Breaking News

COVID-19

Hospitals run low on nurses as they get swamped with COVID

The rapidly escalating surge in COVID-19 infections across the U.S. has caused a shortage of nurses and other front-line staff in virus hot spots that can no longer keep up with the flood of unvaccinated patients and are losing workers to burnout and lucrative out-of-state temporary gigs. Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana all have more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic, and nursing staff is being stretched thin. In Florida, virus cases have filled so many hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to ...

Fake COVID-19 vaccine cards online worry college officials

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.— As the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities are requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for students to attend in-person classes. But the new mandate has opened the door for those opposed to getting the vaccine to cheat the system, according to interviews with students, education and law enforcement officials. Across the internet, a cottage industry has sprung up to accommodate people who say they won’t get vaccinated for either personal or religious reasons. An Instagram account ...

Free shots at South Beach nightclub — vaccine shots, that is

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— Ready to party at one of South Beach’s most glamorous nightclubs? Then roll up your sleeves because these shots won’t get you buzzed. LIV is offering free COVID-19 vaccines outside the Miami club where high rollers spend up to $20,000 just for a table. The start-studded nightclub, where Super Bowl champs celebrate at parties so legendary they’ve inspired lyrics from Drake and Kanye West, set up pop-up COVID vaccine sites over the weekend at LIV and club Story to entice the young demographic that is rapidly filling up Florida hospitals as the delta variant ...

Weary US businesses confront new round of mask mandates

Businesses large and small, from McDonald’s and Home Depot to local yoga studios, are reinstituting mask mandates as U.S. coronavirus cases rise. Bars, gyms and restaurants across the country are requiring vaccines to get inside. After a largely mask-free summer, it’s a reversal no one ...

Once lagging, Europe catches up to the US in vaccinations

BRUSSELS — Despite a sluggish start, the European Union’s COVID-19 vaccination drive has caught up to that of the United States, where the slowdown of the country’s once-vaunted campaign has contributed to the virus’s deadly comeback. In mid-February, less than 4% of people living in the 27-nation EU were at least partially vaccinated against the coronavirus, compared with nearly 12% in the U.S, according to Our World in Data, an online science publication connected to the University of Oxford. Now the EU has surpassed the U.S. by that same measure, with some 60% of the ...

Schools reopen with masks optional in many US classrooms

MCDONOUGH, Ga. — As Tussahaw Elementary opened this week for a new school year, teary-eyed mothers led in kindergartners dwarfed by backpacks and buses dropped off fifth graders looking forward to ruling their school. The biggest clue to the lingering COVID-19 crisis was the masks worn by ...