Highlands County saw 267 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of June 10-16, according to the Friday COVID update provided by the Florida Department of Health. Highlands County added 191 new cases the previous week. The county has now seen a total of 25,326 cases.
Florida saw a minor increase in new COVID-19 cases over the past week, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting an average of 10,629 new cases per day over the past seven days. That’s an increase of nearly 400 new cases per day over last week’s numbers.
Highlands County saw 214 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of May 27-June 2, according to the Friday COVID update provided by the Florida Department of Health. Highlands County added 136 new cases the previous week. The county has now seen a total of 24,868 cases.
Highlands County reported five more COVID-19 deaths during the past week, according to the New York Times. The county has now seen a total of 691 COVID deaths.
Highlands County saw 133 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of May 13-19, according to the Friday COVID update provided by the Florida Department of Health. The county has now seen a total of 24,518 cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government website for people to request free COVID-19 at-home tests from the U.S. government is now accepting a third round of orders.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized officials over slow medicine deliveries and mobilized the military to respond to a surge in suspected COVID-19 infections, as his nation struggled to contain a fever that has reportedly killed dozens and sickened nearly a m…
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across North Korea, state media said Friday, a day after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time in the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden appealed to world leaders on Thursday for a renewed international commitment to attacking COVID-19 as he led the U.S. in marking the approaching “tragic milestone” of 1 million deaths at home from the virus. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff and war…
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday defended sticking to its strict “zero-COVID” approach, calling critical remarks from the head of the World Health Organization “irresponsible.”
TALLAHASSEE — A federal appeals court Thursday rejected arguments by Florida restaurants and a furniture retailer that insurance policies should have covered losses stemming from shutdowns early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 15 million people were killed either by coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems during the first two years of the pandemic, more than double the current official death toll of over 6 million.
BEIJING (AP) — The COVID-19 outbreak that has shut down most of Shanghai appears to be waning, with the number of new cases falling below 10,000 a day over the weekend.
BEIJING (AP) — Workers put up fencing and police restricted who could leave a locked-down area in Beijing on Tuesday as authorities in the Chinese capital stepped up efforts to prevent a major COVID-19 outbreak like the one that has all but shut down the city of Shanghai.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge in Florida has voided the national mask mandate covering airplanes and other public transportation as exceeding the authority of U.S. health officials.
Florida saw its third straight week of higher COVID-19 numbers and its highest positivity rate since February, according to Friday’s COVID update provided by the Florida Department of Health. The increases have been small, although they serve as a reminder that COVID-19 isn’t finished with us yet.
Florida saw its second straight week of slightly higher COVID-19 numbers, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The Florida Department of Health did not release numbers on Friday after switching to an every-other-week reporting system.
BEIJING (AP) — China began its most extensive coronavirus lockdown in two years Monday to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak in Shanghai as questions are raised about the economic toll of the nation’s “zero-COVID” strategy.
Florida saw a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases for the seven-day period of March 18-24, according to the Florida Department of Health update released Friday night. It was the first FDOH report since it switched to reporting COVID numbers every other week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the nation yearning for a new normal after its long struggle with the coronavirus, U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra warned Thursday that vaccines, tests and treatments will be "stuck on the ground" unless Congress provides the additional funds the White House has d…
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China banned most people from leaving a coronavirus-hit northeastern province and mobilized military reservists Monday as the fast-spreading “stealth omicron” variant fuels the country’s biggest outbreak since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
While COVID-19 case counts have been dropping throughout the country, not all of the news on the COVID front is positive. The one COVID-19 metric that hasn’t shown the same type of improvement as new cases or hospitalizations is deaths and Highlands County has been no exception.
COVID-19 numbers in Florida continued their drastic decline, as the state recorded 42,474 new cases for the seven-day period of Feb. 11-17, according to Friday night’s update by the Florida Department of Health. Five weeks ago, Florida was averaging more than 61,000 cases per day.
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — On past deployments Army National Guard Spc. Michael Stockwell surveilled a desolate section of the U.S.-Mexico border during a migrant surge, and guarded a ring of checkpoints and fences around New Mexico’s state Capitol after the January 2021 insurrection in Washington.
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday appeared to do an about-face on his initial opposition to a House plan that would shift $200 million away from school districts that required students to wear masks last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlands County’s COVID-19 cases dropped below 100 per day for the first time in over a month, as the Florida Department of Health’s Friday night update showed the county with 511 new cases for the seven-day period of Feb. 4-10. The county has now seen a reduction in cases in each of the la…
TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday announced plans to keep COVID-19 restrictions for Tokyo and 12 other areas for three more weeks until early March, as omicron infections show little signs of slowing and most Japanese still lack booster shots.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Only five hospitals in Afghanistan still offer COVID-19 treatment, with 33 others having been forced to close in recent months for lack of doctors, medicines and even heating. This comes as the economically devastated nation is hit by a steep rise in the number of r…
WASHINGTON (AP) — With even Democratic states moving to roll back mask mandates, the White House said Wednesday it is beginning to prepare for a less-restrictive phase of the national COVID response in the face of growing impatience to ease up and turn toward post-pandemic normalcy.
SEBRING — The School Board of Highlands County needs substitute teachers and has come up with a very creative way of recruiting candidates. They are turning to parents and the general public.
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Health has gone to an appeals court in a battle about whether it should provide daily COVID-19 data, as it seeks to be shielded from explaining officials’ decision-making about releasing the information.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian health officials said there were signs of COVID-19 infections plateauing in some parts of the country but cautioned that cases were still surging in other states, linked to a new, stealthier version of the omicron variant.
Monoclonal antibody treatment sites have closed nationwide because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked two Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) for Regeneron and Eli Lilly’s bamlaniviman and etesevimab monoclonal antibodies on Monday. Monoclonal antibody sites statewide shut the doo…
SEBRING, Fla. — Now more than ever, residents should rely on trusted sources of information for access to COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and monoclonal antibody treatment location. As demand for testing increases, so does the risk for potential scams.
High school graduation rates dipped in at least 20 states after the first full school year disrupted by the pandemic, suggesting the coronavirus may have ended nearly two decades of nationwide progress toward getting more students diplomas, an analysis shows.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Everyone thought it odd when Nino Pernetti called the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2020, to say he was skipping the annual New Year’s Eve dinner at his landmark Coral Gables restaurant of more than 30 years, Caffe Abbracci.
TALLAHASSEE — Despite objections from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, a federal judge has allowed parents and children with disabilities to pursue a revamped lawsuit challenging state decisions that included banning student mask mandates in public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The coronavirus’ omicron variant starting to barrel across South America is pressuring hospitals whose employees are taking sick leave, leaving facilities understaffed to cope with COVID-19’s third wave.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to Americans starting next week, now that federal officials are emphasizing their better protection against the omicron variant of COVID-19 over cloth face coverings.
TALLAHASSEE — Both chambers of the Republican-dominated Legislature are now moving forward with a proposal aimed at avoiding repeats of high-profile disputes that occurred when some churches were shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, people across the U.S. can log on to a government website and order free, at-home COVID-19 tests. But the White House push may do little to ease the omicron surge, and experts say Washington will have to do a lot more to fix the country’s long-troubled t…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially go online.
SUN CITY CENTER, Fla. (AP) — Wayne Rediger, 74, is sweeping the court ahead of this afternoon’s shuffleboard tournament.
With COVID-19 numbers at a pandemic high throughout the United States, Florida and Highlands County followed suit, with both showing all-time records for the number of new cases in a week. Highlands County had 1,519 new cases for the seven-day period of Jan. 7-13, an average of 217 new cases…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two brand-new COVID-19 pills that were supposed to be an important weapon against the pandemic in the U.S. are in short supply and have played little role in the fight against the omicron wave of infections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weathe…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job.
TALLAHASSEE — Local government officials raised concerns Wednesday about a Senate proposal that would block enforcement of new ordinances when challenges arise over the projected impacts to businesses.
Scientists are seeing signals that COVID-19’s alarming omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the U.S., at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically.
Suspicion, misinformation, complacency and delays because of the holidays and bad weather have combined to produce alarmingly low COVID-19 vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11, authorities say.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is increasing federal support for COVID-19 testing for schools in a bid to keep them open amid the omicron surge.
