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US mulls COVID vaccine boosters for elderly as early as fall

WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID-19 infections, the director of the National Institutes of Health said Sunday the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to Americans this fall. Among the first to receive them could be health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans. Dr. Francis Collins also pleaded anew for unvaccinated people to get their shots, calling them "sitting ducks" for a delta variant that is ravaging the country and showing little sign of letting up. "This is going ...

Hospitals run low on nurses as they get swamped with COVID

The rapidly escalating surge in COVID-19 infections across the U.S. has caused a shortage of nurses and other front-line staff in virus hot spots that can no longer keep up with the flood of unvaccinated patients and are losing workers to burnout and lucrative out-of-state temporary gigs. Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oregon all have more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic, and nursing staffs are badly strained. In Florida, virus cases have filled so many hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to ...

Brown County reports 12 new COVID cases

NEW ULM — Brown County Public Health reported 12 new COVID-19 cases Monday, since the last report a week ago. The figure gives Brown County 20 active cases and 3,112 total confirmed cases. Since the pandemic began, more than 1,000 Brown County cases came from known contacts with confirmed, community cases. More than 900 cases came from the community with no known contact with a confirmed case, according to the Brown County COVID-19 Dashboard. Vaccine clinics include 2:30 to 5:20 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 12 at the Brown County Public Health office, 1117 Center St., New Ulm; 10 a.m. to ...

COVID vaccines to be required for military under new US plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the U.S. military will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine beginning next month under a plan laid out by the Pentagon Monday and endorsed by President Joe Biden. In memos distributed to all troops, top Pentagon leaders said the vaccine is a necessary step to maintain military readiness. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the mid-September deadline could be accelerated if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. "I will seek the president's approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or ...

Weary US businesses confront new round of mask mandates

Businesses large and small, from McDonald's and Home Depot to local yoga studios, are reinstituting mask mandates as U.S. coronavirus cases rise. Bars, gyms and restaurants across the country are requiring vaccines to get inside. After a largely mask-free summer, it's a reversal no one wanted to see, brought on by the fast-spreading delta variant and new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. But business owners and workers say they will do what they can to keep their doors open and not slow the economic gains of the last few months. "We've already been through the ...

COVID-19 surge hits hospitals

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are suspending elective surgeries and putting beds in conference rooms, an auditorium and a cafeteria. As of midweek, Mississippi had just six open intensive care beds in the entire state. Georgia medical centers are turning people away. And in Louisiana, an organ transplant had to be postponed along with other procedures. "We are seeing a surge like we've not seen before in terms of the patients coming," Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, said ...