Public Health

About one-third of Americans live in areas where the level of COVID-19 transmission warrants wearing a mask in indoor public settings, health officials said during a May 18 briefing at the White House. 

Nearly one-third of Americans say they think the pandemic is over, despite COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising nationwide, according to Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index poll findings published May 18. 

The latest CDC variant proportion estimates show a sublineage of the BA.2 omicron variant is close to becoming the dominant strain in the U.S. as cases and hospitalizations increase nationwide.

More than 400 children worldwide have developed unusual cases of acute hepatitis, and researchers are still searching for the cause of the outbreak, the World Health Organization said May 17.  

More than 1 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, a grim milestone the U.S. crossed May 16, CDC data shows. 

The increasing prevalence of "unbelievably transmissible" COVID-19 omicron subvariants has experts concerned about a potential new wave of cases that may go partly undetected as people turn to home tests instead of lab tests, The Houston Chronicle reported May 16.

Hospitals and health systems have seen several incidents of gun violence in recent months.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise nationwide, though deaths are still falling on the heels of this winter's omicron surge, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published May 13.

As summer approaches, flu positivity levels in the U.S. remain unseasonably high, the CDC's latest FluView report shows. 

While the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve and American's immune protection wanes, $10 billion in federal aid to support the purchase of more tests, therapeutics and vaccines remains tied up in a congressional stalemate.