The boisterous bustle of students jostling down crowded hallways to reach lockers and classrooms has long served as one of the most powerful memories of high school life for many. Those loud, happy throngs might now belong to a bygone era, thanks to COVID-19. Schools planning to reopen in the fall are weighing what’s called…  read on >

In another troubling sign that the spread of coronavirus might be accelerating, new U.S. data shows hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day. In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Arizona, increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients are showing up at hospitals, the Washington…  read on >

A new analysis shows that parts of the country that had been spared the worst of the coronavirus pandemic are now tallying record-high cases of new infections. Since the start of June, 14 states and Puerto Rico have recorded their highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, data tracked by the…  read on >

Scientists studying the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus — which causes COVID-19 — believe they’ve discovered why face masks might help limit transmission of the virus. The virus tends to first infect the nasal cavity, replicating less well in the lower respiratory tract, University of North Carolina (UNC) researchers found. However, sometimes it’s sucked into the lungs, where…  read on >

The U.S. center hardest hit by COVID-19 isn’t headline-grabbing New York City; it’s the Navajo Nation in the American southwest. About the size of West Virginia and situated on 27,000 square miles of land spread across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, Navajo Nation is home to approximately 175,000 people. It’s also home to a coronavirus…  read on >

New York City finally reopened its economy on Monday after being the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic for months, and a new study shows that stay-at-home orders may have been worth it, preventing nearly 60 million U.S. infections. The research, published in the Nature medical journal, examined how different social distancing policies and measures…  read on >

People infected with COVID-19 who need surgery have much higher odds of dying soon afterward, a new study finds. Infected patients who had surgery died at rates nearly equal to those of the sickest COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, the researchers found. For the study, the investigators looked at data on more than 1,100…  read on >

Federal data released Friday offered signs of hope on the economic front, as jobless numbers actually fell — from 14.7 percent in April to 13.3 percent in May. The economy, hit hard by stay-at-home orders and shuttered businesses tied to the coronavirus crisis, ended up adding 2.5 million job in May, as some Americans warily…  read on >

As the U.S. coronavirus case count eclipsed 1.8 million and the death toll passed 107,000 on Thursday, America’s jobless rolls swelled to nearly 43 million. That’s close to one-quarter of the country’s work force. The U.S. Labor Department reported 1.9 million more people filed new unemployment claims last week, a sobering reminder of the economic…  read on >