pandemic

Some good news for those essential workers that have applied and qualified for hero pay. The office of the state comptroller announced that qualified applicants will begin seeing their payments starting in early February. The Hero Pay program was designed to compensate essential workers with $1,000 for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We can never fully repay essential workers…

More than two and a half years into the pandemic, many businesses have had to curb their hours of operations or services as they continue to grapple with labor shortages.

A Stamford man has been sentenced to prison time for his role in fraudulently obtaining more than $4 million in COVID-19 relief funds, according to the Dept. of Justice. Officials said 46-year-old Moustapha Diakhate maintained ownership or management interest in certain small business entities. Starting in March 2020, Diakhate allegedly provided Citibank and M&T Bank with false and fraudulent information…

Climate change can make diseases stronger, or weaken humans and their ability to fight infections, researchers say. And another consequence of climate change, the melting Arctic permafrost, released ancient frozen bacteria that were frozen for thousands of years. Erik Franklin, professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, joins LX News.

Children diagnosed with obesity face health risks, and it’s becoming an even bigger problem due to the pandemic.

Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold – further bolstering the theory that the virus emerged in the wild rather than escaping from a Chinese lab.

The World Health Organization, WHO, on Saturday declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. The designation puts Monkeypox on the same list as other other outbreaks such as, COVID-19, Zika, H1N1 Flu, Polio, and Ebola

The Pfizer pill, Paxlovid, is intended for people with COVID-19 who are more likely to become seriously ill. Previously only doctors could prescribe the drug

A spokesperson for Bristol Hospital said they’re eliminating over 30 positions due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bristol Health said 10 of those roles were presently filled, the majority of which were management. Because of environmental and financial pressures such as labor and supply cost inflation, the healthcare system decided to cut back. “Health systems will be…

China has attacked the theory that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated as a leak from a Chinese laboratory as a politically motivated lie. The response came after the World Health Organization recommended in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is needed into whether a lab accident may be to blame. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson also rejected accusations...

White House officials say orders have been coming in for COVID-19 vaccine doses for small children. Federal authorization of shots for U.S. kids under 5 is possible next week. The government last week began allowing pharmacies and states to place orders, with 5 million doses initially available. So far, about 1.45 million of the 2.5 million available doses of Pfizer...

It is National Nurses Week and frontline workers at Hartford HealthCare got a heartfelt thank you Wednesday afternoon. The health care system treated them to a special concert by country singer Jordan Oaks right outside of the hospital in downtown Hartford. For many of the first responders, this recognition of their strenuous work means a great deal. Oaks played to…

The U.N.-backed Medicines Patent Pool says that nearly three dozen companies worldwide will soon start making generic versions of Pfizer’s coronavirus pill

This week marks two years since Gov. Ned Lamont ordered schools to close and then a few days later, he did the same for all non-essential businesses. The state slowly started reopening in May of 2020, but we know there have been setbacks along the way with the Omicron and Delta variants. Now, we seem to be headed in the…

I showed up to meet Marcus Robinson and his girlfriend, Brittney Price, on a weekday afternoon in Los Angeles. They invited me into their home, where they had just signed the lease. They told me it was a challenge to land this place just a few blocks from downtown. Robinson and Price are both freelance artists. Like many, the pandemic…

In 2021, rent rose about 14% across the country, the biggest surge in over two years. Of the 10 U.S. cities with the highest average rent, six, including Los Angeles, are in California. NBCLX storyteller Cody Broadways talks to one couple, both artists, who were hit hard by the rent spike and explores potential solutions.

Canada’s trucker protest, which grew until it closed a handful of Canada-U.S. border posts and shut down key parts of the capital city for weeks, could echo for years in Canadian politics and perhaps south of the border

Luis Santiago was moved from the state prison in Cheshire to Corrigan Correctional Center in Uncasville in June of 2021.  He said he’s had a revolving door of cellmates, even though his doctor recommended he be by himself because of his severe asthma, a condition that could make him more susceptible to the effects of COVID-19. “Inmates come straight...