COVID-19 didn’t ruin Christmas, but several public-health issues are complicating President Biden’s 2024 prospects.
A confluence of respiratory illnesses prompted the return of school mask mandates Tuesday, and the GOP will use its new House majority to scrutinize the coronavirus response, muddling the outlook for Mr. Biden after he navigated a rocky path to normalcy and declared the pandemic “over.”
Unlike the past two years, many Americans shopped for Christmas without masks and gathered without bothering to test themselves.
Nearly 45,000 people are hospitalized for COVID-19 in the U.S., though it is a far cry from the 130,000 admitted around the same time in 2021 and more than 100,000 at this time in 2022.