Health officials say the delta variant of the coronavirus continues to surge and accounts for an estimated 83% of U.S. COVID-19 cases.
That’s a dramatic increase from the week of July 3, when the variant accounted for about 50% of genetically sequenced coronavirus cases.
“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease, and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday.
The delta variant is a mutated coronavirus that spreads more easily than other versions. It was first detected in India but now has been identified around the world.
NASA and SpaceX have chosen May 27 for resuming astronaut launches from the U.S. after nine years. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date Friday.
Danielle Allen, director of the center, told Cheddar that ending quarantine will require a robust social effort involving potentially thousands of workers and brand new technology solutions.
Seven Midwestern governors announced Thursday that they will coordinate on reopening their state economies, after similar pacts were made earlier this week in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
Top Chinese officials secretly determined they were likely facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus in mid-January, ordering preparations even as they downplayed it in public.
Coronavirus-related deaths in New York City have surged past 10,000 now that officials have revised the tally to include people presumed to have died from the virus, rather than just those with lab-confirmed test results.
Tatyana Popkova, chief strategy officer for the health system, talked to Cheddar about how the innovative medical center was designed to take on challenges such as a patient surge from a pandemic.
Tommy Berges, a veteran paramedic and firefighter out of Washtenaw County, Michigan, said the outbreak has extended emergency response times from the outset.
Kay Sears, VP and GM of Military Space for Lockheed Martin described the final frontier as a "warfighting realm," to Cheddar at Satellite 2020.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Friday said the coronavirus pandemic has hit a "plateau" but stressed that putting New Yorkers back to work hinges on the level of testing that is available across the state.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has no treatment and no vaccine, but antibodies from recovered patients could help current others who are fighting the deadly virus.
