Coronavirus Coverage

Wearing masks and other safety precautions are key to stop the spread of COVID-19 during indoor group exercise, according to two new reports published by the US Centers for Disease and Prevention. The two studies, published Wednesday, linked COVID-19 outbreaks over the summer to exercise facilities in Chicago and Honolulu. In the Chicago report, 60%

Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna are trying to get out ahead of some of the new coronavirus variants that are causing concern around the world. Although there’s no evidence people immunized with either vaccine have less protection against the variants, both companies said they have started looking at ways to account for evolving mutations. Especially

The receptionist at the doctor’s office asks a question from behind her double mask and face guard on the opposite side of a large, plastic partition. “Excuse me, what was that again?” It’s a phrase I repeat a lot these days. Distorted by masks and myriad sound barriers, sounds in the world around me have

In an analysis released Wednesday, the US Food and Drug Administration said the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has met the requirements for emergency use authorization. The efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against moderate to severe/critical COVID-19 across all geographic areas was 66.9% at least 14 days after the single dose vaccination and

Coronavirus infections across the US are still on the way down, and more Americans are getting vaccinated — but variants could cause complications soon. Several experts predicted Tuesday the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK is likely to fuel another surge of cases in just a matter of weeks. “It could result

The United States can expect to see a total of 240 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March, drug companies told a House subcommittee Tuesday. Pfizer and Moderna — the two companies with COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States — have pledged to make a combined total of

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued updated guidance for companies that plan to adapt their COVID-19 medical products — including vaccines, tests and therapeutics — to address the emergence of coronavirus variants. The agency said in an announcement on Monday that it expects that “manufacturing information will remain generally the same” for authorized

New data shows that the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine “provides high levels of protection against infection and symptomatic disease,” Public Health England (PHE) said in a press release on Monday. PHE’s Siren Study, which was carried out on healthcare workers aged under the age of 65, found that one dose of the

The United States will within hours record its unfathomable 500,000th death from COVID-19 paradoxically at a moment of rare hope in the pandemic. Yet the tragic landmark will occur with the White House loath to predict when the crisis may ease as it balances critical political and epidemiological risks. A warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci

Just over a year since the first known US COVID-19 death, more than 500,000 people will have died from the disease by the end of this week. “It’s something that is historic. It’s nothing like we’ve ever been though in the last 102 years since the 1918 influenza pandemic,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of

The United States is seeing a large decline in new COVID-19 cases — but there’s a major caveat. According to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the US is seeing a 29% decline in new COVID-19 cases compared to this time last week, the steepest one-week decline the US has seen during

Although the rise of COVID-19 variants in the United States could spell trouble, pharmaceutical companies and scientists are confident vaccines will evolve with them, senior White House adviser Andy Slavitt told CNN. “I spoke to all the pharmaceutical companies and scientists, and they all say the same thing: Even if these vaccines diminish a little

The US will have to work “double time” to make up for COVID-19 vaccination delays this week caused by the winter weather that has ravaged much of the country, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. “It’s been slowed down in some places going to a grinding halt,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said in

COVID-19 case rates among children track much more consistently with overall case rates in a state than with trends in in-person learning in K-12 schools, according to a CNN analysis of state-level data. The five states with the least COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents are also the five states with the lowest case rates among

COVID-19 variants are threatening to cause another surge of infections, health officials warned Wednesday, and it’s now more important than ever for Americans to continue practicing safety measures that work against the spread of the virus. “The continued spread of variants that are more transmissible could jeopardize the progress we have made in the last

New coronavirus variants could lead to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, and can “dangerously accelerate the trajectory of the pandemic,” US health officials warned Wednesday. “I know these variants are concerning, especially as we’re seeing signs of progress,” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House

The world’s first COVID-19 human challenge study will begin within a month in the UK, deliberately exposing up to 90 healthy young people to the coronavirus. The study received ethics approval this week, the country’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Wednesday in a statement. During the trial, up to 90 volunteers

People who survive a bout of COVID-19 with mild symptoms or even no symptoms may be able to thank their Neanderthal ancestors, a new study suggests. Researchers found a genetic mutation that reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 infection by about 22%. It was found in all the samples they took of Neanderthal DNA, and

Fully vaccinated people can now skip quarantine even if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19, according to new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But at the same time, the agency also acknowledges there’s a lot researchers don’t know about how vaccines impact transmission. The new guidance only applies if it has

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout started as a trickle. But the pace has steadily picked up each week, more than tripling in the first month under the Trump administration and reaching President Joe Biden’s goal of 1.5 million shots per day just about three weeks into his term. But some aspects of the federal rollout plan

The US on Monday reported more than 53,800 new COVID-19 infections: its lowest daily case count since October and a vastly different number from those plaguing the country just last month, when infections were topping 200,000 a day. Statistics across the US are now reflecting more encouraging trends. California, one of the states hit hardest