CNN – Health

By Elizabeth Cohen and Jacqueline Howard, CNN Most people in the United States live in areas where those who are healthy do not need to wear masks indoors, according to new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance — a sweeping change from what earlier Covid-19 metrics recommended. New CDC metrics indicate that about

By Jen Christensen, CNN At least 5.2 million children globally have lost a parent, grandparent or family member who helped care for them to Covid-19, a new study says. The study, published Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, looked at Covid-19 mortality data from 21 countries from the start of

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN Children ages 8 to 10 put out about a quarter of the aerosolized particles as adults do when breathing, speaking and singing, according to a new study. The researchers suggest that the findings may be useful for making decisions about risk management in schools, but experts say the data explains only

By Elizabeth Cohen and Danielle Herman, CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will announce new metrics to guide Covid-19 restrictions such as mask-wearing on Friday, according to a senior CDC official. CDC will hold a news briefing Friday afternoon to discuss changes to Covid-19 metrics. “It’s time to shift from panic mode

By Brenda Goodman, CNN On the heels of concerning new lab and animal experiments suggesting that BA.2 may be capable of causing more severe disease than the original Omicron strain, two new studies are helping to show how well human immunity is defending against this strain in the real world. BA.2 is about 30% more

By Jamie Gumbrecht and Jen Christensen, CNN The interval between first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines may be as long as eight weeks for certain people, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in vaccine guidance updated Tuesday. Previous guidance said the second doses should be administered three

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its third year, scientists are finding that the coronavirus has far-reaching effects on health beyond the acute phase of illness. One recent study has found that people with Covid-19 are at an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases for at least a year after recovery. The study,

By Casey Barber, CNN Who else needs a pick-me-up as we move through the last few weeks of winter? While a beach vacation might not be possible for everyone, you can always get a taste of sunny weather in the form of citrus. Though these fruits might make you think of summer lemonade and margaritas

By Jen Christensen, CNN After the Omicron coronavirus variant made a record number of US children sick in January, children’s hospitals across the United States braced for what has come with every other spike in the Covid-19 pandemic: cases of a rare but dangerous condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, commonly known as MIS-C.

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Eating a plant-based diet has been shown to be very good for your heart and your overall health, as well as that of the planet. In fact, a recent study found a young person could live an additional 13 years by eating more vegetables and legumes, as well as whole grains,

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The antiparasitic drug ivermectin doesn’t prevent severe disease from Covid-19 any more effectively than symptom management and close observation by medical professionals, according to a study published Friday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The study enrolled nearly 500 people 50 and older who were at risk of severe Covid-19 because

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Measures to protect patients hospitalized with Covid-19 from financial liability have been rolled back by most insurers in the United States, leaving the vast majority of patients with an average out-of-pocket bill of about $4,000 for each hospital stay, according to research published this week in the journal JAMA Network Open.

By Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, CNN Infants and toddlers should be screened more for developmental delays, according to updated US guidelines released last week. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics updated the checklists of developmental milestones used to monitor infant and young children’s development in an effort to

By Jen Christensen, CNN At age 14, Alexander Neville was still very much a curious kid. He was a Boy Scout who enjoyed getting outdoors and camping. He played with Legos and liked to skateboard. He slept with a stuffed Iron Man figure and still snuggled with a teddy bear he’d had since he was

By Brenda Goodman, CNN The BA.2 virus — a subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant — isn’t just spreading faster than its distant cousin, it may also cause more severe disease and appears capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against Covid-19, new research suggests. New lab experiments from Japan show that

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder in which people stop breathing for 10 seconds or more at a time. Snoring can be a key sign of obstructive sleep apnea — but at some point in our lives, we all snore. A cold or allergy can block nasal passages, a

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN High-quality masks for children soon might be easier to find in the United States, if government plans come to fruition. The US government plans to make high-quality face masks available for children, and “that process is underway,” Dr. Tom Inglesby, senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 Response Team, told CNN

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Drug overdose deaths have doubled over the past six years, soaring in recent months amid the Covid-19 pandemic and continued rise of fentanyl. The country first surpassed 100,000 annual deaths in April, and overdose deaths have persisted at staggeringly high levels since. The latest data from the US Centers for Disease

By Caleb Hellerman When her son bounced up the steep stone steps and through the door of the house he shared with his mother and father, Gina Buckhalter was wary. It was no secret that Gerod was a heavy drug user, addicted to opioids for more than half his 33 years. Gina was used to

By Deidre McPhillips and Holly Yan, CNN While new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations keep tumbling, more than 2,000 Americans are still dying every day from Covid-19. The US is now averaging 136,190 new Covid-19 cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s a 44% plunge from last week. New Covid-19 cases have

By Tasnim Ahmed, CNN A US woman has become the third known person who’s gone into HIV remission, and the first mixed-race woman, thanks to a transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, according to research presented at a conference Tuesday. The woman, whom the researchers described as middle-aged and of mixed race, was

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 during pregnancy could offer some protection to babies after they’re born, too. The infants of mothers who completed two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccines during pregnancy had about a 60% reduced risk for being hospitalized with Covid-19 in the first six months of

By Megan Marples, CNN Oh no. Your vaccine card is missing. You’ve searched your car, emptied your purse or backpack and torn apart your house, but your vaccine card is nowhere to be found. No one could have predicted before the pandemic that a little piece of white paper would hold so much significance. It’s

By Jen Christensen, CNN The Biden administration is making another push for telehealth and other digital disease-monitoring tools to become sustainable beyond the pandemic. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it’s giving nearly $55 million to improve access to community health centers that have played a vital role in patient

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN The timeline for when children younger than 5 in the United States might start receiving Covid-19 vaccinations has just been pushed back. The US Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had postponed a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which was intended to review data

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN Booster doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines are safe, and they offer high levels of protection against severe Covid-19 even though that protection can wane over time, according to two studies published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday. Evidence of waning protection “reinforces the

By Jen Christensen, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized a new monoclonal antibody treatment that seems to work against the Omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight harmful pathogens like the coronavirus. Bebtelovimab, made by Eli Lilly and

By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent At one point at the beginning of the pandemic, there was hope that a popular and inexpensive over-the-counter heartburn drug might hold promise for treating Covid-19, but a newly published study shows mixed results. In the clinical trial, people with mild to moderate Covid-19 who took very high

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Yet another tragedy has occurred in the aftermath of the devastating gun massacre Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of two teachers killed in the classroom, has died at home from a heart attack, in what family members say may be

By Jen Christensen, CNN At this point in the coronavirus pandemic, local mask mandates are disappearing as quickly as toilet paper did from grocery stores shelves two years ago. At the national level, the guidance to wear masks is staying put, at least for now. So, should you mask up or not? Infectious disease experts

By Carma Hassan, CNN People should not delay getting a mammogram because of a recent Covid-19 vaccination, a new study says. It’s common for mammograms to pick up swollen lymph nodes, also known as lymphadenopathy, after vaccination, said the study, published Tuesday in the journal Radiology. Swollen lymph nodes following a vaccination are a short-term,

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Covid-19 hospitalizations are dropping quickly in the United States, but a heavy burden persists, and the nation’s health care workers are exhausted under the strain. For the first time in more than a month, there are fewer than 100,000 hospital beds in use for patients with Covid-19 nationwide, according to data