Kaiser Health News Original Stories

At US Hospitals, a Drug Mix-Up Is Just a Few Keystrokes Away

After a Tennessee nurse killed a patient because of a drug error, the companies behind hospital medication cabinets said they’d make the devices safer. But did they? (Brett Kelman, 5/29 )

LA Mayoral Hopefuls Agree Addressing Homelessness Is Crucial but Disagree on How

The top candidates to lead California’s most populous city have pledged to expand services for homeless people struggling with mental illness and substance use disorders. But they differ on whether the city should control homeless funding or continue a partnership with the county. (Linda Marsa, 5/29 )

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: More Covid Complications for Congress

Congress is back in session, but covid diagnoses for Vice President Kamala Harris and two Democratic senators have temporarily left the Senate without a working majority to approve continued covid funding. Meanwhile, opponents of the Affordable Care Act have filed yet another lawsuit challenging a portion of the law, and we say goodbye to the late Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who left a long legacy of health laws. Rachel Cohrs of STAT News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Rebecca Adams of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. ( 5/29 )

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'Feline Good?'" by Liza Donnelly.

Here's today's health policy haiku:

For sure! Menthol cigs a marketing ploy to help folks get addicted

If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to a KHN original story.

Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KHN or KFF.

Parents' Wait For Covid Vaccine For Youngest Kids May End In June

Media outlets follow up on Moderna's FDA request for approval of its low-dose, two-shot covid vaccine for children younger than six years old. If given approval, Moderna's shots would be the first to go into the arms of the nation's youngest unvaxxed age group.

Chicago Tribune: Feeling The Strain Of A Long Wait For A COVID-19 Vaccine For Young Children, Parents Welcome News Of Moderna’s Authorization Request: ‘It’s Like ... Society Has Moved On’ Moderna on Thursday submitted a request to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a welcome development for parents who have faced long waits to vaccinate their youngest children, particularly for those like Hutchinson, who have immunocompromised kids. Vaccine trials for young children have greater regulatory and ethical concerns and naturally come last after such measures have been tested and authorized for older people. But the long wait, beset with some delays, has stalled a return to normal for some families with babies and toddlers. In February, Pfizer had to delay its request for emergency authorization for the same age group in order to further test a third shot after its two-dose regimen was found to be not as effective in the youngest age bracket. (Buckley and Mijares Torres, 4/29)

NPR: Moderna Seeks FDA Authorization For Vaccine For Very Young The FDA will probably convene a committee of outside advisers to consider the request. The FDA is also awaiting data from Pfizer and BioNTech about the effectiveness of three doses of a low-dose version of their vaccine in children younger than age 5. Two doses proved ineffective, disappointing parents of young children eager to vaccinate their children. While officials had hoped to make a vaccine available for this age group by the end of April, the FDA is now expecting to consider it in June once all the data have been submitted, according to an official familiar with the issue who is not authorized to speak publicly. (Stein, 4/28)

The New York Times: Vaccines For Young Children Why hasn’t the F.D.A. approved a Covid-19 vaccine for children under 5? Government officials have given two conflicting answers in recent days — one that places responsibility on vaccine manufacturers, another that casts the lack of approval as a deliberate federal policy. It’s the latest instance of what has been a recurring problem during the pandemic. Public health officials have sent confusing messages about Covid policy. ... Either way, the situation has bred frustration among many Americans — such as parents of young children who are desperate to vaccinate their children. These parents listen to the public statements of government officials and the news coverage but fail to find comprehensible answers. (Leonhardt, 4/29)

California Areas Report Swelling Covid Cases

In Los Angeles, hospitalizations are also starting to creep up -- a more worrisome trend that has tended to follow surges in covid infections. With cases also on the rise in the Bay Area, San Francisco is bringing back some precautions.

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Coronavirus Cases Up 40% In One Week; Hospitalizations Rising, Too Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County rose by 40% over the past week and hospitalizations have started to creep up as well, underscoring how important it is for people to be up-to-date on their vaccines and boosters, as well as wear masks in indoor public settings, officials said. Although neither the number of infections nor the patient census are setting off alarm bells just yet, the trendlines illustrate that the county is contending with reinvigorated coronavirus transmission. And for county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, who called the increase in cases “pretty significant,” they reinforce the importance of taking individual actions to thwart the spread. (Money and Lin II, 4/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: As COVID Cases ‘Swell’ In The Bay Area, This Time It’s On You To Weigh The Risks Coronavirus cases are ticking up again across the Bay Area as the region enters a fifth “swell” of the pandemic, but this wave will likely look very different from earlier surges, with far fewer people seriously ill and needing hospital care, health officials say. It also will play out differently in other remarkable ways: Though no one yet knows how high cases will climb before this wave crests, health officials don’t expect to have to put back in place mask mandates and other broad mitigation measures. That shifts the burden of responsible pandemic behavior squarely onto individuals’ shoulders. (Allday, 4/27)

SFGate: BART Brings Back Mask Mandate, Being Only SF Bay Area Transit Agency To Do So Masks are required again on the San Francisco Bay Area’s largest transit system, and the mandate will be in effect on BART trains until July 18, unless it’s extended again. In a 7-0 vote, the BART Board of Directors voted Wednesday to bring back masks after a Florida federal court decision last week eliminated the mask mandate on public transportation and airplanes nationwide. (Graff 4/28)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Schools Chief Seeks Delay Of Student COVID Vaccine Mandate The Los Angeles Unified School District should delay its requirement that students be vaccinated against COVID-19 until next year, its superintendent recommended Thursday, given the system’s already high vaccination rates among older students as well as low transmission rates in schools. Supt. Alberto M. Carvalho said that, after consulting with experts, he will ask the district’s board to hold off on enforcing the mandate until July 1, 2023, at the earliest. Doing so would align California’s largest school district with the expected timeline of a statewide student vaccination requirement. (Gomez, Money and Lin II, 4/28)

In other covid news across the states —

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Reports 7 More Deaths From COVID-19 As Virus Levels Rise In Sewers Utah reported nearly 1,700 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days and seven more deaths, the Department of Health reported Thursday. The number of new cases reported this week — 1,695 — was hundreds higher than the 1,197 reported last Thursday. The state reported a 51.4% increase in the seven-day average of new cases, moving from 173.3 to 260.3. That was after reporting a more than 61% increase in cases last week. The weekly rate of positive tests also rose from 5.06%. to 6.62%. (Harkins, 4/28)

AP: Racial Split On COVID-19 Endures As Restrictions Ease In US Black and Hispanic Americans remain far more cautious in their approach to COVID-19 than white Americans, recent polls show, reflecting diverging preferences on how to deal with the pandemic as federal, state and local restrictions fall by the wayside. Despite majority favorability among U.S. adults overall for measures like mask mandates, public health experts said divided opinions among racial groups reflect not only the unequal impact of the pandemic on people of color but also apathy among some white Americans. Black Americans (63%) and Hispanic Americans (68%) continue to be more likely than white Americans (45%) to say they are at least somewhat worried about themselves or a family member being infected with COVID-19, according to an April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (Ma and Fingerhut, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Gallaudet University Pivots To Virtual Classes As Covid Cases Rise Gallaudet University moved classes and exams online for the remainder of the semester, an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus after a spike in cases, school officials announced. Classes switched to virtual format Thursday morning, and most students were encouraged to move out of dorms this weekend. Final exams, which will also be held remotely, end May 7. Because of the increased transmissibility of the BA.2 variant, N95 or KN95 masks are now required on campus and cloth or surgical masks will no longer be allowed, school leaders wrote in a message to the campus community. Weekly testing is still required. (Svrluga, 4/28)

People aren't using covid treatments —

Reuters: Awareness And Use Of COVID Treatments Is Low Fewer than 2% of nonhospitalized high-risk patients with COVID-19 are receiving drugs that can limit the extent of their illness, survey results suggest. In March 2022, researchers recruited 1,159 people from 37 states who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 on PCR tests and asked whether they knew about or had taken effective treatments for the virus, such as monoclonal antibodies or oral antiviral drugs molnupiravir from Merck & Co (MRK.N) or Pfizer's (PFE.N) Paxlovid. Among the 241 individuals older than 65, whose age puts them at risk for severe COVID-19, 66% were aware of treatments and 36.3% had sought them, but only 1.7% reported use of such drugs, according to a report posted on Tuesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. (Lapid, 4/29)

FDA's Planned Menthol Cigarette Ban Would Impact Third Of Smokers

The FDA released its long-awaited proposed rule that could end sales in the U.S. of menthol cigarettes and cigars. The plan also includes other flavored cigars as well. It's estimated that 18.5 million Americans use such products, including 3 out of 4 Black people who smoke.

Roll Call: FDA Proposes Ban On Menthol Cigarettes, Flavored Cigars  The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, targeting products used by more than a third of smokers. The agency estimates roughly 18.5 million people use menthol cigarettes. The products are particularly popular with Black smokers, with three out of four reporting using menthol products. More than a third of smokers under 18 use menthol cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA’s proposed rule says more than half of young people who smoke cigars use flavors. The ban would take effect one year after the final rule is published. (Clason, 4/28)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Pushes Ahead With Move To Ban Menthol Cigarettes Menthol cigarettes, banned in many states including California and Massachusetts, account for more than a third of the industry's overall market share in the United States, even as overall smoking rates have been declining in the country. "Today is a huge win for equity, justice, and public health concerns," Derrick Johnson, president of NAACP, the largest U.S. civil rights organization, said in a statement. There were more than 18.5 million menthol cigarette smokers ages 12 and older in the country in 2019, with particularly high rates of use by youth, young adults, and African American and other racial and ethnic groups, the agency said. (Banerjee, 4/28)

AP: FDA Issues Plan To Ban Menthol In Cigarettes, Cigars The FDA said it will also seek to ban menthol and dozens of other flavors like grape and strawberry from cigars, which are increasingly popular with young people, especially Black teens. The agency’s proposals on both cigarettes and cigars are only initial drafts and are unlikely to be finalized before next year. Companies would then have one additional year to phase out their products. Tobacco industry lawsuits could delay the prohibition for several more years, according to experts. For now, FDA leaders said they will take comments for two months and then proceed “as expeditiously as possible.” (Perrone, 4/28)

But the move isn't without controversy —

Politico: Proposed Menthol Ban Divides Black Leaders  The Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and relatives of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, have argued that the rules, should they take effect, would give law enforcement another reason to target Black people — potentially endangering Black lives. “What we said is, ‘Y’all have got to consider unintended consequences.’ Imagine some cop pulling a kid over saying, ‘Where did you buy or get that Kool cigarette?’” Sharpton told POLITICO Thursday after the FDA announcement. “People are not going to stop smoking Newports and Kools because of a rule. They’re going to go and get them from people that go to the street in the black market. Then what happens? That’s all I’m asking.” (Ellen Foley and Daniels, 4/28)

Oklahoma Abortion Providers Brace For Immediate Shut Downs From Pending Laws

The Oklahoma legislature sent two abortion bills to Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, that would take immediate effect if signed — as he is expected to do. One is modeled after Texas' ban on the surgical procedure at roughly 6 weeks, with a private enforcement provision that has proved difficult to challenge in court. Abortion providers have already asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block the likely law.

The 19th: Oklahoma Approves Laws That Could Immediately End All Abortion Access Oklahoma’s legislature has passed two Texas-inspired laws that would allow civil lawsuits against anyone who might “aid or abet” any abortion. Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, has indicated he plans to sign both bills, which would take effect immediately. One bill, House Bill 4327, would outlaw virtually all abortions, with an exception if the pregnant person’s life were in immediate danger; pregnancy resulting from rape or incest is only an exception if it has been reported to law enforcement. After amendments were added to it, HB 4327 will go back to the House, which has already passed a version of the bill. The other bill, Senate Bill 1503, would create penalties for abortions done after six weeks of pregnancy. It’s not clear when Stitt will sign the two bills. But clinics are preparing for an immediate shutdown of services — making Oklahoma the only state in the country where abortion is completely inaccessible. (Luthra, 4/28)

AP: Oklahoma House Sends Texas-Style Abortion Ban To Governor The abortion bill, dubbed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, prohibits the procedure once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy. A similar bill approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure. Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.(Murphy, 4/29)

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt To Decide On Texas-Style Abortion Ban Saying SB 1503 could cause "irreparable harm," to patients and health care workers, abortion providers asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block the bill from taking effect should it become law. Although similar legal challenges were unsuccessful in Texas, providers expressed optimism there is enough precedent for Oklahoma's high court to support their request for an emergency order. “The Oklahoma Supreme Court has repeatedly found that the state Legislature’s extreme attempts to restrict abortion are unconstitutional, and these bans are some of the most extreme yet,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. ... The lawsuit is backed by Planned Parenthood, the Tulsa Women's Reproductive Clinic, the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice and abortion provider Dr. Alan Braid. The groups also filed a lawsuit in district court against a new law set to take effect in August that would classify performing an abortion as a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in jail. (Forman, 4/28)

Servers Say No Covid Precautions Were Offered For Correspondents Dinner

A union leader representing the servers at the Washington hotel where the White House Correspondents' Dinner will be held this weekend told Axios that the staff hasn't been told about any special testing or vaccination requirements. Meanwhile, former Trump administration covid adviser Deborah Birx says in her new book that her first meeting with President Donald Trump lasted 30 seconds and he dismissed her concerns about the virus.

Axios: Correspondents' Dinner COVID Precautions Don't Apply To All Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner will have some of the strictest COVID requirements for attendees of major D.C. events, but the safety plan doesn’t extend to staff working the event at the Washington Hilton, the venue for the soirée. ... The correspondents’ association bolstered the dinner’s entry requirements earlier this month. All guests must show proof of vaccination and a negative same-day test. But the communications director for Unite Here Local 25, the union representing the Washington Hilton’s hospitality workers, tells Axios that the hotel hasn’t approached the union about testing or vaccination requirements for staff working the event. (Hopkins, 4/28)

The Hill: Servers At Correspondents’ Dinner Not Approached About Testing, Vaccination Requirements, Union Says In a statement to The Hill on Thursday, a Hilton Hotel spokesperson said its Washington hotel hosted multiple events with COVID-19 protocols throughout the pandemic, but declined to provide specifics about its plans for the WHCA event. (Oshin, 4/28)

The Hill: Birx Book: First Meeting With Trump Lasted 30 Seconds Before He Flipped On Fox News Deborah Birx, who served as coronavirus response coordinator for former President Trump, said in her book released Tuesday that her first meeting with Trump lasted 30 seconds before he turned on Fox News and she was escorted out. Birx says she met with Trump on March 2, 2020, to emphasize her concerns about the new virus after she joined the White House coronavirus task force, Business Insider reported, citing her memoir “Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late.” “Mr. President, this is not like the flu. This is far more serious than the flu. We have to shape our response differently,” Birx said she told Trump, who dismissed her concerns and said the people he talked to did not believe COVID-19 would be very serious. (Lonas, 4/28)

NPR: Jerome Adams Calls For Masking 'Compassion' Before there were mask requirements or recommendations or candle tests or homemade mask drives, in the very early days of the pandemic, the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams published what would become a notorious tweet: "Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if health care providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!" As the supply increased and science emerged showing masks were effective in stopping the spread of the virus, Adams encouraged the use of masks. (Simmons-Duffin, 4/28)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: More Covid Complications For Congress Congress is back in session, but covid diagnoses for Vice President Kamala Harris and two Democratic senators have temporarily left the Senate without a working majority to approve continued covid funding. Meanwhile, opponents of the Affordable Care Act have filed yet another lawsuit challenging a portion of the law, and we say goodbye to the late Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who left a long legacy of health laws. Rachel Cohrs of STAT News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Rebecca Adams of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. (4/28)

Wyoming Public Radio: Expanded SNAP Benefits Are Set To Expire At The End Of April  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will be discontinuing expanded benefits for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the end of this month. More commonly known as food stamps, federal COVID-19 emergency funds allowed for an expansion of benefits after a public health emergency was declared. Current SNAP recipients will only receive regular food stamp issuances beginning in May according to the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS). This comes as inflation continues to rise, making it more difficult for lower-income and those on fixed incomes to get by. The Mountain West region currently has the highest rate of inflation nationwide and Wyoming’s is also higher than the national average. (Cook, 4/28)

Also, in news from Capitol Hill —

Stat: Would Drugmakers Lower Their Insulin Prices If Congress Asks Nicely? After a yearslong, drawn-out debate over how to best lower patients’ prescription drug prices, two senators are workshopping a new idea to slash insulin costs: dangling incentives to convince drugmakers to lower prices of their own free will. It’s largely based on a common complaint from drugmakers: that their sticker prices are sky-high because they have to pay insurers to get more favorable coverage for their medicines. The policy would ban those payments to insurers and cap patients’ monthly out-of-pocket costs for insulin, but only if drugmakers agree to reduce their prices to 2006 levels. Back then, a vial of insulin lawmakers cited cost about $68 without insurance; in 2019, it ran as much as $300. (Cohrs, 4/29)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Senate Candidate Herschel Walker Spent Years Promoting Health Products With Dubious Claims Senate candidate Herschel Walker has spent years promoting and developing health-conscious products with dubious benefits and a skepticism from the medical community, a review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found. Through the two decades that Walker has been retired from professional football, the Republican frontrunner has repeatedly tried to cash in on his career as a legendary athlete with a striking physique. He looked to “revolutionize” the health market with products he said would prevent aging, help weight loss and even protect against the damages of smoking—despite little evidence, his company admitted in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (Jackson, 4/28)

Politico: House Republicans Attempt To Force Vote On Transgender Sports Bill Dozens of House Republicans on Wednesday signed on to a petition to force a vote on legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity. Nine lawmakers led by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) submitted the petition Tuesday to discharge the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) in January 2021 and has not been taken up by the House Education and Labor Committee. (Quilantan, 4/28)

In non-covid developments from Washington—

AP: Justices Limit Discrimination Claims For Emotional Distress The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit filed by a deaf, legally blind woman against a physical therapy business that wouldn’t provide an American Sign Language interpreter for her appointments. In a 6-3 ruling with conservatives in the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that businesses that receive federal health care money can’t be sued for discrimination under the Affordable Care Act when the harm alleged is emotional, not financial. (4/28)

Medicare Advantage Plans Too Often Deny Care, HHS Watchdog Reports

The inspector general’s office urged HHS officials to increase oversight of the private insurance plans.

USA Today: Medicare Advantage Plans Skimp On Claims, Care, Federal Report Finds A government watchdog report released Thursday found private Medicare plans routinely rejected claims that should have been paid and denied services that reviewers found to be medically necessary. The report, completed by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general investigators, discovered private Medicare plans denied 18% of claims allowed under Medicare coverage rules. The denials often were a result of errors in processing claims, the report found. (Alltucker, 4/28)

The New York Times: Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds Every year, tens of thousands of people enrolled in private Medicare Advantage plans are denied necessary care that should be covered under the program, federal investigators concluded in a report published on Thursday. The investigators urged Medicare officials to strengthen oversight of these private insurance plans, which provide benefits to 28 million older Americans, and called for increased enforcement against plans with a pattern of inappropriate denials. Advantage plans have become an increasingly popular option among older Americans, offering privatized versions of Medicare that are frequently less expensive and provide a wider array of benefits than the traditional government-run program offers. (Abelson, 4/28)

Axios: Medicare Advantage Debate Rekindled By Report On Coverage Denials "The OIG report validates that the vast majority of Medicare Advantage prior authorization requests are approved, and that the vast majority of denials that the OIG reviewed were appropriate," said Kristine Grow, a spokesperson for America's Health Insurance Plans, adding Medicare administrators noted plan performance is improving. (Reed and Owens, 4/29)

Meanwhile, in news from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes ACA Plan Standardization, Network Adequacy Policies Insurers on Affordable Care Act exchanges will have to offer plans with standardized deductibles and limits on out-of-pocket costs and co-pays for each of non-standardized offerings, as well as meet stronger network adequacy requirements in 2023, under a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services final rule issued Thursday. CMS did not finalize a change to the risk adjustment model for exchange plans that experts had cautioned could prompt insurers to cherrypick healthier consumers, and punted a proposed policy to explicitly prohibit sexual orientation and gender identify discrimination to a future rule. (Goldman, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes Rule On Ownership Changes At Accreditation Groups Accreditation organizations will need to notify the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of a change in ownership at least 90 days before it occurs, according to a rule finalized by the agency Wednesday three years after it was proposed. Following the notice, CMS will determine whether the new ownership is equipped to accredit facilities and meet Medicare standards. CMS can't approve or disapprove business transactions, but it does need to ensure a new owner is eligible for Medicare participation, the agency said. (Goldman, 4/28)

Covid Deaths Varied Dramatically Across The US: More In The South

A study into excess mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a disproportionate number of deaths happened in Southern states. Separately, a study finds initial vital signs are a good indicator for covid severity during hospitalizations, and successes from an opera-singing experiment may help long-covid sufferers.

CIDRAP: Modeling Study Shows Geographical Disparities In US COVID Deaths Using excess mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers from Georgetown University found significant regional differences in mortality rates due to COVID-19, with a disproportionate number of virus deaths in Southern states. Excess deaths were analyzed for the period between Jan 3, 2020, to Sep 26, 2021, with Northeast, Midwest, South, and West regions compared. Though the South only has 38% of the US population, that region has seen 48% of the nation's COVID-19 deaths since October of 2020. Using the excess death data over that same time period, there were 895,693 excess deaths associated with COVID-19, 26% more than previously reported, the authors said. Since May 31, 2020, the South experienced COVID-19 mortality 26% higher than the national rate, whereas the Northeast's rate was 42% lower. (4/28)

CIDRAP: Initial Vital Signs, Labs Better Predict COVID Severity Than Chronic Conditions COVID-19 patients' vital signs, lab results, and need for supplemental oxygen when they arrive at the hospital can better predict illness severity than underlying illnesses and differ by age-group, suggests a modeling study published today in Scientific Reports. A team led by Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle led the study to improve risk stratification for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a process important for clinical decision-making and resource allocation. (Van Beusekom, 4/28)

CIDRAP: Opera-Led Singing Program Eased Breathlessness In Long-COVID Patients An ongoing online UK program using singing techniques helped relieve post–COVID-19 mental wellbeing and persistent breathlessness, according to a randomized, controlled trial published yesterday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Led by Imperial College London researchers, the trial involved 150 adults who still had shortness of breath, with or without anxiety, 4 or more weeks after symptom onset (average, 320 days), referred from 51 UK long-COVID clinics from Apr 22 to May 25, 2021. Eighty-one percent of participants were women. (4/28)

In news on non-covid related research —

The New York Times: Patients Taking Experimental Obesity Drug Lost More Than 50 Pounds, Maker Claims An experimental drug has enabled people with obesity or who are overweight to lose about 22.5 percent of their body weight, about 52 pounds on average, in a large trial, the drug’s maker announced on Thursday. The company, Eli Lilly, has not yet submitted the data for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal or presented them in a public setting. But the claims nonetheless amazed medical experts. “Wow (and a double Wow!)” Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, chief executive of Verve Therapeutics, a company focusing on heart disease drugs, wrote in a tweet. Drugs like Eli Lilly’s, he added, are “truly going to revolutionize the treatment of obesity!!!” (Kolata, 4/28)

Bloomberg: Seven Hours Of Sleep Per Night Is Optimal In Middle To Older Age, Study Suggests Seven hours of sleep per night is the ideal amount in middle to older age, a study has suggested. Both too much and too little sleep are associated with poorer cognitive performance and mental health, according to researchers from Cambridge University and Fudan University in China. Scientists examined data from nearly 500,000 adults, aged between 38 and 73, from the UK Biobank. Participants were asked about their sleeping patterns, mental health and wellbeing, and took part in a series of cognitive tests. (Russell, 4/28)

CIDRAP: Antibiotic Use In Young Children Tied To Reduced Vaccine Response In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found that antibiotic use in young children is associated with lower vaccine-induced antibody responses to several childhood vaccines. The study, published yesterday in Pediatrics, found that children 2 years of age and younger who had received antibiotics had lower levels of antibody protection from the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) than those who received no antibiotics. They also found that antibiotic courses that were accumulated over time were negatively associated with vaccine-induced antibody levels. (Dall, 4/28)

Stat: Startups Turn To EEGs To Fuel A Resurgence In Neuro Drug Development Biotechs are used to turning to genetics as guideposts in developing new medications. Now, a small but growing number of startups are turning to a century-old technology found in hospitals and doctors’ offices across the country to find new clues for developing brain disorder treatments. At least four biotechs — Athira Pharma, Alto Neuroscience, Beacon Biosignals, and Neumora Therapeutics — have integrated electroencephalograms, or EEGs, in their work. The tests use dozens of electrodes placed around a person’s head to measure brain waves, generally to diagnose epilepsy or sleep disorders, but these companies believe they could unveil new biomarkers for many other conditions. (DeAngelis, 4/29)

Stat: Researchers Test The Power Of Machine Learning To Study Long Covid Long Covid, with its constellation of symptoms, is proving a challenging moving target for researchers trying to conduct large studies of the syndrome. As they take aim, they’re debating how to responsibly use growing piles of real-world data — drawing from the full experiences of long Covid patients, not just their participation in stewarded clinical trials. “People have to really think carefully about what does this mean,” said Zack Strasser, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has used existing patient records to study the characteristics of long Covid. “Is this true? Is this not some artifact that’s just happening because of the people that we’re looking at within the electronic health record? Because there are biases.” (Palmer, 4/29)

First Human Case Of H5 Bird Flu Recorded In Colorado: CDC

The CDC says that the infected person was working to destroy birds believed to have a version of H5N1 bird flu, and that the risk to the public is believed to be low. The virus strain is currently affecting millions of American birds in around 30 states.

Stat: CDC Reports First Human H5 Bird Flu Infection In U.S.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Thursday that a person in Colorado has tested positive for an H5 bird flu virus — the first such recorded infection in the United States. The CDC did not reveal the neuraminidase subtype of the virus — the N portion of an influenza A virus’ name. The country is currently experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in both wild birds and in commercial poultry flocks. The man, described by Colorado health officials as being younger than 40 years old, experienced only fatigue; he is now in isolation and being treated with the flu antiviral oseltamivir. A statement from Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment said he is incarcerated at a state correctional facility and was culling poultry as part of a pre-release employment program. The CDC described the poultry outbreak as presumptively having been caused by H5N1. (Branswell, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Bird Flu Detected In Person In Colorado A person in Colorado tested positive for a version of avian influenza, federal officials said, marking the first known human case in the U.S. of a bird flu that has ravaged poultry flocks for months. The unidentified person had direct contact with poultry and was working to destroy birds believed to have a version of H5N1 bird flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The person’s only symptom was fatigue, the agency said. An earlier case in December in the U.K. was in an asymptomatic person who also had contact with infected birds. (Kamp, 4/28)

Reuters: U.S. Reports Its First Human Case Of H5 Bird Flu The first known human case of H5 bird flu in the United States has appeared in a person in Colorado, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday. The person tested positive for avian influenza A(H5) virus and was involved in the culling of poultry presumed to have had H5N1 bird flu, the CDC said in a statement. "This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low," the agency added. (4/29)

USA Today: Bird Flu: First Human Case Of Current H5N1 Strain Located In US A Colorado prison inmate who had direct exposure to poultry infected with avian flu is the first person in the U.S. to test positive with the current strain. The man, who is an inmate at a state correctional facility in Delta County, has showed mild symptoms of fatigue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said. "This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low," the CDC said in a statement. (Santucci, 4/28)

The CDC stresses the risk is low —

CNN: Human Bird Flu Case: CDC Confirms Case Of Bird Flu In Colorado Man But Says The Public Health Risk Assessment Remains Low "This is the second human case associated with this specific group of H5 viruses that are currently predominant, and the first case in the United States," the CDC said. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) said the man is a state inmate younger than 40 who was working at a commercial farm in Montrose County. The man has recovered after experiencing fatigue, CDPHE said. He is currently isolated and is being treated with the antiviral drug oseltamivir. (Dillinger, 4/29)

The bird flu outbreak is spreading —

CIDRAP: Six States Report More Avian Flu Outbreaks, Poultry Losses Top 35 Million Six states reported more highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in poultry, including Nebraska, where the virus struck a large layer farm housing 2.1 million birds, according to the latest notifications from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Nebraska's outbreak, the state's seventh, occurred in Knox County, located in the northeast corner of the state. Elsewhere in the Midwest, three states reported more outbreaks, all involving backyard birds. They include Kansas (Republic County), Michigan (Saginaw County), and North Dakota (Richland County). (4/28)

First US Child May Have Died During Hepatitis Outbreak

The child death in Wisconsin may be the first in the U.S. linked to the ongoing global outbreak of hepatitis, which is reported spreading across the states and the world. An algorithm to predict child neglect, Prescription Drug Take Back Day, drug overdoses in adolescents and more are in the news.

Fox News: Wisconsin Reports First Death In U.S. Possibly Linked To Puzzling Hepatitis Outbreak In Children Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) issued a health alert this Wednesday regarding the first pediatric death in the United States possibly linked to the mysterious pediatric hepatitis outbreak and adenovirus, according to a recent statement. "Since being notified of this adenovirus-associated hepatitis cluster, DHS is now investigating at least four similar cases among children in Wisconsin. This includes two children who had severe outcomes, one liver transplant, and one fatality." (Sudhakar, 4/28)

CIDRAP: Wisconsin And California Probe Unexplained Hepatitis Cases, 1 Fatal The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WDHS) in an alert to clinicians said it is investigating at least four unexplained hepatitis cases in children, including one who needed a liver transplant and one who died. Also, California officials said today that they are investigating seven cases. The WDHS said it launched the investigation following a report from Alabama of nine similar cases, of which all five sequenced samples showed a possible connection to adenovirus type 41. Two of the Alabama children required liver transplants. News of the California cases was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, which cited the California Department of Health. The developments brings the number of US states reporting similar cases to five, which also includes North Carolina and Illinois. (4/28)

ABC News: Concerning Clusters Of Severe Hepatitis Cases In Children Being Investigated Earlier this month, researchers in the United States and Europe announced they were investigating small clusters of the cases emerging across the globe. Soon after, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an alert to doctors and providers to be on the lookout for the unusual cases. Globally, around 170 cases have been identified, according to World Health Organization officials, with many of the children under the age of 10. “What is particularly unusual is that the majority of these children were previously healthy,” Dr. Philippa Easterbrook, a medical expert with the WHO's Global HIV Hepatitis and STI Programme, said during a press conference on Thursday. (Mitropoulos, 4/29)

CIDRAP: Canada Among Countries Probing Acute Hepatitis Cases In Children Canadian health officials said yesterday that unexplained hepatitis cases have been identified in Canada and are under investigation, according to multiple Canadian media reports, which cited responses to queries from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).The reports did not say how many cases are under investigation or what provinces the affected children are from. So far, at least 14 countries have reported cases. (4/27)

AP: An Algorithm That Screens For Child Neglect Raises Concerns Inside a cavernous stone fortress in downtown Pittsburgh, attorney Robin Frank defends parents at one of their lowest points – when they are at risk of losing their children. The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now, she worries she’s fighting something she can’t see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families will have to endure the rigors of the child welfare system, and which will not. “A lot of people don’t know that it’s even being used,” Frank said. “Families should have the right to have all of the information in their file.” (Ho and Burke, 4/29)

WJCT News: Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinets Saturday For Prescription Drug Take Back Day  The 20th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for Saturday at multiple locations around the state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event offers a safe, convenient means of disposing of leftover medications while also educating the public about the potential for abuse. In Florida, 2.56% of all deaths are caused by drug overdoses, and Florida’s drug overdose death rate is 23.2% higher than the national average, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Association of Managing Entities, which represents nonprofits that oversee state and federal behavioral health systems. (Troncoso, 4/28)

Fox News: Drug Overdose Deaths Among Adolescents On The Rise According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, deadly overdoses among adolescents nearly doubled from 492 in 2019 to 954 in 2020. They jumped another 20% in 2021. George Youngblood, who has worked with Teen and Family Services in Houston, said the COVID-19 pandemic affected hundreds of children across the country in the same way that it did Lydia. "The more we isolated our kids without being able to do all the social-emotional learning that they needed to do, I think that the mental health crisis became so acute. They experienced anxiety and depression," Youngblood said. (Addison, 4/28)

Bloomberg: Baby Formula Social-Media Pitches Undermine Breast Milk, WHO Says Infant-formula makers use social media and influencers to target women and boost sales, undermining efforts to increase breastfeeding rates, according to a new study by the World Health Organization. Companies use personalized content through apps, paid influencers and advice forums to reach consumers, the WHO report said, adding these are often not recognizable as advertising. (Gretler, 4/28)

CNN: Whistleblower Alerted FDA To Alleged Safety Lapses At Baby Formula Plant Months Before Recalls, Complaint Shows A former employee of Abbott Nutrition documented his concerns that the company was hiding safety problems at its Sturgis, Mich., production facility and sent a detailed complaint to the US Food and Drug Administration months before infant formula was removed from grocery store shelves. The complaint was released Thursday by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee. The congresswoman said she had received the complaint this week and called its allegations "extremely disturbing." (Goodman and Howard, 4/28)

New Oral Heart Disease Drug Gains FDA Approval

The new drug, called Mavacamten, tackles hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which affects about 1 in 500 people and is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people. AstraZeneca, Baxter International, Merck and shareholder reluctance at opening covid patents, and more are also in health industry news.

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Approves New Bristol-Myers Drug For Common Inherited Heart Disease The disease, called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, causes the heart muscles to thicken excessively and make it difficult for the organ to pump blood. The condition affects about 1 in 500 people. It is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people, including athletes, though it is rare. The new drug, which carries the chemical name mavacamten and which Bristol will market as Camzyos, was the centerpiece of the company’s $13.1 billion acquisition of MyoKardia in 2020. Bristol is counting on sales to help offset several upcoming patent expirations for key products. (Hopkins, 4/28)

Reuters: FDA Approves Bristol Myers' Oral Heart Disease Drug Bristol Myers Squibb said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its oral heart disease drug Mavacamten, making it the first cardiac myosin inhibitor to be permitted for use in the country. Mavacamten, which Bristol Myers acquired in its $13 billion buyout of MyoKardia in 2020, will be used in the treatment of adults with symptomatic New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-III obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (4/29)

Reuters: AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine Sales Top Estimates, Keeps Overall 2022 Forecasts AstraZeneca (AZN.L) on Friday beat first-quarter sales and profit expectations, helped by higher than expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, a product the company has forecast will see a sharp decline over the course of the year. The vaccine recorded $1.15 billion in sales in the quarter, the majority of which came from initial contracts, but that number eclipsed consensus analyst expectations of $739 million, cited by Credit Suisse. (Aripaka and Grover, 4/29)

The Boston Globe: AstraZeneca To Open Major Research Center In Kendall Square Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said Friday that it will open a major research center in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, the heart of the region’s biotech industry. The British drugmaker will move about 1,500 employees into a building that is expected to open in early 2026, with room for significant growth, the company said. The 570,000-square-foot facility, on the site of the Kendall Center Blue Garage at 290 Binney St., is part of a recently announced plan by developer Boston Properties to build two 16-story lab and office buildings along with a 38-floor residential tower, which will be Cambridge’s tallest building. AstraZeneca will occupy space in one of the 16-story buildings. (Cross, 4/29)

Crain's Chicago Business: Baxter's Revenues Climb With Acquisition Of Hillrom Medical products giant Baxter International reported rising revenue in the first quarter coming on the heels of its acquisition of Hillrom. Deerfield-based Baxter saw revenue grow 26% to $3.7 billion in the first quarter, the company announced in an earnings call today. U.S. sales totaled $1.76 billion, a nearly 50% increase from the same period a year earlier, with international sales increasing 10% to $1.95 billion. Net income was $71 million. Baxter’s stock was down slightly on the news this morning, trading at about $70 a share. (Davis, 4/28)

Reuters: Merck Raises 2022 Forecast As COVID Pill, Cancer Drug Fuels Profit Beat Merck & Co (MRK.N) on Thursday reported quarterly profit and sales that beat estimates and raised its full-year forecasts on strong demand for top-selling cancer drug Keytruda, its Gardasil vaccine and COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir. The U.S. drugmaker's shares rose 1.8% to $85.90 before the opening bell as revenue rose 50% to $15.9 billion, with most of the growth coming from sales of molnupiravir, which was approved in November. (Erman and Mishra, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: MD Anderson, Community Health Network Partner On Integrated Cancer Program The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Indianapolis-based Community Health Network are partnering on a clinical and research cancer program in central Indiana, the health systems said Thursday. The new program, called Community Health Network MD Anderson Cancer Center, will give Community physicians access to MD Anderson experts for peer-to-peer consultations and patients access to innovative cancer treatments, clinical trials and research studies, according to the press release. The new partnership is MD Anderson's first in six years. (Abrams, 4/28)

Reuters: WHO-Backed Vaccine Resolution Wins 24% Support At Moderna A shareholder proposal calling on Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) to study transferring production of COVID-19 vaccines to less-developed countries won 24% support from investors on Thursday after it received a rare endorsement from the World Health Organization. Proponents say production shifts could help combat the global pandemic. Moderna of Cambridge, Mass. opposed the measure, saying among other things it already maximized its manufacturing capacity with partners, and that poorer countries have declined millions of doses that Moderna was prepared to deliver. (Kerber, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Shareholder Proposals To Broaden Access To Covid-19 Vaccines Rejected Investors in three Covid-19 vaccine makers on Thursday rejected shareholder proposals aimed at broadening global access to the shots. Pfizer Inc., PFE 1.55% Moderna Inc. MRNA 0.06% and Johnson & Johnson JNJ 0.75% had opposed the proposals, saying they already had taken steps to expand access to their vaccines in poorer countries. Shareholders at Pfizer and Moderna voted against similar resolutions, which asked each company to study the feasibility of transferring technical know-how and patents to allow other manufacturers to produce Covid-19 vaccine doses for low- and middle-income countries. (Loftus, 4/28)

KHN: At US Hospitals, A Drug Mix-Up Is Just A Few Keystrokes Away More than four years ago, Tennessee nurse RaDonda Vaught typed two letters into a hospital’s computerized medication cabinet, selected the wrong drug from the search results, and gave a patient a fatal dose. Vaught was prosecuted this year in an extremely rare criminal trial for a medical mistake, but the drug mix-up at the center of her case is anything but rare. Computerized cabinets have become nearly ubiquitous in modern health care, and the technological vulnerability that made Vaught’s error possible persists in many U.S. hospitals. (Kelman, 4/29)

Covid Seriously Worsened Kid's Mental Health: Study

The impact of covid "profoundly" impacted mental health of children and adolescents, a meta-analysis of other medical studies found. Meanwhile, the CT Mirror reports that a bill focussing on boosting children's mental health support advanced in the Senate after gathering broad support.

Reuters: Mental Health Issues In Kids Rose During Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the mental health of children and adolescents, researchers say, based on their analysis of findings from 17 earlier studies. The studies - published in 2020 and 2021 - found unusually high rates of anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, suicidal behavior, stress-related disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other mental health problems during the pandemic. Individual behaviors such as hobbies, praying, and listening to music were associated with positive mental health, the studies also found. (Lapid, 4/29)

The CT Mirror: Bill Focusing On Mental Health Supports For Kids Clears Senate The last of three robust bills aiming to broaden services and resources for children’s mental health cleared its initial hurdle Thursday, gathering wide support in the Senate. Senate Bill 1, which would bolster mental health programs in schools, increase wages for child care workers and create a minority teacher scholarship fund, among other priorities, passed the Senate with a vote of 33 to 2. Republican Senators Rob Sampson of Wolcott and Ryan Fazio of Greenwich were the only dissenters. (Carlesso, 4/28)

NBC News: States That Legalized Marijuana Now Researching Mental Health Risks Of High-Potency Cannabis With national cannabis legalization poised to be introduced in the Senate, states that legalized recreational marijuana 10 years ago are now studying the public health implications of a variety of new high-potency products amid questions about a possible link to psychosis. The newer products are called marijuana concentrates and are commonly known as wax and shatter. They can have levels of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, as high as 85 percent to 90 percent. By comparison, researchers say, the marijuana level in a typical joint 20 years ago was closer to 5 percent. States like Washington and Colorado are now considering product warnings or potency caps to limit access. At a January forum, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, raised concerns that teens are increasingly vaping high-potency cannabis. (Strickler and Patterson, 4/29)

Washington Post: Google Is Letting You Limit Ads About Pregnancy And Weight Loss Google, which makes money in part by showing you ads based on your search history and other online behavior, has come under fire for targeting people with family or body-related ads they’d rather not see. Facebook has settings that filter ads about certain sensitive topics, but until now, Google users had little recourse. In December 2020, Google started letting people in the United States opt out of ads on YouTube that feature alcohol or gambling. Now, people worldwide can opt out of alcohol and gambling ads as well as ads in the newly announced categories across Google’s ad ecosystem. (Hunter, 4/28)

On mental health matters in the public eye —

Fox News: Amber Heard Has Symptoms Of Borderline Personality Disorder According To Forensic Psychologist: What Is It? Forensic psychologist Shannon Curry, who was hired by actor Johnny Depp’s legal team, testified this Tuesday in the civil lawsuit between Depp and his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, that she diagnosed the 36 year-old with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and histrionic personality disorder, according to a recent Time report. "Personality is the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other people. An individual’s personality is influenced by experiences, environment (surroundings, life situations) and inherited characteristics. A person’s personality typically stays the same over time," according to the American Psychiatric Association. (Sudhakar, 4/28)

Fox News: Amy Schumer Raises Awareness About Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Her Husband’s Recent Diagnosis Comedian Amy Schumer revealed last week on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that her 42-year-old husband, chef Chris Fischer, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as an adult, which is helping raise awareness that the condition can also be diagnosed as we get older. ASD " … is a complex, lifelong developmental condition that typically appears during early childhood and can impact a person’s social skills, communication, relationships, and self-regulation," according to the Autism Society. (Sudhakar, 4/28)

Columbus Dispatch: Athletes' Mental Health: Ohio State Counselors Say Stigma Diminishing When Jamey Houle won his first Junior Olympic National Championship in gymnastics as a high school sophomore, he immediately wanted to win again. But when the next year's competition rolled around, he choked. Houle's coach told him that something needed to change. He suggested Houle see a counselor to talk about his thoughts and the pressure he was putting on himself. Houle wasn't interested. "They dragged me kicking and screaming to see that counselor," he said. "I thought it was some kind of voodoo." Over time though, Houle started to see a difference in his attitude toward failure, that it's OK to have a bad day and that doesn't negate all your positive progress. After Houle won his second Junior Olympic Championship his senior year, his first call was to his psychologist. (Hendrix, 4/27)

Homelessness Influencing L.A. Mayoral Race; Houston's Progress Applauded

Los Angeles mayoral candidates reportedly agree tackling homelessness is critical, but cannot agree on how to do it. Also, an appeals court has given Caltrans permission to clear a homeless camp in Berkeley, and in Houston the new federal homelessness head touted the region's progress.

KHN: LA Mayoral Hopefuls Agree Addressing Homelessness Is Crucial But Disagree On How As encampments multiply from Echo Park to Venice, homelessness has been the top issue in the L.A. mayoral race. And although Angelenos express broad support for building more housing for the homeless, the contenders say that can be only part of the solution. Several top candidates say the city must also expand services for people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. Although city officials have said 29% of homeless people have behavioral or substance use disorders, that number is likely far too low. (Marsa, 4/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Appeals Court Says Caltrans Can Clear Berkeley Homeless Encampments, Citing ‘Critical Safety Concerns’ The state Department of Transportation is entitled to clear homeless encampments near Interstate 80 in Berkeley and Emeryville and is not required to provide other housing for the residents, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, overturning a judge’s order that had halted the removal. The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may not have an immediate impact on the 27 camp residents protected against eviction by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s injunction, which was issued in September and is due to expire on Saturday. But the appeals court noted that the injunction, originally scheduled to lapse on March 23, has already been extended once by Chen and, before Wednesday’s ruling, might have been renewed again — although a lawyer for the residents said Chen had ruled out any further extensions. (Egelko, 4/27)

Houston Chronicle: New Head Of Federal Homelessness Council Visits Houston, Touts Region’s Reduction In Homelessness Jeff Olivet, has been executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness for all of eight weeks. One of his first stops? Houston. “You slashed homelessness in this area by two thirds in a decade,” he said at a State of Homelessness conference hosted Thursday by the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston and Harris County. “That is extraordinary.” Houston, once called out in 2011 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the size of its homeless population, has since more than halved the number of people without homes in Harris and Fort Bend counties to 3,200 in 2022 from 8,500, even as the overall population in those two counties grew — and homeless populations in other major cities surged. (Schuetz, 4/28)

In state news developments not related to homelessness —

Houston Chronicle: In Houston Visit, White House Drug Czar Announces $275M To Fight Trafficking And Overdoses The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Rahul Gupta, announced in Houston Thursday the allocation of $275 million as part of President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy. The funds will be distributed among the 33 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas in the country, including around $12 million for Houston, said Gupta at a press conference in Houston. “This funding supports President Biden’s new comprehensive strategy to go after two drivers of the overdose epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking,” said Gupta, speaking at Houston Police Department headquarters. (Tallet, 4/28)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children’s Pediatrics Chief Abruptly Departs After 7 Months In Role After just seven months, Dr. Catherine Gordon is no longer in her leadership posts at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. Mark A. Wallace, president and CEO at Texas Children’s, who initially hailed Gordon as “a gifted physician/scientist and renowned leader” upon her hiring, did not address Gordon by name in a news release. In a later statement, the hospital said she resigned. “We thank Dr. Gordon for her many contributions to Texas Children’s Hospital and our patients, and we wish her all the best in her next endeavors.” (Gill and Carballo, 4/28)

AP: Tennessee Health Commissioner Leaving Post Next Month Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey is leaving state government next month, Gov. Bill Lee said. The governor will name a successor in coming weeks, his office said Thursday. Piercey’s departure is effective May 31. Piercey joined the administration in January 2019 and was a member of the Governor’s Unified Command Group during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also led efforts to innovate public health operations in Tennessee and strengthened the workforce pipeline in health care, Lee’s office said. (4/29)

AP: Kentucky Gov: New Center Won't Slow Medical Cannabis Review  Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that a newly created cannabis research center won’t slow his review of whether he has the authority to singlehandedly legalize medical marijuana — a decision that’s likely to come this summer. The governor said he sees value in the cannabis center’s formation, but added some lawmakers used it as a tactic to successfully block a bill that would have made medical marijuana legal. Beshear said he won’t wait for the center to do cannabis studies before deciding whether to take action. (Schreiner, 4/28)

The Hill: Kansas Lawmakers Uphold Governor’s Veto Of Trans Sports Ban Lawmakers in Kansas on Thursday sustained Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) veto of two bills accused of being discriminatory against LGBTQ+ people in the state. One of them, a transgender athlete ban, would have barred transgender women and girls from competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. The other would have established a Parental Bill of Rights allowing parents to challenge classroom materials inconsistent with their personal beliefs. The state House of Representatives on Thursday voted to sustain Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 160 – officially titled the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” – that would have required public schools from the elementary to the university level to designate sports teams by “biological sex,” or a student’s sex assigned at birth. (Migdon, 4/28)

Health News Florida: State Takes Case Over “Medically Fragile” Children To The U.S. Supreme Court  Florida is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a long-running legal battle that stemmed from concerns about “medically fragile” children being placed in nursing homes. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office last week filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute. The petition came after a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 backed the U.S. Department of Justice’s authority to pursue a lawsuit under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The full Atlanta-based appeals court declined in December 2021 to take up the case, prompting Florida to go to the Supreme Court. (4/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Where Ron Johnson Stands On Obamacare, Health Care In 2022 Election Ever since he got into politics, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. "Freedom needs some encouragement because now that they've passed Obamacare our freedom is on life support," Johnson said during his first major speech at an April 15, 2010 tea party rally in Madison. "The only way Obamacare will ever be repealed is if we do it," the Oshkosh businessman told the audience assembled that day outside the state Capitol. (Glauber, 4/28)

Canada Will Allow Blood Donations From Gay Men

Restrictions on gay men donating blood are set to be lifted in Canada after the government spent C$5 million researching the change's impact on the safety of the blood donation system. Separately, Denmark made the bold decision to halt its covid vaccine program after controlling the virus.

AP: Canada To Lift Restrictions On Gay Men Donating Blood Health Canada on Thursday lifted restrictions on gay men donating blood, a move Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said was “good news for all Canadians” but had taken too long. Trudeau said at a news conference the ban should have ended 10 to 15 years ago, but research proving it would not affect the safety of the blood supply had not been done by previous governments. Trudeau said his government spent C$5 million dollars (US$3.9 million) on research into the safety aspects of changing the blood donation rules and multiple scientific reports showed “our blood supply will continue to be safe.” (4/28)

Denmark makes a dramatic move on covid vaccines —

CNBC: Denmark The First Country To Halt Its Covid Vaccination Program Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control. “Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed,” the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.“ Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against Covid-19 for this season,” it said. People will not be invited for vaccines from May 15, it said, although everyone will be able to finish their course of vaccination. (Ellyatt, 4/28)

AP: South Africa's Latest COVID Surge Blamed On Omicron Mutant South Africa is seeing a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases driven by yet another version of the coronavirus, health experts say. Cases had been dropping in the country since February. But a new omicron subvariant that scientists call BA.4 began pushing up cases last week and they have risen rapidly since, said Salim Abdool Karim, who previously advised the government on its COVID-19 response. So far, there has been only a slight rise in hospitalizations and no increase in deaths, said Abdool Karim, who is a public health expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. (Meldrum and Ungar, 4/28)

Bloomberg: South Africa Covid Cases: New Omicron Sublineages Dominate Infections New omicron sublineages, discovered by South African scientists this month, are likely able to evade vaccines and natural immunity from prior infections, the head of gene sequencing units that produced a study on the strains said. The BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages appear to be more infectious than the earlier BA.2 lineage, which itself was more infectious than the original omicron variant, said Tulio de Oliveira, the head of the institutes at the universities of KwaZulu-Natal and Stellenbosch. (Sguazzin, 4/28)

Reuters: South Africa May Be Entering Fifth COVID Wave South Africa may be entering a fifth COVID-19 infection wave earlier than expected, after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday. "What remains stable ... is hospital admissions including ICUs (intensive care units), not a very dramatic change," Phaahla told a news conference. "There was also a rise in deaths, not very dramatic from a low base." (Winning and Roelf, 4/29)

AP: Africa Sees Rise In Measles As Pandemic Disrupts Vaccines Africa is seeing a surge of outbreaks of preventable diseases as a result of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The continent recorded a 400% increase in measles, to more than 17,000 cases between January and March, compared to the same period last year, Dr. Benido Impouma, a WHO expert in Africa, told a press briefing. Two years of disruptions by the coronavirus pandemic have had “major effects on the provision of routine health services, with immunization being seriously affected” in many countries, he said. (Muhumuza, 4/28)

Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

Each week, KHN finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week's selections include stories on the Affordable Care Act, covid, infertility, tick bites, body image, anorexia, and more.

Politico: Republicans Have Stopped Trying To Kill Obamacare. Here’s What They’re Planning Instead  For years, Republicans had an easy health care talking point: Repeal and replace Obamacare. In 2017, with full control of Washington, the GOP managed nothing of the sort. Three trips to the Supreme Court, all instigated by Republican-engineered legal challenges, have also left the law standing. It might seem that if the GOP wins Congress again in 2022, the party will leave American health care alone. The only visible attempt at a broad agenda for Republican congressional candidates — the 11 Point Plan to Rescue America by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) — includes no mention of health care policy at all. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) proposed last month on a Breitbart News radio interview that Republicans should repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but backtracked just a few days later. (McDonough, 4/26)

Stat: How Paxlovid Came To Be: From Idea To A Vital Tool Against Covid Charlotte Allerton, Pfizer’s head of medicine design, was making dinner — omelets — with her teenage children when she got a call from the one of company’s top development officers. He was calling with interim results from the study of an experimental antiviral for Covid-19. She pushed the food to one side and went upstairs. “It’s like any piece of news that you’re expecting,” she said. “You can kind of tell just from the way the person speaks.” She went directly to work. (Herper, 4/28)

ABC News: Why Is Infertility So Painful?: Doctor And Patient Break Down Taboo Women's Health Topic  More than 6 million women of childbearing age in the United States have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, yet infertility, and specifically the emotional and physical pain that comes with it, is still a taboo topic, even among some women. L'Oreal Thompson Payton, a 33-year-old from Chicago, said she never heard discussions about infertility and infertility treatments when she was growing up. (Kindelan, 4/25)

The Atlantic: A Tick Bite Made Them Allergic To Meat A few months ago, Candice Matthis and Debbie Nichols sat down with their husbands to have some bacon. It was an unremarkable scene, except for two details. First, there were the EpiPens, which Matthis and Nichols both had ready in case of emergency. The two women can’t eat red meat, not after they were each diagnosed with a dangerous red-meat allergy that develops, oddly enough, after tick bites. They had bonded as friends over their strange shared fate, where a strip of bacon could send them into anaphylactic shock. Matthis is so sensitive that even the airborne particles wafting off a pan of cooking meat typically make her sick. But this time, nothing happened to her as the bacon sizzled. Her EpiPen remained untouched. Nichols made herself a BLT. “It had been years,” she told me. And for her, too, nothing happened, except that she remembered how good a BLT tasted. (Zhang, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Russia’s War In Ukraine Could Have Environmental Impact That Lasts Decades  The war in Ukraine is poisoning the nation’s air, water and soil, with environmental-health experts saying pollutants released by the continuing assault could take years to clean up while raising the risk of cancer and respiratory ailments as well as developmental delays in children. On top of the crushing toll of thousands of lives lost in the conflict, experts are concerned about the health effects of exposure to heavy metals, and to toxic gases and particulates from explosions, fires and building collapses. The potential health impacts could reach beyond Ukraine’s borders, as the pollutants are carried downwind and downstream, according to the experts. (Subbaraman, 4/24)

NBC News: Influencers Exchange Cheap Cosmetic Surgery For Promotion On Tik Tok, But At A Cost Over the past two years, Awnuh, 19, has undergone a variety of cosmetic procedures: cheek filler, lip filler, breast augmentation and rhinoplasty. They are pricey procedures. Her first, for lip filler, cost about $1,200, paid for with money she made by posting explicit content to her OnlyFans account, which she started the day she turned 18. Since then, her online popularity has soared, particularly on TikTok, where she posts about her physical transformation and her 60-plus tattoos to more than 415,000 followers. (Tenbarge, 4/27)

The Washington Post: What Parents Need To Know About The Hidden Body Image Issues In Boys For decades, parents have understandably focused their worries about negative body image on their daughters, who are exposed to an avalanche of body pressures early on, from princess culture to Barbie’s tiny waist. But boys grow up under similar influences and pressure to be stronger, leaner, taller. Despite the popular image of eating disorders and body shame as a unique threat to girls, experts and clinicians who work with children are sounding alarms about boys, who they say are probably underdiagnosed. (Joyce, 4/26)

The New York Times: A Gymnast’s Death Was Supposed To Be A Wake-Up Call. What Took So Long? In the uneven bars final at the 1989 World Championships, Christy Henrich came within five-hundredths of a point of perfection. It was a beautiful routine, capped with a dismount perfectly stuck, and Henrich grinned as she waited for her score. She finished fourth. It was in this crucible — women’s gymnastics after Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton, when commentators were champing at the bit to anoint their successors, when a 9.95 out of 10 might not win you a medal — that one of the United States’ best athletes concluded she was not good enough. Between 1988, when Henrich missed the Olympic team by a fraction of a point, and the next Olympics four years later, she developed anorexia and bulimia. She left the sport in 1991 and died in 1994, at 22, from multiple organ failure caused by starvation. (Astor, 4/26)

Viewpoints: Oprah Takes On Racism In Health Care; It's Time To Reassess Menopausal Hormone Therapy

Editorial writers delve into these public health topics.

USA Today: A Story In USA TODAY Sparked Oprah Winfrey's New Documentary On - And Battle Against - Racial Bias In Health Care In late March 2020, Gary Fowler, 56, went to three Detroit emergency rooms looking for care. His father had COVID-19 and was in the hospital on a ventilator. Now Fowler had a fever and was feeling ill as well. He wanted a coronavirus test, and he needed help with his breathing. Three times, he was turned away. Fowler's son, Keith Gambrell, explained what happened in interviews with reporter Kristen Jordan Shamus of the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.  (Nicole Carroll, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Where The National Institutes Of Health Went Wrong On Menopause Research  Twenty years ago, the National Institutes of Health abruptly terminated research on the effect of hormone therapy on postmenopausal women. The decision resulted in a cascade of harms to millions who have undergone menopause in the United States. And it remains uncorrected two decades later. (Sharon Malone and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, 4/28)

Miami Herald: Women In Medicine Are Giving Up Hopes Of Having Children  “I would love to be a surgeon, but I worry about not being able to have the family I always wanted. ”As an advisor for premedical and medical students, I hear this too often from my female advisees. We have all come to accept the challenges of juggling a demanding profession with the needs of a family. What we have failed to reckon with is that, for many of us, it may be improbable to even start a family. Studies suggest that one in four female physicians will experience infertility, nearly twice the incidence in the general population. It is exciting to see an increase in women entering medical school, but saddening to know this may come at a cost — infertility. (Shweta Akhouri, 4/29)

The CT Mirror: Flu Is A Growing Risk In Connecticut. Get Vaccinated While most of us probably associate springtime with seasonal allergies rather than the flu, this year could change that. Until the last several weeks, flu season has been relatively mild across most of the U.S. and Connecticut, however, according to the Department of Public Health, flu activity is on the rise across the state. Why now? There are several potential reasons, but the most likely culprit is the slow rollback of COVID mitigation measures (e.g., masking) and our general return to pre-pandemic activities such as gathering with loved ones and traveling. Measures put in place to protect against COVID also worked to limit flu transmission for the past two years. This is why we saw fewer cases of flu than normal during the pandemic. (Serese Marotta, 4/28)

Newsweek: It's Not Just Student Loans. Americans Are Drowning In Medical Debt. Biden Must Help There has been a lot of talk recently about student loan forgiveness—and rightfully so. It's become a rallying cry across the country, and this week, President Biden signaled to lawmakers that he was open to considering federal loan forgiveness. But there's another form of debt that the White House should stay focused on, one that's devastating families across the nation: medical debt. (Emily Stewart, 4/27)

Stat: CMS Needs To Include Measures For Social Drivers Of Health  Every day, physicians encounter patients in their practices who show the toll of skipping meals to feed their children, or who cannot refrigerate their insulin because they have no electricity. They know that improving their patients’ health is achievable only by addressing these and other social drivers of health (SDOH), but are often limited in their ability to do that. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) could change that by enacting the first-ever measures in a federal quality or payment program that offers incentives to physician practices and hospitals to engage their patients around these issues. (Michael Darrouzet, Jennifer Hanscom and Chip Baggett, 4/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Guns Become Leading Cause Of Child Deaths, But Missouri Looks The Other Way A dubious distinction about children and guns was noted in a medical journal last week with little of the fanfare or fear or loathing that it deserved. In a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, three researchers from the University of Michigan wrote that in 2020 guns became the leading cause of death among children and teens for the first time, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The increasing firearm-related mortality reflects a longer-term trend and shows that we continue to fail to protect our youth from a preventable cause of death,” the researchers wrote. (Tony Messenger, 4/28)

Different Takes: FDA Should Approve Moderna's Under 5 Vaccine Quickly; How Will Endemic Covid Be Different?

Opinion writers weigh in on covid, prescription issues and overdose prevention.

The Washington Post: Moderna’s Covid Vaccine Is A Big Relief For Parents Of Young Children  Finally, some good news for parents of young children. Moderna announced on Thursday that it has requested authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its coronavirus vaccine for 6-month to 5-year-olds. It cites new data that its vaccine is safe and effective for the age group. (Leana S. Wen, 4/28)

The Baltimore Sun: The Pandemic Exposed Our Empathy Deficit  Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told “PBS NewsHour” that “certainly” America is now “out of the pandemic phase” of COVID-19 as our rates of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to ebb. But, he added, “We’re not going to eradicate this virus.” Our best hope is to “keep that level very low, and intermittently vaccinate people,” possibly as often as every year. Put another way, the endemic has arrived. As Dr. Fauci later told The Washington Post, “We’re really in a transitional phase, from a deceleration of the numbers into hopefully a more controlled phase and endemicity.” (Charles M. Blow, 4/28)

NBC News: Why Don’t Alcoholics Get Prescribed The Medication They Need? Alcohol-related deaths spiked 25 percent during the first year of the pandemic, according to National Institutes of Health research published in March. And alcohol-related emergency department visits accounted for about a 13 percent larger share of all emergency room visits compared to the years before the pandemic began, according to another study due to be published in June by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Jonathan Hunt-Glassman, 4/28)

The Tennessean: Enforceable Reform On Pharmacy Benefit Managers Cannot Wait PBMs are largely unregulated third-party administrators contracted by health plans, employers and government entities to manage prescription drug programs on behalf of health plan beneficiaries. They have tremendous control over which medications patients can receive, where patients can get them and how much patients pay for them. (Anthony Pudlo, 4/28)

The Tennessean: Tennessee Lawmakers Should Introduce Legislation To Cut Prescription Drug Costs In the last decade, the cost of prescription drugs increased by 159% when adjusted for inflation. The AARP has also pointed out that the rising cost of prescription drugs continues to outpace inflation, directly raising costs for businesses and impacting the lives of consumers. There are many entities along the line that influence the price of prescription drugs from where it starts at with the pharmaceutical manufacturers and ends when you pick up your monthly prescription at your local drug store. (Phillip Johnson, 4/28)

Kansas City Star: MO, KS Ban Test Strips That Prevent Fentanyl Drug Overdoses  As the Kansas and Missouri legislative sessions come to a close, there’s at least one more matter lawmakers in both states should attend to. They could save lives with tiny strips of paper that can detect the presence of fentanyl in recreational drugs. Fentanyl test strips are designed to prevent people from overdosing on illegal recreational drugs that have been spiked with potentially fatal amounts of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Overdose deaths have risen to well over 100,000 a year in the United States. Synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl — are the primary reason for the overall increase in total drug overdose deaths, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. (4/29)

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