MEGAN RANNEY

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the #1 Sunday morning news program

As with COVID, addressing gun deaths isn’t just up to lawmakers.

The spread of COVID officially triggered a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. In the nearly two years since, the virus has killed millions of people and brought havoc to the lives of billions more.

"New Yorkers did the right thing to get through the winter surge," said Governor Kathy Hochul.

Children under the age of 5 are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination — but that could change soon.

President Biden plans to speak about the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday as he faces rising criticism during the Omicron wave.

COVID-19 just broke its year-old record for new U.S. infections in a week. But this time, far fewer hospitalizations and deaths are likely to follow.

Coronavirus cases suddenly surge in various parts of the country and then fall as the virus moves somewhere else.

Over 30 percent of Americans are now fully vaccinated according to the CDC. Now the question is, what should you do with that vaccination card?

Millions of Americans are getting CDC-issued "vaccination record" cards. Here's what to do with them.

Millions of Americans are getting CDC-issued "vaccination record" cards. Here's what to do with them.

If the CDC guidance is strictly followed, these doctors said, schools might not fully reopen for in-person learning for months — even if doctors think they could reopen safely much sooner. Only a handful of counties, including Honolulu County, Hawaii, and Cass County, North Dakota, meet the CDC's criteria to fully reopen schools. In fact, they fall into the CDC's most restrictive requirements to reopen schools based on high levels of community transmission there. Middle and high schools have been conducting hybrid learning, she said, "so basically following the CDC guidelines." "Not only do parents want their children back in school learning more effectively, many of those children get a meal at school, children who come from impoverished neighborhoods," he said.

Authentic N95 masks are critical for protecting frontline workers from aerosols and droplets that could contain the virus. Chicago border protection officers in September intercepted 500,000 counterfeit N95 respirators shipped from Shenzhen, China. An organization she co-founded, called Get Us PPE, is dedicated to providing front-line workers with protective equipment and has received donations of counterfeit N95 masks. While it can be tricky to distinguish a real from a counterfeit mask, the CDC keeps a list of approved respirators by manufacturer. Additionally, N95 masks that claim to be approved for children are counterfeit, according to the CDC.

Authentic N95 masks are critical for protecting frontline workers from aerosols and droplets that could contain the virus. Chicago border protection officers in September intercepted 500,000 counterfeit N95 respirators shipped from Shenzhen, China. An organization she co-founded, called Get Us PPE, is dedicated to providing front-line workers with protective equipment and has received donations of counterfeit N95 masks. While it can be tricky to distinguish a real from a counterfeit mask, the CDC keeps a list of approved respirators by manufacturer. Additionally, N95 masks that claim to be approved for children are counterfeit, according to the CDC.

"N95 masks are the most protective masks, followed by three-ply surgical masks, then fabric masks. 3M / Amazon.comThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also approves the use of elastomeric masks, calling them "equivalent protection" to N95 masks. KN95s from ChinaKN95 masks look similar to N95 masks but meet completely different standards. Whereas N95 masks are NIOSH-certified, KN95 masks meet the Chinese government's standards for certification. Unmasking counterfeitsOf course, given the shortage of N95 masks, counterfeits abound.

"N95 masks are the most protective masks, followed by three-ply surgical masks, then fabric masks. 3M / Amazon.comThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also approves the use of elastomeric masks, calling them "equivalent protection" to N95 masks. KN95s from ChinaKN95 masks look similar to N95 masks but meet completely different standards. Whereas N95 masks are NIOSH-certified, KN95 masks meet the Chinese government's standards for certification. Unmasking counterfeitsOf course, given the shortage of N95 masks, counterfeits abound.

"N95 masks are the most protective masks, followed by three-ply surgical masks, then fabric masks. 3M / Amazon.comThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also approves the use of elastomeric masks, calling them "equivalent protection" to N95 masks. KN95s from ChinaKN95 masks look similar to N95 masks but meet completely different standards. Whereas N95 masks are NIOSH-certified, KN95 masks meet the Chinese government's standards for certification. Unmasking counterfeitsOf course, given the shortage of N95 masks, counterfeits abound.

"N95 masks are the most protective masks, followed by three-ply surgical masks, then fabric masks. 3M / Amazon.comThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also approves the use of elastomeric masks, calling them "equivalent protection" to N95 masks. KN95s from ChinaKN95 masks look similar to N95 masks but meet completely different standards. Whereas N95 masks are NIOSH-certified, KN95 masks meet the Chinese government's standards for certification. Unmasking counterfeitsOf course, given the shortage of N95 masks, counterfeits abound.

On the virus"It is not the winter respiratory virus it was billed to be," said Dr. Paul Offit, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Mid-July saw a peak at about 76,000 cases as the virus swept across Florida, Texas and Arizona. By that time scientists already had a handle on what makes this virus so damaging, experts said, as learning developed rapidly in the first few months. "In early January of last year, we were told there wasn't human-to-human transmission," said Brown University's Dr. Megan Ranney. "Asymptomatic transmission, on one hand, has good news in it: not everyone gets as sick as we thought," Faust said.

Ivan Pierre Aguirre | ReutersThe United States reported a record 2,800 deaths caused by Covid-19, the highest single-day death toll ever reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. previously reported just over 2,600 deaths on April 15, during the first phase of the Covid-19 surge this spring. The bleak record on Wednesday came with other signs that the nationwide outbreak is growing more severe. The country reported more than 200,000 cases of the virus on Wednesday, the second highest daily number, according to Hopkins data. The trends, though, all point to an outbreak that is growing more severe by the day.

The current number of hospitalized patients underscores the scope and severity of the current phase of the U.S. outbreak. Never before had the number of hospitalized Covid patients surpassed 60,000, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, which is run by journalists at The Atlantic. Orlowski explained that crisis care essentially means the rationing of care in hospitals. Ranney said her time training in East Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer helped her prepare for the current crisis. 'Surge with no staff'Dr. Syra Madad, senior director of the systemwide special pathogens program at New York City Health + Hospitals, said the country is in a "very dire moment."

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWith Covid-19 deaths rising rapidly and daily new cases and hospitalizations both reaching all-time highs, epidemiologists and public health officials are warning that Thanksgiving will exacerbate an already severe nationwide outbreak. By all indications, Americans are traveling to see family for the holiday, despite pleas from public health officials not to do so. Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC's Covid-19 incident manager, said the agency is "alarmed" by the "exponential increase in cases and hospitalizations and deaths" caused by Covid-19. Thanksgiving could be an "accelerator event" for the outbreak, he said. If hospitals continue to face staff constraints, the number of preventable Covid-19 deaths will rise, Ranney said.

In an international study published last month in the journal Science, 10% of nearly 1,000 COVID-19 patients who developed life-threatening pneumonia had antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons. For reasons that researchers don’t understand, the autoantibodies never caused a problem until patients were infected with COVID-19, Bastard said. AdvertisementIn yet another unexpected finding from the first study, 94% of patients with these autoantibodies were men. Screening patients for autoantibodies against interferons could help predict which patients are more likely to become very sick, Bastard said. In the industry-funded study, hospitalized COVID-19 patients randomly assigned to receive interferon beta-1a were more than twice as likely as others to recover enough to resume their regular activities.

Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said in imposing a two-week stay-at-home order. Nevada Democratic Gov. In Montana, where cases are up more than 16% in the past week, Democratic Gov. Democratic Gov. Some economists say the crisis has been falsely portrayed as a choice between the economy and public health.

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced the members of his coronavirus task force, who will be charged with crafting a plan to curb the spread of Covid-19 as it reaches record-high levels. The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale University, according to the announcement. Other task force members include Dr. Atul Gawande, a professor of surgery and health policy at Harvard, and Dr. Rick Bright, the vaccine expert and whistleblower who resigned his post with the Trump administration last month. The group will consult with state and local leaders to help steer the federal response once Biden takes office. Ranney added that several of her "colleagues and friends" will serve on Biden's coronavirus task force and will help him "hit the ground running on day one" when he takes office.

The U.S. has now reported a new record one-day spike in cases everyday over the past four days, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In El Paso, Texas, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego ordered the closure of all nonessential businesses as hospitals there were beginning to get overwhelmed by the rise in Covid-19 patients. Remote health systems in these areas might find themselves more easily overwhelmed by an influx of Covid-19 patients than medical centers in big cities, Peterson said. She added that while doctors have learned a lot about how to effectively treat Covid-19 patients, that doesn't mean every doctor is equipped to do so. Not to mention, doctors and nurses are increasingly exhausted by the relentless surge of new Covid-19 patients, she added.

Anchiy | E+ | Getty ImagesParents everywhere are grappling with how to make the most of Halloween during the pandemic. For inspiration, we asked 20 doctors, public health officials and epidemiologists with children of their own how they are planning to celebrate. Here's a summary of what they had to say:Scavenger huntsPublic health authorities in Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's neighborhood in Canada have asked parents to avoid trick-or-treating. So she's agreed to host a virtual costume contest for those in the medical industry and their kids on Twitter. Other parents say their kids are open to a more low-key Halloween this year, which will involve costumes at home.

Saturday’s update brought 1,522 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest daily count since April 7. The weekly average of daily new COVID-19 cases hit 1,020 -- the highest since April 17. Six states -- including Ohio -- had record breaking single-day increases of cases, leading to new fears that we may be at the beginning of a second wave. “We are all deeply afraid that this is the beginning of that dreaded second wave.”A second wave of COVID-19 is already happening in Europe. The warning of a second wave comes a day after health officials reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in nearly two months.