Situation Report

EU advises further relaxing travel rules for foreigners BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union member countries agreed Tuesday that they should further facilitate tourist travel into the 27-nation bloc for people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus or have recovered from COVID-19. AP NEWS

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The European Council is recommending that EU nations next month lift all testing and quarantine requirements for people who received vaccines authorized in the EU or approved by the World Health Organization. ...

A mild U.S. flu season is waning, but is it really over? Here's the question experts are asking themselves about the 2021-2022 flu season: "Is this it, or is there more to come?" Patrick Skerrett STAT

NEW YORK — This winter’s mild flu season is fading to a trickle of cases in much of the U.S., but health officials aren’t ready to say it’s over.

Since the beginning of the year, positive flu test results and doctor’s office visits for flu-like illness are down. But second waves of influenza are not unusual, and some experts said it’s possible a late winter or spring surge could be coming.

More contagious version of omicron spreads in U.S., fueling worries The omicron BA..2 variant spreads about 30% more easily and has caused surges in other countries. Its steady increase in the U.S. raises questions about the wisdom of rolling back COVID restrictions. NPR.org

As the omicron surge continues to decline in the U.S., infectious disease experts are keeping a close eye on an even more contagious version of the variant that could once again foil the nation's hopes of getting back to normal.