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Among households that had a serious illness in the past year, one in five respondents said they had trouble accessing care during the pandemic. That's a "staggering" number of people unable to access care, says Mary Findling, the assistant director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. "From a health and a good care standpoint, that's just too high." (Chatterjee, 8/8)

A Pew Research Center analysis found that during the first year of the pandemic home births increased by 19% nationally. About 46,000 people had home births in 2020. A handful of the states with the most home births are in the Mountain West, and the region also includes two states that saw some of the country's largest increases from 2019 to 2020. (Gibson, 8/8)

“If your test turns out to be positive after five days, don’t be upset because the majority of people still test positive until at least Day 7, to Day 10 even,” Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, said during a briefing Thursday. “So that’s the majority. That’s the norm.” (Lin II and Money, 8/8)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she tested positive for COVID-19 Monday evening. "Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms after being fully vaccinated and twice boosted," she said in a statement issued late Monday. She said that plans to maintain a remote schedule after speaking with a state doctor. (Hendrickson, 8/8)

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings will end its vaccine requirement for customers and loosen coronavirus testing rules next month, the company announced Monday. Starting Sept. 3, fully vaccinated travelers who are 12 or older will no longer have to test before boarding a ship on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. (Benveniste, 8/8)

A new study of coronavirus vaccine mandates for students at U.S. colleges and universities suggests the mandates saved about 7,300 lives last fall. "I thought the study that came out (last month) was telling," said Daniel Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, which represents all 15 public universities in Michigan. (Hall, 8/8)

The online vaccine appointment system used by the Southern Nevada Health District is back online, the agency said Monday in a news release. Individuals can make appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations, routine immunizations and monkeypox vaccinations. (8/8)