Many private businesses and some states are plowing ahead with methods of verifying that people have been vaccinated, despite conservative resistance to "vaccine passports," Axios' Ashley Gold and I report.

Why it matters: Many businesses view some sort of vaccine verification system as key to getting back to normal. But in the absence of federal leadership, a confusing patchwork approach is likely to pop up.

The big picture: "I think it's going to be a tidal wave that's going to be very difficult to stop, because there's enormous economic and social incentive for proof of vaccinations," said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown University.

Where it stands: The Biden administration has said that it will not mandate vaccine passports across the country, nor will it create a federal vaccination database. That leaves decision-making to the states and the private sector.

• But several Republican governors already said they'll fight any such systems.

The other side: Many private companies have already begun planning ways to verify that their customers have been vaccinated.

• New York has also rolled out a pass that sports and entertainment venues can use if they choose, and Hawaii is working on a vaccine passport that would let travelers bypass a two-week quarantine.

Between the lines: Requiring proof of vaccination is likely on solid legal ground, experts said.

• "In general, private businesses can decide who they're willing to admit into their businesses and serve so long as they don't violate either the federal Civil Rights act or a state law," University of Pennsylvania professor Eric Feldman told Axios.

Where it stands: Online services, universities, airlines, and retailers are figuring out how and whether to provide proof of vaccination for students, customers and employees.

What we're watching: Experts worry that vaccine verifications could end up deepening existing inequities, as vaccination rates among people of color lag behind those of white people in the U.S.

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The number of new coronavirus infections in the U.S continues to rise, making a quick, clean end to the pandemic less and less likely, Axios' Sam Baker and Andrew Witherspoon report.

The big picture: Much of the U.S. is relying almost exclusively on vaccines to control the virus, abandoning social distancing and other safety measures. And that's helping the virus to steadily gain ground even as vaccinations barrel ahead.

By the numbers: The U.S. averaged roughly 71,000 new cases per day over the past week. That's about a 9% jump over the daily average from the week before.

• The number of new cases rose over the past week in 25 states, and only declined in six.

Why it matters: Another surge in cases is likely to be a lot less deadly than previous waves because so many vulnerable Americans have been vaccinated. But it will provide fertile conditions for the virus to continue mutating into new variants, keeping the coronavirus in our lives even longer.

The bottom line: The less you do to control the coronavirus, the harder it becomes to control the coronavirus in the future.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has told hospitals they can't hide their prices from web searches, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: New federal rules require hospitals to post their pricing information online, but some large systems were using code that prevented that information from appearing in search results, Axios' Marisa Fernandez writes.

Details: HCA Healthcare, Universal Health Services and NYU Langone Medical Center allegedly obscured their price information this way, per the Journal.

• Pricing information was still on their websites, but users would have to click through several pages to find it, rather than being able to search.

Prohibiting that code "helps clarify the intent of this regulation — make the files public and accessible," a CMS spokesperson told WSJ.

New data shows that more Americans died of drug overdoses in the year leading to September 2020 than any 12-month period since the opioid epidemic began, Axios' Bryan Walsh reports.

Why it matters: The stubborn increase of such "deaths of despair" shows that the opioid epidemic still has room to grow and that some of the social distancing steps we took to rein in the pandemic may have brought deadly side effects.

By the numbers: More than 87,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12 months leading to September 2020, according to preliminary federal data released this week.

• That represents a 29% increase in overdose deaths for the months between October 2019 and September 2020 compared to the prior year.
• While overdose deaths from drugs had begun rising in the months leading to the pandemic — after dipping slightly in 2018 for the first time in years — the biggest spike in deaths occurred in April and May 2020, when shutdowns were strictest.

Of note: While the earliest years of the opioid epidemic were worst among white Americans in rural and suburban areas, Black Americans are now suffering disproportionately.

Details: Experts connect some of the increase in overdose deaths to the social isolation and temporary closure of many treatment programs during the pandemic.

• One study found that people used drugs more frequently during the pandemic, and often did so alone, putting them at greater risk of dying of an overdose.

An advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday delayed making recommendations on a decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine, saying it needed more time to examine the data and possible risks, NBC News reports.

The decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine — and the furor that now surrounds it — underscores the confounding psychology behind risk assessment, Bryan reports.

President Biden's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci suggested Wednesday that the decision to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine could actually bolster vaccine confidence, calling it "an affirmation that safety is a primary consideration when it comes to the FDA and CDC."

Keeping middle seats empty on single or twin-aisle airplanes can reduce the spread of the coronavirus from 23% to 57%, according to a study out Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.