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Lawmakers’ one last, incomplete chance to show parents they haven’t been forgotten is to pass the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act — a bill expanding protections for breastfeeding workers — before this Congress ends. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 12/20)

China’s “zero covid” policy was unsustainable and abruptly scrapped, but the absence of a coherent fallback strategy threatens a fresh set of nightmares for its population, its economy and the Communist Party leadership. A new crisis could shake the whole world. (12/20)

For many people, this holiday season feels like a return to 2019, with crowded stores, holiday parties and travel plans. But one Covid concession we should retain at the end of 2022 — and well into 2023 — is the use of rapid antigen tests, especially before attending large gatherings or meeting with people at high risk. (Faye Flam, 12/20)

Even as the United States has made commitments to health as a human right and reversing health disparities and has invested significantly in orphan diseases, it continues to overlook sickle cell disease (SCD), the most common inherited blood disorder worldwide, which affects more than 100,000 Americans, most of whom are Black or Hispanic American. (Amar Kelkar, Julie Kanter and Payal Desai, 12/21)

Life is fragile, and it’s all that we have. More guns equals more gun deaths. No other country has anywhere near as many gun deaths as we do here in the U.S. The Second Amendment talks about “a well-regulated militia.” It was written in 1791, when arms were far less deadly than they are today. There is no right to own a bazooka, a sidewinder missile or an AR-15. Let’s get real. (Peter Hansen, 12/21)

Fentanyl is an opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, giving users a sense of euphoria but also putting them in mortal peril. Too much in the bloodstream can trigger respiratory failure and ultimately cardiac arrest. (12/20)

In 2021, there were over 150,000 veterans living in Connecticut. Recently, a Black veteran from Hamden, Conley Monk Jr., filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), alleging that they have denied VA benefits and disability compensation claims for Black veterans at a higher rate than white veterans for decades. (Francine Erfe, 12/20)