Public Health

The U.S. has reported unusually low flu activity during the 2020-21 season, likely due to COVID-19 pandemic safety measures and reporting issues.

Instead of treating vaccine hesitancy and refusal as a knowledge problem, some scientists are saying deeply held psychological beliefs are instead at the heart of many people's resistance, reports The New York Times.

While more transmissible variants are still fueling COVID-19 surges in Washington, Oregon and other states, new infections have fallen nationwide, The New York Times reported April 29.

California has issued a policy proposal stating that adults should be allowed to add their parents to their health insurance plans. 

The National Institutes of Health plans to dedicate more than $1 billion in grants for further research into long COVID-19, The Hill reported April 29. 

Those who were previously infected with COVID-19 were more likely to experience swollen lymph nodes after their first dose of Pfizer's vaccine compared to those without a prior documented infection, according to research published April 22 in the preprint server…

Fully vaccinated Americans are safe to return to several indoor activities while wearing a mask, though the CDC has still deemed the activities unsafe for mask-wearing individuals who are not vaccinated. 

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were 94 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations among adults aged 65 and older who were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published April 28. 

COVID-19 long-haulers, those who develop long-term symptoms after being infected with COVID-19, are being prescribed opioids at a rate that raises concerns about addiction, according to a recent study published in Nature.

New research from Cleveland Clinic suggests that early mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were deadlier but quickly overtaken by more transmissible variants, which may explain why mortality has decreased as the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed.