COVID-19 Pandemic – The News Desk

New WIC rules include more money for fruits and vegetables for low-income families

10Apr

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Money

New WIC rules include more money for fruits and vegetables for low-income families

The federal program that helps pay for groceries for millions of low-income mothers, babies and young kids will soon emphasize more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as provide a wider choice of foods from different cultures. The final rule changes for the program known as WIC were announced Tuesday by the Food and Nutrition Service, and will take effect within two years with some exceptions.Last updated a decade ago, the new WIC rules make permanent a bump in monthly cash vouchers for fruits and vegetables — something first enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shoppers can also add canned fish, fresh herbs and lactose-free milk to their carts, among other changes. The voucher piece will take effect by June, officials said. "It places a hea...

Austrian government supports Vienna Boys Choir to help it out of financial difficulties

30Dec

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Entertainment

Austrian government supports Vienna Boys Choir to help it out of financial difficulties

BERLIN -- The Austrian government said Saturday that it is giving the country's centuries-old Vienna Boys Choir 800,000 euros ($884,000) to help it out of severe financial difficulties. “It goes without saying that we will rescue them from their financial plight,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said.“We are proud of this world-famous choir, which has existed for more than 500 years and is part of the Austrian identity, and we will do everything we can to secure its future," he added in a written statement.The choirboys should be able to “go into the coming year without existential worries," the chancellor added.The choir had been struggling with rising costs due to inflation and a lack of income after many of its concerts were canceled during the coronavirus pandemic. The Vienna Boys C...

New COVID variant JN.1 surges to 44% of cases, CDC estimates — even higher in New York, New Jersey

24Dec

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Health

New COVID variant JN.1 surges to 44% of cases, CDC estimates — even higher in New York, New Jersey

The new COVID-19 variant that scientists call JN.1 now makes up about 44.1% of COVID-19 cases across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Friday, marking another week of the fast-spreading variant's steep rise in the U.S.The increase is more than two times larger than the 21.3% that the CDC now estimates the strain made up of infections for the week ending Dec. 9, after Thanksgiving.Among regions with enough data reported from testing labs to produce these latest projections, the CDC estimates that JN.1's prevalence is largest in the Northeast region spanning New Jersey and New York, where the strain is 56.9% of cases in those states. "JN.1's continued growth suggests that the variant is either more transmissible or bett...

Are COVID-19 symptoms still the same? What to know about this winter’s JN.1 wave

21Dec

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Health

Are COVID-19 symptoms still the same? What to know about this winter’s JN.1 wave

Reports of respiratory illness have now reached "high" or "very high" levels across at least 16 state or big city health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as trends of COVID-19 and influenza have accelerated in many parts of the country. And while a fast-growing new COVID variant called JN.1 is estimated to be driving a large share of the current winter wave of infections, officials say there have so far been no signs of new or unusual symptoms caused by the virus.Here's the latest about what we know about this winter's wave so far.Are COVID-19 symptoms still the same?Experts caution that teasing out subtle changes to the symptoms being caused by different COVID-19 variants has proven tricky, given the now wide-ranging variety of antibodies that people have...

WHO declares new JN.1 COVID strain a “variant of interest.” Here’s what that means.

20Dec

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Health

WHO declares new JN.1 COVID strain a “variant of interest.” Here’s what that means.

The World Health Organization announced Tuesday it would step up its classification of the new COVID-19 variant JN.1 to a standalone "variant of interest," after tracking the strain's rapid ascent around the world. Health officials have been careful to say that JN.1 has so far not been found to lead to different or more severe symptoms compared to previous variants.However, the WHO said JN.1's "rapidly increasing spread" in multiple parts of the world was enough to warrant ungrouping the strain from its slower-moving ancestor BA.2.86."JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing globally and now represents the vast majority of BA.2.86 descendent lineages reported," the WHO wrote. What is a variant o...

Artist Zeng Fanzhi depicts ‘zero-COVID’ after a lifetime of service to the Chinese state

27Nov

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Entertainment

Artist Zeng Fanzhi depicts ‘zero-COVID’ after a lifetime of service to the Chinese state

SHENZHEN, China -- In one painting, a child sits, mouth wide open, as a worker in white medical garb extends a long cotton swab toward her tonsils. In another, a masked officer and medical workers stand guard in front of an apartment cordoned off with ropes and seals reading “CLOSED,” as residents look on with frustration and despair.These are some of the portraits that Zeng Fanzhi, 85, has painted to commemorate three years of China’s strict “zero-COVID” controls, which sparked nationwide protests a year ago. But Zeng, a retired architect living in Shenzhen, is not a critic of the measures, under which millions of people were tested, locked in apartments, or carried off to quarantine centers.Zeng has spent much of his life in service to the Chinese state, designing monuments in Beijing’s...

More free COVID-19 tests can be ordered now, as uptick looms

20Nov

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Health

More free COVID-19 tests can be ordered now, as uptick looms

Americans can now order another round of four free COVID-19 tests for this season, the U.S. Postal Service announced Monday, as health officials have been preparing for an expected resurgence in the virus over the coming weeks.The four additional tests will ship for free starting the week of Nov. 27, the USPS says.How to order more free COVID testsThe tests can be ordered online at covid.gov/tests or through the postal service's webpage — the same as the previous round of free tests offered in September. Households that did not order their first batch of four free tests after ordering reopened earlier this fall will be able to place two orders from the USPS, for a total of eight free rapid antigen COVID-19 tests.The Department of Health and Human Servic...

5Nov

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Money

Is hybrid work the new normal?

Is hybrid work the new normal? - CBS News Watch CBS News As the pandemic eased, you might expect employees who'd been working from home would head back to the office. But as it turns out, that never happened! Instead, a modern work style – a blend of commuting part-time and working part-time remotely from home – is becoming the new normal. Correspondent David Pogue talks with experts and technologists about who is benefitting from this new work style, and who is hurting. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live even...

Here’s how many jobs are available across the U.S.

2Nov

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Money

Here’s how many jobs are available across the U.S.

Employers posted 9.6 million job openings in September, up from 9.5 million in August according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job monthly Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The slightly elevated numbers signal that the U.S. job market remains strong even as the U.S. Federal Reserve attempts to cool the economy."Today's JOLTS report was, simply, a bit boring — in the best possible way," Nick Bunkers, Indeed hiring lab director of economic research, said in note on today's report. "Not much has changed over the past few months, and the labor market appears to be stabilizing at a level consistent with a sustainable economy."The September openings are down from a record 12 million in March 2022 but remain high by historical standards. Before 2021 — when the American economy...

Columbia Journalism Review editor leaving to encourage news outlets to devote more time to climate

3Oct

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Entertainment

Columbia Journalism Review editor leaving to encourage news outlets to devote more time to climate

The leader of the Columbia Journalism Review says he's leaving that job to work at an organization that encourages news outlets to devote more attention to covering climate changeByThe Associated PressOctober 3, 2023, 12:19 AMFILE - A sign displays an unofficial temperature as jets taxi at Sky Harbor International Airport at dusk, July 12, 2023, in Phoenix. Phoenix, Arizona’s most populous city, is in the record books again for notching a record for dry heat. The National Weather Service said Sunday, Oct 1, that the monsoon season this year in the arid Southwest dropped only 0.15 inches (.38 centimeters) of rainfall from June 15 to Sept. 30. That’s the driest since the agency began keeping records in 1895. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)The Associated PressNEW YORK -- Saying that journalism is...