Mask Mandate For Air And Public Transit Travel Likely To Continue

The New York Times: Biden Is Said To Be Extending Mask Mandates For Travel Through March
President Biden will extend until mid-March a requirement that travelers wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and transit stations, a person familiar with the decision said Wednesday night. The move to extend the mandate, which was set to expire on Jan. 18, is part of a much broader winter strategy for combating Covid-19 that Mr. Biden is to announce on Thursday, during a visit to the National Institutes of Health. The strategy will also include a new requirement that international travelers be tested for Covid-19 one day before departing for the United States, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mask mandate extension was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday. (Gay Stolberg, 12/1)

The Hill: Fauci Says He 'Felt Really Badly' About 'Difficult Choice' On Travel Bans
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday he “felt really badly” about the Biden administration’s “difficult choice” to institute travel bans on South Africa in particular after its authorities reported the omicron variant. Biden’s chief medical officer said at a CNN town hall that there’s “some merit” to criticisms that restricting travel from South Africa and Botswana after the nations alerted the world about the omicron strain could discourage other countries from reporting future variants. (Coleman, 12/1)

The New York Times: Fauci Uses Omicron As A Reason To Press Vaccines
“Get boosted now,” Dr. Fauci said. “We may not need a variant-specific boost.” Asked if Americans should feel free to attend holiday parties and drink holiday beverages unmasked, he said it depended on the size of the gathering. “In a situation with the holiday season, indoor-type settings with family that you know is vaccinated, people that you know, you could feel safe with not wearing a mask and having a dinner, having a reception,” he said. But in larger public settings where it is unclear if everyone is vaccinated, he said, people should wear masks except to eat or drink. (Tankersley, 12/1)

On HIV/AIDS —

AP: Biden Says HIV/AIDS Strategy Needs To Confront Inequity
President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled his new HIV/AIDS strategy to end the more than 40-year-old epidemic, calling for a renewed focus on vulnerable Americans — including gay and bisexual Black and Latino men, who his administration says are too often stigmatized even as they are disproportionately affected. The new strategy, which declares racism a “public health threat,” was released on the annual commemoration of World AIDS Day. It is meant to serve as a framework for how the administration shapes its policies, research, programs and planning over the next three years. (Madhani, 12/1)

AP: Biden HIV/AIDS Strategy Calls Racism ‘Public Health Threat’
The Biden administration in its new HIV/AIDS strategy calls racism “a public health threat” that must be fully recognized as the world looks to end the epidemic. The strategy released Wednesday on the annual commemoration of World AIDS Day is meant to serve as a framework for how the administration intends to shape its policies, research, programs and planning over the next three years. (12/1)

AP: Fauci Says COVID-19 Diverted Resources From Fight Against AIDS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Tuesday the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted scientific and financial resources from the fight against AIDS, seriously impeding global efforts to achieve the U.N. goal of ending AIDS by 2030. Fauci told the U.N. General Assembly that tackling COVID-19 has also disrupted supply chains and increased the risk for people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, of being infected with another deadly virus. (12/1)

In news on health insurance —

Axios: Biden Administration Moves To Make Insurance Cover At-Home COVID Tests 
The federal government will issue guidance to allow people with private health insurance seek reimbursement for the cost of at-home COVID tests, President Biden will announce Thursday. The move — which comes amid growing concern about the Omicron variant and as part of the administration's larger strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID this winter — will expand access to at-home testing for over 150 million people. (Chen, 12/2)

CBS News: Americans With Private Health Insurance To Be Reimbursed For At-Home COVID-19 Tests
Americans with private health insurance will be reimbursed for at-home tests, President Biden is announcing Thursday, and international travelers will now be required to undergo stricter COVID-19 testing, according to a phone briefing by a senior administration official Wednesday. The new measures the president is expected to describe in remarks at the National Institutes of Health are part of a new administration strategy to curb the virus this winter, as the new Omicron coronavirus variant prompts concerns about how easily it may spread, how severe its symptoms are and whether existing vaccines are effective against it. (12/2)

Also —

The Washington Post: Trump Tested Positive For Coronavirus Before First Debate With Biden, Three Former Officials Say
President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus days before he shared the debate stage with then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in late September 2020, according to his former chief of staff and two others familiar with the former president’s test — a stunning revelation that illustrates the dismissive approach to the dangers posed by the virus in Trump’s inner circle. Trump’s positive test for the virus was Sept. 26, 2020, according to an account by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in a new book obtained by the Guardian newspaper. The Meadows account of the positive result was confirmed Wednesday by two former aides who requested anonymity to discuss their knowledge of the former president’s health. (Parker, Dawsey, Linksey and Diamond, 12/1)