Month: February 2021

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More-infectious variants of the coronavirus and new federal requirements have people rethinking the quality of their face masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 until more people can be vaccinated. Starting Feb. 2, 2021, masks are required on planes, buses, trains and all public transportation hubs in the United States. For all of Oregon, face coverings are required for everyone 5 and older in indoor public spaces and outdoors anywhere physical distancing isn’t possible. Not everyone needs medical-grade N95 filters, but Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourage everyone not at risk to wear a face covering with at least two layers of protection when around people not in their household. Other health experts recommend most people...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prison officials wanted to shield inmates from the coronavirus at one facility by transferring them to another but instead unleashed a “public health disaster" that led to thousands of prisoners being infected and 28 dying, along with a correctional officer, the state inspector general said Monday. The report provided new details on last spring's catastrophic decision to move inmates from the California Institution for Men east of Los Angeles to San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco. The inmates were put onto buses for the more than 400-mile (680 kilometer) trip and the tight quarters increased the risk of infections spreading. The inspector general found that pressure to meet self-imposed deadlines led authorities to ignore warnings from hea...

Two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detail who received COVID-19 vaccines during the first month of the United States' vaccination program. Of the 13 million Americans who got at least one dose between Dec. 14 and Jan. 14, 63% were women and 55% were 55 years old or older, according to the reports, which were released Monday. The new data revealed a troubling trend in nursing home settings. While nearly 78% of residents got at least one vaccine dose, only 38% of staff members got vaccinated, which suggests barriers to vaccination for staff that "need to be overcome," according to the CDC. The racial breakdown of who got vaccinated is less clear. Since multiple jurisdictions aren't reporting a breakdown by race, there's missing data on about half of the peop...

As of Monday, more Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine than have tested positive for the disease, according to Bloomberg's vaccine tracker. Bloomberg’s data on vaccinations shows that 26.5 million Americans have received one or more doses of the vaccine, surpassing the total of almost 26.3 million coronavirus cases that Johns Hopkins University has recorded. Bloomberg's vaccine tracker has determined the U.S. is vaccinating people at a higher rate than any other country, with about 1.34 million shots given per day.  Since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine became the first available in the U.S. last month, followed by the Moderna vaccine, almost 7.8 percent of Americans have received one or more doses of a vaccine and 1.8 percent, or 5.82 million, have rece...