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As governments around the world start to limit testing for Covid-19, the humble throat drop may become a gauge of how quickly omicron is spreading. Sales of medicated lozenges and gargles, cough suppressants and over-the-counter pain relief medications have soared so high the products are often in short supply around the world, according to manufacturers and sellers. The trend has emerged even in countries where official testing numbers appear to show that active cases are falling. (Ramli, 3/9)

Over 100 public health, medical and epidemiology experts and advocates sent the Biden administration a letter on Wednesday begging it to do more to control the pandemic around the world, saying America’s current global efforts have failed. The authors asked the administration to share Covid-19 vaccine technology and increase manufacturing around the world, ask for more funding from Congress to support distribution in low- and middle-income countries and increase access to Covid therapeutics and rapid tests around the world, according to the letter obtained by POLITICO. (Payne, 3/9)

Coronavirus cases have continued to plummet nationally and in nearly all states, and daily deaths are also dropping. COVID precautions have already been lifted across most of the country as pandemic fatigue runs deep. The virus will probably be with us for the long term, but these improving metrics show Americans are moving on with their lives more safely. In the post-Omicron, post-vaccination world, case counts aren't a very good indicator of how severe the pandemic is — a sentiment the CDC has embraced and worked into its official guidance. (Owens, 3/10)

Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued their steep slide, falling 70 percent in the last two months. It’s the latest evidence that COVID-19 is loosening its grip as winter nears its close, and hospitalizations have increasingly been relied upon as a barometer for the strength of the virus here. There are now 131 Mainers infected with the virus in hospitals across the state as of Wednesday morning, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down from 143 the day before and down from the pandemic high of 436, set on Jan. 13. (Burns, 3/9)

Three hours spent on hold. That's how long Courtney Gramm waited one day, all so that she might get her license from the state of California to work as a nurse. That morning was just a snapshot from a long ordeal. "Panicked, anxious, frustrated, mad even," Gramm describes how she felt as she called over and over. "I just couldn't get any information out of them." Gramm waited seven months for her nurse practitioner license at a time when COVID-19 cases were skyrocketing across the U.S. and hospitals were desperate to keep nurses on staff. (Fast, 3/10)

The number of Covid-19 patients has receded at Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare, but its leaders say they expect to stay in crisis mode for the foreseeable future because of persistent staffing shortages and the end of pandemic-related support they have been using as a crutch. Signs of the stress abound: Emergency-room wait times are up, staffed beds are down and patients are being transferred hours away for treatments such as gastrointestinal care that previously were offered on-site. The hospital’s nursing home is reliant upon the National Guard to keep its doors open. (Vielkind, 3/9)

KHN: Two Years In, Covid Leaves Montana Public Health Officials Feeling ‘Watched’

After covid-19 arrived in Park County, Montana, the local health officer, Dr. Laurel Desnick, became the face of pandemic measures and the focus of attention as never before. She’s been whispered about at the grocery store, yelled at on her way home, and called a tyrant. She and other public health workers say they feel that they’re living in a fishbowl and that everything they say will be scrutinized. “It almost sort of feels like you’re being watched,” Desnick said. “It’s not a good feeling.” (Houghton, 3/10)

Pummeled by the pandemic, at least 40% of rural U.S. hospitals are in danger of shutting down and leaving millions of people in smaller and less affluent communities without a nearby emergency and critical care facility. That’s the conclusion of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, whose recent study sees 500 hospitals at immediate risk for closing within two years and more than 300 others at high risk within five years. The grim assessment by the policy center found the problems spread across the country, and that the threats will persist even if the pandemic ends because rising costs are outrunning revenue. (Coleman-Lochner, 3/9)