New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he would sign an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings outdoors to prevent a resurgence of the novel coronavirus whenever social distancing is not possible.
The U.S. coronavirus outbreak crossed a grim milestone of over 3 million confirmed cases as more states reported record numbers of new infections, and Florida faced an impending shortage of intensive care unit hospital beds.
Rising coronavirus cases in 39 U.S. states cast a shadow over the nation’s Fourth of July celebrations as health experts worried that holiday parties will cause a further spike in infections that could overwhelm hospitals.
The U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to more than 40,000 on Sunday, the highest in the world and almost double the number of deaths in the next highest country Italy, according to a Reuters tally.
As a critical industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, biopharma companies are expected to remain in operation – but with a skeleton staff. Anticipating stay-at-home mandates, life sciences companies and labs in especially hard-hit regions had already begun preparing.
U.S. state attorneys general said Johnson & Johnson and a company unit agreed to pay nearly $117 million to settle litigation over deceptive marketing of transvaginal surgical mesh devices.
Johnson & Johnson will pay $20.4 million to settle claims by two Ohio counties, allowing the U.S. healthcare giant to avoid an upcoming federal trial seeking to hold the industry responsible for the nation’s opioid epidemic.
OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and two other drugmakers lost a bid to delay a landmark trial set for May 2019 in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by Oklahoma’s attorney general accusing them of helping fuel an opioid abuse and overdose epidemic in the state.