COVID-19

Pedestrians cross Houston Street as students wearing masks leave the New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math (NEST+m) school in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.

Health & Safety

People who think they're attractive are less likely to wear masks, a study shows

4:14am February 28, 2023

by Ayana Archie

People's likeliness to wear a mask can depend on how attractive they deem themselves and how important it is to them to make a first impression given certain circumstances.

The COVID-19 dashboard created by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering is displayed during a briefing on Capitol Hill in early March 2020, when only 245 confirmed cases had been reported in the U.S.

Health & Safety

As the pandemic ebbs, an influential COVID tracker shuts down

3:12pm February 10, 2023

by Rob Stein

After three years, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center is ceasing operations. Its data dashboards and maps became go-to sources for information from the early days of the pandemic.

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Health & Safety

Questions remain about Paxlovid eligibility and use

10:24am February 07, 2023

by Neal Charnoff

When the antiviral drug Paxlovid was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late 2021, many experts hailed it as a game-changing treatment for high-risk patients battling COVID-19.

Rapid antigen tests are ubiquitous, but some Americans have learned the hard way that a negative test result isn't necessarily the final word.

Health & Safety

Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?

5:04pm January 19, 2023

by Sydney Lupkin

At-home rapid tests have become a staple of COVID-19 precautions, but some experts worry that people are relying too much on these tests and that's creating a false sense of security.

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Supplemental food benefits set to end in March

10:51am January 17, 2023

by Neal Charnoff

Emergency food benefits instituted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic will be ending in March.

Health & Safety

Region sees wave of COVID, but flu and RSV cases on the decline

4:16pm January 10, 2023

by Bethany Chafin

The region is currently experiencing another wave of COVID-19 cases. Novant Health Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. David Priest said at a press briefing Tuesday that this was not unexpected.

U.S. infectious disease experts fear that a winter surge of respiratory illness — like the one that overloaded emergency rooms with COVID-19 patients in January 2021 — could yet materialize this winter, with several circulating viruses wreaking havoc. So far, though, it looks like early peaks of RSV and the flu are receding.

RSV recedes and flu peaks as a new COVID variant shoots 'up like a rocket'

8:38pm January 06, 2023

by Rob Stein

RSV and the flu appear to be receding in the U.S., but COVID is on the rise, new data suggests, driven by holiday gatherings and an even more transmissible omicron subvariant that has become dominant.

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Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are readied for use at a clinic in Richmond, Va., Nov. 2022. Just 15% of eligible Americans have gotten the most recent booster shot, according to the CDC.

It's not too late to get a COVID booster — especially for older adults

5:01am December 28, 2022

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Public health officials want more Americans to get the latest COVID vaccine booster. Only 35% of people over 65 have gotten the shot, though 75% of COVID deaths are among people in this age group.

Passengers prepare to board a flight at the airport in north-central China's Jiangxi province on Nov. 1, 2022.

World News

China says it will resume issuing passports and visas as virus curbs ease

4:42am December 28, 2022

by The Associated Press

China says it will resume issuing ordinary visas and passports, setting up a potential flood of millions of Chinese going abroad for next month's Lunar New Year holiday.

A passenger checks her phone as an Air China passenger jet taxis past at the Beijing Capital International airport on Oct. 29. China will drop a COVID-19 quarantine requirement for passengers arriving from abroad starting Jan. 8.

China will end its COVID-19 quarantine requirement for incoming passengers

3:17pm December 26, 2022

by The Associated Press

The scrapping of the quarantine requirement starting Jan. 8 is a major step toward reopening travel with the rest of the world, which the government severely curtailed in a bid to keep the virus out.