Public Attitudes

A WHO official weighs in on Covid, vaccines, and mistakes that were made "The biggest collective failing has been that we've underestimated this microbe," the WHO's Mike Ryan says of SARS-CoV-2. Helen Branswell STAT

The Covid-19 pandemic has entered its third year, with no end in sight, and the world is fed up to the gills. A new and even more highly transmissible variant, Omicron, has been scorching through holiday gatherings over the past couple of weeks. People who are thrice vaccinated are among the infected.

CDC warns against cruises, regardless of vaccination status | AP News MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people on Thursday not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of onboard outbreaks fueled by the omicron variant. AP NEWS

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The CDC said it has more than 90 cruise ships under investigation or observation as a result of COVID-19 cases. The agency did not disclose the number of infections.

Why Covid Death Rates Are Rising for Some Groups Since vaccines became widely available in April, nearly 250,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States. Their demographics are different from earlier in the pandemic. The New York Times

The overall rate of Covid-19 deaths has declined since vaccines became widely available in April, yet nearly a quarter million people in the United States have died from the virus in the past eight months. The virus is now responsible for a higher share of deaths from all causes for younger Americans and white Americans than it was before all adults were eligible for vaccines.