Month: February 2021

Good evening. I’m Thuc Nhi Nguyen, and it’s Tuesday, Feb. 23. Here’s what’s happening with the coronavirus in California and beyond. Newsletter Get our free Coronavirus Today newsletter Sign up for the latest news, best stories and what they mean for you, plus answers to your questions. Enter email address Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Coronavirus variants aren’t just an international problem anymore. Scientists at UC San Francisco are ready to tag California’s homegrown coronavirus strain as a “varian...

A month and a half after three crucial COVID-19 tracking metrics shattered previous records during the worst surge yet, Orange County’s situation has improved to a point where it may soon qualify for the less-restrictive red tier of pandemic rules. And because thousands are being vaccinated each day with more in store, growing immunity should keep driving metrics down – particularly the share of coronavirus tests coming back positive, said Dr. Clayton Chau, OC Health Care Agency director and county health officer. Orange County’s health equity metric – or test positivity among neighborhoods where residents are more vulnerable to the pandemic’s effects – dropped to 7% this week, meeting the red tier requirement of 8% for the first time since fall, according to a state Department of Pub...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Wearing glasses might give you an extra layer of protection against COVID. A new study out of India found people who wear glasses are three times less likely to get the virus. Researchers suggest that's because they're less likely to touch their eyes-- which can be a significant route of infection. A previous study conducted in China found just 5% of those hospitalized with COVID wore glasses, while about 30% of the population wears glasses. The study was conducted last summer in the northern district of Kanpur Dehat. It involved 304 patients ranging in age from 10 to 80 years old. According to the report, all of them experienced coronavirus symptoms and about 60 were considered long-time glass-wearers. Authors in the study noted that COVID-19 infection throu...