In the News

Israel is starting to give out a second booster to its elderly population, but some doctors are skeptical of the value of an endless cycle of boosters.

A new study adds to evidence that common rapid tests may fail to detect some Omicron cases in the first days of infection.

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Native American tribes have been especially vigilant in encouraging COVID-19 vaccines and enacting stringent safety protocols. The next challenge for these communities that have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic: the omicron variant.
 

As 2022 dawns, it’s beginning to look a lot like March 2020 — so much so that President Biden sought to reassure Americans they would not return to those dark days, instead promising a future made safer by vaccines and tests.
Beth Resnick, Josh Sharfstein, and Alfred Sommer are quoted. 
 

China put up barriers to studying the origins of Covid-19, leading to a conflict that means less scientific collaboration and more mistrust among global powers that must work together to head off the next disaster.
 

Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, talks about how to navigate life with the new variant.

In Germany, Lutheran pastors are offering COVID-19 shots inside churches. In Israel’s science-skeptical ultra-Orthodox community, trusted rabbis are trying to change minds. And in South Africa, undertakers are taking to the streets to spread the word.

People at greater risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 will likely have more treatment options in January.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus has rapidly spread across the United States, upending holiday plans for some of the pandemic-weary and driving people to testing sites — and for many, into quarantine.

As Americans prepare for out-of-state travel and multigenerational indoor gatherings over the holidays, many people who need to get tested for the coronavirus are running into shortages, long lines and other deterrents — while many others are avoiding getting tested altogether.

Timing matters a lot because infections with SARS-CoV-2 are so dynamic. The virus tends to incubate at levels undetectable by any test for a couple of days, before growing explosively, often moving from undetectable levels to infectiousness within a span of 12 hours. Omicron may move even faster.

The omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, discovered just a few weeks ago, is poised to dominate Covid-19 cases around the world. It’s a stunning new twist to the pandemic saga that has countries scrambling to prepare.