Public Health

The World Health Organization on April 11 said it is monitoring two new "sister variants" of the original omicron strain dubbed BA.4 and BA.5, according to global news network WION.

Nationally, flu activity continues to rise, with the highest test positivity levels seen in central and south-central states, according to the CDC's April 8 FluView report. 

Some experts are calling for the development of a nasal COVID-19 vaccine as federal officials continue to weigh what the nation's booster strategy could look like, The Washington Post reported April 10. 

Daily COVID-19 cases are projected to increase 54.4 percent nationwide over the next two weeks, according to modeling from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.

Public health experts and officials took to the Sunday shows April 10 to talk about COVID-19 case increases in numerous states, the BA.2 omicron subvariant and mitigation strategies. 

COVID-19 cases increased nationwide this week for the first time since mid-January, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published April 8.

Despite public health experts' fears about coinciding surges of flu and COVID-19 engulfing the country, a so-called "twindemic" never materialized. Now, scientists are considering a theory that could explain why, The New York Times reported April 8.

Life expectancy in the U.S. fell again last year after a dramatic drop in 2020, according to research published April 7 in the medical preprint server MedRxiv.

COVID-19 cases will likely rise nationwide over the next few weeks, but hospitalizations may not follow suit, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Bloomberg April 6. 

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