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Nationally, Covid-19 levels in wastewater, a leading measure of viral transmission, are very high – higher than they were at this time last year in every region, CDC data shows. Weekly emergency department visits rose 12%, and hospitalizations jumped about 17% in the most recent week. And while Covid-19 remains the leading driver of respiratory virus hospitalizations, flu activity is rising rapidly. The CDC estimates that there have been more than 7 million illnesses, 73,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths related to the flu this season, and multiple indicators are high and rising. (McPhillips, Musa and Hassan, 1/1)

A trio of new studies provide a snapshot of US adult vaccine uptake and views, with two showing the highest coverage for flu, followed by COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and one confirming greater willingness to get a flu shot than a COVID-19 shot. (Van Beusekom, 12/27)

Mask requirements are popping up again —

Los Angeles County has reinstated a mask-wearing requirement for staff and visitors at all licensed health care facilities in light of an upswing in coronavirus metrics, officials said Saturday. The county recently entered the "medium" level of COVID-19 hospital admissions, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (12/30)

Masks are coming back soon at a major hospital network in the Boston area. Mass General Brigham said that starting Jan. 2, it will require health care staff who interact directly with patients to wear masks. Patients and visitors will also be "strongly encouraged" to wear masks given out by its hospitals and clinics. (Riley, 12/28)

Maryland health experts say they are seeing a spike in hospitalizations due to respiratory viruses, such as RSV, COVID and the flu. Volunteer groups are also urging healthcare systems in Maryland to reinstate their masking policies. ... According to the Maryland Department of Health, when respiratory virus hospitalization rates meet or exceed 10 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, healthcare systems should reinstate or update their masking policies. (Reece, 12/27)

On long covid —

Many people now view covid-19 as an almost routine inconvenience, much like flu, RSV and other seasonal infections. But four years after reports surfaced of a new respiratory illness, prompting a massive response among researchers, the disease’s aftereffects — commonly called long covid — continue to confound doctors and patients alike. “We know a lot about this particular coronavirus,” said Francesca Beaudoin, chair of the department of epidemiology at Brown University. “That does not translate into an understanding of the long-term consequences of infection.” (Sellers, 12/31)

A study published in Nature Communications last week describes how markers of brain injury are present in the blood months after COVID-19 infection, despite normal inflammation blood tests. The findings, which come from research teams at the University of Liverpool and King’s College London, add to the complicated picture of how COVID-19 can cause a range of neurologic symptoms. (Soucheray, 12/27)

More pandemic coverage —

On Jan. 1, 2020, public health officials in the United States woke up to the news of a strange new virus in China. They didn't know what to make of it, but at Columbia University in Manhattan, Dr. Ian Lipkin was already nervous. Lipkin, a virologist, had spent his career studying pathogens and hoping to prevent the arrival of new ones. He had long pushed for closing the kind of live animal market that might have been the source of what became known as SARS-CoV-2. He would later argue that a low-security lab in Wuhan had no business studying dangerous pathogens ‒ "end of story" ‒ whether or not it was the cause of the pandemic. Now, on the fourth anniversary of that fateful time, Lipkin and his team at the Mailman School of Public Health are among a number of groups worldwide working to prevent the next global pandemic. (Weintraub, 1/1)

The federal government spent $123 million during the coronavirus pandemic to build a massive chemical plant here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a project meant to help ensure that supply-chain disruptions would never again leave the nation short of medical gloves. In late spring, construction wrapped up on the plant, the only one in the country capable of producing the synthetic rubber needed to make disposable nitrile gloves. By fall, the factory was mothballed. (Vozzella, 12/28)

�鶹Ů�� Health News and Politifact: RFK Jr.’s Campaign Of Conspiracy Theories Is PolitiFact’s 2023 Lie Of The Year 
As pundits and politicos spar over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election, one thing is clear: Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories. His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked anger over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of covid-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic. (Czopek and Sanders, 12/27)