Health & Safety

Businesses Are Already Benefiting As More Of The U.S. Gets Vaccinated

7:19am May 05, 2021

by Scott Horsley

Newly vaccinated Americans are eating out, getting haircuts, going to sporting events and traveling again — giving a lift to businesses that have been largely shuttered for over a year.

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Oregon County In Extreme Risk Zone Makes Vaccination A Priority

6:18am May 05, 2021

by Katia Riddle

Fifteen Oregon counties are designated "extreme risk" for COVID-19 due to high infection rates. Rural Linn County's public health office is working to convince people there to get vaccinated.

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As U.S. COVID-19 Cases Drop, India Experiences A Crisis

6:18am May 05, 2021

by Quil Lawrence

India's count of COVID-19 cases has passed 20 million. Indian Americans are sounding the alarm that the surge demands global attention, and are raising money to help send supplies and aid to India.

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Health & Safety

Experts Weigh In On Mixing And Matching COVID-19 Vaccines

6:01am May 05, 2021

by Joe Palca

Researchers are exploring a mix-and-match strategy for vaccinating people against COVID-19. That means using two different kinds of vaccines instead of the same brand of vaccine twice.

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News Brief: Decision Day On Facebook's Trump Ban, Aid For India, Democracy Poll

5:59am May 05, 2021

Oversight board will announce if Trump will be allowed back on Facebook. Indian Americans raise money to help with India's COVID-19 crisis. Plus, the results of the latest Democracy Perception Index.

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Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. Her own medical journey inspired her research into, among other things, the way yew trees communicate chemically with neighboring trees for their mutual defense.

Trees Talk To Each Other. 'Mother Tree' Ecologist Hears Lessons For People, Too

1:17am May 05, 2021

by Dave Davies

Ecologist Suzanne Simard says trees are "social creatures" that communicate with each other in remarkable ways — including warning each other of danger and sharing nutrients at critical times.

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People wait at an exit gate at the Kolkata Airport Terminal. International air travel to and from India has been restricted as the country battles a catastrophic COVID-19 surge.

Trapped By India Travel Bans: Workers, Expats, Families ... An Aussie Cricket Team

9:18pm May 04, 2021

by Kamala Thiagarajan

Mounting COVID-19 travel restrictions are meant to contain the Indian variant. But citizens and visitors alike are feeling frustrated.

President Biden speaks about the COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday in the White House. Biden has set a goal of seeing 160 million adults fully vaccinated by July Fourth.

Biden Sets New Goal: At Least 70% Of Adults Given 1 Vaccine Dose By July 4

5:16pm May 04, 2021

by Alana Wise

As part of the push to get more shots in arms, the White House has told governors it will tweak the allocation system for vaccines by allowing states to donate doses to a federal pool.

White House Commits Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars To Increase Vaccine Access

4:22pm May 04, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 Response Team, about the Biden administration's new plan to increase access to the coronavirus vaccines.

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Haiti's success is not due to some innovative intervention against the virus. Most people have given up wearing masks in public on the streets of Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. And Haiti hasn't yet administered a single COVID-19 vaccine.

Health & Safety

One Of The World's Poorest Countries Has One Of The World's Lowest COVID Death Rates

3:21pm May 04, 2021

by Jason Beaubien

As of the end of April, only 254 deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in Haiti over the course of the entire pandemic. Why has the death rate been so low?