Delta Cases Blanket U.S.; GOP Changes Tune on Vaccine; Cats, Dogs, and COVID

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The Delta variant now accounts for 83% of sequenced COVID-19 cases in the U.S. (NBC News)

The CDC should rethink its mask guidance in light of new COVID outbreaks and Delta’s rise, said Jerome Adams, MD, surgeon general under former President Donald Trump. (NPR)

As of Wednesday at 8 a.m. EDT, the estimated COVID-19 toll in the U.S. was 34,177,406 cases and 609,536 deaths, up 43,571 and 268, respectively, from this time yesterday.

University of Arkansas researchers called the rapid rise in the state’s coronavirus cases a “raging forest fire.” (KARK News)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined a growing number of Republicans imploring unvaccinated Americans to get a coronavirus shot. (Washington Post)

Sean Hannity of Fox News and other high-profile voices also shifted tone and urged vaccination this week. (The Atlantic)

No cuddles for Fluffkins and Fifi if you think you have COVID: in one in five households with infected humans, cats and dogs tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. (Scientific American)

About 18% of Americans had medical debt in collections in June 2020, largely people in low-income communities in states without Medicaid expansion. (JAMA)

The Justice Department voiced concerns about a proposed bankruptcy settlement for Purdue Pharma, saying it would shield Sackler family members from future opioid-related claims. (ABC News)

A former member of the FDA advisory committee that reviewed Biogen’s aducanumab (Aduhelm) for Alzheimer’s disease called for a wider probe into the drug’s approval process. (Reuters)

An estimated 1.5 million children around the world lost a parent or other family caregiver to COVID-19. (The Lancet)

A federal judge blocked an Arkansas law banning nearly all abortions in the state from being enforced while she hears a challenge to its constitutionality. (PBS)

The Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine may be much less effective against Delta and Lambda variants, a lab study suggested in a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed. (bioRxiv)

About a dozen century-old physicians still are treating patients in the U.S., including a pediatrician who just turned 101. (CBS News)

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced the Support Through Loss Act, calling for employers to provide at least 3 days of paid leave for workers who have a miscarriage. (The Hill)

School loneliness among teenagers was higher among those with more access to smartphones and Internet. (Journal of Adolescence)

More than 200 people in 27 states are being tracked for possible exposure to monkeypox, the CDC said. (STAT)

The U.S. investigating a recent rash of unexplained health incidents similar to Havana syndrome, this time reported by American diplomats and government employees in Vienna, Austria. (CNN)

COVID long-haulers could change the disability benefits system. Here’s how. (Time)