Global

In the week since international travelers were welcomed back to the United States, airlines, nonprofit organizations and travel groups have finally seen an uptick in the digital health passes they had hoped travelers would use since their launch.

American Airlines has been seeing a nearly 10 percent increase in its VeriFLY app usage for travel since the Nov. 8 lifting of U.S. entry restrictions, said spokeswoman Rachel Warner. Tech research firm Apptopia noticed a 5 percent increase in downloads of these kinds of apps from the week before the travel ban was lifted, according to Thomas Grant, the company’s director of equity research.

Travel industry experts credited this rise to the new flood of international travelers.

8 lingering questions about the new Covid pills from Merck and Pfizer The new Covid pills from Merck and Pfizer offer a ton of promise. But there’s plenty we still don’t know about how well they work. Erin Mershon STAT

The past two months have brought extremely good news in the fight against Covid-19. Two different oral treatments have proved effective at both preventing people newly diagnosed with Covid-19 from entering the hospital and from dying.