Public Health

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Feb. 18 unveiled the next phase of its COVID-19 pandemic response plan, saying it's the first state to detail plans for how to approach the virus as a manageable risk. 

The daily total of patients who acquired COVID-19 while in the hospital hit a record of about 4,700 in January — when omicron peaked — according to an analysis of federal data from The Wall Street Journal.

Soon, no state in the mainland U.S. will have statewide mask mandates, with Hawaii the only state that hasn't announced plans to relax mask requirements, The New York Times reported Feb. 18.

Omicron's high transmissibility has overstretched contact tracing capabilities globally, prompting the World Health Organization to issue interim guidance Feb. 17. 

Immunocompromised Americans have had little voice in the country's pandemic response, and many physicians are only growing more vocal on their behalf.  

Global COVID-19 cases are falling, though a drop in testing may be contributing to this trend, and the omicron subvariant continues to spread, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, the World Health Organization's COVID-19 technical lead, said during a Feb. 16 media…

The CDC is considering a shift to its indoor mask guidance that would rely more on COVID-19 hospitalizations as an indicator of whether masks are needed. 

As COVID-19 cases drop rapidly, deaths have decreased slightly but remain high, with excess U.S. deaths reported since Feb. 1, 2020, surpassing 1 million.

The COVID-19 omicron subvariant BA.2, dubbed "stealth omicron," has spread to at least 74 countries and 47 states across the U.S., according to data from outbreak.info.

Maine added 10,968 COVID-19 cases to it's official count Feb. 15 as it works through a large backlog of  tests, the Portland Press Herald reported.