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When Eleni Nicolau became sick with COVID after Thanksgiving, a breakthrough infection that hit the 83-year-old hard, she found herself alone in a hospital room, separated from her family and struggling to breathe. Then doctors gave her a new option: Did she want to finish her hospitalization at home? An ambulance brought Nicolau to the triple-decker where she lives in Worcester, and where for the next five days, nurses gave her oxygen, steroids, and antiviral drugs. Doctors talked to her on daily video calls. A biosensor on her arm tracked her vital signs around the clock. ”Everything you would have in the hospital, my mom had here,” said her daughter, Fran, who helped care for her. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/16)

Henry Ford Health System's hospitals have had to delay or relocate non-urgent surgeries to manage the increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, which its executives describe as a crisis. All of the Detroit-based system's hospitals are near or at capacity and the situation is dire, executives reported in a news conference Wednesday morning. The news follows a similar announcement last week from Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. (Frank, 12/16)

Arizona is committing millions of dollars and asking the federal government for extra help as hospitals face a growing strain from rising COVID-19 caseloads and warn they are nearing their limits. Gov. Doug Ducey earmarked another $35 million aimed at helping hospitals staff their existing beds and discharge patients more quickly. His administration also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 133 people to bolster staffing at seven rural hospitals. (12/16)

New waves of COVID infections are crashing into a health care system whose workers are at a breaking point — if not already past it. Hospital workers have had little relief from COVID over the past two years. And that burned-out, dispirited workforce is again being overwhelmed by surges from Delta, while facing the specter of yet another wave from Omicron. (Reed, 12/17)

KHN: As Hospitals Fill Up, Paramedics Spend More Time Moving Patients, Less On Emergencies

The night after Thanksgiving, a small ambulance service that covers a huge swath of southwestern Colorado got a call that a patient needed an emergency transfer from the hospital in Gunnison to a larger one with an intensive care unit 65 miles away in Montrose. The patient — a 78-year-old man — was experiencing atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that usually isn’t life-threatening. But for patients like this one with chronic health conditions, a history of cardiac issues and high blood pressure, the condition can cause a stroke or heart failure. (Santoro, 12/17)

Lines again stretch around blocks at some COVID-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections. This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a redux of restrictions, cancellations and rising angst over the never-ending pandemic. “This year, more than ever, everyone needed a holiday,” said John McNulty, owner of Thief, a Brooklyn bar that had to close for a day earlier this week because of an infected employee. (Rubinkam, Peltz and Swenson, 12/17)

The countdown has reached single digits until Christmas arrives and Kwanzaa commences, and there's only so much you can get done. You can go last-minute shopping, prepare feasts and plan gatherings for families and friends, get the kids to see Santa, and hit up that office party. You can, with luck anyway. But with omicron around and the delta variant still in the air, the question may be, should you? (Demio, 12/17)

Eric Adams isn’t mayor yet. But New York City’s mayor-elect plans to make changes to the city’s Covid-19 response when he takes over City Hall on Jan. 1. In reaction to the rapid rise in Covid cases and hospitalizations in the city this week, the mayor-in-waiting pledged to create a new color-coded warning system to alert New Yorkers to the Covid threat level. He said the introduction of the omicron variant and the fast spike in Covid around the holidays would require some changes once he came to office. (Nahmias, 12/16)

Personal finance guru Dave Ramsey required employees at his company to disregard COVID-19 work-from-home orders and attend in-person gatherings of more than 900 workers who were encouraged not to wear masks or maintain social distance, a new federal workplace discrimination lawsuit asserts. Employees at Ramsey Solutions – the Franklin, Tennessee, headquarters for the evangelical Christian bestselling author and media mogul – who wanted to work from home instead of coming to office were guilty of "weakness of spirit," Ramsey said, according to the lawsuit. (Snider, 12/16)

A Florida man was kicked off a United flight for using a thong as a mask to protest the airline's mask mandate. The passenger, Adam Jenne, told local news outlet NBC2 that he believes he was in compliance with the airline's mask mandate, as the thong covered both his nose and mouth on the Dec 15. flight between Ft. Lauderdale and Washington, D.C. Airline staff, however, disagreed — and removed him from the flight.  (Raik, 12/16)

Your ability to find free tests may depend on where you live and work — and how much time and effort you’re willing to devote. Last week, for instance, Vermont issued its own mandate requiring insurers to cover the cost of at-home tests. The rule is retroactive and will apply to all tests purchased on Dec. 1 or after. Other states may ultimately issue similar rules — another reason to save your receipts. In addition, some employers offer free tests for employees on-site, supply free rapid tests to take home or provide health plans that cover the cost of at-home testing. (Anthes, 12/16)