Month: March 2021

“It was an exhilarating feeling to see that happen,” said Mr. Medford, who is also the president of the state’s bar and tavern association. “It really was the first time in a year that I got out of bed and was excited, had something to look forward to.” After some counties in Washington State allowed movie theaters to reopen, Nick Butcher, 36, made up for lost time by attending screenings of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for three straight nights. He bought M&M’s at the concession stand, sat distanced from others in the audience, and said he felt as though things were almost back to normal. “I’m actually getting optimistic, over all,” said Mr. Butcher, a software engineer at Microsoft who recently recovered from a case of Covid-19, as did several relatives. “This week is one of the ...

863 COVID-19 cases removed from Massachusetts total due to retesting, DPH says 980 new COVID-19 cases, 37 additional deaths reported Updated: 5:11 PM EST Mar 2, 2021 The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported an additional 980 confirmed COVID-19 cases Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 551,667 since the start of the pandemic.The DPH noted that Tuesday's report includes an update to the total case numbers. The department says it received corrected laboratory reports on approximately 1,500 cases that a lab had reported as positive.According to the DPH, retesting resulted in 863 of those cases being removed from the case counts.State ...

New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 2,820 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 48 additional deaths, a day after Gov. Phil Murphy announced the state is set to significantly expand vaccine eligibility over the next month. Pre-K through 12th grade teachers, as well as child-care and transportation workers, will become eligible March 15 and front-line essential employees, including restaurant workers and grocery store employees, will become eligible two weeks later, March 29. There have been 2.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in New Jersey as of Tuesday morning. That includes 1.4 million first doses and 721,000 second doses. That’s out of more than 2.5 million doses the state has received, according to a running tally by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Pre...

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 590,217 as of Tuesday, including 15,558 deaths, state officials report. Tuesday’s update includes a total of 1,067 new cases and 24 additional deaths, including 12 from a Vital Records review. On Monday, the state reported 589,150 confirmed cases, including 15,534 deaths. New COVID-19 cases have plateaued and deaths have slowed. Testing has slowed in the last week, dropping to about 35,000 diagnostic tests reported per day on average, with the 7-day positive rate down below 4.0% as of Tuesday. Hospitalizations declined for several weeks and have been flat for the last week. Ad Michigan’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 1,107 on Monday -- which is up slightly from last week. The 7-day death avera...

SÃO PAULO—Researchers and doctors are sounding the alarm over a new, more aggressive coronavirus strain from the Amazon area of Brazil, which they believe is responsible for a recent rise in deaths, as well as infections in younger people, in parts of South America. Brazil’s daily death toll from the disease rose to its highest level yet this week, pushing the country’s total number of Covid-19 fatalities past a quarter of a million. Neighbor Peru is struggling to curb a second wave of infections. The new variant, known as P.1, is 1.4 to 2.2 times more contagious than versions of the virus previously found in Brazil, and 25% to 61% more capable of reinfecting people who had been infected by an earlier strain, according to a study released Tuesday. ...