Health

By Allison Hope, CNN For those folks who may be finding that holiday cheer is even harder to come by in the pandemic’s second year, there’s no need to deck the halls. It’s time to celebrate a holiday that allows us to maintain a healthy dose of grumpiness. That’s right, there is Festivus. December 23

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN As the highly transmissible Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants continue to sweep across the United States, health officials warn that more people are expected to get infected — even those who are fully vaccinated — and they need to stay home and isolate themselves so they don’t spread the virus to

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN For many people, Covid-19 changed how they see the holiday season. Some ditched traditions to celebrate outside; some didn’t feel safe enough to travel to be with loved ones; and others may have even felt relief to have an excuse not to engage in stressful annual gatherings. This year, holiday travel

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Covid-19 claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States in 2020, driving a record increase in the death rate and a drop in life expectancy of nearly two years, according to final 2020 death data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

By Michael Nedelman, CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the Omicron coronavirus variant could drive Covid-19 cases higher than ever before, according to modeling posted on the agency’s website this week. “Current increases in Omicron cases are likely to lead to a national surge in the coming weeks with peak

By Katia Hetter, CNN As Omicron spreads rapidly throughout the United States, the new coronavirus variant has taken over from Delta as the dominant strain. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Americans should brace for a difficult few weeks ahead. The Omicron

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN The impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant on a largely unboosted US population going into the holiday season will create a “perfect storm” that will challenge health care systems from coast to coast, an expert said Monday. Omicron is now the country’s most dominant strain less than three weeks after the

By David G. Allan, CNN Let us beat a hasty retreat. Jump into a hole, down to a cozy warren, deep below the surface. That’s where the wisdom of winter resides: below the surface. It is there in the warm lair where we hibernate and lay low until it’s safe to come out. But in

By Katherine Dillinger, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first injectable medication for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to lower the risk of getting HIV through sex, it announced Monday. Apretude is approved for adults and teens who are at risk of getting HIV through sex and who weigh at least 77 pounds.

By Megan Marples, CNN You’re racing around town, trying to purchase a present for everyone on your list. The past week has been filled with evenings of chauffeuring your family to holiday parties and visits with Santa, leaving everyone exhausted. The most wonderful time of the year can also be the most stressful. One in

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might consider redefining what it means to be “fully vaccinated” against Covid-19 to include a third dose of vaccine — but the question is when the definition could change. Such a change is “on the table and open for discussion,” Dr. Anthony Fauci,

By Travis Caldwell and Claire Colbert, CNN The Omicron Covid-19 variant is now the most dominant strain in the US, accounting for over 73% of new coronavirus cases less than three weeks after the first was reported, according to estimates posted Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s been just 20