RALEIGH, N.C. – Mary Kathryn Kimray has never tested positive for coronavirus, but like a lot of people she says the pandemic has weighed on her emotions.

Public health experts are urging the people to ensure they are properly vaccinated against the flu, citing it's doubly important this season because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Obesity, a risk factor for severe effects of COVID-19, continues to become more common, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A longtime bohemian standard during the 1970s, hanging houseplants have returned in a big way as demand for plants has skyrocketed in the pandemic and Instagram influencers create indoor jungles.

PHILADELPHIA – For Joanne Edelstein of Philadelphia, no destination was too far or too complicated to consider, nothing out of reach to plan a trip, take her grandchildren. Lots of itineraries on the horizon.

(Reader alert: The story below is anatomically specific).  

CHICAGO – When Doug McConnell reaches 100 swim strokes, he thinks about his father. At 400, he thinks about his sister.

Maybe you're appalled by the tidal wave of takeout containers from your favorite restaurants or the sea of disposable masks littering the streets. Perhaps you've noticed sustainable achievements starting to slide. Or maybe you've just got more time on your hands and you've always wanted to m…

Breathing for residents across the west coast of the U.S. is becoming increasingly difficult as wildfires continue to spread across large portions of several states, according to news reports.

This idea really exploded.

CLEVELAND – Families skipping or delaying pediatric appointments for their young children because of the pandemic are missing out on more than vaccines. Critical testing for lead poisoning has plummeted in many parts of the country.

Already, COVID-19 has killed more people than World War I and Vietnam – combined.

BALTIMORE – Early in the coronavirus pandemic, scientists speculated that warm summer air would dampen its spread.

Divorce is hard. Add a global pandemic and it may cause you to rethink some things. That was the reality for three couples whom attorney Susan Myres counseled on divorce. At the beginning of the pandemic, they all decided to step back and reconsider going through with separating in the midst…

I arrived at my home away from home on Labor Day. 

PHILADELPHIA – Anthony Luton has seen a lot of things in life, good and bad.

You don't have to be an Oscar Mayer wiener to have everyone be in love with you (contrary to the popular 1960s jingle). But with proposal season almost upon us, you can request an appearance by the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to make your engagement more memorable.

OK, I’ll admit it: After nearly six months of Corona confinement up here on the hill, I do get a bit lonely at times. 

SAN DIEGO – Sherry Moland spent part of Wednesday afternoon at Iron Oak Canyon Ranch in Spring Valley, Calif., with her adopted 8-year-old horse, Whisper, tending to the horse's physical and emotional needs.

LOS ANGELES – Pyrotechnics from a gender reveal party in Yucaipa, Calif., sparked a wildfire and ignited an international firestorm of criticism and fierce cultural debate over a custom many say is toxic and dangerous – not least because the fire continues to rage.

The much-publicized rationale behind wearing a face mask is to protect others from your sprayed droplets.

Anifa Mvuemba, founder of the direct-to-consumer women's apparel line Hanifa, didn't set out to revolutionize the fashion industry when she had a viral 3D runway show on Instagram this spring.

The world is grappling with a deadly threat, though its seriousness has been downplayed by the president and proposed solutions are rejected by those who insist that the economy will suffer. Yet more and more people say they accept the science underlying the threat.

CHICAGO – Within hours of closing for the pandemic, the staff at Chicago's Hyde Park Art Center switched their focus to creating online content.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a virtual-reality video that trains people to give overdose victims naloxone, the lifesaving opioid-reversal medicine. And a study the researchers conducted shows the virtual training works as effectively as an in-person session.

When stay-at-home orders were announced in the spring, some people wryly speculated about a COVID-19 baby boom. Social media users even came up with a few suggestions for what this new generation should be called – "coronials" to start, followed by "quaranteens," being two popular ideas.

The federal government has told states to be ready to distribute doses of a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1 – two days before the election.

Do you realize that how you behave affects your own mental health? Your actions, reactions, spoken opinions, and verbal limits you set with others create an inner climate in which you live.

Vaccines save lives. That's the message Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic, wants the public to know.

Washing with soap and water is the best way to rid your hands of visible dirt and mucus, which may contain viruses like the one that causes COVID-19. But, when on the go, using hand rub or liquid hand sanitizer is the second best option.

More Americans have lost their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic than ever before in United States history, according to a recent study.

College students, beware: You could temporarily lose your spot on campus – or worse, get expelled – for partying with your peers this fall.

They're taking the "co" out of COVID.

SEATTLE – In February 1942, Julia Symchuk was a 17-year-old maid in a Ukraine police station when she overheard her employers and the Gestapo planning to arrest a family friend. An innocent man. A Jew.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – While many of us are tied to our computers typing, reading or (these days) meeting, Kansas City musician Tim Harte is creating. He's the first and only student admitted to the University of Missouri Kansas City's prestigious Conservatory of Music and Dance with his compute…

Cheryl and Corrina Thinn were almost joined at the hip. The sisters, both members of the Navajo Nation, shared an office at Arizona's Tuba City Regional Health Care. Cheryl conducted reviews to make sure patients were receiving adequate care. Corrina was a social worker. Their desks were jus…

Shopping for school supplies is often a regular ritual for many students. But parents also need to make sure that their children are healthy before the first school bell rings.

PHILADELPHIA – Only about half of the physicians licensed to prescribe buprenorphine – an opioid-based medication to treat addiction – actually prescribe it to patients, a national study from the Pew Charitable Trust has found.

The gravitas of actor Chadwick Boseman's death at age 43 has been felt around the world. For "Black Panther" fans and the Black community, his greatness was only in midstride, which makes his death even harder. But amid the tweets, TV specials and reruns of "Black Panther" in homage to his b…

PHILADELPHIA – Once an hour, sometimes more, employees at Weavers Way Co-op grocery stores diligently wipe disinfectant on all "high-touch" surfaces: the checkout counters, the banisters, the plastic nozzles that dispense gourmet granola. At Whole Foods Market, workers sanitize even more oft…

A new study conducted by a UC San Diego research team has found that anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a surge in people seeking help for panic attacks over the past few months.

Flu season will look different this year, as the country grapples with a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 172,000 people. Many Americans are reluctant to visit a doctor's office and public health officials worry people will shy away from being immunized.

I was getting accustomed to life with Covid-19 when the 2020 fire season reared its flaming, smoky head.

WIMBERLEY, Texas – Jacob's Well Elementary School nurse Annie Wood bends slightly to take the temperature of a fourth grade student. And then another. And then another.

DALLAS – One day Jimmy Love of Wichita Falls, Texas, received a phone call that his grandson was in trouble. He didn't think twice about sending $9,000 to help but soon realized he had been swindled.

When the new coronavirus stormed the Northeast this year, Alan Kliger, a Yale University kidney specialist, thought it would behave like a typical respiratory virus.

FRESNO, Calif. – When Alejandra Hernandez arrived at the Dream Camp on Aug. 9, she dropped to her knees and kissed the dirt.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Been there. Fought that fire. Got the T-shirt.