By DEVNA BOSE and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press
People with immune system health problems continue to take precautions against COVID-19 five years into the pandemic. The threat of infection is a governing force in their lives while others speak of the coronavirus in the past tense. They protect themselves from the virus with masks and isolate themselves in small family bubbles. In online support groups, they trade research about the danger of repeat infections and cognitive impairment. They miss the empathy they felt during the early days of the pandemic. Some have lost friendships, but they strive to maintain the social ties important to mental health.
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, LAURA UNGAR and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press
Five years after the virus that causes COVID emerged in China it still holds some mysteries. The disease has killed an estimated 20 million people globally, according to the World Health Organization, and thousands are still dying every year. But scientists still aren't clear where it came from, and they are still trying to understand what causes long-term symptoms called long COVID. And while vaccines have helped dramatically reduce severe disease and death from COVID, the virus mutates so quickly researchers have struggled to find a vaccine that stops the spread.
School attendance tanked during the pandemic and has only started to recover. One reason? Parents are struggling to decide when it's OK to send a child to school while sick. During the pandemic, schools had strict COVID-19 protocols. Many parents kept kids home for days after they had a cough or fever. Schools and health experts are now saying it is OK to send children to class with some symptoms of illness, including a runny nose or cough. If your child has a fever, keep them home from school until the fever is gone for 24 hours without medication.
Dr. Anthony Fauci faced heated questioning from Republican lawmakers about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The top U.S. infectious disease expert until 2022, Fauci was grilled by the House panel behind closed doors in January. On Monday, they questioned him again, in public and on camera. The Republican-led subcommittee has spent over a year probing the nation's response to the pandemic and whether U.S.-funded research in China may have played any role in how it started. Democrats opened the hearing saying the investigation so far has found no evidence that Fauci did anything wrong.
Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners are down again, and federal officials are launching a new campaign to try to bring them up. Usually, 94% to 95% of kindergarteners nationally are vaccinated against measles, tetanus, and certain other diseases. The vaccination rates dropped below 94% in the 2020-2021 school year. A new study finds they dropped again in the 2021-2022 school year, to about 93%. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new data Thursday. This week, the CDC launched a campaign that includes new educational materials to help doctors talk to families about vaccinations.
