COVID-19

Researchers say the pandemic likely played a major role in the last few years for people deciding whether to have a baby.

The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

After looking at federal data, researchers concluded about one of every 100,000 children died from COVID-19 between August 2021 and July 2022.

The organization declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020, about six weeks before characterizing it as a pandemic.

The FDA’s plan is to call its advisory panel for another meeting in late May or early June to decide if the vaccine recipe needs tweaking — including which virus strain to target.

The advisory committee will also look at how well the current booster shots are working.

The FDA said the plan is to create a single annual shot to bolster immunity for most people.

Researchers found dangers for babies, too.

The preliminary data shows more than 267,000 people died of COVID-19 last year.

The agency also issued new guidelines about isolation.

Today, Texas State Senator Drew Springer (SD30) and Representative Dustin Burrows (HD83) filed a bill instructing the Texas Department of Health and Human Services to study adverse reactions, including death, and the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

U.S. flu season is still in full swing, but as rates for that virus trend down, the number of COVID-19 cases is ticking up.

The Defense Department had already stopped all related personnel actions, such as discharging troops who refused the shot.

Offshoots continue to spread globally as well, especially in China after the country lifted the bulk of its COVID-19 restrictions.

Doctors and parents fear disruptive illnesses will continue this winter.

An appeals court on Friday rejected efforts by conservative-leaning states to keep in place COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions on immigrants seeking asylum, while thousands of migrants packed shelters on Mexico’s border.

A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the Senate on Thursday and now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

COVID-19 cases have shown a marked increase after the Thanksgiving holiday, and further increases are projected around Christmas and New Year's.

Experts said that number is an undercount, considering up to 30 percent of people who contract the disease go on to have long-term symptoms.

The company Detect is voluntarily recalling more than 11,000 COVID tests because of an increased risk of false negatives.

Older adults make up a growing share of U.S. deaths. And less than half of nursing home residents are up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.

Hospital capacity is about as low now as during the omicron peak, according to new government data.

It now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily.

Omicron-targeted booster shots made by Moderna and rival Pfizer already were open to everyone 5 and older.

Alister Craig, dean of biological sciences at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, noted that progress in reducing malaria deaths had stalled even before COVID-19.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Biden told McCarthy he would consider lifting the mandate but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had recommended it be kept.

Last year Secretary Lloyd Austin directed that all troops get the vaccine or face potential expulsion from the military.

According to a study published Thursday in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, the stress caused by the pandemic may have prematurely aged teenage brains by at least three years.

Twitter says thousands of accounts were suspended for breaking the previous rules that combatted “harmful" coronavirus-related misinformation.

Nationally, new COVID cases averaged around 39,300 a day as of Tuesday, far lower than last winter but a vast undercount because of reduced testing and reporting.