MASKS: Guidance on upgrading and wearing

Omicron is latest blow to pandemic-weary front-line workers; clashes over alternative treatments

Omicron passes Delta's peak level,indicating intense winter wave

U.S. to lift travel curbs on eight African countries

OVERVIEW: South Africa relaxes isolation reqirements and other international developments,

US shortens COVID-19 isolation rules for health workers to 7 days

Tests: White House defends efforts to increase supply of COVID-19 tests

UK preliminary data suggests hospitalization is less likely with omicron

New COVID treatments are coming but wll they help combat omicron

Omicron is already changing how medicine fights COVID-19.

Although it only became widespread across the United States in the past week, doctors, pharmacists and drug companies said they need different tools against the new variant.

Two well-used monoclonal antibodies are unlikely to be effective against omicron. In their place, the government accelerated authorization of two antivirals that can be taken right after diagnosis to prevent illnesses from becoming severe.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized use of Pfizer's Paxlovid, a series of pills, taken at home that prevent nearly 90% of severe COVID-19 among those at high risk. On Thursday, the FDA authorized use of a second antiviral, molnupiravir, which appears to prevent progression to severe disease about 30% of the time.

"As we face omicron, the nation's medicine cabinet of treatments gives us more options to protect the American people," said Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. "We have tools to keep people safe and we will continue to use them."

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Overview: Asia/Pacific, Europe, U.S., Africa, Mideast

Nigeria destroys 1 million expired donated COVID-19 vaccines

Amazon, America's 2nd largest employer, reinstates mask mandate for warehouse workers

Amazon’s U.S. warehouse employees will once again be required to wear face masks at work amid a surge in Covid-19 cases due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

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UK government rules out new restrictions before Christmas

... Health Secretary Sajid Javid said two studies suggesting omicron carries a significantly lower risk of hospitalization than the previously dominant delta strain was “encouraging news.” But he said it was “not very clear yet ... by how much that risk is reduced.” ...

 

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FDA authorizes second COVID-19 pill, from Merck

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This authorization is more limited than one on Wednesday for a Pfizer pill. The FDA authorized the Merck pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, for high-risk adults "for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate."

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Covid is here for good, scientists say. The rest remains unpredictable.

Covid could take on a similar ebb and flow to the flu, but there is plenty left to figure out about just how severe and disruptive it will continue to be.

SEATTLE — Early in the pandemic, many people seized on the hope that Covid-19 could be stopped in its tracks and buried for good once vaccines rolled out.

But hope for a zero-Covid country fizzled for most scientists long ago. 

“Everyone has stopped talking about getting rid of Covid,” Dr. Elizabeth Halloran, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said of her fellow researchers. “It’s not going away, and that means it’s going to be endemic.” 

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