COVID-19

This month marks five years since the pandemic began, and here are 5 things that changed permanently.

They're pushing for more funding to find effective treatments. Researchers are finally starting to make headway but have a way to go.

The COVID-19 lockdown "felt like solitary confinement," a San Diego resident tells NPR. Even after many pandemic rules lifted, American society remains deeply fractured.

The annual winter respiratory virus season is in full force. The number of people catching the flu is skyrocketing, while COVID-19, RSV and other respiratory viral illnesses are also rising.

A strain of influenza appears to have disappeared from the planet since COVID. As a result, U.S. flu vaccines have been redesigned.

Vaccines can protect the youngest and oldest Oregonians from RSV, Covid-19, and the flu this fall.

In Oregon, food insecurity rates rose sharply to 12% from 2021-2023, an increase from 9.2% from 2018-2020, according to the USDA report. That means more than 400,000 people – including many of the state’s children – were food insecure, or didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are on their way. The Food and Drug Administration approved new shots from Pfizer and Moderna on Thursday, and the companies are set to begin shipping millions of doses.

Oregonians may need to take a few more COVID-19 protections this fall, as the rate of infection in the region continues to rise. 

The Oregon Health Authority reports 14.8% of COVID tests are coming back positive, a significant increase since the spring. That number was only 3.1% at its lowest point this year, during the week of April 27.