Covid-19 live updates: Biden to detail ?surge? of military medical teams to hospitals in 6 states

Key coronavirus updates from around the world About 1,000 service members deploying to help civilian hospitalsCases skyrocket in nursing homes, but deaths remain far below 2020 peakAnalysis: Tucker Carlson spreads an already debunked claim about covid-19 deaths Nearly all teens needing intensive care for covid-19 were unvaccinated, study shows Biden says administration will announce plan for free high-quality masks next weekGOP congressman compares D.C. vaccine mandate to Nazism, drawing condemnationBiden to announce purchase of an additional 500 million coronavirus testsEngland will cut mandatory coronavirus isolation to 5 days with negative testsRapid coronavirus tests are hard to find — unless you work for Google or play in the NBA W.Va governor says he’s ‘feeling much better’ after getting covidRepublicans praise SCOTUS decision blocking Biden vaccine mandate; health experts say ruling will ‘cost lives’Prominent doctors and academics denounce ‘personal attacks’ on FauciBiden asks business leaders to set their own vaccine-or-test policies following Supreme Court decision against mandateQ&A: Are we all going to get omicron? Key coronavirus updates from around the world About 1,000 service members deploying to help civilian hospitalsCases skyrocket in nursing homes, but deaths remain far below 2020 peakAnalysis: Tucker Carlson spreads an already debunked claim about covid-19 deaths Nearly all teens needing intensive care for covid-19 were unvaccinated, study shows Biden says administration will announce plan for free high-quality masks next weekGOP congressman compares D.C. vaccine mandate to Nazism, drawing condemnationBiden to announce purchase of an additional 500 million coronavirus testsEngland will cut mandatory coronavirus isolation to 5 days with negative testsWhy?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts.A string of Republican leaders and lawmakers praised the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to block the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers, even as public health experts argued that the ruling could lead to more infections, serious illness and deaths.The court, which upheld a more narrow rule requiring vaccination among health-care workers at federally funded facilities, expressed doubt that the administration had the legal authority to enact the broader mandate, which would have covered more than 80 million employees.Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), who led the group of states that challenged the requirement, called it “a big win for workers across the country,” and former president Donald Trump said he was “proud of the Supreme Court for not backing down.”Doctors and public health experts, however, criticized the court’s decision, saying the ruling would make it more difficult for the country to reach the level of vaccinations needed to overcome the pandemic. "So, now more than ever, I strongly encourage all West Virginians to protect themselves and their families by getting vaccinated.”Republicans cheered the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers — a ruling the court’s three liberal justices said undercuts the government’s ability “to protect American workers from grave danger.”Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) led the group of states that challenged the requirement, which applied to more than 80 million employees and was issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in November.“A big win for workers across the country,” Schmitt said after the decision was announced.The American Trucking Associations, among the coalitions challenging the requirement, praised the ruling and said it showed that “OSHA far overstepped its authority” in enacting the policy.However, a chorus of public health experts criticized the court’s decision, saying the ruling would make it more difficult for the country to reach the level of vaccination needed to overcome the pandemic.“I’m no legal scholar but upholding the OSHA vaccine requirement would’ve saved lives,” Jeremy Faust, an emergency room physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, wrote on Twitter. Fauci faced a slew of abuse last year after some conservatives amplified a false claim that the federal agency Fauci leads — the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — funded an experiment that exposed trapped beagles to sand flies.At Tuesday’s hearing, Fauci denounced Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), saying the leader’s accusations against him have fanned dangerous vitriol.“What happens when [Paul] gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue,” Fauci said, “is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have … threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me.”In a viral hot-mic moment, Fauci also called Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) a “moron” after Marshall suggested that someone was hiding Fauci’s financial information.Fauci’s 2020 financial disclosures are available, and there is no evidence Fauci has sought to hide more recent information.The backstory on Fauci’s ‘what a moron’ comment about a senatorAaron Blake contributed to this report.Biden on Thursday called on business leaders to immediately join the health-care industry in implementing coronavirus vaccine-or-test requirements, even though the Supreme Court ruled against his administration’s mandate for large private employers.“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the requirement for health-care workers will save lives: the lives of patients who seek care in medical facilities, as well as the lives of doctors, nurses, and others who work there,” the president said in a statement. We have also seen an increase in patients with COVID-19, but consistent with national data, a smaller percentage are requiring ICU care,” Maj. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.“We are using a variety of strategies to mitigate these staffing shortfalls, including adopting CDC guidelines for healthcare personnel in healthcare settings.”Individual service members will be pulled from their duties for the mission rather than whole units leaving, Kirby said, a move intended to reduce the impact of military personnel leaving any one health facility.Coronavirus cases among U.S. nursing-home residents have spiked sharply as the omicron variant spreads, nearing a record from last winter, according to federal data.Weekly coronavirus-related deaths in this vulnerable group have also risen but remain about 10 times lower than during the December 2020 peak, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.