Health

A coronavirus variant first detected in India in February has now gone global, spreading to dozens of countries and raising fears that the strain will overwhelm health care systems, reverse reopening plans and even potentially undermine the rollout of vaccines. Experts believe the B.1.617 variant is driving the huge wave in infections seen across India

The president of the country’s largest nurses’ union has spoken out against updated federal guidance which says that — with a few exceptions — people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 don’t need to wear face masks in indoor or outdoor settings. Speaking Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” National Nurses United President Jean Ross said

The news flashed across the country — mask-free at last! People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer have to wear masks inside or outside, nor do they have to stay 6 feet away from others, according to new guidance released Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Does that mean

Here’s some information about the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The coronavirus, called Covid-19 by WHO, originated in China and is the cousin of the SARS virus. Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. The viruses can make people sick, usually with

Isaac Rothbart’s twins had always known their daddy doesn’t like fireworks. But he’d never told his kids why. Then, while celebrating their fifth birthday at Disney World, the family wound up close to an unexpected pyrotechnics show. Rothbart “didn’t react well.” His wife noticed him shutting down and ushered the whole family indoors. That’s when

Just before the CDC’s new mask guidance for vaccinated people became the country’s hot Covid-19 topic, a different feature of the pandemic was falling by the wayside: temperature checks at amusement parks. Several Florida theme parks — Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando Resort, Legoland Florida, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay — said recently

In the United States, the finish line for the pandemic as we’ve been experiencing it for the past year-plus is very much in sight — so much so that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially said so on Thursday: Fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors or out, or

Several state governors and big retailers signaled a return to normal on Friday, a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s safe for fully vaccinated people to remove their face masks in most settings. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday the state — which just recently battled a surge in coronavirus

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice physical distancing in virtually all indoor and outdoor settings. This was an abrupt shift from the CDC’s previous guidance, which had detailed color-coded pictures that many criticized as being too confusing and

Growing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus variant first identified in India may force the United Kingdom to tweak its Covid-19 vaccination program to prioritize people in the most affected areas, a top health official said Friday. Data released by Public Health England (PHE) on Thursday showed the number of confirmed cases of the

Leadership coach John Bates was speaking at a TED conference in front of a huge audience when his dog Flash walked across the stage, sniffed him, and repeatedly started poking him with his nose. Flash was doing what is called “alerting” in the world of working service dogs, telling Bates that he might not be

The US Food and Drug Administration has extended the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 12- to 15-year-olds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend the expanded eligibility as early as Wednesday. Parents will be deciding whether to get their children vaccinated against this deadly pandemic. What are questions they

The data didn’t make sense. Five years ago, University of Maryland researcher Alisa Morss Clyne was studying pulmonary hypertension — a type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs — in human cells she had cultured in her lab. But the results she was seeing just didn’t stack up. “We had

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday abruptly changed its guidance on masks and social distancing, saying people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 don’t have to wear masks indoors, and they don’t have to keep their distance from others. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that

People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic,”

As a nutritionist, I have been privy to lot of debate in the nutrition world about which foods keep us healthy and which foods actually cause disease. Different foods offer different nutrient benefits for overall health. And even packaged foods can be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet. “The food industry works diligently to

Scientists working with samples of ancient feces have found previously unknown microbes that could help in the fight against chronic illnesses such as diabetes. The microbes lived in our ancestors’ digestive systems, forming part of the ancient human gut microbiome, which differs significantly to those found in people living in modern industrialized societies, according to

Americans could soon see milestones like a full return to in-person classrooms now that Covid-19 vaccinations are open to young teens, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. “I think we should be five days a week, everybody present in school in the fall,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Americans could soon see milestones like a full return to in-person classrooms now that Covid-19 vaccinations are open to young teens, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. “I think we should be five days a week everybody present in school in the fall,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky told CNN’s

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend giving Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to kids as young as 12. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices agreed the benefits of vaccinating children and teens outweigh any risks from the vaccine. The US Food and Drug Administration extended its emergency use authorization

With a new demographic now eligible for Covid-19 vaccines, public health officials hoping to fight variants will have to adjust their strategy to convince 12 to 15-year-olds and their parents to sign up for inoculations. “Here we have to speak not only to the patient, the adolescent, but also their parents and guardians to make

A woman who is recovering from a liver transplant not only has a new lifesaving organ, but one that made history. That’s thanks to Cecil Lockhart from Welch, West Virginia, who died at age 95 on May 4, making him the oldest organ donor in United States history, according the Center for Organ Recovery &

Many people suffering from insomnia take medication to get a better night’s sleep. While many sleep aids work over short periods of up to six months, clinical trial data has showed, insomnia can be a chronic problem — and many people end up taking these drugs for longer. Much less is known about the long-term

Last summer, Global Plasma Solutions wanted to test whether the company’s air-purifying devices could kill Covid-19 virus particles, but could find only a lab using a chamber the size of a shoebox for its trials. In the company-funded study, the virus was blasted with 27,000 ions per cubic centimeter. The company said it found a

There’s no biological basis behind ongoing social media claims that Covid-19 vaccines can harm the placenta, the organ that provides a growing baby oxygen and nutrients during pregnancy. “There’s no theoretical reason to believe these vaccines would be harmful,” Dr. Richard Beigi, who sits on the Immunization, Infectious Disease, and Public Health Preparedness Expert Work