Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: mask mandates, heart disease deaths, COVID cases & more
In the United States, more than 79.9 million people have tested positive for coronavirus as of Saturday, March 26, according to Johns Hopkins University, as cases and hospitalizations continue to go down in the country.
To date, more than 976,000 people living in the U.S. have died, including about 5,000 since last week. Worldwide, there have been more than 479 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including about 8 million new cases since one week ago.
Additionally, over 6.1 million have died from the virus globally. Roughly 217 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of March 25 — 65.4% of the population — and 96 million of those people have gotten a booster shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
“”More than 98% of the U.S. population is in a location with low or medium COVID-19 Community Level,” the agency says as of March 10. This means roughly 2% of Americans reside in an area with a high COVID-19 Community Level. For them, it’s recommended to wear a mask while indoors in public.
The CDC reports the weekly average of COVID-19 cases has dropped nationwide as of March 16. Cases are 16.6% lower compared to the prior week’s average, according to the CDC. The omicron variant continues to dominate positive U.S. cases, including the BA.2 subvariant, for the week ending March 12.
Here’s what happened between March 20 and 25:
Heart disease, stroke deaths rose during COVID, study says. Why trend could last years
There was a “notable” spike in deaths related to heart disease and strokes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found.
The findings suggest a “disturbing trend” that could be an “ongoing problem” in the coming years, according to study author and American Heart Association President Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones.
“We’re going to see more cardiovascular disease deaths than we’ve seen in decades,” Lloyd-Jones said in a video commenting on the research published in JAMA Network Open on March 23.
Keep reading for the study’s findings:
No mask mandate on planes? Airline CEOs urge Biden for return to pre-COVID normalcy
Airline industry leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to end COVID-19 restrictions on air travel, including mask mandates and pre-departure testing requirements.
“COVID-19 need no longer control our lives,” reads the letter, which is signed by the heads of 10 major airlines — including JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines — and was sent to the president on Wednesday, March 23.
The letter echoes Biden’s comments at his State of the Union address that “thanks to the progress we have made in the past year, COVID-19 no longer need control our lives.”
Continue reading below:
Workers feel employers don’t care about them and it’s worse since COVID, survey says
Less than one in four workers in the U.S. feel that their employers care about their well-being, the lowest percentage in nearly a decade, according to a new Gallup survey.
That number was significantly higher at the start of the pandemic, when about 49% of people said their employers responded to the spread of COVID-19 “with a plan, communication, and what many employees believed was genuine concern for them, their work, and their lives.”
But the number has plummeted since then.
Read more about the survey’s findings:
Couple buys overseas condo after swindling millions from Medicare, COVID funds, feds say
A Michigan couple is accused of swindling millions through elaborate fraud schemes, taking advantage of Medicare, Medicaid and COVID-19 relief funds for years, authorities said.
Wahid and Zeinab Makki, both 59, from Dearborn Heights, a city about 15 miles west of Detroit, were arrested on March 23.
Alexander H. Benson and William W. Swor, defense attorneys for the couple, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
For more on the COVID-19 scam, keep reading:
Hospital waited more than a week to report worker’s COVID death, NC officials say
A hospital in Western North Carolina is facing nearly $30,000 in civil penalties after state labor officials said it violated COVID-19 safety protocols and reporting requirements during the pandemic.
The penalties stem from three inspections by the N.C. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Division in October and November at Mission Hospital in Asheville, a department spokesperson confirmed in a statement to McClatchy News on March 23.
In addition to failing to properly fit employees for N95 respirators, OSH investigators said the hospital waited to report that one of its workers had been hospitalized with COVID-19 and later died.
The employee was hospitalized Oct. 18 and died Nov. 10, according to the citation. But state officials weren’t notified until after a complaint was filed on Nov. 22.
Keep reading about the case here:
Free COVID tests, treatment covered by government end for the uninsured. What to know
For millions of Americans without health insurance, the costs of COVID-19 testing and treatment will no longer get covered.
A need for more money has ended the program allowing the government to pay for uninsured Americans’ COVID-19 tests and treatment, according to the Health Resources & Services Administration. The program was first established under President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reported.
The Uninsured Program stopped accepting and processing such claims on March 22 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, the agency said. Additionally, the costs of COVID-19 vaccines won’t get covered under the program as of April 5 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
Read more below:
Surge in alcohol-related deaths raged in US during onset of COVID pandemic, study says
Alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. jumped by nearly 26% at the onset of the pandemic in the highest year-over-year increase recorded by researchers over the past two decades, according to a new study.
Researchers say these deaths reflect the hidden tolls of the pandemic as more and more Americans turned to alcohol to cope with the stress, isolation and economic hardship brought on by COVID-19.
“It shows you that the pandemic has a serious impact on our lives in a variety of ways beyond the virus itself,” said Dr. Aaron White, senior scientific advisor with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal JAMA.
Continue reading about the study here:
He lied to get COVID loans and robbed NC bank — then bought cryptocurrency, feds say
A 35-year-old man has been indicted in North Carolina on charges he invented businesses to qualify for pandemic relief and robbed a bank, then spent the money buying cryptocurrency and paying bills.
Spenc’r Denard Rickerson, of Claremont, North Carolina, is facing bank robbery and wire fraud charges in the Western District of North Carolina, according to federal court documents unsealed on Tuesday, March 22. The case centers on allegations Rickerson filed numerous fake applications for loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and robbed a bank in nearby Newton.
Claremont, which is home to roughly 1,500 residents, is about 43 miles north of Charlotte. Prosecutors said he previously lived and worked in Mooresville, about 30 miles outside Charlotte.
Continue reading about the case here:
Man hid his true identity for decades — until getting a COVID shot outed him, feds say
A Tennessee man was living using a different name for decades. No one knew his true identity — not even his girlfriend of 30 years, the mother of their three children.
That was until one small detail led law enforcement officials to his real identity: his COVID-19 vaccine.
Jerry Leon Blankenship, 65, from Newport, a city about 50 miles east of Knoxville, had been using someone else’s identity since the early 1980s, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
For more on the case, keep reading:
Grubhub secretly charged fees and misled users in COVID pandemic, lawsuit says
Grubhub charged customers hidden fees, used misleading marketing tactics and “took advantage of local restaurants” that were struggling during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a lawsuit filed by Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine.
The lawsuit filed Monday, March 21, accuses the third-party delivery company of eight different violations of D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act, including running false promotions that claimed to support local restaurants, hiding the true cost of delivery orders from consumers and using “bait-and-switch advertising tactics.”
“With this lawsuit, we are seeking to force Grubhub to end its unlawful practices and be transparent so DC residents can make informed decisions about where to order food and how to support local businesses,” Racine said in a statement.
Keep reading below:
White House can’t afford a fourth COVID shot for people in US. Here’s what to know
Senior administration officials are warning of the consequences to the federal COVID-19 response if Congress fails to approve more relief funding.
White House officials said they have told Congress for months that existing funding for tests, treatments, and vaccines was drying up and that “additional funds would be needed.”
About $15 billion in new pandemic funds have been stalled, with some lawmakers saying the White House did not make a strong enough case for the money, according to Politico.
Continue reading here:
Reporters Madeleine List, Vandana Ravikumar, Cassandre Coyer, and Hayley Fowler also contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: mask mandates, heart disease deaths, COVID cases & more."
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