COVID-19

States are trashing troves of masks and pandemic gear as huge, costly stockpiles linger and expire Some states that stockpiled millions of masks and other personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic are now throwing the items away. AP News

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With expiration dates passing and few requests to tap into the stockpile, Ohio auctioned off 393,000 gowns for just $2,451 and ended up throwing away another 7.2 million, along with expired masks, gloves and other materials. The now expiring supplies had cost about $29 million in federal money.

WHO designates JN.1 as separate COVID-19 variant of interest PAHO/Flickr cc CIDRAP

Due to its rapid growth and potential to add to the respiratory virus burden in Northern Hemisphere countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) today designated JN.1, part of the BA.2.86 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, as its own variant of interest.

Over the past month, the proportion of JN.1 viruses has rapidly increased, rising from 3.3% in early November to 27.1% by early December. Countries reporting the highest proportions include France, the United States, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

3 million children lose Medicaid coverage Presented by CVS Health — Three million fewer kids have Medicaid coverage today compared to the end of the pandemic-era protections and beginning of the “unwinding” of coverage in April, according … emartin The Hill

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Texas and Florida alone account for more than 1 million of the children who have lost coverage. The total decline for adults and children due to the “unwinding” process is now at approximately 7.8 million, the analysis found. ...