×

COVID-19 Coverage

Biden To Give Away 400M N95 Masks Starting Next Week

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to Americans starting next week, now that federal officials are emphasizing their better protection against the omicron variant of COVID-19 over cloth face coverings. The White House ...

Supreme Court Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Rule For US Businesses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation's COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the ...

COVID Test Kits Made Available As Cases Spike Locally

At-home COVID-19 tests and face masks are being given to local municipalities for distribution to area residents. The effort comes as Chautauqua County has been averaging more than 260 new confirmed cases of the virus each day. In Jamestown, 500 test kits were available to city residents at a ...

U.S. Jobless Claims Rise By 23,000 To 230,000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since mid-November. U.S. jobless claims climbed by 23,000 last week to 230,000, still low by historic standards. The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week ...

COVID-19 Pill Rollout Stymied By Shortages As Omicron Rages

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two brand-new COVID-19 pills that were supposed to be an important weapon against the pandemic in the U.S. are in short supply and have played little role in the fight against the omicron wave of infections. The problem is that production is not yet at full strength and ...

Biden To Double Free COVID Tests, Add N95s, To Fight Omicron

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to "surge" resources to help the country weather ...