Coronavirus News & Updates

August 16, 2023 — Weekly new hospitalizations for COVID-19 have climbed for the fourth straight week.

August 14, 2023 — The newest version of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available by the end of September, according to the CDC.

August 14, 2023 — Scientists at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom have reported finding an unusual symptom of long COVID – blue legs. The symptom is called acrocyanosis – the venous pooling of blood in the legs.

August 11, 2023 — The rate of people experiencing long COVID appears to be stabilizing at about 1 in 10 adults who have ever been infected with the virus, new government tracking data shows.

August 10, 2023 — Along with the news of the growth of a new variant, COVID-related hospitalization rates have increased by 12.5% in the last week – the most significant uptick since December.

August 7, 2023 — COVID-19 hospitalizations continue their steady summer march upward, and now a new variant has perched atop the list of the most prevalent forms of the virus.

August 2, 2023 — Pfizer’s CEO says the FDA could approve the company’s updated COVID-19 booster shots by the end of the month. Pfizer and Moderna asked the FDA in June to approve a new version of their boosters aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

July 31, 2023 — In December 2020, Congress approved $1.15 billion for the NIH to research and test treatments for long COVID. The new clinical trials are phase II, meant to test safety and effectiveness. But some advocates are concerned the process is still moving too slowly.

July 26, 2023 — A new “green light” method can measure blood oxygen regardless of skin tone, a promising fix in the global quest to eliminate racial bias in pulse oximetry.

July 26, 2023 — The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is up 10% in the United States, the sharpest uptick since December, according to the CDC.

July 20, 2023 — It turns out that being a COVID-19 “super dodger” isn’t necessarily just luck. It’s genetics.

July 18, 2023 — For the first time since January 2020, the overall U.S. death rate has bottomed out and is no longer inflated abnormally by deaths related to covid-19.

July 12, 2023 — An estimated 3 in every 10 white-tailed deer in the U.S. have had COVID-19, and new research suggests deer populations could be a source of virus mutations that may be passed to humans.

July 10, 2023 — An air monitor made by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis can detect the COVID-19 virus in a room with an infected person within 5 minutes.

July 5, 2023 — Nearly 1 in 5 people in the U.S. had never been infected with COVID-19 as of the end of 2022, according to a new estimate.

June 26, 2023 — EU.1.1 currently accounts for about 1.7% of all COVID cases in the United States and about 8.7% of cases in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and the Dakotas.

June 23, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued an advisory to help medical professionals better recognize the mental health symptoms that may come with long COVID.

June 22, 2023 — A report based on COVID-19 infection trends among more than 5,600 mental health care patients says that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were particularly effective in blocking COVID-19 transmission.

June 19, 2023 — People with long COVID have fatigue levels worse than those reported by people with some types of cancer or who are recovering from a stroke, according to researchers in England.

June 15, 2023 — The action follows a key advisory committee's 21-0 vote that a new vaccine should focus on just one strain of the virus, and not be a bivalent shot as before.

June 14, 2023 — Millions of Americans who were infected with COVID-19 still have not fully recovered their sense of taste or smell, a new report says.

June 12, 2023 — Scientists think that a person in Ohio who has been infected with COVID-19 for 2 years is shedding thousands of times more of the virus than normal, according to wastewater data. They say the strain of the virus appears to be unique.

June 12, 2023 — Metformin, a drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes, greatly decreases a person’s risk of developing long COVID after infection, according to a study published in The Lancet.

June 2, 2023 — Anxiety, depression, and COVID-19 can be a bad combination for your brain — and your long-term health. Having anxiety and depression before a COVID infection increases the risk of developing long COVID, researchers have found.

May 31, 2023 — Once you test negative after a bout with COVID-19, it's a great idea to get a full health screening. This is especially important for people who are at risk for, or have, blood cancers like leukemia. Here's what to know.

May 26, 2023 — About 10% of people infected with Omicron reported having long COVID, a lower percentage than estimated for people infected with earlier strains of the coronavirus, says a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

May 17, 2023 — Just as the 3-year-old coronavirus public health emergency ended, COVID is still killing more than 100 people every day in the U.S., and amid widespread efforts to move on and drop protective measures, the country’s most vulnerable people are still at significant risk.

May 16, 2023 — A new study urges people to continue wearing protective masks in medical settings, even though the U.S. public health emergency declaration around COVID-19 has expired.

May 16, 2023 — If confirmed in large randomized clinical trials, a new study suggests that vitamin D supplementation could represent a possible strategy to reduce the burden of long COVID, say researchers.

May 11, 2023 — Buildings large and small, in all kinds of industries around the world, are being built to gain and promote WELL certification. It began before the pandemic, but COVID-19 launched concerns about safety and cleanliness in common environments.

May 10, 2023 — People with long COVID significantly reduced their fatigue after completing 17 weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, compared to people with similar long COVID fatigue levels who didn’t participate in therapy, a new study shows.

May 9, 2023 — The emergency declaration gave the federal government flexibility in waiving certain rules affecting health care, including Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance, and gave free access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments.

May 8, 2023 — Millions of parents are living with long COVID, leaving them to try their best to balance childrearing with chronic illness.

May 8, 2023 — As many as half a million at-home COVID tests are being recalled due to potential bacterial contamination.

May 8, 2023 — Having a history of anxiety or depression increases the likelihood of experiencing brain fog in the weeks following a COVID-19 infection, a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles suggests.

May 5, 2023 — Not much is expected to change in a realistic sense, and the declaration doesn’t mean COVID is no longer with us. But it reflects declining case numbers, fewer hospitalizations and greater immunity.

May 5, 2023 — The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 was more than halved in 2022, compared to the toll the virus wrought in 2021, according to new CDC data. The decline drops COVID-19 from third place to fourth place as a leading cause of death in the U.S.

May 3, 2023 — More than 30 people who attended a conference organized by the CDC’s “disease detectives” likely were infected with COVID-19 at the event last week, the agency said.

May 1, 2023 — The CDC will stop tracking and reporting COVID-19 cases at the community level later this month.

April 28, 2023 — From fad diets and vitamins to “blood washing” and stem cell therapy, long COVID patients are seeking out experimental therapies in a desperate bid to find hope and relief from debilitating symptoms.

April 24, 2023 — It has grown exponentially since first appearing in India in January, and now accounts for 4.2% of global cases and 9.6% of cases in the U.S. The CDC has not issued an official watchlist designation for Arcturus.

April 20, 2023 — A study has found what many patients and doctors are already discovering: There is no single treatment for long COVID, and many different patients are having many different symptoms.

April 20, 2023 — The agency said that people at higher risk — such as the immunocompromised and those over age 65 — could choose to get a second booster shot before this fall.

April 18, 2023 — The agency is looking to increase protection against COVID-19 by spurring interest in a bivalent booster, which to date has been received by just 17% of Americans.

April 18, 2023 — The federally funded RECOVER Initiative expects to give out 10,000 sensors to people with long COVID to collect data in real time.

April 18, 2023 — In a Phase 2 clinical trial of a potential treatment for fatigue associated with long COVID-19, people who received the medicine reported positive results over those receiving a placebo.

April 17, 2023 — The risks of COVID-19 have faded so much from everyday American life that some experts are concerned people don’t fully realize it remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.

April 16, 2023 — The most recent CDC update lists Arcturus, a new COVID-19 strain, as causing 7% of U.S. coronavirus cases, landing it in second place behind its Omicron cousin XBB.1.5, which causes 78% of cases.

April 15, 2023 — The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reports about 100,000 registered nurses left the workforce during the COVID pandemic in the last two years because of stress, burnout, and retirements.

April 14, 2023 — The chances of having long COVID appear to decrease sharply between a person’s first and second infections, according to a new study.