Health

Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images With omicron’s explosive spread threatening to outpace current COVID-19 treatments, the race is on to find new options that will stand up to the variant. The first oral antiviral treatment for the virus was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday. Pfizer’s Paxlovid has proved effective against severe illness and death […]

Lindsey Nicholson/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Urgent care chain CityMD announced it is temporarily closing more than a dozen of its 150 locations in New York and New Jersey amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and increased demands for testing. The 19 shuttered clinics include 13 in New York City […]

Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — With the presence of omicron rapidly increasing across the country, federal health officials are warning the surge in coronavirus cases expected in the weeks to come could significantly increase hospital demand. As more than 7,800 Americans are admitted into hospitals with the virus each day, from […]

Chesnot/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — A month after the omicron variant was first identified, it has become the dominant strain in the United States, responsible for about three-quarters of new COVID infections. As of Wednesday, cases have been identified in 49 states and Washington, D.C. South Dakota has not reported any omicron infections yet. While […]

Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — An at-home treatment for COVID-19 that can prevent serious illness was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, offering a note of optimism for the future of the pandemic as the world faces the omicron variant. When taken early, Pfizer’s pill was 89% effective at […]

Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — An at-home treatment for COVID-19 that can prevent serious illness was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, offering a note of optimism for the future of the pandemic in an otherwise uncertain time as the world faces the omicron variant. When taken early, […]

Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — The spread of the omicron variant and the recent rise in COVID-19 cases across the country combined with the upcoming holiday presents a particular challenge for parents of children under the age of 5. Nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic, that age group is the only one not […]

Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration will distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January to combat the surging omicron variant. Americans will be able to request the tests through a website that will launch next month and they will […]

Alex Wong/Getty Images (ATLANTA) — Life expectancy in the United States decreased by nearly two years in 2020, mainly because of the pandemic, a new federal report suggests. In 2019, Americans had a life expectancy — the average number of years a person is expected to live — of 78.8 years. But new data from […]

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — With millions of Americans set to travel and gather for Christmas and the New Year, families across the country are scrambling to try to ensure they are adequately protected against the coronavirus. Experts suggest a confluence of factors is likely driving the country’s case rate up amid the surge […]