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CORONAVIRUS

Vaccine rollout forces stark moral choices

Who goes first? Vaccine rollout forces stark moral choices By GILLIAN FLACCUS and SARA CLINE Associated Press HOOD RIVER, Ore. (AP) — As COVID-19 surged, retired attorney Susan Crowley did some simple math and discovered a chilling fact: people over 60 made up 91% of coronavirus deaths in Oregon. So the 75-year-old was shocked when the state started vaccinating teachers this week before senior citizens in a push to get children back into classrooms. "I look at these figures and I am literally afraid. It's not just a question of missing beers with my friends. It's a question of ...

Nursing homes struggle with staffing amid outbreaks

ALBANY, N.Y. — Nursing homes in parts of New York hit worst by this winter’s COVID-19 surge say they’re struggling to find enough staff as workers have gotten sick or needed to quarantine. About 80 nursing homes have reported nursing shortages as of early January, according to The Associated Press’ analysis of the latest federal and state data. Most are located in parts of western and central New York that saw their first serious outbreaks of the virus begin in late autumn. At The Pearl nursing home in Rochester, a core group of nurses worked double shifts for weeks between ...

California reveals data used to lift stay-at-home order

California’s health department on Monday released to the public previously secret projections for future hospital intensive care unit capacity throughout the state, the key metric for lifting the coronavirus stay-at-home order. However, state officials did not explain how regional per capita virus cases and transmission rates that also were released might influence how much ICU space will be available in four weeks. Last week, state health officials told The Associated Press they were keeping all the data secret because it is complicated and might mislead the public. The release of ...

UK’s ‘tsunami’ of grief as coronavirus deaths pass 100,000

LONDON (AP) — For nine months, Gordon Bonner has been in the "hinterlands of despair and desolation" after losing his wife of 63 years to the coronavirus pandemic that has now taken the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. Only recently did Bonner think he might be able to move on — after sensing the spirit of his wife, Muriel, near him on what would have been her 84th birthday. "I suddenly understood I had to change my attitude, that memories are not shackles, they are garlands and one should wear them like garlands around your shoulders and use them to ...

US virus numbers drop, but race against new strains heats up

Coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the U.S. dropped markedly over the past couple of weeks but are still running at alarmingly high levels, and the effort to snuff out COVID-19 is becoming an ever more urgent race between the vaccine and the mutating virus. The government's top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the improvement in numbers around the country appears to reflect a "natural peaking and then plateauing" after a holiday surge, rather than the arrival of the vaccine in mid-December. The U.S. is recording just under 3,100 deaths a day on average, down ...

Biden more bullish on vaccines, open to 1.5M daily shot goal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday appeared to boost his goal for coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, suggesting the nation could soon be injecting 1.5 million shots on an average per day. Biden signaled his increasing bullishness on the pace of vaccinations after signing an executive order to boost government purchases from U.S. manufacturers. It was among a flurry of moves by Biden during his first full week to show he's taking swift action to heal an ailing economy as talks with Congress over a $1.9 trillion stimulus package showed few signs of ...