Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 02-04-2022

<p>Sweden has joined European nations removing coronavirus restrictions. The Prime Minister said, “It’s time to open Sweden again.” And apparently that will happen February 9. People can go to restaurants with no limits on occupancy or operating hours, and requirements for vaccine certificates and masks on public transportation will also be gone. Russia is considering loosening some restrictions too, even though they’re facing a record-breaking surge of infections.</p><br><p>If you’re on Medicare Part B, you’ve got free COVID tests coming, which you’ll be able to get over the counter. Medicare will cover up to eight free tests every month, starting in early spring. That actually only now matches what private insurers have been required to provide to people on their plans, so the government is playing a bit of catchup.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Again, people you may have been calling whack jobs for two years may have been right. Israeli scientists have gathered the most convincing evidence to date that upping levels of vitamin D does help protect COVID patients from serious illness or death. They say they can even predict how people will do if infected based just on their age and vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is endemic across the Middle East, including in Israel, where nearly four in five people are low on it.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br><p>The Olympics are putting the spotlight on China, which for two years has been trying to keep the spotlight off of it, at least when it comes to the origins of the novel coronavirus. A group of international scientists is again calling for a "comprehensive international investigation" into COVID’s origins. That’s 20 scientists from the U.S., U.K., Germany, New Zealand, France, Australia, India, and Japan. They want a new spirit of "openness and mutual trust" as the games commence.</p><br><p>It'd be easy to make fun of the Mayor of Los Angeles, except we’ve all probably done what he did. Or at least thought about it. He posed for pictures at SoFi Stadium during the NFC Championship game w