Coronavirus

Gothamist reports: In a survey of 160 companies with Manhattan offices employing more than 200,000 workers, the Partnership for New York City found 49% of workers were in offices on an average weekday, according to Kathryn Wylde, the group’s president and CEO. She said that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the most popular days for workers to be in the …

Reuters reports: The world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, his most optimistic outlook yet on the years-long health crisis which has killed over six million people. “We are not there yet. But the end is in sight,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told …

The New York Daily News reports: New York transit riders are allowed to uncover their faces for the first time in more than two years. Gov. Hochul on Wednesday dropped the mask requirement that’s been in effect for the state’s public transportation systems since April 2020, when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a mandate in the early days of the …

The Palm Beach Post reports: For the third month in a row, Florida logged more COVID-19 deaths than anywhere else in America. The state’s COVID death toll grew by 1,614 people in August, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. As coronavirus omicron subvariants swept the state this summer, Florida fatalities topped the nation from June through August. …

CBS News reports: The Biden administration’s planned fall COVID-19 booster campaign cleared a key regulatory hurdle, after the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it has authorized updated shots adapted for the Omicron variant of the virus for Americans as young as 12 years old. People could get the new booster as little as 2 months after their last shot …

ABC News reports: U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years. The last comparable decrease happened in the early 1940s, during the height …

Haaretz reports: Israel’s Health Ministry announced the revocation of Dr. Aryeh Avni’s medical license, after he called to violate the ministry’s COVID guidelines during the pandemic and published defamatory articles against the medical community. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Avni was one of the most prominent Israelis casting doubt on the existence of the disease. Last year, he attempted to run …

USA Today reports: Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill appears to provide little or no benefit for younger adults, while still reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk seniors, according to a large study published Wednesday. The results from a 109,000-patient Israeli study are likely to renew questions about the U.S. government’s use of Paxlovid, which has become the go-to treatment …

Mediaite reports: Mehmet Oz petitioned top White House officials to green light the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in March of 2020, newly released emails show. The drug, which never showed any success at fighting Covid-19 in spite of multiple trials, was presented by Oz as a “potential pandemic solution” in emails to Dr. Deborah Birx and others. In …

The Associated Press reports: Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its combination COVID-19 vaccine that adds protection against the newest omicron relatives — a key step toward opening a fall booster campaign. The Food and Drug Administration ordered vaccine makers to tweak their shots to target BA.4 and BA.5 that are better than ever at dodging immunity from earlier …

ABC News reports: Every state saw a decline in life expectancy during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new federal data published Tuesday. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, looked at death data for 2020, the last year for which complete data is available. Results found that life …

The Washington Post reports: Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious …

CNN reports: First lady Jill Biden on Sunday will leave isolation in South Carolina for Delaware after testing negative for Covid-19, according to her communications director, Elizabeth Alexander. “After isolating for five days and receiving negative results from two consecutive COVID-19 tests, the First Lady will depart South Carolina later today for Delaware,” Alexander said in a written statement. The …

The Hill reports: Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in his new memoir offers few details about former President Trump’s battle with COVID-19 in 2020, but he did pinpoint a moment when he knew his father-in-law was on the mend. “I knew he was feeling better when he requested one of his favorite meals: a McDonald’s Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, …

The New York Times reports: Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday delivered a sweeping rebuke of her agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had failed to respond quickly enough and needed to be overhauled. In a meeting with senior staff, Dr. Walensky outlined in broad terms a plan …

CNN reports: First lady Dr. Jill Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, her spokesperson said Tuesday. “After testing negative for Covid-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening. She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back …

The New York Post reports: The DOE suspended the 82 teachers without pay on April 25 after their names popped up as customers of a Long Island pediatric center accused of selling bogus vaccine cards. The nurse practitioner-owner and two staffers at Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare were charged with racking up $1.5 million in sales, charging adults $220 for each …

Reuters reports: Britain has become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine that targets both the original and Omicron variant of the virus. The the UK medicines regulator (MHRA) approved the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna as a booster for adults. The MHRA also cited an exploratory analysis in which the shot was also found …

The Associated Press reports: The nation’s top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. The CDC also said people no longer need to stay at least 6 feet away from others. The changes, which come more than 2 1/2 years after the …

USA Today reports: “COVID is over” might trend within social media circles, but weekly U.S. death tolls tell a different story. The pace of COVID-19 deaths has remained relatively steady since May, despite an uptick in July to about 400 a day, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. In July, more than 12,500 Americans died …