Virginia to expand vaccine eligibility to everyone over age 16 by April 18

When the pandemic sent travel into a tailspin, airlines updated their formerly strict policies on canceling or changing flights to encourage customers to book with confidence. But as the number of passengers ticks up, some of those old practices are creeping back — especially for the cheapest flights.

For flights booked April 1 or later, some carriers are essentially reverting to pre-pandemic treatment of their least expensive fares. That means basic economy fares on American will again be “non-changeable and non-refundable.” Same goes for main cabin basic fares on Hawaiian Airlines.

JetBlue’s “Blue Basic” category will allow changes — which was not the case before the coronavirus — for a fee of $100 for most routes booked on or after April 1.

Delta and United had both been slated to reinstate restrictions on their basic economy tickets as of the end of March or beginning of April. Delta’s basic economy tickets were reverting to nonrefundable and non-changeable after March 30, and United’s were switching back to non-changeable after March 31.

Last May, Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest nonprofit hospital system in Texas, laid off 1,200 employees and furloughed others as it braced for the then-novel coronavirus to spread. The cancellation of lucrative elective procedures as the hospital pivoted to treat a new and less profitable infectious disease presaged financial distress, if not ruin. The federal government rushed $454 million in relief funds to help shore up its operations.

But Baylor not only weathered the crisis, it thrived. By the end of 2020, Baylor had accumulated an $815 million surplus, $20 million more than it had in 2019, creating a 7.5 percent operating margin that would be higher than most hospitals’ profits in the flushest of eras, a KHN examination of financial statements shows.

Like Baylor, some of the nation’s richest hospitals and health systems recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in surpluses after accepting a substantial share of the federal health-care bailout grants, their records show. Those included the Mayo Clinic, Pittsburgh’s UPMC and NYU Langone Health. But poorer hospitals — many serving rural and minority populations — got a tinier slice of the pie and limped through the year with deficits, downgrades of their bond ratings and bleak fiscal futures.

“A lot of the funding helped the wealthy hospitals at a time, especially in New York, when safety-net hospitals were hemorrhaging,” said Colleen Grogan, a health policy professor at the University of Chicago. “We could have tailored it to hospitals we knew were really suffering and taking on a disproportionate amount of the burden.”

After more than a year of the pandemic, things are changing. Vaccine campaigns are rolling out with speed in some wealthy nations, as the arrival of warm spring weather in parts of the world creates the sense of a fresh start. The relentless tide of bad news and harrowing statistics has been pushed from front pages by stories of ruptured royal families drifting apart and big boats getting stuck in the sand.

But the pandemic is far from over.

In many countries, cases are surging — again. By some measures it’s as bad as ever. Globally, numbers of new cases are approaching peaks reached in January. In Europe, the United States and Latin America, there is talks of yet another wave, perhaps a misnomer — for how can a new wave begin if the previous one never fully crashed?

MANILA — Before one of the longest lockdowns in the world, millions in this congested Philippine capital region suffered a hellish daily commute.

Trains broke down regularly, and roads were so clogged that the cost of lost productivity was estimated at about $72 million daily.

When public transportation ground to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic, cyclists from all walks of life and bikes of all shapes and sizes took to the road.

But Filipino cyclists are up against more than just weather and pollution.

Last month, cycling advocates called on the government to spend more than $16 million to build about 190 miles of bike lanes protected from aggressive drivers.

A new government report says the United States spent $162 million getting Gilead’s covid-19 drug remdesivir to market but opted against seeking government patents because Gilead invented the experimental medicine years earlier.

The drug sells for $3,120 for a five-day course of treatment for covid 19. It brought in $2.8 billion in revenue for Gilead last year and the company expects to make a similar amount in 2020.

The Government Accountability Office documented government spending and its role in developing remdesivir — which won full Food and Drug Administration approval last year and is now sold under the brand name Veklury — at the request of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, after Gilead set its price.

Critics complained the cost was excessive for a pandemic-related drug developed with such a large government role. The GAO released its findings Wednesday.

Despite the reopening of most private museums in Washington, the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art have no set date to reopen from pandemic-related closures that began in November.

“Like everyone, I want to open as quickly as I can. For me, it’s the spring,” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said Tuesday. “If we can open in May, that would be great. It might be early June.”

His top priority is the safety of staff and visitors, Bunch said.

The Smithsonian closed its buildings in November as cases began to spike in the region. When they are ready to reopen this spring, they will mimic last summer’s multiphased approach, Bunch said, with the National Zoo one of the first to come back.

Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, says the “top” thing on his to-do list once conditions allow is returning to a baseball game. As Major League Baseball opens its season Thursday, thousands of fans will have that opportunity. All 30 teams will begin the season allowing at least some fans to attend in person, with one team even putting no limit on attendance for its home opener.

Fauci spoke to The Washington Post this week about baseball’s return and his comfort level with fans in the stands, even as coronavirus infection rates have risen in recent days and some government officials have started bracing for a possible fourth wave of the pandemic. (Questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.)

In ordinary springtimes, many allergy sufferers must cope with bothersome, or even debilitating, symptoms such as itchy, red, watery eyes; sneezing; a runny or stuffy nose; and sometimes, coughing, wheezing or feeling short of breath. But during this pandemic, they are also dealing with concerns about whether their symptoms might be because of covid-19.

As the beginning of this year’s pollen season coincides with yet another troubling increase in new coronavirus infections, we’ve compiled answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about allergies, the coronavirus and vaccines. The information and recommendations below are drawn from previously published Washington Post articles and new interviews with allergy and immunology experts.

Please keep in mind that as research into the virus and vaccines continues, guidance may change. We will update this FAQ accordingly.