COVID-19 cases across the state are down this week, but are expected to rise following the winter holidays. The Supreme Court ruled that a Trump-era border restriction enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic will remain in effect while the court settles the issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the controversial Title 42 to remain in...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has signaled that it will delay the end of the public health emergency (PHE) related to the COVID-19 pandemic until April, quelling fears from stakeholders that not enough time was given to review Medicaid eligibility for everyone enrolled since the pandemic began.
In Arizona,...
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Anthony Fauci announced on Tuesday that there is a possibility of a new COVID-19 variant emerging this winter.
Over the past two winters, the U.S. has experienced drastic surges in cases, most recently due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant BA.1. Fauci said in his...
The FDA panel originally rejected approval of the drug due to insufficient data in March. In a rare move, the panel reversed its decision in a 7 to 2 vote after Amylyx provided more data, estimating Relyvrio could extend life expectancy by nearly 10 months compared with placebo.
The FDA approved Relyvrio for the treatment of ALS on...
In a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, President Joe Biden announced that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but many disagree. The Moderna Omicron-specific booster has resumed production and distribution.
The president puzzled epidemiologists, the public and members of his own administration with his remarks in an interview Sunday in which...
With more than 7,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox across the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra announced a public health emergency (PHE) for the monkeypox epidemic. The PHE declaration may help to streamline vaccination efforts, but stockpiles of vaccine are low and a drug that could...National News
Children between six months and five years old are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines offered by Pfizer and Moderna. In Arizona, that's nearly 400,000 additional eligibilities.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), the vaccine was made available on Monday, June 20. To find locations where a child under 5...
COVID-19 cases are on the uptick in Arizona, again. But Moderna announced the production of a vaccine that would target the Omicron variant and are returning strong immunity results. The American Medical Association (AMA) has formally defended the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Arizona...
According to USA Today, The United States of America represented 16% of the world deaths, while only representing 4% of the world population. Of countries with at least 5 million cases, the US is third in deaths per 1000 at 303. "First" on the list is Brazil with 313 and next is Poland with 307. Canada had 105 deaths per thousand and...
In recent weeks, a shortage of powder infant formula caused by pandemic supply chain issues was exacerbated by a recall at a major U.S. production plant. The shortage has sent families and pediatricians across the country into crisis, even as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Nutrition promise...
COVID-19 has fallen out of the national spotlight, as cases and death counts fall week-over-week. But there are still challenges present. The threat of the BA.2 variant that caused a post-Omicron resurgence in Europe demonstrated COVID-19 still requires vigilance, effort and funding to overcome.
In Arizona this week, there were 6,840...
As Arizona approaches the two-year mark from Governor Doug Ducey's March 30, 2020 executive order mandating the closure of certain businesses and a stay-at-home advisory for all Arizonans, the Arizona Republic reflects on what has happened in those two years of the public health emergency. Following three major surges of COVID-19 in just...
On Tuesday, March 15, President Joe Biden signed a $1.5 trillion spending bill that included a number of health-related provisions. This includes financial assistance for a biomedical research agency, an extension of Medicare telehealth waivers and funding to address concerns regarding maternal mortality.
Notably, House Speaker...National News
Despite the national decline in cases of COVID-19, President Joe Biden moved to reauthorize the U.S. national emergency declared in March 2020. The president said that the deaths of more than 900,000 Americans emphasized the need for the federal government's continued response to the pandemic.
According to Reuters, the emergency is...
Throughout the pandemic, parents of young children have received conflicting messages. Until the surge in cases related to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, children appeared to have relatively low levels of serious illness caused by COVID-19.
This low risk, as well as the national scrutiny of vaccine effectiveness and side effects,...
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a new report with heartening results on a study of 1.2 million fully vaccinated adults in which only 327 were hospitalized and 36 died due to COVID-19.
The CDC study involved patients seen at 465 healthcare facilities across the U.S. from December 2020 to...
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has surged in the United States in the past week and now accounts for 73% of new infections. The CDC showed a six-fold increase in Omicron infection in a single week. In the New York area, the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest, the variant is responsible for an estimated 90% of new infections,...
The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa and prompted concerns among scientists and global public health officials because it carries an unusually high number of mutations. The World Health Organization has called Omicron a "variant of concern". Cases have been identified in 20 countries so far, including the United...
Cases are on a slow uptick nationwide with new cases on Tuesday, November 23 totaling 92,785. The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 95,481. There were 1,474 new deaths nationally and the total number of deaths nationally is now over 775,000. About 70% of the country has received at least one dose of the vaccine and just under...
Nationwide, cases of COVID-19 appear to be on another up-swing. On November 16, there were nearly 90,000 cases reported nationally, following a seven-day average of 88,000 cases per day. There were 1,414 deaths on the 16th, and the total national deaths due to COVID-19 has reached 765,000. Nearly 60% of the country is fully vaccinated...