7-13-22 USDA approves Novavax's coronavirus vaccine. In its spring 2021 clinical trial (before the rise of more vaccine-evasive variants Delta and Omicron), the vaccine proved 90% effective against stopping infections and 100% effective in preventing deaths. Novavax said that its vaccine prompted "broad immune responses" against all COVID variants, including BA.5, in unreleased clinical data.

7-18-22 from Chicago Tribune: COVID-19 is surging around the United States again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet. But something is different this time: The public health authorities are holding back. Most Americans are meeting a new COVID wave with a collective shrug, shunning masks, joining crowds indoors and moving on from the endless barrage of virus warnings of months past. “We should not let it disrupt our lives,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on the virus, said at a White House news briefing in which he added that new variants could continue to emerge. “But we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with.”