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The highly contagious COVID Omicron variant is shattering new U.S. daily case records. With Omicron carrying a risk of breakthrough infection five times higher than that of the Delta variant, we are witnessing a significant impact on the American workforce in all sectors. The increase in cases among essential workers has sidelined many health care workers, resulted in thousands of holiday flights being canceled, and once again disrupted our supply chain. (Joseph V. Sakran and Kavita K. Patel, 1/6)

Covid-19 vaccine mandates are up for consideration at the US Supreme Court once again, with arguments set for Friday -- but this time with a couple of twists. Two consolidated cases have made their way to the high court for emergency action, meaning the appellants are seeking to influence whether these mandates take effect now, while litigation proceeds, over whether they are legal and constitutional. One of the cases involves the Biden administration's vaccine-or-testing requirement for employees of large businesses. The other addresses the administration's vaccine mandate (which includes medical and religious exemptions) on health care providers receiving funding through Medicare or Medicaid. (Jennifer Rodgers, 1/6)

In the past 10 days, almost a dozen people I know have tested positive for the coronavirus. Two of them had a rough time with it and said it was comparable to a full-blown case of flu. The others had a day of chills or nothing at all. When asked about symptoms, one of them, having been isolated, responded, “Boredom.” (Fareed Zakaria, 1/6)

For two years, we have been living with the risk of a coronavirus infection, and the attendant chances, in declining order of possibility, of illness, hospitalization, and death. But there have been almost no reliable tools to help us navigate these risks. It wasn’t so long ago that friends of mine were sanitizing their mail and triple-masking outdoors — precautions later revealed to be excessive, but who knew at the time? (Alex Beam, 1/7)

In December 2020, to the tune of rousing cheers, the first health care workers began getting vaccinated against Covid-19. A year later, the cheers have died down, vaccination rates have plateaued, and the Omicron wave has hit the U.S. with one million daily cases registered during the first week of January 2022. Yet despite the hard work and sacrifices of health care workers, many of them haven’t seen pay raises. As 2022 begins with another wave of infections, it remains imperative to shine a light on working conditions in health care in general, and in intensive care units in particular. (Harris Solomon, 1/7)

The omicron variant keeps surging at an eye-popping rate, but the number of Texans getting a booster shot hasn’t surged with it. We can do better, and our state and county governments need to take some specific steps to help us. (1/7)

Earlier this week, Israeli media reported a person who was hospitalized with evidence of both seasonal flu and COVID at the same time. This unvaccinated and pregnant person had mild symptoms and was discharged without any complications. A person being infected with both the COVID-causing SARS-CoV2 virus and an influenza virus can happen; we just had one such person in our hospital last month whom we treated and discharged without a whole lot of fanfare. However, the Times of Israel made a mundane two-virus story go viral by using a catchy, made-up name of “flurona” and reporting that this is the “first” such case in the country, which some people read as the first case ever. (Raghu Adiga, 1/6)

In Representative Ragan’s guest essay, he is wrong in virtually all of his argument, arrogant in his medical statements, politically pandering in his legislation, and indifferent to the health and safety of Tennesseans. ... The [Board of Medical Examiners] reposted on it’s website in support a statement by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) advising physicians that spreading disprovable lies about COVID-19 vaccination could result in disciplinary action by their state’s licensing board. The board “handed” Tennessee doctors no ultimatum at all nor did the board exceed it’s legal authority. The statement doesn’t even address prescribing and dispensing medical treatment for COVID-19 as Mr. Ragan’s cited law states. (Robert Landry, 1/6)