ATLANTA, Georgia — As health experts warn that highly contagious coronavirus variants could soon worsen the spread in the U.S., the country is about to require masks on public transportation. The pending order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as the country wraps up its deadliest month of the pandemic. A
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso health officials reported eight new coronavirus deaths, including a man in his 30s, on Saturday morning and 493 added cases. The latest fatality victims included: 1 man in his 30s1 man in her 50s1 woman in her 60s1 man in his 60s1 man in his 70s1 woman in her
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — State health officials reported 1,085 new positive daily tests for the coronavirus on Friday, with 22 related deaths. That raises the statewide pandemic infection tally to 172,798 and the death toll to 3,248. Three of the latest deaths occurred in southern New Mexico and included: A man in his 50s
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EL PASO, Texas — As more El Pasoans receive the Covid-19 vaccine, you may have questions about the vaccine itself and how it works in your body. ABC-7 asked Dr. Neha Sharma, medical director of The Hospitals of Providence Northeast and Horizon City campuses, to provide some extra perspective. WHAT MAKES THE COVID-19 VACCINE DIFFERENT
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EL PASO, Texas — Residents who live in rural parts of El Paso County could have access to Covid-19 vaccines by mid-or-late February. A spokesman for University Medical Center told ABC-7 plans are in the works to have their new mobile unit clinic out to rural parts of the county by that time. The clinic
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WASHINGTON, DC — Dr. Anthony Fauci says the emergence and increasing spread of coronavirus mutations means vaccine makers must be ready to make new shots to stay ahead of the public health crisis. The government’s top infectious disease expert spoke Friday during a White House coronavirus briefing. “This is a wake-up call to all of
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BERLIN, Germany — Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population. The European Medicines Agency licensed the vaccine to be used in people 18 and over, though concerns had been raised this week that not
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NEW YORK, NY — In another promising development for vaccine science, Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine — a single shot tested against a complex barrage of newly emerged Covid-19 variants — is 66% effective at preventing symptomatic disease and 85% effective against preventing severe illness. A team of scientists at the company were “elated” and “joyful”
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso public health officials reported six more coronavirus deaths on Friday morning and 393 added cases. The latest deaths included: 2 men in their 60s1 man in his 70s1 woman in her 70s2 men in their 80s As of Friday, the death toll reached 1,681, while there were 35,197 active
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, has sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking for the agency to host a mass vaccination site in El Paso. In a tweet, the congresswoman shared the letter she sent Thursday night to Robert Fenton Jr., the acting FEMA administrator. NEW:
Continue Reading Severe cases of Covid-19 might impact the quality of a man’s sperm, thus possibly impacting his fertility, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Reproduction. “This report provides the first direct evidence to date that COVID-19 infection impairs semen quality and male reproductive potential,” the study said. However, experts not involved in
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, New Mexico — A report from the New Mexico Department of Health says the State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences violated virus safety rules and became a Covid-19 hot spot. The report detailing the safety violations, a copy of which was reviewed Thursday by ABC-7, was completed last month. According to
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El PASO, Texas — El Paso public health officials said Thursday afternoon they had received another 5,000 Covid-19 vaccines to be given as first doses at the city’s vaccination hub site near the airport. To date, the city said it had administered more than 86,000 doses of virus vaccine to El Pasoans who have registered
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AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Thursday that Texas had surpassed two million Covid-19 vaccinations. That milestone occurs nearly two weeks after Texas hit the one million mark. However, it also comes as Texas simultaneously surpasses two million confirmed Covid-19 infections in the state. The rise in cases comes despite
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico health officials on Thursday reported an additional 678 confirmed Covid-19 infections, bringing the statewide total since the pandemic began to nearly 172,000 cases. The latest figures included 66 new cases and the death of a woman in her 90s in Doña Ana County. Overall, confirmed cases and related deaths have
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden acted Thursday to get more people health insurance in the middle of the raging coronavirus pandemic, a down payment on his pledge to push the U.S. toward coverage for all. At the White House, he signed an executive order reopening the HealthCare.gov insurance markets, something the Trump administration refused to do.
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COLUMBIA, South Carolina — The United States’ first known cases of the more contagious and troublesome South African coronavirus variant have been detected in two people in South Carolina, the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control said. The department said “there is no known travel history and no connection between these two cases.” Both
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BOSTON, Massachusetts — Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are being offered to an increasing number of people. Vaccine recipients typically experience minimal side effects — the most common being temporary pain and swelling at the injection site, fevers, chills, tiredness, muscle aches and pains and headaches. While these side effects are generally a minor
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Every week, ABC-7 anchor Mauricio Casillas will speak to Dr. Edward Michelson. Dr. Michelson is the chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. Here’s the Q&A for Jan. 28: Mauricio Casillas (KVIA): How has this past week gone for you? Dr.
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso health department announced 14 additional coronavirus-related deaths Thursday morning. Health officials clarified that these deaths happened over a span of the past six months. The health department has said in the past that it can sometimes take weeks or months to determine an official cause of death.
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EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso American Federation of Teachers said it has sent a letter to County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Mayor Oscar Leeser requesting that they remove and replace Dr. Hector Ocaranza as El Paso City/County Health Authority. The teachers’ group, in a social media post where its president Ross Moore disclosed
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — Overall, daily Covid-19 case counts and hospitalizations have been trending downward in New Mexico, but officials noted Wednesday that the death toll continues to mount. The New Mexico Department of Health tallied 27 additional virus-related deaths in Wednesday’s report. RELATED STORY: Doña Ana County remains in state’s red zone for virus restrictions
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Data released Wednesday showed seven counties showed significant improvements over the last two weeks when it came to reducing daily Covid-19 case totals and test positivity rates, allowing them to move into the yellow zone on the state’s Red-to-Green map. Under the state’s color-coded system, those counties that meet certain
Continue Reading ATLANTA, Georgia — Many parents and caregivers remain worried about the safety of their children in schools amid the coronavirus pandemic, but experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that with the right mitigation measures, there is a path to low-risk, in-person learning. Experts have stressed the importance of in-person learning
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has placed all alcohol-based hand sanitizers coming from Mexico on a countrywide “import alert” until it is able to review the products’ safety, the agency said. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico will now be subject to heightened scrutiny, and FDA staff may detain shipments, according to
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso’s pandemic death toll increased to 1,661 Wednesday morning after the local health department reported 10 new coronavirus-related deaths. The latest victims included: 2 men in their 40s1 woman in her 50s2 women in their 60s1 man in his 60s1 woman in her 70s1 man in his 70s2 men
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Tests on two different variants of the coronavirus show that one of the two monoclonal antibodies in Regeneron’s cocktail therapy can neutralize both, despite the mutations, researchers reported Wednesday. The tests also confirm what other teams of researchers have found: vaccines are likely to protect people against both the variant first seen in Britain and
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico health officials on Tuesday reported 602 new cases of coronavirus with 14 new deaths as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the lifting of restrictions on in-person schooling soon. Just one of the state’s latest deaths happened in southern New Mexico. It was a man in his 50s from
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EL PASO, Texas — It’s a tax season unlike any other. More than 1,600 El Paso families have lost a loved one due to Covid-19 and some are now beginning to receive their tax forms. This is something so many families did not expect to deal with this year. Tax forms of the deceased must
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration is boosting purchases of coronavirus vaccines to deliver enough to protect 300 million Americans by the end of the summer, as it surges deliveries to states for the next three weeks following complaints of shortages and inconsistent supplies. President Joe Biden announced the surge in deliveries to states Tuesday
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