Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, updated the state's COVID-19 guidance Feb. 24, which shortens isolation periods, advises against masks in community settings and grants healthcare practitioners flexibility to treat patients with emerging and off-label drugs for the virus. 

COVID-19 deaths are falling nationwide but 10 states are still seeing higher daily death averages than recorded two weeks prior.

Six cardiologists who recently joined new practices or stepped into new roles: 

COVID-19 cases have fallen significantly since mid-January, when omicron peaked in the U.S. Still, no state has achieved a low transmission rate, based on the CDC's standards. 

North Dakota is seeing a higher average rate of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people than any other state, surpassing West Virginia, which held the spot for most of February, according to federal data cited by The New York Times.

Global COVID-19 cases overall are declining, but sequences of the BA.2 omicron subvariant are rising, with the strain now dominant in 18 countries, the World Health Organization said in its Feb. 22 weekly epidemiological update.  

An eight-week interval between first and second doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may be optimal for some people 12 and older, according to CDC vaccination schedule guidance updated Feb. 22. 

The omicron subvariant BA.2 should still be classified as an omicron sublineage rather than getting its own name, the World Health Organization said Feb. 22.

When children are infected with COVID-19, their innate immune systems mobilize against the virus more effectively than those of adults, The Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 21. 

The drug and poison information center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has recently seen a surge in calls about exposures to sodium azide  — a chemical found in some at-home COVID-19 test kits, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Feb. 21. 

Despite fewer cars on the road in the U.S. during the pandemic, preliminary data indicates increasing pedestrian death rates in the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association.

Here are 23 COVID-19-related research findings covered by Becker's Hospital Review since Feb. 2:

The CDC has collected and withheld a trove of COVID-19 data on booster doses, hospitalizations and breakthrough infections, people familiar with the data told The New York Times in a Feb. 20 report. 

Long COVID-19 must be at the forefront of healthcare leaders' plans, The Washington Post editorial board stated Feb. 20.

As travel restrictions loosen in some regions, four health experts shared with The Washington Post what COVID-19 precautions and strategies individuals should still keep in place.

After weeks of projecting rising or stable COVID-19 deaths, the CDC said it expects deaths to fall through early March. 

More than 92.5 million people, or 43 percent of the nation's fully vaccinated population, have received a booster dose, according to CDC data updated Feb. 17. 

COVID-19 deaths fell nationally for the second consecutive week, while hospitalizations declined for the third straight week and cases dropped for the fourth, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker weekly review published Feb. 18.

While federal data shows COVID-19 booster effectiveness declines after four months, U.S. health officials say it's still too soon to know whether a fourth shot will be needed for the general public, The New York Times reported Feb. 17.