Kaiser Health News Original Stories

Travel Nurses See Swift Change of Fortunes as Covid Money Runs Dry

Travel nurse contracts that were plentiful and paid the temporary nurses far more than hospital staff nurses are vanishing. Hospitals nationwide are turning their energies to recruiting full-time people. (Hannah Norman, 5/29 )

Rural California Hatches Plan for Engineered Mosquitoes to Battle Stealthy Predator

Tulare County officials hope the region will soon be a testing ground for a new generation of technology in a centuries-old war: Human vs. Mosquito. (Anna Maria Barry-Jester, 5/29 )

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Dobbs decision leaked Federalism at its worst What rights could be next?

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Will Republicans Push National Abortion Ban? Party Is Divided

In the near-term, Republicans have enough votes to doom this week's vote on Democrats' national abortion rights bill. But longer term — whenever they next control the White House and Capitol Hill — there is a split over nationwide restrictions or an outright ban.

Politico: Republicans Splinter On How To Handle A Post-Roe World  As Roe vs. Wade teeters, Republicans are fractured about what to do next. The split may turn into a chasm if they take back full control of Washington in 2025. Some in the GOP now acknowledge they may eventually pursue national abortion restrictions should a majority of the Supreme Court follow through on its draft opinion overturning Roe, after spending several days trying to deflect by focusing on the document’s unauthorized disclosure. And there’s a range of opinions among Hill Republicans about what comes next: leave abortion policy to the states, pursue more modest restrictions or go all-out to install a ban nationwide. (Levine and Everett, 5/9)

ABC News: Democrats Ready Vote To Legalize Abortion After McConnell Says National Ban 'Possible'  A critical week in the battle over abortion rights -- what activists are calling the "fight of a generation" -- kicked off in the U.S. Senate on Monday, with Democrats preparing to force a vote seeking to enshrine abortion rights into federal law, following last week's bombshell leak showing the Supreme Court's conservative majority ready to overturn Roe versus Wade. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Monday on a motion to start debate on the Women's Health Protection Act, setting up the bill for a roll call vote on Wednesday -- but without 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate filibuster, the legislation is poised to fail, as a similar version did in February. Republicans are united against both the bill and lowering the threshold to break the Senate filibuster. (Cathey, 5/9)

The Hill: Abortion Fight Could Cap Pelosi’s Long, Historic Career  The explosive fight over the fate of Roe v. Wade has thrust Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) into the national spotlight in the familiar role of defending abortion rights — a lifelong battle for the veteran liberal lawmaker that might also prove among her last on Capitol Hill. Pelosi, the nation’s first female Speaker, is well-versed in the divisive fight, having been a champion of women’s reproductive rights since long before her arrival in Congress more than three decades ago. (Lillis, 5/10)

The Washington Post: GOP’s Midterm Bet: Voters Will Care More About Inflation Than Abortion  One week after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would eliminate the constitutional right to abortion, Republican candidates and strategists are increasingly confident that such a decision would not seriously harm the GOP’s chances of regaining House and Senate majorities come November, as Democrats have suggested it might. That belief is rooted in reams of polling, nearly all of it conducted before the leak, showing that economic challenges, particularly runaway inflation, are by far the most powerful force motivating voters this year, followed by crime and immigration — issues where Republicans believe they will have an enduring advantage. (DeBonis and Dawsey, 5/9)

Reuters: Suburban Phoenix Is Cautionary Tale For Democrats Hoping To Galvanize Voters On Abortion Laura Wilson is a mother of three who lives in the sprawling suburbs of north Phoenix, a hotly contested electoral area of Arizona that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate after November's congressional elections. Wilson, 61, is pro-choice, voted for Democratic President Joe Biden, and knew all about the news last week that the U.S. Supreme Court is likely poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision giving women the right to an abortion. Yet Wilson said she is undecided about who she will vote for this November, and abortion rights are not a priority for her. (Reid, 5/9)

Cities, Clinics Prep For Post-Roe World Of Traveling Patients, Investigations

A D.C. council bill would disallow the city from cooperating with outside state criminal prosecutions of anyone who gets or performs an abortion in the District. And Chicago is increasing funds to expand access.

DCist: New Bill Would Protect Women Who Come To DC To Get An Abortion A new bill introduced in the D.C. Council would prohibit the city from cooperating in any investigation led by another state into anyone who gets, assists with, or performs an abortion in D.C. The bill written by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) and co-sponsored by nine of her colleagues is the first official response to last week’s leak of a draft majority Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that protects a woman’s right to seek an abortion. (Austermuhle, 5/9)

AP: Chicago Providing $500K To Expand Access To Abortion  The city of Chicago is providing $500,000 to increase access to abortion, particularly for poor people and people of color, as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to end the nationwide right to legal abortion. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday that the money will go to providers as well as organizations such as the Chicago Abortion Fund and Midwest Access Coalition, which provide lodging, transportation, meals and other support to people seeking abortions. Funding will be available for Chicago residents and people from across the U.S. (5/9)

Reuters: Microsoft To Help Cover U.S. Employees' Travel Costs For Abortion Microsoft Corp said on Monday that it would extend its abortion and gender affirming care services for employees in the United States to include travel expense assistance. Several companies, including Yelp Inc, Citigroup, Levi Strauss & Co, and Amazon.com Inc, have already pledged to cover costs for American employees who need to travel out of state for an abortion. (5/9)

AP: Idaho Lieutenant Governor Wants Harshest US Abortion Ban  Idaho Republican Lt. Gov. and gubernatorial candidate Janice McGeachin on Monday demanded that Republican Gov. Brad Little call a special legislative session to eliminate rape and incest as legal exceptions to Idaho’s abortion law. The Idaho law will go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. (Ridler, 5/9)

The Texas Tribune: Texas’ Social Safety Net Isn’t Ready For A Post-Roe World, Advocates Warn  With a near-total abortion ban looming in Texas, advocates and experts say the state’s support systems for low-income mothers and children are already insufficient — and won’t easily bear an increase in need. “When you say ‘social safety net’ in Texas, it sounds like a joke,” said D’Andra Willis of the Afiya Center, a North Texas reproductive justice group. “Everything they could have set up or increased to protect people if they really cared, they’re not doing it here.” Pregnant women in Texas are more likely to be uninsured and less likely to seek early prenatal care than the rest of the country. They’ll give birth in one of the worst states for maternal mortality and morbidity. And low-income new parents will be kicked off of Medicaid sooner than in many other states. (Klibanoff, 5/9)

Abortion providers brace for the worst —

ABC News: How Abortion Clinics Are Preparing For Possible Fall Of Roe V. Wade  The bombshell leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade was disheartening but not surprising to many abortion providers, who have been preparing for the possible end of legal abortion for years. Whole Woman's Health operates abortion clinics in Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana and Texas. For Marva Sadler, the senior director of clinical services for the abortion provider, recent restrictions on abortion access in Texas offer a hint of what's to come if Roe is overturned this year. (Deliso, 5/9)

AP: Running An Abortion Clinic While Waiting For Court Decision  The people who run America’s abortion clinics agree: There’s no job like it. There are the clients -- so many of them desperate, in need, grateful. There are the abortion opponents -- passionate, relentless, often furious. And hovering over it all are legal challenges, and the awareness that your clinic may be just a judicial ruling away from extinction. (Santana and Willingham, 5/9)

The American South: How Abortion Rights Advocates Across South Are Prepping For Roe's Fall In the South, where five states — including Tennessee — have trigger bans in place to outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned, preparations include expanding access to contraceptives, comprehensive sexual education and family planning services. SisterReach, a Memphis-based nonprofit reproductive justice organization, rebooted its comprehensive sexuality education working group earlier this year to provide tools and information around contraception and natural family planning. (Clark, 5/9)

St. Louis Public Radio: Abortion Fund Donations Surge In Missouri After Supreme Court Leak  Abortion-rights organizations in the St. Louis area have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations since Politico published a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision early last week that could overturn Roe v. Wade. Donors want to make sure people who need abortions in Missouri and other states set to roll back abortion access can afford them, Missouri Abortion Fund Board President Michele Landeau said. “They kind of want to do something," Landeau said. “And donating to an abortion fund is a really a tangible thing that you can do to help people who are actually being harmed by this legislation in real time. ... I think that a lot of people kind of find it a little bit cathartic to donate.” (Fentem, 5/9)

AP: Wisconsin Anti-Abortion Office Fire Investigation Ongoing Police asked for the public’s help Monday in tracking down those who vandalized and threw two Molotov cocktails into the office of a prominent Wisconsin anti-abortion lobbying group’s office that was damaged by fire. No one has been arrested and there are no suspects in custody in the fire that was discovered early Sunday morning when someone driving to Madison’s nearby airport noticed flames coming from the office building, said Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes at a news conference. (Bauer, 5/9)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns Gather At Capitol On Mother’s Day In Support Of Abortion Rights Three sisters approached the Utah Capitol on Sunday cloaked in red hooded robes and little white bonnets meant to help shield their faces. Each sister held a sign that read ‘Of Alito’ ‘Of Thomas’ ‘Of Gorsuch,’ as chants from other pro-choice demonstrators echoed around them. They were three of the roughly 100 people marching at the Capitol on Mother’s Day in support of women’s bodily autonomy. Many marched around the perimeter of the Capitol, holding signs and shouting chants like ‘Hey, hey, ho, ho the patriarchy has got to go.’ Jennie Morris bought the three outfits the moment she discovered the U.S. Supreme Court opinion signaled a possible overturning of the landmark decision Roe v. Wade, which protects constitutional abortion rights, was leaked. (Miller, 5/9)

The Boston Globe: Women Advise Young People About The Bad Old Days Before Roe When the nurse offered to hold her hand, Ginny O’Brien didn’t understand how much she would need it. Then the doctor began the abortion procedure without anesthesia. “It was extraordinarily painful,” the 75-year-old Marblehead woman told a group of college students in Vermont last week. “They’re just ripping the inside of you out without any medication.” Just as vivid is the shame she felt when she was 23, when the doctor with the Eastern European accent shoved her legs together and chided her to use birth control next time. (Ebbert, 5/9)

Safety Concerns For Justices Prompt Senate Action

The Senate passed by unanimous consent a bill that would extend around-the-clock security protection by the Supreme Court's police to members of the justices' families. The White House also criticized vandalism and threats of violence by protesters.

The Hill: Senate Passes Security Bill For Supreme Court Family Members The Senate on Monday easily cleared a bill to extend security protections to the immediate family members of Supreme Court justices. The bill — spearheaded by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) — passed the Senate by unanimous consent, meaning all 100 senators had to sign off in order for it to pass without a formal vote.It still now heads to the House for passage. (Carney, 5/9)

ABC News: White House Responds To Abortion-Related Protests At Homes Of Supreme Court Justices The demonstrations sparked a response Monday from the White House that justices shouldn't have to worry about their "personal safety.""[President Joe Biden] strongly believes in the Constitutional right to protest," press secretary Jen Psaki said in a Twitter post. "But that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism. Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety." Republicans had accused the administration of not condemning violent threats after Psaki's initial response to protests taking place at the justices' homes. (Hutzler, 5/9)

Fox News: Protests Erupt Outside Home Of Justice Alito Demonstrators rallied outside the Northern Virginia home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Monday evening to protest his draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Videos of the protesters flanked by cameramen showed people marching up and down the street chanting slogans like: "our bodies, our voice!" and "Alito is a coward!"  Some members of the crowd carried a banner that read: "Repro Freedom For All." (Betz and Bennatan, 5/9)

Bangor Daily News: Pro-Abortion Chalk Message Appears On Susan Collins’ Bangor Sidewalk Sen. Susan Collins was confronted with a pro-abortion rights message Saturday night when an unknown person or persons wrote in chalk on the sidewalk outside her West Broadway home in Bangor, prompting a police response.  “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA —–> vote yes, clean up your mess,” the message read, according to a Bangor police report. WHPA refers to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the right to abortion into law and ban restrictions on abortion access. (Russell, 5/9)

In other news about Roe v. Wade —

Axios: Overturning Roe Creates A Tempest For Reproductive Health If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it could begin a ripple effect that subsumes many other facets of reproductive health care — a reflection, in part, of decades' worth of medical advances that make the subject much more complicated than it was 50 years ago. Striking down the federal right to abortion could impact how people prevent becoming pregnant, how families grow and how miscarriages are managed. If a leaked draft of the SCOTUS opinion to overturn abortion rights is finalized, states would decide whether abortion is legal, under what terms and even how abortion is defined. (Owens, 5/10)

NBC News: Asian Tropes In Sex-Selective Abortion Bans Have Advocates Worried About What's To Come Amid discussions over reproductive rights, Asian American organizers and scholars emphasize that restrictions based on erroneous racial stereotypes have long been plaguing the community — and they fear there could be more instances to come. Experts say that sex-selective abortion bans, or restrictions perceived to be sought based on the predicted sex of a fetus, have repeatedly been passed and proposed across several states in recent years. Critics say that legislators have justified it by invoking tropes about Asian families’ preference for sons. (Yam, 5/9)

NPR: How Period Tracking Apps And Data Privacy Fit Into A Post-Roe V. Wade Climate In the wake of the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, privacy experts are increasingly concerned about how data collected from period-tracking apps, among other applications, could potentially be used to penalize anyone seeking or considering an abortion. Millions of people use apps to help track their menstrual cycles. Flo, which bills itself as the most popular period and cycle tracking app, has amassed 43 million active users. Another app, Clue, claims 12 million monthly active users. The personal health data stored in these apps is among the most intimate types of information a person can share. And it can also be telling. The apps can show when their period stops and starts and when a pregnancy stops and starts. That has privacy experts on edge, because if abortion is ever criminalized, this data — whether subpoenaed or sold to a third party — could be used to suggest that someone has had or is considering an abortion. (Torchinsky, 5/10)

US Has Few Funds To Bring To Table At Own Covid Summit

As the White House prepares to host world leaders and health experts, stalled negotiations with Congress over additional funds leaves the U.S. little to offer global pandemic response discussions. Speaking of: Democrats decouple Ukraine funding legislation from the thornier matter of covid money, in an effort to get Republicans on board.

Politico: U.S. To Ask World For More On Global Covid Fight As Its Own Cash Dwindles The White House is hosting a global Covid response summit this week — but the U.S. isn’t currently prepared to bring significant new money to fight the virus worldwide, according to two people familiar with the preparations. Some senior administration officials and health advocates said they fear the world will see the lack of renewed financial assistance by the U.S. as a retreat from the global efforts, and that could affect the Biden administration’s ability to drum up support from other countries. (Payne, Banco and Paun, 5/9)

And congressional Democrats make a surprise move —

The Hill: In Shift, Democrats De-Link Ukraine Aid From COVID-19 Money Democrats are moving to quickly pass nearly $40 billion in new Ukraine aid, which will not be linked to a stalled coronavirus package. ... The Ukraine aid will not be attached to a $10 billion coronavirus assistance package, a source confirmed. That package has been stuck for weeks in the Senate because Republicans are demanding an amendment vote to prevent the administration from lifting a Trump-era border health policy. (Carney, 5/9)

Roll Call: Democrats To Decouple Ukraine, COVID-19 Funds  President Joe Biden and top Democrats have agreed to a GOP demand to disentangle a stalled COVID-19 response package from a separate supplemental request for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine so the latter can move more quickly. At the same time, House and Senate Democrats have upped the price tag on the Ukraine package by $6.8 billion above Biden's initial $33 billion request. Democrats proposed including an additional $3.4 billion for food aid and $3.4 billion more to replace U.S. military equipment sent to Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the offer. (Quigley and Krawzak, 5/9)

In related news about covid funds —

Houston Chronicle: Democrats Call For Investigation As Texas Spends COVID Relief On Gov. Abbott’s $4B Border Plan The Democrats, led by U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio and Veronica Escobar of El Paso, wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that Abbott is stripping funding from “integral public sector resources” and spending it on Operation Lone Star, his border initiative. Abbott last month announced the state was pulling $495 million from various state agencies to fund the 10,000-member deployment. The agencies include the Health and Human Services Commission, the Juvenile Justice Department and the Department of State Health Services. (Wermund, 5/9)

The end of the covid emergency could spell trouble for at-risk groups —

USA Today: COVID End Could Cost Medicaid Coverage For Up To 14 Million Americans Millions of Americans who gained Medicaid health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic could lose coverage this year or next year when generous federal subsidies end, a new analysis found. Kaiser Family Foundation estimates 5 to 14 million Americans could lose Medicaid when states begin to unwind coverage after the Biden administration declares the COVID-19 public health emergency is over. The federal government provided billions in federal aid to states on the condition that they would not remove people from Medicaid until the public health emergency ends. The temporary measure to ensure Americans didn't lost coverage during the pandemic has extended more than two years. Kaiser projects sign-ups for full and partial Medicaid coverage will have swollen by 25% to 110 million by September's end. (Alltucker, 5/10)

Roll Call: End Of COVID-19 Emergency Endangers Substance Use Treatment  Members of vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups could find it more difficult to get treatment for substance use disorders if the end of the public health emergency also brings the end of policies that allow health care providers to prescribe medications through video or audio calls, experts say. In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic has begun, the Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed providers to prescribe the gold-standard addiction treatment to patients with opioid use disorder through telehealth without first doing an in-person evaluation that addiction experts say is a barrier to underserved communities. (Hellmann, 5/10)

Covid Hospitalizations Surging Again; Study May Explain Omicron's Speed

ABC News reports that 41 states and territories have reported increases of 10% or more in their daily number of covid admissions. CIDRAP reports on a study that showed patients infected with omicron shed more live virus eight days after illness onset than those with the delta variant. In other news, White House adviser Susan Rice tests positive for covid.

ABC News: Hospital Admission Totals Tick Up After Weeks Of Rising COVID-19 Cases Following weeks of increasing infection rates, a growing number of Americans are heading into the hospital in need of care. On average, nearly 2,400 virus-positive Americans are being admitted to the hospital each day, up by 17% in the last week, according to federal data. Forty-one states and territories have reported increases of 10% or more in their daily number of COVID-19-related hospital admissions. (Mitropoulos, 5/9)

Bangor Daily News: Maine's COVID-19 Hospitalizations Are Up 46 Percent Over Past 10 Days Maine’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen 46 percent over the past 10 days. That comes as a surge in cases accompanying the spread of the so-called stealth omicron variant — BA.2 — gains a foothold in Maine, erasing for the moment gains the state made in reducing hospitalizations since the winter. There are now 209 Mainers infected with the virus in hospitals across the state as of Monday morning, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 205 the day before and up from 143 just 10 days earlier. It’s the highest Maine’s hospitalizations have been since Feb. 23 as they were falling off sharply from the peak set during the winter’s omicron-fueled surge in infections. (Burns, 5/9)

Los Angeles Times: California COVID-19 Deaths Near 90,000 As of Friday, California had reported 89,851 cumulative deaths since the start of the pandemic, up 269 from the previous week. At this pace, the state is likely to surpass 90,000 COVID-19 fatalities this week. No state has suffered more total pandemic-related deaths than California. However, on a per capita basis, California has the 11th-lowest cumulative COVID-19 death rate — with 229.5 deaths for every 100,000 residents, according to data compiled by The Times. Roughly a year ago, a similar analysis revealed California had the 22nd lowest cumulative COVID-19 death rate of any state. (Lin II and Money, 5/9)

The Washington Post: D.C. Hasn’t Reported Daily Covid Case Counts To The CDC Since April 27  The D.C. health department has not shared data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since April 27 on the number of new coronavirus cases in the District or on any deaths from the virus, as cases inch upward again elsewhere in the region. ... The District stopped reporting daily case data on its own website two months ago, saying it was time to treat coronavirus less like an emergency and more like an endemic illness, but it continued providing case counts to the CDC — which makes the data public — on a sporadic but fairly frequent basis. That stopped April 27, and local officials have not answered questions from reporters about why. On Monday, a spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the city health department is looking into why its normal practice of reporting numbers to the CDC has stopped. The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Weil, 5/9)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Medical Center Ending Weekly COVID-19 Data Updates The Texas Medical Center announced Monday that it will no longer be updating its COVID-19 dashboard each week, even as virus spread is increasing in the Greater Houston area. The medical center made the decision to end the updates, which have been a weekly staple for the past two years, after concluding that the virus can now be effectively managed. (MacDonald, 5/9)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Politico: White House Adviser Susan Rice Tests Positive For Covid  White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice has tested positive for Covid-19 — the latest case amid a string of top U.S. officials who have contracted the virus. “This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I’m feeling fine and grateful to be vaccinated and double boosted,” Rice tweeted on Monday afternoon. Rice said in the tweet she last saw President Joe Biden in person on Wednesday while masked, and “and under CDC guidance he is not considered a close contact.” (Hooper, 5/9)

Houston Chronicle: Peter Hotez Tests Positive For COVID-19 Houston vaccine expert Peter Hotez has tested positive for COVID-19, the physician said Monday. "Looks like I've tested positive for COVID, moderate symptoms of fatigue, headache, sore throat, isolating at home doing zoom meetings," he posted on Twitter. "I'm grateful to have been vaccinated/boosted, which certainly prevented more severe illness. Just started Paxlovid. Transmission up, be careful." (Ketterer, 5/9)

CIDRAP: COVID Study: Omicron Patients Shed More Live Virus Than Those With Delta Hospitalized South Korean patients infected with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant shed more live virus 8 days after illness onset than those with the Delta variant, finds a study published today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. ... The authors said that the study, using culture positivity as a proxy for infectivity, may help explain the recent global Omicron surge. (5/9)

CIDRAP: Study: Dogs Can Sniff Out COVID-19 Infections With High Success Rates In a study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, researchers showed canine olfaction—or dog sniffing—was both highly sensitive and specific when it came to identifying patients with COVID-19, even those who were asymptomatic or presymptomatic. The researchers, based in Hawaii, exposed dogs to sweat samples from 584 participants (ages 6 to 97 years; 24% positive SARS CoV-2 samples and 76% negative SARS CoV-2 samples). Samples were collected from cotton pads runs cross the necks of participants, and the dogs had no prior history of scent training. During the first part of the study, the testing phase, the dogs detected SARS-CoV-2 from cotton pad samples with a diagnostic sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 92%. (5/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Think You Have Long Covid Symptoms? Here’s How To Get Help You had Covid-19 weeks or months ago, yet you still aren’t back to normal. You can’t exercise the way you used to. You’re depleted after a day of work. Or you may have unusual sensations, like a racing heartbeat when you stand up and difficulty concentrating at times. Could it be long Covid? And if so, how can you find out and get the medical care you need? (Reddy, 5/9)

Stat: The 'Five Pandemics' Driving 1 Million U.S. Covid Deaths  Officially, the U.S. will almost certainly reach an awful milestone in the next two weeks: its one millionth recorded Covid-19 death. In reality, this milestone was likely unofficially crossed days or weeks ago, and we’ll never know the exact toll or the identity of the pandemic’s actual millionth victim. Nor are humans well-equipped to fully grasp loss on this scale, let alone the magnitude of a global toll estimated to be as high as 14.9 million. One way to start understanding how a country as advanced as the U.S. lost so many people is to look at the ocean of public health data that was gathered as 1 million individual tragedies rippled through civic life. Analysis of the data will continue for years, but it is clear that, when it comes to deadliness, there were five different pandemics — depending on when and where you lived, and who you were. (Parker, 5/10)

UK Trial Finds 4th MRNA Dose Raises Covid Protection

New research published in the Lancet shows how a second mRNA booster shot lifts antibody levels — possibly even above peak levels from a first booster dose. The Oklahoman and NPR however, report that despite the efficacy, many people who are eligible for vaccines or boosters still aren't getting them.

Bloomberg: Covid Vaccine Boosters: Fourth MRNA Shot Adds Covid Protection In U.K. Trial Fourth doses of messenger RNA vaccines added to the protection received from a third shot in a U.K. trial that underscores the benefits of boosters for the most vulnerable people. The research, published Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, found that fourth doses of mRNA vaccines can provide a significant increase in antibody levels in people who received Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine as a third dose. They’re also effective at raising protection potentially above peak levels seen after third doses, according to the latest findings from the trial. (Paton, 5/9)

More on the vaccine rollout —

Oklahoman: Vast Majority Of Oklahomans Who Are Eligible For Second COVID Booster Haven't Gotten One The vast majority of Oklahomans eligible for a second COVID-19 booster haven’t gotten one, data shared by the state Health Department shows. Of the roughly 446,000 residents who are eligible for a second booster, only about 50,000 — or 11% — have received a second booster. That data runs through April 26, and it doesn’t include second booster doses given through federal entities such as the Bureau of Prisons or Indian Health Service. (Branham, 5/9)

NPR: COVID Anti-Vaxxers Refuse Vaccines Despite Evidence West Hansen pilots his muddy Subaru through the industrial landscape of Southeast Texas where he grew up — past Bible churches, donut shops and the silver industrial towers of the refineries. The longtime social worker says he's given up trying to explain to his clients how safe the COVID-19 vaccines are. "I've grown weary of it," he says. "I've realized that there's no convincing somebody once they have their mind made up." He pulls up to the neatly trimmed yard of a townhouse where Donna and Danny Downes are waiting for him in their living room. She is a work-at-home administrator for a fence contractor; he's a retired insurance salesman who is legally blind. They are devout Baptists. (Burnett, 5/10)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vaccines, Treatments Give Hope For COVID-19 Pandemic's Next Chapter With COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics now widely available, Wisconsin health professionals are cautiously optimistic that even if cases rise, they won't result in overwhelming hospitalizations and deaths. The sense is that even with cases rising in Wisconsin and nationally, the combination of vaccines, anti-viral therapeutics, at-home tests and informed personal decision-making can all help the state close in on the goal public health officials set back in March 2020: to "flatten the curve" and prevent as many people as possible from ending up hospitalized or on the cusp of death. (Shastri, 5/9)

AP: Rare Cases Of COVID Returning Pose Questions For Pfizer Pill  As more doctors prescribe Pfizer’s powerful COVID-19 pill, new questions are emerging about its performance, including why a small number of patients appear to relapse after taking the drug. ... Could some people just be susceptible to a relapse? Both the FDA and Pfizer point out that 1% to 2% of people in Pfizer’s original study saw their virus levels rebound after 10 days. The rate was about the same among people taking the drug or dummy pills, “so it is unclear at this point that this is related to drug treatment,” the FDA stated. (Perrone, 5/9)

Stat: Telehealth Aims To Crack Open Paxlovid's Prescription Bottleneck After months of shortages, pharmacies across the United States are being stocked with drugs to treat Covid-19. Now, the bottleneck has shifted to getting a prescription — and patients and public health agencies are looking to telehealth for help. Last week, Massachusetts launched free televisits for state residents who have tested positive for Covid-19, including home delivery of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral antiviral, if prescribed. New York City has filled more than 16,000 courses of the drug through its home delivery program, 2,100 of which started with a free telehealth visit with NYC Health + Hospitals. And a growing number of virtual care companies are promoting televisits as a first-line resource for patients who have tested positive, advertising against Google searches for “Paxlovid” and partnering with testing companies that route patients to their providers. (Palmer, 5/10)

And in news about vaccine and mask mandates —

Bay Area News Group: San Jose Reinstates Mask Mandate For City Workers As COVID-19 Cases Rise As the Bay Area braces for yet another COVID-19 surge, a few cities and agencies are reinstating indoor mask mandates as the region continues debating the worth of a patchwork of coronavirus-related health orders. Since late March, California’s case rate has nearly tripled and the Bay Area — which historically experienced a lower case rate than the rest of the state — has emerged as a COVID hotspot. Though cases are still one-tenth of what they were during January’s omicron surge, the region has more than three times as many positive cases than it did six weeks after the winter surge. That trend started in San Francisco around mid-March, followed by Santa Clara, San Mateo and a little later the other counties. (Hase, 5/9)

The Boston Globe: Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge Schools Urging Students To Mask Up After Rise In COVID-19 Cases School officials in Arlington, Belmont, and Cambridge are recommending that students wear masks indoors, following the CDC’s classification of Middlesex County as having a high level of COVID-19 transmission. Arlington’s superintendent, Elizabeth C. Homan, sent a letter to families on Sunday recommending the change, and Belmont’s superintendent, John P. Phelan, notified families on Monday. Cambridge Public Schools confirmed its recommendation Monday in a separate note to families signed by the “CPS Team.” (Andersen, 5/9)

The Washington Post: Mask Mandates Have Fallen Out Of Favor, Even As Covid Cases Rise  New York City raised its coronavirus alert level last week in response to rising cases, triggering a recommendation — but not a requirement — that people wear masks in public indoor settings. In Philadelphia, officials reimposed a mask mandate last month after cases rose, only to scrap the rule four days after it took effect. The decisions by the Democratic-run cities illustrate how mask mandates are falling out of favor with American public health authorities in the third year of the pandemic and the bar to bring them back is getting higher, even in places where the requirements were long embraced as a proven way to reduce the spread of coronavirus. (Nirappil, 5/9)

The Atlantic: How New York's COVID War Spun Out Of Control “I had no idea I would need police protection,” Vasan told me in his first public comments about the lethal threats he and his family have faced in recent weeks. “It is surreal. I mean, I can only use that word.” Vasan, a primary-care physician and epidemiologist at Columbia University, began serving as the city’s health commissioner in mid-March. His early weeks on the job were relatively calm. Then, on the evening of April 4, roughly two dozen protesters assembled on his Brooklyn block. How they obtained his home address remains unclear. At first, the scene resembled scores of other pandemic demonstrations: anti-Biden flags, anti-mandate posters. A staccato chant echoed through the brownstone canyon: “We! The People! Will Not Comply!” Then the energy changed. A group of agitators climbed Vasan’s front steps, banged on his front door, and screamed racial epithets. Some hurled death threats. (Hendrickson, 5/9)

North Carolina, Virginia Hospitals Score Best In Latest Safety Rankings

They were among eight states that had 50% or more of its hospitals receive an “A” grade in the latest ratings from Leapfrog Group. But Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota and the District of Columbia had zero hospitals that received an “A” from the watchdog, Fierce Healthcare reports.

Fierce Healthcare: Watchdog: Hospital Patient Experience Declines During Pandemic The latest batch of hospital patient safety ratings from the Leapfrog Group shows a general decline among “several” hospital safety measures concurrent with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the healthcare safety watchdog. Released Tuesday, the scores are accompanied by a report from Leapfrog that highlights a “significant” decline in the experiences of adult inpatients at acute care hospitals during the pandemic, with many areas “already in dire need” prior to the pandemic deteriorating even further. (Muoio, 5/10)

Yahoo Finance: New Hospital Safety Grades From The Leapfrog Group Highlight Pandemic-Era Declines In Patient Experience The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety, today released the spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, which assigns a letter grade to nearly 3,000 U.S. general hospitals based on over 30 measures of patient safety. The Safety Grade is the only rating solely focused on a hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries, and infections. The latest grades provide a look at the impact of COVID-19 on patient safety, with several measures included in the grade showing a significant decline. (5/10)

Raleigh News & Observer: NC Claims Top Spot For Nation's Safest Hospitals. See How Triangle Hospitals Rank  North Carolina has the highest percentage of top-rated hospitals in the U.S. based on safety factors, according to a new watchdog report. The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety, released its spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades Tuesday. The new rankings put North Carolina in the top spot for hospital safety, up from the state’s previous No. 2 ranking based on Leapfrog’s fall safety grades. (Dean, 5/10)

Chicago Tribune: Hospital Safety Grades: One Illinois Hospital Earns An F, Northwestern Earns A C  Illinois ranks 27th in the country for its percentage of hospitals with high marks for safety, with a Waukegan hospital earning an F and one of Chicago’s most prestigious institutions, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, notching a C, according to new ratings. Overall, about 29% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades, about the same percentage as the last time grades were released in the fall by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, which issues the grades twice a year. That’s down, however, from a year ago, when Leapfrog ranked Illinois 17th in the country for hospital safety, with 35% of Illinois hospitals achieving A grades. (Schencker, 5/10)

NorthJersey.com: NJ Hospitals: Holy Name, St. Joseph's Get Bad Ratings Amid COVID Four North Jersey hospitals, including Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and St. Joseph's two hospitals in Paterson and Wayne, received low marks of "D" in the semiannual safety grades issued by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog of hospital quality. The period rated included the pandemic. The four were among nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide — including 69 in New Jersey — to receive letter grades of A through F based on over 30 measures of patient safety. The spring 2022 grades registered the impact of COVID‐19 on patient safety, with several measures showing a significant decline. (Washburn, 5/10)

How safe is your hospital? Check the rankings here:

In other health industry news —

Los Angeles Times: Cedars-Sinai Workers Begin Five-Day Strike Over Wages Nearly a thousand workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center started a weeklong strike on Monday for the first time in decades, demanding higher pay and better working conditions amid negotiations for a union contract. The previous three-year contract between Cedars-Sinai, a nonprofit healthcare organization, and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West expired March 31 and the next round of negotiation is set to take place Tuesday. (Jha, 5/9)

Modern Healthcare: Nurse Staffing Is Digital Health’s Newest Frontier Amid a shortage of nurses, health systems are increasingly turning to digital health to fill gaps in scheduling. “Nurse staffing is more of a challenge now than it’s ever been,” said Eric Humphrey, chief human resources officer at Froedtert Health in Wisconsin. “It’s always been a challenge but with the pandemic we saw a lot of nurses choose to retire, others who decided to stay at home with their kids or work part time and some who just left healthcare altogether.” An analysis in Health Affairs from April found that the number of nurses decreased in 2021 for the first time in 18 years. And the problem could get worse. A McKinsey survey of nurses in February found that 32% are likely to leave the profession within the year. (Perna, 5/9)

KHN: Travel Nurses See Swift Change Of Fortunes As Covid Money Runs Dry  Tiffanie Jones was a few tanks of gas into her drive from Tampa, Florida, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, when she found out her travel nurse contract had been canceled. Jones, who has been a nurse for 17 years, caught up with a Facebook group for travel nurses and saw she wasn’t alone. Nurses had reported abruptly losing jobs and seeing their rates slashed as much as 50% midcontract. “One lady packed up her whole family and was canceled during orientation,” she said. (Norman, 5/10)

AP: $25M Donation To Help Establish College Of Dentistry An anonymous donor gave a $25 million gift to the University of Pikeville, school officials said. University of Pikeville President Burton Webb said the gift will help establish a College of Dentistry and expand access to health services in Appalachia. Webb announced the donation Saturday during the health professions commencement ceremony, WYMT-TV reported. (5/10)

Study: Drugmakers Paying More In Prescription Drug Rebates

A new study raises concerns this can tempt makers to "inflate list prices and PBMs to distort drug formularies to favor high list price and high-rebate therapies." Meanwhile, the Washington Post covers different ways to save on prescription drug costs.

Axios: Prescription Drug Rebates On The Rise Prescription drug rebates from drugmakers to commercial health plans are steadily increasing, a study published in JAMA Health Forum shows. This is all part of a system in which drugmakers negotiate to get their product on the formularies of middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers and health plans. "While drug rebates can reduce plans' net costs, rebates do not reduce patients' cost sharing," the authors write. (Reed, 5/9)

The Washington Post: How To Save On Prescription Medications  The pandemic has spurred more Americans to do their shopping online, and shopping for medications is no exception. In addition to the mail-order business of big chains such as CVS and Walgreens and established online vendors such as Amazon and Costco, there are many online pharmacy newcomers, including GeniusRx, Honeybee Health, Ro Pharmacy, ScriptCo Pharmacy and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug. But shopping for meds online is not the only way to save. Here are some others. (Gill, 5/9)

Bloomberg: What Does Ketamine Do To Your Brain? Kernel CEO Tries To Find Out Several weeks ago, Bryan Johnson laid down on a couch, and a doctor used an intramuscular injection to administer 57.75 milligrams of ketamine into his bloodstream. A helmet attached to Johnson’s head monitored what happened next as the hallucinogen triggered a profound neuronal rewiring and sent Johnson into an altered state. Johnson was, as our drug-using forebearers would say, tripping, and a very sophisticated device was taking in the show right alongside him. Researchers have observed the brain activity of people taking drugs before, although never quite like this. Test subjects on ketamine, a substance sometimes used to treat depression but also a popular recreational drug known as Special K, are traditionally placed inside of a large MRI machine at a hospital or laboratory. They hallucinate and try to open their third eyes while trapped in a confined tube and pelted by fluorescent lights. Since MRIs are expensive, a pain to conduct and not ideal for the participant, their use for this type of research has been limited. As a consequence, our knowledge of what really happens when we’re on drugs has been limited, too. (Vance, 5/9)

Stat: How Lipid Nanoparticles Became The Future Of Gene Therapy  Paddy Doherty leaned back in the narrow hospital bed and watched a bag of clear liquid drain into a vein in his left arm, whisking billions of invisible strands of mRNA into the torrent of his bloodstream. It was only in February he’d learned the pinching pains in his toes and gasping for breath that had begun to haunt his daily dog walks through the hills of Donegal County were caused by a deformed protein piling up in his nerves and heart. Now here he was, a few months later, at a clinic in central London, so that doctors could try to fix the genetic defect he’d inherited — the same one that had already killed his father, an uncle, and a cousin. (Molteni, 5/9)

Stat: Flagship Pioneering Hires Lobbyists, A First Among Biotech Venture Firms Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm behind Moderna, is getting into the Washington lobbying game. The firm has hired one of biopharma’s favorite lobbying shops to advocate on their behalf with Congress and the Biden administration, according to a new federal disclosure. The move comes on the heels of Flagship’s recent hiring of several Washington heavyweights. The firm brought in Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner under President Trump. Flagship also hired Tom DiLenge, the former top policy official at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization in January. DiLenge is overseeing policy and government affairs for the venture capital firm, though he has not formally registered to lobby on Flagship’s behalf. (Florko, 5/10)

In news about the drug crisis —

Fox News: Ohio AG Issues Warning About "Frankenstein Opioids," More Powerful Than Fentanyl A dangerous, new group of synthetic opioids called "nitazenes" is rapidly spreading across the U.S. In Ohio, the state's Attorney General Dave Yost issued a warning about the prevalence of nitazenes as the Buckeye state saw an increase in the illicit drug. The drug, nicknamed "Frankestein opioids," can be 1.5 to 40 times more potent than fentanyl. It is not approved for medical use anywhere in the world but is currently being made in clandestine labs, according to a bulletin from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). (Goin, 5/10)

North Carolina Health News: Strings Attached To Funds For Addiction Treatment In Jails  State lawmakers are making $2 million available to North Carolina sheriffs to start or expand opioid addiction treatment programs in their jails, but the money comes with a big caveat. The $2 million grant program included in the state budget late last year specifies that the funds can be used to provide only one of the three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder. Some addiction experts argue that the favored medication — naltrexone, also known by the brand name Vivitrol — is the least effective of the three. (Knopf, 5/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kings County D.A. Drops Prosecution Of Drug-User Who Gave Birth To Stillborn Baby Kings County's district attorney dropped his long-running prosecution Monday of a woman who spent four years in prison for giving birth to a stillborn child after using drugs. Adora Perez had pleaded no-contest to manslaughter in 2018, to avoid a murder charge for her 2017 stillbirth and was sentenced by a judge to the maximum term of 11 years in prison. But another judge overturned her conviction — ruling that manslaughter applies only to the death of a human being, not a fetus — and freed her on bail this March. (Egelko, 5/9)

Bloomberg: Guggenheim Latest Museum To Cut Sackler Name After Scandal The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum erased the Sackler family name from the institution, the latest museum to cut ties with the clan, which made billions selling opioids and contributed to a staggering public health crisis in the U.S. The Guggenheim’s Center for Arts Education dropped “Sackler” at the beginning of its name in recent weeks, according to web archives that show it listed as recently as April 28. It was removed on or before May 4, the records show. (Alexander, 5/9)

If You're Black, Alzheimer's Blood Tests Won't Work As Well

New research into efforts to diagnose Alzheimer's using blood tests shows they aren't as accurate for African Americans, with a higher risk of misdiagnosis and thus incorrect treatments. Meanwhile, a separate study suggests some racial and ethnic groups should be screened earlier for diabetes.

St. Louis Public Radio: Alzheimer’s Blood Tests Perform Worse In Black Patients  Several blood tests used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease are less accurate for African Americans than white patients, according to research from Washington University. The gold standard for Alzheimer’s diagnosis typically involves brain imaging and spinal fluid testing, but in recent years, biotech companies have developed an array of cheaper, less invasive blood tests to detect early signs of the disease. The tests measure concentrations of specific proteins that form sticky plaques and tangles in the brain, causing the memory-robbing disease. But when Washington University researchers tested the accuracy of leading Alzheimer’s blood tests, they found three out of four performed differently depending on the patient’s race. Black patients were more likely to be misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, putting them at risk of receiving the wrong medical treatment. (Farzan, 5/10)

Stat: Study: Certain Racial, Ethnic Groups Should Be Screened Earlier For Diabetes Widely used physician guidelines that ignore patients’ race and ethnicity could be doing more harm than good when it comes to catching diabetes in people of color. New research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, suggests that people from certain racial and ethnic groups should be screened for diabetes at lower body mass index than non-Hispanic white people — a recommendation that contradicts recent guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force. (Cueto, 5/9)

Modern Healthcare: Financial Training Linked To Health Improvement, Study Finds Educating low-income single mothers about consumer finances led to lower stress and healthier lifestyle choices, a new study shows. Researchers from Creighton University tracked health metrics such as blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, perceived quality of life, hopefulness and lifestyle behaviors among women aged 19 to 55 who completed the academic institution's Financial Success Program , which provides personal finance training. (Hartnett, 5/9)

CIDRAP: Overweight, Obesity Rose 18% In Kids Early In Pandemic, Study Finds  In the first 3 to 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of overweight or obese children and teens from low-income families in Ohio climbed from 38% to 45%, suggests a study presented last week at the European Congress on Obesity in the Netherlands. (Van Beusekom, 5/9)

CNN: Unexplained Hepatitis In Kids: Should Parents Worry?  The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating cases of unexplained hepatitis in children. As many as 109 cases are under investigation. On Friday, the CDC reported that these cases have affected children in 25 states and territories. Nearly all the children needed to be hospitalized; five children have died, the CDC said. The rise in these severe and mysterious cases has led the CDC to issue a health advisory to clinicians so that health care providers can be on the lookout and report cases accordingly. What should parents know about the cases of hepatitis in kids? How worried should they be, and what are the symptoms they should be looking out for? Is there a link between the cases of hepatitis and Covid-19? (Hetter, 5/9)

More Resources May Be Needed For National Mental Health Line To Work

Fox News reports on concerns that states need more support for the upcoming 988 national mental health hotline to properly serve people's needs. Also: efforts to promote Mental Health awareness in Iowa, an ACLU case against Indiana over mental health treatments for an inmate, and more.

Fox News: States Need More Resources To Meet Expected Demand For Crisis Hotline Reboot: Report Instead of dialing 911, soon you can call 988 for a mental health emergency. But will states be ready? The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will be nationally available as 988 starting July 16, 2022, billed as the "911" for a mental health crisis. But there’s concern many states will not be ready to meet the expected increase in services, according to a recent New York Times report. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is awarding nearly $105 million in grant funding, provided by the American Rescue Plan, to 54 states and territories in advance of the transition of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from the current 10-digit number to the 988 three-digit dialing code  in July," per the United States Department of Health and Human Services press release. (Sudhakar, 5/9)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Groups Come Together To Organize A Statewide Mental Health Awareness Event  A coalition of groups is planning a statewide event Tuesday to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month. The organizers hope this hybrid event will push Iowa to be more cognizant of mental health. Disability Rights Iowa and 24 other co-sponsors organized the event to celebrate May as Mental Health Awareness Month—a 73 year tradition on the national level. It’s the first time the event will be available to Iowans statewide both in-person and at six satellite locations, as well as a completely virtual option. (Arena, 5/9)

Indianapolis Star: ACLU: Indiana Broke Federal Law By Delaying Inmate Mental Health Help Indiana's disability rights watchdog is suing the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration over allegations the agency violated federal law by failing to provide mental health services to incarcerated people deemed unfit for trial. The Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services Commission — a state entity created to enforce federal disability laws — recruited the ACLU of Indiana to file its lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. (Magdaleno, 5/9)

Axios: The State Of The Teen Mental Health Crisis — And How To Help Never have so many kids reported being so sad and stressed. The American Academy of Pediatrics declared the mental health crisis among children and teens a national emergency... More than 40% of teens said they persistently felt sad or hopeless during 2021, a CDC survey found. The same survey found increased use of alcohol and drugs during the shutdown. 55% reported emotional abuse from a parent or other adult in the home. Over 10% reported physical abuse. (Pandey, 5/9)

AP: Kurt Cobain Guitar On Block By Colts For Mental Health Cause Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay spent years putting together his expansive guitar collection. On Monday, he announced one of his prized possessions — the Fender Mustang electric guitar used by the late Kurt Cobain — will be auctioned off to help support the team’s Kicking The Stigma mental health awareness campaign. Bidding will take place May 20-22 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City’s Times Square and a portion of the proceeds will go to Irsay’s initiative. (5/9)

Connecticut Starts To Address Lead-Poisoning In Kids

Meanwhile, in Alabama worries rise over a new law that makes it illegal to treat young trans people with gender-affirming medications — including patients who are already mid-treatment. Texas's falling birth rate, the number of homeless people in San Francisco, and more are also in the news.

C-HIT.ORG: Connecticut Acts To Help Its Lead-Poisoned Children After decades of inertia, Connecticut is now moving to help its thousands of lead-poisoned children and prevent thousands of other young children from being damaged by the widespread neurotoxin. The state will direct most of its efforts — and most of $30 million in federal money — toward its cities, whose children have borne the brunt of this epidemic. In announcing the allocation recently, Gov. Ned Lamont pointed to lead’s “catastrophic” effects on children’s health and development, noting that lead poisoning is “a problem that impacts most deeply minority and disadvantaged communities of our state.” (Frank, 5/9)

AP: Transgender Treatment, Doctors Threatened By New Alabama Law Dr. Hussein Abdul-Latif spent the last week typing out prescription refills for his young transgender patients, trying to make sure they had access to their medications for a few months before Alabama made it illegal for him to prescribe them. He also answered questions from anxious patients and their parents: What will happen to me if I suddenly have to stop taking testosterone? Should we go out of state for care? A new state law that took effect Sunday makes it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to trans people under age 19. A judge has not yet ruled on a request to block the state from enforcing the law. (Chandler, 5/9)

Midwest Newsroom: Woman Charged With Murder 20 Years After Mysterious Deaths At Missouri Hospital  Some 20 years after a rash of unexplained patient deaths at a rural Missouri hospital, authorities in Kansas City are on the lookout for a woman who has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with one of those deaths. Livingston County Prosecutor Adam Warren last week charged Jennifer Anne Hall, 41, with first-degree murder in the 2002 death of Fern Franco, one of nine people who died over the course of just a few months in 2002 at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, Missouri. Hall worked as a respiratory therapist at the 49-bed hospital from Dec. 16, 2001, to May 18, 2002, when nine patients there died of cardiac collapse. The deaths of so many people from cardiac collapse, or “code blue” incidents, were viewed by doctors and nurses at the hospital as “medically suspicious,” according to a law enforcement record supporting the probable cause for her arrest. (Vockrodt and Margolies, 5/9)

Houston Chronicle: COVID Drops Texas Birth Rate Below Death Rate, State Data Shows In the midst of the nation’s deadliest pandemic, Texas recorded more births than deaths every month since 2016  — with one exception. Provisional data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that January 2021 was the only month when, statewide, the number of deaths was greater than the number of births. Nine months before in April 2020, the world was one month into the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, the seven-day average number of deaths from COVID-19 peaked in Texas, according to The New York Times, and vaccines had just become available to select groups of individuals. (Seline, 5/9)

KHN: Rural California Hatches Plan For Engineered Mosquitoes To Battle Stealthy Predator Bryan Ruiz moved his family into a newly built home in this Central Valley farming center seven months ago and almost immediately found they were under assault. Mosquitoes bit and harassed them in broad daylight. He looked around, trying to find a water source where they were breeding, and noticed a freshly dug pipe, meant to drain water from the backyard to the front. He lifted its cap and inside found a small puddle in the drainage line, which didn’t have enough slope to fully empty. (Barry-Jester, 5/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Many People Are Homeless In San Francisco? Based on all the different pieces, the latest best estimates of homelessness range from 8,000 to more than 19,000. “We all desperately need to have a much better way of systematically assessing whether people are experiencing homelessness,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. “Right now everything we do has its own inaccuracies.” Many signs, including from the bits and pieces of data, point to a growing problem, worsened by the pandemic, which experts say makes getting an accurate count an especially urgent and important task. (Jung and Mallory Moench, 5/9)

Deaths Of 3 Americans In Bahamas Came After Hospital Visits

More information emerged about the recent deaths of three Americans at a Sandals resort — the victims ate in different places but had sought medical help. Separately, in the U.K., reports say 10 million people have gone without meals deliberately because of costs or through availability issues.

USA Today: Bahamas Sandals Resort Deaths: Americans Had Sought Medical Treatment The three Americans who fell ill and died while at a Sandals resort in the Bahamas had  been treated for symptoms at a hospital the night before, Bahamas police said Monday. Paul Rolle, Commissioner of Police, on Monday identified the two couples who became sick last week at Emerald Bay Sandals Resort and said they were from Florida and Tennessee. "They were all treated at different times, and they ate at different places," Rolle said at a press conference. "We are checking all of that and hopefully we will be able to determine whether it was some food or something else that caused it." (Stanton, 5/9)

Bloomberg: Almost 10 Million Britons Cut Back On Meals As Living Costs Soar Almost 10 million Britons were forced to cut back on food or missed meals entirely last month, according to new research that highlights the devastating impact of the nation’s cost of living crisis. Data from The Food Foundation showed 7.3 million adults, and 2.6 million children, now live in households that had gone without food or could not physically get it in the past month. That compares with 4.7 million adults in January, a rise of nearly 60%. (Goodman, 5/9)

Bloomberg: South Africa Cuts Back Covid Vaccine Drive Amid Citizen Apathy South Africa is scaling back its Covid-19 vaccination drive and may have to destroy doses because of a lack of demand from citizens even as the country heads into a fifth wave of infections. Take up has slowed to the point where keeping some sites running is unaffordable, said Nicholas Crisp, deputy director-general at the department of health and the person in charge of the program. Covid-19 vaccinations will need to be incorporated into South Africa’s standard medical programs, which means these specific shots will be less accessible, he said. (Sguazzin and Kew, 5/10)

Bloomberg: Childhood Cancer Rates To Surge In Africa By 2050, Study Says Africa will account for half the world’s childhood cancers by 2050 unless significant measures are taken, according to a new report. Infections with cancer-linked viruses, exposure to environmental carcinogens, and genetic vulnerabilities are among factors driving cancer rates in Africa ever-higher, according the report released Monday from the Lancet Oncology Commission. Childhood cancer prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa is substantial, with the incidence in some parts of the region likely exceeding that of high-income countries, and survival of the disease across much of the continent is “dismal,” it said. (Kew, 5/9)

NPR: Doctors Without Borders Addresses Charges Of Racism Within Its Ranks Doctors Without Borders is renowned for providing medical aid in some of the most challenging emergency zones around the world. But lately it has been grappling with another kind of challenge: racism within its ranks. On Feb. 7, the 50-year-old humanitarian giant, which also goes by its French acronym MSF, released to the public an internal report of the measures it's taking to address institutional discrimination and racism. This comes after current and former staffers reported hundreds of instances of abuse and discrimination to journalists and to a grassroots advocacy group that these MSF staffers had set up over the last two years. Their accusations included racial slurs aimed at local workers of color, segregation between local and international staffs, as well as unequal pay, benefits and opportunity for advancement for local staff and staff of color. (Lu, 5/9)

Viewpoints: Abortion Is Vital Health Care; A Total Abortion Ban Is Beyond McConnell's Reach

Opinion writers weigh in on abortion rights and maternity care.

Seattle Times: Our Bodily Autonomy Is A Human Right, And Abortion Is Essential Health Care  The leaked initial Supreme Court decision confirmed what advocates have been saying for years: Roe v. Wade will likely be overturned. Currently, abortion is still legal in all 50 states and will remain legal in Washington after the decision is final. To confront this decision and a nationwide abortion ban already in the works, accurate information about abortion and the crisis of its criminalization is necessary, followed by action to support reproductive health equity and justice. As public health researchers and abortion providers in Washington, we outline the current situation and potential impacts in the region, the history of these dangerous laws and actions for Washingtonians. (Taylor Riley, Yasaman Zia and Emily Godfrey, 5/9)

CNN: It Would Be Nearly Impossible For Mitch McConnell To Ban Abortion Nationwide  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants very badly to be Senate majority leader again after the coming midterm elections -- so it was a bit surprising to hear him suggest to USA Today that Republicans could enact a nationwide abortion ban. While Democrats will use the draft Supreme Court opinion that could overturn Roe v. Wade to reignite their voters, the general feeling emanating from Republicans like McConnell had been to focus elsewhere. In order to win back the House and possibly take the Senate, GOP leaders say Republican candidates should de-emphasize the abortion issue and stay as focused as possible on concerns about the economy and blaming the Biden administration for a potential downturn. (Zachary B. Wolf, 5/9)

NBC News: Lawmakers’ Tug-Of-War Over Women’s Bodies Led Me To Make An Irreversible Decision In November I went under the knife for a bilateral salpingectomy, the removal of both of my fallopian tubes, at 24 years old. The procedure is permanent, irreversible and more than  99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. Three months earlier on a muggy August day in Washington, D.C., I had walked into my gynecologist’s office to inquire about the procedure. I’d heard horror stories of doctors refusing to conduct the surgery on young, unmarried patients and expected similar disregard. However, I met with my surgeon within the week. She sat on a stool across from me and told me, “I’m not one of those paternalistic doctors. We’ll go through all the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision and whatever you decide is right for you, we’ll do.” (Alexandra Yiannoutsos, 5/9)

CNN: This Mother's Day, I Want To Stop Screaming Into The Void As I lay on the exam table, squeezing the life out of my husband's hand, I heard the doctor's calming voice say, "You're doing great. Just a little more." The last time I heard these words, I was giving birth to my daughter, now three. This time, I was undergoing a procedure to scrape the insides of my uterus, known as an endometrial biopsy, in hopes of resolving a miscarriage that began nearly three months earlier. For nearly every day of 2022, I've become all too aware of the emotional and physical cost of bearing this loss. What I had never considered and was appalled to discover were the financial costs, a literal reminder of the steep price of pregnancy in America. (Adeline Chen, 5/9)

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