Between 8,000 and 12,000 shipping containers carrying medical supplies to various parts of the U.S. are on a delay of up to 37 days due to ongoing transportation congestion, according to new data from the Health Industry Distributors' Association.
Why it matters: Per their projections, medical supplies arriving at a U.S. port on Christmas Day won't be delivered to hospitals and other care settings until February 2022. That could delay critical supplies at a time when health care is already expected to most need them due to surges from Delta and Omicron.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he was "dismayed" when followers of former President Donald Trump booed after Trump revealed he got a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot last week.
Between the lines: Trump was more vocal about his support for the vaccines last week, even pushing back against doubts about their efficacy during an interview with conservative media personality Candace Owens.
America's third year of dealing with the pandemic is likely to start as bleak as ever, with a devastating Omicron surge for the first couple of months.
Yes, but: Experts are hopeful that once the wave of cases, hospitalizations and deaths caused by the Omicron variant ebbs, life will finally be able to more closely resemble normal.
The USS Milwaukee is temporarily unable to sail after a COVID-19 outbreak among its "100% immunized" crew, the U.S. Navy said Friday, without specifying how many sailors tested positive.
Driving the news: The Navy has not determined the variant of COVID and the sailors who tested positive are isolated from the rest of the crew. The ship is ported in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, less than two weeks after its deployment.
New York's essential workers now can return to work just five days after receiving a positive COVID-19 test, so long as they're vaccinated and asymptomatic.
Why it matters: The revised rules cuts quarantine time in half from 10 days and come as New York has struggled to maintain staffing levels within a variety of industries, including health care, food services, and transportation.
India will begin COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 15-18 on Jan. 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday.
Why it matters: India has had the second-most COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began, trailing only the U.S., and appears to be in the beginning stages of an Omicron surge.