Pandemic roundup: Some prisons may be hiding infection, death data from public; school-nurse shortage worsens

Here's a roundup of recent news stories about the pandemic and vaccination efforts:

"Breakthrough" coronavirus infections of vaccinated people are fairly uncommon, and most people who developed Covid-19 were unvaccinated, according to newly released federal data from 14 states and two cities. The New York Times has more details and a bevy of charts here.

The Biden administration will release Friday the final language of a rule requiring coronavirus vaccinations or regular testing for workers at companies with more than 100 employees. Conservative and libertarian activists and politicians have voted to challenge in court the rule, which the Labor Department will implement on an emergency basis. Read more here.

How vaccinated rural seniors navigate life in mostly unvaccinated rural America: Read it here.

File under silver linings: the pandemic may have made extinct a once-common influenza strain. Study shows how much more transmissible the novel coronavirus is than most flu viruses. Read more here.

Some states are cloaking prisons' Covid data, reporting infections and deaths to state authorities while failing to update public-facing sites, leaving the impression that there have been fewer cases. That matters when prisons and jails are major drivers of infection in rural areas. Prisons have characterized the lag as accidental, a product of lower pandemic staffing numbers, but others believe prisons have done it deliberately to avoid public blowback. Read more here.

The school-nurse shortage deepens as states seek relief. Read more here.

The wave of Covid-19 patients is overwhelming rural Minnesota hospitals short on intensive care unit beds. Read more here.