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The number of available Los Angeles County hospital beds has fallen to its lowest level of the pandemic, the result not only of the enduring threat of COVID-19 and the reemergence of flu and RSV, but also the needs of a populace that put off nonemergency care. (Money, Lin II and Alpert Reyes, 12/16)

In March 2020, Dr. Jorge Bernett saw his first-ever COVID-19 patient, a young man from Contra Costa County on a ventilator. “He gestures for a piece of paper and pen, and he writes, ‘Am I going to live?’” recalled Bernett, an infectious diseases doctor with John Muir Health. The patient survived. (Hao, 12/17)

California health officials are sounding a different tune on what people sick with COVID should do when they test positive. But their new guidance contradicts current federal recommendations — suggesting California is going its own way as coronavirus cases soar in the state. (Vainshtein, 12/16)

A fast-spreading covid-19 outbreak in China has researchers predicting a surge in virus-related deaths next year, with several analyses forecasting more than 1 million fatalities in a country that until now has largely kept the coronavirus in check. (Westfall, 12/18)

In anticipation of COVID-19 surges in China after last week's easing of public health restrictions, the demand for the generic liver drug ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has risen dramatically, but manufacturers say they can't keep up, and experts warn about the limited nature of the study fueling the demand, Scrip reports. UDCA is used for the treatment of gallstones and for liver diseases involving a slowing or blockage of bile from the liver (eg, primary biliary cirrhosis). (Van Beusekom, 12/16)

The Covid Treatment Quick Start Consortium delivered its first shipment of Paxlovid, a Covid-19 treatment made by Pfizer Inc., to Africa on Monday with 1,000 courses of the drug arriving in Zambia. (Sguazzin, 12/19)

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the baby formula shortage overshadowed the COVID pandemic in generating interest among registered voters this year, per a Morning Consult analysis shared first with Axios. (Reed, 12/19)