Health Highlights: Jan. 26, 2022

Omicron batters already strained U.S. hospitals. Facilities continue to reel from the pressures of the pandemic, facing critical workforce shortages and rising labor costs that amount to a "national emergency," hospital executives say. Read more

COVID dangers linger after hospital discharge. People hospitalized for COVID-19 are not necessarily out of the woods once they go home: Many land in the hospital again in the months afterward, a large U.K. study finds. Read more

Omicron drives big surge of cases among kids. More than 1.1 million American children were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the week ending Jan. 20, new data show. Read more

White House withdraws worker vaccine mandate for large businesses. After a Supreme Court ruling against it, the mandate requiring companies with 100 or more staff to ensure their employees were either vaccinated or were tested weekly will no longer be in effect as of Wednesday. Read more