Health insurers must cover the cost of home Covid-19 tests starting January 15, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.
The new requirement means that most consumers with private health insurance can buy at-home tests online or in stores and have them paid for at the time of purchase or get reimbursed by submitting a claim to their insurer. Read more ›
With the omicron variant spreading rapidly, the United States is all but certain to see a sharp rise in breakthrough coronavirus infections among vaccinated people. These cases were relatively rare in the pre-omicron days, but the new variant has shown an ability to slip past the body’s first line of immune defenses. That means many Americans who have gotten the shots will at some point test positive. Read more ›
Here’s what you need to know about how well the vaccines are working in the face of the omicron variant and the best timing for getting your booster shot. Read more ›
Babies born during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States show more evidence of developmental delays at age 6 months compared with those delivered before the virus emerged, a study published Tuesday by JAMA Pediatrics found. Read more ›
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of a Pfizer-BioNTech booster in adolescents 12 to 15 years old. Read more ›
With omicron now the dominant strain in the U.S. and cases rapidly rising across Illinois and the country, experts say there are some symptoms that appear prominent with the new COVID variant and differ from what many came to expect with the delta variant. Read more ›
Dr. Francis Collins is director of the National Institutes of Health and spoke with NPR’s All Things Considered about the timeline for emergency use authorization of the vaccine for kids under 5, and the ongoing efforts to immunize those aged 5 to 11. Read more ›
You may be wondering why mindfulness is important for your child. Mindfulness gives kids the habit of focusing on the present moment and ignoring distractions, promotes happiness and patience by lowering social anxiety and stress, teaches them to stay calm in the face of life’s stressful times, improves attentiveness and impulse control, creates good habits for the future, and so much more. Read more ›
If you’ve heard of or read about mindfulness meditation — also known as mindfulness — you might be curious about how to practice it. Find out how to do mindfulness exercises and how they might benefit you. Read more ›
To say that COVID-19 has been an emotional roller coaster is an understatement. Now, for a moment, try to forget all of that. Breathe in and out a few times. If your mind wanders, just notice that, accept that your mind has wandered, and refocus on your breathing.
That’s a bare bones example of mindfulness, an approach to dealing with stress that can involve a simple form of meditation—although it doesn’t have to—or a variety of other techniques that help you slow down. Read more ›
