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CORONAVIRUS

Protect yourself, others from flu, COVID-19

MADELIA — While the coronavirus continues to be on everyone’s mind, it is still important to protect yourself from the seasonal flu by getting your annual flu shot. This year, Madelia Health is encouraging people to get a flu shot sooner rather than later. Since it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against flu, people should get a flu vaccine before flu viruses begins spreading in the community. Flu vaccinations are now available at the clinics in Madelia, Truman and Lake Crystal, with no appointment necessary, ...

Senior care still in crisis from pandemic

Senior Day at the Brown County Fair ended Thursday with an update on the Oak Hills Living Center’s expansion efforts from fund development director Wendy Lang. Lang said for Oak Hills the year started with a sense of positive anticipation because COVID restrictions were being relaxed, ...

Monkeypox? Climate? Deciding what’s a national emergency

WASHINGTON (AP) — In November 1979, a little over a week after student militants seized control of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American citizens hostage, President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170 declaring a national emergency against Iran. That order remains in effect today, renewed most recently in the weeks before last Thanksgiving by President Joe Biden, who noted then that "our relations with Iran have not yet normalized." The Biden administration's declaration Aug. 4 of a public health emergency on monkeypox frees up federal money and resources to fight a ...

CDC drops quarantine, distancing recommendations for COVID

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people no longer need to stay at least 6 feet away from others. The changes, which come more than 2 1/2 years after the start of the pandemic, are driven by a recognition that an estimated 95% of Americans 16 and older have acquired some level of immunity, either from being vaccinated or infected, agency ...

Pandemic increased 2021 adverse health events: study

Adverse health events and instances of patient harm rose in 2021 during the past year-long reporting period in Minnesota hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and community behavioral health hospitals, according to a report by the Minnesota Department of Health. Before 2021, the overall number of events had been stable, but 2021 saw an increase in events, primarily due to new challenges and increased care associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinicians were forced to adapt in real time as hospitals and health systems took care of sicker, higher acuity patients with multiple ...

Texan sentenced to 25 years for virus-era attack on Asians

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — A Texas man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for attacking an Asian family in 2020 because he thought they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal court records Jose Gomez III, 21, of Midland, Texas, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to three counts of committing a hate crime. When pleading guilty in March, Gomez admitted that he used a knife to slash Bawi Cung and his 6- and 2-year-old sons inside a Sam's Club in Midland because he believed they were Chinese and spreading the coronavirus. Bawi ...