Florida, other states challenge CDC transit mask rule ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Twenty-one states with Republican attorneys general sued Tuesday to halt the federal government’s requirement that people wear masks on planes, trains, ferries and other public transportation amid the coronavirus pandemic. AP NEWS

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Fewer than 800 coronavirus deaths are being reported each day in the United States, the lowest daily average since before the Omicron variant took hold late last fall. The last time the rate was this low was in mid-August, according to a New York Times database.

Trends in deaths lag behind cases and hospitalizations by weeks because of the time it takes for people to become seriously ill, and the time needed to complete and file death records.

Omicron sub-variant BA.2 accounts for about 55% of COVID variants in U.S. - CDC The U.S. national public health agency said on Tuesday that BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for more than half the coronavirus variants in the country. Reuters Reuters

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Clinics, hospitals brace for end of cushion for uninsured covid care Christina Paz was typing up notes about a patient she'd just seen at Centro San Vicente, El Paso's largest community health center, when an email from Washington showed up. "Lord," she thought as she read it at the clinic's nursing station. "Oh, my God." The brief email told Paz, a nurse practitioner who is the clinic's chief executive officer, that at 11:59 p.m. on March 22 the federal COVID-19 Uninsured Program would stop accepting claims for testing and treating for the deadly virus on patien YahooNews

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