First Edition: Jan. 19, 2022

KHN: 5 Things You Should Know About ‘Free’ At-Home Covid Tests
Americans keep hearing that it is important to test frequently for covid-19 at home. But just try to find an “at-home” rapid covid test in a store and at a price that makes frequent tests affordable. Testing, as well as mask-wearing, is an important measure if the country ever hopes to beat covid, restore normal routines and get the economy running efficiently. To get Americans cheaper tests, the federal government now plans to have insurance companies pay for them. (Darlin, 1/19)

KHN: Buffy Wicks Turns Her Health History Into Legislation 
In her short tenure as an elected official, California Assembly member Buffy Wicks hasn’t been shy about sharing her most intimate health care struggles with the public. In her very first speech in the Assembly, Wicks, a Democrat who has represented Oakland since late 2018, told the story of her abortion at age 26. She has also spoken publicly about her decision to freeze her eggs. (Bluth, 1/19)

KHN: HHS Proposal For Marketplace Plans Carries A Hefty Dose Of Consumer Caution
Some insurance brokers are enrolling people into Affordable Care Act health plans without their consent, perhaps for the commissions, a move that could put consumers in danger of owing back the subsidies connected with the coverage. The damage could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A consumer’s first hint that something is wrong is a big one: a letter from the IRS or a delay in their tax refund. (Appleby, 1/19)

CNN: Website To Order Free Covid-19 Tests Is Up And Running
Given the formal launch wasn't expected until Wednesday, a White House official said this is only the beta phase to ensure the site works seamlessly. Omicron might mark the end of Covid-19's pandemic phase -- unless a certain scenario happens, Fauci says "In alignment with website launch best practices, COVIDtests.gov is currently in its beta phase, which means that the website is operating at limited capacity ahead of its official launch," a White House official told CNN. "This is standard practice to address troubleshooting and ensure as smooth of an official launch tomorrow as possible. We expect the website to officially launch mid-morning tomorrow." (Collins, Vazquez and Luhby, 1/18)

The Hill: How To Order Free Rapid COVID-19 Tests 
Any American can order rapid tests for free through the website, and they will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. All that is required is a name and mailing address; no credit card information is needed. However, there are limits. Each residential address is limited to four tests. And the tests will usually take seven to 12 days to ship, the White House said. (Sullivan, 1/18)

Politico: Biden Administration's Rapid Testing Website Hits Speed Bumps For Some Apartment Residents
Some residents in multi-unit dwellings tried to register to have tests delivered but received error messages saying tests already had been ordered for their address. An administration official said the problem was not widespread and that orders are being prioritized for people in areas facing disproportionate Covid-19 cases and deaths — the first 20 percent of test orders processed will be for people in vulnerable ZIP codes. (Leonard, 1/18)

CBS News: Rapid COVID-19 Tests Are Highly Accurate For Kids, Study Finds 
While PCR tests for COVID-19 have become the "gold standard" in detecting the virus, a new study says rapid tests are highly accurate when it comes to children and teens. The study, led by researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in collaboration with other institutions and published in MedRxiv, shows that rapid tests given to adolescents at school or at home has a similar accuracy to PCR tests. (O'Kane, 1/18)

CBS News: How To Watch President Joe Biden's First 2022 Press Conference
President Biden is holding his first press conference of 2022 on Wednesday, January 19, the eve of the first anniversary of when he took office. The press conference comes as his presidency  — and the country  — is struggling amid the Omicron COVID-19 surge and rising inflation, and as his signature legislation, Build Back Better, is stalled in Congress. CBSN will carry Mr. Biden's press conference live. (Linton and Watson, 1/19)

AP: Tracking Biden's 1st-Year Progress Delivering On Promises
During his first year in office, President Joe Biden took action on a number of his key campaign promises, from rebuilding U.S. alliances globally to distributing vaccines across America and the world. But others remain works in progress or dependent on Congress to address. That’s particular true of his promises to reform the nation’s immigration system, where Biden is caught between the demands of his Democratic base and Latino voters and the realities of a steep influx of migrants to the U.S. Here's a look at where Biden stands on some of his key promises as he rounds out his first year. (Jaffe and Madhani, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Assessing Biden’s Covid Response After One Year 
President Biden entered office a year ago this week, staking his presidency on defeating the coronavirus pandemic with a battle plan hailed for its scope and specificity. “Our nation continues to experience the darkest days of the pandemic,” the White House declared in its national pandemic strategy, released Jan. 21, 2021, Biden’s first full day as president. “Businesses are closing, hospitals are full, and families are saying goodbye to their loved ones remotely.” (Diamond, 1/18)

ABC News: Biden Administration Speaks Out On Federal Blood Donation Policy Impacting Gay Men Amid National Blood Shortage 
For the first time, the Biden administration is commenting on the Food and Drug Administration's long-time blood donation guidelines, which are impacting the LGBTQ+ community by preventing gay and bisexual men from being eligible blood donors. The statement, made by a White House official exclusively to ABC News, acknowledges the painful origins of the policy and comes on the heels of the American Red Cross declaring their first-ever national blood crisis last week, as supplies at hospitals and blood banks become dangerously low. (Morrison, 1/18)

The Hill: FDA-Funded Study Aims To Lift Restrictions On Blood Donation For Gay, Bisexual Men 
A new study currently underway could ease eligibility requirements for gay and bisexual men seeking to donate blood. The study, funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, aims to evaluate alternatives to the blood donor deferral policy known as men who have sex with men, or MSM, put in place to reduce the transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. Under current FDA guidelines, men who have sex with men are ineligible to donate blood if they have had sexual contact with another man less than three months prior to donation. (Migdon, 1/18)

CBS News: Red Cross Sees Uptick In Blood Donation After Declaring Crisis 
After CBS News reported on the historic blood shortage leading the Red Cross to declare the first ever "national blood crisis," many viewers were inspired to sign up to donate blood, including "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell. In some parts of the country, blood drives are completely booked this week. (1/18)

CNBC: Biden Will Make 400 Million N95 Masks Available To Americans For Free
President Joe Biden will make 400 million highly protective N95 masks available to Americans for free at pharmacies and community health centers around the U.S., a White House official said. The masks will start to become available late next week, and the program will be fully up and running by early February, according to the official. The White House said the free masks are the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history. (Kimball, 1/19)

CNN: Neil Gorsuch Declines To Wear Mask, As Bench-Mate Sonia Sotomayor Works From Her Office 
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has been listening to arguments remotely from her chambers because she doesn't feel comfortable sitting on the bench near colleagues who are not masked, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, according to a source familiar with the situation. In addition, Sotomayor has been participating in the justices-only conference sessions remotely, a court spokeswoman confirmed. Those sessions -- where only the nine are allowed, no staff or hangers-on -- is where the justices debate and essentially determine the legal direction of the country. (de Vogue, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Va. Parents File Lawsuit, Schools Vow Resistance Against Youngkin’s Order Making Masks Optional
A major showdown over masking in Virginia schools — already involving at least one lawsuit — is brewing between newly minted Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and parents and superintendents across the state he was just elected to lead. Youngkin, who took office Saturday, started his term as Virginia’s 74th governor with an executive order that declares masking optional in school systems statewide, subject to the preference of parents. Although some school districts complied almost immediately, other superintendents promised defiance — including the superintendent in Youngkin’s new home, Richmond. Jason Kamras, the head of Richmond Public Schools, vowed in a tweet over the weekend to keep his district’s mask mandate and told The Washington Post, “We will fight it to the end.” (Natanson, 1/18)

AP: Utah Lawmakers Weigh Overturning Local Mask Mandates
The GOP-dominated Utah Senate passed a measure Tuesday to block local mask mandates as the omicron variant of the coronavirus fuels a punishing coronavirus surge. The resolution was introduced on the first day that lawmakers began their work for the year. It would overturn requirements in Salt Lake and Summit counties to wear masks indoors, preferably N95 or KN95 masks that are more effective against the variant. The measure must still pass the state House. (Whitehurst, 1/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Leaders Approve New Mask Mandate With No Enforcement
A mask mandate is returning to Milwaukee, this time with a potential March 1 end date and no plans to enforce it. "I think we're hopeful that businesses will be asking their patrons to mask, all businesses whether it's retail, a coffee shop, a restaurant, the Fiserv Forum, which is already asking people to mask," Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said in a virtual press briefing following Common Council approval Tuesday. Johnson said her department does not have the staff to enforce a mandate as it focuses on COVID-19 testing and vaccination, but she offered support for the ordinance changes approved by the council. (Dirr, 1/18)

AP: US Faces Wave Of Omicron Deaths In Coming Weeks, Models Say 
The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March. The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on Jan. 17 — still below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021. COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents started rising slightly two weeks ago, although still at a rate 10 times less than last year before most residents were vaccinated. (Johnson, 1/18)

USA Today: Omicron Is Not That Mild: 50,000 To 300,000 More US Deaths Projected By March
For anyone getting complacent about the coronavirus because the now-dominant omicron variant typically causes less-severe disease than previous strains, here's a sobering thought: 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans may die of COVID-19 before the current surge ebbs in mid-March. Those are the projections of modelers, according to an Associated Press story, and they provide a grim reminder that omicron's remarkable infectiousness more than makes up for its seemingly softer punch. The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on Monday – still well below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021. (Ortiz, Miller and Tebor, 1/18)

Newsweek: U.S. Could See Over 1 Million More Hospitalizations Before Omicron Subsides
Despite some recent positive signs, a new report predicted on Monday that the U.S. could see a significant amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths before the Omicron variant subsides. Using several predictive models, a team of analysts has predicted that around 1.5 million Americans could be hospitalized with around 191,000 being hospitalized from COVID as a result of the Omicron surge. The data accounts for a span of time lasting from mid-December, when the variant began to take hold, through mid-March, when it is expected to subside. (Kika, 1/18)

NBC News: Nearly 1 Million Pediatric Covid Cases Reported Last Week
Nearly 1 million cases of Covid-19 were reported among children in the United States last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Tuesday. The pediatric case count ending the week of Jan. 13 — 981,488 — reflects a 69 percent increase from the previous week's 580,247 cases. (Edwards, 1/18)

The Atlantic: Why People Are Keeping Unvaccinated COVID Deaths Secret
After Andreea’s mom died of COVID-19 in April, the harassment started. Noxious messages started coming in after she wrote a Facebook post letting friends and family know about her loss. One person messaged her to say they couldn’t believe her mother hadn’t protected herself. Andreea has since deleted most of the other messages, but she remembers people saying things like “I can’t believe your mom was an anti-vaxxer” and “I can’t believe she didn’t understand that COVID could kill you.” “Instead of people saying that they were sorry for my loss, they would question my mom’s medical choices. It became all about her vaccine status. It was incredibly hurtful,” Andreea, a language instructor, who asked to be identified by only her first name in order to prevent further harassment, told me. (Stanley, 1/18)

Bloomberg: Omicron May Cut Future Severity Of Coronavirus, Study Shows
A strong wave of coronavirus infections driven by the omicron variant could hasten the end of pandemic disruptions as it appears to cause less severe illness and provides protection against the delta variant, South Africa-based researchers said. A laboratory study that used samples from 23 people infected with the omicron variant in November and December found that while those who previously caught the delta variant could contract omicron, those who get the omicron strain couldn’t be infected with delta, particularly if they have been vaccinated, the researchers said. Results among the unvaccinated were unclear, as was whether they had been previously infected. (Sguazzin, 1/18)

AP: COVID-19 Health Emergency Could Be Over This Year, WHO Says 
The worst of the coronavirus pandemic — deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns — could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Dr. Michael Ryan, speaking during a panel discussion on vaccine inequity hosted by the World Economic Forum, said “we may never end the virus” because such pandemic viruses “end up becoming part of the ecosystem.” (Keaten, 1/18)

CBS News: South Africa Is Over Omicron, And Their Good News May Be A Harbinger Of Hope For The U.S.
Only eight weeks after the world first heard about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, when researchers in South Africa who discovered the strain notified global authorities, that country's wave of infections has fallen as sharply as it climbed. Not only that, but South Africa has weathered its fourth wave of COVID-19 with very little interruption to people's lives. CBS News foreign correspondent Debora Patta reports that in the suburbs of Johannesburg, restaurants are busy again, traffic is jammed, and the city is bustling. (1/18)

The New York Times: Mayor Says N.Y.C. Is Winning Omicron Fight, But Experts Urge Caution 
Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that New York City was winning its war against the Omicron surge, noting that the numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, while still extremely high, have started to drop. Mr. Adams encouraged New Yorkers to continue to get vaccinated and wear masks. (Fitzsimmons and Otterman, 1/18)

The Hill: Pfizer Says COVID-19 Antiviral Pill Effective Against Omicron 
Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment pill Paxlovid appears to be effective against the omicron variant, the company announced Tuesday. Pfizer said three separate lab studies showed nirmatrelvir, the drug's main protease inhibitor, maintains its effectiveness against the omicron variant of the virus. A protease inhibitor is a class of drugs that stop a virus from replicating. Patients take two tablets of nirmatrelvir with one tablet of another antiviral, called ritonavir, twice a day for five days. (Weixel, 1/18)

CIDRAP: Fewer Racial Minorities Given Monoclonal Antibodies To Treat COVID-19
Analysis of data from 41 healthcare systems participating in the US National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network shows that monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were administered to Black, Asian, Hispanic, and other minority-race COVID-19 outpatients at lower rates than their White peers. (1/18)

CIDRAP: Study Suggests 3 Pfizer Vaccine Doses May Protect Against Omicron
Today a study from Germany published in Science shows three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine raised antibody levels against the highly transmissible Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant. The study was based on sera from 51 participants, which was challenged with Wuhan, Beta, Delta, or Omicron pseudoviruses. The participants had received either two or three doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Though neutralizing antibodies are just one measure of vaccine effect and don't demonstrate effectiveness per se, the authors say they can be strongly predictive of the degree of immune protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. (1/18)

NBC News: Genetic Risk Factor Found For Covid-19 Smell And Taste Loss, Researchers Say
Scientists are piecing together why some people lose their sense of smell after contracting Covid-19. A study published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics identified a genetic risk factor associated with the loss of smell after a Covid infection, a discovery that brings experts closer to understanding the perplexing pattern and may point the way toward much-needed treatments. (Sloat, 1/17)

PBS NewsHour: Getting COVID-19 Is Much Riskier For Your Heart Than Vaccination
The heart has played a central role in COVID-19 since the beginning. Cardiovascular conditions are among the highest risk factors for hospitalization. A significant number of patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infections have signs of heart damage, and many recover from infection with lasting cardiovascular injury. It’s not surprising that debates over COVID-19 vaccines frequently centre around issues involving cardiovascular health. The high-profile collapse of Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen in June initiated a myth about the link between sudden cardiac death and vaccination among athletes that persists several months later. (Pyle and Huang, 1/18)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana House Passes Bill Restricting Employer Vaccine Mandates Despite COVID-19 Surge
House lawmakers approved a bill by a 58-35 vote Tuesday that would gut most Indiana private vaccine mandates, striking a major blow to the usually influential business community amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. Eight Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill. The vote comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration doesn't have the authority to impose a vaccine mandate on private businesses, leaving the decision of how to address most vaccine mandates up to individual states, such as Indiana. (Lange, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Carhartt Said Covid Vaccinations Remains Mandatory For Employees, Angering Conservatives On Twitter
Some conservatives and anti-vaccine pundits have targeted the company on social media in what appears to be the latest attempt to shame and boycott a company over its mandatory coronavirus vaccination policy for employees. The company has also faced protests from employees opposed to the vaccination policy in recent months. (Bella, 1/18)

AP: Florida Suspends Health Official In Probe Over Vaccine Law
A health official who has helped lead central Florida’s response to the pandemic has been put on administrative leave as state officials investigate whether he tried to compel employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in violation of state law. The state health agency is conducting an inquiry into Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, “to determine if any laws were broken in this case,” Florida Department of Health press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in an email. (1/18)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Schools Ask Officials To Substitute As COVID Crushes Staffing
With school staff and substitutes both in extraordinarily short supply, some state leaders  have been covering classes in Oklahoma public schools. Gov. Kevin Stitt announced on Tuesday an executive order to authorize staff of state agencies to substitute teach. The governor urged all state employees to "see what they can do" to help keep schools open. Some officials stepped in already. State Rep. Cyndi Munson spent the school day on Friday teaching physical education at Spero Upper Elementary in Santa Fe South Charter Schools. (Martinez-Keel, 1/18)

Miami Herald: Florida To Prioritize Transplant Hospitals, Cancer Centers For Scarce COVID-19 Therapeutic
A scarce monoclonal antibody for people who cannot build immunity from COVID-19 vaccines will be prioritized for distribution to Florida hospitals with large numbers of organ transplant and cancer patients, the Florida Department of Health said on Tuesday, signaling a change in strategy more than three weeks after the state passed over large medical centers and delivered the first shipment of the drug to a small clinic in Broward County. (Chang, 1/18)

The Washington Post: D.C. Opens Covid Centers, Montgomery County Considers Vaccine Passport
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Tuesday announced plans to open eight centers — one in each ward — for residents seeking coronavirus vaccinations and tests, as the regional death rate increases and more places consider vaccine mandates. (Portnoy, Wiggins and Tan, 1/18)

Bloomberg: Airlines Step Up Plane Hygiene And Safety Measures To Keep Covid Out
These days, hygiene is the most important factor in choosing a travel company for almost 60% of Americans, according to a survey by aerospace products manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. That tracks with International Air Transport Association data showing that passengers worry about boarding planes, with 42% of them uncomfortable using lavatories and more than a third concerned about breathing recirculated cabin air. “We know that our customers are more conscious than ever about hygiene,” says Anil Jain, engineering chief at Air India Express, which has introduced robots to clean its planes. “We need to be proactive.” (Ha and Park, 1/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmaker Gilead Alleges Counterfeiting Ring Sold Its HIV Drugs
Drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. said that a network of little-known drug suppliers and distributors sold illicit and potentially dangerous fake versions of its HIV medicines that ended up in pharmacies and in the hands of patients. In all, Gilead identified 85,247 counterfeit bottles of its branded medications worth more than $250 million that were sold to pharmacies over the past two years following an intensive investigation and court-approved civil seizures, a company spokesman said. (Walker and Ramey, 1/18)

Reuters: Gilead Says Counterfeit HIV Drugs Ended Up With Patients
Gilead Sciences Inc said an unauthorized network of drug distributors and suppliers sold pharmacies more than $250 million of counterfeit versions of its HIV treatments over the last two years, endangering patients. The drugmaker said it found 85,247 bottles that had been tampered with or faked, including versions of its Biktarvy and Descovy treatments.In a separate statement on Wednesday, Gilead said it has seized the bottles of Gilead-labeled medication from 17 locations in nine states as part of its investigation. (Stempel and Mishra, 1/19)

Anchorage Daily News: Wasilla Doctor Sentenced To Federal Prison For Overprescribing Narcotics
A former Wasilla doctor was sentenced Tuesday to serve nearly three years in federal prison for illegally distributing narcotics to his patients. David Chisholm, 64, prescribed highly addictive prescription drugs — including oxycodone, methadone, morphine and fentanyl — “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose” to his patients at Camelot Family Health, according to charging documents filed in the case. His prescribing practices contributed to the overdose deaths of at least five of his patients, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Schroeder. Chisholm’s clinic was a “pill mill” where anyone could go to get opioids, he said. (Williams, 1/18)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: First Cases Of Drug-Resistant Fungus Found At Louisiana Hospital
Two patients at University Medical Center in New Orleans have been diagnosed with a rare, drug-resistant fungus called Candida auris, hospital officials said Tuesday, marking Louisiana’s first known cases of the pathogen. The fungus, a type of yeast, is considered a global emerging threat by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. C. auris can cause infections in the bloodstream or in wounds, and is typically spread in health care settings. It is sometimes called a “superbug” because it is resistant to common antifungal drugs. (Woodruff, 1/18)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Vows To Fix Hiccups Found In 1st Year Of Health Care Marketplace Rollout
Maine’s first year of running its own health insurance exchange came with double-digit enrollment increases and communication and navigation challenges that the state told lawmakers Tuesday it wants to fix before the next enrollment period. The state’s exchange, CoverME.gov, which allows residents to shop for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act as well as sign up for MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, rolled out last year. It was a priority of Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who signed a 2020 bill paving the way for Maine to implement its own marketplace instead of using the federal one. (Andrews, 1/19)

AP: House OK's Bill Excusing Mental-Health Absences For Students
The Kentucky House overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday aimed at ensuring that mental health-related absences from school are excused for students. The bipartisan measure heads to the Senate after clearing the House on a 94-0 vote. (1/18)

Stat: What Types Of Mental Health Apps Work? New Study Examines The Evidence
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have spent years making sure that their meditation app, called the Healthy Minds Program, passes clinical muster and delivers positive outcomes. Designing studies to test the app’s efficacy led Simon Goldberg, an assistant professor at UW, to confront the mountain of thousands of studies of different mobile mental health tools, including apps, text-message based support, and other interventions. Researchers had taken the time to synthesize some of the studies, but it was hard, even for someone steeped in the science like Goldberg, to draw definitive conclusions about what works and what doesn’t. So Goldberg teamed up with a few other researchers and took a step back to see if they could put order to the work collected in these meta-analyses — a kind of deep meditation on the existing research inspired by UW’s meditation app. (Aguilar, 1/19)

NBC News: Snapchat Makes It Harder For Kids To Buy Drugs
Snapchat’s parent company announced Tuesday that it was taking more steps to curb drug dealing on the app, including making it harder for users to find the accounts of minors under age 17. It is making the change as drug overdoses are spiking across the U.S., partly because of the proliferation of the potent opioid fentanyl. An NBC News investigation published in October found that Snapchat was linked to the sale of fentanyl-laced pills that killed teenagers and young adults in over a dozen states. (Matsakis and Snow, 1/18)

CBS News: U.S. Senate Candidate Gary Chambers Smokes Marijuana In New Campaign Ad 
Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Gary Chambers of Louisiana released an ad on Tuesday showing the candidate smoking marijuana while promoting a pathway toward legalizing the drug. "I hope this ad works to not only destigmatize the use of marijuana, but also forces a new conversation that creates the pathway to legalize this beneficial drug, and forgive those who were arrested due to outdated ideology," Chambers said in the ad. (Brewster, 1/18)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Warns Against Travel To 22 Destinations Over COVID-19 
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday advised against travel to 22 nations and territories because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases, including for Israel, Australia, Egypt, Albania, Argentina and Uruguay. The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High," telling Americans they should avoid travel to those destinations, which also include Panama, Qatar, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Suriname, Saint Lucia and Bolivia. (Shepardson, 1/18)

AP: World's Oldest Man Dies At 112, Guinness World Records Says
Saturnino de la Fuente, a Spaniard described by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest man, died Tuesday at the age of 112 years and 341 days, the records agency said. De la Fuente passed away at home in León, a city in northwest Spain, it said. Guinness World Records named De la Fuente as the world’s oldest man in September, when he was 112 years and 211 days. It said he was born in the Puente Castro neighborhood of León on Feb. 11, 1909. He survived the Spanish flu pandemic that broke out in 1918. (1/19)