US to offer more free COVID tests nationwide The U.S. government on Monday will start taking orders for another round of free COVID-19 tests for delivery across the country, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said. Ahmed Aboulenein Reuters

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Thousands more doses of RSV shot for infants expedited for release amid shortage | CNN Amid an ongoing shortage of nirsevimab, an RSV immunization for young children, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that more than 77,000 additional doses will be distributed “immediately.” Jacqueline Howard CNN

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Air filters may not reduce risk of catching airborne virus, study shows - UPI.com Air filters might help keep the air in your home fresh, but a new review finds they don't appear to reduce your risk of catching an airborne virus. UPI

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Technologies designed to make indoor spaces safer from infection are not effective in the real world, researchers from the University of East Anglia in the UK argue.

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COVID aid fuels telehealth expansion in rural America - Roll Call As rural hospitals deal with workforce shortages and declining populations, some say telehealth offers a chance to bridge the gap. Lauren Clason Roll Call

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Federal pandemic aid also helped slow the rate of rural hospital closures. But as facilities contend with lingering inflation, workforce shortages and declining populations, the pace of those closures is picking up again.

Telehealth offers a chance to bridge the gap in hospital deserts.

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Germany's highest court annuls a decision to repurpose COVID relief funding for climate measures Germany’s highest court has annulled a government decision to repurpose 60 billion euros ($65 billion) originally meant to cushion the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernize the country. AP News

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The court ruled that the government’s move was unconstitutional and said it will have to find other ways of filling the resulting hole in the climate fund.

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Report: Measles cases and deaths increase worldwide, as childhood vaccinations rates decline A dangerous decline in the rate of children vaccinated against measles is spurring a global increase in cases and deaths from the highly contagious virus, according to a new report. Helen Branswell STAT

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COVID and flu vaccine rates are declining for US health care workers, CDC reports: ‘Disturbing trend’ (foxnews.com)

...They found that flu vaccine coverage was 81% among health care employees at hospitals and 47.1% at nursing homes.

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Nearly half of US veterans had long-COVID symptoms up to 6 months later Risk factors for long COVID were Black race, ages 50 to 64, diabetes, and severe infection. CIDRAP

Nearly half of 363,000 US veterans who tested positive for COVID-19 still had symptoms up to 6 months later, and the risk factors for this condition were Black race, older age, diabetes, and severe infection, concludes a study published yesterday in the Annals of Epidemiology.

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COVID increased gender life expectancy gap in US poco_bw CIDRAP

For more than 100 years, American women have outlived American men, largely due to differences in rates of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Now COVID-19 has widened the gendered life expectancy gap, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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