First Edition: Feb. 9, 2021
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Vaccine Hesitancy Vs. Vaccine Refusal: Nursing Home Staffers Say There’s A Difference
It had been months since Tremellia Hobbs had an excuse to bring out the pompoms. Before the pandemic, they were a crowd favorite at movie nights and bingo tournaments that Hobbs organized as activities director at the Brian Center Health & Retirement/Cabarrus nursing home. On Jan. 14, she finally had a reason. After nearly a year of living with pandemic restrictions and a summer outbreak that killed 10 residents and infected 30 staff members, the nursing home was hosting its first covid-19 vaccine clinic. (Pattani, 2/9)
KHN:
Native Americans Use Technology To Keep Traditions, Language Alive During Pandemic
Lawrence Wetsit misses the days when his people would gather by the hundreds and sing the songs that all Assiniboine children are expected to learn by age 15. “We can’t have ceremony without memorizing all of the songs, songs galore,” he said. “We’re not supposed to record them: We have to be there. And when that doesn’t happen in my grandchildren’s life, they may never catch up.” (Reardon, 2/9)
KHN:
Gene Screenings Hold Disease Clues, But Unexplained Anomalies Often Raise Fears
When her gynecologist recommended genetic testing, Mai Tran was reluctant. “I didn’t really want to do it,” recalled Tran, who had just turned 21 and was living in New York City, “but she kept on emailing me about it and was really adamant that I do it.” Tran knew she had an elevated risk of developing breast cancer because of her family history — her mother died of the disease and a maternal aunt was diagnosed and survived. Given this, she planned to follow the standard recommendations to begin breast cancer screenings at an early age. (Bennett, 2/9)
KHN:
Scalise’s Claim That Unauthorized Immigrants Are Getting Priority For Vaccination Misses The Point
During a Feb. 2 interview on Fox News, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) claimed President Joe Biden was allowing unauthorized immigrants to move ahead of American citizens to get their covid-19 vaccines. “Now [Biden’s] saying that people who came here illegally can jump ahead of other Americans who have been waiting to get the vaccine,” said Scalise, who is also the No. 2 Republican leader in the House. (Knight, 2/9)
The New York Times:
U.S. Mulls Requiring Negative Coronavirus Test For Domestic Air Travel
Federal officials are considering whether to require airline passengers to have a negative coronavirus test before boarding domestic flights, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Proof of a negative test result is already required for passengers boarding international flights bound for the United States, under a policy imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month. (2/9)
The Hill:
Buttigieg: Officials Consider Negative COVID-19 Test Requirement On Domestic Flights
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that officials are considering a requirement that passengers provide a negative COVID-19 test ahead of domestic flights, according to an interview published on Sunday. One of President Biden's first confirmed Cabinet members told “Axios on HBO” that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is engaged in “an active conversation” on whether to implement the requirement. (Coleman, 2/8)
Bloomberg:
CDC Director Says Covid Tests For US Domestic Flights Could Ease Spread
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that testing people for the coronavirus before U.S. domestic flights could help reduce transmission, as she urged state and local leaders to maintain steps to limit Covid-19’s spread. Requiring air travelers to receive a negative coronavirus test before boarding could be “another mitigation measure,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Monday during a press briefing. She didn’t say whether the CDC would move forward with the policy, which the Biden administration is actively considering. (LaVito and Wingrove, 2/8)
360Dx:
Biden Admin Finalizing Contracts To Boost At-Home COVID Tests
Members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team announced on Friday that the Biden administration is finalizing contracts with six companies to quickly increase domestic testing capability for at-home SARS-CoV-2 tests. The deal would result in 61 million point-of-care or at-home tests available by the end of the summer, which Andy Slavitt, the senior adviser for the COVID-19 response team, said would "change things pretty significantly" for the country. The announcement follows the news earlier this week that the US Department of Defense awarded $231.8 million to Ellume USA to produce the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test. (2/8)
The Washington Post:
Denis McDonough Confirmed As President Biden’s Veterans Affairs Chief
The Senate on Monday confirmed Denis McDonough as President Biden’s Veterans Affairs secretary, choosing a non-veteran but a manager with years of government service to lead the sprawling health and benefits agency. McDonough, 51, was chief of staff during Barack Obama’s second term and held senior roles on the National Security Council and on Capitol Hill before that. He told senators at his confirmation hearing that although he is not a veteran, his long career as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter and policymaker would serve him well at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a massive bureaucracy beset by multiple challenges. (Rein, 2/8)
Stat:
Dueling Endorsements Emerge For FDA Commissioner
As the White House struggles to address the pandemic and other pressing health matters, a public tug-of-war has emerged over who should be tapped to run the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 2/8)
Stat:
Woodcock Vs. Sharfstein: A Look At Biden’s Top Choices For FDA Chief
President Biden will soon have to nominate someone to helm the Food and Drug Administration. His two top contenders couldn’t have more divergent visions for how to lead that agency. (Florko, 2/9)
The Washington Post:
The Health 202: Andy Slavitt Wants To See Most Vaccines Get Administered Within A Week Of Shipping
Andy Slavitt spent the first 10 months of the coronavirus pandemic as a private citizen. During that time he created the popular “In the Bubble” podcast about the virus and used it to raise money for relief efforts. But three weeks ago, the former Medicare and Medicaid chief became senior adviser to President Biden’s coronavirus response team, making him a key player in the federal government’s vaccine rollout as U.S. deaths near half a million. (Winfield Cunningham and Ellerbeck, 2/8)
The Pew Charitable Trusts:
COVID-19 Variants Further Strain Public Health Agencies
Even as President Joe Biden plans to federalize the pandemic response, new COVID-19 variants will force state and local public health agencies to expand their efforts in tracking and responding to the new strains. More contagious variants add to the struggle agencies already face to trace contacts, manage health care across jurisdictions, communicate with the public and vaccinate residents. The stakes are huge: Public health officials worry that if more transmissible variants take hold, an even more dangerous surge could lie ahead, compelling public officials to impose new restrictions, possibly including shutdowns. (Ollove, 2/8)
Politico:
Buttigieg In Quarantine After Possible Covid Exposure
DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is quarantining for the next 14 days after a member of his security detail tested positive for Covid-19.According to a press statement by DOT chief of staff Laura Schiller, the agent had been in close contact with Buttigieg, “including this morning prior to the agent’s positive result." (Snyder, 2/8)
AP:
Biden, Harris Get Virtual Tour Of Arizona Vaccination Site
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris got a virtual tour Monday of a federally funded, mass vaccination site in Arizona, but they did not address the governor’s request for more doses of the vaccine. Dr. Cara Christ, state Department of Health Services director, guided Biden and Harris through the outdoor command center at State Farm Stadium in Glendale that operates around the clock. (2/8)
The Hill:
Biden Administration Sends Conflicting Signals On School Reopenings
The Biden administration has sent conflicting signals about when and how to expect schools to reopen, with the White House at times appearing to downplay messaging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). White House press secretary Jen Psaki has sought to minimize the scope of a CDC study that identified schools as low-transmission zones for the coronavirus and has brushed back CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for saying that the science supports the notion that teachers can return to classrooms before they’ve been vaccinated. (Easley and Parnes, 2/8)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Republican Ron Wright Is First Member Of Congress To Die From COVID-19
Texas Rep. Ron Wright, a 67-year-old Republican from Arlington, died Sunday from COVID-19, according to a statement from his congressional office. He is the first sitting member of Congress to die of the virus. Wright and his wife, Susan, had been admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas two weeks ago after testing positive. (Wallace, 2/8)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
U.S. Rep. Ron Wright Of Texas Dies After Battle With COVID
He said in December 2019 on the House floor he was being treated with “an immunotherapy wonder-drug called Keytruda,” which was approved for his regimen in May 2017. He used the success of the drug to argue against government forcing pharmaceutical companies to offer cancer drugs at lower costs, saying it could kill the innovation required to make the drug. He told Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy in a Jan. 25 text message from Baylor Hospital that he was also facing pneumonia that came with the COVID infection. He said in the text that he was “on the mend.” “We need to package this stuff and send it back to China,” Wright jested in the text. (Hartley, 2/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Democrats’ Plan Offers $1,400 Stimulus Checks At Same Income Levels As Previous Rounds
House Democrats released the biggest piece of their coronavirus relief bill late Monday, offering a measure that would extend a $400-a-week unemployment insurance payment through Aug. 29 and send $1,400 per-person payments to most households without lowering the income thresholds from earlier rounds. Democrats have been debating whether to reduce those income levels, but the version headed for a Ways and Means Committee vote this week gives the full amounts to individuals with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000. The legislation also expands the child tax credit, broadens child-care assistance and bolsters tax credits for health insurance. (Rubin and Duehren, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
Democratic Lawmakers Splinter Over Criteria For $1,400 Stimulus Payments As Biden Relief Bill Advances
Senior House Democrats on Monday night proposed sending $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans with up to $75,000 in annual income, rejecting an earlier plan under consideration to sharply curtail the benefits. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) released legislation that would send the full stimulus payment to individuals earning $75,000 per year and couples earning $150,000 per year. Congressional Democrats had explored curtailing that benefit to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for married couples, a position embraced by Sen. Joe Manchin III, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia. (Stein and Werner, 2/8)
Politico:
Democrats Push Temporary Obamacare Expansion In Covid Bill
Pieces of the Covid-19 relief package House Democrats released Monday night include the first major expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies in more than a decade — a key plank of President Joe Biden’s health care agenda that they hope to pass in the coming weeks. Democrats are hoping that the beefed up subsidies, combined with Biden’s recent executive order to reopen the ACA's markets and advertise heavily to entice people to enroll, will make a major dent in the ranks of uninsured Americans that have grown during the pandemic and ensuing economic recession. (Ollstein, 2/8)
The Hill:
House Dems' COVID-19 Relief Bill Includes 2-Year Boost To ObamaCare Subsidies
House Democrats' coronavirus relief legislation released Monday would increase the Affordable Care Act's financial assistance for two years, providing greater help for enrollees' to afford their premiums. The measure, one provision in a sweeping COVID-19 relief package, would increase ObamaCare subsidies so that enrollees would have to pay no more than 8.5 percent of their income in health insurance premiums, down from a maximum cap of about 10 percent of income currently. (Sullivan, 2/8)
Politico:
Democrats’ Plan To Lift Work Requirement Could Complicate Child Poverty Plan
Democrats’ bid to expand a popular tax break for children is stirring up ghosts of Clinton-era battles over welfare, which threatens to take the bipartisan sheen off their effort. Buried in their proposal is a plan to scrap decades-old rules pegging whether someone can take the credit, as well as how much they can receive, to how much they earn. Democrats want to expand the credit to as much as $3,600 per child, from the current $2,000, and allow the needy to claim the entire break regardless of how much they make. (Faler, 2/8)
Bloomberg:
U.S. Child-Poverty Crisis Spurs Stepped-Up Efforts In Congress
Support is rising among policy makers to address America’s child-poverty crisis, which is getting worse as the pandemic drags on. More than 8 million Americans -- including many children -- fell into poverty during the second half of last year, exacerbating the racial and income inequalities that are holding back the U.S. economy. As lawmakers debate another round of stimulus, they are ramping up their calls to expand tax breaks for families with children and distribute aid monthly in an effort to help more of America’s most vulnerable citizens. (Saraiva and Davison, 2/9)
The New York Times:
Congress Pursues Child Tax Credit And Other Relief To Help Families
The early weeks of the Biden administration have brought a surge of support, in the White House and across party lines in Congress, for what could be the most ambitious effort in a generation to reduce child poverty. The plans vary in duration, design and the amount they would add to the federal debt, but they share a new and central premise in the policy debate over how to help the poor: that sending monthly payments through tax credits to parents, even if they do not earn income from work, is the best way to help feed, clothe and house children from low-income families. (Tankersley and Cochrane, 2/8)
The New York Times:
Minimum Wage Hike Would Help Poverty But Cost Jobs, C.B.O. Says
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a proposal included in the package of relief measures being pushed by President Biden — would add $54 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office concluded on Monday. Normally, a prediction of increased debt might harm the plan’s political chances. But proponents of the wage hike seized on the forecast as evidence that the hotly contested proposal could survive a procedural challenge under the Senate’s arcane rules. (DeParle, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
Minimum Wage Hike To $15 An Hour By 2025 Would Result In 1.4 Million Unemployed, Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office Says
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would significantly reduce poverty and increase earnings for millions of low-wage workers, while adding to the federal deficit and cutting overall employment, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The report is sure to animate the already heated debate over whether to include raising the federal minimum wage in legislation to help the sputtering economic recovery and aid vaccine distribution. (Rosenberg, 2/8)
Politico:
Inside Bidenworld’s Plan To Punish The GOP For Opposing Covid Relief
Democrats are plowing forward with plans to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package. And if Republicans don't join them, they won’t forget it. Already, there’s talk about midterm attack ads portraying Republicans as willing to slash taxes for the wealthy but too stingy to cut checks for people struggling during the deadly pandemic. And President Joe Biden’s aides and allies are vowing not to make the same mistakes as previous administrations going into the midterms elections. They are pulling together plans to ensure Americans know about every dollar delivered and job kept because of the bill they’re crafting. And there is confidence that the Covid-19 relief package will ultimately emerge not as a liability for Democrats, but as an election year battering ram. (Cadelago and Korecki, 2/8)
The Hill:
Ocasio-Cortez, Schumer Announce Federal COVID-19 Fund To Help Families Pay For Funerals
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Monday that funds will soon be available for families struggling to pay funeral costs after losing a loved one to COVID-19. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is operating the $2 billion dollar fund across the country, reimbursing families up to $7,000 for funeral expenses, the New York Democrats said. (Pitofsky, 2/8)
NPR:
House Democrats Renew Investigation Into Trump COVID-19 Response
House Democrats are renewing their investigation into the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis, citing new documents and what they call evidence of political interference in the government response to the virus. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., sent letters to White House chief of staff Ron Klain and acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran informing them of the investigations and additional evidence. Clyburn cites an internal HHS email that he says includes details of an effort to end testing of asymptomatic infections over concerns that people who test positive would quarantine and suppress the economy. The letter focuses particularly on allegations that Trump administration adviser Dr. Paul Alexander tried to suppress scientific data and pressured members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force to alter public information. (Snell, 2/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Cases Under 100,000 For Second Straight Day
The U.S. reported fewer than 100,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row, as data showed that in several states, more than 10% of residents have received an initial dose of Covid-19 vaccines. Newly reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 86,000 for Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and published early Tuesday. The data may update later. The figure was slightly lower than the previous day’s revised total of 89,581 cases, according to Johns Hopkins. Nearly 27.1 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, out of almost 106.5 million world-wide. (Hall, 2/9)
CIDRAP:
Scientists To US: Act Now To Leash Virulent COVID Variant
The B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant, identified in 33 states thus far, will dominate other strains in the coming weeks, triggering major COVID-19 surges such as those seen in Portugal and the United Kingdom—unless the United States immediately scales up surveillance and mitigation efforts, according to a study published yesterday on the preprint server medRxiv. A team led by scientists from the Scripps Research Institute sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes from 10 states using US COVID-19 testing facilities to track the emergence and spread of B117, the more transmissible and lethal variant that was first discovered in the United Kingdom in September and likely introduced to the United States during holiday travel. (Van Beusekom, 2/8)
The New York Times:
How a Dangerous New Coronavirus Variant Thwarted Some Countries’ Vaccine Hopes
But even if the vaccine is shown to prevent severe disease, scientists say, what happened in South Africa is a warning to the world. As quickly as scientists developed vaccines, the virus has seemed to evolve even more quickly. Instead of eradicating the virus, scientists now foresee months, if not years, of vaccine makers continuously having to update their booster shots to protect against new variants. And if the variant first seen in South Africa, now present in 32 countries, becomes the dominant form of the virus elsewhere, those countries could face a far slower crawl out of the pandemic. (Mueller, 2/8)
AP:
New Variants Raise Worry About COVID-19 Virus Reinfections
Evidence is mounting that having COVID-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants. People also can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, new research suggests. How long immunity lasts from natural infection is one of the big questions in the pandemic. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious than initial ones, but recent developments around the world have raised concerns. (Marchione, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
‘We Have To Be Ready To Adapt,’ Says WHO Chief About The Spread Of Virulent New Virus Variants
In the face of spreading variants of the coronavirus that not only appear more contagious but in some cases more resistant to the newly developed vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said Monday that we have to adapt and respond. WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the new evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is only minimally effective in preventing infection with covid-19 shows the importance of keeping up with social distancing and other preventative measures. Manufacturers also need to constantly update their vaccines. (Schemm and Cunningham, 2/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine Defended By World Health Officials
World Health Organization officials expressed confidence that AstraZeneca PLC’s Covid-19 vaccine can prevent severe cases of the disease, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, despite questions about the protection it offers against a fast-spreading strain of the virus first detected in South Africa. The remarks followed a release of information over the weekend about a small clinical trial of the vaccine in South Africa, which prompted the government there to halt a planned rollout of the shot. (Steinhauser and Strasburg, 2/8)
CIDRAP:
Study: Pfizer’s MRNA Vaccine Neutralizes COVID-19 Variants
A study today in Nature Medicine showed Pfizer's mRNA vaccine, the first vaccine approved in the United States for use against COVID-19, neutralized three variants of the virus, including the B117 strain first identified in the United Kingdom, and two new variants first confirmed in South Africa. The mutations tested included the N501Y from the United Kingdom and South Africa, the 69/70-deletion + N501Y + D614G from United Kingdom; and E484K + N501Y + D614G from South Africa. (2/8)
Reuters:
Does The World Need New COVID Vaccines? 'Jury Is Out', Oxford's Pollard Says
It is not yet clear whether the world needs a new set of vaccines to fight different variants of the novel coronavirus but scientists are working on new ones so there is no reason for alarm, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group said on Tuesday. ... “There are definitely new questions about variants that we’re going to be addressing. And one of those is: do we need new vaccines?,” Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, told BBC radio. “I think the jury is out on that at the moment, but all developers are preparing new vaccines so if we do need them, we’ll have them available to be able to protect people.” (Faulconbridge and Holton, 2/9)
The New York Times:
A Few Covid Vaccine Recipients Developed A Rare Blood Disorder
One day after receiving her first dose of Moderna’s Covid vaccine, Luz Legaspi, 72, woke up with bruises on her arms and legs, and blisters that bled inside her mouth. She was hospitalized in New York City that day, Jan. 19, with a severe case of immune thrombocytopenia — a lack of platelets, a blood component essential for clotting. The same condition led to the death in January of Dr. Gregory Michael, 56, an obstetrician in Miami Beach whose symptoms appeared three days after he received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Treatments failed to restore his platelets, and after two weeks in the hospital he died from a brain hemorrhage. It is not known whether this blood disorder is related to the Covid vaccines. (Grady, 2/8)
The City:
NYC Nursing Home Gave Dozens Of Veterans Experimental COVID-19 Cocktail
Hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug first approved in the United States in 1955, was used widely throughout the country last spring as an experimental treatment for COVID-19. The drug, often combined with the antibiotic azithromycin, had been touted for months by officials at every level of government — most prominently by then-President Donald Trump. ... Between March and late April last year, the 250-bed New York State Veterans’ Home at St. Albans administered hundreds of doses of the unproven drug combination to at least 62 residents, some of whom had not tested positive for the virus. (Russell, 2/8)
AP:
In Pandemic, More People Choose To Die At Home
Across the country, terminally ill patients — both with COVID-19 and other diseases — are making similar decisions and dying at home rather than face the terrifying scenario of saying farewell to loved ones behind glass or during video calls. “What we are seeing with COVID is certainly patients want to stay at home,” said Judi Lund Person, the vice president for regulatory compliance at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “They don’t want to go to the hospital. They don’t want to go to a nursing home.” National hospice organizations are reporting that facilities are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of patients being cared for at home. (Hollingsworth, 2/7)
NPR:
Facebook Widens Ban On COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation In Push To Boost Confidence
Facebook is expanding its ban on vaccine misinformation and highlighting official information about how and where to get COVID-19 vaccines as governments race to get more people vaccinated. "Health officials and health authorities are in the early stages of trying to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, and experts agree that rolling this out successfully is going to be helping build confidence in vaccines," said Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook's head of health. Social media platforms including Facebook have played a big role in the spread of false claims, hoaxes and conspiracy theories about the pandemic over the last year, despite efforts by tech companies to clamp down on harmful content and promote authoritative sources. (Bond, 2/8)
CNN:
Facebook Vowed To Crack Down On Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation But Misleading Posts Remain Easy To Find
Nearly two months into the largest vaccine rollout in US history, Instagram continued to prominently feature anti-vaccination accounts in its search results, while Facebook groups railing against vaccines remained easy to find. (Yurieff and Darcy, 2/7)
Houston Chronicle:
CVS Health Pushes Vaccine Rollout Back To Friday
People looking to get their COVID-19 vaccinations at CVS Health will have to wait another day as the pharmaceutical giant pushes its vaccine rollout back to Feb. 12. Pharmacies such as CVS will receive vaccine allocations from a federal partnership, and shipping delays in the chain have forced CVS to open its appointment sign-ups and start vaccination later than originally announced, said Monica Prinzing, a CVS Health spokesperson. The company will provide 38,000 vaccines across 70 Texas locations, including an undisclosed number in Houston. CVS will not provide a full list of participating locations because “active stores will change regularly based on vaccine supply.” (Wu, 2/8)
The New York Times:
The Coronavirus Crossroads: the Vaccinated, the Stymied and the Waiting
For a vast majority of Americans, a coronavirus vaccine is like sleep for a new parent: It’s all you can think about, even if you have no idea when you will get it. People are scrolling through perpetually crashing websites at 3 a.m., or driving 150 miles each way in the snow. Others are lining up at grocery stores for hours on end, hoping to snag a leftover shot, or racing to hospitals amid rumors of extra doses. (Steinhauer, 2/8)
CIDRAP:
Novel Antiviral Interferon Lambda May Offer COVID-19 Outpatient Benefits
After adjusting for baseline viral load, COVID outpatients are more than four times more likely to have an undetectable viral load when treated with the experimental drug interferon lambda, according to a small study published late last week in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Interferon lambda is an antiviral protein that uses multiple pathways to attack viruses. It is most active in the liver, lungs, and intestine. (2/8)
The Washington Post:
The Big Number: During Pandemic, Heart Surgeries Plummeted By 53 Percent
Heart surgeries among U.S. adults dropped by a dramatic 53 percent in the past year, a reduction that cardiac surgeons say was caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The number comes from an analysis of national data through the end of 2020 and included information on 717,103 heart surgery patients and more than 20 million covid-19 patients. The finding was presented at a January meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. (Searing, 2/8)
FierceHealthcare:
Oscar Health Files To Go Public
Oscar Health has officially filed to go public. The tech-enabled startup insurer filed for its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, where it intends to list its stocks under the ticker OSCR. Details on the plans beyond that were limited. (Minemyer, 2/8)
Stat:
Hospitals Are Poised For Power In The New Washington
For frontline health care workers at hospitals, the Covid-19 pandemic has been a punishing slog, punctuated by overflowing morgues, patient beds in gift shops, and dire equipment shortages. But for their lobbyists in Washington, the picture couldn’t be rosier. (Cohrs, 2/9)
AP:
Pollen Season Is Starting 20 Days Earlier This Year
When Dr. Stanley Fineman started as an allergist in Atlanta, he told patients they should start taking their medications and prepare for the drippy, sneezy onslaught of pollen season around St. Patrick’s Day. That was about 40 years ago. Now he tells them to start around St. Valentine’s Day. Across the United States and Canada, pollen season is starting 20 days earlier and pollen loads are 21% higher since 1990 and a huge chunk of that is because of global warming, a new study found in Monday’s journal the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. (Borenstein, 2/8)
Boston Globe:
Burning Fossil Fuels Kills An Estimated 350,000 Americans A Year, Including 7,600 In Massachusetts, Study Finds
Nearly 9 million people a year are dying as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, a study has found, roughly twice the previous estimate by the World Health Organization. In the United States, ingesting the fine particulate matter produced by burning fossil fuels kills an estimated 350,000 people a year, including more than 7,600 people in Massachusetts, according to the study by researchers at Harvard and other universities. Researchers linked the pollution to 18 percent of worldwide deaths in 2018, down from 21 percent in 2012. They attributed the decline to improved air-quality policies in China that reduced the use of fossil fuels by more than 40 percent. (Abel, 2/9)
The New York Times:
N.Y.C. To Reopen Middle Schools, But Most Students Will Still Learn From Home
The nation’s largest public school system will take another step toward a full reopening later this month by welcoming middle school students back into classrooms that have been shuttered since November. The about 62,000 New York City middle school students who opted for in-person learning last year will be able to return to classrooms for at least part of the week starting Feb. 25. The city still does not have a plan to reopen its high schools. (Shapiro, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
After St. Louis Jail Unrest, Inmates' Advocates Allege Desperate Conditions While Officials Defend Pandemic Response
ArchCity Defenders, a nonprofit legal advocacy group that created a hotline in late March for people to report on conditions at local jails, said that before Saturday’s unrest, the organization had received 60 calls about issues at the St. Louis Justice Center, including concerns about inmates who have tested positive for the coronavirus not being isolated, a lack of recreational time and retribution from guards over complaints. Inmates had staged two protests previously. (Berger and Berman, 2/8)
AP:
St. Louis Circuit Attorney To Investigate Conditions At Jail
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner on Monday launched an investigation into conditions at the City Justice Center, a large downtown jail that was the site of a massive disturbance over the weekend. More than 100 detainees on Saturday were able to get out of their cells, smash windows and set fires. A corrections officer was injured and hospitalized but is expected to recover. (2/9)
The Hill:
Florida Data Scientist Drops Lawsuit Over Armed Raid At Her Home, For Now
The Florida data scientist who had accused the state of misrepresenting its COVID-19 data dropped her lawsuit, for now, against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for conducting a raid at her home, her lawyer said on Monday. (Coleman, 2/8)
Bloomberg:
China’s CanSino Vaccine Shows 65.7% Efficacy In One Shot
CanSino Biologics Inc.’s experimental coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy rate of 65.7% at preventing symptomatic cases based on an analysis from late-stage trials, adding a one-shot candidate to the world’s growing arsenal against Covid-19. The inoculation co-developed by the Chinese military and the Tianjin-based biotech company proved effective against symptomatic Covid-19, based on a multi-country analysis first posted on Twitter by Faisal Sultan, Pakistan’s health adviser, on Monday. CanSino later forwarded Sultan’s announcement in a statement. The final stage trial included 30,000 participants and was also 90.98% effective in preventing severe disease, Sultan said. (2/8)
The Washington Post:
South Africa Scrambles For Vaccine Plan After Suspending AstraZeneca Rollout, A 'Preview' Of New Fight Against Coronavirus Variants
When a plane loaded with 1 million doses of vaccine produced by AstraZeneca landed in South Africa on Feb. 1, a hopeful country watched with rapt attention. Exactly a week later came the blow: A study, however limited and not yet peer-reviewed, said the vaccine provided only “minimal protection” against contracting mild to moderate infections of a new coronavirus variant that is widespread in South Africa, where it was first detected. The variant has since been found in at least 30 countries. The news was a blow not only to South Africans but to billions of people whose governments are relying on the vaccine developed at Oxford University and made by AstraZeneca. (Bearak, Booth and Wroughton, 2/8)
Reuters:
UK Mulls Tougher Testing For International Arrivals As Virus Variants Spread
Britain is looking at greater testing of all people who have arrived from abroad while they are self-isolating to defend against new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, a minister said on Tuesday. Airlines have been brought to their knees by the pandemic, with travel restrictions forcing once fast-growing brands like Norwegian to fight for survival while established names like British Airways have raised cash and laid off thousands of staff. (2/9)
AP:
Iran Starts Limited COVID Vaccinations With Russian Shots
Iran on Tuesday launched a coronavirus inoculation campaign among healthcare professionals with recently delivered Russian Sputnik V vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak of the pandemic in the Middle East with its death toll nearing 59,000. At a ceremony marking the start of the campaign, Parsa Namaki, son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki, received his first dose. The minister said the vaccination would be simultaneously carried out in more than 600 medical centers across the country. (2/9)
The Washington Post:
Pope Francis Says The World Is ‘Seriously Ill’ From The Consequences Of The Pandemic
Pope Francis on Monday offered a grim assessment of humanity's response to the pandemic in a lengthy speech that highlighted aspects big and small from a year of isolation and "despair." He talked about domestic violence in homes under pandemic lockdown. He emphasized the job losses predominantly among off-the-books workers, with no safety net on which to rely. He described a generation of children, alone and in front of their computers, enduring the “educational catastrophe” of school shutdowns or distance learning. The world, Francis said, “is seriously ill.” (Harlan, 2/8)