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Covid-19 hospitalizations are once again rising in the United States. Among the 30-plus states that have seen increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations over the last two weeks, six stand out. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois have accounted for the majority of the country’s increase in hospital beds filled, according to an NBC News analysis of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. (Lovelace Jr., Murphy and Hersher, 12/7)

COVID-19 cases in younger children drove Maine to record infection levels in November, highlighting the continued threat posed by the delta variant for a group generally considered less affected by the virus. Maine reported more new cases of the virus in November than any other month, with unvaccinated people continuing to account for a majority of cases despite making up a minority of the state’s population at this point. The high infection rate has also contributed to record hospitalization numbers, with 367 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Tuesday. (Piper, 12/7)

Abraham Garcia-Romero was spending the summer before his high school senior year working as a cashier when his bus monitor came through his line at the Walmart in Beaver Dam. Lisa Butler had ridden the bus with him in the afternoons for about two years before the pandemic struck, and the two talked about everything - "school stuff" and a lot about food, he said. (Johnson, 12/8)

Small cities in their own right, school districts cannot educate children without a variety of professionals working together to keep a building operating. Each school needs its teachers and counselors, its custodians, coaches, bus drivers and monitors, its cafeteria workers, attendance clerks and so much more. (Johnson, 12/8)

Unvaccinated hospital patients in Illinois would have to pay their own coronavirus medical bills out of pocket, according to legislation proposed Monday by a Democratic state lawmaker. Rep. Jonathan Carroll filed his bill amid the state’s struggle to contain covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. (Bella, 12/7)

A federal investigation into Oklahoma’s Public Health Lab found that the lab lacked enough staff for the volume of testing it handles after its move to Stillwater, a report detailing the findings shows. The on-site investigation conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began on Sept. 21 and also found issues with how COVID-19 samples were stored, documented and processed according to guidelines, according to a report obtained Tuesday by The Oklahoman. (Branham, 12/7)

For most fully vaccinated people, a breakthrough coronavirus infection will not ruin their health. It will, however, assuming that they follow all the relevant guidelines, ruin at least a week of their life. That very frustrating week began for Joe Russell on November 11, the day he found out he’d tested positive for the virus, just one month after getting a Pfizer booster, and about five or six days after he’d first felt an annoying tickle in his throat. Russell, a 35-year-old hospital-supply technician in Minnesota, dutifully cloistered himself in his basement, far from his fully vaccinated wife and his fully unvaccinated 2-year-old son, and phoned in sick to work. He stayed there through the 15th—the requisite 10 days past his symptoms’ start. Then, fearful of passing the pathogen to his family, he tacked on one more day, before venturing upstairs on the 17th, still in a mask. (Wu, 12/7)

As Bay Area audiences return to their beloved venues, they’ll be hearing a lot about upgrades to HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). Many venue managers tout their use of 100% outside air, for instance, to assuage visitors’ COVID fears. But all that air pumping comes with complications that homes and office buildings don’t have to deal with. “Performance areas are really tough, because you blow more air and it’s louder. Curtains can ripple,” said Matt Suidan, a senior product manager at Enpowered Solutions, which has consulted with War Memorial Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall and American Conservatory Theater. Or any theater haze, used for a special effect, could get blown away. (Janiak, 12/6)