ST. LOUIS (AP) — More than 1,000 St. Louis residents have already applied for a new $5 million pandemic aid program that will provide $500 apiece to everyone who qualifies. Hundreds of people applied for the aid Saturday at an event at St. Louis Community College. Hundreds of others applied for aid online. City treasurer…
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County has rescinded its mask mandate, weeks after a Missouri judge barred local health departments from issuing them. The county’s decision was announced Thursday during a court hearing in a lawsuit that Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed in July in response to a previous mask mandate. In…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is warning school districts and local public health departments that he will take legal action if they do not stop enforcing COVID-19 related health orders such as mask mandates and quarantine rules. In letters sent Tuesday, Schmitt cited a Cole County judge’s ruling last month…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Health officials have confirmed the first case of the omicron coronavirus variant in Missouri. The St. Louis Health Department said Saturday that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed the virus case in a resident of St. Louis that was first reported Friday as a presumed case of…
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s an omnipresent truth: Merriam-Webster has declared vaccine its 2021 word of the year. Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for the dictionary company, tells The Associated Press that lookups for the word vaccine increased 601% over 2020. Even more telling, searches on the Merriam-Webster website increased by 1,048% over 2019, before…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci is blasting Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting that Fauci be investigated for statements he made about COVID-19. Fauci is the government’s top infectious diseases expert as well as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser. He says the GOP criticism is an attack on science. Cruz and some other Republicans…
NEW YORK (AP) — Giant balloons once again wafted through miles of Manhattan, high school and college marching bands from around the country were back, and so were the crowds at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After being crimped by the coronavirus last year, the event returned in full Thursday, though with precautions. The Thanksgiving…
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — An email in which a suburban St. Louis public health official urged staff to ignore the “lunatic fringe” as they work to combat the COVID-19 virus is sparking outrage from some elected officials. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Dr. Faisal Khan, the acting St. Louis County health director, also used…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to require essential nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22. A senior administration official said the requirement brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has ruled that local health orders imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state are illegal and should be lifted. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that orders such as quarantines and business closures violate the Missouri Constitution’s…