Nearly half of China's major cities are sinking, researchers say
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
With a dangerous COVID-19 variant on the rise, health experts are urging people who are still hesitant to get their vaccinations. But the U.S. Surgeon General warns a big obstacle stands in their way: Misinformation.
"There is so much misinformation out there about the vaccine, coming through so many channels -- a lot of it being spread on social media," Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Erin Burnett. "It's inducing a lot of fear among people."
"Two-thirds of those who are unvaccinated in polls say that they either believe the myths about COVID-19 or think that they might be true," he added.
Experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have estimated that 70 to 85% of people in the U.S. will need to become immune to the virus through vaccination or infection in order to control community spread. But after initial surges, vaccination rates have slowed, and only 53.7% of the population has received at least one dose.
In addition, more than 1 in 10 people who have received one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine have missed their second dose, according to data shared with CNN by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That statistic is especially concerning to experts because studies have shown that the vaccines are much more effective against the Delta variant after the two-dose series is completed.
And the Delta variant is believed to be more transmissible and cause more severe disease than other strains.
Murthy said he is worried for those who are unvaccinated as the variant spreads.
In Los Angeles County, the impact is already clear. Nearly all of the COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Los Angeles County are occurring among people who are unvaccinated, county health officials said Thursday.
Out of nearly 437,000 positive coronavirus cases reported in L.A. County since December 2020, 99.6% of those were among individuals who were unvaccinated, health officials said in a press release.
"The virus is still with us," Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said at a press conference. "Even now, we need to be careful to mask and maintain distance from people outside of our households, especially if they're not yet vaccinated.''
Missouri is the state with the largest proportion of the Delta variant of COVID-19 infections, according to the CDC. And hospitals in the state are feeling the stress of managing COVID-19 patients on top of their regular intake, one hospital leader told CNN's Ana Cabrera on Thursday.
"Both hospitals here in town are stretched," said Erik Frederick, Chief Administrative Officer at Mercy Hospital Springfield in Springfield, Missouri.
"We saw a very rapid escalation in our in-patient census starting June 1, we went from 26 to 90 in about three weeks. To go back to last year when our peak started, it took us six to seven weeks to escalate that quickly. Today to hit 97, it really took us almost two months to hit that level which we've done in under a month."
Frederick said a return of typical hospital patients is exacerbating the issue.
"The difference between last year and this we have traditional business back we didn't have last year during the initial surge. The demand for beds is higher for both COVID and non-COVID patients. It's definitely a stretch."
Frederick said there is also a high amount of pressure on available labour.
"The staff are right back into the mix of it, and I don't think they were fully recovered from last year," he said.
In a bit of good news, researchers reported Thursday that those who did not regain their sense of taste and smell when they cleared their COVID-19 infections should get them back after a year.
Studies confirm that many, if not most, COVID-19 patients say their sense of smell is affected -- a condition called anosmia or hyposmia. Because smell and taste are closely linked, many people feel their ability to taste food normally is also affected when their sense of smell is disrupted.
An ongoing experiment of about 100 people who lost their sense of smell in early 2020 showed it can take months for it to come back, but it does. Some patients didn't realize or appreciate it, however, the international team of researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Network Open.
"At eight months, objective olfactory assessment confirmed full recovery in 49 of 51 patients (96.1%)," they wrote. Two continued to have an abnormal sense of smell a year later -- one who couldn't smell much and another who had an abnormal smell sense.
"Our findings suggest that an additional 10% gain in recovery can be expected at 12 months, compared with studies with 6 months of follow-up that found only 85.9% of patients with recovery," they wrote.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.