Health

Some power restored in Texas but water woes persist

By Paul J. Weber, Jill Bleed, Associated Press

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 7 million people have been ordered to boil their water before consuming it. The extreme weather was blamed for the deaths of over three dozen people, some while trying to keep warm.

How to help Texas during winter storm blackouts

By Chloe Jones

An unprecedented winter storm and unprepared electrical grid has left millions of Texans without reliable power and water and has killed at least 20 people since Monday.

Experts warn against COVID-19 variants as states reopen

By Marion Renault, Associated Press

Scientists widely agree that the U.S. simply doesn’t have enough of a handle on the variants to roll back public health measures and is at risk of fumbling yet another phase of the pandemic.

U.S. jobless claims jump to 861,000 as layoffs stay high

By Christopher Rugaber, Associated Press

The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections.

COVID-19 has already cut U.S. life expectancy by a year. For Black Americans, it's worse

By Laura Santhanam

Communities of color have suffered disproportionately throughout the pandemic, and these latest federal data further illustrate the magnitude of those disparities.

WATCH: U.S. federal agents seize over 10 million fake N95 masks

By Associated Press

Officials say the most recent seizures occurred Wednesday when Homeland Security agents intercepted hundreds of thousands of counterfeit 3M masks in an East Coast warehouse that were set to be distributed.

How economists see Biden's $15 wage proposal

By Paul Wiseman, Associated Press

The fate of Biden's minimum wage proposal remains hazy. Facing resistance in Congress, the president has acknowledged that he will likely have to omit the measure from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 financial relief package he is proposing and re-introduce it…

How fears driven by years of anti-immigrant rhetoric are complicating vaccine rollout

By Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News

The confluence of aggressive attitudes and a highly contagious virus has prompted concerns in some states that lackluster vaccination of people in the country without legal permission will short-circuit efforts to achieve herd immunity for the broader community.

COVID-19 bill would scale up ability to spot virus mutations

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

Scientists would gain vastly expanded capabilities to identify potentially deadlier mutations of the coronavirus under legislation advancing in Congress.