April 13, 2020 2:33 am
DONORA, Pa. – A Donora man has become the first known fatality of a Washington County resident due to complications of COVID-19. Devin Taquino, 47 passed away at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Friday. According to a GoFundMe page set up in his honor, Taquino was dealing with what he thought was an intestinal issue. Days later, symptoms of a cough began, and he went to get tested for the Coronavirus. The page says he was admitted to the hospital March 25 and placed on a ventilator March 29. His condition worsened and he died. The fundraising page says his family only spoke with him on the phone a limited amount of times before he died. No visitors were allowed to see him because of the pandemic. According to his obituary, Taquino leaves behind his wife Becky and his children Jonathon, Kristofer and Madyline, as well as a brother Rob who lives in New York. Funeral proceedings are limited to immediate family due to health concerns.
April 12, 2020 8:36 am
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Walt Disney World plans to stop paying wages to 43,000 workers in about a week while allowing them to keep their benefits for up to a year in what is the largest wave of furloughs since the theme park resort closed in mid-March because of the new coronavirus spread. Workers will be able to keep their medical, dental and life insurance benefits for the length of the furlough period, or up to a year. Seniority and wage rates will remain unchanged for the workers whose furloughs start April 19, according to a statement from the Service Trades Council, the coalition of unions representing the Disney World workers. About 200 workers will remain on the job performing “essential duties” during the closure, and they will be offered positions based on seniority, the union said. The agreement with the Service Trades Council marked the largest group of workers at Disney World to come to terms on furloughs with the company during the outbreak. With 77,000 workers, Disney World is the largest single-site group of workers in the nation.
April 12, 2020 8:34 am
NEW YORK (AP) — As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. The reason: Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be harming certain patients. The evolving treatments highlight the fact that doctors are still learning the best way to manage a virus that emerged only months ago. They are relying on anecdotal, real-time data amid a crush of patients and shortages of basic supplies. Mechanical ventilators push oxygen into patients whose lungs are failing. Using the machines involves sedating a patient and sticking a tube into the throat. Deaths in such sick patients are common, no matter the reason they need the breathing help.
April 12, 2020 8:03 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Joe Biden has won the Alaska Democrats’ party-run presidential primary, beating Sen. Bernie Sanders days after Sanders suspended his campaign. Biden beat Sanders Saturday 55.3% to 44.7%. A total of 19,759 votes were cast. Biden gets 11 delegates and Sanders gets 4. Sanders would have won more delegates but after ending his bid for the nomination last week, Sanders is no longer eligible to win delegates based on the statewide vote in primaries and caucuses, according to Democratic National Committee rules. Sanders is, however, still eligible to win delegates based on vote totals in individual congressional districts, which is why the AP allocated four delegate to Sanders in Alaska. Overall, Biden has 1,228 delegates and Sanders has 918, according to the count by The Associated Press
April 12, 2020 7:58 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis and Christians around the world marked a solitary Easter Sunday, forced to celebrate the most joyful day in the liturgical calendar amid the sorrowful reminders of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Families who normally would attend morning Mass in their Easter best and later join friends for celebratory lunches hunkered down at home. Police checkpoints and closed churches around the globe forced the faithful to watch Easter services online or on TV. A few lucky Romans participated from their balconies overlooking Santa Emerenziana church in the northern Trieste neighborhood, where the priest celebrated a rooftop open-air Mass. At the Vatican, Francis processed into a largely empty St. Peter’s Basilica for Mass, celebrated before a handful of token faithful sitting one per pew and with the choir’s “Kyrie” hymn echoing off the bare marble floors. Normally, St. Peter’s Square would be awash in fresh flowers for Easter, with tulips and orchids decorating the piazza’s promenade in a riot of color to underscore Easter’s message of life and rebirth following Christ’s crucifixion. Francis instead celebrated Mass inside the basilica, decorated with only a few potted palms and white hydrangeas. Rather than appearing on the basilica loggia to impart his blessing, Francis was to speak in front of the tomb of St. Peter, underscoring the solitude confronting all of humanity amid lockdown orders and quarantines to prevent further contagion. It was a scene repeated around the world, with churches either closed or, for the few still open for Mass, forcing the faithful to practice social distancing. In South Korea, where one outbreak was tied to a church sect, services were largely held online.
April 12, 2020 4:04 am
HARRISBURG (WPXI) — Pennsylvania residents collecting unemployment can expect to see an extra $600 per week starting with their next payment. Governor Tom Wolf announced Friday that this extra money, which was included as part of the CARES Act, the federal COVID-19 stimulus bill, will begin being disbursed early next week. A release from the governor’s office included the reminder if you have federal tax taken out of your regular unemployment check that money will also be withheld from these payments. In the same release, it was announced that the state is building a new system for people who are self-employed, contractors or gig workers to file for unemployment assistance. This system is expected to be online within the next two weeks. This is because the relief bill requires these claims and payments be tracked separately from traditional unemployment.
April 12, 2020 4:02 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — The Port Authority has announced that another employee, the fourth so far, has tested positive for coronavirus. According to a release, the employee was a driver who worked out of the East Liberty garage. The employee’s last shift was early in the morning on April 9. “After the employee reported they had tested positive for COVID-19, Port Authority mobilized a maintenance crew to perform a deep cleaning of the East Liberty garage and the buses the employee would have been in contact with,” the release said.
April 11, 2020 4:14 am
LONDON (AP) – The U.K. recorded almost 1,000 more COVID-19 deaths Friday than the day before, taking total deaths in the country to almost 9,000. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition is improving in a London hospital. But Johnson’s father says the the prime minister needs time to recover from the new coronavirus and is unlikely to be back at work soon. The 55-year-old U.K. leader spent three nights in the intensive care unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London and was moved back to a regular ward on Thursday evening. His father, Stanley Johnson, said the prime minister needs to “rest up.” Meanwhile, millions of Britons are beginning the Easter holiday weekend in lockdown.
April 11, 2020 4:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported that coronavirus deaths in New York jumped by 777 in one day. Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized is growing far less than last week, a possible sign the outbreak in New York is peaking. New York state is getting help from Google to overhaul a decades-old unemployment benefits system that has left laid-off workers frustrated and awaiting help. Google helped New York design a revamped website that launched Thursday evening. The state also added 300 workers to its 700-person staff to process unemployment benefit applications. Cuomo says the state Department of Labor’s system has crashed because of a record-shattering surge in claims amid outbreak-related layoffs.
April 11, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Unable to strike a deal alone, the Trump administration and congressional leaders are poised to launch new bipartisan talks on a fresh coronavirus aid package with hopes for action as soon as next week. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer says he spoke Friday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the Trump administration has agreed to pursue bipartisan negotiations on an interim bill to replenish a $350 billion “paycheck protection” program for businesses. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also spoke to Mnuchin and encouraged negotiations to break the logjam. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged this week talks will need to resume. The developments come a day after Democrats stifled an attempt by McConnell to rush a $250 billion infusion into the new program.
