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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday announced the launch of a pilot program that will allow people to receive free testing, consultation and treatment for COVID-19 from their homes. The NIH estimated up to 8,000 eligible individuals will participate in the pilot program, called the Home Test to Treat program, which will be led by local and state officials in Berks County, Pennsylvania. (Choi, 1/5)

EMed, a privately-owned at-home health services firm, will host the official Home Test to Treat website, where individuals can sign up to receive antiviral treatment delivery as well as to coordinate telehealth-enabled test kits. The public health agency has also engaged the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, to collaborate with eMed on analyzing the data collected from the telehealth program such as the impact of a home-based process on testing and treatment. (1/5)

The pace of new COVID-19 hospital admissions is rapidly rising in regions where XBB.1.5 has become dominant. The latest omicron offshoot has been labeled the most infectious coronavirus subvariant to date and made up about 75% of new sequenced cases on the East Coast last week, according to data published last Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vaziri, 1/5)

After months and months of SARS-CoV-2 subvariant soup, one ingredient has emerged in the United States with a flavor pungent enough to overwhelm the rest: XBB.1.5, an Omicron offshoot that now accounts for an estimated 75 percent of cases in the Northeast. A crafty dodger of antibodies that is able to grip extra tightly onto the surface of our cells, XBB.1.5 is now officially the country’s fastest-spreading coronavirus subvariant. (Wu, 1/5)

With cases of COVID-19, the flu, and RSV surging this winter, children’s cold and flu medicines are growing sparse on drugstore shelves. And even some adult varieties are proving harder than usual to find. An “unprecedented level of respiratory need” — as over-the-counter drugmaker Procter & Gamble put it in a statement — has local pharmacies struggling to keep pediatric products like liquid Motrin or Tylenol on shelves. (Gerber, 1/5)

Shubham Chandra knows how dangerous the coronavirus can be: He lost his dad during the pandemic. So when he cleared customs at Newark Liberty International Airport and saw people offering anonymous COVID-19 testing, he was happy to volunteer. “It’s a minimum amount of effort to help a lot of people,” said the 27-year-old New York City man, who had just stepped off a plane from Cancun, Mexico. (Ungar and Lum, 1/5)

Air travelers to Greece from China must show they have tested negative for COVID-19 48 hours before arrival, a new requirement that will be announced shortly, two government officials said on Thursday. (1/5)

A Tennessee judge has ordered Gov. Bill Lee’s administration to release consultant reports that recommend how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic — documents the state argued should remain secret under public records law. (Mattise, 1/6)

Navigating the health insurance system is often difficult and overwhelming, even in the best of times. For patients with long Covid, a relatively new condition that frequently leaves patients with a lengthy and unpredictable list of debilitating symptoms, it can be especially nightmarish. (Nova, 1/5)

COVID-19 vaccination rates among US children aged 5 to 17 years varied widely by race as of August 2022, with the highest coverage among Asian youth and the lowest in Black children, underscoring the need for culturally relevant information, according to a study published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Van Beusekom, 1/5)