COVID 19 Tech

COVID-infected hamsters in pet shop trigger animal cull in Hong Kong

Enlarge / Workers with Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department inspect the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg) Authorities in Hong Kong are planning to cull around 2,000 small animals after a pet store employee and several imported hamsters tested positive for COVID-19, […]

COVID 19 Tech

Pfizer and Moderna expect seasonal booster shots after omicron wave

Enlarge / EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS – 2022/01/08: A vial containing Moderna COVID-19 booster vaccine at a vaccination centre. (credit: Getty | SOPA Images) As the US weathers record COVID-19 cases from the ultra-transmissible omicron variant, vaccine makers are thinking about future waves—and the shots that could help prevent them. Leading mRNA vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech […]

COVID 19 Tech

CDC to update advice on best masks—but just wants you to wear one, any of them

Enlarge / Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Shawn Thew) As cases of the ultra-transmissible omicron coronavirus variant continue to increase in the US, many […]

COVID 19 Tech

FDA head: Omicron is a “natural disaster… most people are gonna get COVID”

Enlarge / Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (credit: Getty | Shawn Thew) US officials are comparing the ultratransmissible omicron coronavirus variant to a natural disaster as the country […]

COVID 19 Tech

Hospitals nationwide are buckling under omicron as cases continue to spike

Enlarge / A medical worker in PPE works with a patient with Covid-19 in a negative pressure room in the ICU ward at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on January 4, 2022. The hospital says it is overflowing with patients and doesn’t have many beds left. (credit: Getty | Joseph Prezioso) Hospitals nationwide […]

COVID 19 Tech

CDC head talks screwups, 4th doses, omicron’s wave in long-awaited briefing

Enlarge / The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters stands in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, March 14, 2020. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday held its first COVID-19 press briefing in over a year. The briefing covered a wide range of pandemic-related topics, from the […]

COVID 19 Tech

US sets global record with over 1 million COVID cases in one day

Enlarge / Long lines at a mobile COVID-19 testing tent in Queens, New York, on December 29, 2021. (credit: Getty | Universal Images Group ) The United States reported over one million new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, setting a global record for a single-day total as the ultra-transmissible omicron coronavirus variant continues its savage […]

COVID 19 Tech

FDA authorizes booster doses for 12- to 15-year-olds, shortens interval for adults

Enlarge / A health worker administers a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to an elderly resident at Ichilov medical center in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg ) As the ultra-transmissible omicron coronavirus variant bears down on the US, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday announced […]

COVID 19 Tech

Children’s hospitals are filling nationwide amid tidal wave of omicron

Enlarge / A Boston Medical Center pediatrician performs a checkup on an 8-month-old while her father provides her comfort in a pediatrics tent set up outside of Boston Medical Center in Boston on April 29, 2020. (credit: Getty | Birkenstock boston Globe ) The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US is skyrocketing […]

COVID 19 Tech

Omicron smashes US case records as experts are still trying to understand it

Enlarge / A healthcare worker conducts a test at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at the Dan Paul Plaza on December 29, 2021 in Miami, Florida. In response to the increasing demand for COVID-19 tests, Miami-Dade County opened two new testing sites and expanding hours at the Zoo Miami testing location. (credit: Getty | Joe […]