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Health experts agree that outdoor activities are still much safer than indoors, since viral aerosols don’t have a chance to accumulate in the air. But with the most transmissible variants yet, chances are you have less protection in certain situations. “Being at parks and outdoor sporting events is still what we should turn to,” said Dr. Anne Liu, an infectious disease doctor at Stanford. “But if you are in a dense crowd or in an outdoor space that has been modified to look like an indoor space, then the risk becomes higher.” (Vaziri, 7/7)

The most transmissible variant yet of the coronavirus is threatening a fresh wave of infections in the United States, even among those who have recovered from the virus fairly recently. ... “I think there’s an underappreciation of what it’s going to do to the country, and it already is exerting its effect,” said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, who has written about the subvariant. (Leatherby, 7/7)

Thirty states reported more cases in the latest week than in the week before, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. That has also led to a rise in hospitalizations, with hospitals in 18 states reporting more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier. Twenty-three states had more patients in intensive care beds, and 15 states reported more deaths than a week earlier. (Rodriguez, 7/8)

Harris County this week officially surpassed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to state health department data, but medical experts say the true number is likely much higher. The continuing surge of infections has been attributed to BA.5, the newest sub-variant. BA.5 accounts for 53.6% of new cases, making it the dominant COVID strain in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. (Dozier, 7/7)

Fourteen more Utahns died of COVID-19 in the past week, as the state continues to experience a surge in coronavirus infections — although it’s impossible to measure the number of positive cases. (Pierce, 7/7)

Masks will be required for people using federal buildings or riding buses inside Denali National Park and Preserve because of high COVID-19 levels in the broader community, officials said Thursday. The mask mandate takes effect Friday, a statement from the park said. (7/7)

Physicians caution, however, that rest is an important part of weathering a COVID-19 infection. Plugging away from home is better than putting others at risk of getting infected, but it can still strain the immune system, worsening the toll of a COVID infection, experts say. (Alpert Reyes, 7/7)

Although farm and food production workers were considered essential workers during the pandemic, many of California’s food employers endangered those workers, violating Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 guidelines more often than most industries, a new report said. The California Institute for Rural Studies’ report said farm and food production employers routinely failed to provide workers with face masks, nor did they enforce physical distancing or notify workers when there were COVID outbreaks at worksites. (Kalish, 7/7)

A new far-reaching report finds that Black Alaskans suffer higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, certain types of cancer, kidney failure and more severe illness from COVID-19 than residents of other races. (Berman, 7/7)