People Are Desperate For Covid Tests — But Florida Throws Away 1M Of Them
After a state official said Thursday that the tests had expired, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday tried to explain why the state didn’t distribute them.
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After a state official said Thursday that the tests had expired, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday tried to explain why the state didn’t distribute them.
Patients have been clamoring for monoclonal antibodies, but the Biden administration says two of the three treatments available don't work against omicron. To make matters worse, there's a severe shortage of the one that does work: sotrovimab.
Leondios Kostrikis, a scientist at the University of Cyprus, says 25 cases of the combination delta-omicron strain have been found, but Kostrikis predicts it won't last globally. (And with any luck, "fludeltachron" won't become a thing, either.)
As scientists rush to understand omicron's impact on vaccines and testing, while officials debate revisions to health guidance, an anxious public is left wondering how to cope with skyrocketing covid infections.
One major health provider in the state has decided that employees with mild or asymptomatic covid can still attend work without quarantine. AP reports on the "conundrum" caused by omicron, with a debate over working or staying home. Other news outlets cover burnout in over-worked health staff.
The latest omicron-driven wave continues to break records for daily infections and the number of children hospitalized. While for many — especially the fully vaccinated — symptoms are less severe, the sheer numbers are still hitting medical facilities hard. Especially when their workers are also out sick.
In a special session Friday, the justices heard arguments in two cases related to the Biden administration's efforts to require covid vaccinations in the workplace. Based on their questions and remarks, there are signals that the conservative-led Supreme Court may allow the health care worker mandate to go forward as legal challenges play out, but that it may block the vaccinate-or-test rule for many private businesses.
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In parts of Western Europe, vaccine-hesitant or vaccine-refusing people are controversially coming under pressure from governments to get covid shots. Meanwhile in Quebec, the government is trying a new tactic to combat covid hospitalizations: Requiring vaccination proof to buy wine or weed.
State Democrats try to revive efforts to create the U.S.'s first universal health care system, as other reports underline that in this election year, the California ballot will be "heavy" on health care. Meanwhile, the state is also pushing to not prosecute stillbirths as murders.
Each week, KHN finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week's selections include stories on getting healthy for the new year, medical implants, aquamation, covid and more.
While the number seems low, five rabies deaths in 2021 was actually the highest in around 10 years. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study linked three cases to bats. In other news, a new cause for Down syndrome is suggested by a study, linking the genetic disease to cells related to aging.
The report comes from WBGH, which notes nationally the number of first-year Black students is up 21%, an "unprecedented spike since 2020." A cardiologists' lawsuit, Nomi Health buying Artemis Health, a new clinic at Tampa's Veterans Hospital and more are also in the news.
Students who are not fully vaxxed and have had close contact with someone with covid should quarantine for at least 5 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, amid a cluster of other rule updates. Meanwhile, 20% of San Francisco teachers and aides were absent Thursday.
Regional hospitals will soon report whether patients were admitted due to covid, or tested positive after admission for other issues. The goal is to get a better grip on how the latest covid surge is affecting hospital capacity.
The World Health Organization's messaging is that while is seems like omicron infections are hitting people less severely, people are still being hospitalized and are dying. News outlets cover other omicron news, including breakthrough infections and how the variant changes risk calculations.
Researchers find that the covid vaccines might temporarily change a person's menstruation timing or flow. But the shots showed no impact on fertility, as has been falsely linked in disinformation campaigns.
Some prominent experts have started recommending the additional swab in the throat because omicron appears to be more concentrated there. People on social media have begun swapping instructions for how to do that with at-home test kits.
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