Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Renews Covid Public Health Emergency Again
The COVID-19 public health emergency will be extended for another 90 days, maintaining a long set of Trump-era allowances and programs affecting much of U.S. health care. When the emergency does end, it will bring major policy shifts to insurance markets, drug approvals and telehealth. (Reed, 1/11)
An administration official told The Hill, 鈥淭he decision to terminate the COVID [public health emergency] will be made by the HHS Secretary based on the best available data and science. Any suggestion that a specific end date has been established is untrue.鈥 (Choi, 1/11)
In news on XBB.1.5, the "Kraken" covid subvariant 鈥
New Omicron variant XBB.1.5, dubbed Kraken, doesn鈥檛 differ enough from other Omicron strains to warrant its own Greek letter, WHO officials said Wednesday.聽While Kraken, rapidly growing in the U.S., is 鈥渋ncredibly transmissible鈥 and spreads faster than other circulating variants like BQ.1.1, it still belongs in the Omicron family, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the WHO, said at a news conference. (Prater, 1/11)
The World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group on virus evolution said the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant is poised to drive an increase in COVID-19 cases, but it cautioned that confidence in its assessment is low, because most of the information is based on data from just one country鈥攖he United States. (Schnirring, 1/11)
A new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In December 2022, the proportion of new Covid-19 infections due to this Omicron offshoot have increased from 4% to 18%, according to a January 6 release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is projected to rise further still. In some parts of the country, it constitutes more than half of all new infections. According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of Omicron yet. What should people know about XBB.1.5? (Hetter, 1/12)
The latest Omicron subvariant 鈥 perhaps the most infectious yet 鈥 has gained a foothold in California, a potentially problematic development given the possibility of a post-holiday spike. However, it鈥檚 unclear whether the circulation of this latest strain, XBB.1.5, will alter the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Money and Lin II, 1/11)
