Infectious and Back at Work; FDA May Limit Some Monoclonals; ‘Done With COVID’?

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Strained hospitals are calling potentially infectious healthcare workers back to their posts, citing the CDC’s latest guidance. (Washington Post)

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, said he’s “as confident as you can be” that most U.S. states will see Omicron infections peak over the next several weeks, during an appearance on ABC‘s “This Week.” (The Hill)

Where COVID-19 hospitalizations are falling and rising in the U.S. (CNN)

A fourth dose of COVID vaccine was found to be protective against serious illness in people over 60, according to Israel’s Health Ministry. (Reuters)

The U.S., a top donor for the World Health Organization (WHO), is protesting a plan to make the organization more independent, ostensibly over concerns about the groups’s capacity to detect future threats. (Reuters)

As of 8 a.m. ET on Monday, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. was 70,700,678 cases and 866,540, increases of 1,391,369 and 6,292, respectively, from the same time on Friday.

Some conservative leaders are fired up over hospital protocols that allow physicians to use race as a risk factor when allocating hard-to-access COVID-19 treatments. (AP)

Speaking of which, the FDA may limit the use of certain monoclonal antibodies that have been shown to be ineffective against Omicron. (CNN)

Journalist Bari Weiss is coming under fire for announcing she’s “done with COVID” in an interview on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” saying that pandemic restrictions will be seen as a “moral crime” among younger generations (CNN, Daily Mail)

Any suggestion that the pandemic is close to over is “dangerous,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, noting that conditions are “ideal” for new variants. (Reuters)

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the President Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal workers, though the Justice Department plans to appeal. (Bloomberg Law)

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators gathered on the mall in Washington, D.C. this weekend to protest vaccine mandates. (Washington Post)

Arizona followed through in its threat to sue the Biden administration for pressuring the state to stop sending pandemic relief dollars to schools without masking requirements. (ABC News)

While Georgia is suing HHS after the state’s Medicaid work requirement rules were revoked. (Bloomberg Law)

The FDA added an indication to risankizumab’s (Skyrizi) label, to include treatment of active psoriatic arthritis in adults, AbbVie announced.

But the agency rejected Pfizer’s somatrogon for growth hormone deficiency in kids, and rejected Merck’s chronic cough therapy, gefapixant, the two companies announced.

Medtronic’s recall of nearly 100,000 HawkOne Directional Atherectomy System devices has been designated as Class I by the FDA — the device has been linked to at least 55 injuries.

Here’s how a toxic chemical and likely carcinogen was found in an essential water supply serving 13 million people. (Politico)

IBM sold its Watson Health division to an investment firm. (Wall Street Journal)

One way to help physicians cope with email overload: pay for replies. (STAT)

A Virginia parent was charged with making a threat on school property after saying she would “bring every single gun loaded and ready” to fight mask mandates during a school-board meeting. (CBS News)

Emmy award-winning comedian Louie Anderson died at 68 from complications of cancer. (People)

And the death of 74-year-old Marvin Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, was from COVID, TMZ reported.