President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the pandemic says the United States will again fund the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globeBy JAMEY KEATEN Associated PressJanuary 22, 2021, 12:48 AM• 5 min readGENEVA — The United States will resume funding for the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe, President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the pandemic said Thursday, renewing support for an agency that the Trump administration had pulled back from.Dr.... Read More

United Airlines lost $1.9 billion in the last three months of 2020, but the airline says it’s laying the groundwork for a gradual recovery after the coronavirus outbreak is containedBy DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines WriterJanuary 20, 2021, 11:35 PM• 3 min readUnited Airlines said Wednesday that it finished one of the worst years in its history by losing $1.9 billion in the last three months of 2020, and it predicted more of the same in the first quarter of this year.The loss was wider than analysts expected. The number of U.S. airline passengers had been building slowly since May but was hammered... Read More

West Virginia has emerged as an unlikely success in the nation’s otherwise chaotic coronavirus vaccine rolloutBy CUNEYT DIL Associated PressJanuary 17, 2021, 3:16 PM• 6 min readKENOVA, W.Va. — Griffith & Feil Drug has been in business since 1892, a family-owned, small-town pharmacy. This isn’t their first pandemic.More than a century after helping West Virginians confront the Spanish flu in 1918, the drugstore in Kenova, a community of about 3,000 people, is helping the state lead the nation in COVID-19 vaccine distribution.West Virginia has emerged as an unlikely success in... Read More

The crush of patients with the coronavirus is so severe in Los Angeles that they exceeded the normal capacity at one community hospitalBy BRIAN MELLEY Associated PressJanuary 6, 2021, 4:45 AM• 5 min readLOS ANGELES — The crush of patients with coronavirus is so severe in Los Angeles that on Tuesday they exceeded the normal capacity at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, which serves many Blacks and Latinos in America’s largest county.The hospital in the south part of the city, which has a capacity of 131 patients, was treating 215 patients, 135 of them with COVID-19, said Jeff... Read More

A reprieve from a devastating surge of the coronavirus across the Upper Midwest has given cautious relief to health officials, though they worry that infections remain rampant and holiday gatherings could reignite the worst outbreaks of the pandemicBy STEPHEN GROVES and JOSH FUNK Associated PressDecember 25, 2020, 10:30 PM• 5 min readSIOUX FALLS, S.D. — As much of the country experiences spiking virus rates, a reprieve from a devastating surge of the coronavirus in the Upper Midwest has given cautious relief to health officials, though they worry that infections remain rampant and holiday... Read More

South Carolina Gov_ Henry McMaster has tested positive for the coronavirus and is slated to receive outpatient antibody treatment for “mild symptoms.”By MEG KINNARD Associated PressDecember 22, 2020, 7:27 PM• 3 min readCOLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has tested positive for the coronavirus and was slated to receive outpatient antibody treatment for “mild symptoms,” his office said Tuesday.McMaster, 73, learned he had tested positive late Monday following a test “due to coming into close contact with the COVID-19 virus,” his office said in a release. McMaster’s... Read More

Medical staffing is stretched increasingly thin as California hospitals scramble to find beds for patients amid an explosion of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the state’s emergency care systemBy The Associated PressDecember 21, 2020, 12:00 AM• 12 min readLOS ANGELES — Medical staffing is stretched increasingly thin as California hospitals scramble to find beds for patients amid an explosion of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the state’s emergency care system.As of Sunday, more than 16,840 people were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 infections — more... Read More

Federal Reserve policymakers face an unusual conundrum as they meet this week: A short-term economic outlook that is worsening while the longer-term picture is brightening thanks to the emergence of coronavirus vaccinesBy CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics WriterDecember 14, 2020, 5:22 PM• 5 min readWASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s policymakers face an unusual conundrum as they meet this week: A short-term economic outlook that is worsening even while the longer-term picture is brightening thanks to the emergence of coronavirus vaccines.When its meeting concludes Wednesday, the Fed... Read More

Officials say Los Angeles County deputies arrested nearly 160 people — many of whom were not wearing masks — who attended an illegal “super-spreader” party over the weekend despite surging coronavirus casesByThe Associated PressDecember 8, 2020, 9:18 PM• 2 min readLOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County deputies arrested nearly 160 people — many of whom were not wearing masks — who attended an illegal “super-spreader” party over the weekend despite surging coronavirus cases, authorities said Tuesday.The Saturday night raid on a location in the high desert city of Palmdale came... Read More

Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on averageBy LISA MARIE PANE and RACHEL LA CORTE Associated PressDecember 8, 2020, 9:00 PM• 4 min readDeaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.Virtually every state is reporting surges just as a vaccine appears days away from getting... Read More