Novel Coronavirus

The 18 million youngsters under 5 are the only group in the U.S. not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “declining testing and sequencing means we are blinding ourselves to the evolution of the virus.” He also noted that almost 1 billion people in lower-income countries still haven’t been vaccinated.

Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s kid-sized booster, to be offered at least five months after the youngsters’ last shot.

“Consider getting tested as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days) before your trip” when heading to any destination, the CDC said.

The state health department on Wednesday reported 1,954 cases over a seven-day period, an 11% increase compared to last week, and 18 more deaths.

Areas considered at higher risk are mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to formally recommend the booster for this age group. The CDC’s scientific advisers are scheduled to meet on Thursday.

New cases reported over seven days also ticked up even as the state’s per capita rates fell when viewed nationally.

Scientists turn their attention to finding the rare individuals who have not yet contracted the coronavirus.

The pandemic has generated massive amounts of data that make clear which U.S. groups have been hit the hardest.

The FDA said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine.

Alaska’s new case rate per 100,000 people fell from fifth-highest in the nation last week to 10th highest this week.

As coronavirus cases surged in Alaska, WEKA, a for-profit business whose owners donated to Mayor Dave Bronson’s campaign, moved in rent-free to a city-owned building to run a monoclonal antibody clinic. Controversy has dogged the clinic ever since. What actually happened?

More than two years after it first spilled into humans, the virus continues to change its structure and chemistry in ways that confound efforts to bring it fully under control.

A top FDA official said at least one of the two coronavirus vaccines for children under 6 could become available as soon as June.

The pandemic’s toll is no longer falling almost exclusively on those who chose not to get shots, according to a Post analysis, as the elderly and immunocompromised have a harder time dodging increasingly contagious strains.

Moderna asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by summer.

This weekly data does not include at-home tests, which do not get reported to the state. But it may be indicative of broader pandemic trends.

Biden adviser Tony Fauci said the United States was no longer seeing “tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths” from covid-19.

The rare cases aren’t severe but highlight the many questions that remain about the virus.

But officials caution that people should not presume they are protected against the virus going forward.

Supply of the Pfizer product was initially very limited, but as COVID-19 cases across the country have fallen and manufacturing has increased it is now far more abundant.

The continued public support overall for mandating masks on transportation comes even as worries about COVID-19 are among their lowest points of the past two years.

The CDC said that it is continuing its “assessment that at this time an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health.”

We’re hoping to learn more from those who’ve had long-term COVID-19 symptoms or health issues in the weeks and months after their diagnoses.