New York City is living through a sixth wave of Covid-19 at the same time that a new virus, monkeypox, has appeared. Over the weekend, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern.” That is a designation the W.H.O. currently uses for only two other diseases, Covid-19 and polio...

Masks need to be mandated in most indoor settings to prevent really grim winter - Baker Professor Michael Baker is calling for much wider mask mandates, saying the roll-out of free masks, while positive, will make a "fairly small" difference to the Covid-19 outbreak. RNZ

...

BA.5 variant’s spread sparks concerns about contagiousness, hospitalizations Concerns are rising over a new omicron subvariant that is even more highly transmissible, called BA.5.  The new subvariant has risen to be a majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States and… vmorris The Hill

...

BA.5 causes concern because of its increased contagiousness and because of its greater ability to evade the protection from vaccines and prior infection.   

After backlash, Beijing drops COVID vaccination mandate for crowded venues

BEIJING, July 8 (Reuters) - Beijing's city government has dropped plans to allow only vaccinated people to enter crowded venues such as libraries, cinemas and gyms from Monday, following a strong online backlash to the measure announced earlier this week.

The mandatory requirement would have marked a rare move in China, where the central government insists on voluntary vaccination and has quickly overruled other attempts by front-line officials to issue compulsory vaccination directives.