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Hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the U.S. continued to fall, with the seven-day average of patients with confirmed or suspected cases easing to 134,000 on Wednesday, down 16% from a Jan. 20 high, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Deaths, a lagging indicator, are ticking upward, reaching a seven-day average of 2,530, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, though they are off the highs recorded in January last year. Public health experts say that while the more contagious Omicron variant of the virus is less likely to cause severe illness than previous variants, the large number of infections this winter means it is continuing to cause a large and growing number of fatalities. (Kostov, Roland and Abbott, 2/3)

New daily cases have decreased by almost 50% in the last 2 weeks, but the average daily death rate — which lags by 4 to 6 weeks behind case rates — has increased by 35%. An analysis of new federal data shows 100,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since Thanksgiving. (Soucheray, 2/3)

Coronavirus infections have declined about 70% since the start of the spring semester among students in L.A. County, but overall rates remain significantly higher than they were before the current surge. The decline in the latest countywide figures, released Thursday by Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, aligns with other data suggesting that the peak of the explosive growth due to the Omicron variant has passed. Health officials warned, however, that it remains important to take precautions — many of which remain required under local health orders. (Blume, 2/3)

The new cousin of the super-contagious omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 hasn’t spread as fast as health officials had feared, raising hopes it won’t extend the devastating case surge that has filled hospital wards this winter. The sub-lineage of the omicron variant known as BA.2 has been dubbed “stealth omicron” because it is harder to detect, and its rapid spread in other countries has worried health officials that it could overtake the dominant omicron strain and perhaps prove more virulent or vaccine resistant. But Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week that does not appear to be the case. (Woolfolk, 2/3)

New data shows that the gap between vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans remains stark. In fact, when you compare unvaccinated people to those most protected by the vaccines, the gap has grown. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data this week from Los Angeles County. The data covered the period between Nov. 7 and Jan. 8, which means the vast majority of cases involved came after the rise of omicron. What you’ll see right away is that there are indeed lots of infections among both unvaccinated people and vaccinated people — more specifically, vaccinated people who haven’t gotten boosters. (Blake, 2/3)

Last January, a team of researchers searching for the coronavirus in New York City’s wastewater spotted something strange in their samples. The viral fragments they found had a unique constellation of mutations that had never been reported before in human patients — a potential sign of a new, previously undetected variant. For the past year, these oddball sequences, or what the scientists call “cryptic lineages,” have continued to pop up in the city’s wastewater. (Anthes, 2/3)

Fabian Granado will celebrate his 27th birthday on Feb. 8. It's a day his close-knit family feared he wouldn't live to see. Hospitalized 164 days — often near death including two months in a coma — from COVID-19, Granado walked out of UF Health Jacksonville on Tuesday to tears of joy, cheers, handshakes and hugs from the masked medical staff who cared for him day and night. "I'm feeling wonderful," said Granado in a soft, raspy voice. "It's been a long 5½ months at the hospital getting my lungs healed and being able to talk, walk and you know, be alive and a human again." (Stepzinski, 2/3)

KHN: A Disabled Activist Speaks Out About Feeling ‘Disposable’ 

In early January, one of the country’s top public health officials went on national television and delivered what she called “really encouraging news” on covid-19: A recent study showed that more than three-fourths of fatalities from the omicron variant of the virus occurred among people with several other medical conditions. “These are people who were unwell to begin with,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Walensky’s remarks infuriated Americans with disabilities, who say the pandemic has highlighted how the medical establishment — and society at large — treats their lives as expendable. (Scheier, 2/4)

Among older adults, the risk of stroke is highest within 3 days of COVID-19 diagnosis, and a new scoring system could help predict the risk of stroke, according to preliminary research presented at the International Stroke Conference 2022 this week. (2/3)

The severity of COVID-19 does not change based on pregnancy trimester, finds research presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM's) virtual annual meeting. According to an abstract published Jan 1 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AJOG), the research team studied the outcomes of 1,092 pregnant COVID-19 patients who delivered at a Dallas hospital from Mar 18, 2020, to May 31, 2021. (2/3)

One of the great mysteries that has emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic — and one that’s still being investigated by infectious disease specialists — is why some people catch Covid and others don’t, even when they’re equally exposed to the virus. Many of us know entire households who caught Covid and had to isolate over the pandemic, but there are also multiple anecdotes of couples, families and colleagues where some people caught the virus — but not everyone. Indeed, Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC that studies indicate the likelihood of becoming infected within a household once one case is positive is “not as high as you’d imagine.” (Ellyatt, 2/3)

COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere. While Kansas City’s omicron wave seems to be trending downward, some people, often referred to as long haulers, are still dealing with lingering COVID symptoms for months after they first test positive. You’ve probably heard the phrase “long COVID” before, but what exactly is it? We spoke with Dr. Paramdeep Baweja, Interventional Cardiologist with University Health, to answer your questions about long COVID, how it’s affecting people here in Kansas City and what resources are available if you’re dealing with it. (Hernandez, 2/4)