pandemic

Lisa Harris has not physically seen her family since the beginning of the pandemic just to keep them safe from her. She is one of the 50 million essential workers fearing the virus every day, yet still going into work... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — With her children struggling in many classes last spring, Kelli Rivera became so frustrated with how her suburban Atlanta district was handling the coronavirus pandemic that she withdrew them to home-school them. They're back in public school... Read More

The pandemic has made clear that broadband access goes hand-in-hand with economic opportunity, exposing the inequities and lack of resources for black-owned businesses across the country, according to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks of the Federal Communications Commission. Since the onset of... Read More

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (AP) — After nearly a year of being trapped in pandemic isolation, some people just want to pick up a sledgehammer and smash something to smithereens."That felt good," sweating insurance executive Josh Elohim said after reducing a... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office on Saturday issued revised guidelines for indoor church services after the Supreme Court lifted the state's ban on indoor worship during the coronavirus pandemic, but left in place restrictions on singing... Read More

WASHINGTON — While the nation continues to grapple with challenges from the pandemic, a bipartisan group of former policymakers and analysts have come together at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based think tank, to suggest urgent federal actions to accelerate... Read More

LONDON (AP) — Despite growing vaccine access, January is looking grim around the globe as the coronavirus resurges and reshapes itself from Britain to Japan to California, filling hospitals and threatening livelihoods anew as governments lock down businesses and race... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is ending a chaotic session, a two-year political firestorm that started with the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, was riven by impeachment and a pandemic, and now closes with a rare rebuff by Republicans of President Donald Trump. In... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Democratic members of Congress are trying to throw a lifeline to families and individuals teetering toward financial disaster during the COVID-19 pandemic with a new bill designed to make claiming bankruptcy easier. The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act introduced... Read More

Of all the classes of workers who have come to be highlighted as “essential” during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, one group that is often, unfairly overlooked are those who keep the infrastructure of high rise offices and residential buildings functioning... Read More

Eight months into the pandemic, the coronavirus is infecting Americans at an increasing pace no matter where they live. The seven-day average of new cases was climbing in every state in the U.S. on Sunday, a shift from earlier waves of the... Read More

As a social service provider, Colleen Zavodny knows how important it is to take care of her mental health, but the coronavirus pandemic has tested her like nothing else. "I've had a couple nasty, ugly cries where I wonder how am I... Read More

WASHINGTON - It happens like clockwork, every two years. Whenever one Congress ends and another is about to begin, House Historian Matthew Wasniewski and his staff of nine know the next several weeks will be busy indeed. Not only do... Read More

WASHINGTON - The White House Correspondents’ Association on Wednesday "strongly" encouraged journalists to "avoid working from the White House grounds entirely" if at all possible. The notice, circulated among the association's members and posted on its website, came after BuzzFeed... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Economists warned Congress Tuesday of long-term damage to the U.S. economy if the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control soon. They cautioned during two separate congressional hearings that the slow improvement to the economy since the pandemic... Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched pretty much every person in America — and it shows in the state of our mental health. The prevalence of sleep troubles, lethargy, feelings of hopelessness and other depression symptoms in adults across the country... Read More

SPRINGDALE, Ark. - The COVID-19 pandemic put everyone through changes. But for large companies, particularly those in the business of providing Americans with something to eat, the challenges that needed to be addressed, quickly, were far ranging and complex. A... Read More

In Austin, Texas, they’re expecting more closures. In New York, they’re struggling to pay the bills. In San Francisco, they worry that the old normal is never coming back. Small businesses are often described as the heart of the U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. experts on European financial and political policy added their voices to an international call for greater cooperation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic during a congressional hearing Tuesday. They described the struggle to find a vaccine and to... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The demand for mail-in ballots is surging. Election workers need training. And polling booths might have to be outfitted with protective shields during the COVID-19 pandemic. As officials prepare for the Nov. 3 election, one certainty is clear: It's... Read More

WASHINGTON — While some progressives are bullish about the outlook for the November election, Tatenda Musapatike surveys the political landscape and sees masses of unregistered voters who were supposed to be on the rolls by now, but for the pandemic.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Census Bureau will plan a “final push” outreach effort this month to encourage many communities that haven’t responded to the census to do so, the agency said Wednesday during an update of plans amid a coronavirus pandemic... Read More

Access to food has been unequal in America long before the onset of the coronavirus. But the pandemic has deepened the problem, with images of snaking lines at food banks bringing the harsh reality to light. Even in the U.S.,... Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic, which set records for infections and hospitalizations across the U.S. on Wednesday, is now predicted to kill 180,000 Americans by October, adding to dire signs that prompted a stock-market selloff and drastic measures from government leaders. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal law enforcement officials pledged a vigorous crackdown Tuesday during a Senate hearing on fraudsters who are trying to make easy money off vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic. They accused con artists of selling fake vaccines and... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than five months before voters will decide his fate, President Donald Trump is confronting a vastly different political reality than he once envisioned. For starters, if the election were held today, he’d likely lose. The president,... Read More

CANNON BEACH, Ore. (AP) — As the coronavirus raced across America, this quaint seaside town did what would normally be unthinkable for a tourist destination. Spooked by a deluge of visitors, the tiny Oregon community shooed people from its expansive... Read More

U.S. states’ jobless rolls shrank for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic in a sign people are starting to return to work, even as millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits. Continuing claims, which tally Americans’ ongoing benefit claims... Read More

The arrival of COVID-19 has provided a nuclear-level stress test to the American health care system, and our grade isn’t pretty: at least 80,000 dead, 1.3 million infected and 30 million unemployed; nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants that have... Read More

WASHINGTON - As the House prepares to vote on a $483 billion coronavirus aid package, a majority of Americans say they'd like Congress to return to Washington immediately to try to deal with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, a new poll... Read More