The New York Times: Trump Was Sicker Than Acknowledged With Covid-19
President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition. His prognosis became so worrisome before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator, two of the people familiar with his condition said. (Weiland, Haberman, Mazzetti and Karni, 2/11)

CNN: Trump's Covid-19 Condition So Concerning That Doctors Considered Putting Him On A Ventilator, Source Confirms 
CNN reported in October that when Trump was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he not only had trouble breathing, but had received supplemental oxygen. Trump "definitely has had oxygen," the source with knowledge told CNN. The former President's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, waffled on the issue at the time, saying Trump "is not on oxygen right now." When he was asked if Trump had received it at all, Conley would not directly answer, saying, "He has not needed any this morning, today at all." Asked if he had ever been on supplemental oxygen as part of his Covid-19 treatment, Conley said, "Right now he is not," adding, "Yesterday and today, he was not on oxygen." (Collins and Acosta, 2/11)

Business Insider: Trump Reportedly Developed Inflamed Lungs And Low Blood Oxygen Levels During Bout Of COVID-19, Indicating He Was Far Sicker Than The White House Revealed
Trump developed lung infiltrates, which can include bacteria or fluid in the lungs. His blood oxygen level also dropped into the 80s, while the CDC says normal oxygen saturation is between 95 and 100%.The White House, however, never revealed that Trump exhibited these symptoms, which indicate that he suffered from a much more severe case of COVID-19 than was previously known. Two sources told the Times that officials believed Trump would have to be put on a ventilator before he was hospitalized on October 2. (Relman, 2/11)

AP: Over 9,000 Virus Patients Sent Into NY Nursing Homes
More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York state were released from hospitals into nursing homes early in the pandemic under a controversial directive that was scrapped amid criticism it accelerated outbreaks, according to new records obtained by The Associated Press. The new number of 9,056 recovering patients sent to hundreds of nursing homes is more than 40% higher than what the state health department previously released. And it raises new questions as to whether a March 25 directive from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration helped spread sickness and death among residents, a charge the state disputes. (Condon and Peltz, 2/12)

New York Post: Cuomo Aide Admits They Hid Nursing Home Data From Feds
Governor Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing-home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned. The stunning admission of a cover-up was made by Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting. (Hogan, Campanile and Golding, 2/11)

CNN: Cuomo's Top Aide Apologizes To NY Lawmakers, Says Administration 'Froze' After Inquiries On Covid-19 Deaths At Long-Term Care Facilities 
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aide apologized to Democratic lawmakers Wednesday for putting them in a tough spot over long-awaited data which revealed thousands more confirmed and presumed Covid-19 deaths of long-term care facility residents than previously disclosed, according to a source who participated in the call. (del Valle, 2/12)

Politico: Top Republicans Call For Cuomo's Ouster Following Nursing Home Revelation
New York Republicans assailed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration on Thursday night in response to new revelations about his stonewalling the release of information about nursing home deaths, with several calling for him to resign or be impeached. The New York Post reported that top gubernatorial staffer Melissa DeRosa told Democratic state legislators in a meeting on Wednesday that the administration “froze” when asked to release data about the number of nursing home residents who had died of Covid-19. A March directive from Cuomo calling on nursing homes to admit patients who tested positive for the coronavirus has been blamed for contributing to high death rates. (Mahoney, 2/11)

NPR: Biden Announces Deal For 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccines
President Biden has finalized deals to buy 200 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of July, increasing the likelihood of delivering on his promise to have all Americans inoculated by mid-summer. Biden announced the latest deals, which are part of a plan he unveiled two weeks ago, during remarks made at the National Institutes of Health on Thursday. "We've now purchased enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate all Americans," Biden said. "Now we're working to get those vaccines into the arms of millions of people." (Romo, 2/11)

AP: Biden Says US Is Securing 600 Million Vaccine Doses By July
President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. Biden made the announcement at the sprawling National Institutes of Health complex just outside Washington as he visited some of the nation’s leading scientists on the frontlines of the fight against the disease. He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries. (Miller and Lemire, 2/11)

The New York Times: Biden Announces A Big Vaccine Deal, But Warns Of Hurdles 
The Biden administration says it has now secured enough vaccine to inoculate every American adult, but President Biden warned that logistical hurdles would most likely mean that many Americans will still not have been vaccinated by the end of the summer. Officials said Thursday that they had arranged to get 200 million more doses of vaccine by the end of summer, which amounts to a 50 percent increase. That should be enough vaccine to cover 300 million people. (2/12)

Also —

Axios: Biden Blasts Trump's COVID Vaccination Efforts: "Did Not Do His Job" 
President Biden on Thursday slammed his predecessor for "not doing his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans." Driving the news: Biden's remarks at the National Institutes of Health came not long after his administration signed final contracts with Pfizer and Moderna to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines. (Axios, 2/11)

NBC News: Dr. Fauci: It Will Be ‘Open Season’ By April For Everyone To Receive Vaccines
Dr. Anthony Fauci tells TODAY that the pace of coronavirus vaccinations will pick up “as we get into March and April” and that by April, it will be “open season” for all groups to receive shots. He says that while the U.K. variant does spread more rapidly, “the vaccines we have seem to do well” against it. (2/11)

Los Angeles Times: April May See 'Open Season' On COVID-19 Vaccines, Fauci Says
The United States could see “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine doses by April, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday, an optimistic forecast that comes as states continue to clamor for additional supplies to ramp up their rollouts. Though the nation will still be far from administering doses to all those who need it by then, Fauci said he believes conditions will improve to the point that health officials can begin inoculating the wider population. “I would imagine, by the time we get to April, that will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season’ — namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated,” the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert said during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show. (Money and Lin II, 2/11)

In other news on the vaccine rollout —

Stat: Vaccination Rates Follow The Money In States With Big Wealth Gaps
The findings back up, with hard data, anecdotal reports that wealthy people have been able to gain access to vaccines ahead of poor people. (Goldhill, 2/11)

The New York Times: After A Sluggish Start, Vaccine Rollout Is Improving In Every State
The slow start to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the United States has been no secret: Seniors have waited in long lines for a dose, vaccine registration websites have crashed and public health resources were tied up during the country’s biggest surge yet in early January. But health officials say that while current vaccine supply levels still limit how many vaccines they can administer, states are becoming more efficient at immunizing people as shipments arrive. (Leatherby and Schoenfeld Walker, 2/12)

NBC News: Small Pharmacies Are Crucial To Vaccine Distribution. But It Could Cost Them.
Thousands of small pharmacies across the country were tapped by the Biden administration last week to stand on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and carry out vaccinations. For each of these mom and pop pharmacies, that has meant investing huge sums of money to purchase freezers for vaccine storage, buying personal protective equipment, acquiring scheduling software, hiring additional staff or shuffling employees around to allow them to run vaccination clinics within their storefronts or in firehouses, parking lots and community centers. (McCausland, 2/12)

Stat: Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Brings Exhaustion For Pharmacists, But Some Relief
The nationwide frenzy to get Covid-19 vaccines has been complicated, frustrating, and downright exhausting for millions of Americans. But take a moment to consider the plight of your local pharmacist. (Sohn, 2/12)

Boston Globe: State To Curtail Vaccine Distribution To Hospitals
Massachusetts is severely limiting the number of coronavirus vaccine doses sent to hospitals across the state, a health care trade group said Thursday, after state officials warned last month that they would curtail supplies to facilities that weren’t using the doses quickly enough. The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association sent a message to its members advising them not to schedule any appointments for the first dose of the vaccine until further notice — but also not to cancel any appointments already scheduled. A state spokeswoman said Thursday night that people who already have appointments won’t be affected by the change. (Fox, 2/11)

Boston Globe: Vaccine Hunters’ Dash For Leftover Doses Highlights Rise Of Gray Market
Mounting public eagerness to score a COVID-19 shot has spawned a gray market for vaccinations in Massachusetts in which people who show up at the right place and the right time can get their dose even though they’re not yet eligible. The long line snaking around the clinic at the DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers on Wednesday underscored the growing number of vaccine hunters on the lookout for shots. People had flocked to the hotel after reports circulated of “extra” doses. (Lazar, 2/11)

NBC News: They're Chasing The Dream Of Getting A Covid-19 Vaccination
For this vaccine chaser, the second time was the charm. On her first attempt to get a Covid-19 shot last month, 28-year Leah Robson arrived at a Los Angeles city park at 4 a.m., waited all day with hundreds of other hopefuls, and wound up going home without the vaccination. She tried again the next day at 2:30 a.m. at the Balboa Sports Complex in the Encino neighborhood and found six people already ahead of her in line. But this time, after another all-day wait she got her shot. (Moschella and Siemaszko, 2/11)

AP: 1 In 37 North Carolina Vaccine Recipients Live Out Of State
When Ottis Grimes tried to call a hotline after the state opened up vaccines for seniors last month, he was met with an endless supply of music as he remained on hold. Frustrated with the appointment booking process, the retired banker who lives in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, but still goes to the doctor in North Carolina, took advantage of an offer to get the vaccine across the state border. After receiving a message from Atrium Health in Charlotte notifying him that he was eligible for the vaccine, he immediately had his computer-savvy daughter register him online. ... Grimes is among the more than 27,000 out-of-state residents who have crossed into North Carolina to get vaccinated, state health officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. A number of other states allow people to cross borders to get shots. (Anderson and Liu, 2/12)

Stateline: Scammers Seize On Frustration Chaos Of Vaccine Rollout
People in Chicago are reporting phone calls offering a vaccine appointment—if they provide a prepaid gift card, their Social Security number and other personal information. And in Colorado, scammers are using party invitation software and sites on the dark web to offer phony vaccine appointments—for a small fee, of course. Americans are desperate to get COVID-19 vaccines, but supplies are scarce and the distribution has been chaotic and confusing. That combination has created a huge opportunity for scammers who want to part customers from their money or personal information. (Povich, 2/11)

ABC News: Feds Bust Group That Allegedly Tried To Replicate COVID-19 Vaccine Website 
Two men and one woman were charged by the Justice Department for allegedly fabricating a COVID-19 vaccine website. According to an affidavit unsealed Thursday, Olakitan Oluwalade, Odunayo Baba Oluwalad and Kelly Lamont Williams fraudulently replicated Moderna's website, purporting to sell the company's vaccine. (Barr, 2/11)

In other news about who's getting the shot —

NBC News: Can One Homemade Website Save Wasted Vaccinations? These Guys Want To Try
Jimmy Chion's homemade website offers a simple solution to the problem of wasted Covid-19 vaccinations: a one-stop destination to pair people anywhere in the U.S. with excess or near-spoiled doses near them. It's an alluring proposition. For many Americans, finding a vaccination appointment means navigating a maze of government websites and phone lines in hopes of snagging a spot only to be routinely told to check back later. Efforts to make appointments for older relatives have left even tech-savvy people frustrated. (Abbuzzese, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Flood Of Vaccine Misinformation In Spanish Targets Latinos
Since November, Blanca Espronceda has spent many mornings chatting up other Latinos about the coronavirus vaccine, recruiting her neighbors in Maryland’s heavily immigrant suburbs to participate in ongoing trials. But even as a community health worker, she has her own fears about getting the shot. “What if the side effects make me sicker than the virus?” asked Espronceda, a 36-year-old native of Mexico who lives in Hyattsville. “What if I should wait a year, just to make sure it works?” (Armus, 2/11)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Black, Hispanic Residents Getting Vaccine At Slower Rate In Wisconsin
More than 10% of white people in Wisconsin have been vaccinated against COVID-19 compared with about 3% of Black and Hispanic residents, according to new data posted by the state Department of Health Services on Thursday. The data adds more transparency to how well the state is doing in getting residents vaccinated against COVID-19. The department also now is including data on county-level vaccinations in its vaccine dashboard. It also shows stark imbalances between regions and races. (Spicuzza, Dirr and Fauber, 2/11)

KHN: Vaccine Equity Is ‘North Star,’ Feds Say, And Clinics Are Key To Fair Distribution 
Mary Barnett is one of about a dozen seniors who got a covid-19 vaccine on a recent morning at Neighborhood Health, a clinic tucked in a sprawling public housing development on the south side of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. “Is my time up, baby?” Barnett, 74, asked a nurse, after she’d waited 15 minutes to make sure she didn’t have an allergic reaction. Barnett, who uses a wheelchair, wasn’t in any particular rush. But her nephew was waiting outside, and he needed to get to work. “Uber, I’m ready,” she joked, calling him on the phone. “Come on.” (Farmer, 2/11)

The Hill: AstraZeneca Says Vaccines Against New Variants May Take Six Months To Produce
AstraZeneca said in a a company document published Thursday that producing vaccines focused on combating new COVID-19 variants could take at least six months. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, which has worked with Oxford University to produce its vaccine, said in a 2020 review that it “hopes to reduce the time needed to reach production at scale to between six to nine months, by utilising existing clinical data and optimising its established supply chain.” (Coleman, 2/11)

The Guardian: Pfizer Vaccine Found To Give Strong Immune Response To New Covid Variants 
People who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been found to have strong T-cell responses against the Kent and South African variants of Covid, suggesting that the vaccine will continue to protect against serious disease in the coming months. ... Although previous studies had suggested that antibodies from those vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab could recognise and neutralise viruses carrying some of the individual mutations found in the South African and Kent variants – albeit at slightly lower levels compared with previous variants – these were tested on engineered viruses rather than ones isolated from real patients. (Gedes, 2/11)

NPR: FDA Prepares For COVID-19 Vaccines Changes To Deal With Variants
With two COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States and more on the way, things are starting to look up. But virus mutations being detected around the world mean the vaccines may one day need updates to ensure they stay effective. The Food and Drug Administration is already working on a playbook for how it could greenlight vaccine changes. "So, we have been trying to think about this for a while because I think what we learned very early on as we started to see variants emerge was there was the potential that this could happen, right?" The FDA's Peter Marks said during a webcast with the American Medical Association on Jan. 29. "Because of that, we're not going to get caught off guard." (Lupkin, 2/11)

In other news about the spread of the variants —

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Variant From L.A. Has Spread Around The World
The coronavirus variant first seen in Los Angeles in July now accounts for about 44% of new infections in Southern California and more than a third of new infections throughout the state, researchers reported Thursday. In addition, the variant has spread across the United States and to six countries around the globe, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. It “remains uncertain” whether the genetic changes that characterize the fast-moving variant have improved its ability to transmit from person to person, or to make people infected with it sicker, a team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles acknowledged in the JAMA report. But the virus’ rapid propagation in California is a cause for some concern, they wrote. (Healy, 2/11)

The Hill: DC Health Says UK, South African COVID-19 Strains Detected 
Two separate variants of the coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa, have been detected in three Washington, D.C., residents, the city health department said Thursday. Director of D.C. Health LaQuandra Nesbitt noted that not every positive test has been sequenced, only a sample, so there are likely more cases of the variants present. (Weixel, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration To Move Friday To Rescind Medicaid Work Requirements 
The Biden administration is planning Friday to wipe out one of the core health policies of the Trump era, taking actions that will immediately rescind permission for states to compel poor residents to work in exchange for receiving Medicaid benefits. Federal health officials will withdraw their predecessors’ invitation to states to apply for approval to impose such work requirements and will notify 10 states granted permission that it is about to be retracted, according to a draft plan obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed by two individuals familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. (Diamond and Goldstein, 2/11)

Politico: Biden Moving To Withdraw Trump-Approved Medicaid Work Rules 
The Biden administration on Friday will notify states it plans to revoke Medicaid work requirements, starting the process of dismantling one of the Trump administration's signature health policies. The move is one of several steps that Biden’s health department is expected to take this week to unravel the contentious work rules long criticized by Democrats, according to internal documents obtained by POLITICO. (Cancryn, 2/11)

In other news on Medicaid and Medicare —

Oklahoman: Medical Groups Ask Oklahoma Supreme Court To Halt Plan To Outsource Medicaid
Several local medical groups are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to halt Gov. Kevin Stitt's plan to outsource care for most of the state's Medicaid recipients. The groups that oppose partially privatizing the state's Medicaid program have asked the court to temporarily block the Oklahoma Health Care Authority from drastically overhauling the program that will serve more than 1 million Oklahomans after Medicaid expansion takes effect this summer. The Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma Dental Association, Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, Oklahoma Society of Anesthesiologists and the Oklahoma chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics are seeking an injunction from the court to halt the process until the Oklahoma Legislature can weigh in. (Forman, 2/11)

Houston Chronicle: As Texas Uninsured Rate Soars, Republican Rep. Lyle Larson Pushes For Medicaid Expansion
Rep. Lyle Larson filed legislation this week to expand Medicaid, becoming the first Texas Republican in years to actively push the Obama-era measure that would bring billions of dollars in federal aid to combat the state’s booming uninsured rate. “I think we should have a discussion,” the San Antonio lawmaker said. “We should have a discussion, and everybody should bring their ideas.” Texas is one of only a dozen states that have declined to expand the public safety net program under the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans last tried in 2013 and faced a blockade by then-Gov. Rick Perry, who argued there were too many problems in the state’s existing Medicaid program to add even more people to it. (Blackman and Bureau, 2/11)

Modern Healthcare: Humana To Cover Hospice Care On Some Medicare Advantage Plans In Five Markets
Humana on Wednesday announced it started offering hospice care on some of its Medicare Advantage plans in Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, the Louisville, Ky. metro area and the Richmond-Tidewater region of Virginia at the start of this year. The move is part of a four-year Medicare demonstration through to gauge if covering hospice services under Medicare Part A benefits creates improves care, innovation, quality and access to care, according to a news release. Susan Diamond, president of Humana's Home business, said she hopes the program will remove barriers to care. (Christ, 2/11)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Ask Supreme Court To Toss 340B, Site-Neutral Pay Cuts
The American Hospital Association and other hospital groups appealed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's July ruling that upheld HHS' decision to lower some Medicare outpatient drug payments by 28.5% at 340B hospitals—a policy that dates back to 2017. Hospitals argued that the Supreme Court must revisit the case because the D.C. Circuit allowed HHS "to make wholesale changes" to reimbursement rates for 340B hospitals, claiming that Congress only gave HHS the power to make small adjustments. The Supreme Court needs to "ensure (the D.C. Circuit) does not give cover to federal agencies when they supplant Congress's policy judgments with their own," the petition said. (Brady, 2/11)

ABC News: CDC To Release Guidance On Reopening Schools As Biden's Plan Comes Under Scrutiny
Public health guidance for reopening schools will be released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a top adviser in the Biden administration said Thursday. Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser for the COVID-19 response, said on MSNBC Thursday that the CDC will “roll out their operating plan to give school districts, local communities the guidance they need to begin to do that and do that aggressively.” (Tatum, 2/11)

AP: White House Says It Will Defer To CDC On Reopening Schools
Facing criticism that President Joe Biden has not acted aggressively enough on reopening schools, the White House on Thursday said it’s aiming for a full reopening but will defer to science experts on how to achieve it in the middle of a pandemic. The White House drew criticism this week when it said schools would be considered opened if they teach in-person at least one day a week. Asked about it Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden hopes to get students in the classroom five days a week as soon as it’s safe. (Binkley, 2/11)

USA Today: Biden Is Accused Of Shifting Goal Posts On Reopening Schools As CDC Readies New Guidelines
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set to release reopening guidelines Friday, Biden will have one of the components he said was needed to achieve his goal of having most public schools open within his first 100 days in office. He's at Day 23. Many parents want fast progress. But if recommendations include updating ventilation systems in aging school buildings or smaller class sizes – safety measures the president has discussed – fixes might not be quick. Yet few months remain in the 2020-21 academic calendar before summer break. (Garrison and Groppe, 2/12)

The New York Times: Biden Trims Ambitions On School Reopening Pledge
President Biden appeared to give many educators and parents what they had been seeking for nearly a year when he pledged in the first days of his White House to reopen schools by his 100th day in office: a plan. But as the White House struggles to turn the president’s lofty pitch into reality, Biden aides are finding it rough going against new variants of the coronavirus, protests of teachers’ unions, and the fears and frustrations of students and parents. (Green, 2/11)

In related school news from California, Massachusetts and North Carolina —

AP: San Francisco Sues Schools, Cites High Of Suicidal Students
The number of suicidal children in San Francisco has hit a record high and health experts say it is clear that keeping public schools closed “is catalyzing a mental health crisis among school-aged children,” according to a lawsuit the city filed Thursday to push its school district to reopen classrooms. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced last week he was taking the dramatic step of suing the city’s own school district, which has kept its classrooms closed nearly a year. In the motion filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera included alarming testimony from hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, doctors and parents on the emotional and mental harms of extended distance learning. (Gecker, 2/12)

Los Angeles Times: Divide Emerges On COVID School Reopening In Rich, Poor Areas 
A Times survey of more than 20 school districts throughout Los Angeles County in the past two weeks has found that districts in wealthier, whiter communities such as La Cañada are more likely to be moving full steam ahead to reopen elementary schools and have plans in place to welcome students back as soon as permitted — within as little as two weeks if coronavirus infection rates continue to decline. (Esquivel, Gomez and Blume, 2/11)

WBUR: As Boston Schools Reopen, Many Parents Still Opt For Remote Learning 
Even though more public school students will be able to return to classrooms in the coming weeks, some families in communities most deeply affected by the coronavirus are opting to stay remote. "I had COVID[-19], my mom, my dad, my pops, we all had it," said Shylanda Johnson of Dorchester. "I'm still suffering from the aftermath of COVID." (2/11)

WRAL: Bill Requiring NC Public Schools To Reopen Hits Snag
The state House quickly passed a measure Thursday that would force school districts across North Carolina to reopen their doors to students who want the option of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The 74-44 vote sent Senate Bill 37 back to the Senate for a final vote. But senators knocked it off the fast track, disagreeing with changes made by the House and sending it a conference committee to negotiate a compromise. (Burns, 2/11)

Also —

The New York Times: We Asked 175 Pediatric Disease Experts If It Was Safe Enough To Open School 
Many of the common preconditions to opening schools — including vaccines for teachers or students, and low rates of infection in the community — are not necessary to safely teach children in person, a consensus of pediatric infectious disease experts said in a new survey. Instead, the 175 experts — mostly pediatricians focused on public health — largely agreed that it was safe enough for schools to be open to elementary students for full-time and in-person instruction now. Some said that was true even in communities where Covid-19 infections was widespread, as long as basic safety measures were taken. Most important, they said, were universal masking, physical distancing, adequate ventilation and avoidance of large group activities. (Miller, Sanger-Katz and Quealy, 2/11)

CBS News: American Federation Of Teachers President On The Fight To Reopen Schools Safely 
In this episode of Facing Forward, Margaret Brennan talks with Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President of the nation's second largest teachers union, about what it will take for teachers to feel safe to resume in-person lessons and how schools will help children catch up after what seems to be a lost year for many.  (2/12)

The Washington Post: Biden’s Delay On Naming FDA Chief Perturbs Some Experts 
President Biden announced his choice for secretary of health and human services on Dec. 7. He named the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the same day. But he has said nothing about who will lead another critical health agency on the front lines of battling the coronavirus pandemic: the Food and Drug Administration. The silence is causing some consternation among FDA veterans, as well as public health and pharmaceutical experts, who say the agency needs a permanent head as it grapples with life-or-death decisions about coronavirus vaccines and treatments, while doing its day job of regulating products that account for 20 cents of every consumer dollar. That job includes approving cancer drugs, warning consumers about contaminated ice cream, and overseeing treatments for rare diseases in animals and humans. (McGinley, 2/11)

NPR: Florida Officials Say They'd Fight Any Potential Domestic Travel Restrictions 
Elected officials in Florida are reacting strongly against media reports that the White House is considering imposing domestic travel restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19. "It would be unconstitutional. It would be unwise and it would be unjust," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday at a vaccination site in Port Charlotte, on Florida's Gulf Coast. The Republican governor's remarks came after media reports saying federal officials are weighing travel restrictions, including Florida, aimed at slowing the spread of the highly contagious variant first identified in the U.K. (Allen, 2/11)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About Budget Reconciliation
President Joe Biden has said he still wants a bipartisan bill to provide the next round of covid relief. But in case that doesn’t happen, House committees this week got down to work on a budget reconciliation bill that could pass the Senate with a simple majority. Proposals cover not just covid-related issues, but also some significant changes to the Medicaid program and the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new guidance for mask-wearing. But the guidelines are confusing for many, highlighting the rapidly changing science around the virus that leaves many laypeople uncertain about how best to proceed. (2/11)

In other news about President Biden —

CNN: North Carolina Man Charged With Threatening To Kill President Biden 
A North Carolina man has been charged with making threats to kill President Joe Biden, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed in court Thursday. David Kyle Reeves, 27, of Gastonia, North Carolina, was arrested February 5 for knowingly and willfully making threats to take the life of and inflict bodily harm upon the President, according to newly unsealed court documents. Prosecutors allege that between January 28 and February 1, Reeves contacted the White House switchboard multiple times by phone and made threats against President Biden and others. (Burnside and Silverman, 2/11)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky 'Conscience' Bill Lets Doctors Refuse To Treat Patients
A controversial proposal that would let medical workers and insurance companies refuse to perform or pay for health care services that violate their conscience is back before the Kentucky legislature, and opponents warn it could open the door to dangerous discrimination. The so-called conscience bill, which stalled in 2020, took its first key step toward possibly becoming law when the Senate Judiciary Committee gave it the green light Thursday, although a few senators who voted to let it advance noted they still have some questions or potential changes to consider. (Watkins, 2/11)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Molina Reports $100 Million Year-Over-Year Drop In Profits In 2020
Molina reported a $100 million year-over-year drop in profits in 2020, with a rise in COVID-19 costs, acquisition expenses and the extension of the risk-sharing corridors during the public health crisis cutting into the Long Beach, Calif.-based insurer's bottom line. During the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, Molina reported $34 million in profits, down nearly 80% from the $168 million generated in 2019. The payer's profits dipped to $673 million at the end of the year, down 8% from the $737 million reported for 2019. (Tepper, 2/11)

Dallas Morning News: Signify Health Goes Public With $7 Billion Valuation As CEO Says Company Is ‘Long On Dallas’
Founded in 2017, Signify splits its headquarters between Norwalk, Conn., where a number of its executives are based, and Dallas, where roughly half of its 2,100 employees work and live. The company reported $550 million in revenue for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30. The company leverages an online platform, analytics and a network of independently contracted providers around the country to shift health care away from acute care facilities and into patients’ homes. The Uber-for-health care-modeled company, which only makes money when it drives positive patient outcomes, has been thriving over the last year, said CEO Kyle Armbrester. (DiFurio, 2/11)

Houston Chronicle: SmartPod Facility To Expand Healthcare Access In Pasadena
SmartPods, which can be folded up in minutes to transport where needed, include an isolation clinic, a regular clinic space, pharmacy and biosafety laboratories. Precinct 2 is spending $2.9 million in county funding on the SmartPod units in Pasadena and Aldine. The money covers costs for design, construction, transport, medical equipment and medical services. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) is expected to reimburse the money. The idea to bring the the NASA-engineered SmartPod to Harris County originated long before the coronavirus, Garcia said, as a tool to close the gaps in access to quality health care service. (Orozco, 2/11)

Stat: Zocdoc, Staking Its Future On The Promise Of Hybrid Care, Raises $150 Million
Less than a year since Zocdoc reinvented itself as a telehealth platform in the face of the pandemic, the company is again profitable, and on Thursday announced $150 million in fresh financing to fuel its ambitions. The company is staking its future on the buzzy promise of hybrid care. (Aguilar, 2/11)

KHN: Counterfeit N95 Scam Widens As Senator Demands FTC Investigation
A key U.S. senator is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate N95 mask fraud and federal agents announced the seizure of 1.7 million more counterfeit 3M masks in the New York borough of Queens as the breadth of a major scam concerning front-line health workers continues to grow. Early Thursday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), on her first day as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said she would ask the Federal Trade Commission to look into 1.9 million counterfeits shipped to hospitals in Washington state. The state hospital association announced earlier in the week that law enforcement had notified them that they’d been sold fake N95s branded as 3M products. (Jewett and Hancock, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: 800 Nurses At Tenet Hospital Vote To Authorize Strike
Citing hundreds of official reports of incidents that affect patient safety, 800 nurses at a Tenet Healthcare hospital in Worcester, Mass. have voted to authorize a strike. The nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association say they are fed up with poor staffing levels during and prior to the COVID-19 crisis. (2/11)

Modern Healthcare: 5 Ways Hospital Execs See To Improve COVID-19 Vaccination Process
Health systems, pharmacies and health departments across the country are scrambling to vaccinate enough people to slow the spread of COVID-19 and hopefully reach herd immunity. But that progress is being hindered by vaccine supply unpredictability and a lack of a cohesive national plan to distribute the vaccine, hospital executives say. Mike Slubowski, president and CEO of Trinity Health, a faith-based health system based in Michigan, called the COVID-19 vaccination initiative the "greatest public health feat of our lifetime," during a webinar Tuesday hosted by the American Hospital Association. During the webinar, Slubowski and other hospital executives shared tips on how to improve the vaccination process. (Christ, 2/11)

Bloomberg: Amazon Hires Founders Of Covid-19 Testing Startup To Curb Spread
Amazon.com Inc. has hired several employees of a Covid-19 testing startup as part of efforts to curb outbreaks among its workers. Caspr Biotech’s cofounders, Chief Executive Officer Franco Goytia and Chief Strategy Officer Carla Gimenez, joined Amazon in December, according to a person familiar with the situation. The pair, along with several other startup employees, are working on a project codenamed Artemis. It’s unclear whether Amazon acquired Caspr Biotech. In a shareholder letter in April, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said the company had begun building a lab to test employees for Covid-19. (Anand, 2/11)

AP: Hard-Hit Restaurants Feed COVID Doctors, Nurses To Survive
It was the week after Christmas and coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations were soaring in Portland, Oregon. At Oregon Health & Science University, the state’s largest hospital, morale was low. Doctors and nurses caring for the most critically ill were burning out just when they were needed the most. Then, the food started coming: hot and delicious individually wrapped meals from some of the city’s trendiest restaurants, a buffet of cuisines from Chinese to Italian to Lebanese to Southern comfort food. For staffers who only took off their N95 masks once to eat during a 12-hour shift, the meals were more than just food — they were emotional sustenance. (Flaccus, 2/11)

KHN: Health Policy Valentines To Warm The Heart
Nothing warms our hearts like a few good Health Policy Valentines ― especially those that are sweet on KHN. Tweeters lit up our timeline in recent days with valentine messages about topics ranging from covid-19 vaccines and mask-wearing to the price of health care. Here are some of our favorites. (2/12)

Stat: Arthritis Drug Cuts Deaths In Hospitalized Covid Patients, Major Study Finds
Tocilizumab, a drug usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, reduced the rate for death in Covid-19 patients, according to a major clinical trial. The result, from a U.K.-based study called RECOVERY, upends the thinking about the drug, which is made by Roche and which had produced inconclusive results in earlier studies. (Herper, 2/11)

In other pharmaceutical and biotech industry news —

The Washington Post: Drug Companies Seek Billion-Dollar Tax Deductions From Opioid Settlement
Four companies that agreed to pay a combined $26 billion to settle claims about their roles in the opioid crisis plan to deduct some of those costs from their taxes and recoup around $1 billion apiece. In recent months, as details of the blockbuster settlement were still being worked out, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and the “big three” drug distributors — McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health — all updated their financial projections to include large tax benefits stemming from the expected deal, a Washington Post analysis of regulatory filings found. (MacMillan and Schaul, 2/12)

Stat: Drug Maker Agrees To Plead Guilty To Destroying Files Before FDA Inspection
A unit of Fresenius Kabi, a major supplier of infused and intravenously administered drugs, has agreed to plead guilty to hiding and destroying records before a 2013 plant inspection by the Food and Drug Administration, and will also pay $50 million in fines and forfeiture. (Silverman, 2/11)

Stat: Amicus Drug For Pompe Disease Falls Short In Key Clinical Trial
Amicus Therapeutics said Thursday that its drug for patients with Pompe disease, a rare genetic condition, failed to demonstrate superiority over the current standard treatment in a large clinical trial. The company, however, believes it was close enough to achieving a positive outcome that its results, combined with other data showing patients with Pompe benefit, could still lead to regulatory approvals. (Feuerstein, 2/11)

Stat: A Closer Look At SoftBank's Investment In Pacific Biosciences
SoftBank, the Japanese tech conglomerate famous for paying questionable sums to invest in startups, has paid a hefty sum to invest in the genome sequencing company Pacific Biosciences. It’s a $900 million investment in the form of convertible debt, meaning SoftBank can exchange the money for stock at a price of $43.50 per share. (Garde, 2/11)

Stat: Scientists Use Machine Learning To Tackle A Big Challenge In Gene Therapy
As the world charges to vaccinate the population against the coronavirus, gene therapy developers are locked in a counterintuitive race. Instead of training the immune system to recognize and combat a virus, they’re trying to do the opposite: designing viruses the body has never seen, and can’t fight back against. (Palmer, 2/11)

AP: Study: Smaller Cars May Be Why Crashes Injure Women More
The smaller, lighter vehicles that women more often drive, and the types of crashes they get into, may explain why they are much more likely to suffer a serious injury in a collision than men, a new study published Thursday found. Researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group supported by auto insurers, looked into whether there was some sort of gender bias in the research into vehicle crashes or whether body type had anything to do with the injuries. (Sweet, 2/11)

GMA: 1 In 10 US College Students Experience Period Poverty, Report Says 
Period poverty, or a lack of access to menstrual products and education, affects one in 10 college students in the United States, according to a new study. These women are also more likely to report depression than their peers, according to the study published in BMC Women's Health, a medical journal. (Kindelan, 2/11)

The Hill: Portman, Whitehouse Say COVID-19 Is Complicating Opioid Addiction Fight 
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated efforts to win the fight against opioid and drug addiction. Speaking at The Hill's "COVID-19 & the Opioid Epidemic" event, Portman said the U.S. had the lowest overdose rate in decades as recently as 2018, but last year saw the worst overdose rate in U.S. history. (Gans, 2/11)

In other public health news —

CIDRAP: Pre-, Asymptomatic COVID Cases Lead To Half Of Transmissions, Study Finds
Presymptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases contributed at least 50% of transmissions during New York City's first COVID surge, according to a study published yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ... The researchers also found that when the city implemented its lockdown, COVID transmission rate dropped 76.0% to 87.6%. (2/11)

NBC News: National Cheerleading Competition Could Become Super-Spreader Event, Health Officials Warn
Tens of thousands of people are expected to travel to Atlanta this weekend for the annual Cheersports Nationals cheerleading competition, raising concern among public health officials that the contest could become a coronavirus super-spreader event. “The fear is that these people will gather and then take the variant home with them to their communities and plant the seed," Dr. Amber Schmidtke, a public health microbiologist, told NBC affiliate 11Alive. (Lozano, 2/11)

USA Today: COVID Testing Before Flights Would Reduce Risk, Harvard Study Finds
Harvard University researchers studying ways to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission during air travel endorsed the idea of rapid testing of passengers in a report released Thursday. "Viral testing is an important public health screening mechanism that can quickly and efficiently identify those with infections and stop them from undergoing activities that could expose others, including potential travel,'' Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a summary of the 262-page report. Requiring testing for all travelers would not guarantee a plane full of virus-free passengers but may serve a "critical need'' in identifying asymptomatic passengers and keeping them off planes, reducing the risk of transmission. (Gilbertson, 2/11)

KHN: Lack Of Covid Data On People With Intellectual Disabilities ‘Comes With A Body Count’
Peter Prater’s family wasn’t thinking about covid-19 when the call came that he had been taken to the hospital with a fever. It was April, and the Tallahassee Developmental Center, where Prater lives, hadn’t yet had any covid diagnoses. Prater, 55, who has Down syndrome and diabetes, became the Florida center’s first known case, his family said. Within two weeks, more than half of the roughly 60 residents and a third of the staff had tested positive for the virus, according to local news reports. (Houghton, 2/12)

The Washington Post: How To Relieve Double Mask Ear Pain 
Although experts have encouraged upgrading masks, doubling up is not the only way to improve fit and protection. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, emphasized that people should first focus on mask quality rather than how many they’re wearing. “There are a lot of people who are wearing a mask, but it’s a thin cloth mask or something that’s chosen for style and appearance rather than for the filtering capabilities,” Sax said. “I think Step One would be to make sure that everyone has a high-quality mask.” (Chiu, 2/10)

KHN: Journalists Broach Topics From Vaccines And Super Bowl To True Love
KHN senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed Hillsdale Hospital and the complications of covid-19 vaccine distribution with Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” on Feb. 4. ... KHN senior correspondent Phil Galewitz discussed covid preparations for Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida, with Newsy on Feb. 5. ... KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony shared the story of Arthur and Maggie Kelley of St. Louis who died 30 days apart with KMOX NewsRadio 1120 on Feb. 10. (2/12)

AP: Abortion-Rights Bill Wins Decisive Vote In New Mexico Senate
A bill to shore up abortion rights in New Mexico by repealing a dormant ban on most abortion procedures won Senate approval on Thursday, clearing a crucial hurdle in a 25-17 vote. Female senators took the lead in presenting the Democratic-sponsored bill that would repeal a 1969 statute. Left in place, the state abortion ban might go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. “I am supporting this bill because we need to leave individual health care decisions to a woman and her doctor,” said Democratic Sen. Carrie Hamblen of Las Cruces. (Lee, 2/11)

Stat: With A Legislative Veto, Maryland's Drug Affordability Board Moves Ahead
Following a vote by the Maryland House of Delegates, the state now has all the pieces in place to proceed with plans for a so-called ‘Prescription Drug Affordability Board,’ a controversial tactic for controlling the rising cost of medicines. (Silverman, 2/11)

Charleston Gazette-Mail: CDC: Urgency Needed As Kanawha’s HIV Caseload Is “Most Concerning In The U.S.”
In a presentation to Kanawha County’s HIV task force Thursday, representatives from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention referred to the continuing spread of HIV in the county as “the most concerning [HIV outbreak] in the United States.” Thursday’s presentation came as the Charleston City Council debates the merits of a needs-based syringe service program operating in the city, which the CDC recommends to be a necessary tool in battling increased spread of diseases tied to intravenous drug use. Since 2018, the number of HIV cases tied to intravenous drug use in Kanawha County has continued to rise: There were two in 2018, 15 in 2019; and at least 35 recorded in 2020, according to Shannon McBee, the top epidemiologist with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. (Coyne, 2/11)

ABC News: Man Accused Of Minnesota Health Clinic Shooting Appears In Court 
Gregory Ulrich, the man accused of the shooting rampage that killed one person and seriously injured four at the Allina Medical Clinic in Buffalo, Minnesota, made his first court appearance Thursday. (Yamada and Fies, 2/12)

AP: Milwaukee County Provides Shelter For Homeless With COVID-19
Melvin Anthony had been homeless for more than 15 years when someone shot him during an attempted robbery last fall. With a wound in his thigh and COVID-19 running rampant, Anthony was afraid to stay on the streets. “I saw nothing but death for me because things were really that bad, you know, pretty much drinking water out my hand and eating out of garbage cans, that type of bad,” Anthony said. (Antlfinger, 2/11)

AP: Ohio Health Dept. To Restructure After 4K Unreported Deaths
Ohio’s Health Department is restructuring its infectious disease division following the discovery of as many as 4,000 unreported COVID-19 deaths and will investigate how the error happened, the state health director said Thursday. The Health Department said that “process issues affecting the reconciliation and reporting of these deaths” began in October, with most occurring in November and December. The department identified the problem during a routine employee training. (Welsh-Huggins and Amiri, 2/11)

AP: 1981 Suit Over Patients' Rights Dismissed In West Virginia
A 1981 lawsuit addressing mental health patients’ rights to humane conditions and therapeutic treatment has been dismissed in West Virginia. A Kanawha County circuit judge dismissed the case after 40 years of litigation and negotiations, the state Department of Health and Human Resources said Thursday. Under the dismissal order, the DHHR will continue funding community-based mental health services and independent patient advocates at two hospitals. (2/12)

KHN: As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills To Curb Them
Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels. These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in a half-dozen states, are a response to consumers’ intensified demand for action on drug prices as prospects for solutions from Congress remain highly uncertain. (Meyer, 2/12)

New York Post: South Africa Eyes Selling Or Swapping AstraZeneca Vaccines
South Africa wants to sell or swap its first batch of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine just days after getting it — because a new study suggested it might not protect against its dominant mutation. The nation received its first one million doses of the jab last week, with another 500,000 on order and due in the coming weeks. But as the jabs arrived, a study showed that it offers as little as 10% protection against mild to moderate cases of the 501Y.V2 variant that accounts for the vast majority of the country’s new infections. (Brown, 2/11)

The Washington Post: First Pfizer Vaccines Arrive In Japan As Government Set To Approve Shots
Japan’s first shipment of Pfizer vaccine doses arrived Friday as a government panel was expected to formally recommend the shots for use inside the country. Local news agencies reported that 400,000 doses of the two-shot vaccine were received at the Narita International Airport near Tokyo. Japan has yet to begin its vaccine rollout due to bureaucratic hurdles and a general suspicion of foreign-made pharmaceuticals. On Friday, a health ministry committee will meet to decide whether to greenlight the vaccine, with formal approval from the government likely to take place Sunday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. (Cunningham, 2/12)

AP: What The WHO Coronavirus Experts Learned In Wuhan
A World Health Organization team has left China after gaining some new insights into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 2.3 million people — but with the major questions still unanswered. The visit was politically sensitive for China — which is concerned about any allegations it didn’t handle the initial outbreak properly — and has been closely watched around the world. Team member Peter Daszak sounded upbeat on arriving at the airport Wednesday at the end of the four-week trip to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in December 2019. (Fujiyama and Moritsugu, 2/11)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Crisis Grows In Tanzania As President Rejects Risks
Tanzania’s main hospitals have been swamped by patients displaying coronavirus symptoms, intensive-care units are full and funeral masses have become daily occurrences. Amid the unfolding health-care crisis, President John Magufuli has declared the East African nation free of Covid-19. He’s eschewed lockdowns, discouraged the use of face masks and banned the release of infection data since April, making Tanzania the only country in the world besides insular North Korea that doesn’t release the statistics. “The government should break the silence,” ruling party lawmaker Zacharia Issay said in parliament on Thursday. “I am tired of going to burials.” (2/12)

Undark: When Scientists Become Allergic To Their Research
Bryan Fry's heart was pounding as he stepped back from the snake enclosure and examined the bite marks on his hand. He had just been bitten by a death adder, one of Australia’s most venomous snakes. Its neurotoxin-laced bite could cause vomiting, paralysis and — as the name suggests — death. Fry, at the time a graduate student, had kept snakes for years. Oddly, the neurotoxins weren’t his biggest worry; the nearby hospital would have the antivenom he needed, and, although data is limited, people who receive treatment generally survive. Anaphylactic shock, on the other hand, might kill him within minutes. (Thomasy, 2/8)

USA Today: Mental Health Professionals Are The Ones Taking Care Of Us: Who’s Taking Care Of Them?
When a world in pandemic shut down, the mental health professionals did not. They kept working, many more than ever, counseling patients on how to survive something they'd never seen before, something they feared themselves. They counseled while the virus ravaged their neighborhoods, with their children in the background, through months of racial unrest and a presidential election that was the most polarizing in many of our lifetimes. "This has without a doubt been the toughest year of my life, let alone my career," said Michael Mandel, a licensed clinical professional counselor who works with adults and adolescents. (Dastagir, 2/11)

US News & World Report: Social Robots, Toys Help Kids Battle Disease And Anxiety 
Prompted by a competition that challenged students to design something to improve the lives of diabetics, [Aaron] Horowitz and his team created a diabetic bear for kids with Type 1 diabetes and won a prize for creativity. The same year, he was named a Dell Social Innovation Fellow, and in 2012 he co-founded Sproutel, a company that researches, designs and launches products to improve health. A year later, Jerry, the bear with diabetes, hit the market. Since then, the company has created a duck for kids with cancer and a purring creature that addresses anxiety. Sproutel also developed an immersive video chat device for lonely and isolated seniors, and this summer will launch a toy for children with sickle cell disease. (Kaplan, 2/8)

The New York Times: Can Technology Help Us Eat Better? 
A new crop of digital health companies is offering consumers an unusual way to transform the way they eat, with the promise of improving metabolic health, boosting energy levels and achieving a personalized road map to better health. Their pitch: Find the foods that are best for you by seeing how they impact your blood sugar levels. The companies, which include Levels, Nutrisense and January, provide their customers continuous glucose monitors — sleek, wearable devices that attach to your arm and measure your body’s glucose levels 24 hours a day, no skin pricks required. The devices transmit that data to your smartphone, allowing you to see in real time how your glucose levels are affected by your diet, sleep, exercise and stress levels. (O'Connor, 2/8)

The Washington Post: Michelle Obama Launches A Netflix Cooking Show For Kids, Starring Puppets
Michelle Obama’s mission of encouraging kids to eat healthier is getting a global spin — and a few puppet allies. The former first lady is launching a kids’ cooking show on Netflix as part of the production deal between Netflix and the production company she founded with her husband, former president Barack Obama. In addition to executive producing “Waffles + Mochi,” which debuts March 16, she’ll play the proprietor of a “whimsical supermarket” that employs the titular puppets, who are best friends and aspiring chefs. (One is an adorably small orb formed like the Japanese rice cake and the other a creature whose ears are shaped like the griddled breakfast treat.) “I’m excited for families and children everywhere to join us on our adventures as we discover, cook, and eat delicious food from all over the world,” she wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. (Heil, 2/9)

The New York Times: Pandemic Lessons In Improving The Medical System 
If there is a silver lining to the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, it likely lies in the glaring inadequacies and inefficiencies it exposed that are inherent in traditional American medicine. At the same time, it suggests ways to improve medical practice that can ultimately give us more bang for our health care buck. The Biden administration currently faces overwhelming challenges to stifle Covid-related disease and deaths, responsibly regrow the economy and curb the environmental and dollar costs of climate change. But as the new president and his team strive to get a handle on these critical issues, they might also confront the myriad failings and needed improvements to health care exposed by the pandemic. We’ve paid too high a price for wasteful procedures and inconsistent medical care delivery in this country. And too many people paid with their lives as a result. (Brody, 2/8)

Reuters: Tragedy, Loss And Hope: Overseeing New York Hospitals During A Pandemic 
No matter who you are, it is a safe bet that this past year has been challenging and traumatic. Now imagine that you faced a pandemic while in charge of a New York City hospital that is one of the largest in the nation. Dr. Steven Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian, has helped steer a network of 10 hospital campuses through the biggest public health crisis in generations. (Taylor, 2/11)

Newsweek: Miraculous MRNA Vaccines Are Only The Beginning
The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines now being administered across the United States and the globe aren't just providing the first glimmers of hope in our struggle against COVID-19. They are also offering an early look at how the miraculous tools of the genetics revolution will transform our health care and our world over the coming years. But unless we can develop better ways to reap the great benefits while avoiding the potential harms of our Promethean technologies, our moment of triumph could set us on a path to disaster. Of all the species that have ever lived, our single group of hominins now has the capacity to remake all of biology. But while our ability to read, write and even hack the genetic code of life has advanced dramatically over recent years, our public consciousness and oversight systems have not kept pace. As the great naturalist E.O. Wilson once said, "We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology." (Jamie Metzl, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Vaccines Are A Triumph Of Medicine
I walked out of the vaccination center into a cold January afternoon after receiving the first of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. As a physician practicing pediatric radiation oncology, medical historian and health sciences educator, I stopped and thought: "I have just participated in an event unprecedented in human and medical history. "It is 13 ½ months since the World Health Organization was told about a new human viral disease occurring in Wuhan, China. It is 13 months since Chinese scientists publicly reported the genetic sequence of that virus. Multiple scientific teams throughout the world have created vaccines for the virus that are continuing to be clinically tested in large-scale human clinical trials, enormous quantities of that vaccine have manufactured and delivered to vaccination sites, and I was just injected with a dose of one of them. Never before in the history of human medicine has anything of this scope and scale been accomplished in so short a time period. I am fortunate to have lived to see it happen. (Dr. Edward Halperin, 2/11)

Stat: With Covid-19 Vaccines, 'Fair' Isn't Always Fair Enough 
The success of Operation Warp Speed in delivering two effective Covid-19 vaccines in record time has stoked public optimism for an end to the pandemic. The difficult science has seemingly been done, and what remains is a simple supply chain problem: how to get shots into arms in the fairest and quickest way. (Martin Shell, 2/12)

Boston Globe: The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Laid Bare A Massive Civil Rights Crisis 
After a year in its deadly grip, Americans are well aware of the damaging and dangerous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet as we’ve seen, some communities are faring worse than others. A new report we have issued at the Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy documents how people of color and low-income families have been hit the hardest in health care, education, employment, food security, environmental safety and housing. To address the public health crisis, assistance should be provided to those most in need. The nation will not emerge from the pandemic until the people most affected can recover. (John Shattuck and Daniel Estupinan, 2/11)

Chicago Tribune: ‘Mom’s Home; She’ll Do It!’ — And Other Pitfalls Of The Pandemic 
It’s been a tough 11 months for mothers. For about a millisecond after the onset of the pandemic, I hoped that remote work would cause fathers to finally see all of the myriad household tasks mothers do every day and begin doing their fair share. It didn’t happen. Instead of curing the fairness gap, we got The Great COVID-19 Cop-out. (Joan C. Williams, 2/10)

Los Angeles Times: How Bad Is The COVID Variant Problem? We Can't Know Without Tests 
As COVID-19 vaccinations slowly become available to more Americans, variants of the novel coronavirus have started circulating in the United States and elsewhere, making people wonder whether the shots are still worth getting. The answer to that is yes, more so than ever. The more freely the virus circulates, the more opportunity it has to mutate, scientists say. The best thing we can do to contain the number of variants is to vaccinate the world, as fully and as quickly as possible, while continuing to limit infections with face coverings and social distancing. (2/12)

The New York Times: How Germany Lost Control Of The Coronavirus 
“We have lost control of this thing. ”Those were the words of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, surveying the country’s situation in late January at a confidential meeting. She spoke with typical precision. In Germany, which on Wednesday prolonged its current lockdown until at least March 7, things are bad: Since October, cases have soared — they are only now starting to come down — and over 50,000 people have died. An atmosphere of grim resignation prevails. But wasn’t Germany one of the global leaders in pandemic control during the first wave? Didn’t Germans enjoy a fairly normal summer of trips to the beach and meeting with friends at beer gardens? Didn’t their children return to school, as normal, in August and September? (Anna Saurebrey, 2/11)

Stat: It's Time To Fast Track Innovation In Medical Devices For Children 
When a baby arrived at Children’s National Hospital with a critically underdeveloped heart, it was clear to her care team that she needed surgery. But they had a dilemma: At less than 6 pounds, she wasn’t strong enough to undergo surgery but probably wouldn’t survive without it. (Kurt Newman, 2/11)

Stat: The Hazard Of Publishing Research Findings Via Twitter 
Positive news about a potential Covid-19 treatment — a drug that blocks the receptor for the inflammatory protein interleukin-6 (IL-6) — highlight the hazards of sharing research findings via Twitter and other social media. (Paul Monach and Westyn Branch-Elliman, 2/12)

Seattle Times: The Power Of Science Can Help Us Treat — And Beat — Cancer
What will cancer care look like over the next 20 years? It’s hard to predict, but at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), we think we have a good idea, based on the promise of our research and U.S. cancer mortality rates that continue to slowly but steadily decline. It’s been two decades since we first opened our doors in South Lake Union, launching us on a journey that has led to us consistently being named one of the top cancer hospitals in the U.S. A unique collaboration that combines the leading research teams and cancer specialists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington Medicine and Seattle Children’s enables us to provide patients the highest quality cancer care. (Nancy Davidson, 2/9)

The Hill: How A DNA Database Can Reunite Migrant Families 
President Biden announced formation of a task force to reunite the migrant children separated from their families in 2018. Given his call for unity in his inaugural address, this effort to reunify families is an  important place to start. According to the Department of Justice, former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy caused the separation of at least 3,000 migrant children from their accompanying adults. (Sara H. Katsanis, Michael J. Stebbins and Jennifer K. Wagner, 2/11)

Bloomberg: No Surprises Act Is A Step Toward Ending Unexpected Medical Bills 
One gift tucked inside the $2.3 trillion Covid relief and government spending bill Congress passed during Christmas week is a ban on virtually all surprise medical bills. No longer will insured patients be hit with enormous unexpected invoices from emergency room doctors, anesthesiologists, radiologists and other health care providers who work outside health insurance networks. Charges like this have cost Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance some $40 billion a year, arousing universal outrage and bipartisan promises to crack down. After long delays and despite strenuous industry lobbying, lawmakers finally agreed to act. Doctors are now forbidden to charge patients directly for out-of-network care administered without patients’ consent, which must be given at least 72 hours in advance. Yet two crucial questions aren’t fully resolved: Who pays for the procedures if not the patients concerned, and who sets the price? (2/9)

Boston Globe: Political Extremism Is Not Just A National Security Threat But A Mental Health Emergency 
Groups that work with families desperate to reclaim loved ones lost to violent ideologies report surges of calls to their hotlines over the past year. For them, political extremism is not just a national security threat but a mental health emergency. Myrieme Churchill is executive director of Parents for Peace, which works with families and “recovering” extremists involved in a wide variety of political causes, from Islamic jihadists to the Ku Klux Klan. “It strikes me that even though the families spoke different languages and were from different regions and of different religions, they were telling the same story,” she said. “In every case, there is a mental health element.” (Renee Loth, 2/12)