Geneology International

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  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    Her Apartment Might Have Put Her Son’s Health At Risk. But ‘I Have Nowhere Else To Go.’ 

    When Louana Joseph’s son had a seizure because of an upper respiratory infection in July, she abandoned the apartment her family had called home for nearly three years. She suspected the gray and brown splotches spreading through the apartment were mold and had caused her son’s illness. Mold can trigger and exacerbate lung diseases such as asthma and has been linked to upper respiratory tract conditions. But leaving the two-bedroom Atlanta apartment meant giving up a home that rented for less than $1,000 a month, a price that is increasingly hard to find even in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods. (Rayasam and Clasen-Kelly, 12/1)

    KHN:
    Addiction Treatment Proponents Urge Rural Clinicians To Pitch In By Prescribing Medication 

    Andrea Storjohann is glad to see that she’s becoming less of a rarity in rural America. The nurse practitioner prescribes medication to dozens of patients trying to recover from addiction to heroin or opioid painkillers. The general-practice clinic where she works, housed in a repurposed supermarket building, has no signs designating it as a place for people to seek treatment for drug addiction, which is how Storjohann wants it. (Leys, 12/1)

    KHN:
    Montana’s New Sex Ed Law Ensnares English And History Lessons, Too

    A Montana law requiring public schools to notify parents of lessons that mention human sexuality — and allowing parents to pull their children from those lessons — has reached further and been more cumbersome than anticipated, according to two school district leaders. School districts across the state have spent months consulting with attorneys and retooling their policies to ensure they are in compliance with the law passed in 2021. Senate Bill 99 requires parents to be notified at least 48 hours in advance about lessons related to sexual education, as well as other topics, including anatomy, intimate relationships, sexual orientation, gender identity, contraception, and reproductive rights. (Graf, 12/1)


    Reuters:
    U.S. FDA Gives First-Ever Approval To Fecal Transplant Therapy 

    The U.S. health regulator on Wednesday approved Switzerland-based Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ fecal transplant-based therapy to reduce the recurrence of a bacterial infection, making it the first therapy of its kind to be cleared in the United States. The therapy, Rebyota, targets Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile – a superbug responsible for infections that can cause serious and life-threatening diarrhea. In the United States, the infection is associated with 15,000-30,000 deaths annually. (11/30)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    FDA Plans To Allow More Gay, Bisexual Men To Donate Blood 

    Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood without abstaining from sex under guidelines being drafted by the Food and Drug Administration, people familiar with the plans said. The change would be a departure from U.S. policy that for many years barred men who have sex with men from donating blood. (Whyte and Marcus, 11/30)


    Politico:
    Biden Administration Prepares To End Monkeypox Emergency Declaration 

    The Biden administration is eyeing an end to its public health emergency declaration for mpox, a sign that officials believe they’ve brought the monthslong outbreak under control. Health officials are likely to issue a 60-day notice later this week for winding down the declaration, two people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. Such a move would put it on track to officially expire by Jan. 31. (Cancryn, 11/30)


    Los Angeles Times:
    Babies’ COVID Hospitalizations As High As Seniors’ Amid Omicron

    Infants younger than 6 months had the same rate of hospitalization as seniors age 65 to 74 during this summer’s Omicron wave, according to a new report. The findings, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that COVID-19 can still cause severe and fatal outcomes in children too young to be vaccinated. (Lin II and Money, 11/30)


    CNN:
    Bill Clinton Reports Mild Symptoms After Testing Positive For Covid-19 

    Former President Bill Clinton announced Wednesday that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. “I’m grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, which has kept my case mild, and I urge everyone to do the same, especially as we move into the winter months,” Clinton said in a tweet. The former president, 76, added that he is “doing fine overall and keeping myself busy at home.” (LeBlanc, 11/30)


    The Hill:
    GOP Governors, Senators Take Aim At Pentagon COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate 

    Nearly all Republican governors and 13 GOP Senate lawmakers are taking aim at the Biden administration’s military COVID-19 vaccine mandate, with the two groups on Wednesday urging congressional leadership to try to alter or altogether dismantle the ruling. The 21 GOP governors, led by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, issued a joint letter to top lawmakers asking them to “take immediate action to remove and prohibit” the mandate. (Mitchell, 11/30)


    AP:
    West Virginia To End COVID-Related Emergency Order In 2023 

    Republican Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday that West Virginia’s state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic will end at the start of the new year. The state of emergency has been in effect since March 16, 2020. It allows the governor to suspend certain rules on personnel and purchasing. (Willingham, 11/30)


    AP:
    Oklahoma Citizen-Led Initiative Would Codify Abortion Access

    Roger Coody has no legal training and his political experience until recently had been limited to registering people to vote. Now, the Oklahoma hairstylist is pushing a ballot proposal he wrote that would make abortion access a constitutional right in his deeply red state, where Republican lawmakers have banned the procedure in nearly all circumstances. It’s part of a growing trend across the nation to put reproductive freedom to a popular vote after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the right to abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years. (Coronado and Murphy, 11/30)


    The New York Times:
    New York’s Plan to Address Crisis of Mentally Ill Faces High Hurdles

    William J. Bratton, the former New York City police commissioner, said that Mr. Adams was trying to do the right thing, but that his plan would be very difficult to carry out. “There’s no place to put a lot of these poor souls,” he said. “It’s a well-intended measure and long overdue to try to deal in a more humane way with this seemingly intractable problem.” Mr. Adams has acknowledged that New York did not have enough psychiatric beds to accommodate everyone. (Fitzsimmons and Newman, 11/30)


    NPR:
    NYC Mayor Adams Faces Backlash For Move To Involuntarily Hospitalize Homeless People

    “Mayor Adams continues to get it wrong when it comes to his reliance on ineffective surveillance, policing, and involuntary transport and treatment of people with mental illness,” Jacquelyn Simone, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Homeless people are more likely to be the victims of crimes than the perpetrators, but Mayor Adams has continually scapegoated homeless people and others with mental illness as violent. (Heyward, 11/30)


    Modern Healthcare:
    Cleveland Clinic’s Net Loss Tops $1.5B For First 3 Quarters Of 2022

    Cleveland Clinic’s net losses for the year so far have exceeded $1.5 billion as labor costs remain elevated. The Ohio-based nonprofit reported $316.3 million in operating losses in the first three quarters of 2022, compared with a $549.44 million gain in the year-ago period, according to financial statements released this week. Investment losses totaled $1.26 billion. (Hudson, 11/30)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    General Electric Sets Healthcare Division Spinoff Plans 

    General Electric Co. set the terms for the spinoff of its healthcare division, putting an initial value of roughly $31 billion on the soon-to-be-public company. GE said current shareholders would get one share in the new GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. for every three shares they hold in GE. The separation is set for Jan. 3 after the markets close, and the new shares will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol GEHC.  (Gryta, 11/30)


    Stat:
    Afraid Of Pharma Pushback, A Health Data Broker Puts Up A Barrier To Drug Pricing Information

    At a time when many Americans are clamoring for more transparency into prescription drug pricing, one key provider of that data is making it harder to access the information. A new venture called Merative — which was formed recently from the ashes of IBM’s Watson Health division — has decided it will no longer provide the media with pricing changes for specific medicines. (Silverman and Ross, 12/1)


    NBC News:
    Medical Terms Used By Doctors Often Baffling To Patients

    In a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, University of Minnesota researchers found that the language doctors often use tends not to translate easily into everyday English. A positive test result, for example, generally suggests something negative: A disease like Covid, for example, has been detected. (Edwards, 11/30)


    AP:
    US Officials Say 2 More Places Will Test Sewage For Polio

    Philadelphia and Oakland County, Michigan, are joining the small list of U.S. localities that are looking for signs of polio infections in sewage, U.S. health officials said Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the communities will test for polio in sewage for at least four months. Communities in New York state began testing earlier this year after a man was diagnosed with paralytic polio outside New York City. CDC officials say they have been talking with other communities about also starting polio wastewater testing. (Stobbe, 11/30)


    AP:
    Ohio House Passes Bill To Decriminalize Fentanyl Test Strips

    Fentanyl testing strips would be decriminalized under a bill the Ohio House passed Wednesday with overwhelming bipartisan support, advancing a proposal that proponents say would help prevent fatal overdoses and save lives. The strips, which are used to detect the powerful synthetic opioid often found laced in other drugs, would no longer be classified as illegal drug paraphernalia under the measure. (Hendrickson, 11/30)


    Roll Call:
    Older Adults Face Medicare Hurdles For Substance Use Treatment 

    For the staff at the Senior Recovery Center in Maplewood, Minn., helping older adults overcome substance use disorders is a calling, said Christine Martinek, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor there. But it’s a more challenging calling when the adults who need treatment are on Medicare. (Hellmann, 11/30)


    The Washington Post:
    Poison Pill: How Fentanyl Killed A 17-Year-Old

    When his father opened the door to Zach Didier’s bedroom, the boy seemed asleep at his desk, still wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a yellow T-shirt. His head rested in the crook of his left arm, near his soccer trophies and the computer where he played Minecraft with friends. But Chris Didier sensed something was terribly wrong. “As I got within two feet of him, I didn’t feel what I would normally feel,” he said. “When you approach a dead body, there is a void there, and I’d never sensed that before, and that’s when my world was destroyed.” (Barrett, 11/30)


    Bloomberg:
    Weed From Illegal NYC Shops Found With E.Coli, Salmonella

    About 40{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of cannabis products purchased from 20 illicit stores in New York City were found to contain harmful contaminants such as E. coli, lead and salmonella, according to a report commissioned by the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association. One of the products purchased also included double the amount of advertised THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. (Pollard, 11/30)


    AP:
    Contractor: Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Net Will Cost $400M 

    A suicide prevention net on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge that is already years behind schedule will cost about $400 million, more than double its original price, because of problems sparked by the government agency that manages the span, the lead contractors allege. (Rodriguez, 11/30)


    Bloomberg:
    Yale Sued By Students For Violating Americans With Disabilities Act

    For decades, Yale has “treated unequally and failed to accommodate students with mental health disabilities, including by modifying policies, in violation of federal law,” according to the suit filed Wednesday by two students and a mental-health advocacy group, Elis for Rachel Inc. They seek class-action status for complaint filed in New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is located. (Maglione, 11/30)


    AP:
    NC Health Agency Appealing Ruling On Services For Disabled 

    North Carolina’s government is appealing a trial judge’s order that demands many more community services by certain dates for people with intellectual and development disabilities who otherwise live at institutions, the top state health official said Wednesday. (Robertson, 11/30)


    Fortune:
    Laid-Off Workers Can Now Get A Free Month Of Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Services To Help With Their Mental Health 

    One company on the cutting edge of psychedelic-assisted therapy is hoping to minimize the negative mental health impact of a layoff with a free month of ketamine therapy. You heard that right—Field Trip Health, a company that provides psychedelic-enhanced therapy virtually, in person, and hybrid, announced today in an exclusive with Fortune that it will offer services free of charge to people who got laid off from a host of companies—including Twitter, Meta, Stripe, and others. (Mikhail, 11/30)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: Oct. 27, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    Employers Are Concerned About Covering Workers’ Mental Health Needs, Survey Finds 

    Almost three years after the covid-19 pandemic upended workplaces, mental health coverage remains a priority for employers, according to an annual employer survey fielded by KFF. Nearly half of surveyed large employers — those with at least 200 workers — reported that a growing share of their workers were using mental health services. Yet almost a third of that group said their health plan’s network didn’t have enough behavioral health care providers for employees to have timely access to the care they need. (Andrews, 10/27)

    KHN:
    Montana Backs Away From Innovative Hospital Payment Model. Other States Are Watching.

    Montana is signaling it might step away from an innovative way of setting the prices its public employee health plan pays hospitals for services, an approach that has saved the state millions of dollars and become a model for health plans nationwide. The plan gained national renown among employers and health care price reform advocates when, in 2016, it established maximum amounts the health plan would pay for all inpatient and outpatient services. Those amounts were pegged to Medicare reimbursement rates. The adoption of that model, known as reference-based pricing, has saved the state tens of millions of dollars. Taxpayers help fund the medical plan, which insures public employees and their families, for a total of about 28,800 people. (Houghton, 10/27)

    KHN:
    Readers And Tweeters Take Positions On Sleep Apnea Treatment 

    KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (10/27)


    The Hill:
    Americans Die Younger In States With Conservative Policies: Study

    Americans die younger in states with more conservative policies, while states with more liberal policies are associated with lower mortality rates, according to a new study published Wednesday in the scientific journal PLOS One. Researchers analyzed mortality rates for all causes of death in all 50 states from 1999 to 2019 among adults aged 25 to 64. They compared that to state data on policy measures such as gun safety, labor, marijuana policy, economic taxes and tobacco taxes. (Dress, 10/26)


    FiercePharma:
    OTC Birth Control Pill Delayed As FDA Postpones Expert Meeting For Perrigo Drug

    The FDA has pushed back a decision date on a proposed over-the-counter switch of Perrigo’s prescription birth control drug Opill by 90 days, Perrigo said Wednesday. Perrigo had previously expected an approval in the first half of 2023, but the exact original FDA action date was never disclosed. Perrigo’s HRA Pharma applied for the Rx-to-OTC switch on July 11, and such reviews typically take 10 months. In addition to its decision delay, the FDA also postponed a planned joint meeting by its Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee to discuss Perrigo’s application. The conference was previously scheduled for Nov. 18. No new date has been set, Perrigo said. (Liu, 10/26)


    Axios:
    FDA Postpones Meeting To Review Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pills

    “Protection of women’s health is of high importance to FDA,” an FDA spokesperson told Axios. “The postponement does not indicate or affect any decision regarding the application,” the spokesperson said, and added that the agency “remains committed to a timely review of this application.” (Gonzalez, 10/26)


    AP:
    Abortion Providers Challenge Medicaid Ban In Pennsylvania 

    Abortion providers across Pennsylvania urged the state’s highest court on Wednesday to overturn a longtime ban on Medicaid funding for the procedure. Planned Parenthood and other providers say the 1982 law violates the state’s Equal Rights Amendment by treating women’s health care needs differently than those of men. (Dale, 10/26)


    Scientific American:
    These Drugs Could Restore A Period Before Pregnancy Is Confirmed

    Imagine this situation: A woman misses her period and worries she might be pregnant. She doesn’t want to be, so she schedules an appointment with a health care provider and tells them she wishes to get her period back. The provider prescribes her a course of “period pills.” She gets her period again, and that’s the end of it. Such a scenario is not purely hypothetical. Period pills are the same ones used in medication abortion—misoprostol alone or in combination with mifepristone—which could imply that menstrual regulation is just another name for early abortion. But the drugs might not be considered abortion medication because the patient never learns whether they were pregnant in the first place. (Lenharo, 10/26)


    ProPublica:
    Lawmakers And Public Health Advocates Call For Congress To Finally Ban Asbestos

    Days after ProPublica detailed dangerous working conditions at a chlorine plant that used asbestos until it closed last year, public health advocates and two U.S. lawmakers are renewing calls for Congress to ban the carcinogen. “American workers are dying from asbestos. It is way past time to end its use,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon. “This ProPublica report confirms our worst fears: workers dealing with asbestos are often left vulnerable to this deadly, dangerous substance.” Merkley and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., are sponsoring the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act, which would permanently ban the importing and use of asbestos. (Bedi and McGrory, 10/27)


    The Hill:
    Fetterman Stroke Sparks Debate Over What’s Seen As A Disability

    Advocates for people with disabilities have watched the debate over Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman’s (D) with interest, and say that regardless of his health, it raises questions about how people view those with disabilities.   “I think that most of us … conjure up an image of what it is to be disabled and oftentimes that is some sort of physical mobility disability,” said Emily Blum, executive director of Disability Lead. “That’s an image that a lot of us are very comfortable with because it’s visible.”  (Budryk and Daniels, 10/26)


    Stat:
    For Experts On Stroke, Fetterman-Oz Debate Is A Teachable Moment

    At a Senate debate Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke, at times stumbled over his words, jumbled his answers, and noticeably paused. In the political press, Fetterman’s performance was met with headlines about his “painful debate” and “struggles.” (Joseph, 10/26)


    AP:
    Herschel Walker Faces Abortion Allegation From 2nd Accuser 

    A woman came forward Wednesday to accuse Herschel Walker, the anti-abortion Republican running for U.S. Senate in Georgia, of encouraging and paying for her 1993 abortion — an accusation that came just weeks after a former girlfriend said he did the same for her in 2009. Walker dismissed the newest allegation as “foolishness” and “a lie,” similar to his vehement denials earlier this month of the abortion alleged to have happened 13 years ago. … “I also did not kill JFK,” Walker said in a statement later Wednesday. (Barrow and Dazio, 10/27)


    NPR:
    Republicans Recast Drug Debate As Issue Of Crime And Borders

    On a recent evening, Ryan Hampton stood in front of a crowd of people in Spokane, Wash., urging them to see drugs and addiction as a key issue in the midterm elections. “We see these overdose numbers hitting new historic highs,” Hampton said, referring to the 107,622 Americans who died after using illicit drugs last year. (Mann, 10/27)


    The New York Times:
    Most Hospitalized Monkeypox Patients In The U.S. Were H.I.V.-Positive 

    Nearly all Americans hospitalized for monkeypox infection had weakened immune systems, most often because of H.I.V. infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday. Of 57 hospitalized patients described in the report, 82 percent had H.I.V. More than two-thirds of the patients were Black and nearly one-quarter were homeless, reflecting racial and economic inequities seen in the outbreak overall. (Mandavilli, 10/26)


    The Washington Post:
    Monkeypox Deaths In U.S. Hit 10; Danger Highest With Untreated HIV 

    Monkeypox is causing devastating outcomes for people with severely weakened immune systems, even as new cases continue to decline in the United States, according to a federal report released Wednesday. At least 10 people hospitalized with monkeypox have died. More than 28,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported since the U.S. outbreak began in May. While the vast majority recover within weeks, some patients with untreated HIV experienced especially dire consequences, such as losing function of their brain or spinal cord, eyes and lungs despite being given antiviral medication. (Sun and Nirappil, 10/26)


    ABC News:
    Some US Hospitals Report Beds Are Full Among Increase In Respiratory Infections In Children

    Some hospitals across the United States say their beds are full as cases of respiratory viruses continue to increase among children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infections due to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have spiked by 69{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} over the last four weeks from 4,667 to 7,917 and are appearing earlier than usual. (Kekatos, 10/27)


    The Hill:
    What To Know About RSV Symptoms And Transmission 

    Adults with RSV typically have symptoms of the common cold, but babies, young children and older adults who are infected with the virus can develop more serious illnesses like pneumonia. … RSV is primarily transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, and less commonly through the air or skin to skin contact. (Hou, 10/26)


    San Francisco Chronicle:
    BQ.1 And BQ.1.1 Strains Are Now CDC’s ‘Greatest Concern’

    U.S. health officials are watching the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 COVID subvariants “very carefully,” said the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Speaking at a virtual event hosted by the University of Virginia School of Medicine on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky described the emerging omicron descendents as “our greatest concern right now, both for the number of mutations, but also for the impact and the phenotype that we are worried that they may imply.” (Vaziri, Buchmann and Ravani, 10/26)


    The Washington Post:
    Still Afraid Of Covid: The People Who Are Still Isolating And Masking 

    [Many] Americans are still going very far out of their way to avoid the virus. They don’t dine indoors at restaurants. They continue to practice social distancing. They wear highly protective masks if they must visit a doctor or stop at a pharmacy. Some are home-schooling their kids. Others are refusing to return to the office. They populate the dozens of social media groups whose members identify as “Still COVIDing.” Many of them would like the unmasked masses to know that this isn’t easy and that it’s only gotten harder. (McCarthy, 10/26)


    The Boston Globe:
    Moderna Nears US Deal To Develop Shots For Ebola, Other Biological Threats

    Moderna declined to comment on the pending contract, and financial terms were not available. The company “continues to explore potential Ebola vaccines, based on earlier research conducted with academic partners,” a spokesperson said in an email. Moderna has said earlier that it’s committed to advancing clinical studies of 15 vaccine programs targeting emerging or neglected infectious diseases by 2025. (Muller and Griffin, 10/26)


    Bloomberg:
    Some States Push To Limit Health Coverage For Poor Children

    About 4 million children in the US have no health insurance. That’s about 5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of Americans 18 and younger. The number of uninsured kids declined for years, until it began edging up at the end of the 2010s. New research blames that reversal on state policies that made it harder to get safety-net coverage. That’s likely to have useful lessons for the year ahead. … The debate over who should be permitted to get Medicaid, the safety-net insurance for low-income families, has largely been on hold since the Covid-19 pandemic. (Tozzi, 10/26)


    Politico:
    Why Medicaid Is Blocking Patient Home Monitoring

    Many state Medicaid offices are stymieing the use of remote patient care, refusing coverage for low-income residents who suffer from chronic diseases at higher rates than Americans with private insurance, POLITICO’s Ruth Reader reports. Even as successive administrations have touted remote patient monitoring programs as a key to improving Americans’ health and reducing unnecessary government spending, many states have declined to pay for them. (Mahr, Payne, Banco and Leonard, 10/26)


    Fierce Healthcare:
    CMS To Restrict Medicare Advantage TV Ads Amid High Complaints

    Starting next year, insurers will not be able to air any television ads for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans before getting approval from federal regulators. The new requirement is part of a larger effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to address concerns in MA marketing practices. The new effort, announced in a memo released Oct. 19, comes as a Senate panel is also investigating how MA plans reach customers. (King, 10/26)


    AP:
    NC Nurse Charged With Murder In Deaths Of 2 Patients 

    A former nurse at a North Carolina hospital has been charged in the deaths of two patients after officials said he injected them with lethal doses of insulin. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced at a news conference Tuesday that Johnathan Howard Hayes, a registered nurse, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, news outlets reported. Hayes worked at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. (10/26)


    The Washington Post:
    Watching TV Could Increase Seniors’ Risk Of Dementia, Study Says 

    How older adults spend their sedentary time — what they do while sitting — makes a difference in their chances of developing dementia, according to research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It found that those whose time sitting was primarily spent watching television had a 24 percent increased risk for dementia, whereas those who spent that time on a computer had a 15 percent reduced risk for dementia. The researchers explained that TV watching is cognitively passive, meaning little thinking is required, while computer use is cognitively active, meaning it (like reading) is more intellectually stimulating. (Searing, 10/25)


    Politico:
    Jan. 6 Rioter Gets Probation Not Prison After Judge Finds Autism Played A Role

    A Jan. 6 rioter who wielded a hatchet and smashed two windows with a flagpole will serve no jail time, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, finding that Asperger’s syndrome made him susceptible to the influence of the mob. Nicholas Rodean of Frederick, Md., attempted to address U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden Wednesday and visibly struggled to complete thoughts and sentences while explaining and apologizing for his Jan. 6 conduct. At one point, he clutched his head in frustration. McFadden ultimately chose to sentence Rodean to 240 days of home confinement. But he said he was convinced that Rodean’s severe mental illness significantly mitigated “the blameworthiness of your conduct.” (Cheney, 10/26)


    Bloomberg:
    TikTok Found Not Liable For Child Dying In ‘Blackout Challenge’ 

    TikTok isn’t liable for the death of a 10-year-old girl who watched a so-called Blackout Challenge video that encouraged people to choke themselves, a judge ruled.US District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia said a federal law shielded the video-sharing platform from liability in the death of Nylah Anderson, even if the company’s app recommended the video to her. (Burnson, 10/26)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: July 11, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    In America, Cancer Patients Endure Debt On Top Of Disease 

    Jeni Rae Peters would make promises to herself as she lay awake nights after being diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. “My kids had lost so much,” said Peters, a single mom and mental health counselor. She had just adopted two girls and was fostering four other children. “I swore I wouldn’t force them to have yet another parent.” (Levey, 7/9)

    KHN:
    Medi-Cal’s Reliance On Prisoners To Make Cheaper Eyeglasses Proves Shortsighted

    To dodge hefty costs for eyewear, California’s health insurance program for low-income people, Medi-Cal, has an innovative strategy: It contracts exclusively with the state’s prisons, and inmates make glasses for its beneficiaries. But the partnership that began more than 30 years ago has fractured. Medi-Cal enrollees, many of whom are children, and their eye care providers say that they often wait months for the glasses and that sometimes they arrive broken. (DeGuzman, 7/11)

    KHN:
    Colorado’s Efforts Are Not Enough To Solve Its Ozone Problem 

    A year after health officials issued a record number of alerts for high ozone levels on Colorado’s Front Range, federal and state officials are trying to rein in the gas that can make outdoor activities a health risk. But new Colorado laws aimed at improving air quality along that urban corridor east of the Rocky Mountains aren’t expected to do much to directly reduce ozone, according to experts charged with bringing down the levels. “These are not the magic bullets that will bring us into compliance, but they will be helpful in reducing emissions,” said Michael Silverstein, executive director of the Regional Air Quality Council, the lead air-quality planning organization for nine counties of the Front Range. (Robbins, 7/11)

    KHN:
    A 63-Year-Old Transgender Woman Is Caught In Montana’s Birth Certificate Dispute 

    At 10 years old, Susan Howard knew she was a girl, even though her birth certificate said otherwise. It wasn’t until last year, at age 62, that the Montana resident came to terms with being transgender. Howard underwent hormone therapy, had gender-affirming surgery, and began changing her name and gender on official documents. “It has been a godsend for me,” Howard said. “I feel so right and at ease with myself for the first time in so many ways.” (Zurek, 7/11)

    KHN:
    Journalists Explain The Effects Of ‘Dobbs’ Decision And New Insurer Price Transparency Rules 

    KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed how the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion affects contraception on NPR/WAMU’s “1A” on July 6. … KHN senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed insurer price transparency regulations on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” on July 2. (7/9)


    AP:
    Biden Says He’s Mulling Health Emergency For Abortion Access

    President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesn’t seem like “a great option.” He also offered a message to people enraged by the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that ended a constitutional right to abortion and who have been demonstrating across the country: “Keep protesting. Keep making your point. It’s critically important.” (Fingerhut, 7/10)


    Roll Call:
    Biden Issues Executive Order Responding To Abortion Ruling

    The White House on Friday announced a wide-ranging executive order aimed at protecting abortion rights — its most significant response to a recent Supreme Court decision overturning long-standing precedent guaranteeing the right to an abortion nationwide since the high court made the ruling two weeks ago. … The multipronged order would mainly focus on actions to be taken through the Department of Health and Human Services. Specifically, Biden would instruct HHS to take additional actions to expand access to medication abortion, a two-pill regimen used to end pregnancies before 10 weeks — building on actions Becerra announced last week. … It would also direct HHS to take actions to protect all forms of contraception, including emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception like intrauterine devices, or IUDs.(Raman, 7/8)


    The Washington Post:
    Inside The White House Struggle To Respond To The Abortion Ruling 

    To many increasingly frustrated Democrats, Biden’s slow-footed response on abortion was just the latest example of a failure to meet the moment on a wave of conservative rollbacks, from gun control to environmental protections to voting rights. … This account of the administration’s 14-day struggle to craft a message and policy plan after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is based on interviews with 26 senior White House officials, Democratic lawmakers, abortion rights activists, Democratic strategists and other Biden allies, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid details. (Parker, Abutaleb and Pager, 7/9)


    CBS News:
    Vice President Kamala Harris Stresses Need For “Pro-Choice Congress” To Protect Abortion Rights

    Vice President Kamala Harris underscored the importance of voters casting their ballots in the November midterm elections for a “pro-choice Congress” that will enshrine the right to an abortion into law after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In an interview with “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday, Harris said the ruling from the high court last month cleared the way for states to enact new laws restricting or outright banning abortion. (Quinn, 7/10)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    Lawsuits To Test Whether State Constitutions Protect Abortion Rights

    In North Dakota this week, the only remaining abortion provider in the state challenged a ban on most abortions set to take effect later this month, arguing it violates provisions in the state’s constitution that protect life, safety and happiness. Other litigation is proceeding in more politically mixed states, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina, which all have pending cases that could create state constitutional protections for abortion. Courts could play a decisive roll in all three states, which have Democratic governors and Republican-led legislatures and have in recent years been unable to enact significant laws either protecting or restricting abortion. (Kusisto, 7/9)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    Doctors Struggle With State Abortion Restrictions At Odds With Federal Law 

    Doctors and hospitals are rushing to reconcile laws in their states barring abortion with a federal law that may require the procedure as part of emergency treatment. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, laws have taken effect, or soon will, in several states that prohibit abortions except when necessary to save a pregnant women’s life. Yet under federal law, doctors and hospitals may need to perform the procedure in other medical emergencies, such as for women at risk of kidney failure from an infection. (Evans, 7/10)


    AP:
    Arizona Says “Personhood” Abortion Law Can’t Lead To Charges

    An attorney with the Arizona attorney general’s office told a judge Friday that a 2021 state “personhood” law that gives all legal rights to unborn children can’t be used to bring criminal charges against abortion providers. The comment from Assistant Solicitor General Kate Sawyer came during a hearing where attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and an abortion rights group representing abortion providers were seeking an injunction blocking the law. (Christie, 7/8)


    AP:
    Lawmakers Move State Abortion Amendment Closer To 2023 Vote 

    A proposal to have voters decide whether to add a provision the Pennsylvania Constitution to say it does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions passed the Legislature on Friday and could be on the ballot next spring. The language was among five proposed Republican-written amendments that were approved by both the House and Senate after a pair of charged debates among state lawmakers who have promised their voters to fight for or against abortion rights. (Scolforo, 7/8)


    Houston Chronicle:
    A Floating Abortion Clinic? Medical Team Plans To Launch Ship In Gulf Of Mexico, In Federal Waters

    A California doctor has a plan to launch a floating reproductive health clinic in the Gulf of Mexico, where care will be regulated by federal — not state — law. The plan — currently in the fundraising stage — hopes to make surgical abortions, contraception and other reproductive health services available to Gulf Coast patients living in states restricting such services. (Schuetz, 7/9)


    CBS News:
    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Tests Positive For COVID-19

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has tested positive for COVID-19, his spokesperson confirmed Sunday night. Schumer, who is fully vaccinated and double boosted, is only experiencing “very mild” symptoms, the spokesperson said in a statement. The 71-year-old’s positive test came as part of his regular testing regimen, according to the statement. Per CDC guidance, he will quarantine and work remotely this week. (Albert, 7/10)


    NPR:
    Abbott Reopens Michigan Baby Formula Plant After Flooding

    One of the nation’s largest suppliers of baby formula has reopened its Sturgis, Mich., plant after severe flooding from heavy rains forced it to temporarily shut down in mid-June. The Abbott Nutrition facility reopened July 1 and began producing EleCare, its specialty baby formula, an Abbott spokesperson told CBS News and other outlets. Abbott is one of the four companies in the U.S. controlling roughly 90{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the multibillion-dollar infant formula market. (Miranda, 7/10)


    The New York Times:
    The U.S. May Be Losing The Fight Against Monkeypox, Scientists Say

    As epidemics go, the monkeypox outbreak should have been relatively easy to snuff out. The virus does not spread efficiently except through intimate contact, and tests and vaccines were at hand even before the current outbreak. Yet the response in the United States has been sluggish and timid, reminiscent of the early days of the Covid pandemic, experts say, raising troubling questions about the nation’s preparedness for pandemic threats. (Mandavilli, 7/8)


    AP:
    West Virginia Announces First Probable Case Of Monkeypox

    The first probable case of monkeypox has been announced in West Virginia. The state Department of Health and Human Resources said Friday the case involves a resident of Berkeley County in the Eastern Panhandle. No additional information was released. (7/8)


    Los Angeles Times:
    Monkeypox Spreads In L.A., But Vaccine Shortage Persists

    As criticism grows from LGBTQ activists and others, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it will expand eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine to certain patients with recent sexually transmitted diseases and to high-risk people at Men’s Central Jail. Still, eligibility will remain limited to the highest-risk people, and officials are reporting a severe shortage of the Jynneos vaccine that probably won’t be resolved for months. (Lin II and Toohey, 7/9)


    CIDRAP:
    Officials Note Multiple Sex Partners As Monkeypox Risk 

    The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published its first update to its rapid risk assessment of monkeypox, saying that the likelihood of disease spread in people with multiple sexual partners in Europe is high, but the risk to the broader population is very low. (Soucheray, 7/8)


    AP:
    New Coronavirus Mutant Raises Concerns In India And Beyond

    The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists as it gains ground in India and pops up in numerous other countries, including the United States. Scientists say the variant – called BA.2.75 – may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection. It’s unclear whether it could cause more serious disease than other omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5. (Ungar and Ghosal, 7/11)


    Fortune:
    Move Over, Measles: Dominant Omicron Subvariants BA.4 And BA.5 Could Be The Most Infectious Viruses Known To Man 

    COVID was relatively deadly, but not ultra-transmissible when it burst onto the global scene in late 2019 and early 2020. These days, due a number of factors, the reverse is true: It’s considerably less lethal, but more exponentially transmissible. Globally dominant Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are neck and neck with measles in the competition for the title of most infectious disease known to man, according to an Australian professor of biostatistics and epidemiology. (Prater, 7/9)


    The Washington Post:
    As BA.5 Variant Spreads, Risk Of Covid Reinfection Grows

    America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas. The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. The size of that wave is unclear because most people are testing at home or not testing at all. (Achenbach, 7/10)


    The New York Times:
    What Are The Symptoms Of Omicron Subvariants BA.4 And BA.5? 

    Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Cleveland Clinic, said people tend to experience upper respiratory symptoms “from the vocal cords to the tip of the nose.” Anecdotally, he said, he has seen more patients with painful sinus congestion and severe sore throats who have tested positive for Covid-19 while BA.4 and BA.5 have been circulating. Some of them thought they had strep throat because they were in so much pain, he said. (Blum, 7/6)


    The Boston Globe:
    Boston Researchers May Have Found Biomarker For Long COVID

    Researchers say they have found the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein circulating in the blood of long COVID patients up to 12 months after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital said the findings suggested the spike protein was a potential biomarker that could be helpful in diagnosing and treating long COVID patients. (Finucane, 7/7)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    Long Covid Is An Elusive Target For Big Pharma

    The drug industry developed Covid-19 vaccines and treatments at breakneck speed, saving millions of lives in the process. Yet treatments for the post-viral illness known as long Covid, which is afflicting millions, are nowhere close to being developed. The lack of urgency around developing treatments is both a missed opportunity for the healthcare industry and a drag on the economy as an array of conditions such as dizziness and chest pain force many Americans to at least temporarily stop working. (Wainer, 7/11)


    AP:
    New York City Health Officials Urge Return To Indoor Masking

    New York City public health officials on Friday urged residents to return to indoor mask-wearing, noting how they’re seeing high levels of COVID-19 infection. To help slow the spread, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommended in a tweet that “all New Yorkers should wear a high-quality mask, such as an N95, KN95 or KF94 in all public indoor settings and around crowds outside.” (7/8)


    Bloomberg:
    New York City Cuts Back On Covid Testing Amid US Surge In Infections

    New York City is scaling back on Covid-19 testing sites despite omicron subvariants that are driving a nationwide rise in new case and hospitalization rates. The city’s public health system has been shutting down hundreds of testing sites as public attention to the virus fades, according to its website. Meanwhile, the rate of positive results to total tests, an indicator of the speed of spread, rose to 15.4{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} this week, about four times what it was in April. (Taylor, 7/9)


    San Francisco Chronicle:
    COVID Vaccine Uptake For Bay Area Babies, Toddlers Outpaces State And US

    In late June, when pediatrician Dr. Nelson Branco opened up COVID vaccine appointments for his youngest patients — babies and toddlers under 5 years old — parents raced to book some 250 slots within the first 48 hours. By late last week, nearly 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of Branco’s roughly 1,500 patients in this age group had gotten their first shot. The doctor, who practices in Larkspur and Novato, anticipates that over the next few weeks, it will double to 40{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}. (Ho, 7/10)


    CIDRAP:
    Wastewater Surveillance Tool Detects SARS-CoV-2 Variants Earlier, Cheaper

    Scientists at Scripps Research Institute and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a wastewater surveillance tool that—with just 2 teaspoons of raw sewage—can identify the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in a population and detect new variants of concern up to 2 weeks before clinical sequencing can. (7/8)


    Modern Healthcare:
    Hospital Price Data Reveals Wide Variation In Facility Fees

    Larger, for-profit hospitals charged patients higher facility fees for emergency care than not-for-profit hospitals, a new study found. High-acuity patients who went to for-profit emergency departments were charged an average of $1,218 more for cash price facility fees than not-for-profit providers, according to an analysis of 2021 data from more than 1,600 hospitals. (Kacik, 7/11)


    Modern Healthcare:
    Healthcare Hiring Surged In June, Jobs Report Shows

    Healthcare hiring increased substantially in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Friday. Employers in the sector added an estimated 56,700 jobs, up from 15,300 in May, preliminary data show. The industry contributed 15.2{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the 372,000 hires made across the economy in June and added the third-most jobs among all categories. (Devereaux, 7/8)


    The Washington Post:
    Retractions Aren’t A Panacea For Bad Research

    In a paper published in PNAS last month, researchers say most retractions do not happen soon enough to prevent the spread of faulty science. The team studied nearly 3,000 retracted papers from the past decade, looking at their reach in news publications, social media and elsewhere online. When they compared the discredited papers’ reach with that of 13,500 studies that were not retracted, they found the problematic papers received more attention and were mentioned more often on news platforms than their counterparts, probably because of their compelling results. (Blakemore, 7/9)


    AP:
    Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission To Meet 

    A group selected last month to turn a massive settlement into action to combat opioid addiction will meet for the first time this week. The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission will hold its first meeting Tuesday afternoon at the Capital Complex East in Frankfort, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed. (7/11)


    Politico:
    Did Minnesota Accidentally Legalize Weed? 

    Minnesota just sorta, kinda, almost legalized weed. A law took effect earlier this month allowing anyone at least 21 years old to purchase edibles or beverages with up to 5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC per serving. Those relatively low potency products with up to 50 milligrams per package still pack enough of a psychoactive punch to get most users plenty high. But some key lawmakers who approved the significant change in drug policy were seemingly confused about what they’d done. (Demko, 7/10)


    The Washington Post:
    Epilepsy Patients Turn To Unregulated CBD Market For Treatment

    In 2013, Tonya Taylor says, she was suicidal because her epileptic seizures kept coming even though she was taking a long list of medications. Then a fellow patient at a Denver neurologist’s office mentioned something that gave Taylor hope: a CBD oil called Charlotte’s Web. The person told her the oil helped people with uncontrolled epilepsy. The doctor, however, would discuss it only “off the record” because cannabidiol was illegal under federal law, and he worried about his hospital losing funding, Taylor said. (Berger, 7/10)


    AP:
    Caregiver Acquitted In Accidental Vinegar Death In Spokane

    A former caregiver charged in connection with the 2019 poisoning death of a developmentally disabled woman has been acquitted of felony assault. Fikirte T. Aseged mistakenly gave cleaning vinegar instead of colonoscopy prep medicine to her 64-year-old client Marion Wilson. (7/9)


    The Boston Globe:
    Can Brain-Training Stave Off Dementia? New Studies May Pinpoint Some Answers

    There are some things Mario Tardif knows for sure. He’s a procrastinator. He should exercise more. And he should not have a bowl of ice cream every night, as much as he would like to. But what the 68-year-old North Attleborough grandfather doesn’t know is perhaps the thing that most haunts him — whether he will spend the last years of his life lost in a fog of Alzheimer’s dementia, staring out the window and crying, as his mother did. (Lazar, 7/10)


    AP:
    With New Permit, Johns Hopkins Can Keep Up Barn Owl Research 

    After securing a new state permit, a Johns Hopkins University researcher will be allowed to continue medical experiments on barn owls that have been criticized by a leading animal rights group. … The experiments involve the placement of electrodes into the brains of the owls. The electrodes do not hurt or damage the birds, though the owls are ultimately euthanized, Eric Hutchinson, director of the university’s Research Animal Resources, told the newspaper. (7/10)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: June 8, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    Some People In This Montana Mining Town Worry About The Dust Next Door 

    Steve McGrath stood in an empty lot a block from his home watching for dust. In this southwestern Montana city nicknamed “The Richest Hill on Earth,” more than a century of mining left polluted soil and water that has taken decades to clean. But at that moment, looking across the road toward Butte’s last operating open-pit mine, McGrath was worried about the air. “Here comes another truck,” McGrath said, pointing to a hillside across the street as a massive dump truck unloaded ore for the mine’s crusher. A brown cloud billowed into the air. “And there’s the dust.” (Houghton, 6/8)

    KHN:
    Patients Seek Mental Health Care From Their Doctor But Find Health Plans Standing In The Way

    When a longtime patient visited Dr. William Sawyer’s office after recovering from covid, the conversation quickly turned from the coronavirus to anxiety and ADHD. Sawyer — who has run a family medicine practice in the Cincinnati area for more than three decades — said he spent 30 minutes asking questions about the patient’s exercise and sleep habits, counseling him on breathing exercises, and writing a prescription for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication. (Pattani, 6/8)

    KHN:
    ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Good News For Your Credit Report 

    Credit reporting bureaus announced in March that they would start taking most paid medical debt off people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the unpaid medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. But it turns out, there are a bunch of reasons these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due.  (Weissmann, 6/8)


    Stat:
    FDA Advisers Recommend Authorization Of Novavax’s Covid-19 Vaccine

    Experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recommend the agency issue an emergency use authorization for Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine — a long-awaited win for a company that has struggled to get to this point. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 21 to 0 to recommend that the vaccine receive an EUA, with a single abstention. The strong vote belied the tenor of much of the day’s discussion, which started with one member of the committee, Eric Rubin, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, questioning whether additional EUAs are needed when three vaccines are already in use in the country. (Branswell, 6/7)


    The Washington Post:
    FDA Advisers Recommend Authorizing Novavax Coronavirus Vaccine 

    Bruce Gellin, chief of global public health strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, abstained from voting but said he was giving the vaccine a “conditional yes.” He said the vaccine was shown to be generally safe and effective when clinical trials were conducted but that “we don’t know whether that is true today.” He said it was important to monitor the vaccine’s performance as it comes into use. (Johnson and McGinley, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Novavax COVID Shot, Aimed At Vaccine Skeptics, Overwhelmingly Backed By FDA Panel

    The timeline for Novavax is not clear. Novavax Chief Commercial Officer John Trizzino said the agency is still reviewing documents detailing its manufacturing processes submitted last week. “We hopefully expect to have product in the U.S. in our warehouse by the end of June,” he said in an interview, adding that the company plans to ship millions of doses made by its partner, the Serum Institute of India, soon after authorization. (Erman and Mishra, 6/7)


    The New York Times:
    Monkeypox Can Be Airborne, Too 

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week for travelers wishing to protect themselves against monkeypox. This was one of its recommendations: “Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.” Late Monday night, that recommendation was deleted. However, the agency still says that in countries where monkeypox is spreading, “household contacts and health care workers” should consider wearing masks. That guideline also applies to “other people who may be in close contact with a person who has been confirmed with monkeypox.” The turnabout hints at a little-discussed aspect of the current monkeypox outbreak: The virus can be airborne, at least over short distances. (Mandavilli, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    U.S. CDC Removes Mask Recommendation From Monkeypox Travel Notice To Avoid Confusion 

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday it had removed a mask recommendation from its monkeypox travel notice to avoid “confusion” over the disease, which primarily spreads through direct contact. “Late yesterday, CDC removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox Travel Health Notice because it caused confusion,” a CDC spokesperson said on Tuesday. (6/7)


    AP:
    Arizona’s 1st Probable Monkeypox Case In Maricopa County

    Arizona health officials announced Tuesday that they have identified the state’s first probable monkeypox case in Maricopa County. They said testing at the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory returned a presumptive positive result and confirmatory testing is underway at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials said the case involves a man in his late 30s who is currently in isolation and recovering. (6/7)


    The Hill:
    Here Are The States With Monkeypox Cases

    The U.S. has not reported any deaths from the monkeypox cases, and officials are working to contain cases by identifying who was exposed to the virus and getting them a vaccine. There are currently more than 30 cases in the nation. (Lonas, 6/7)


    Stat:
    Lessons From AIDS Crisis Guide Response To Monkeypox Outbreak 

    As officials, researchers and activists scramble to control an emerging monkeypox outbreak, many are doing so with another virus constantly wedged in the back of their minds: HIV. The parallels between the two infections are limited but clear. Although the monkeypox strain now in circulation is infinitesimally milder than HIV — zero fatalities have been reported out of the more than 1,000 cases so far — it is another virus that emerged in sub-Saharan Africa and has popped up outside the continent largely in men who have sex with men. “There are, you know, echoes,” said Chris Beyrer, director of the Duke Global Health Institute. (Mast, 6/8)


    Fortune:
    Florida Is Once Again Becoming An Area Of Concern For COVID Cases

    COVID-19 cases are once again topping 100,000 per day in the U.S., and that number could be significantly higher as the number of unreported cases grows, thanks to at-home testing. But not all areas are equal when it comes to risk levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked the risk level by county through the U.S.—and, as of Tuesday, 241 counties are ranked as having high COVID-19 levels, which is determined by whichever is higher: either new hospital admissions of people with the virus, or the percentage of inpatient beds in use by COVID-19 patients. (Morris, 6/7)


    AP:
    Washington Hospitals Again Strained By COVID-19 Spread

    Hospital officials in Washington are urging people to wear masks and warning that facilities are heading toward another COVID-19 case peak amid high spread in the community. Washington State Hospital Association CEO Cassie Sauer on Monday said at the end of last week, almost 600 people with COVID-19 were in hospitals across the state with about 20-25 patients a day on ventilators, The News Tribune reported. (6/7)


    AP:
    Bonus Pay Coming For Minnesota’s Frontline COVID-19 Workers 

    Minnesota residents who came into work during the height of the coronavirus pandemic will soon be collecting bonus pay. Workers who are eligible for so-called hero pay can begin applying online Wednesday morning and will have up to 45 days to sign up, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said. The money be divided evenly, following a period for appeals. (6/7)


    CBS News:
    Hospital Studying Long-Term Effects Of COVID In Kids

    Adriana Vaughan tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2021. Eight months later, the 12-year-old has a string of new medical issues: fatigue, headaches, stomach problems and more. Vaughan can’t even walk for six minutes without losing her breath. She says swimming, which she did before getting COVID, is also hard. … Vaughan is one of more than 70 kids being treated in the long COVID clinic at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Dr. Alexandra Yonts, an infectious disease specialist who runs the clinic, said fatigue is the top complaint among patients young and old. (Duncan, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    COVID-19 Was Leading Cause Of Duty-Related Police Deaths In 2020 

    COVID-19 caused 62{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of duty-related deaths of US police officers in the first year of the pandemic—a rate that rose to 77{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 82{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} among minority officers—according to a new study published in Policing: An International Journal. (Van Beusekom, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Those Who Believe In COVID-19 Conspiracies May Be At Risk For Depression

    People who believe in conspiracies about the COVID-19 pandemic are at an increased risk of experiencing anxiety and depression, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry and published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. The research was based on survey results of 700 volunteers who answered a newly created COVID-19 Conspiratorial Beliefs Scale developed by researchers at several Polish universities. Participants also took the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale survey, as well as the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (covering topics such as aliens from other planets) to compare results. (6/7)


    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
    Wisconsin Supreme Court OKs Releasing COVID Data On Businesses

    More than a year after Wisconsin’s largest business lobby sued to stop the state from releasing data on companies with COVID outbreaks, a narrowly divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of releasing the records. The majority opinion, written by Justice Rebecca Dallet, asserts that Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce did not have the right to challenge the state health department’s authority to release public records. The state legislature in 2003 limited when people can challenge the release of public records to a few clearly defined circumstances after a number of high profile cases in which teachers accused of having sex with students tried to stop the release of their personnel records. The slew of subsequent lawsuits bogged down the open records process in local government so much that it essentially defeated the intent of the open records law. (Chen, 6/7)


    Axios:
    Biden Administration Seeks To Suppress Hospital Safety Data

    Consumer groups are pushing back against a Biden administration proposal that would block public access to key hospital safety data such as infection rates, falls and incidence of bed sores. Medicare is accepting comments from the public through June 17 on the rule, saying it is proposing the data suppression “due to the impact of the COVID-19 [public health emergency.]” … “The public has a right to know what happened during the pandemic. We have a right to know when lives are at risk and which hospitals did the best job of protecting their patients,” said Leah Binder, CEO of the Leapfrog Group, an organization that grades hospital care.(Reed, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Molnupiravir Cut Need For Higher Levels Of Care In Non-Severe COVID-19

    Nonhospitalized, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who received Merck’s antiviral molnupiravir had less need for respiratory support and fewer acute-care visits than those given a placebo, finds the secondary analysis of the phase 2/3 randomized, controlled MOVe-OUT trial published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (6/7)


    Becker’s Hospital Review:
    26 Million People Stuck In Paxlovid ‘Deserts’

    At-home COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid was inaccessible to more than 26 million Americans January through March, according to a recent GoodRx analysis. The pharmacy “deserts” spanned 42 percent of the nation’s counties and mainly fell in rural areas. One of the possible causes for the supply drought is the shaky test-to-treat initiative, which faces fewer COVID-19 tests and a public wary of taking a new medication. (Twenter, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Moderna Launches Phase 3 Trial Of MRNA Flu Vaccine

    Moderna today announced the launch of a phase 3 trial of its mRNA seasonal flu vaccine, which has a goal of immunizing about 6,000 adult participants in the Southern Hemisphere, which is entering its flu season. In a statement, the company said the vaccine candidate, one of several respiratory disease vaccines in development, encodes for the hemagglutinin glycoprotein of the four flu virus strains recommended by the World Health Organization. It added that the surface glycoprotein is an important target for generating broad protection against flu and is the primary target for current flu vaccines. (6/7)


    Bloomberg:
    New Drug Prices Soar To $180,000 A Year On 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} Annual Inflation

    While gasoline and food prices soar, few products rival the inflation in prices on newly launched prescription drugs, according to a new study. The median launch price of a new drug in the US soared from $2,115 in 2008 to $180,007 in 2021, a 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} annual inflation rate over the period, researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found. Even after adjusting for factors such as drugmakers’ focus on expensive disease categories like cancer and estimated discounts that manufacturers give some purchasers, the annual inflation rate in launch prices over the period was still almost 11{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}. (Langreth, 6/7)


    NBC News:
    Hospitals Are Required To Post Prices For Common Procedures. Few Do.

    Few hospitals are posting the prices of their common procedures online, despite a federal law that went into effect more than a year ago. The Hospital Price Transparency Law is intended to make the hidden costs of services such as X-rays, medical tests or colonoscopies clear to patients before they enter the hospital. But a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association added to mounting evidence that hospitals are largely ignoring the law.  (Sullivan and Dunn, 6/8)


    Stat:
    Study Suggests A New Harm From Hospital Mergers: Less Price Transparency

    Health care economists argue hospital mergers can raise costs and lower quality. And now, a new study adds another downside: Hospitals in concentrated markets are also less likely to be transparent about their prices. Researchers pored over the websites of more than 5,200 hospitals to check on their adherence to the federal Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule, which took effect in January 2021. Their research letter, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows compliance is dismally low — less than 6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} — adding to previous research and media reports that found the same. (Bannow, 6/7)


    Modern Healthcare:
    FTC Takes Aim At PBM Business Practices In New Inquiry

    The Federal Trade Commission will intensify its scrutiny of pharmacy benefit manager business practices, the agency announced Tuesday. The probe, which the commission unanimously approved, will focus on how vertical integration in the PBM sector affects access and pricing in the prescription drug market, according to a news release. The FTC will require the six largest PBMs to provide information about their activities. The regulator plans to send compulsory orders to CVS Health’s CVS Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx, Humana, Blue Cross and Blue Shield-affiliated Prime Therapeutics, and MedImpact Healthcare Systems. CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx collectively control about 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the PBM market. (Goldman, 6/7)


    Modern Healthcare:
    California Doctors Union Avoids Strike With Tentative Contract

    A union representing 1,300 resident physicians and fellows at three Los Angeles County hospitals reached a tentative contract with the county, averting a potential strike, the labor organization said Tuesday. The Committee of Interns and Residents, a local chapter of Service Employees International Union, entered additional negotiations with the county following its vote late last month to authorize a strike. No details were released on the tentative pact’s specifics or when members would vote on it but in a news release, the union said the proposal contained “significant material gains for resident physicians.” (Devereaux, 6/7)


    The Boston Globe:
    ‘The Numbers Just Continue To Rise’: Patients Awaiting Psychiatric Treatment Crowd Emergency Rooms

    On Monday, nearly all of South Shore Hospital’s pediatric emergency beds were occupied by children who were suicidal. The 10 patients, some of whom had been there 12 days or more, were waiting for a place that could take them and care for their mental health needs. Another 18 adults were in the emergency department with behavioral health issues, also waiting for beds at South Shore or another facility. One person had been there 17 days. Hospital officials throughout the state say they are seeing unprecedented volumes of behavioral health patients who are sicker than ever before, a leading contributor to emergency room crowding, which officials say has worsened in recent weeks. (Bartlett, 6/7)


    Axios:
    Heat Waves Could Soon Have Names

    There’s a growing effort to name and categorize heat waves the way we do hurricanes — to call attention to their significance, alert people to dangerous temperatures and prod public officials into action. Heat waves are the deadliest type of weather emergency in the U.S. They’re bigger killers than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes — and they’re growing in frequency and intensity due to global warming. (Kingson, 6/8)


    Billings Gazette:
    Voters Want To Keep Recreational Pot, According To Early Returns

    Yellowstone County voters want to keep their access to local recreational marijuana dispensaries. In the first batch of results from Tuesday’s election, 21,903 voters opted to keep recreational marijuana sales legal in Yellowstone County compared to 15,869 who voted to ban sales. Voters were asked whether to overturn legalized recreational marijuana sales in Yellowstone County following a move in December by Yellowstone County commissioners to place the question on the June ballot. It’s the third time since November 2020 that Billings voters have cast a ballot asking about recreational marijuana. Montana voters in 2020 overwhelmingly approved legalizing recreational marijuana; in Yellowstone County the vote was more narrow, 50.7{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 49.3{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in favor, a difference of roughly 1,100 votes. (Rogers, 6/7)


    Dallas Morning News:
    Garland ISD Will Clean Up Soil With High Levels Of Arsenic At Middle School Campus

    Garland ISD has plans to remove soil near Sam Houston Middle School after a third-party contractor report found some areas with high levels of arsenic. On Friday, Garland ISD’s executive director of facilities and maintenance, Paul Gonzales, sent out a letter to families attending the school announcing that there would be a cleanup process this summer. The report, which The Dallas Morning News obtained via an open records request, comes almost a year after the EPA alerted Garland ISD about its findings of lead contaminated soil at Park Crest Elementary, which is directly across the street from Sam Houston. The EPA began a cleanup process to remove the lead contaminated soil on district property and in the surrounding neighborhood last August. (D’Annunzio, 6/7)


    Oklahoman:
    Oklahoma City-County Health Department To Offer Free Mammograms On June 10

    The Oklahoma City-County Health Department will be offering free mammograms on Friday, June 10. The event is in partnership with OU Health, Stephenson Cancer Center and The Market at Eastpoint, 1708 NE 23. The mobile mammography unit will be at The Market to screen women over the age of 40. All services are free, and if any abnormalities are found, diagnostic testing and follow-up will also be offered at no cost. (6/7)


    Stateline:
    One Region Led A 13-State Pandemic Baby Boomlet

    New England has seen an unusual uptick in births during the coronavirus pandemic as more highly educated residents, especially those in their 30s, seized working from home as an opportunity to start a family. All six New England states were among the 13 states where births increased between 2019 and 2021. New Hampshire and Tennessee were the only states with more births last year than in 2014, the last time births rose nationally. The New England baby boomlet is notable in a region with the lowest birth rates in the nation—and it contrasts with a long-term national decline in births. (Henderson, 6/7)


    AP:
    Police: DNA Technology Connects Man To Florida Serial Rapes 

    Advanced DNA technology helped detectives link the cases of six women to a man accused of being the “pillowcase rapist” for a string of rapes back in the 1980s.Robert Koehler is currently jailed in neighboring Miami-Dade County, where he faces charges for assaulting a woman in the early ’80s as well, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a Tuesday morning news conference. Authorities believe Koehler, 62, may have committed 40 to 45 rapes, terrifying victims by breaking into their homes at night, the sheriff said. (Frisaro, 6/7)


    CBS News:
    Jif Peanut Butter Recalls Now Include Ice Cream, Candy And Chicken Salad

    Add peanut butter cup ice cream to a growing list of recalled food made with Jif peanut butter that is linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 16 people in the U.S. Americans are being cautioned against eating a range of baked goods, sandwiches, candy, trail mix and ready-to-eat salad products made with the recalled Jif peanut butter, as snacks are pulled from stores, vending machines and restaurants nationwide amid a multi-state outbreak of salmonella. (Gibson, 6/7)


    NBC News:
    Family Sues Meta, Blames Instagram For Daughter’s Eating Disorder And Self-Harm

    A preteen girl’s “addictive” use of Instagram resulted in an eating disorder, self-harm and thoughts of suicide over several years, according to a lawsuit against the platform’s parent company, Meta. The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late Monday, heavily cites the Facebook Papers, a trove of internal Meta research documents leaked last fall that revealed that the tech giant knew Instagram was worsening body-image and other mental-health issues among teenage girls in particular. (Cook, 6/7)


    AP:
    Some Cancer Patients Can Skip Treatments, 2 Studies Show

    After surgery, some cancer patients can safely skip radiation or chemotherapy, according to two studies exploring shorter, gentler cancer care. Researchers are looking for ways to precisely predict which cancer patients can avoid unneeded treatment to cut down on harmful side effects and unnecessary costs. One new study used a blood test to determine which colon cancer patients could skip chemotherapy after surgery. Another suggests some low-risk breast cancer patients can omit radiation after lumpectomy. (Johnson, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Sanofi’s Dupixent Gets U.S. Approval To Treat Eczema In Young Children

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s anti-inflammation drug Dupixent to treat eczema in young children, the two companies said on Tuesday. Dupixent is now the first approved treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema in young children, Sanofi and Regeneron said. (6/7)


    CNN:
    Prescription Cannabis Products With More THC May Ease Chronic Pain, At Least A Little, Study Finds 

    People who suffer from chronic pain may find small-to-moderate pain relief for the short-term when using certain prescription cannabis products with higher THC to CBD levels, but there are some worrisome side effects, according to new research. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the chemical compound in the marijuana plant that makes you high. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the second most prevalent active chemical in cannabis, but it does not make you high. Both have been associated with pain relief. “The findings are in line with what we know,” said Yasmin Hurd, a professor of pharmacological sciences, neuroscience and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She was not involved with the study. (LaMotte, 6/8)


    The Washington Post:
    Type 2 Diabetes May Accelerate Brain Function Decline As People Age

    In older people with Type 2 diabetes, the brain appears to age at an accelerated rate — about 26 percent faster than normal, according to research published in the journal eLife. Relying on brain scans, brain functioning tests and other data from 20,314 people, ages 50 to 80, the researchers compared neurological changes in those who did and did not have Type 2 diabetes. In both groups, they found declines in executive functions such as working memory, learning and flexible thinking, as well as declines in brain processing speed. (Searing, 6/7)


    The Washington Post:
    ‘Needle Spiking’ Reports Grow In France, Belgium And Britain

    She had eagerly looked forward to going home for the holidays and reuniting with friends over dinner and drinks. Instead, Eva Keeling, 19, says, she wound up injected by a stranger with a needle, leaving her unable to speak or function while at a bar in her hometown of Stafford, in northern England. “We went outside [the bar] for some fresh air … then I ended up losing all control of my body, the ability to walk, hold my head up, I couldn’t talk — I was projectile vomiting everywhere,” Keeling told The Washington Post. (Suliman and Francis, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Chernobyl Radiation Detectors Back Online, Levels Normal — IAEA

    Radiation detectors in the Exclusion Zone around Ukraine’s defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant are back online for the first time since Russia seized the area on Feb. 24, and radiation levels are normal, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday. “Most of the 39 detectors sending data from the Exclusion Zone … are now visible on the IRMIS (International Radiation Monitoring Information System) map,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. “The measurements received so far indicated radiation levels in line with those measured before the conflict.” (6/7)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: May 27, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations. Note to readers: KHN’s First Edition will not be published Monday, May 30, in honor of Memorial Day. Look for it again in your inbox on Tuesday.

    KHN:
    Burned Out By Covid And 80-Hour Workweeks, Resident Physicians Unionize

    In the early weeks of the pandemic, Dr. Lorenzo González, then a second-year resident of family medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, ran on fumes, working as many as 80 hours a week in the ICU. He was constantly petrified that he would catch the covid-19 virus and guilt-ridden for not having enough time to help his ailing father. In April 2020, his father, a retired landscaper, died of heart and lung failure. González mourned alone. His job as a doctor-in-training put him at high risk of catching the virus, and he didn’t want to inadvertently spread it to his family. Financial stress also set in as he confronted steep burial costs. (Kwon, 5/27)

    KHN:
    Betting On ‘Golden Age’ Of Colonoscopies, Private Equity Invests In Gastro Docs 

    Mariel needed a new gastroenterologist. Having just moved back to San Antonio, the 30-something searched for a doctor to manage her Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition that is successfully managed with medications and lifelong monitoring — including regular colonoscopies. Mariel booked an appointment and learned she would be on the hook for a $1,100 colonoscopy — about three times what she had paid for the same test in a different state. Almost three-quarters of the bill would be a “facility fee” for the in-office procedure at a colonoscopy clinic. (KHN agreed not to disclose Mariel’s last name because she is concerned speaking out might affect her doctor’s willingness to manage her medical condition.) (Pisacreta and Huetteman, 5/27)

    KHN:
    ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Private Equity Is Everywhere In Health Care. Really

    When a listener wrote to us about a pricey colonoscopy quote, we got curious. It turns out, a few years back, investors identified gastroenterology as their next hot-ticket item. Private equity companies are the house-flippers of the investment world, and they’ve found their way into many areas of our lives. Now, they’re at gastroenterologists’ offices, too, hoping to change the way these doctors do business and make a quick buck selling the practice down the road. (Weissmann, 5/27)

    KHN:
    KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: A(Nother) Very Sad Week 

    This week’s mass shooting of elementary schoolers in Texas (just 10 days after a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store) has reignited the gun debate in Washington, D.C., and around the country. But the political disagreements over guns and their appropriate role in American society are as insoluble as ever. Meanwhile, Oklahoma becomes the first state to try to ban all abortions, as the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case it is expected to use to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. (5/26)


    NBC News:
    Nine Monkeypox Cases Identified In U.S.: What We Know About Each Of Them

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified nine cases of monkeypox across seven U.S. states, officials said Thursday: in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia and Washington. “The U.S. has the resources we need to help us respond to monkeypox in this country right now. We’ve been preparing for this type of outbreak for decades,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing. (Bendix, 5/26)


    Bloomberg:
    Treatments Are Being Sent to Nine Monkeypox Patients in US

    The monkeypox outbreak in the US has expanded to include nine cases in seven states, senior health officials said Thursday, adding that the outbreak is expanding in countries where the virus does not normally circulate. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new monkeypox infections were found in Virginia, California and Washington state. Earlier this week, the agency said four cases had been identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah and New York. Some but not all of the US patients had recently traveled abroad. (Muller and Stein, 5/26)


    The Washington Post:
    Monkeypox Case Reported In Virginia, CDC Says 

    Virginia public health officials on Thursday reported the state’s first presumed case of monkeypox, in a Northern Virginia woman who had recently traveled to an African country. The case is among nine recently identified in seven states, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters Thursday morning. The state lab identified the case, and as of Thursday afternoon, the Virginia Department of Health was awaiting CDC confirmation. (Portnoy, 5/26)


    Colorado Sun:
    Presumptive Case Of Monkeypox Identified In Colorado

    A presumptive case of monkeypox has been identified in Colorado, the state Department of Public Health and Environment announced Thursday. The infection occurred in a Denver-area man who had recently traveled from Canada, where there is an ongoing outbreak of the virus. Health officials are working to identify and monitor close contacts of the man’s, but Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, said there is not believed to be a high risk of community transmission. “Risk to Coloradans is low,” Herlihy said. (Ingold, 5/26)


    The Boston Globe:
    MGH Vaccinating Workers Against Monkeypox, The First Time The Shots Have Been Used In The US

    Massachusetts General Hospital this week began vaccinating a small group of workers against monkeypox — the first time the new medicine has been used in this country outside of clinical trials. The workers were in close contact with a man diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized at Mass General from May 12 to May 20. The patient was the first person in the United States to be tied to an ongoing outbreak of the rare virus in Europe and North America. Monkeypox has now been identified in nine people across seven states, including Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia, and New York, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Among the latest cases, reported Thursday by health officials in Virginia, is a woman who recently traveled to an area in Africa where the disease is known to occur. They said she was not infectious during travel and did not require hospitalization. (Lazar, 5/26)


    Stat:
    Officials Scramble To Raise Monkeypox Awareness Ahead Of Pride Month

    Public health authorities are scrambling to raise awareness of the growing monkeypox outbreak in advance of this weekend’s start of Pride Month celebrations. In doing so, they are trying to strike a delicate balance — getting out the message that monkeypox may currently be a risk to men who have sex with men, without stigmatizing the community by linking them to a scary-sounding virus that can infect anyone in certain circumstances. (Branswell, 5/27)


    Los Angeles Times:
    Monkeypox Outbreak Raises Fears Of Gay Stigmatization

    As mysterious cases of a rare and ominously named virus began surfacing in Europe, Germany’s disease-control center quickly told people to be on the lookout. In a May 19 alert, the agency listed telltale symptoms of monkeypox: fever, aches, a rash. Then, in a further comment that set different alarm bells ringing, the bulletin pointedly warned men who have sex with men to “seek immediate medical attention” if they detect signs of the disease. (Kirschbaum and Chu, 5/26)


    The Hill:
    Formula Shortage Won’t End Until July, FDA Chief Says 

    The nation’s infant formula shortage likely won’t be fully resolved until late July, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told senators Thursday. During a Senate Health Committee hearing, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said it will take time to get to the point when store shelves are fully stocked but that eventually there will be a surplus. (Weixel, 5/26)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    National Baby-Formula Stockpile Is Urged By FDA Commissioner 

    Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf proposed a national stockpile of baby formula that authorities could tap to ease future shortages. Dr. Califf said in a hearing Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that he expects recent government and private sector moves will produce a surplus of formula in about two months. (Whyte, 5/26)


    Reuters:
    U.S. FDA Expands Collaboration With Danone To Boost Baby Formula Supply

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it has expanded its collaboration with Danone’s Nutricia business to boost supplies of specialized medical baby formula bottles to address its shortage among infants with certain allergies or critical health conditions. The health regulator said about 500,000 additional cans manufactured by Danone would be sent to the United States. (5/26)


    The Washington Post:
    As Baby Formula Shortage Continues, D.C. Charity Offers Free Formula Bottles To Families 

    Behind the refrigerator’s glass door Mark Bucher saw a single 8-ounce bottle of Similac baby formula. It was 9:30 a.m. at the Glassmanor Community Center in Prince George’s County. The fridge had been filled once this morning with formula, Bucher said, and this was all that was left a few hours later. “These bottles individually are like $4,” Bucher said as he propped open the fridge door and began placing bottles inside from a new Similac 24-pack. “It’s expensive. And if you don’t have SNAP benefits, that’s $16 a day to feed your kid, roughly speaking. That’s stressful.” The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides benefits to needy families to purchase food. (Swenson, 5/26)


    AP:
    Baby Formula Shortage Highlights Racial Disparities 

    As parents across the United States struggle to find formula to feed their children, the pain is particularly acute among Black and Hispanic women. Black women have historically faced obstacles to breastfeeding, including a lack of lactation support in the hospital, more pressure to formula feed and cultural roadblocks. It’s one of many inequalities for Black mothers : They are far more likely to die from pregnancy complications, and less likely to have their concerns about pain taken seriously by doctors. (Martin, Licon and Tang, 5/27)


    NBC News:
    Surgeon On Treating Texas Shooting Victims: ‘Moment Of Crisis With Lifetime Of Impact’

    Sitting in a quiet conference room, away from the chaos of the trauma unit at University Hospital [in San Antonio], Dr. Ronald Stewart paused and closed his eyes several times Thursday before choking back tears. “I feel so bad for those families,” he said, “and guilty, to some degree, that they don’t have their children and I do.” Stewart, senior trauma surgeon at University Hospital and the father of three adult children, was one of the doctors who treated the victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where a gunman opened fire with a weapon of war, killing 19 children and two teachers. (Lozano, 5/26)


    NBC News:
    ‘This Is Our Lane’: Doctors Speak Out Against Gun Violence After Texas School Shooting

    Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, a pediatric surgeon at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, knows what assault rifles can do to a child’s body. The damage, she said, is often insurmountable. “It’s not just the hole you see on the outside. It’s a huge blast effect,” Naik-Mathuria said. “You see completely shredded organs. Vessels are completely disrupted. There’s no way to salvage them. ”That’s why Naik-Mathuria is full-throatedly proclaiming that the issue of gun violence is “very much our lane.” “We have our hands inside these people, these children, trying to save them,” she said. “How can anyone tell us that it’s not our problem?” (Edwards, 5/26)


    Houston Chronicle:
    In Uvalde, A County Without A Medical Examiner, This Judge Had Horrific Duty Of Identifying Slain Children

    Sitting in his office on the third floor of the courthouse here, Judge Eulalio Diaz first saw a post around noon Tuesday from the city’s police. Not a first responder, he went about his day, watching ambulances and buses out two windows behind his desk, hearing and reading reports. About two hours later, he got a call requesting he “make a location,” indicating that at least one person is dead in a Texas county without a medical examiner. As the county’s justice of the peace, his duties usually include court cases and officiating weddings, but his role also includes serving as the coroner. “We were under impression that it was two or three people,” Diaz, 49, recounted Thursday. (Serrano, 5/26)


    Reuters:
    Texas School Shooting Swells Ranks Of Traumatized Teachers

    After a teenage gunman killed two of her high school students and wounded four others in her Florida classroom in 2018, Ivy Schamis found the strength to carry on teaching for two more years. Missy Dodds, who watched five of her pupils gunned down by a former student who shot his way into her classroom in Minnesota in 2005, returned for six weeks before abandoning the career she loved. (Reid, 5/26)


    Houston Chronicle:
    Cornyn Calls For Bipartisan Gun Law As Schumer Blasts Abbott

    As negotiations on possible gun reform got underway in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Gov. Greg Abbott as an “absolute fraud.” Schumer accused Abbott of offering nothing but “empty platitudes about healing and hope” after he was confronted by Beto O’Rourke during a press conference in Uvalde on Wednesday. “He asked the people to put their agendas aside and think about someone other than themselves,” Schumer said. “How dare he. What an absolute fraud the governor of Texas is.” (Wermund, 5/26)


    CalMatters:
    CA Advances Gun Control Bills Amid School Shooting

    As news traveled around the country Tuesday of a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that left at least 22 dead — including 19 children, two teachers and the 18-year-old gunman — California lawmakers were advancing a package of gun control bills, including one sponsored by Gov. Gavin Newsom that co-opts the structure of Texas’ abortion ban to crack down on illegal firearms. The striking timing highlighted a shared challenge facing California, Texas and other states: reducing gun deaths, which have ticked up dramatically nationwide amid the pandemic. (Hoeven, 5/25)


    Los Angeles Times:
    What Should You Do In A Mass Shooting?

    A grocery store. A church. An elementary school. Again. Within 10 days this month, mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., Laguna Woods, and Uvalde, Texas, have claimed dozens of lives, shattered families and communities, and put people around the U.S. on edge. (Amato, 5/25)


    The Washington Post:
    How To Stay Up-To-Date On Terrible News Without Burning Out 

    It’s important to stay informed, engaged and even outraged. But it’s also important to pay attention to our own limits and mental health by taking breaks, looking for signs of burnout, connecting with our families and consuming news in the smartest way possible. That means setting some ground rules for the main portal connecting us to nonstop tragedy: our phones. (Kelly, 5/25)


    AP:
    US Making COVID Antiviral Drug More Available At Test Sites 

    The White House on Thursday announced more steps to make the antiviral treatment Paxlovid more accessible across the U.S. as it projects COVID-19 infections will continue to spread over the summer travel season. The nation’s first federally backed test-to-treat site is opening Thursday in Rhode Island, providing patients with immediate access to the drug once they test positive. More federally supported sites are set to open in the coming weeks in Massachusetts and New York City, both hit by a marked rise in infections. (Miller, 5/26)


    Stat:
    Coronavirus Hasn’t Developed Resistance To Paxlovid. Can That Last? 

    When the patient came back 10 days later, coughing repeatedly and complaining of headache, Davey Smith feared the worst. Smith had prescribed the patient Pfizer’s new antiviral pill, Paxlovid, on the previous visit, after a Covid-19 test came back positive. A resurgence of symptoms probably meant one thing, especially after Smith tested the patient and got another positive. “I was pretty sure it was resistance,” said Smith, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Diego. “I’m a virologist, I combat resistance all the time.” (Mast, 5/27)


    Bloomberg:
    CDC Plans To Stop Reporting Suspected Covid Cases To Ease Burden

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to simplify the Covid-19 hospital data it collects as the demands of the pandemic evolve and some assembled information has become outdated or redundant. The agency is likely to stop collecting data from hospitals on suspected Covid cases that haven’t been confirmed by tests, for example, and may also wind down federal reporting from rehabilitation and mental health facilities that aren’t major intake points for virus cases, according to a draft of the plan that was viewed by Bloomberg News. (Griffin and Armstrong, 5/26)


    NPR:
    COVID Rates May Be Much Higher Than Reported. How Bad Is The Current Surge?

    Cases of COVID-19 are – yet again – on the rise. The U.S. is seeing an average of more than 100,000 reported new cases across the country every day. That’s nearly double the rate a month ago and four times higher than this time last year. And the real number of cases is likely much higher than that, according to health officials. Because many people now rely on at-home tests, “we’re clearly undercounting infections,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told reporters at the most recent COVID press briefing. Hospitalizations are trending upwards too, though only gradually in most places. (Simmons-Duffin, 5/27)


    Salt Lake Tribune:
    Utah COVID-19 Case Counts Jump, And 12 More Die — Including A Child, State Reports

    This week Utah reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases, more than 100 new hospitalizations and a dozen more deaths — including one girl between the ages of 1 and 14. The Department of Health said it had no additional information about her death. Last week, state health officials and doctors told reporters Utah was in the midst of a coronavirus surge and would likely see rising case counts and other metrics for several more weeks. Intermountain’s Dr. Brandon Webb said high positivity rates suggested case counts showed a “significant undercount.” (Harkins, 5/27)


    Politico:
    CMS Turning Attention To Hospitals With Covid Outbreaks

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is probing hospitals where a high rate of patients have gotten Covid-19 infections after cases spiked to record highs this year. Jon Blum, the agency’s principal deputy administrator and chief operating officer, told POLITICO on Wednesday that the regulator is focusing on facilities with Covid outbreaks, taking into account patient and health workers’ safety complaints, a change from the agency’s “less rigorous” process early in the pandemic. (Levy, 5/26)


    Los Angeles Times:
    UCLA Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate As COVID Cases Rise In L.A.

    UCLA has ordered a mask mandate in indoor settings on campus, effective Friday, as coronavirus cases continue to climb in Los Angeles County. Officials said the mask order was needed to avoid disrupting in-person learning and campus activities, including graduation. “An important strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19, in addition to ongoing testing and daily symptom monitoring, is the consistent use of well-fitting masks indoors,” the campus said in a letter Thursday. (Lin II and Money, 5/26)


    AP:
    Dominant Coronavirus Mutant Contains Ghost Of Pandemic Past 

    The coronavirus mutant that is now dominant in the United States is a member of the omicron family but scientists say it spreads faster than its omicron predecessors, is adept at escaping immunity and might possibly cause more serious disease. Why? Because it combines properties of both omicron and delta, the nation’s dominant variant in the middle of last year. A genetic trait that harkens back to the pandemic’s past, known as a “delta mutation,” appears to allow the virus “to escape pre-existing immunity from vaccination and prior infection, especially if you were infected in the omicron wave,” said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas. That’s because the original omicron strain that swept the world didn’t have the mutation. (Ungar, 5/26)


    The New York Times:
    Why Covid Is More Likely To Spread At The Gym

    Many gyms and health clubs seem to be filling up again with people eager to return to their old routines and communities or get in shape for summer, at the same time that new Omicron variants are pushing Covid infections up. So, how safe is it to go back to the gym? Put another way, how many microscopic aerosol particles are the other cyclists in your spin class breathing out into the room? How many is the runner on the nearby treadmill spewing forth? A small study about respiration and exercise published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides some rather startling answers. (Reynolds, 5/24)


    The New York Times:
    Imaging Contrast Dye Shortage Delays Tests For Diseases 

    Doctors cannot seem to pinpoint what is wrong with Michael Quintos. Mr. Quintos, 53, a Chicago resident, has constant stomach pain. He has been hospitalized, and his doctors have tried everything including antibiotics, antacids, even removing his appendix. “I still don’t feel good,” Mr. Quintos said. His doctors recommend using a CT scan with contrast, imaging that relies on a special dye often injected into patients to better visualize their blood vessels, intestines and organs like the kidney and liver. But a nationwide shortage of the imaging agents needed for the procedure — the result of the recent lockdown in Shanghai to quell a Covid outbreak — has prompted hospitals to ration these tests except in emergencies. Like thousands of others in recent weeks, Mr. Quintos cannot get an exam using the contrast dye. (Abelson, 5/26)


    Modern Healthcare:
    HHS Scraps Trump-Era SUNSET Rule That Mandated Regulatory Reviews

    The Health and Human Services Department has withdrawn a policy initiated under President Donald Trump that would have required extensive reviews of its regulations. Under the SUNSET rule, nearly all HHS regulations would be scrutinized for economic impact and other factors after 10 years, and automatically eliminated if they were not reviewed within that time frame. President Joe Biden’s administration formally canceled this policy in a rule issued Thursday. The SUNSET rule would have substantially altered HHS operations and had negative consequences for people affected by departmental regulations, HHS announced in a Federal Register notice. (Goldman, 5/26)


    Axios:
    FDA: Pharmacists And Wholesalers Can Import Drugs From Canada

    Pharmacists and drug wholesalers can import prescription medicines from Canada for up to two years as part of state programs aimed at bringing down drug costs, according to final FDA guidance released Thursday. With President Biden’s drug pricing agenda still stalled, the FDA is further clarifying how states could take advantage of lower drug costs abroad without the need to limit prices in the U.S. Both the Biden and Trump administrations embraced limited importation to bring down health costs, though experts view the policy as having limited impact. (Bettelheim, 5/26)


    Modern Healthcare:
    Senate Finance Leaders Propose Bill To Expand Telehealth For Mental Healthcare

    A bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee leaders on Thursday proposed expanding telehealth access for mental health services. The committee issued a discussion draft that pushes to eliminate Medicare’s in-person visit requirement prior to patients seeking online mental health services. This requirement has not gone into effect due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. But when the emergency ends, it would limit older adults’ ability to access virtual care. Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) released the draft urging stronger legislative action.Telehealth services proved to be a “game-changer” during the pandemic, Wyden said in a news release. (Berryman, 5/26)


    Modern Healthcare:
    CVS Health Launches Virtual Primary Care Platform 

    CVS Health’s new digital platform intends to give consumers access to health services on demand, whether they are at home or in a retail or community-based setting. Eligible Aetna and CVS Caremark members will be able to use CVS Health Virtual Primary Care to request remote primary care, chronic condition management and mental health services, in addition to being seen at an in-network provider in person, the company said Thursday. The platform will roll out to Aetna memberson Jan. 1, 2023, and CVS Caremark during the second quarter of 2023. (Devereaux, 5/26)


    Modern Healthcare:
    Community Health Centers Face Trouble After Public Health Emergency Ends

    A perfect storm looms for federally qualified health centers whenever the federal government decides the COVID-19 public health emergency is over. When that declaration ends, which isn’t likely to happen until at least October, many community health center patients are expected to lose Medicaid coverage, which will leave clinics without reimbursement for services they provide. Planning for the future is further complicated by a pending funding cliff in fiscal 2023 and numerous other policy challenges. “It’s very stressful looking for money rather than taking care of people,” said Mary Elizabeth Marr, CEO of community health center chain Thrive Alabama. “We are the ones that take care of people that nobody else wants to take care of, and yet we’re having to do all kinds of heroic things to try to raise funds.” (Goldman and Hartnett, 5/26)


    AP:
    Planned Parenthood Workers In 5 Midwest States Seek Union

    About 400 workers at Planned Parenthood offices in five states said Thursday they plan to unionize as their employer deals with the potential loss of business in states where abortions may become illegal if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Workers for Planned Parenthood North Central States in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota said they have signed cards showing majority support for unionization, and on Thursday they formally filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, said Ashley Schmidt, a training and development specialist for Nebraska and western Iowa. (Pitt, 5/26)


    Des Moines Register:
    Union Drive Seeks To Organize Iowa Planned Parenthood Workers

    Citing understaffing and a “sense of urgency” amid reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn abortion protections, Planned Parenthood employees in Iowa have announced their intention to unionize. Workers at the nonprofit, which provides abortions and other reproductive services, have filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board, forming a potential bargaining unit with Planned Parenthood North Central States employees. In addition to employees in Iowa, the unit would cover those in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. (Jett, 5/26)


    Billings Gazette:
    Democrats Say Emergency Birth Certificate Rule Is Unlawful

    Calling it unlawful, the Democratic lawmakers on an interim health and human services legislative committee are asking the state health department to rescind an emergency rule it recently issued that stops transgender Montanans from being able to update gender markers on their birth certificates. The state health department issued the emergency rule earlier this week. It blocks people from changing their birth certificates in all cases except if there was a data entry error. In 2021 state lawmakers passed a law requiring a person to have gender-affirming surgery and petition a court to update their birth certificate, but a Billings judge temporarily blocked that law earlier this year. (Bichels, 5/26)


    Oklahoman:
    Oklahoma Bathroom Bill Signed Into Law, Effective Immediately

    An Oklahoma bill limiting access to public-school bathrooms by a person’s birth sex is now law. School districts and charter schools that don’t comply face a 5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} deduction in their state funding. That could subtract thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the school system. Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 615 into law Wednesday. An emergency provision in the bill caused it to take effect as soon as the governor wrote his signature. (Martinez-Keel, 5/25)


    Dallas Morning News:
    Survey Finds Many Dallas Firefighters Struggle With Mental Health

    Most Dallas firefighters don’t trust their top leaders, around a quarter of almost 900 workers say they’ve experienced symptoms of depression, and nearly 1 in 10 say they’ve thought of harming themselves, according to the results of an internal city survey released Thursday. The survey accessing the mental health of Dallas Fire-Rescue workers also found that 37{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of respondents reported drinking more alcohol since starting their job, 34{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} say they have increased anxiety, and most are aware of several programs offered through the city to decrease stress, but 83{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} say they don’t use any of them. (Bailey Jr., 5/26)


    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
    High PFAS Levels Force Marshfield To Shut Down Four City Wells

    Marshfield is the latest city to find elevated levels of “forever chemicals” in its water supply. The city found levels of PFAS above the state’s current recommended health standard of 20 parts per trillion in one entry point to its water system, according to a news release from the city Thursday. The system consists of three entry points fed by 15 wells throughout the area. The city shut down the entry point upon learning its results on Tuesday, the release said, as well as the four wells that contribute to it. Residents in the meantime can continue to use their water as normal, as all of the other wells are below the recommended health guidance of 20 parts per trillion. (Schulte, 5/26)


    NPR:
    Jif Peanut Butter Recall: Other Companies’ Products Contaminated By A Bad Batch

    The Jif peanut butter recall has rapidly expanded in the past week and it now affects at least 69 other products. The cascading effect is due to the many companies who use the peanut butter in their own chocolates, peanut butter sandwiches and more. J.M. Smucker Co., Jif’s parent company, issued the initial voluntary recall last week, after the Food and Drug Administration traced a salmonella outbreak to a manufacturing facility in Lexington, Ky. Almost every day since, other companies have issued their own recall notices, after confirming that their products also were affected. They range from fruit or veggie snack packs that include individually wrapped Jif cups to confections made with Jif peanut butter, including fudge and store-brand pies. (Chappell, 5/26)


    AP:
    Carnival: Paint Project Affected Some Cruise Passengers 

    A painting project is to blame for an odor that affected some cruise ship passengers in Virginia and prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to send a crew to investigate Thursday, Carnival Cruise Line said. The Coast Guard first received reports on Wednesday of an odor and people feeling ill on the Carnival Magic ship, Petty Officer Stephen Lehmann said. He said a crew went to the vessel on Thursday morning but no one needed to be evacuated for medical treatment. The vessel is docked in Norfolk. (5/26)


    AP:
    On Remote US Territories, Abortion Hurdles Mount Without Roe 

    Women from the remote U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands will likely have to travel farther than other Americans to terminate a pregnancy if the Supreme Court overturns a precedent that established a national right to abortion in the United States. Hawaii is the closest U.S. state where abortion is legal under local law. Even so, Honolulu is 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) away — about 50{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} farther than Boston is from Los Angeles. (McAvoy, 5/27)


    AP:
    Widespread Disbelief Over N. Korea’s Tiny COVID Death Rate

    According to North Korea, its fight against COVID-19 has been impressive: About 3.3 million people have been reported sick with fevers, but only 69 have died. If all are coronavirus cases, that’s a fatality rate of 0.002{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}, something no other country, including the world’s richest, has achieved against a disease that has killed more than 6 million people. (Kim, 5/27)


    AP:
    Chile Apologizes To Woman Forcibly Sterilized For HIV Status 

    Chile’s president publicly apologized to a woman who was sterilized without her consent at a public hospital two decades ago because she was HIV-positive, ending a years-long legal process that included taking her case to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. (Politi, 5/26)


    AP:
    Cancer Patients Seek Damages From Fukushima Nuclear Plant

    A Tokyo court began hearings Thursday in a lawsuit seeking nearly $5 million in damages for six people who were children in Fukushima at the time of its 2011 nuclear power plant disaster and later developed thyroid cancer. The plaintiffs are suing the operator of the nuclear plant, saying radiation released in the accident caused their illnesses. It is the first group lawsuit filed by Fukushima residents over health problems allegedly linked to the disaster, their lawyers say. (Yamaguchi, 5/26)


    CIDRAP:
    World’s Second Human H3N8 Avian Flu Case Reported In China

    The Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that a retrospective H3N8 avian flu case was confirmed in Changsha City in a 5-year-old boy, according to a report translated and posted today on Avian Flu Diary (AFD), an infectious disease news blog. This case marks the world’s second known infection from this particular avian flu strain, with the first case confirmed 1 month ago. (5/26)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • First Edition: Dec. 1, 2022

    First Edition: May 23, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    The New MADD Movement: Parents Rise Up Against Drug Deaths 

    Life as he knew it ended for Matt Capelouto two days before Christmas in 2019, when he found his 20-year-old daughter, Alexandra, dead in her childhood bedroom in Temecula, California. Rage overtook grief when authorities ruled her death an accident. The college sophomore, home for the holidays, had taken half a pill she bought from a dealer on Snapchat. It turned out to be fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that helped drive drug overdose deaths in the U.S. to more than 100,000 last year. “She was poisoned, and nothing was going to happen to the person who did it,” he said. “I couldn’t stand for that.” (Scheier, 5/23)

    KHN:
    Custom Caskets For Kids Look Like Something You ‘Would See In A Child’s Room’ 

    Calyia Stringer had a smile on her face the day she posed for a photo with a yellow flower in her hand. The toddler beamed with pride as she showed off the bloom before handing it to her godmother, Jatoria Foster. “She was so happy,” Foster said. “That was one of the best memories I have of her.” No one thought the same image would end up on the lid of Calyia’s casket — until the unthinkable happened. The 3-year-old was killed last September when a stray bullet tore through her grandmother’s bedroom in East St. Louis, Illinois. For Calyia’s funeral, her family wanted to remember the happiest moments of her life, so the funeral home decorated her casket with three photos of the girl. (Anthony, 5/23)

    KHN:
    Journalists Explore Affordability Of Mental Health Care And Abortion Laws’ Effect On Miscarriages 

    KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed why finding affordable mental health care is so difficult on NPR’s “A1” on May 18. … Freelancer Charlotte Huff discussed how Texas abortion laws complicate miscarriage treatment on “Texas Standard” on May 16. (5/21)


    Reuters:
    Third Possible Case Of Monkeypox Found In The U.S.

    Health authorities said they may have found a third case of the monkeypox virus in the United States and are running tests on a patient in South Florida to confirm if the person has contracted the disease, which is staging a rare outbreak outside of Africa. The case in Broward County, Florida, is “related to international travel,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Florida Department of Health said in a statement on Sunday, “and the person remains isolated.” (Mckay, 5/23)


    Bloomberg:
    Monkeypox Virus Shouldn’t Spur Covid-19 Level Of Concern, Joe Biden Says

    President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans that the current monkeypox outbreak was unlikely to cause a pandemic on the scale of Covid-19. “I just don’t think it rises to the level of the kind of concern that existed with Covid-19,” he told reporters Monday in Tokyo at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The US has enough small pox vaccine stockpiled to deal with the outbreak, Biden said. Still, he said people should be cautious. (Cook and Jacobs, 5/23)


    The Washington Post:
    Monkeypox Quarantine Unnecessary In U.S., Biden Says 

    President Biden said Monday that he did not believe a quarantine to prevent the spread of monkeypox in the United States would be necessary, saying there are sufficient vaccine doses available to combat any serious flare-up of the disease. Belgium became the first country to impose a quarantine on its residents because of monkeypox, requiring those infected to isolate for 21 days. (Kim, 5/23)


    Politico:
    Health Official On Monkeypox: ‘I Feel Like This Is A Virus We Understand’

    Biden administration health official Ashish Jha said Sunday he expects that monkeypox will not have widespread impact in the United States. “I feel like this is a virus we understand,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” Speaking to host Martha Raddatz, the White House coronavirus response coordinator said monkeypox is far different than coronavirus, since it is not something new and treatments already exist for it. (Cohen, 5/22)


    NBC News:
    As Monkeypox Outbreak Swells, Experts Offer Guesses As To Why Europe Has Seen Unprecedented Spread

    From past instances of human-to-human transmission, scientists have learned that the virus spreads through the exchange of large respiratory droplets or via direct contact with bodily fluids, lesions that form during infection, or contaminated items like clothing or bedding. Monkeypox isn’t considered a sexually transmitted infection, but it could be passed during sexual encounters, experts said. Many of the recent cases in Europe are among men who have sex with men, and a Friday alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that some recent cases started out with lesions around the anus and genitals. “I’m guessing that sexual transmission will be high on the list of potential culprits,” said Dr. Grant McFadden, director of the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy at Arizona State University. (Bendix, 5/20)


    USA Today:
    WHO Convenes Meetings, Steps Up Response On ‘Atypical’ Surge In Monkeypox Cases. Here’s What We Know

    The World Health Organization on Friday said it was stepping up efforts to understand and combat monkeypox as nearly a dozen countries are investigating “atypical” outbreaks. The organization said the ongoing situation is being discussed at several meetings. “There are about 80 confirmed cases so far, and 50 pending investigations. More cases are likely to be reported as surveillance expands,” the health agency said in a news release. The spike in monkeypox cases in Europe and North America has perplexed public health professionals because the rare disease is typically found in central and west Africa — and human-to-human transmission is usually considered uncommon. (Tebor, Shannon and Weise, 5/21)


    Bloomberg:
    Conspiracy Theories That US May Be The Source Of Monkeypox Virus Swirl In China

    Chinese social media users are speculating the US could be the source of monkeypox infections now reported in at least a dozen countries, including the UK, Spain and Australia. The viral infection has been highlighted as a trending topic on popular social media platform Weibo for the past three days with a hashtag on the US reporting two suspected monkeypox cases attracting more than 51 million views as of Monday. While Chinese state media has refrained from accusing the US of intentionally spreading monkeypox — an accusation it made about Covid-19 — many social media users haven’t held back. (Lew, 5/23)


    CBS News:
    Military Plane Carrying 39 Tons Of Baby Formula Arrives In U.S.

    Enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights carrying infant formula from Europe expected this weekend to relieve the deepening shortage in the U.S. The formula, weighing 78,000 pounds, or 39 tons, was being transported by military plane, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Biden flew from South Korea to Japan. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Indianapolis to greet the arrival of the first shipment. (5/22)


    ABC News:
    Plane Carrying More Than 75,000 Pounds Of Imported Baby Formula Lands In US 

    Another shipment of formula will be flying into Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a FedEx plane this coming week, the White House announced Sunday afternoon. FedEx has secured a government contract to carry that critical cargo, bringing it from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. From there, the formula will be transported to a Nestlé facility in Pennsylvania via FedEx’s integrated air and ground network. The White House said the flight and trucking “will take place in the coming days.” (Hutzler, 5/22)


    The Washington Post:
    First Shipment Of Baby Formula From Germany Arrives In Indianapolis 

    The Biden administration announced Sunday that it would use the Defense Production Act to give two companies priority on ingredients or equipment necessary to manufacture formula. Abbott Nutrition will be able to make priority orders for sugar and corn syrup. Reckitt will be able to place priority orders for filters that have been constrained during the pandemic. (Wang, Jeong and Johnson, 5/22)


    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
    Homemade Baby Formula Putting Wisconsin Babies In The Hospital

    Children’s Wisconsin has seen an increase in the number of babies being admitted due to inappropriate substitutions for baby formula, the hospital said Friday. The hospital frequently sees babies that are malnourished or show a failure to thrive, for reasons including a lack of access to formula, Heather Van Roo, a hospital spokeswoman, said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel. “But we are seeing more kids where inappropriate substitutions of formula is a factor in their hospitalization,” she said. (Shastri, 5/20)


    Cincinnati Enquirer:
    Baby Formula Shortage Hurting Cincinnati Families Of Color

    Laurie Alexander, of West Price Hill, is researching how to get baby formula from outside the United States. She’s three months pregnant, and while she’s breastfed her three babies, she has always had to supplement with formula. The shortage of baby formula now is worrying her, even though her delivery date is six months out and federal officials say help is on the way. “It’s very scary,” Alexander said. “I’m looking at the U.K. and Canada. I’ve been trying to stock up on it early.” The nationwide shortage is alarming parents of babies who need it. In the Cincinnati area, nonprofits that help lower-income moms and women of color say the problem is exacerbated for their clients, who are suffering the most from ever-rising costs with inflation and often, a lack of transportation. (Demio, 5/23)


    Bloomberg:
    Dangerous DIY Baby Formula Recipes Go Viral As Parents Get Desperate

    As a nationwide baby formula shortage sends parents into crisis mode, social media posts containing dangerous misinformation about homemade formula recipes have gone viral online, racking up views in the millions. Although major networks like Facebook, TikTok and YouTube have taken steps to label photos, videos and posts with contextual information pointing to the harms of such recipes, and in some cases removed them, they have done so inconsistently, allowing the advice to continue spreading and putting children at risk. (Alba, 5/21)


    USA Today:
    6th Child Dies From Hepatitis Outbreak In 36 States; CDC Seeks Answers

    A spreading hepatitis outbreak that killed six children has infectious disease experts  scrambling to find answers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the sixth death last week. The CDC said the outbreak of the liver disease has expanded to 180 reported youth patients across 36 states and territories over the past seven months. The number of cases increased by 71 in two weeks, but the CDC said most of those were “retrospective” patients who may have been ill weeks or months earlier. “Not all are recent, and some may ultimately wind up not being linked to this current investigation,” the CDC said in a statement. The agency said testing ruled out some of the viruses that commonly cause hepatitis. (Bacon, 5/22)


    Reuters:
    Mexico Reports First Death Of Child From Mysterious Severe Hepatitis

    Mexican authorities confirmed on Friday the first death of a child from a severe form of hepatitis with unknown origin in the country, marking the first death in Latin America as cases spread worldwide. The three-year-old child, originally from the central state of Hidalgo, was transferred to a hospital in Mexico City, but died this week, the Hidalgo Health Secretariat said. (5/20)


    The Wall Street Journal:
    With State Abortion Restrictions Looming, Some Officials Promise Not To Enforce Them

    A new wave of abortion restrictions is expected in half of the U.S. if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Some local officials are pledging not to enforce them, potentially creating uneven legal landscapes within conservative states that are home to more liberal urban areas. District attorneys in metropolitan areas including Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas and San Antonio have said they won’t prosecute abortion providers or others, including those who assist a woman in obtaining the procedure. Current state attorneys general who are up for re-election in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Democratic candidates for that office in Georgia and Arizona have likewise pledged not to enforce any laws banning abortion in their states. (Kusisto, 5/22)


    Dallas Morning News:
    John Cornyn Supports Allowing Exceptions To Texas Abortion Law For Rape, Incest

    Sen. John Cornyn on Friday said he would permit exceptions for cases of rape and incest in laws restricting abortion that will be triggered in Texas if Roe vs. Wade is abolished.
    “I would permit those exceptions, but I understand others have strongly held feelings to the contrary,” Cornyn said during a recording of Lone Star Politics, a political show produced by KXAS (NBC 5) and The Dallas Morning News. Cornyn, who is against abortion, stressed that he respects the right of the Legislature to pass abortion-related laws. And he supports the view that Roe vs. Wade should be scrapped. Earlier this month a leaked draft opinion foreshadowed that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to strike down the law, which in 1973 legalized abortions. (Jeffers Jr., 5/21)


    Oklahoman:
    Poll Shows Most Oklahoma Voters Don’t Want Total Abortion Ban

    Less than one-third of Oklahoma voters want a ban on all abortions and only Republicans are deeply divided on the question, according to a poll taken before the state Legislature approved bills this year aimed at shutting down most abortions. The poll, taken by Amber Integrated in December of 500 registered Oklahoma voters, shows 31{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} would support a total ban on abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; 55{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the Oklahoma voters surveyed did not want a total ban and another 14{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} were unsure. (Casteel, 5/22)


    The 19th:
    Massachusetts Lawmakers Want To Make Medication Abortion Available At Colleges

    As abortion access is thrown into uncertainty around the nation, Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would require health centers at public colleges and universities to offer medication abortions. Lawmakers and advocates who support the bills say medication abortion should be accessible on campus because college students may not know where to find abortion providers, often lack transportation to visit them and have class schedules that make traveling for care difficult. (Nittle, 5/20)


    Politico:
    Florida’s Firewall Against Abortion Restrictions Is In Peril

    Florida’s Supreme Court, forged by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, could decide the fate of abortion rights in the state. That’s because Florida’s abortion rights are not just intertwined with federal court rulings but also rely on a decadesold Florida Supreme Court decision that extends privacy rights to abortion. Those rights are enshrined in the Florida Constitution, and the state Supreme Court has previously cited it to overturn restrictive abortion laws, including one requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions. But the current Florida Supreme Court is dominated by conservatives, including three appointed by DeSantis, and some fear the state justices could interpret the privacy rights differently. (Fineout, 5/22)


    Newsweek:
    Contraception ‘Should Not Be Legal,’ Says Trump-Backed Candidate Eubanks

    Jacky Eubanks, a Trump-endorsed candidate for Michigan’s legislature, said she would vote to make contraception illegal. … Eubanks, who is running for Michigan’s 63rd House district, backed a ban on contraception during an interview with right-wing news outlet Church Militant. … Eubanks continued to blast contraception as leading people to believe in “the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex.” She said a ban on contraception would also convince people to wait until marriage to have sexual relations. (Stanton, 5/21)


    The Atlantic:
    How The End Of Roe Would Change Prenatal Care

    Even now, laws in more than a dozen states that restrict abortion past 20 weeks are changing the use of the second-trimester anatomy scans. “People are moving those tests backward, doing them earlier than is optimal,” says Laura Hercher, a genetic counselor at Sarah Lawrence College who recently conducted a survey of genetic counselors in abortion-restrictive states. But the earlier the scan, the less doctors can see. Certain brain structures, such as the cavum septum pellucidum, might not develop until week 20, says Chloe Zera, an obstetrician in Massachusetts. Being unable to find this structure could indicate a brain anomaly, or just that the scan was done too early. Doctors might also pick up evidence of a heart defect but not know how severe or fixable it is. At 20 weeks, the heart is only the size of a dime. (Zhang, 5/20)


    Detroit Free Press:
    Masks Urged In 22 Michigan Counties, CDC Warns

    The number of Michigan counties where risk from COVID-19 is high has grown to 22 this week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a new wave of cases and hospitalizations sweeps the state and the nation. “There’s a lot of infections across America,” Dr. Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said earlier this week. “What’s driving that? What is primarily driving that is these incredibly contagious subvariants” of the omicron variant, BA.2 and BA.2.12.1. “They are more contagious with more immune escape, and they are driving a lot of the increases in infection that we’re seeing across the nation right now. And that is … a huge challenge.” (Jordan Shamus, 5/20)


    The Washington Post:
    D.C.-Area Schools Face Rising Covid Cases, Aren’t Restoring Strict Rules 

    School districts in the Washington region are contending with the national surge in covid cases that has resulted in the highest numbers since the winter omicron surge and left more students at home quarantining. But this latest spike in cases arrives after most districts have already lifted masking requirements and shortened quarantine protocols — and, following federal health guidelines, the region’s school leaders say they are not reconsidering a complete overhaul of covid policies in the final stretch of the academic year. Prince George’s County is the only school district — and one of the few big districts in the country — that still has a mask mandate. (Stein, Natanson and Asbury, 5/22)


    The Boston Globe:
    COVID-19 Is Worse Than Official Data Show, Former R.I. Health Department Official Says

    A former high-level employee at the Rhode Island Department of Health says that COVID-19 cases have been on the rise for months in Rhode Island, but the information has been hidden in the official data and ignored by Governor Daniel McKee, whom he accuses of incompetence. Julian Drix, who was the acting co-director of the Health Department’s Health Equity Institute and in charge of the coordinated COVID response for Central Falls and Pawtucket, told the Globe on Friday that McKee’s administration dismantled the infrastructure that helped Rhode Island respond to and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Now, Drix says, Rhode Island is more vulnerable during this surge — and the problems exposed by the pandemic are straining the health care system. (Milkovits, 5/20)


    CIDRAP:
    People With Low Body Weight Show Less Waning COVID Vaccine Immunity

    A new study shows significantly less antibody waning 6 months after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in people with low body weight, suggesting that those adults could wait longer than 6 months for a booster dose. The study appears in JAMA Network Open. The small study involved 50 South Korean young adult healthcare workers who received the standard series of Pfizer vaccine and had not had a previous infection with COVID-19. Eighty percent of participants were women. (5/20)


    The New York Times:
    Long Covid Symptoms And Treatment: What We Know So Far

    There is little consensus on the exact definition of long Covid, also known by the medical term PASC, or post-acute sequelae of Covid-19. While the World Health Organization says long Covid starts three months after the original bout of illness or positive test result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets the timeline at just after one month. (Sheikh and Belluck, 5/21)


    Fox News:
    Army Nears 100{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} Vaccination, Claims Only 1{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} Refusal Among Troops

    The U.S. Army reports that it nears a 100{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} COVID-19 vaccination rate among troops, claiming the service has issued 3,411 general officer reprimands to soldiers who refused the order to be vaccinated. The active forces have recorded a 97{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} completion of vaccination regimen, with that number to hit 98{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} after additional troops complete their current booster regimen. The Pentagon in Aug. 2021 issued a vaccine mandate for the armed forces, with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordering each branch to fully vaccinate active duty, Guard and Reserve troops. Troops in various military branches had months to comply with the order, with each branch setting its own deadline to complete the regimen. (Aitken, 5/22)


    Stat:
    Pfizer To Refund $290,000 In Four States Over Misleading Copay Coupons

    Amid controversy over the use of patient coupons, Pfizer has agreed to refund $290,000 to settle charges of misleading roughly 5,000 people in Colorado, Kansas, Vermont, and Arizona who spent much more than expected when they used coupons supplied by the drug maker. The company will also pay a total of $120,000 to the states to cover legal costs, among other things. This is only the latest instance in which Pfizer has been cited over such allegations. Three years ago, the company paid $975,000 to settle charges of misleading consumers in Oregon and, in 2018, it reached a $700,000 settlement with New York State. In each episode, consumers were told they would “pay no more than” a small amount of money — typically, from $15 to $25 — for certain drugs, but were actually required to pay more due to limits on total savings that were not prominently disclosed. (Silverman, 5/22)


    Oklahoman:
    Oklahoma Legislature OKs Revamp To Medicaid Program

    Oklahoma legislators on Friday approved plans to revamp the state’s Medicaid program into a value-based health care model that incentivizes providers to improve patient health. The plan includes some elements of the Medicaid managed care plan the Stitt administration tried to implement last year, but lawmakers were directly involved in crafting the details this time. The Oklahoma Supreme Court last year ruled the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, exceeded its authority in trying to implement managed care. (Forman, 5/21)


    ABC News:
    Jif Peanut Butter Products Recalled Due To Possible Salmonella Concerns 

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating an outbreak of salmonella infections that is possibly linked to Jif peanut butter products. The J.M. Smucker Company issued a voluntary recall for its creamy, crunchy, natural and reduced fat peanut butter products that were distributed nationwide, with lot code numbers 1274425 to 2140425, the FDA announced Friday. (Meltzer, 5/22)


    Las Vegas Review-Journal:
    185K Pounds Of Bacon Products Recalled After Nationwide Distribution

    An Iowa company has recalled about 185,610 pounds of ready-to-eat bacon topping products that might be contaminated with metal, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture news release Friday. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said it expects there to be additional products containing the bacon and urges consumers to check back frequently to view updated lists and labels. The product was produced on various dates between Feb. 21 and 23 and March 3 and 5. (Garcia, 5/20)


    The Washington Post:
    World Health Assembly Clouded By Pandemic Treaty Backlash

    Global health leaders gathered in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the pandemic are facing another viral problem: a visceral, passionate online backlash that falsely accuses the World Health Organization of conspiring to take power from national governments. The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO’s 194 member states, is holding its first fully in-person event in two years as some coronavirus-related restrictions are lifted. While the assembly, now in its 75th year, is usually considered a dry, technocratic event, this year it is being framed by conspiracy theorists as a key moment in the battle between democracy and tyranny. (Taylor, 5/22)


    Stat:
    European Regulator Suspends Generic Drugs After Finding Flawed Studies

    In the latest dust-up over the safety of medicines, the European Medicines Agency recommended suspending marketing authorization for dozens of generic drugs after finding problems with tests conducted by a contract research organization. Specifically, the regulator pointed to “serious concerns” about the quality and reliability of data in bioequivalence studies run by Synchron Research Services, which is based in Ahmedabad, India. Bioequivalence studies are conducted to show that a generic medicine releases the same amount of an active ingredient in the body as a brand-name medicine. (Silverman, 5/20)


    Fox News:
    British Health Report To Recommend Raising Smoking Age To 21

    English health officials have suggested the country should raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 as part of an initiative to discourage smoking and mostly eliminate it by 2030. The British government in 2019 set the new deadline after a green paper report indicated that the then-current timeline of ending smoking by 2025 seemed unlikely. The report found that 14{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of adults smoked. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that the goal is to bring that number to below 5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} over the next eight years, and raising the legal age for smoking to 21 could prove a crucial part to that plan. (Aitken, 5/21)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.