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Coronavirus

  • COVID-19 Hot Spot Map
  • Vaccine Info

Coronavirus

FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control...

Biden signs bill on COVID origins declassification

Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 6:16 PM EDT
|
By The Associated Press
President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill Monday that directs the federal government to declassify as much intelligence as possible about the origins of COVID-19 more than three years after the start of the pandemic.

Coronavirus

Health groups drop mask requirements

Updated: Mar. 17, 2023 at 2:05 PM EDT
|
By WDBJ7 Staff
Carilion Clinic, Centra Health and LewisGale have announced the dropping of mask requirements.

Coronavirus

UVA Health sign

UVA researchers looking at fighting severe COVID-19 with drug that helps blood-sugar levels

Updated: Mar. 13, 2023 at 11:59 AM EDT
|
By Isabel Cleary
There may be a new treatment to prevent severe COVID-19 in patients at greater risk.

Coronavirus

FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control...

House votes to declassify info about origins of COVID-19

Updated: Mar. 10, 2023 at 5:48 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press and LISA MASCARO
The order to declassify focused on intelligence related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, citing “potential links” between the research that was done there and the outbreak of COVID-19.

Coronavirus

Three years later, what did COVID teach us?

Updated: Mar. 7, 2023 at 3:39 PM EST
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Dr. Morrow hopes the pandemic has show the community and our leaders the value of a robust public health system.

Military

Troops who refused COVID vaccine still may face discipline

Updated: Feb. 28, 2023 at 7:02 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Lawmakers expressed frustration with the news, questioning why service members should still face discipline since the vaccine requirement had been rescinded.

Coronavirus

Carilion Clinic closes COVID-19 testing drive-thru in Roanoke, Christiansburg

Updated: Feb. 28, 2023 at 4:55 PM EST
|
By Leanna Scachetti
At the height of the pandemic, these sites processed between 500 and 600 tests a day.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 likely came from lab leak in China, Department of Energy says in report

Updated: Feb. 27, 2023 at 6:47 AM EST
|
By Gray News staff
A senior U.S. intelligence official said new information caused the department to make the updated low confidence assessment.

Health

FDA authorizes combination flu-COVID test for home use

Updated: Feb. 24, 2023 at 9:36 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first combination test for flu and COVID-19 that can be used at home, giving consumers an easy way to determine if a runny nose is caused by either disease.

Economy

US ending extra help for groceries that started during COVID

Updated: Feb. 23, 2023 at 11:11 AM EST
|
By The Associated Press
For the average recipient, the change will mean about $90 less per month, though, for many, it could be much more, an analysis shows.
Local Radar
Local Radar

Coronavirus

Documentary highlights how pandemic impacted Latino community in Roanoke

Updated: Feb. 22, 2023 at 6:33 PM EST
|
By Patsy Montesinos
You can watch it at the Williamson Library Thursday at 6 p.m.

Recalls

Recall issued for 56,000 COVID-19 antigen rapid tests

Updated: Feb. 11, 2023 at 1:17 AM EST
|
By CNN Newsource staff
The company issued a nationwide recall of the Skippack Medical Lab rapid test kits.

Health

Mostly good news offered in Roanoke for COVID, Flu, Hepatitis A

Updated: Feb. 7, 2023 at 5:26 PM EST
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Meanwhile, public health leaders are monitoring a strain of strep for which the rate of infection is nearing pre-pandemic levels.

Coronavirus

President Biden to end COVID-19 emergencies on May 11

Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 at 9:10 PM EST
|
By ZEKE MILLER and AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press
The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 pandemic is at ‘transition point,’ WHO says

Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 at 9:32 AM EST
|
By CNN Newsource Staff
The organization declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020, about six weeks before characterizing it as a pandemic.

Coronavirus

FDA advisors meeting to discuss future of COVID-19 vaccines

Updated: Jan. 26, 2023 at 10:08 AM EST
|
By CNN Newsource Staff
The advisory committee will also look at how well the current booster shots are working.

Coronavirus

West Virginia Governor tests positive for COVID-19

Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 6:34 PM EST
|
By Jacob Fife
According to the Office of Governor Jim Justice, Justice has tested positive for COVID-19.

Community

Organizations in Roanoke give back for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Updated: Jan. 16, 2023 at 6:02 PM EST
|
By Patsy Montesinos
The groups distributed Covid-19 information to 974 homes in Northwest and Southeast Roanoke.

Military

Pentagon drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate for troops

Updated: Jan. 10, 2023 at 7:16 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press and LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Defense Department had already stopped all related personnel actions, such as discharging troops who refused the shot.

Coronavirus

UVA Health sees a slow rise in COVID cases after the holidays

Updated: Jan. 6, 2023 at 5:40 PM EST
|
By Keagan Hughes
COVID cases are considered to be in the low range across the Charlottesville area, but health experts are concerned as they trend upwards after the holidays.

News

COVID cases rise following holiday gatherings

Updated: Jan. 3, 2023 at 4:00 PM EST
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Dr. Morrow continues to encourage vaccines and bivalent boosters to help protect everyone, especially those most vulnerable to serious disease.

Health

Centra Health seeing higher than normal volume of patients

Updated: Jan. 2, 2023 at 5:09 PM EST
|
By Patsy Montesinos
They treat the sickest patients first and will see the rest as soon as possible.

Coronavirus

Department of Health updates COVID reporting schedule

Updated: Dec. 27, 2022 at 12:53 PM EST
|
By NBC12 Newsroom
VDH also says that it “continues to streamline information on its COVID-19 data dashboards."

Military

New law ends COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US troops

Updated: Dec. 23, 2022 at 3:04 PM EST
|
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Pentagon is now likely to strongly encourage troops to get the shot, but has 30 days to work out the details for rescinding the vaccine mandate.

Coronavirus

One year later: COVID-19 patient visits health care providers

Updated: Dec. 20, 2022 at 5:17 PM EST
|
By Andrew Webb
On Dec. 20, 2021, Ditmore defied the odds and was released from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after a battle with COVID lasting more than 100 days.

Coronavirus

Senate passes defense bill rescinding COVID vaccine mandate

Updated: Dec. 15, 2022 at 7:55 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press
A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the Senate on Thursday and now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

Coronavirus

White House reveals winter COVID-19 plans, more free tests

Updated: Dec. 15, 2022 at 3:50 PM EST
|
By The Associated Press
COVID-19 cases have shown a marked increase after the Thanksgiving holiday, and further increases are projected around Christmas and New Year's.

Business News

Governor Youngkin announces end of COVID-related fines and penalties

Updated: Dec. 6, 2022 at 5:50 PM EST
|
By Pat Thomas
"The fact that businesses are still dealing with COVID-19 related penalties and fines is infuriating."

Memorial

Craig County community comes together for COVID-19 remembrance

Updated: Nov. 29, 2022 at 10:24 PM EST
|
By Will Thomas
The pandemic has impacted everyone in some way and that reaches even further into rural communities.

Health

Virginia is accelerating social worker licensing process

Updated: Oct. 28, 2022 at 4:18 PM EDT
|
By Patsy Montesinos
A Virginia Health Care Foundation 2021 report found the commonwealth ranked 39th in mental health care.

Education

Massive learning setbacks show COVID’s sweeping toll on kids

Updated: Oct. 28, 2022 at 3:18 PM EDT
|
By The Associated Press and BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS and SHARON LURYE
The scale of the disruption to American kids’ education is evident in a district-by-district analysis of test scores shared exclusively with The Associated Press. The data provide the most comprehensive look yet at how much schoolchildren have fallen behind academically.

Coronavirus

CDC Director discusses winter COVID forecast

Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 5:53 PM EDT
|
By Anahita Jafary
CDC Director Doctor Rochelle Walensky shared COVID information and preventative measures for the upcoming winter.

Coronavirus

Biden gets updated COVID-19 booster shot, promotes vaccine

Updated: Oct. 25, 2022 at 4:58 PM EDT
|
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Biden appeared at the White House with the doctors who are leading administration efforts against the spread of the coronavirus.

Education

Test scores show historic COVID setbacks for kids across US

Updated: Oct. 24, 2022 at 5:42 PM EDT
|
By The Associated Press
The pandemic upended every facet of life and left millions learning from home for months or more.

Coronavirus

Rise of COVID ‘Scrabble’ variants could bring winter surge

Updated: Oct. 20, 2022 at 10:22 AM EDT
|
By CNN Newsource
The strains are already increasing in cases in Europe and Singapore.

Coronavirus

Study: If you had COVID, several of your organs could be aging 3-4 years faster

Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 at 10:58 PM EDT
|
By Luz Pena
If you had COVID, chances are several of your organs could be aging three or four years faster.

Health

New mobile health clinic trying to increase access to health services in our hometowns

Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 6:53 PM EDT
|
By Patsy Montesinos
DASH short for “Delivering Accessible and Sustainable Health” is the name of the new mobile health clinic.

Coronavirus

UVA Health finding ways to lessen Covid-19 symptoms through ACTIV-6 Trial

Updated: Oct. 12, 2022 at 3:55 PM EDT
|
By Bria Stith
The University of Virginia is taking part in ACTIV-6, a national drug trial that’s trying to tackle COVID-19 symptoms.

Health

Roanoke health district leader talks flu, COVID activity for fall

Updated: Oct. 4, 2022 at 3:51 PM EDT
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Dr. Cynthia Morrow said Tuesday pverall COVID activity in our region and in the state appears to be declining.

Coronavirus

Pfizer seeks to expand omicron booster to 5- to 11-year-olds

Updated: Sep. 26, 2022 at 1:52 PM EDT
|
By The Associated Press
If the Food and Drug Administration agrees, they would start getting a kid-sized dose of the new omicron-targeted formula when it was time for their booster.

News

Roanoke’s public health leaders continue to monitor everything from COVID to West Nile Virus

Updated: Sep. 13, 2022 at 12:38 PM EDT
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Two cases of West Nile Virus have been recorded in the Roanoke City Alleghany Health Districts in the last month.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 cases seem to be plateauing, experts say that doesn’t mean the pandemic is ending

Updated: Sep. 9, 2022 at 12:12 PM EDT
|
By Isabel Cleary
COVID-19 cases are plateauing in Virginia, and while that’s good news, experts say it doesn’t mean we can let up on precautions.

News

New COVID boosters targeting Omicron becoming available

Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 12:20 PM EDT
|
By Leanna Scachetti
The Moderna and Pfizer boosters are coming this week to pharmacies. Roanoke's health district will offer appointments starting next week.

News

Bivalent COVID booster now available

Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 9:25 AM EDT
|
By WDBJ7 Staff
These Pfizer and Moderna boosters specifically target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants.

Coronavirus

Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital updates visitation policy

Updated: Sep. 6, 2022 at 9:11 PM EDT
|
By Eddie Callahan
The facility had been at a red-level since August 31.

Education

Reading, math scores fell sharply during pandemic, data show

Updated: Sep. 1, 2022 at 5:46 PM EDT
|
By The Associated Press
The study reflects two years of upheaval in American education as schools shut down for months at a time amid COVID-19 outbreaks.

Coronavirus

Pharmacies getting ready for government’s free at-home COVID-19 tests to end

Updated: Aug. 31, 2022 at 3:54 PM EDT
|
By Isabella Ledonne
Pharmacists are expecting an increase in demand once the program ends.

Health

Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital allowing no visitors to combat spread of COVID-19

Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 8:13 PM EDT
|
By Eddie Callahan
The facility will be under a red level threat.

Health

Roanoke public health report includes cautions against ticks, Syphilis and Hepatitis A

Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 5:55 PM EDT
|
By Leanna Scachetti
Roanoke's health district is logging more cases than usual of tick-borne illnesses and sexually transmitted infections.

Consumer

IRS to refund penalties for millions of taxpayers who filed late amid pandemic

Updated: Aug. 24, 2022 at 6:52 PM EDT
|
By Jordan Gartner
The Internal Revenue Service announced that it would be helping struggling taxpayers affected by the pandemic by sending select refunds to those who filed their taxes late.
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