s outbreak began a month or more earlier and spiked six times higher than shown by the available testing data, which was scarce in those early days,” the report concluded. “The infection rate likely peaked around March 19, three...

A late-summer wave of coronavirus infections has touched schools, workplaces and local government, as experts warn the public to brace for even more Covid-19 spread this fall and winter. Hospitalizations have increased 24 percent in a two-week period ending Aug. 12, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wastewater monitoring suggests a recent rise in Covid infections in the West and Northeast. In communities across the United States, outbreaks have occurred in recent weeks at preschools, summer camps and office buildings. Public health officials said that the latest increase in Covid hospitalizations is...

California’s Independent System Operator (ISO) warned of high temperatures and increased electricity usage during the coming week as the grid operator prepares for tight conditions works to ensure adequate supply. In a notice released on Saturday, ISO said it is closely monitoring the power grid as widespread heat waves can cause supply shortages, with resources stretched thin across multiple Western states. ISO said energy supplies are sufficient to meet demand.

A record string of daily highs over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) in Phoenix ended Monday as the dangerous heat wave that suffocated the Southwest throughout July receded slightly with cooling monsoon rains. The historic heat began blasting the region in June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more and longer than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110 degrees Fahrenheit-plus (43.4 degrees Celsius) weather. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974. The streak was finally broken Monday, when the high...

COVID infections, hospitalizations and emergency room visits appear to have ticked up for the first time in 2023. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Yet another summer wave of COVID infections may have started. That is according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But so far, COVID's toll looks nothing like the last three summers. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein joins us now to explain. Hi, Rob. ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana. SUMMERS: So Rob, I just have to be honest with you - this is not the kind of update many people want to hear.

University of Central Florida College of Optics and Photonics researchers achieved the first observation of de Broglie-Mackinnon wave packets by exploiting a loophole in 1980’s-era laser physics theorem. A research paper by CREOL and Florida Photonics Center of Excellence professor Ayman Abouraddy and research assistant Layton Hall ’22MS has been published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Nature Physics. Observation of optical de Broglie–Mackinnon wave packets highlights the team’s research using a class of pulsed laser beams they call space-time wave packets. In an interview with Dr. Abouraddy, he provides more insight into his team’s research and what it may hold...

China’s dramatic change in its COVID policies could have deleterious consequences for the world’s population: We may face the prospect of a new wave of the virus that will have an enormous impact on public health, three years after the start of the pandemic. The Chinese government seems to have “the Midas touch” in reverse when it comes to COVID-19 — everything it touches turns into a disaster. To this day, China has not revealed the origin of the pandemic, after denying epidemiologists critical information that might have weakened the outbreak in late 2019 and early 2020. China still censors...

One of America’s largest retailers said Wednesday that the surge in crime is inflicting deep losses. Target said its stores are getting looted at a massive scale. The damage to the bottom line has amounted to $400 million so far this year, the company said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. The company is not the only retailer to point to a rise in theft recently. A spokesman for CVS said earlier this year that it has experienced a 300 percent increase in theft. Rite Aid said in October it suffered $5 million in losses due to theft in...

The “red wave” political pundits have been predicting for months failed to materialize this past Tuesday. But what happened was not a “blue wave” either — rather, the 2022 election should be categorized as a “youth wave,” with near-historic numbers of young people turning out to vote, motivated not by party, but by the issues impacting them. Early data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE) suggests that 27 percent of people ages 18-29 cast a ballot in 2022, marking the second-highest youth turnout in a midterm election in the past three...

Democrats have wrested power from Republicans in four states that previously had politically divided governments to take full control of state capitols following Tuesday’s midterm elections. The four states that have taken both legislative chambers and the governorship under Democratic control are Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts. "By all accounts, this election should have been a landslide for Republicans. Instead, their so-called red wave is looking more like a puddle," said Jessica Post, president of the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. But even with Democratic gains, Republicans still will control more states and more total legislative seats. Republicans entered the...

The Republican Party’s midterm prospects have markedly improved over the last several weeks. But will 2022 be a red wave election year on par with GOP victories in 1994 and 2010? The warning signs are clearly flashing for the Democratic Party. Recent polling finds that support for Republicans — both generically and in individual races — has increased substantially amid heightened national concerns about the economy and crime, two issues that the GOP leads on. Meanwhile, protecting abortion rights, the crux of the Democratic agenda has become a much less salient issue.

At the beginning of this year’s midterm campaign, analysts and political operatives had every reason to expect a strong Republican showing this November. President Biden’s approval rating was in the low 40s, and the president’s party has a long history of struggling in midterm elections. But as the start of the general election campaign nears, it’s becoming increasingly hard to find any concrete signs of Republican strength. Tuesday’s strong Democratic showing in a special congressional election in New York’s 19th District is only the latest example. On paper, this classic battleground district in the Hudson Valley and Catskills is exactly...

Hundreds of migrants being bused to New York may turn into thousands thanks to the selfie trend, Todd Bensman wrote for the New York Post this week. Smart phones have played a huge role in migration with people in Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela using online sites that “serve as a real-time intelligence network,” Bensman, who is the senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, continued:

The midterms are still four months away - but the ad wars have already begun. Some of the most endangered House Democrats are hoping to inoculate themselves ahead of a potentially brutal November by going up on TV months before the typical end-of-summer ad rush. Nine incumbents in battleground seats were already airing ads by early July, according to a POLITICO analysis - and some plan to keep going straight through to November. It’s much earlier than House candidates typically start their general election advertising, and it’s a sign of Democrats’ political reality: Republican candidates and big-spending allied super PACs...

The projection of 100 million potential infections is an estimate based on a range of outside models that are being closely tracked by the administration and would include both the fall and winter, a senior administration official told CNN. Officials say this estimate is based on an underlying assumption of no additional resources or extra mitigation measures being taken, including new Covid-19 funding from Congress, or dramatic new variants.

A growing list of high-profile Democrats are coming down with COVID-19 just as President Biden and party leaders are set to roll back public health precautions designed to combat the highly contagious virus. The rash of positive cases — which has hit both members of Congress and prominent figures in the administration — is not so much a health concern for the affected policymakers, who all say they’re vaccinated, boosted and showing no symptoms that might require hospitalization.