Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic updates
The latest news and commentary on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
NOTE: As the world adjusts to COVID-19, research continues on its origins, the effectiveness of masks, vaccines and boosters, new variants, workplace policies, politics and much more. The Washington Times is committed to accuracy in our reporting of the coronavirus. We continue to explore how COVID-19 affects us here in the United States and around the world.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to update its guidance on coronavirus (available here) with information geared toward parents, employers, healthcare professionals and consumers. They also offer a COVID data tracker here where you can explore vaccination trends, levels of community spread and other valuable tools for making healthy choices for you and your family.
For more detailed information on total cases, total deaths, global maps and dashboards, visit the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center here.
Recent Stories
Feds use pandemic fraud charges to bust Step or Die street gang
They got Al Capone on tax evasion, and now federal prosecutors have managed to bust up a Louisiana street gang by charging two dozen people with pandemic benefit fraud.
In-N-Out Burger to employees: Time to show your faces
A fast-food chain says it will ban employees from wearing masks at locations in five states unless workers can produce a medical note saying they deserve an exemption.
Biden administration cuts off Wuhan lab from U.S. funding
The Biden administration has formally barred U.S. funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and signaled it would cut off the lab permanently.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper tests positive for COVID-19 and will work remotely
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he'll keep to a lower public profile this week after testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
Watchdog calls for House committee to disinvite RFK Jr. after his comments blasted as antisemitic
A Democratic watchdog group has called for a U.S. House committee to rescind an invitation to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the Democratic presidential candidate was filmed falsely suggesting COVID-19 could have been "ethnically targeted" to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
Gyms enjoy post-COVID boom with older crowd joining midday workout routine, Pickleball craze
Americans are shrugging off home exercise and racing to the gym as the U.S. moves on from the pandemic, with a heavy focus on back-to-basics strength training.
Jab-averse Tucker tangles with Hutchinson over vaccine
Tucker Carlson never got the jab.
Childhood developmental disabilities spiked during COVID-19 pandemic, says CDC
Diagnosed developmental disabilities in children and teenagers soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
Growing share of teen girls visited ER for mental crises during pandemic
The number of teenage girls visiting emergency rooms for eating disorders, self-cutting and suicide attempts soared in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study has found.
Mississippi removes thousands of people from Medicaid as it examines post-pandemic eligibility
Mississippi has removed more than 29,000 people from Medicaid as the program starts reviewing who is eligible to keep coverage now that the federal government has ended a pandemic public health emergency.
Maine moves to drop COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers
A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers is expected to be dropped soon in Maine, with a state agency saying the mandate met its goal of limiting the spread of the coronavirus at the pandemic's height but is no longer needed based on evolving scientific evidence.
Appeals court says Minnesota governor had authority to impose mask mandate
Gov. Tim Walz had the legal authority to mandate face masks when he declared a public health emergency in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
Woman serving life term for mom's murder sentenced to 7 more years for COVID-19 unemployment fraud
A California woman locked up for life for the first-degree murder of her mother in 2001 was sentenced Monday to seven more years for her role in a COVID-19 unemployment benefits fraud scheme.
China says 239 people died from COVID-19 in June in a significant uptick
China reported Thursday that 239 people died from COVID-19 in June in a significant uptick months after it lifted most containment measures.
Census: Biggest cities lost more than 1M day residents as commuters stayed home during pandemic
The daytime populations of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago plunged to ghost town levels as more commuters worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.
Former Miami-Dade police officer pleads guilty to over $285,000 in COVID-19 loan fraud
A former officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud connected to his application as an employer for a Paycheck Protection Program loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spain calls an end to COVID-19 health crisis and obligatory use of masks in hospitals, pharmacies
The Spanish government on Tuesday declared an end to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and says people no longer have to wear masks in health and care centers as well as pharmacies.
Pre-COVID death rates from drugs, guns reached 'national emergency' level, study finds
Death rates for drug overdoses, shootings and all other injuries "increased substantially" nationwide during the two decades heading into the COVID-19 pandemic, a study has found.
Chicago medical supply company owner convicted of price-gouging masks at the beginning of pandemic
A Winnetka, Illinois, medical supply company owner was convicted Friday of price-gouging N-95 masks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pediatric diabetes surged during pandemic, study finds
Children and adolescents became likelier to develop new-onset diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic than before it, a new study finds.
Former intel officials pan DNI report on virus that says origin in wild rather than government lab
Former intelligence officials are criticizing the declassified report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that continues to promote the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic likely emerged naturally from a wild animal host and is not linked to a government research laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Remote employment doubled at beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, remained elevated in 2021
Fully remote jobs more than doubled early in the COVID-19 pandemic and stayed elevated in 2021 as workers deemed "non-essential" delayed returning to the workplace, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
CDC: Pregnant women with COVID were older, whiter, more educated as disease evolved
Pregnant women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infections were likely to be older, whiter and more educated as the pandemic unfolded, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.
Gallup: Most adults say pandemic is over, but life isn't normal
Most adults responding to the latest Gallup polling say for the first time that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, but most also say their lives have not returned to normal.
Tour de France riders won't face automatic exclusion in case of COVID-19 positive test
Tour de France riders who test positive for COVID-19 won't be automatically expelled from the race, cycling's governing body said Wednesday.
The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says
The Small Business Administration paid out $1.2 trillion in pandemic loans and more than $200 billion of that may have gone to fraudsters, according to a new estimate Tuesday by the agency's inspector general.
Fauci to teach at Georgetown University
After helping steer U.S. COVID policy under two presidents, Dr. Anthony Fauci is set to take up a professorship at Georgetown University.
GOP lawmakers fault COVID-19 lab report, want more released under bipartisan law
A senior House Republican says a new report on possible links between the coronavirus outbreak and the virology lab in Wuhan, China, is insufficient and he wants the Biden administration to release underlying intelligence instead of topline findings.
U.S. intell report on COVID-19 origins rejects some points raised by lab leak theory proponents
U.S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began.
Intel report on coronavirus cannot find direct evidence of lab leak
The U.S. director of national intelligence released an unclassified report, late Friday, on potential links between COVID-19 and a major lab in central China, as required by law, but it does not solve the mystery of whether the virus escaped from a lab or slipped to humans from an animal.
YouTube removes RFK Jr. interview over vaccine comments
YouTube announced this week it pulled the plug on a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. video because of his anti-vaccine claims.
GOP senators chide White House for missing deadline to disclose virus origins
Republican senators faulted the Biden administration Tuesday for missing a deadline to declassify intelligence related to a possible link between the virus that causes COVID-19 and a major lab in Wuhan, China.
More than 1 million dropped from Medicaid as states start post-pandemic purge of rolls
More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospitals in state of 'chronic crisis' during COVID-19 pandemic, health workers tell researchers
Isolated and unmotivated front-line health workers ignored pandemic crisis declarations and threw out dusty emergency plans as they improvised how to allocate scarce resources during COVID-19, a study has found.
COVID-19's hidden death toll: Suicides, homicides among young people soared during pandemic
Homicides among older teenagers and suicides among adults in their early 20s rose during the COVID-19 pandemic to their highest levels in at least two decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
FDA advisers consider changing COVID vaccine to target latest omicron strain
The COVID-19 vaccines are on track for a big recipe change this fall.
Confidence in science fell in 2022 while political divides persisted, poll shows
Confidence in the scientific community declined among U.S. adults in 2022, a major survey shows, driven by a partisan divide in views of both science and medicine that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5 key takeaways from 'partygate' report that found Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament
A U.K. parliamentary committee on Thursday issued a damning report concluding that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled lawmakers over what he knew about multiple lockdown-flouting parties at his office and government buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scathing report finds Boris Johnson deliberately misled U.K. Parliament over 'partygate'
A committee of lawmakers harshly rebuked former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, saying he lied to Parliament about lockdown-flouting parties and was complicit in a campaign to intimidate those investigating his conduct.
Suicides and homicides among young Americans jumped early in the pandemic, study says
The homicide rate for older U.S. teenagers rose to its highest point in nearly 25 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suicide rate for adults in their early 20s was the worst in more than 50 years, government researchers said Thursday.
University of Delaware settles class-action lawsuit over COVID campus shutdown for $6.3 million
The University of Delaware has agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle a lawsuit over its campus shutdown in 2020 and the halting of in-person classes because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Student loan repayment to resume in October
The Department of Education says the three-year, pandemic-induced pause on student loan repayments will end in October.
Departing CDC chief urges Congress to help the agency restore reputation after COVID-19 failures
Rochelle Walensky told Congress on Tuesday she is leaving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a "great sense of accomplishment" but said the public health agency still has work to do in restoring its reputation after the COVID-19 crisis.
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom says he is sad about Trump indictment 'as an American'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he was saddened as an American to see the federal charges against former President Donald Trump and offered unusual praise for the ex-president for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
Uganda's long-time president says he's taking 'forced leave' after testing positive for COVID-19
Uganda's longtime president says he is taking "forced leave" after testing positive for COVID-19.
Recent Commentary Columns
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Face masks bans -- finally
In-N-Out, a fast-food burger franchise, sent around a notice to employees -- which was then posted by a critic of the company policy on Twitter -- that said the wearing of face masks was prohibited at work, save for those who could show a doctor's note advocating otherwise. Finally. A return to common sense.
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Climate 'hottest day' lies ratchet, and lockdowns loom again
The news cycle is filled with headlines about the "hottest day ever recorded," and the "Earth's hottest day" -- and so forth, and so on, and so we go. Make way for the spontaneous combustion of earth and with it, all of humanity, right? Not so fast. Pay your mortgage. The hysteria is based on lies.
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Judge calling Biden's COVID-19 censorship 'Orwellian' is a huge win for free speech
A U.S. District Court ruled Tuesday that the Biden administration, including the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services, cannot coerce social media companies to remove content, as it is protected free speech.
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U.S. intelligence community won't point fingers over COVID-19's origin
The origin of the coronavirus that killed millions has yet to be elucidated to the satisfaction of Americans.
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COVID-19 and the reality of 'pizza fatigue'
Is the day of reckoning finally here for the pizza industry?
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Survey says! Dr. Anthony Fauci, COVID savior to the left, hasn't 'told the truth'
A new survey from Rasmussen Reports found that 47% of likely American voters "don't think [Dr. Anthony] Fauci has told the truth" about gain-of-function virus funding, versus 39% who do. Liar, liar, pants on fire Fauci.
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Trump vs. Kennedy 2024: Party crashers steal the limelight in historic political showdown
For the media and political establishment, the problem with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the same problem they have with Donald Trump. He cannot be ignored.
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Lessons From the Covid War: An Investigative Report'
"Lessons From the Covid War: An Investigative Report by The Covid Crisis Group" sizes up the U.S. response to the largest worldwide conflict so far in the 21st century.
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Preparations for pandemic should include refraining from funding one
As the deadly COVID-19 pandemic recedes, global health authorities are completing a sweeping agreement for combating future contagions.
