Coronavirus

Close to all new COVID-19 cases in the United States are now being caused by the JN.1 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, with an estimated 93.1% of infections now blamed on the highly mutated strain. 

Here are some of Southwest Florida’s most wanted suspects for December 20, 2023.

They were the kids most disrupted by the pandemic, the ones who were still learning to write their names and tie their shoes when schools shut down in the spring of 2020.

A Florida family accused of selling a toxic industrial bleach as a fake COVID-19 cure through their online church is on trial this week in Miami.

Collier County passed a new resolution banning both vaccine and mask mandates in the event of a future pandemic. The resolution’s supporters say it is meant to protect individual liberties, while critics worry it could create a future health crisis.

An analysis that was the basis of a highly criticized recommendation from Florida’s surgeon general cautioning young men against getting the COVID-19 vaccine omitted information that showed catching the virus could increase the risk of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the mRNA shot, according to drafts of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

A Naples man was sentenced Friday morning to more than seven years in federal prison for a $2.6 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. Daniel Joseph Tisone, 35, was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison for wire fraud, bank fraud, illegal monetary transactions, and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. Tisone […]

U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. This means Americans would no longer have to keep track […]

Local hospitals are seeing a jump in COVID-19 cases. Lee Health is seeing twice as many cases now compared to last month. Stay home if you’re sick. That’s the message from Lee Health as their hospitals are seeing a spike in COVID patients. Cases were expected to rise in the winter months when viruses tend […]

Gov. Ron DeSantis last week joined 24 other Republican governors in asking President Joe Biden to end a COVID-19 emergency declaration that has helped lead to a surge in enrollment in Florida’s Medicaid program. The governors sent a letter that urged Biden to allow a federal “public health emergency” to expire in April. The emergency […]