Month: November 2021

Wash your hands. A lot. That's the message from public health specialists as cold and flu season arrives. Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Image hide caption toggle caption Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Image Wash your hands. A lot. That's the message from public health specialists as cold and flu season arrives. Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Image ...

A Black Elk Elementary student has been hospitalized with COVID-19.This comes after Black Elk Elementary closed Nov. 1 due to experiencing several positive cases.The family of the boy who is hospitalized released a statement Friday thanking the community for their support."Difficult times have a way of shining a bright light on people, and our family has found unbelievable kindness. From homemade cards to meal trains, the support of friends, neighbors, Black Elk Elementary, Millard schools and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center has sustained us through a challenging time. Our son continues to be a strong fighter through covid pneumonia and through secondary bacterial infections. We are with him every step of the way.What we are learning from our struggle may help some other fam...

News Release Friday, November 5, 2021 Enzyme process alters spike protein function. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have found that a process in cells may limit infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, and that mutations in the alpha and delta variants overcome this effect, potentially boosting the virus’s ability to spread. The findings were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study was led by Kelly Ten Hagen, Ph.D., a senior investigator at NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, several more-infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have emerged. The original, or wild-type, virus was followed by the alpha varia...

The city of Boston will hold COVID-19 vaccination clinics for children ages 5 to 11, Mayor Kim Janey announced Friday afternoon.The family clinics will begin next week in Boston's Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roslindale neighborhoods, where officials have seen some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the city. Those clinics will be open through the end of the year.Janey said the vaccine clinics will also offer first and second doses to residents who are 12 and older, as well as booster shots to anyone who is eligible to receive them.In addition, the mayor said many health providers in Boston — including hospitals, community health centers and pharmacies — will be offering vaccinations for residents ages 5 and older."We encourage parents and guardians to check in with t...

On Friday, all Monterey County residents will be under a face-covering ordinance after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed the county as having a substantial level of COVID-19 community spread. In September, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to approve a final version of an indoor mask ordinance. The mask mandate was only triggered when the county's COVID-19 transmission rate was considered high or substantial according to the CDC. Read the full ordinance here: Completed Board Order and Ordinance Item No. 19Read an FAQ provided from the county, here: What You Need to Know: Monterey County's Face Covering OrdinanceThe ordinance requires everyone in the county to wear facial coverings indoors, regardless of vaccination status, with few exception...