Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that while 2 doses may not be strong enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased by 25-fold people’s levels of antibodies capable of fighting off omicron.
Health
Central Maine rescue officials say staffing crisis leading to faltering coverage
Across the region, EMS services are finding they don’t have enough staff to answer a growing number of calls.
COVID hospitalizations keep rising as state reports 980 new cases, 12 deaths
Tuesday’s report indicates no slowdown of the delta variant surge in Maine, which officials have warned could intensify through the holiday season.
Maine reports record spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU patients
The big one-day jump in the number of inpatients coincides with predictions of a post-Thanksgiving surge and ratchets up stress on the state’s hospitals.
All private New York City businesses required to mandate COVID vaccines, mayor says
The measure will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses not covered by previous vaccine mandates, ranging from multinational corporations to mom-and-pop businesses.
Maine CDC reports 876 new COVID-19 cases, four more deaths
The state has more than 300 virus patients hospitalized for the 11th consecutive day.
Maine doesn’t count at-home COVID tests in official case counts. But that’s OK, the agency says.
The public health benefit at-home rapid tests provide for Mainers outweighs any potential undercounting of cases, a spokesperson for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Past COVID-19 infection may not fend off omicron variant, study suggests
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.
Roe ‘settled’ law? Justices’ earlier assurances now in doubt
Maine Sen. Susan Collins was among those assured, during his confirmation to the Supreme Court, that Brett Kavanaugh considered a woman’s right to an abortion to be ‘settled law,’ yet this week he suggested the court could upend that.
Pace of new COVID infections continues post-Thanksgiving rise
The delta variant continues to drive a surge in infections in Maine as the new omicron variant is being detected elsewhere in the country.