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Even as cases of Covid-19 continue to fall nationwide, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the coronavirus is most likely here to stay — and that it could behave similarly to influenza. "I do anticipate that this is probably going to be a seasonal virus," said the CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. That means it could join the flu and other respiratory viruses that tend to spread during the cold winter months. (Edwards, Snow and Dunn, 3/7)

Children and teens are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes after a COVID-19 infection, data show, raising concerns about the virus' long-term consequences in Houston, where the chronic endocrine condition is disproportionately common. A federal study found that children and adolescents diagnosed with COVID were up to 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes in the months following an infection. The study, which looked at youth health outcomes in two large medical claims databases, suggests children who contract the virus may be at increased risk for diabetes compared to their COVID-free peers. (Mishanec, 3/7)

Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid seems tailor-made for combatting Covid-19 in prisons: It doesn’t require an intravenous infusion like other treatments. There are signs it could significantly reduce people’s ability to spread the virus. And it significantly cuts people’s chances of getting seriously ill or dying from Covid-19. But the drug isn’t being made available to the vast majority of federal prisoners, according to STAT’s review of available data. (Florko, 3/8)

In a joint statement today, three global health groups urged countries to prioritize monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife, given growing concerns that continued spread could create virus reservoirs in animals. ... The statement on animal surveillance came from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the World Health Organization (WHO). They said though wildlife doesn't play a key transmission role in humans, SARS-CoV-2 spread in animal populations can affect their health and lead to the emergence of new variants. (Schnirring, 3/7)

As Utah ran out of COVID-19 tests in January and many districts briefly moved to teaching online, lawmakers suspended the state’s “Test to Stay” program — a strategy once praised nationally as an ingenious solution for halting outbreaks in schools. By testing all children any time that 1% of a student body was diagnosed with COVID-19, schools had enabled thousands of uninfected Utah kids to keep attending in person without spreading the virus in classrooms. Test to Stay failed in the onslaught of the coronavirus’s highly contagious omicron variant. But the reason wasn’t just that omicron overwhelmed the state’s test supply. (Alberty and Ladyzhets, 3/7)

KHN: The NFL Has Been Using An Unproven Measure To Get Players With Covid Back On The Field Fast

Two months before the Super Bowl, the omicron surge was decimating NFL rosters as players tested positive for covid-19. In mid-December, the NFL postponed a game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks because the Rams, who would go on to win the Super Bowl, had 29 players out with covid. The number of NFL employees testing positive per week in December went from about 30 to about 300, most of them players who would have to sit out of practices and games. The new variant “hit us like a ton of bricks,” said Dr. Allen Sills, chief medical officer for the NFL. (Bichell, 3/8)

Katherine Lockwood received exemplary evaluations from her supervisors as a counselor and social worker at Bourne Middle School, where she nurtured the well-being of her students remotely through the pandemic, providing them with anything from individual and group counseling to crisis intervention. But in January, Bourne Public Schools Superintendent Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou fired her, after a drawn out tug-of-war over whether Lockwood has the right to work from home .Lockwood is pregnant and has a number of medical conditions that put her at high risk for a severe COVID-19 infection, including cystic fibrosis and diabetes, according to a complaint she filed last month with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Her doctors wrote letters to her employer saying she needs to work remotely this school year, but Quinlan-Zhou refused to honor the requests, the complaint said. (Vaznis, 3/7)