Covid roundup: Child-care programs with mask mandates less likely to close for quarantine; beware of antibody tests

A new x-ray technique shows how Covid-19 ravaged the

lungs of a 54-year-old victim. In the scan above, open

airspaces are cyan, open blood vessels are red, and blocked,

damaged blood vessels are yellow. (National Geographic)

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

Child-care programs that require children 2 and older to wear masks are less likely to close due to infection of a child or staff member, a new study shows. The findings matter because such unpredictable closures make it harder for parents—especially moms and single parents—to work outside the home.

Many drugstores offer coronavirus antibody tests. But they're often a poor indicator of how protected you are from Covid-19, because different people can be protected from infection with different amounts of antibodies. The test also should not be used instead of a PCR or rapid-antigen test, because it can't tell whether you're currently infected. Read more here.

New X-ray techniques show how Covid-19 can damage the body—especially the lungs—with shocking clarity. Read more here.

Though the Omicron surge seems to be waning, rural hospitals have had a tough time with it and resources are still stretched thin. One Missouri hospital built a makeshift intensive care unit for a critical patient with supplies from Walmart after failing to find a single ICU bed at 19 larger hospitals in the region. And monoclonal antibody treatments are in such short supply that many hospitals use a lottery system to determine who gets them.

Four hospitals in rural Maine were too small to qualify for a federal relief program that sent ambulance teams to help transport patients. So the hospitals banded together and applied as a region, and the tactic worked. Read more here.

A new study links coronavirus vaccines to slight menstrual-cycle changes, but no damage to fertility. Cycles were extended by an average of less than a day for people who got one dose, or two days for people who got two doses within a single menstrual cycle. Read more here.

A right-wing journalist who was hospitalized with Covid-19 showed social-media followers a prescription for ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that has been baselessly promoted as a Covid cure. His testimonial shines a spotlight on a small minority of doctors who reap financial windfalls from prescribing unproven Covid treatments, usually by telehealth. Such doctors rarely face consequences for unethical behavior, though. Lawmakers in North Dakota and Tennessee have restricted medical boards' and regulators' ability to penalize such doctors, and 10 other states are trying to pass similar measures.