WHO: Record weekly jump in COVID-19 cases but fewer deaths
The World Health Organization says a record 9_5 million COVID-19 cases were tallied over the last week as the omicron variant of the coronavirus swept the planet, a 71% increase from the previous 7-day period that the U_N_ health agency likened to a “tsunami.”.
Florida governor calls on feds for more COVID antibody doses
Gov. Ron DeSantis called on the federal government Monday to allow states to directly purchase monoclonal antibody treatments from companies, saying the state is ready to open new monoclonal antibody treatment sites but is waiting on treatments.
At-home COVID tests may be less sensitive to omicron, but they’re still useful tools, FDA says
Dr. Anthony Fauci is encouraging people to continue to use at-home COVID-19 antigen tests after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that the tests may be less sensitive at detecting the omicron variant.
Orange County mayor swipes at Gov. DeSantis over COVID response, says testing sites are overwhelmed
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said county COVID-19 testing sites have been flooded with demand amid a wave of new infections and blamed a lack of response from Gov. Ron DeSantis, in part, for the sites being overwhelmed.
Omicron casts a new shadow over economy’s pandemic recovery
Just as Americans and Europeans were eagerly awaiting their most normal holiday season in a couple of years, the omicron variant has unleashed a fresh round of fear and uncertainty — for travelers, shoppers, party-goers and their economies as a whole.
President Biden pledges 500M free virus tests to counter omicron
President Joe Biden has announced plans to deliver 500 million free COVID-19 tests to Americans, increase support for hospitals and expand the availability of vaccines to confront a winter surge of coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
US faces a double coronavirus surge as omicron advances
The new omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, as it threatens to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row.
WHO: Omicron could spread faster but it's still not certain
The World Health Organization says early evidence suggests the omicron variant of the coronavirus may be spreading faster than the highly transmissible delta variant and brings with it less severe disease — although it’s too early to make firm conclusions.