Nations around the world are setting new records for COVID-19 deaths and new coronavirus infections, and the disease is surging even in some countries that have kept the virus in checkBy MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated PressApril 9, 2021, 1:30 AM• 5 min readAmbulances filled with breathless patients lined up in Brazil as nations around the world set new records Thursday for COVID-19 deaths and new coronavirus infections. The disease surged even in some countries that have kept the virus in check.In the United States, Detroit leaders began making a plan to knock on every door to persuade people to... Read More

All three authorized vaccines work effectively against it. April 7, 2021, 9:42 PM• 5 min readThe more contagious variant of coronavirus that originated in the UK, the B-117 variant, has become the dominant strain in the U.S., CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday.”Based on our most recent estimates from CDC surveillance, the B-117 variant is now the most common lineage circulating in the United States,” Walensky told reporters at a White House briefing.Walensky’s comment was on schedule with previous predictions that the B-117 variant would become the more dominant strain... Read More

France is now Europe’s latest coronavirus danger zone, but President Emmanuel Macron is resisting calls for dramatic actionBy ANGELA CHARLTON Associated PressApril 1, 2021, 8:34 AM• 6 min readAMIENS, France — As France battles a new virus surge that many believe was avoidable, intensive care nurse Stephanie Sannier manages her stress and sorrow by climbing into her car after a 12-hour shift, blasting music and singing as loud as she can.“It allows me to breathe,” she says, “and to cry.”People with COVID-19 occupy all the beds in her ICU ward in President Emmanuel Macron’s... Read More

Students and staff were among the infected.March 28, 2021, 11:38 PM• 4 min readAt least 100 coronavirus cases have been linked to a day care center in Omaha, Nebraska, including some from the U.K. variant, health officials said.The Rosewood Academy Childcare and Preschool was shut down last week following confirmation of the first few cases, according to the Douglas County Health Department.As of Sunday, more than 100 COVID-19 cases were linked to the initial outbreak, and testing has shown that some were caused by the U.K. variant, a health department spokesman told ABC News.”This points... Read More

“You can see how extraordinarily uncomfortable I was,” she told ABC News.March 15, 2021, 10:20 PM• 6 min readThe former coronavirus response coordinator in the Trump White House, Dr. Deborah Birx, says she still thinks about the moment last year when she sat silently while former President Donald Trump raised the possibility of injecting disinfectant into people to treat COVID-19.”Frankly, I didn’t know how to handle that episode,” Birx said Monday in an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran for ABC News Live’s “The Breakdown.” “I still... Read More

A Milwaukee woman has lost at least 15 people in her world to the coronavirus in the year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemicBy CARRIE ANTLFINGER Associated PressMarch 8, 2021, 11:16 PM• 4 min readMILWAUKEE — The first person Kimberly Montgomery lost to COVID-19 was her aunt. She had trouble breathing, so her daughter dropped her off at the emergency room. It was the last time her daughter saw her alive.Then, one after another, 14 other people in Montgomery’s world — family members, friends, friends who were like family — succumbed to the same disease.There was the retired police... Read More

Moderates secured key changes in the final package. March 6, 2021, 7:49 PM• 7 min readAfter more than 25 hours of debate and votes, Senate Democrats passed a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill Saturday aimed at helping lower-income Americans, small businesses, schools, the hard-hit hospitality and tourism industries, as well as state and local governments — with aid also going to boost front-line pandemic work, vaccines, testing and tracing plans.The bill passed on a party-line vote and will now head back over to the House, which will have to reconcile several key changes before it... Read More

Fast-spreading mutant versions of the coronavirus are powering another uptick in infections in EuropeBy COLLEEN BARRY Associated PressMarch 6, 2021, 6:30 PM• 6 min readMILAN — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical... Read More

New York’s new coronavirus-era dance rules aren’t exactly “Footloose” strict, but don’t plan on cutting loose and kicking off the Sunday shoes with just anybodyByThe Associated PressFebruary 27, 2021, 8:25 PM• 2 min readALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s new coronavirus-era dance rules aren’t exactly “Footloose” strict, but don’t plan on cutting loose and kicking off the Sunday shoes with just anybody.The state says that when wedding receptions resume next month, guests will be allowed to hit the dance floor only with members of their immediate party, household or... Read More

U.S. airlines are pressing their case against requiring coronavirus testing of passengers on domestic flightsBy ZEKE MILLER and DAVID KOENIG Associated PressFebruary 13, 2021, 1:36 AM• 3 min readWASHINGTON — Leaders of several major U.S. airlines met online Friday with White House officials to press their case against requiring coronavirus tests for passengers on domestic flights, saying it would undermine the already fragile industry.White House press secretary Jen Psaki downplayed speculation that the Biden administration could soon impose a requirement that passengers on domestic flights... Read More