Public Health

Two pediatric deaths associated with the flu have been reported, according to data from the CDC's most recent FluView report.

Oklahoma and Alabama had the nation's worst COVID-19 death rates in 2021, according to data tracked by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University and cited by NBC's LX.

Omicron has been referred to by some as the variant of COVID-19 you want to get if you're going to get it, due to a growing body of evidence that suggests it causes milder illness than earlier variants of COVID-19.…

The daily count of new COVID-19 cases has been the chief metric by which health officials and the general public gauge virus transmission. The lower severity of the omicron variant invites a change, in which hospitalizations and deaths should be…

One of Vermont's largest employers is opting out of a state request that employer-sponsored health plans cover at-home COVID-19 tests, according to VTDigger.

New York is projected to have the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases of any state on New Year's Eve, according to forecasts from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.

The nation's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases has surpassed figures seen during this summer's delta surge.

Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped nearly two years in 2020, from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 years in 2020, according to the CDC's finalized mortality report published Dec. 22. The decrease was largely fueled by COVID-19 deaths. 

Public health officials say actions the White House announced this week to address the omicron variant's spread will not prevent COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations from increasing over the next few weeks, The New York Times reported Dec. 21.

At least three states have set COVID-19 records over the past five days.