A federal judge on Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement.
Statewide hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rose above the 2,000 mark over the weekend for the first time since late September, according to statistics released Monday by the Indiana State Department of Health
The most powerful lift for stocks came from those that have been able to grow strongly almost regardless of the economy’s strength or pandemic’s pall.
The COVID-19 variant was identified days ago by researchers in South Africa, and much is still not known about it, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or more able to evade the protection of vaccines.
It was the worst day for Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index since February, and the price of oil fell about 13%, the biggest decline since early in the pandemic, amid worries of another slowdown in the global economy.
A World Health Organization panel suggested omicron could pose greater risks than delta, which is the world’s most prevalent variant and has fueled relentless waves of infection on every continent.
Legislative leaders said they now will plan to address COVID-19 vaccine mandates and the public health emergency during the regular session in January.
Another 17 deaths from COVID-19 were reported to the state on Tuesday, raising the total to 16,805.
The number of air travelers this week is expected to approach or even exceed pre-pandemic levels, and auto club AAA predicts that 48.3 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the holiday period, an increase of nearly 4 million over last year.
The legal tussle over the vaccine mandate for larger private employers is one of several challenges over Biden administration vaccine rules. Courts so far have not halted two other mandates—one for health care workers and one for contractors for the federal government.
Republican leaders are trying to speed legislation through the Indiana General Assembly that would effectively force private employers that mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for employees to allow for any medical or religious exemptions—no questions asked.
Another 51 deaths from COVID-19 were reported to the Indiana State Department of Health on Tuesday, raising the total to 16,788.
The pandemic has highlighted what has long been a barrier to accessing quality medical care in rural areas and communities of color: provider shortages.
About 3,000 people work on the company’s large campus at 9115 Hague Road on the northeast side of Indianapolis and another 1,500 people work elsewhere across the region.
The bill is set on an extraordinary fast track for approval, with a single public hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the Statehouse followed by the House and Senate voting on final approval six days later.
The moving average of daily COVID-19 cases has climbed from 1,660 at the beginning of the month to 2,848, an increase of 71.6%.
Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to authorize emergency use of the experimental pill, which has been shown to significantly cut the rate of hospitalizations and deaths among people with coronavirus infections.
Franciscan issued a three-paragraph statement, saying it had “re-examined its next steps” for the COVID-19 vaccine and was now adopting a Jan. 4 deadline to comply with the federal mandate.
The Biden administration is making billions of dollars available to drugmakers to expand domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines in the hopes of building capacity to produce an additional 1 billion shots per year to share with the world.
Indiana’s governor is facing pressure from fellow Republicans to end the statewide COVID-19 public health emergency order that’s been in place since March 2020 even as the state has seen a recent jump of infections and hospitalizations.
