In the News

As the first wave of the COVID pandemic devastated the U.S., hospitals looked to the nation's stockpile for desperately needed supplies. They weren't there. 
 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found that that while fatal overdoses rose dramatically during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic across all racial demographics, overdose fatalities surged especially among Black and Native American individuals.
 

By designating the outbreak an emergency, HHS could then take a slew of actions, including accessing new money and appointing new personnel, according to the law that dictates how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency.
 

Mask mandates are making a comeback at public schools in Louisville. They could return to Los Angeles, after a possible decision this week. And outside Atlanta, where classes start in a matter of days, they are required for school employees.
 

Over the weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the monkeypox outbreak spreading globally is a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC). Researchers hope that the declaration — the agency’s highest alarm — might serve as a wake-up call for countries as they struggle to contain the spread of the virus that causes monkeypox.
 

The BA.5 surge is a reminder that we need to take precautions to avoid illness, slow the relentless cycle of new variants and minimize the disruption to our daily lives.
 

To get more money to treatment centers like Lily's Place, Cabell County and its main city of Huntington decided to take the problem to the source: pharmaceutical companies that pushed millions of opioids into the county over the last decade. Now, a federal judge ruled on July 4 that the three major pharmaceutical companies were not liable, leaving one county at the center of the opioid epidemic in the dark without the critical resources it needs to save lives.
 

There have been more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries, overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men.
 

Does it feel like we can’t catch a break? With rising COVID-19 cases, increasing cases of monkeypox and now the first case of vaccine-derived polio in the United States in nearly a decade, it feels like the hits just keep coming.
 

The CDC is recommending that immunized adults and children 5 years and older follow up with a vaccination booster in five months, and those 50 and older get a second booster shot for renewed protection. But so far, the CDC reports that only about half of adults have gotten a booster and just 28% of those age 50 and older have received a second dose, which provides even further protection from the illness.
 

Here's a rundown of possible treatments U.S. President Joe Biden will receive for COVID-19 and the risks he faces, having been infected most likely with the fast-spreading but less severe BA.5 variant.
 

President Biden tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday morning. The White House says he has mild COVID symptoms.