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Covid-19

Pfizer pursues under 5 vaccine

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March. In an extraordinary move, the Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply earlier than the companies had planned — and before it’s settled if the youngsters will need two shots or three. The nation’s 19 million children under 5 are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus. Many ...

Area’s COVID climb slows during weekend

The pace of COVID-19 activity in the region may be leveling off, as state data Monday showed Dickinson County added 52 confirmed COVID-19 positives and Iron County 33 new cases in the past three days. Both were down from the previous two-day reporting period from Wednesday to Friday last ...

US gives full approval to Moderna’s COVID vaccine

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Monday granted full approval to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, a shot that's already been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago. The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Moderna's shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines. The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S. since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full ...

Virus data shows local cases remain on the rise

State data Friday showed Dickinson County added 77 confirmed COVID-19 positives in the past two days and Iron County 45 new cases. Figures on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus website Friday indicated 631 new confirmed COVID-19 positives in the Upper Peninsula since Wednesday: 168 in Marquette County, 86 in Houghton County, 77 in Dickinson County, 71 in Delta County, 45 in Iron County, 39 in Chippewa County, 36 in Menominee County, 31 in Gogebic County, 26 in Baraga County, 14 in Mackinac County, 10 in Schoolcraft County, nine in Alger County, eight in ...

Area’s virus cases at record high

Dickinson and Iron counties are now enduring higher levels of COVID-19 activity than at any other point of the two-year pandemic, a local health official said Thursday. Local data Thursday showed Dickinson County in the past seven days has added 330 new confirmed COVID-19 positives — plus two deaths blamed on the virus — while Iron County had 143 more cases. These numbers topped the previous week’s, which had been considered record high new cases in both counties. Dickinson County also had 235 probable coronavirus positives and Iron County 42 probables since the last ...

House OKs business grants

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gyms, movie theaters and other businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic would receive state grants under a $185 million spending bill that won initial legislative approval Thursday. The 96-6 vote in the House came more than a month after the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer enacted $409 million in aid for businesses that lost money — funded with federal discretionary COVID-19 aid. Applications for those grants are due by April 1 and must be disbursed by July 1. The next round of proposed grants, which also would be paid for with federal funds, would go ...