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Omicron may be in retreat but it’s not over yet

First came the hoped-for downward signals from SARS-CoV-2 viral counts in wastewater from Boston and New York. Then came the actual falling number of cases reported, first in states that led the latest Covid surge. Now hospital admissions are flattening after their monstrous peaks, and CDC data released late last week unequivocally endorse the power of vaccine boosters to blunt Covid’s worst damage. Two other CDC studies repeat what researchers around the world have said: While vaccines may be less effective agains Omicron than previous variants, boosters amp up protection from severe illness. But hospitals are still hammered and deaths are not yet falling. “It’s important for people to not be like, ‘Oh, it’s over,’” epidemiologist Aubree Gordon of the University of Michigan told the New York Times.

IBM's sale of Watson Health assets ends a dark chapter. What's next for its buyer?

On Friday, IBM said it would sell the core data assets of its Watson Health division to a San Francisco-based private equity firm, marking the staggering collapse of its ambitious artificial intelligence effort that failed to live up to its promises to transform everything from drug discovery to cancer care. For its buyer, the scraps could offer a shot at success where IBM failed, STAT’s Casey Ross, who has followed the Watson saga for years, writes in STAT+. Business analysts said the sale of some of the most comprehensive datasets in the industry to Francisco Partners instantly makes the private equity firm a significant player in the multibillion-dollar business of buying and selling sensitive information about the care of patients. Yet it would do well to heed lessons reinforced by IBM’s failure.

Vaccine hesitancy fell faster among Black people, study says

From the pandemic’s first months, Covid-19 has been marked by racial disparities. Black people were hit harder than white people, likely because of differences in occupation, housing, income, and access to health care. Once vaccines were introduced, hesitancy was also higher among Black people, but a new study finds that Black people’s hesitancy dropped more quickly, from 38% in December 2020 to 27% in June 2021, compared with white people’s, which slipped from 28% to 27%. “Black individuals in the US are cautious in their use of novel medical technologies for good reason — the history of abuse by medical and research communities is real — but they are just as likely as White individuals to embrace vaccination once they are convinced that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary,” the authors write, suggesting differences in who gets vaccinated come down to access.

Inside STAT: Health systems are on the move in digital health

Mayo Clinic is among U.S. hospitals aggressively investing in digital health companies. (PHOTO BY KEREM YUCEL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

During his talk at the recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Mayo Clinic CEO Gianrico Farrugia laid out a sweeping vision for technology transformation, driven largely by private sector upstarts that have partnered with the health system. Every few minutes, he added a disclosure: Mayo owns equity in all of them. It has dramatically increased its allocation to digital health companies in recent years, pouring more than $100 million into the sector. Mayo is not alone: Hospitals nationwide are aggressively increasing their investments in digital health companies, forming new and larger venture funds to help bankroll the development of software tools and artificial intelligence. While these investments can generate significant returns for hospitals, they can also create the potential for conflicts between a hospital’s financial interests and its mission to deliver the most effective care to patients. STAT’s Casey Ross has more for STAT+ subscribers.

How Covid's early wave affected clinicians caring for kids with cancer

How bad was Covid-19 during its first summer for health care professionals in pediatric oncology? A Cancer study out today charts the damage done within a specialty already dealing with staff shortages. Researchers who surveyed 311 clinicians caring for children with cancer at 213 institutions in 79 countries found about half of them felt a major impact from staff shortages, 8% reported colleagues had died from Covid, and half had no personal protective equipment to wear. Nurses were the most vulnerable to disruptions, contracting Covid, needing to quarantine, and losing money. Teamwork, communication, and flexibility allowed clinicians to maintain care for children, they said. Some comments:

“I think we were all on the verge of collapse.” — Mexico
“Our residents, they wouldn’t blink an eye at 24 hours on duty.” — Philippines
“Without a doubt there is stress, without a doubt there is exhaustion “ — Belarus

Working through grief

"What do you say at work when you’re not really OK? More to the point, how do you know you’re not OK when you’ve practiced showing everyone just how OK you are through all manner of hardship?" Those are questions posed in a STAT First Opinion by Krista Lyn Harrison and Meredith Greene of the University of California, San Francisco, and Anthony Galanos of Duke, clinicians and researchers working in geriatrics and palliative care. All three are grieving losses that transform their workdays into a minefield of triggers. Even though they know a lot about death, they were shocked by the power of grief. “It ironically falls to those in the unenviable club of bereavement — people who need extra support, not extra work — to advocate for policy changes that mitigate, rather than exacerbate, the challenges of grief,” they conclude. Read more.

What to read around the web today

Building on a study of Covid drugs, scientists launch effort to accelerate clinical trials for other diseases. STAT
The TikTok doctors and nurses debunking pandemic lies. The Atlantic
U.S. opposes plans to strengthen World Health Organization. Reuters
Did veteran drug developer Hal Barron accomplish his mission at GSK? STAT+
Olympians face a daunting final qualifying event: Staying healthy. New York Times