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Covid-19

US sets shorter COVID-19 isolation rules

NEW YORK (AP) — Worried that a new COVID-19 wave could overwhelm understaffed U.S. hospitals, federal officials Thursday loosened rules that call on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive. Those workers now will be allowed to come back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms. Isolation time can be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages, according to the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. “As the health care community prepares for an anticipated surge in ...

Pill becomes first home virus treatment

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus. The long-awaited milestone comes as U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising ...

DIDHD: 44 new virus positives in Dickinson, 18 in Iron

Local data Wednesday showed Dickinson County in the past six days added 44 new confirmed COVID-19 positives, while Iron County had 18 more cases. Dickinson County also has had 29 probable coronavirus positives since its last report Dec. 16, according to the Dickinson-Iron District Health ...

Whitmer supports vaccine mandate; AG would defend

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she still supports President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, clarifying comments she made earlier this month in which she expressed concerns about it. After a federal appeals court overruled a decision last ...

Biden pivots to home tests for COVID

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the omicron variant surging through the country, President Joe Biden announced the government will provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts. At the White House on ...

FEMA headed to overwhelmed Bellin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 20-member team from the U.S. Navy is headed to Green Bay’s Bellin Hospital to help the overwhelmed facility treat patients with COVID-19. The Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched the team to assist, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday. Wisconsin hospitals are struggling to keep up with a surge in COVID-19 patients while also dealing with staffing shortages. On Monday, there were 1,660 people hospitalized statewide due to the virus, with 424 of them in intensive care, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association. Nearly every intensive care bed — ...