List of All Articles with Tag 'virus'

In March 2020, many US restaurants had to shut their doors during the early days of the Covid pandemic in accordance with local restrictions. Now, over three years later, the restaurant industry is back. But the pandemic ushered in some changes that are here to stay.

The White House is taking on “junk fees,” those extra charges tacked on to plane tickets, hotel rooms, hospital bills and more

Even President Joe Biden has some regrets about the name of the Inflation Reduction Act

The cost to live in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui keeps rising thanks to a chronic housing shortage and an influx of second-home buyers and wealthy transplants snatching up properties

Illinois is the first state in the U.S. to ensure child social media influencers are compensated for their work

Republican Senator Ron Johnson amplified a number of Covid-19 conspiracy theories in a Fox Business Network segment bloated with false claims about the disease amid a growing number of hospitalisations and infections. While public health officials are urging Americans to stay up to date with vaccinations, the Wisconsin senator and Fox personality Maria Bartiromo falsely refuted vaccine efficacy and safety while wrongly stating that ivermectin is an approved treatment. The senator also revived baseless conspiracy theories circulated by anti-vaccine influencers like Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has faced ongoing scrutiny for his bogus suggestion that the virus is a biological weapon used to target certain demographics and spare Jewish and Chinese people. “This was all pre-planned by an elite group of people,” Mr Johnson said on the network on 11 August. “We’re up against a very powerful group of people … We are going down a very dangerous path, but it’s a path that is being laid out and planned by an elite group of people that want to take total control over our lives, and that’s what they’re doing bit by bit.” Mr Johnson and Ms Bartiromo also falsely claimed that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved ivermectin to treat Covid-19. Their bogus claims follow a recent appeals court hearing in a lawsuit from three doctors who have accused the federal agency of overstepping its authority by telling people not to take the drug. A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump dismissed the lawsuit last year. FDA attorneys argued that the agency did not prohibit doctors from prescribing the drug but had issued guidance recommending against its use. Right-wing media falsely interpreted those statements to mean that the agency now is endorsing the drug. Ms Bartiromo also admitted to taking ivermectin – which still is not authorised or approved for use in preventing or treating Covid-19 – before falsely stating that the FDA says it’s “fine” to use. “It was hard to find my doctor to finally, you know, address this and prescribe ivermectin,” she said. “He did, my Covid was gone in a day when I took ivermectin. And now three years later, the FDA says, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s fine. Take ivermectin.’” The FDA has not said that. The segment aired as Covid-related hospitalisations begin to surge across the US, increasing 12.5 per cent over the last week to more than 9,000, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EG.5, an offshoot of the omicron variant that sparked waves of new infections, has been circulating in the US since April, now accounting for more than 17 per cent of Covid infections, according to the CDC. Last month, Mr Kennedy – a prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who is seeking an extremely long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for president – revived an antisemitic conspiracy that blames Jewish people for the emergence of the disease. He baselessly stated during a press event that “there is an argument to be made” that the disease is “ethnically targeted”. The Independent has requested comment from Fox and a spokesperson for Mr Johnson. Read More Everything we know about EG. 5, the Covid subvariant dominating the US Data from pharmacy chain suggests Covid cases in California have nearly doubled since June RFK Jr’s ‘horrific antisemitic and xenophobic views’ detailed in explosive report Fox News promotes conspiracy theory linking Bronny James collapse to Covid vaccine

Western-backed maritime forces in the Middle East have warned shippers traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to stay as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible to avoid being seized

Chris Brown, Post Malone and Lil Wayne allegedly received millions of dollars of Covid relief each

On and off the big screen, it’s Barbie’s world and Ken is just living in it

A judge's order requiring “religious-liberty training” by a conservative Christian group is stirring debate among legal scholars

Italy is celebrating the return of 266 antiquities that were looted and sold to museums and private collectors in the United States

Tens of thousands of doctors in England have walked off the job for another four-day stretch, with growing concerns that their bitter pay dispute with the British government will drag on into the winter