XBB.1.5 Is Extra Infectious; Oldest Person in U.S. Dies; Vaccines for Honeybees?

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Experts say COVID-19’s latest Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, is so infectious that those who haven’t yet had COVID likely will, and that those who have already had it may get it again. (USA Today)

Tixagevimab-cilgavimab (Evusheld) may not protect against XBB.1.5, the FDA announced; the monoclonal antibody cocktail is primarily used as pre-exposure prophylaxis for immunocompromised individuals.

Individuals 65 and up who received a booster dose of Pfizer’s Omicron-targeted vaccine had an 81% lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization, according to a preprint study from Israel. (Reuters)

Families who had been apart for years are reuniting after China lifted its border restrictions. (AP)

As of Monday at 8:00 a.m. ET, the unofficial COVID toll in the U.S. reached 101,244,386 cases and 1,096,504 deaths.

Thousands of nurses in New York City are striking after late-night negotiations failed. (NPR)

In a New York Times op-ed, Grant Wahl’s widow and infectious-disease physician Céline Gounder, MD, called out spreaders of COVID vaccine misinformation in the wake of her husband’s death.

And how a fake tweet brought on a flood of anti-vaccine hate toward a critical care physician who never even wrote it. (CNBC)

Screening NFL safety Damar Hamlin for heart problems may not have prevented his on-field cardiac arrest, even if he had a pre-existing heart condition. (AP)

Meanwhile, his medical team from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center were honored on Sunday at an NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens. (Fox 19)

A five-county region in Texas, larger than the state of Connecticut, has nowhere for mothers to give birth. (Texas Tribune)

In Florida, someone surrendered a baby to the state’s only baby box — a controversial way to anonymously turn over infants to the authorities because some argue it could be done without a parent’s consent. (NPR)

Retail pharmacies are struggling to attract and keep pharmacists, who are now expected to do more than ever for patients. (AP)

The woman thought to be the oldest living person in the U.S., Bessie Laurena Hendricks of Iowa, died at age 115. (NBC News)

Orthopedic surgery practices are increasingly selling out to private equity, raising concerns about prices and quality of care. (CBS News)

Private equity is also investing more in drug development. (Reuters)

Animal sedative xylazine has infiltrated supplies of street fentanyl, pushing already struggling support systems to the brink and leaving blackened wounds that can lead to limb amputation. (New York Times)

More than a quarter of U.S. adults living with chronic pain said they used cannabis in the last year to manage their pain. (JAMA Network Open)

Beekeepers hope a honeybee vaccine delivered by queen bees to their larvae via royal jelly will help keep away American Foulbrood disease — a significant contributor to colony decline. (NPR)