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While people have been relying on their vaccinations and antibodies from previous infections, experts say those factors offer limited protection against the BA.5 variant. President Biden’s administration is urging Americans to get boosted and take advantage of antiviral treatments. 
 

Omicron BA.5 symptoms remain similar to those of earlier Omicron subvariants. Some people reported having meningitis-like symptoms during the course of their COVID-19 illness, but there is no evidence that BA.5 is the cause.
 

In the early days of the pandemic, reinfections were reported as a rare phenomenon. Now it’s clear they are an inevitable fact of pandemic life—especially with new, more transmissible, increasingly immune-evading variants evolving on the regular.
 

Around the country, healthcare systems are under strain with COVID and influenza case numbers climbing. Experts review what’s happening in Australia and how it could help predict what’s to come in the Northern Hemisphere.

Red flag laws allow police, district attorneys, and even regular citizens to file court orders that temporarily ban individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or owning a weapon in the state. But they only work if people take advantage of them. Without the proper resources—like public education campaigns and offices directly responsible for reviewing cases—the laws are woefully less effective at preventing tragedies, experts told VICE News.
 

It’s another frustrating turn in the long coronavirus pandemic, which experts say again calls for vigilance: wearing good-fitting, quality masks in higher-risk situations, distancing, seeking well-ventilated indoor spaces and obtaining every vaccine dose for which people are eligible.
 

In one year, 45,000 died by gun in the U.S. Most of those lives were taken one by one in homicides or suicides. They didn't make national headlines but left huge holes in their communities.
 

Alex McCourt discusses how states are responding to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down New York State’s concealed-carry gun law.

Any traveler who has yet to go on a summer trip needs to keep in mind that the pandemic is still going on. Surges are happening across the U.S. and in popular tourist destinations like France, Italy, and Spain. That means your trip planning can't just focus on what to see and where to eat. You need to think about COVID prep, too. 
 

Although the increase in cases doesn’t appear to approach the meteoric levels of previous waves, health experts say what's being recorded is likely an undercount because of underreported test results.
 

The rising cases are concerning public health officials and experts, who believe there are more infections going unreported and are working to communicate the threat to at-risk communities without creating stigma or sowing alarm — or overly reassuring — the general public. They also are scrambling to distribute tests and vaccines.
 

Shannon Frattaroli discusses the future of red flag laws in America. 
She is introduced at the 40:20 mark and featured at the 43:05 mark.