GOP: End Public Health Emergency; Running With Long COVID; Super Bowl Screening Ad

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Republicans in Congress have asked HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to end COVID’s public health emergency designation. (NPR)

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from New York City teachers fighting against the city’s vaccine mandate for employees who don’t receive a religious exemption. (NBC News)

The European Medicines Agency said they are looking at reports of “heavy menstrual bleeding” associated with women who received mRNA vaccines. (Reuters)

As of Monday at 8 a.m. EST, the unofficial COVID toll is 77,740,175 cases and 919,697 deaths, up 1,235,034 cases and 17,071 deaths versus a week ago. Notably, the week-to-week increase fell by about 1 million cases versus last week.

Some people suffering from long-COVID are finding exercise only makes things worse. (New York Times)

Three members of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins NFL team all suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and all died within a year and a half of each other. (New York Times)

Super Bowl halftime show performer and R&B superstar Mary J. Blige also appeared in an ad during the game about the importance of preventive health screening. (Adweek)

How the phrase “follow the science” became a political weapon. (Washington Post)

As long as new variants continue to develop, COVID will never be over, experts say. (Bloomberg)

President Biden said its “probably premature” for states to be relaxing their mask mandates. (The Hill)

Meanwhile, Walmart will ditch its employee mask rules for those who are vaccinated. (Wall Street Journal)

How an emergency physician saved a misdiagnosed patient from the psych ward. (Washington Post)

An individual in England died of a travel-linked case of the animal-borne disease Lassa fever. (BBC News)

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) revealed on Twitter that his recent stroke was due to vertebral artery dissection.

The World Health Organization reported a dramatic rise in measles cases in Afghanistan.

Singapore granted interim approval to the Novavax vaccine. (CNA)

State attorneys general are rushing to shut down a rash of fake COVID pop-up testing sites. (New York Times)

Thanks to the Omicron wave, Hong Kong is no longer hospitalizing all COVID cases. (New York Times)