U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stood by federal guidance that those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer needed to wear masks, while blaming social media companies for fueling vaccine misinformation.
Facebook on July 17 defended itself against U.S. President Joe Biden’s assertion that the social media platform is “killing people” by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to proliferate, saying the facts tell a different story.
Regeneron continues to expand the company’s presence in New York. During the next six years, Regeneron will invest $1.8 billion to expand the company’s Tarrytown facilities. The investment will support the addition of 1,000 new jobs.
The Delta variant of Covid-19 is now the dominant strain worldwide, accompanied by a surge of deaths around the United States almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said July 16.
Los Angeles County will reimpose its mask mandate during the weekend of July 16 in the latest sign that public health officials are struggling with an alarming rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant.
The head of the World Health Organization said on July 15 that investigations into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread there and urged the country to be more transparent.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy raised the alarm on July 15 over a growing wave of misinformation about Covid-19 and related vaccines that threatens efforts to quell the pandemic and save lives, urging technology companies and others to act.
In a roundup of scientific studies on the novel coronavirus, new findings shed light on why chronic lung diseases that block the airways increase patients’ risks for severe Covid-19 and researchers say the blood disorder anemia should probably be added to the list of risk factors for poorer Covid-19 outcomes.
Tokyo reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases in almost six months on July 14, with the Olympics due to open in the capital in just nine days.
Although there have been discussions about using different Covid-19 vaccines in combination, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned against it, calling it a “dangerous trend.”
