National News
National News
New CDC Guidance Lifts Most Domestic Travel Restrictions For Fully Vaccinated People
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its domestic travel guidance for fully vaccinated people, lifting certain testing and self-quarantine requirements but continuing to recommend precautions like wearing a mask and avoiding crowds.
FDA Authorizes 2 Rapid, At-Home Coronavirus Tests
Experts believe that the availability of at-home coronavirus tests could help slow the continued spread of the virus, which is contagious even when people are asymptomatic. Abbott’s test will be available on grocery and drugstore shelves in the “coming weeks,” according to a press release from the company. Quidel did not include a timeline in its release.
By The Numbers: Here’s What’s In President Biden’s $2 Trillion Infrastructure Proposal
President Biden this week unveiled a massive infrastructure proposal that he says would deliver a “once-in-a-generation investment” in the United States.
Johnson & Johnson Says Contractor Botched Part Of Vaccine Production
Johnson & Johnson is reporting a setback in its effort to produce tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses, saying a contract production plant in Baltimore produced an ingredient that failed quality control tests. The material was made by Emergent BioSolutions, according to Johnson & Johnson.
Pfizer Says COVID-19 Vaccine Shows ‘100% Efficacy’ In Adolescents
New clinical trials showed that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine elicits “100% efficacy and robust antibody responses” in adolescents from 12 to 15 years old, the drug company announced Wednesday. The trial included 2,260 participants; the results are even better than earlier responses from participants ages 16 to 25.
Supreme Court Weighs Whether NCAA Is Illegally ‘Fixing’ Athlete Compensation
As March Madness heads into its final days, college athletes are playing on a different kind of court: the Supreme Court. On Wednesday the justices heard arguments in a case testing whether the NCAA’s limits on compensation for student athletes violate the nation’s antitrust laws.
Pentagon Releases New Policies Enabling Transgender People To Serve In The Military
The new regulations provide “access to the military in one’s self-identified gender provided all appropriate standards are met,” the Defense Department said in a statement, and “provide a path for those in service for medical treatment, gender transition, and recognition in one’s self-identified gender.”
Flu And Colds Are Down. Should We Continue Wearing Masks Beyond The Pandemic?
A study released this month in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, led by researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, found that across 44 children’s hospitals, the number of pediatric patients hospitalized for respiratory illnesses is down 62%. Deaths have dropped dramatically too, compared with the last 10 years: The number of flu deaths among children is usually between 100 and 200 per year, but so far only one child has died from the disease in the U.S. during the 2020-2021 flu season.
NFL Expands Regular Season To 17 Games Per Team In Long-Expected Revenue Boost
National Football League owners voted Tuesday to approve an enhanced schedule that will bring the number of regular-season games to 17 per team starting this year. The long-discussed change is expected to bring additional revenue to the NFL, which finalized a new round of broadcast rights agreements earlier this month.
Arrest Made In Attack On Asian Woman In Manhattan, As Bystanders Watched
A 65-year-old Asian American woman was physically and verbally attacked by an unidentified man in Midtown Manhattan on Monday in an incident police say they are investigating as a hate crime.
President Biden Makes 1st Judicial Nominations, Including A Supreme Court Contender
President Biden announced his first judicial nominations Tuesday, including Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Court of Appeals seat vacated by Merrick Garland when he became U.S. attorney general. Jackson is considered a potential Supreme Court contender.
Federal Report Says Radioactive Cleanup Work At Idaho Nuclear Site Is Working
Ongoing Superfund cleanup work of radioactive and other contamination at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho has been successful at protecting humans and the environment, U.S. and state officials say. The five-year review by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality also said that potential exposures in areas that aren’t yet cleaned up are being controlled.
