NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Friday dropped a controversial piece of coronavirus guidance and said anyone who has been in close contact with an infected person should get tested. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially returned to its previous testing guidance, getting rid of language posted last...
Boy's Death No Longer Counted Among LA County's Virus Total
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County health officials said Wednesday that they no longer are including a 17-year-old boy in the tally of coronavirus deaths until they do more to determine his precise cause of death. The county’s public health director, Barbara Ferrer, said she’s asked the federal Centers for...
Sick Staff Fueled Outbreak in Seattle-Area Care Centers
SEATTLE — Staff members who worked while sick at multiple long-term care facilities contributed to the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable elderly in the Seattle area, federal health officials said Wednesday. At least 30 coronavirus deaths have been linked to Life Care Center in Kirkland. A report Wednesday from the...
Trump Signs $8.3B Bill to Combat Coronavirus Outbreak in US
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an $8.3 billion measure to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than a dozen people in the U.S. and infected more than 200. The legislation provides federal public health agencies with money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments and...
In Scramble to Stop Virus, Testing Raises Tough Questions
NEW YORK — Health officials confronted tough questions and doubts Thursday about testing to intercept the fast-spreading virus, with scrutiny focused on a four-day delay in screening an infected California woman despite her doctors’ early calls to do so. The questions are global: not just who, when and how to...
The City at the Epicenter of California's Coronavirus Mystery
VACAVILLE — Residents of a Northern California community are at the epicenter of what officials are calling a turning point in the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, as investigators try to retrace the steps of a hospitalized woman they believe to be the first in the U.S. to be infected without...
California Coronavirus Case May Be 1st From Unknown Origin
LOS ANGELES — A new coronavirus case in California could be the first in the U.S. that has no known connection to travel abroad or another known case, a possible sign the virus is spreading in a U.S. community, health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported...
Health Officials: It's Time to Give Flu Vaccine Another Shot
WASHINGTON — The flu forecast is cloudy and it's too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination. While the vaccine didn't offer much protection the past two years, specialists have fine-tuned the...
Why California’s Efforts to Limit Soda Keep Fizzling
Earlier this year, Democrats in the state Capitol introduced several measures intended to limit Californians’ consumption of soda, arguing that rotting teeth and rising diabetes presented a public health crisis demanding action akin to regulations on cigarettes. They proposed taxing soda, banning Big Gulps, prohibiting in-store discounts on soft drinks, banishing them...
Mapping US Counties Where Traffic Air Pollution Hurts Kids the Most
In the U.S., over 6 million children had ongoing asthma in 2016. Globally, asthma kills around 1,000 people every day – and its prevalence is rising. This condition has a high economic cost. Each year in the U.S., more than US$80 billion is lost because of asthma. This is mainly...