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Faced with its largest case surge yet, Austria announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory starting in February and a nationwide lockdown for all will be implemented this coming Monday. (AP)
“Zero COVID is not going to happen,” according to scientists, some of whom predict U.S. mortality from the viral infection could pass 1 million by spring. (The Guardian)
Florida banned schools and businesses from mandating COVID-19 vaccination. (Reuters)
Lack of ICU beds has forced Boston’s helicopter ambulance service to divert some critically ill patients to hospitals in neighboring states. (CBS Local)
Strain on a hospital’s ICU bed capacity is linked to thousands of excess deaths 2 weeks later. (MMWR)
As of Friday at 8 a.m. EST, the unofficial U.S. COVID-19 toll included 47,532,795 cases and 768,703 deaths, increases of 110,916 and 1,264, respectively, since the same time yesterday.
England’s COVID prevalence decreased for the second week in a row. (Reuters)
Scientists remain puzzled but wary about Africa’s dwindling COVID caseload. (AP)
Massachusetts has approved COVID booster shots for anyone 18 or older. (NBC Boston)
While in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said being “fully vaccinated” means getting a booster. (NBC New York)
A stitch in time led to an eyeball-bulging hospital bill and a near-fatal encounter with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. (NPR)
Responding to changing customer needs and transitioning to different store formats, drugstore giant CVS will close about 900 stores over the next 3 years. (CNN)
President Biden will visit Walter Reed Medical Center today for a routine medical check-up, one day shy of his 79th birthday. (NBC News)
Back to the beginning: Tracking down the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic requires detailed understanding of the initial outbreak in China’s Wuhan Province. (Science)
BioNTech said its mRNA technology-based skin cancer immunotherapy received fast-track review designation from the FDA. (Reuters)
AstraZeneca announced that its antibody cocktail reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 by 83% over 6 months in a prevention trial and reduced the risk of developing severe symptoms by 88% when taken within 3 days of symptom onset in a treatment trial.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, became the first U.S. city to require menstrual products in all public restrooms. (Detroit Free Press)
GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Sanofi ponied up to support public service announcements promoting vaccine awareness. (FiercePharma)
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
