Eileen Nagle sees her family in video chats and drive-by visits, but that hasn't made up for the lack of warm hugs in the nine months since the pandemic led her nursing home to shut its doors to visitors. Enter Zeus. “Zeus is a friendly little snowball, very happy,” said...
Opinion: California’s Self-Inflicted Mental Health Crisis
Nine months into California’s pandemic restrictions and no one knows how things will end. Are most of us going to succumb to “poverty... depression ... (and) suicide” brought on by being locked down? Or will history validate those who insisted that the only course was to “cancel everything”? No one...
Biden Gets COVID-19 Vaccine, Says ‘Nothing to Worry About’
NEWARK, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe. The president-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his Delaware...
COVID-19 Spikes Follow in Prisons After Inmate Transfers
DETROIT — Families of men incarcerated at Michigan’s Kinross Correctional Facility believed its remote location would spare it from a deadly COVID-19 outbreak. For a while, they seemed to be right. Kinross, built on the grounds of a former Air Force base in the Upper Peninsula, is closer to Canada...
Cut Off: Britain Hit With Travel Bans Over New Virus Strain
LONDON — Trucks waiting to get out of Britain backed up for miles and people were left stranded at airports Monday as countries around the world imposed stringent travel restrictions on the U.K. because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England. A growing number...
Biden to Receive COVID Vaccine as Trump Remains on Sidelines
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will receive his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe. Monday's event will come the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, will start arriving in...
Highlights of $900 Billion COVID-19 Relief, Wrapup Bills
Congressional leaders have hashed out a massive, year-end catchall bill that combines $900 billion in COVID-19 aid with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and reams of other unfinished legislation on taxes, energy, education and health care. The huge, still-unreleased bill is slated for votes on Monday — with lawmakers...
Gov. Newsom to Quarantine; Staffer Tests Positive for Virus
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom will quarantine for 10 days after one of his staffers tested positive for COVID-19, according to a spokesperson for the governor's office. The staffer tested positive Sunday afternoon, the spokesperson stated. Newsom was then tested and his result came back negative. The staffer also had...
Hospital Equipment in the Classroom Sparks Interest in Medical Careers
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the health sciences classroom at Kerman High School buzzed with students using medical equipment, including a sonogram wand to find the carotid artery, a Hoyer lift to practice moving each other from a hospital bed to a wheelchair and hospital suture kits to practice stitching skills....
Walters: Vaccine Rollout Could Make or Break Newsom
Nearly halfway through his first term, Gavin Newsom faces a critical period that could make or break his governorship. After climbing the political ladder to the governor’s office, Newsom intended to make his mark with “big hairy audicious goals,” such as ending homelessness and creating a single-payer health care program....