In the first two years of the pandemic, St. Louis Children's Hospital saw the average number of children and teens needing treatment for gunshot wounds increase by 50 percent, St. Louis Public Radio reported Jan. 18. 

HHS does not have a strong framework in place to adequately monitor research involving potential pandemic pathogens, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a Jan. 18 report. 

Hybrid immunity, the combination of COVID-19 recovery and immunization, provides up to 12 months of protection against severe reinfection or hospitalization, according to a study published in The Lancet on Jan. 18. 

The weekly rate of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus peaked in early December, new CDC data shows. 

Thirty-eight percent of Americans said they put off medical treatment in 2022 because of the cost, according to a Gallup poll published Jan. 17. This marks a 12 percentage point increase from those who said the same a year earlier, and the highest since Gallup began tracking the question in 2001. 

Although the highly transmissible omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is gaining prevalence nationwide, COVID-19 cases are flat and hospitalizations have dipped. The data suggests the U.S. will see more of a COVID-19 "bump" this winter versus a full-fledged surge, according to The New York Times.

Of more than 96,000 specimens tested for influenza at U.S. clinical laboratories for the week ending Jan. 7, 8.6 percent were positive, the CDC's latest FluView report shows. This figure hovered around 25 percent for several consecutive weeks in December. 

In about a week, the prevalence of omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 grew more than 50 percent, according to the latest CDC variant proportion estimates.

Most long COVID-19 symptoms among people who had a mild infection ease within a year, according to findings published Jan. 11 in The BMJ. 

Routine childhood vaccinations fell nationwide during the 2021-22 school year and sat below target levels for the second consecutive year, the CDC reported Jan. 12.

The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant does not warrant its own Greek letter name — at least not yet — because data suggests it is behaving similarly to other omicron sublineages in terms of transmissibility, severity, immune escape and its effect on interventions, according to the World Health Organization. 

Uganda officials declared the end of the Ebola outbreak less than four months after the first case was confirmed, the World Health Organization said Jan. 11.

Researchers have found cold temperatures may diminish an immune response in the nose, a possible explanation for why upper respiratory infections are more common in cold weather.

The U.S. is seeing a double-digit increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations as new highly transmissible omicron strains circulate nationwide. 

Basilisk. Centaurus. And now, Kraken. As the omicron strain has splintered off into what seems like endless sublineages, the technical numerical names have become increasingly difficult to commit to memory, making way for unofficial nicknames like Basilisk, Centaurus and now, Kraken. 

In the wake of criticism over its "delayed and inconsistent response" to COVID-19, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, is moving forward with a new initiative — the CDC Moving Forward project — that will overhaul "top-to-bottom" the fundamental workings of the agency, according to Bloomberg. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics has published new guidance on the treatment of obesity in children ages 2 and older, its first update on the topic in 15 years. 

Heading into the second week of the new year, experts have their eye on COVID-19 as respiratory syncytial virus and the flu continue to recede. 

The emergence of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 should serve as a wake-up call for the U.S. to reinvest in new vaccines, therapeutics and surveillance efforts, Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, wrote in a Jan. 8 op-ed for The Washington Post.

The CDC has lowered its estimate of omicron subvariant XBB.1.5's prevalence in the U.S., now saying the highly transmissible strain accounts for about 28 percent of COVID-19 cases.