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.
COVID-19 vaccines protect you from getting sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says people who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots are well-protected from serious illness and dying from the disease.
BEIJING (AP) — A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people.
SEBRING — AdventHealth Medical Group at 2950 Alt. U.S. 27 South Suite B is temporarily closed. However, there are two other Prompt Care facilities to care for patients.
CHICAGO (AP) — Students are poised to return to Chicago Public Schools after leaders of the teachers union approved a plan with the nation’s third-largest district over COVID-19 safety protocols, ending a bitter standoff that canceled classes for five days.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis suggested Monday that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a “moral obligation” and denounced how people had been swayed by “baseless information” to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives during the pandemic.
SEBRING — Area hospitals are seeing an influx of COVID-19 patients in their hospitals. They are also seeing an increase in the emergency rooms as well. Some people in the emergency rooms are simply there for COVID testing.
Highlands County had 951 new COVID-19 cases for the seven-day period of Dec. 31-Jan. 6, according to Friday’s COVID update from the Florida Department of Health. The county saw 622 new cases the previous week.
Alaska Airlines said Thursday it will trim its schedule by about 10% for the rest of January as it deals with “unprecedented” numbers of employees calling in sick during the current COVID-19 surge.
TALLAHASSEE — A top Florida tourism official called the future of travel to the state “bright” and said there are no plans to slow marketing efforts, even with the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Governors took sweeping actions during earlier surges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many closed schools and ordered businesses shut down. They issued mask mandates, vaccine requirements and even quarantines in some places for people who had traveled to out-of-state hot spots.
GUIPRY, France (AP) — As countless millions of people in Europe waste hours in lines for COVID-19 tests and scour their nasal passages with self-test kits at home, at the other end of the chain, workers are straining to meet the demand.
AVON PARK — It didn’t take long for the Highlands County Health Department and its partners to give away 1,000 COVID-19 at-home test kits on Friday morning at Memorial Elementary School.
TALLAHASSEE — Saying that the “federal government is not going to come through” on a plan to distribute at-home coronavirus tests, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said the state is honing its own strategy to send tests to vulnerable Floridians.
(The Center Square) – A federal judge in Louisiana has blocked President Joe Biden administration’s vaccine and mask mandate at Head Start preschools, granting a preliminary injunction for the 24 states involved in the lawsuit.
MADRID (AP) — Like many people, Alberto Pérez of Madrid used a home test to discover that his headache and cold-like symptoms were caused by COVID-19.
Do at-home COVID-19 tests detect the omicron variant?
Why are so many vaccinated people getting COVID-19 lately?
TALLAHASSEE — Legislative leaders are monitoring the spike in coronavirus cases across Florida but haven’t made plans to reimpose restrictions on public access that were used during the 2021 session.
TALLAHASSEE — A Miami-Dade County circuit judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Florida International University that seeks refunds of fees collected from students when the school’s campus was shut down in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
TALLAHASSEE — Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, Florida’s surgeon general on Monday indicated the state Department of Health would issue guidance that would “unwind the testing psychology” of the federal government.
The explosive increase in U.S. coronavirus case counts is raising alarm, but some experts believe the focus should instead be on COVID-19 hospital admissions. And those aren’t climbing as fast.
Pandemics do eventually end, even if omicron is complicating the question of when this one will. But it won’t be like flipping a light switch: The world will have to learn to coexist with a virus that’s not going away.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended its emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to expand the use of a single booster dose to 12- to 15-year-olds. The FDA also shortened the time needed before receiving a booster from at least six months after completion of the…
Getting a positive COVID test result can be unsettling whether you have symptoms or not. Many people run to the emergency room for care but Dr. Victoria Hutto-Selley, AdventHealth Emergency Department medical director for Highlands County and Wauchula, said the ER trip may not be necessary.
Holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years, even as shoppers grappled with higher prices, product shortages and a raging new COVID-19 variant in the last few weeks of the season, according to one spending measure.
TALLAHASSEE — Saying it is “clear the pandemic is not over,” top university system officials are asking students and employees to wear masks on campus and get booster shots to protect against COVID-19 as the spring semester prepares to start.
With COVID-19 having a firm grip in the United States, Operation Warp Speed went into effect in May 2020. Its goal was to get as many vaccines to citizens as quickly as possible. The vaccines had the potential to save lives and were quickly developed.
CHICAGO (AP) — More than a year after the vaccine was rolled out, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to the highest level on record at over 265,000 per day on average, a surge driven largely by the highly contagious omicron variant.
Greece’s health minister said Wednesday that music will be banned at all commercial venues for New Year’s celebrations as part of new restrictions announced in response to a surge in COVID-19 infections fueled by the omicron variant.
BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that he’s worried about the omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 combining to produce a “tsunami” of cases, but said he’s still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the pandemic behind it in 2022.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Much of Asia has largely managed to keep omicron at bay even as the variant rages in other parts of the world, but the region that is home to most of the globe’s population is bracing for what may be an inevitable surge.
Driven by the omicron variant and the typical holiday reporting lag, both the country and the state are seeing record COVID-19 numbers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 431,567 new cases for Tuesday, the second straight day with more than 400,000 cases in the U.S.
Making sense of symptoms and getting sick during a pandemic can be confusing. Are those sniffles just the common cold or COVID-19? It turns out there is no easy answer, short of taking a COVID test.
MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating more cruise ships due to new cases of COVID-19 as the omicron variant drives extremely high infection levels in the industry hub of Florida.
BERLIN (AP) — The World Health Organization says the number of COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with the biggest increase in the Americas. The gain followed a gradual increase since October.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The latest COVID-19 variant is upending holiday plans for tens of thousands of travelers — but it didn’t do much damage to holiday shopping.
BRUSSELS (AP) — After struggling with the coronavirus for far too long, the world understands all too well Belgium’s word of the year, “knaldrang!” — the urge to party, the need to let loose. Yet as New Year celebrations approach, the omicron variant is casting more gloom.
Just as Americans and Europeans were eagerly awaiting their most normal holiday season in a couple of years, the omicron variant has unleashed a fresh round of fear and uncertainty — for travelers, shoppers, party-goers and their economies as a whole.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rose this month as Americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices and COVID’-19’s highly contagious omicron variant.
TALLAHASSEE — Saying President Joe Biden exceeded his authority, a Tampa federal judge Wednesday backed Florida’s attempt to block a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal contractors.
BEIJING (AP) — China plunged a city of 13 million people into lockdown on Thursday to stamp out an increase in coronavirus infections, as the country doubles down on its “zero tolerance” policy just weeks before it is set to host the Winter Olympics.
TALLAHASSEE — State economists anticipate the new omicron variant of the coronavirus will slow, at least temporarily, Florida’s resurging pace of tourism — particularly a return of international visitors.
MIAMI (AP) — With Floridians lining up by the tens of thousands for COVID tests across the state this week, University of Florida researchers predict that cases in the Sunshine State, driven by the new omicron variant, could peak in February with more than 30,000 reported cases a day.
