The president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urged members at a conference on Saturday to take precautions when it comes to COVID-19 and thanked those who have followed church guidance, which includes getting vaccinated, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: The Mormon Church, one of the largest Christian denominations in the U.S., has faced internal division among its 16 million members worldwide over pandemic guidelines.
Thousands of women gathered in Washington, D.C., and several other cities in the United States and around the world to march for abortion rights in response to the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow Texas' new restrictive abortion law to go into effect.
Why it matters: Texas' new law, which went into effect in early September, is one of the most restrictive abortion bans to be enforced since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide in 1973.
The World Bank announced plans Thursday to give Nigeria $400 million to help fund COVID-19 vaccines for its citizens.
Why it matters: The World Bank stated that the additional funding, provided through the International Development Association, would help Nigeria vaccinate 51% of its citizens in two years.
The Broadway hit “Aladdin” announced Friday it temporarily put Genie back in the lamp and canceled all future shows until Oct. 12 because of breakthrough COVID-19 cases among cast members.
Why it matters: The show had just reopened Tuesday after being dark for 18 months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: A summer of division over vaccine and masking mandates only added to the surge in cases caused by the Delta variant. The U.S. went from 600,000 deaths to 700,000 in the span of three-and-a-half months.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) voiced alarm and frustration about the surge of COVID cases in her state on Friday, decrying comparisons of mask mandates to Nazism.
Why it matters: Alaska's number of weekly cases has steadily increased in recent months, jumping 10% from just last week, according to state health data. Meanwhile, anti-vaxxers continue to protest mask and vaccine mandates in increasingly hostile situations.
Trump administration officials fought over whether — and ultimately declined — to fund the same antiviral drug that Merck announced yesterday significantly reduces hospitalizations and deaths among coronavirus patients.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's decision almost certainly delayed the development of the drug. Having an effective antiviral pill during the Delta wave could have substantially reduced its death toll.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) and medical officials are urging the public to help reduce the need for hospitalizations as hospitals are at "redline capacity."
Driving the news: North Dakota's six largest hospitals reported 43 patients were sent to other facilities and 29 patients were waiting in emergency departments to be admitted, the state announced Friday.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday blocked a challenge to New York City's vaccine requirement for public school teachers and employees, allowing the mandate to remain in place.
Why it matters: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in August that all 148,000 staff members of the largest U.S. school district would need to submit proof of at least one dose of a COVID vaccine or risk unpaid leave until September 2022.
The largest health care system in Louisiana will charge its employees $200 a month if a spouse or domestic partner covered under its health plan is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, NOLA reports.
Why it matters: The new rule, which will take effect in 2022, comes as the vast majority of coronavirus patients who end up hospitalized are unvaccinated.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on Friday that all eligible public and private school students will be mandated to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, once it has been given final approval from the FDA.
Pfizer cannot directly or indirectly pay out-of-pocket costs for Medicare patients to get the company's $225,000-a-year heart drug because doing so would violate federal kickback law, a U.S. district judge ruled Thursday.
Why it matters: The ruling in this closely-watched case means pharmaceutical companies still cannot cover the copays and other costs of their drugs for patients who are enrolled in government insurance programs because it would be viewed as an illegal inducement.
Kids born today in Central Texas will live longer than most of their fellow Texans, per an Axios analysis of life expectancy data.
Travis, Hays and Williamson counties rank in the top 10 of Texas’ 254 counties for average life expectancy, according to 2021 data from the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Center.
Jane Boram has been a fixture at the Nashville AIDS Walk for three decades. The retired mental health counselor and pastor has walked every year, even while receiving radiation treatment for breast cancer in 2016.
And yes: She'll be back tomorrow for the 30th anniversary of the AIDS Walk, organized by Nashville CARES.
This year's walk is virtual, with separate groups walking their own routes through the city. Boram and friends are starting at Christ Church Cathedral before weaving through downtown.
Merck said Friday that an experimental pill it is developing with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics reduced the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by around 50% in a clinical trial.
Why it matters: An oral antiviral drug designed to prevent or treat COVID-19 could be a key tool to combat the pandemic, since not all people will get vaccinated and because it will take potentially years to vaccinate people in certain countries around the world.
Deciding which Moderna and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine recipients should get booster shots may end up being even messier than the process for Pfizer recipients was.
Why it matters: More Americans may very well need another round of shots, particularly older people and those who received J&J's one-dose vaccine. But regulators had issues with the quantity of data available for boosting with Pfizer, and there's even less — at least publicly available at this time — for the other two vaccines.
