Public Health

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 990 percent in Oregon since July 9, spurring the state to enact the strictest public health measures seen during this surge.

COVID-19 cases are still increasing nationwide, but the rate of new infections appears to be slowing, CNBC reported Aug. 26.

As testing ramps up amid the current COVID-19 surge, researchers at Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina are detecting delta variant mutations, finding one known as AY.4 particularly prevalent.

The window of opportunity for investigating the pandemic's origins is quickly closing, members of an international scientific team wrote in a commentary published Aug. 25 in Nature.

Florida is reporting more COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths than at any other point of the pandemic thus far, The New York Times reported.

Children age 12 and older on Medicaid are eligible for Ohio's $100 COVID-19 vaccination incentive, cincinnati.com reported Aug. 25. 

Some hospitals in the South have refrigerated mortuary trucks on standby in case COVID-19 deaths increase and overburden hospital morgues. 

Breast milk from women who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 contains a significant amount of antibodies that may help protect their infants from the virus, according to a study published Aug. 20 in Breastfeeding Medicine.

After Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine gained full FDA approval Aug. 23, some pediatrician's offices received calls from parents eager to vaccinate their children under 12, even though the shot is not authorized for this age group yet, The Wall Street Journal…

Oregon, Kentucky and Hawaii have set pandemic records for COVID-19 hospitalizations amid the latest wave.