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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently unveiled new wastewater data tracking dashboard to make it easier to track local and national trends, even by variant. Wastewater tracking is one of the early indicators health officials use to gauge the activity of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses. Called the National Wastewater Surveillance Program, the main page says that, nationally, wastewater viral activity of COVID is high. (Schnirring, 11/29)

Admissions have been halted at a skilled nursing facility that was part of one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks as state officials raise major concerns about a new round of infection and deaths there. The situation at Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, a 159-bed facility in Northern New Jersey, demonstrates just how dangerous COVID still is for vulnerable seniors and other patients who call skilled nursing facilities home. Since September, 66 staff members and residents have been sickened by the virus, with seven residents dying, New Jersey health officials said last week. (Marselas, 11/28)

Pirola quickly spread across the U.S., with cases almost tripling in number from the previous two-week period. Some experts aren’t so sure Pirola and its offsprings—most notably JN.1—will be very protected under the new vaccines. The authors of a bioRxiv study wrote in a pre-publication comment, which hasn’t yet been peer reviewed, that the newer vaccines could spur the spread of the more recent Pirola viruses. (Johnson, 11/28)

The Biden administration for the first time will allow all schools to order free COVID-19 tests from the federal government ahead of the holidays, officials told Axios first. Uptake of updated COVID vaccines has been sluggish, making other precautions like timely testing all the more critical as respiratory virus season heats up. (Reed, 11/29)

When Raynesha Cummings enrolled her three teenagers in a private school, she hoped to keep them safe from COVID-19. It was small, with no frills — there was just one teacher and the school didn’t serve lunch — but it worked for her family, at least initially. Her son graduated in May at the top of his class, with hopes of attending a trade school. But when he started applying, schools said they would not recognize his diploma. Then, a couple weeks later, Cummings says she discovered the teacher had been texting her 16-year-old daughter to offer money for sexually explicit photos. The teacher was arrested, and Cummings learned he previously had been accused of raping a child. (Lurye and Lussier, 11/29)

Indeed Inc., the online job-search company, is canceling the monthly mental health days it introduced during the pandemic, joining a growing group of firms paring back benefits they rushed to provide during the Covid-19 crisis. Indeed initiated “YOU Days” in June 2020, giving all employees the same day off each month at a time when exhausted staff were taking fewer vacation days because of travel restrictions. Three years later, employees are once again booking time off at a similar rate to before the pandemic. “As a result, we have agreed that the global need for YOU Days has passed,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. (Butler and Constantz, 11/29)