Mardi Gras rolling on Mississippi coast despite virus surge

January 10, 2022

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Plans are moving ahead to hold Mardi Gras parties and parades on the Mississippi coast despite a surge in COVID-19 cases linked to the highly contagious omicron variant. Large gatherings are the surest way to transmit the illness, health officials say, so the area's upcoming slate of parades, balls and Mardi Gras celebrations are likely to spread the virus, the Sun-Herald reported. But the executive director of the Gulf Coast Carnival Association, Jennifer Schmidt, said "we're moving forward with everything" with caution and daily monitoring, at least for ...

Mon. 10:32 a.m.: Pope on COVID vaccines says health care a ‘moral obligation’

January 10, 2022

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis suggested today that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a "moral obligation" and denounced how people had been swayed by "baseless information" to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives during the pandemic. Francis used some of his ...

Mon. 9:59 a.m.: Uganda’s schools reopen, ending world’s longest lockdown

January 10, 2022

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda's schools reopened to students today, ending the world's longest school disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reopening caused traffic congestion in some areas of the capital, Kampala, and students can be seen carrying their mattresses in the streets, a ...

Mon. 8:52 a.m.: India starts booster shots for vulnerable amid omicron surge

January 10, 2022

NEW DELHI (AP) — Healthcare and front-line workers along with people above age 60 with health problems lined up today at vaccination centers across India to receive a third dose as infections linked to the omicron variant surge. The doses, which India is calling a "precautionary" shot ...

Ohio health director: COVID-19 here ‘for the long haul’

January 8, 2022

With COVID-19 cases at record high levels, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the Ohio Department of Health’s director, said the virus “is with us for the long haul,” but it will eventually go from a pandemic to an endemic. Vanderhoff reiterated Friday that the best way for people to protect themselves from getting “severe illness and death” from the virus is to get vaccinated. A pandemic is a disease that spreads over multiple countries while an endemic affects a large number of people in a specific area. The omicron variant, which has overtaken delta as the dominant COVID-19 ...

Ohio AG: Vaccines positive, but not via government rule

January 7, 2022

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said today that he hopes everyone receives the coronavirus vaccine, but it should be a person's choice, not the result of a government mandate. The Republican attorney general, who said he is fully vaccinated and had the booster, also said ...