Between 25 percent to 43 percent of fully vaccinated patients at major Massachusetts hospitals tested positive for COVID-19 in the week ending Dec. 10, WBUR reports.
Public Health
The nation's seven-day average for COVID-19 cases increased by more than 37 percent last week after slightly falling a week prior, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker weekly review published Dec. 10.
The first few handfuls of omicron COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been mostly mild, with one hospitalization and no deaths, according to the CDC's Dec. 10 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Scientists are exploring whether a common flu strain has gone extinct during the pandemic, though they don't expect to have concrete findings for at least a year, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 9.
For the week ending Dec. 4, seven states reported high or moderate flu activity, according to data from the CDC's FluView report published Dec. 10.
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The antibody response to Pfizer-BioNTech's and Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines fell after 120 days days among hospitalized veterans, suggesting the importance of booster doses for lasting protection, according to the CDC's Dec. 10 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The health insurance landscape is poised to see less industry volatility, making for a stable 2022, according to a Dec. 9 report from Fitch Ratings.
As the winter approaches, U.S. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise, and with the emergence of the new omicron variant, the state of the pandemic could rapidly evolve.
At least six states have set new COVID-19 records over the last week.
An estimated 16.7 percent of U.S. children ages 5-11 have received at least one dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 as of Dec. 5, according to a Dec. 8 Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of CDC data.