Axios

Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) announced on Twitter on Tuesday evening that the state's indoor mask mandate will lift on March 25.

Why it matters: In doing so, Hawaii has become the last state to announce plans to lift its mask mandate as COVID-19 cases decline across the country.

Nonprofit and government-owned hospitals are more likely to offer relatively unprofitable services than for-profit hospitals, according to a new study published in Health Affairs.

Why it matters: Nonprofits' financials are often evaluated based on factors like how much charity care they offer and how they pursue patient debt.

Patients with mild cases of COVID-19 suffered a loss of the brain's "gray matter" plus damage in areas associated with the sense of smell and a larger-than-average decline in cognitive function, according to research published Monday in the journal Nature.

Why it matters: The U.K. study is the first to compare brain scans before and after infection — and mostly deals with patients who had mild cases, which are the most common type arising from COVID infections.

The World Health Organization's advisory group on COVID vaccines said Tuesday it "strongly supports urgent and broad access" to booster doses.

Why it matters: WHO officials, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had strongly called on wealthy countries with large vaccine supplies to forgo booster shots through the end of 2021 due to a global vaccine disparity.

Texas' restrictive abortion law has compelled women to travel out of state for abortions or to seek self-managed abortion medication, per new research out of the University of Texas.

The big picture: Even as in-state abortions have plummeted, the law, known as Senate Bill 8, has not reduced the need for abortion care in Texas.

America needs major new spending in areas like disease surveillance and next-generation PPE if it wants to avoid repeating mistakes of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two reports out this week.

Why it matters: The reports are among recent attempts by public health officials to lay out the weaknesses exposed by the pandemic and the steps needed to build more resiliency in the health system before the next crisis.

People in the U.S. can now order up to four additional free, at-home rapid COVID-19 tests from the government.

Driving the news: The Biden administration announced the program to provide people in the U.S. with free COVID-19 tests in December amid the Omicron surge, and the first batch of tests started going out to people in January.

The Biden administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Department of Defense to enforce its COVID-19 vaccination requirement for a group of unvaccinated Navy Seals.

Catch up fast: A federal judge in January upheld a lawsuit from 35 Navy Seals and filed the preliminary injunction on religious freedom grounds, saying the service members had a right to refuse the vaccine because of their beliefs.

The risk of deaths due to extreme temperatures could rise significantly under a warming scenario of more than 2°C, according to a study published Monday in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Why it matters: As Axios' Andrew Freedman reported recently, peer-reviewed research the world is already on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming above preindustrial levels — and running out of time to do something about it.

The COVID antibody drug Evusheld, which the FDA authorized in December to help protect immunocompromised people before they're exposed to the virus, is often going unused because of confusion among health care providers, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: The drug, made by AstraZeneca, is seen as a critical tool for some of the most vulnerable Americans or those who can't be vaccinated — but only if they can access it.

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 6 million on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The big picture: As the pandemic enters its third year, deaths from the virus are now largely seen among mostly unvaccinated people, AP reports.

More than half of all Americans say they've directly felt the effects of health care worker shortages, from canceled appointments to delayed surgeries, according to results from a CVS Health-Harris Poll National Health project provided to Axios.

Why it matters: Americans are starting to feel the impacts of the medical workforce crunch as they rearrange their care in the wake of the pandemic, leading to an even bigger supply-demand mismatch and the access issues that come with it.