Tag Archives: coronavirus

The Hill reports: A coalition of doctors and science educators is calling for Spotify to take action against misinformation spread on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by …

The Guardian reports: Novak Djokovic could face a fine or even prison in Serbia after his admission that he broke isolation while he had Covid last month, lawyers have said, as the Serbian prime minister warned his behaviour appeared to be “a clear breach” of the rules. Djokovic on Wednesday acknowledged that he knew he had tested positive when he …

The Guardian reports: The company’s chief executive, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said the pandemic had led to customers, whose average age was 43, responding to the reminder of their own mortality by splashing out on luxury cars. “Many people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid and that made them think life can be short and you’d better live now rather …

West Virginia’s Metro News reports: Gov. Jim Justice has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Governor’s Office late Tuesday announced Justice opted to get tested after experiencing “the sudden onset of symptoms,” including congestion and coughing. Following a positive PCR test, the West Virginia State Lab performed confirmatory testing, which produced another positive result. The governor will receive monoclonal antibody …

CBC News reports: Quebec Premier François Legault said Tuesday the province would be imposing a health tax on Quebecers who refuse to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. “We’re looking for a health contribution for adults who refuse to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons,” Legault said at a news conference, in which he also …

CTV News reports: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday the government has secured enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for all eligible Canadians to receive a booster as well as a fourth dose, according a statement from Trudeau’s office. Trudeau made the comments in a call with Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers, as the country grapples with rising infection and hospitalization …

NBC News reports: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. State Department on Monday advised against travel to neighboring Canada because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads. The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for Canada, telling Americans they should avoid travel, while the State Department …

Reuters reports: The United States reported 1.35 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total for any country in the world as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The previous record was 1.03 million cases on Jan. 3. A large number of cases are reported each …

The Toronto Sun reports: A group of Ontario doctors accused of dispensing vaccine exemptions like candy to the anti-vax crowd are fighting for their “right” not to co-operate with an investigation by their regulatory body. But one of the lawyers usually by their side was conspicuously absent in Superior Court Friday. Constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati, who represents Dr. Rochagné Kilian …

The Associated Press reports: Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks to lower costs and make testing for the virus more convenient amid rising frustrations. Under the new policy, first detailed to the AP, …

The New York Times reports: Some people with a weakened immune system can get a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine as early as this coming week, according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were updated last week. The C.D.C. endorsed a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for moderately or severely immuno …

Reuters reports: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a fresh high of 132,646, according to a Reuters tally on Monday, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year, amid a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant. While potentially less severe, health officials have warned that the sheer number of infections caused by the Omicron variant could …

The Guardian reports: The Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for Covid-19. In a statement on Sunday evening, the office of the New York progressive said she was “experiencing symptoms and recovering at home. “The congresswoman received her booster shot this fall and encourages everyone to get their booster and follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance”. …

The New York Times reports: The pace of daily new infections of the coronavirus has nearly doubled in the past week, surpassing two million known cases a day, underscoring just how quickly the Omicron variant has spread around the world. On April 25 last year, the global average hit a high of more than 827,000 cases, a level that has …

Axios reports: Royal Caribbean International on Friday canceled trips on four ships due to spiking rates of COVID-19, the company said in a statement. The cancellations are the latest blow to the cruise industry as it responds to a surge of cases driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant. “As a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, …

iHeart Radio Canada reports: Some of the passengers of the now-infamous Sunwing “party plane” on Dec. 30 will be coming home to unhappy employers or worse, with at least two already fired. Frédérique Dumas-Joyal is one of them, losing her job of several years at Quebec’s financial markets authority, the AMF. “She was fired,” Sylvain Théberge, an AMF spokesperson, said …

The Washington Post reports: Conservative Supreme Court justices on Friday appeared skeptical that the Biden administration has legal authority to impose a broad vaccination-or-testing requirement on large employers. They seemed more in agreement with private businesses and Republican-led states that such policies need to be approved by Congress or implemented by state governments than a federal agency — in this …

The Oregonian reports: An Oregon man who created several hundred employees out of thin air and then fraudulently obtained $3.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds has been sentenced to four years in prison. Andrew Aaron Lloyd invested his ill-gotten gains and won big — eventually purchasing more than 15,000 shares of Tesla stock and 25 rental properties in Oregon and …

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. Postal Service has asked federal labor officials for a temporary waiver from President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate, setting up a showdown on pandemic safety measures between the president and one of the government’s largest agencies. In a letter dated Jan. 4 to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Deputy Postmaster General Douglas A. Tulino …

Los Angeles’s ABC News affiliate reports: California’s indoor mask mandate has been extended one month, through at least Feb. 15, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced in a briefing Wednesday. The mandate went into effect on Dec. 15, 2021, and was set to expire Jan. 15, 2022. It requires that masks be worn in all indoor public …