The administration is also ending vaccine requirements for international travelers ahead of the busy summer travel.

Instead, the CDC will keep tabs on COVID-19 largely by tracking hospitalizations and monitoring wastewater in some areas, according to a source familiar with the agency's plans.

The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country's economic, health and welfare systems.

When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases, with hospitals turning away ambulances and crematoriums burning bodies around the clock.

PADUCAH — Wearing a mask is now optional at Baptist Health Paducah, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to Local 6 on Thursday.

The Biden administration still plans to monitor cases in China and around the world, keeping in place a Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance (TGS) program that surveys travelers on details around new variants.

She’d be a senior right now, preparing for graduation in a few months, probably leading her school’s modern dance troupe and taking art classes. Instead, Kailani Taylor-Cribb hasn’t taken a single class in what used to be her high school since the height of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The CDC said one of its vaccine safety monitoring systems — a "near real-time surveillance system" called the Vaccine Safety Datalink — detected a possible increase in a certain kind of stroke in people 65 and older who recently got one of Pfizer's updated booster shots.

An appeals court has affirmed a ban in three states on enforcing a federal vaccine mandate for workers who contract with the federal government.

Babies whose mothers are fully vaccinated during pregnancy are better protected from COVID-19, the study found. 

The rapid spread has medical professionals at Baptist Health Paducah preparing for the possibility of a similar takeover locally. 

Six counties in southern Illinois are a high level of risk for COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson and Massac Counties.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health released COVID-19 data Friday that shows nine counties in western Kentucky are at a high community level.

The former president, 76, says he is "doing fine overall and keeping myself busy at home." He says he's up to date on his COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Health leaders know people are going to get together this season. All they ask is that you pay attention to how you feel and how others feel and take steps to stay healthy.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, Christmas and holiday events are popping up all across the Local 6 region. Browse through our list to see what's happening where you live.

"With winter and holiday gatherings right around the corner, more Americans getting their updated vaccine will help avoid thousands of preventable Covid-19 deaths."

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the flu and COVID-19 are becoming very common as we reach the peak of flu season.

Baptist Health Paducah says COVID-19 numbers are down, but not non-existent. As the holiday season approaches, the hospital expects those numbers to rise.

The estimated price tag is the list price, meaning people with health insurance are likely to pay only a fraction of that cost or nothing at all.

As funding for pandemic response dries up, it is likely that future coronavirus vaccinations will be lumped together with other shots required for children.

(CNN) — COVID-19 vaccines will be part of recommended immunization schedules in 2023 for both children and adults, after a unanimous vote by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Novavax began offering its two-dose primary vaccinations in the U.S. over the summer.

Biden’s visit to Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday came the same day as the U.S. announced that children as young as 5 were now available for the updated COVID-19 boosters.

A 2022 study shows children born during the COVID-19 pandemic have nearly twice the risk of delays in communication and social development compared to babies born before. One pediatrician says parents shouldn't be alarmed.

With COVID-19 guidance being largely scaled back, health experts anticipate flu and COVID cases to go up this year.

A COVID-19 infection could cause inflammation that may exacerbate changes that are already happening in the brain, experts say.

The governor urged Kentuckians to get vaccinated and boosted against the coronavirus. And he called on leaders in government and other sectors to encourage people to get the shots.

The general consensus is that the new Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech boosters will arrive sometime this month, but depending on the facility, they may arrive earlier at certain places.

Illinois Comptroller Susan Mensoza tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday morning. She is vaccinated and boosted. She reports having mild symptoms.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13 to 1 earlier in the day to recommend updated mRNA boosters for Americans this fall.

The move on Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.

Eighty-one Illinois counties are at high or medium COVID-19 community transmission levels, including Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski and Union Counties.

(AP) — COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna is suing its main competitors Pfizer and the German drugmaker BioNTech. It's accusing the rivals of copying Moderna’s technology in order to make their own vaccine.

"After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening. She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive," said Elizabeth Alexander, her communications director.

Local health professionals in the Local 6 region are reacting to changes on COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

The shift is a sign of how much has changed since the beginning of the pandemic more than two years ago. Nearly the entire US population has at least some immunity through vaccination, previous infection or, in some cases, both.

(CNN) — President Joe Biden has tested negative for COVID-19 but will remain in isolation pending a second test, his physician announced in a letter Saturday.

Sen. Dale Fowler is currently isolating due to testing positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement from his office. 

The 77-year-old Durbin's announcement comes after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last week he tested positive following travel to the White House, Maine and Florida.

Biden's physician released a letter on Wednesday announcing his most recent COVID-19 test was negative and he can end his isolation. 

After participating in a virtual meeting to talk about computer chip manufacturing, Biden said "everything's on the button" with the medical tests he's been receiving each evening.

WEST KENTUCKY — The omicron BA.5 sub-variant is dominating among COVID-19 cases in the United States.

The vaccine will be available in the United States in the coming weeks. 

McCracken, Calloway and Graves counties are in the red on the Kentucky COVID-19 COVID018 community levels map. However, local hospitals say this isn't impacting hospitalization rates.

Over 39,000 people were included in the study — ages 18 to 80 — who were fully vaccinated and had not contracted COVID-19.

Novavax's vaccine will be available as two-dose primary series for people 18 and older. 

Second boosters have been authorized for adults 50 and older, as well as some people with weakened immune systems, since late March. But younger adults are eligible for only one booster shot.

The health department is encouraging people in those counties to follow all COVID-19 safety precautions. 

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the plan, clearing the way for the vaccinations to be administered this week.