3 million Americans are still avoiding the workforce. They might be ‘long social distancing’ Unemployed workers might be "long social distancing," a new paper finds. They're too afraid of catching COVID to return to work. YahooFinance

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Fears of catching COVID lowest since summer of 2021: Gallup Story at a glance Just 28 percent of Americans are concerned about catching COVID-19, marking the lowest total reported since June of 2021.  The findings come as some experts raise concern abo… Gianna Melillo The Hill

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China promises change but sticks to severe 'zero COVID' plan BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leaders promised Thursday to improve quarantine and other anti-virus policies after public frustration boiled over into protests but said they will stick to a severe “zero COVID” strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes and disrupted the economy. AP NEWS

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U.S. authorizes Sobi's drug to treat COVID-19 in high-risk patients Sobi North America, a unit of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB , said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized its arthritis drug for treatment of high-risk hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Reuters Reuters

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WHO reports 90% drop in world COVID-19 deaths since February GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization chief on Wednesday said a nearly 90% drop in recent COVID-19 deaths globally compared to nine months ago provides “cause for optimism,” but still urged vigilance against the pandemic as variants continue to crop up. AP NEWS

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Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that last week just over 9,400 deaths linked to the coronavirus were reported to the WHO. In February of this year, he said, weekly deaths had topped 75,000 globally.

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https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01955

Little To No Correlation Found Between Immigrant Entry And COVID-19 Infection Rates In The United States

...Our findings support existing evidence that the short-term impacts of immigrant flow on local COVID-19 rates were minimal.

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Where are the long COVID clinics? For people with long COVID, finding a place to get appropriate medical care is a challenge. katie Science News

For the millions of people in the United States with long COVID, getting help comes down to where they live. Long COVID clinics have been popping up, but their accessibility and the kind of care they offer vary wildly.

Virus lockdowns hit China economic powerhouse Guangzhou BEIJING (AP) — A surge in COVID-19 cases has spurred lockdowns in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, adding to financial pressure that has disrupted global supply chains and sharply slowed growth in the world’s second-largest economy. AP NEWS

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The country’s borders remain largely closed and internal travel and trade is fraught with ever-changing quarantine regulations.

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Time Magazine

The Latest COVID-19 Variants Can Evade Vaccine Protection, According to New Data

New lab data suggest that vaccines and prior infections may not offer enough protection against several new COVID-19 variants cropping up in the U.S. and around the world.

Dr. David Ho, director of Columbia University’s Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and his team reported the results from a set of studies published in the journal Nature. They showed how well some of the latest variants—BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB, and XBB.1, which were all derived from Omicron—are evading both vaccine-derived and infection-derived immunity.

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UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID booster targeting Omicron BA.4/5 Britain's health regulator on Wednesday approved the country's first two-pronged COVID-19 booster targeting the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants and the original coronavirus strain. Pushkala Aripaka Reuters

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After COVID and monkeypox, it's time to rethink how U.S. responds to infectious diseases The COVID-19, monkeypox, and now Ebola responses have illustrated the urgent need to re-imagine the nation’s laboratory system. Scott J. Becker USA TODAY

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