For the first time in its 130-year history, the ChristianaCare health system in Wilmington, Delaware, implemented “crisis standards of care” in January to help it treat an onslaught of patients, as a fresh wave of Covid infections hit the Northeast. This week, the U.S. Covid death toll hit its highest level in about a year, rising 39% over the past two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Though the highly contagious omicron variant generally produces milder infections than previous strains, officials say the pandemic isn’t over, and many health-care systems still struggle to care for patients. To read the full story.