Last year, the average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months, according to new CDC data.
Public Health
This winter is unlike the first two pandemic winters, with all common respiratory viruses back in full gear. With many people coming down with the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and/or COVID-19, chatter about "immunity debt" has persisted for months.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are steadily rising in the U.S. as new, highly transmissible omicron subvariants account for more than 75 percent of cases nationwide.
As researchers continue to test the efficacy of the bivalent boosters and COVID-19 treatments, about 3 in 4 COVID-19 infections are from omicron subvariants BQ.1.1, BQ.1 and XBB, CDC data shows.
Sore throat and runny nose are now the two most common symptoms reported among COVID-19 patients, according to new data from the U.K.'s ZOE Health Study.
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The U.S. resumed its program that ships four free COVID-19 tests to every household Dec. 15 as the mostly vaccinated but scarcely boosted nation braces for a winter surge in cases.
The CDC has awarded Helix a $5 million contract to develop a pan-respiratory viral surveillance program with Renton, Wash.-based Providence and Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners.
At least four children's hospitals in the U.S. are seeing an increase in severe strep A infections, NBC News reported Dec. 14.
The Biden Administration is looking to permanently adopt loosened, pandemic-era rules designed to increase access to two treatments for opioid use disorder.
Long COVID-19 has contributed to the deaths of at least 3,544 people in the U.S., according to a CDC analysis of death certificates published Dec. 14. Experts who reviewed the report say the findings are almost certainly an undercount.