COVID

The updated COVID-19 booster started rolling out this week in Des Moines. As winter approaches, health officials say some people should start making plans to get it as soon as possible.

Why it matters: COVID-19 has mutated so quickly that vaccinations were in need of an update to target strains like Omicron that now account for the majority of U.S. cases, writes Axios' Tina Reed and Adriel Bettelheim.

Most Americans are not taking extra steps to avoid COVID-19 before they go on vacation, according to an Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index taken a few weeks ago.

Why it matters: The perception of personal risk has fallen to the point where even more frequent hand washing and sanitizing — the most common precaution — is not in play for most travelers, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim reports.

Nearly 85% of Iowa kids have already been infected with COVID-19, new CDC data show.

Driving the news: The CDC released the results of its latest pediatric antibody seroprevalence survey last week.

Vaccines could have prevented nearly 3,000 COVID-related deaths in Iowa between January 2021 and last month, according to a new analysis by Brown University's School of Public Health.

The big picture: The analysis suggests that roughly half of the more than 641,000 deaths nationwide since 2021 could have been prevented, Axios' Tina Reed reports.

Des Moines may reinstate a mask policy if cases continue to escalate, Mayor Frank Cownie warned during a council work session Tuesday.

Driving the news: Iowa averaged around 505 new COVID cases per day in the last week, according to The New York Times tracker. That's more than double the average two weeks ago.

Leaders of several large U.S. meatpacking companies pushed the narrative that meat was in short supply in the country back in April 2020, despite sitting on ample supply, according to a U.S. House committee report released Thursday.

Why it matters: That was one of the narratives used by industry leaders to pass an executive order that protected meatpackers from shutdowns and stricter oversight by local health departments, despite mass COVID-19 infections within factories.

More than two dozen World Food Prize recipients are calling for more action on three problems they say threaten to reverse progress in the fight against world hunger: COVID-19, climate change and conflict.

Why it matters: 45 million people are living on the edge of famine, according to the World Food Programme.

Isolation housing for homeless people with COVID-19 will end this week, Eric Kool, director of Polk County Community, Family and Youth Services, announced in a letter to providers Friday.

• Few people used the service in recent weeks, Kool said.