�鶹Ů��

An expert panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines on Wednesday recommended that people 65 and older should get an additional Covid-19 vaccine shot this spring. (Branswell, 2/28)

Of all the lingering symptoms of long Covid, difficulty focusing and thinking, known as brain fog, may be the most frightening and baffling. A new study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, which looks at how much cognition is impaired in the months after a coronavirus infection, shows that Covid-19’s impact can be measured in the equivalent of IQ points. (Cooney, 2/28)

A new study by the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and 11 other medical sites found that up to a third of children who were hospitalized because of COVID-19 experienced persistent symptoms one to two years after they were released. (Roberts, 2/28)

The COVID-19 pandemic was a breaking point for 43-year-old Tamalyn Paredes, an addiction counselor at a methadone clinic in Portland, Oregon. Living in California at the time, she worked at a group home for children with serious emotional disturbances – a job she described as taxing, especially when kids would lash out. Helping those with mental health conditions hit close to home for Paredes. She lived with depression and suicidal thoughts for years, but the hormonal side effects of ovary removal surgery in 2019 made things worse. (Garzella, 2/29)

Progress on many key health care quality measures was reversed during the first two years of the pandemic, according to a new comprehensive federal review. The report identified a "significant worsening" of patient safety measures and "persistent" health equity gaps for historically disadvantaged patients as COVID-19 overwhelmed the health care system. (Goldman, 2/29)

Four years after what was once the “novel coronavirus” was declared a pandemic, COVID remains the most dangerous infectious respiratory illness regularly circulating in the U.S. But a glance at the United States’ most prominent COVID policies can give the impression that the disease is just another seasonal flu. ... These changes are a stark departure from the earliest days of the crisis. ... COVID might still carry a bigger burden than flu, but COVID policies are getting more flu-ified. (Wu, 2/28)