Jan 28 Watch 6:54 How to protect yourself from the new coronavirus strains By William Brangham, Alison Thoet There are now several troubling variants of the coronavirus circulating, and a few seem to make the virus more contagious. One variant , the United Kingdom strain, is also more likely to make people sick or to kill them. The… Continue watching
Jan 28 Unrest grows in crisis-hit Lebanon amid coronavirus lockdown By Fadi Tawil, Zeina Karam, Associated Press Lebanese security forces fired volleys of tear gas at rock-throwing youth in the northern city of Tripoli on Thursday amid outrage over the country’s coronavirus lockdown and inaction of the political class in the face of economic collapse. Continue reading
Jan 28 Virus variant from South Africa detected in U.S. for first time By Michelle Liu, Mike Stobbe, Associated Press A new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa has been found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said Thursday. Continue reading
Jan 28 U.S. economy shrank 3.5 percent in 2020 after growing 4 percent last quarter By Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press Stuck in the grip of a viral pandemic, the U.S. economy grew at a 4 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2020 and shrank last year by the largest amount in 74 years. Continue reading
Jan 27 Watch 6:59 In Ohio, putting boots on the ground to overcome inequities in vaccinations A recent analysis by Kaiser Health News finds Black and Latino citizens are getting vaccines at significantly lower rates in many states. This is especially worrying given disparities in COVID-19 death rates, with Black, Indigenous and Latino people dying at… Continue watching
Jan 27 Advocates hope higher ed shift from standardized tests will aid diversity, but it's no cure-all By Alina Tugend, The Hechinger Report When Worcester Polytechnic Institute wanted to attract more Black, Hispanic and female students, it became the first nationally ranked science university to make the ACT and SAT standardized tests optional for admission. Continue reading
Jan 27 WATCH: Virus will kill many more, White House projects as briefings resume By Zeke Miller, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press As many as 90,000 Americans are projected to die from the coronavirus in the next four weeks, the Biden administration warned in its first science briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading
Jan 26 Watch 6:35 With high-risk populations, vaccinations lag at long-term care facilities By one count nursing homes and assisted-living facilities account for about 6 percent of COVID cases but 40 percent of virus-related deaths. Now some state officials are worried vaccinations are moving on to other parts of the populations before long-term… Continue watching
Jan 25 Watch 6:09 What is driving the disparities in vaccine distribution? There have been more than 40 million Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses delivered around the U.S. thus far, with more than half of those administered. But while the pace has increased, the rates of vaccination vary widely by states and… Continue watching
Jan 25 U.N. chief says world faces 'existential threats,' fragilities By Edith Lederer, Associated Press U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning global leaders that the world not only faces a COVID-19 emergency and the worst economic crisis in nearly a century. Continue reading