“A group of Kansas politicians tasked with steering public health policy are pushing to allow doctors to prescribe unproven treatments and preventives for Covid-19 without any potential for responsibility,” the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.

“While the FDA has warned against using ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19, some Republican senators want to shield doctors from legal liability and board discipline for prescribing the drugs.”

Bloomberg: “Packed bars in San Francisco. Popular hot yoga classes in Boston. Signs are mounting that many Americans in highly vaccinated places are grasping for a near-normal life, even as the most contagious Covid-19 surge yet passes over.”

“Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have reached the highest level since early last year, eclipsing daily averages from the recent Delta-fueled surge, after the newer Omicron variant spread wildly through the country and caused record-shattering case counts,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Grid: “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that fake CDC vaccination cards are widespread in the United States. An Economist/YouGov poll reported 12 percent of American adults under 30 knew someone with a fake vaccine card. TMZ covered fake cards. A fake vaccine card was a punchline for a Saturday Night Live sketch.”

“Each false credential weakens the credibility of every real card, experts and officials say, diminishing the overall reliability of the cards as proof of vaccination. Proof of vaccination is key to the reopening process for workplaces and public venues, but Democratic and Republican politicians have shied away from implementing a national government database to track vaccinations.”

New York Times: “Around the country, Democratic elected officials who in the pandemic’s early phase shut down cities and states more aggressively than most Republicans did — and saw their popularity soar — are using a different playbook today. Despite the deadly wave fueled by the Omicron variant, Democratic officials are largely skipping mask mandates and are fighting to keep schools open, sometimes in opposition to health care workers and their traditional allies in teachers’ unions.”

“The shift reflects a potential change in the nature of the threat now that millions of Americans are vaccinated and Omicron appears to be causing less serious disease. But it is also a political pivot. Democrats are keenly aware that Americans — including even some of the party’s loyal liberal voters — have changed their attitudes about the virus and that it could be perilous to let Republicans brand the Democrats the party of lockdowns and mandates.”

“The Biden administration is officially withdrawing its requirement that most workers be vaccinated or regularly tested for Covid-19 – the controversial rule the Supreme Court blocked from enforcement earlier this month,” USA Today reports.

A 31-year-old man in need of a heart transplant has been bumped from the transplant list at Brigham and Women’s Hospital because he won’t get vaccinated against Covid-19, CBS Boston reports.

Said Dr. Arthur Caplan: “The flu could kill you, a cold could kill you, Covid could kill you. The organs are scarce, we are not going to distribute them to someone who has a poor chance of living when others who are vaccinated have a better chance post-surgery of surviving.”

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling on regulators to allow use of two monoclonal antibody therapies for Covid-19 after the FDA halted their use in a ruling neither manufacturer disputes,” Bloomberg reports.

“The FDA said Monday that it was rescinding authorization for the use of Eli Lilly & Co. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. monoclonal antibody treatments in the U.S. because they aren’t effective against omicron, which has become overwhelmingly dominant in all regions of the country, including Florida.”

“Omicron infections are trending down nationally, but the number of deaths is as high now as it was during the summer’s Delta wave,” Axios reports.

California state Sen. Richard Pan (D) “is proposing to require that all schoolchildren receive a Covid-19 vaccine starting in 2023, a law that would be the nation’s strictest student mandate if approved,” Politico reports.

“At a rally against vaccine mandates in Washington, DC, on Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likened vaccine policies in the US to the actions of a totalitarian state, even suggesting Anne Frank was in a better situation when she was hiding from the Nazis,” CNN reports.

The WHO said the Omicron variant has moved the Covid-19 pandemic into a “new phase” and could bring it to an end in Europe, AFP reports.

The New York Times says the comments echoed the optimism of other leading public health officials around the world, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser for the coronavirus.

Wall Street Journal: Omicron slows Europe’s economy but supply chain strains ease.

New York Times: “More and more states have passed a peak in new cases in recent days, as glimmers of progress have spread from a handful of eastern cities to much of the country.”

And yet: “The United States continues to identify far more infections a day than in any prior surge, and some states in the West, South and Great Plains are still seeing sharp increases. Many hospitals are full. And deaths continue to mount, with more than 2,100 announced most days.”

The Economist: “In some parts of America, the Omicron variant appears to have peaked. Many states in the north-east and mid-Atlantic regions seem to have reached their highest point of covid-19 cases and hospitalisations over the past few days. There is reason to believe that infections in those places will quickly decline from here.”

“This is promising, but the wave in other parts of America has yet to crest… States in the middle and western parts of the country are experiencing a quick rise in Omicron cases. These states differ from the early-outbreak ones. Many have much lower vaccination rates, with potentially grim implications for the impact on health.”