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Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, 622 more US physicians died than expected, but no excess deaths occurred after April 2021, when vaccines were broadly available, finds a study yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Stanford University researchers led the analysis of American Medical Association monthly death data from January 2016 to February 2020 among active and nonactive physicians aged 45 to 84 years. The team used this model to estimate expected deaths from March 2020 to December 2021 and then calculated excess deaths. (Van Beusekom, 2/7)

Coronavirus levels monitored in Bay Area wastewater reveal another COVID-19 wave is under way in several regions despite the low case rates reported on the local health department dashboards. The San Jose sewer shed in Santa Clara County shows a “high” level of the coronavirus gene per gram of waste solids,  according to state data on viral counts in wastewater. (Vaziri, 2/7)

Preventing long COVID and its array of potential symptoms that can afflict the body could depend on a person’s lifestyle, a new Harvard-led study suggests. Sticking to simple, healthy habits such as getting good sleep is not only beneficial to one’s overall health, but may also significantly lower the chances of developing long COVID, according to research published Feb. 6 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. (Marnin, 2/7)

People who know someone who became ill with COVID-19 or died from the disease are twice as likely to receive a vaccine, according to a study led by Rutgers and Penn State University. The study published in the journal Vaccine surveyed about 1,200 people who were eligible for the shots in April 2021 to determine whether knowing of a friend’s or family member’s COVID-19 infection or death prompted them to get the shots shortly after the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency-use authorization of the mRNA vaccines. (Vaziri, 2/7)

Last year's increase in severe strep infections in children amounted only to a return to levels of the disease from before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week, based on early figures from 2022. (Tin, 2/7)

The Biden administration urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to dismiss a challenge to ending the pandemic-era immigration measure known as Title 42, saying that the government’s announcement that the health emergency would expire on May 11 would make the case moot. The court in December blocked a trial judge’s ruling that would have lifted the measure, which has allowed even migrants who might otherwise qualify for asylum to be swiftly expelled at the southern border. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments in the case on March 1. (Liptak, 7)

When House Republicans grill Biden administration officials on the COVID-19 response at a Wednesday hearing, some of the sharpest questions may surround how the government oversees research on pathogens that can cause pandemics. (Reed and Bettelheim, 2/8)