First Edition: July 22, 2021
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
A Chilling Cure: Facing Killer Heat, ERs Use Body Bags To Save Lives
As a deadly heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest last month, overwhelming hospital emergency rooms in a region unaccustomed to triple-digit temperatures, doctors resorted to a grim but practical tool to save lives: human body bags filled with ice and water. Officials at hospitals in Seattle and Renton, Washington, said that as more people arrived experiencing potentially fatal heatstroke, and with cooling catheters and even ice packs in short supply, they used the novel treatment to quickly immerse and cool several elderly people. (Aleccia, 7/22)
KHN:
Wildfire Smoke Drives People In Low-Vaccinated Areas Indoors, Raising Outbreak Fears
Missoula’s new downtown library was teeming with people who might typically spend a Saturday afternoon hiking, biking or otherwise making the most of Montana’s abundant outdoor recreation. One look at the soupy haze blanketing the city and it was clear why. “We’re definitely trying to stay out of the smoke,” Charlie Booher said as his kids picked out books from the stacks. (Bolton, 7/22)
KHN:
Big Leagues Balk At Endorsing Vaccination
Santa Clara County, where the San Francisco 49ers train and play their NFL home games, has one of the highest covid vaccination rates in California. As of July 11, more than 76% of its vaccine-eligible residents were fully vaccinated, partly because the county and the 49ers franchise turned Levi’s Stadium into a mass inoculation site where more than 350,000 doses were administered over four months. The 49ers themselves, however, are not so enthusiastic about the shots. In June, head coach Kyle Shanahan said only 53 of the 91 athletes on the team roster — 58% — were fully vaccinated. The team has issued no updates since. (Kreidler, 7/22)
Newsweek:
Joe Biden Outlines Timeline For COVID-19 Vaccinations In Children
Joe Biden has cautiously outlined a timeline for when he expects the COVID-19 vaccine to be offered to children under 12 in the U.S. Speaking at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati on Wednesday, President Biden said the decision would be led by scientific data, but added that he expected the rollout to begin between the end of August and October. (Cannon, 7/22)
CNN:
Vaccines For Children: Biden Says He Believes Kids Under 12 Will Be Able To Get Covid-19 Vaccines 'Soon'
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that children under the age of 12 could be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine "soon," predicting that the government could green light the rollout for young Americans in the next few months. "Soon, I believe," Biden said when asked by CNN's Don Lemon when most children under 12 would be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine. (Cole, 7/21)
The Hill:
Biden Says CDC Will Advise Unvaccinated Kids To Wear Masks In School
Biden suggested that enforcing the guidance would be difficult but that it would be a “community responsibility.” “It’s a matter of community responsibility and I think you’re going to see it work through,” Biden said. Biden made the comments in response to an audience member running for a local school board who expressed concerns about the safety of children as schools return in the fall. States across the country have rescinded mask orders as people have gotten vaccinated. (Chalfant, 7/21)
AP:
Biden Says Getting Vaccinated 'Gigantically Important'
President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it’s “gigantically important” for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again. Biden, speaking Wednesday night at a televised town hall in Cincinnati, said the public health crisis has turned largely into a plight of the unvaccinated as the spread of the delta variant has led to a surge in infections around the country. “We have a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten the vaccination — it’s that basic, that simple,” he said on the CNN town hall. (Jaffe and Madhani, 7/22)
New York Post:
Mitch McConnell Warns Of Return To 2020 If COVID Vaccine Rates Don’t Increase
A fresh wave of deaths and hospitalizations like the ones that crippled the country last year loom on the horizon if people don’t wise up and get vaccinated against COVID-19, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned. “These shots need to get in everybody’s arms as rapidly as possible or we´re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for — that we went through last year,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a news conference Tuesday, adding, “This is not complicated.” (Marcus, 7/21)
The Hill:
DeSantis Urges Public To Get Vaccinated: These Shots Are 'Saving Lives'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is urging Floridians to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying that the shots are “saving lives.” In a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis told reporters that 95% of the people being admitted to hospitals in the state due to COVID-19 complications haven’t been vaccinated at all, implying that “vaccines are saving lives,” especially with regard to nursing homes. “If you look at the people that are being admitted to hospitals …. over 95% of them are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all,” DeSantis said. “These vaccines are saving lives. They are reducing mortality.” (Oshin, 7/21)
Modern Healthcare:
American Hospital Association Supports COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
The American Hospital Association supports hospitals and health systems that require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the group announced Wednesday. AHA, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals and health systems, joins dozens of providers and several associations that have also backed vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. (Kacik, 7/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
States Announce $26 Billion Settlement To Resolve Opioid Lawsuits
States unveiled a historic $26 billion settlement with drug companies to resolve thousands of opioid-crisis lawsuits, paving the way for communities across the country to secure a jolt of funding to address an epidemic in painkiller addiction that hasn’t abated. The nation’s three largest drug distributors— McKesson Corp. , AmerisourceBergen Corp. , and Cardinal Health Inc. —and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson have been negotiating the deal for more than two years, but Wednesday’s announcement signifies an important milestone that could clear the way for money to be received by states as soon as early next year. (Randazzo, 7/21)
Stat:
States Reach $26 Billion Deal With Wholesalers, J&J Over Opioid Lawsuits
As part of the settlement, the wholesalers – McKesson (MCK), AmerisourceBergen (ABC) and Cardinal Health (CAH) – will pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed to pay up to $5 billion over nine years and exit the opioid business. More than 40 states are expected to agree to the settlement, according to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Roughly 3,000 lawsuits filed by states, counties, cities, and tribes claimed the wholesalers failed to monitor suspicious shipments. Drug makers were accused of downplaying the risk of addiction to opioid painkillers while simultaneously encouraging doctors to overprescribe the medicines. (Silverman, 7/21)
AP:
Indiana Expected To Get $507 Million From Opioid Settlement
Indiana will receive $507 million as part of a multi-state agreement to settle a lawsuit against opioid distributors designed to bring relief to people struggling with addiction to the drug, officials said Wednesday. Attorney General Todd Rokita said the settlement marks a step forward in efforts to end the opioid epidemic and provide justice to families affected by opioid addiction. (7/22)
AP:
AG Stein: NC's Share Of Opioid Settlement Could Be $750M
The state of North Carolina and scores of local governments could receive $750 million combined from a $26 billion proposed national settlement with several opioid producers, Attorney General Josh Stein’s office said. Stein, one of several attorneys general who negotiated the deal and laid out key details Wednesday, said the proposed agreement would go toward countering the opioid epidemic with direct assistance. (7/22)
AP:
US Virus Cases Nearly Triple In 2 Weeks Amid Misinformation
COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. “Our staff, they are frustrated,” said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May. (Hollingsworth and Salter, 7/21)
Des Moines Register:
The Average Number Of New Daily COVID-19 Cases In Iowa Has More Than Doubled In The Past Two Weeks
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are back on the rise in Iowa, like in the U.S. in general, according to the weekly coronavirus data released by the Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, Iowa was averaging 76 new coronavirus cases per day. That rate has more than doubled since then, with an average of 199 new individuals testing positive each day over the past week. Public health experts are warning that infections are mounting, especially among unvaccinated people, because of the spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the virus. (Webber, 7/21)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Average New COVID-19 Cases Increased For The 15th Consecutive Day
The average number of new COVID-19 cases and the average positivity rate both increased on Wednesday, according to Department of Health Services data. The seven-day average of daily cases increased to 221, up 27 cases from Tuesday. The seven-day average has increased for 15 consecutive days. The positivity rate increased to 2.8%. (Bentley, 7/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Alarming L.A. Spike In Coronavirus Cases: 2,551 In One Day
Los Angeles County reported its largest single-day total of new coronavirus cases in months as the region races to wrap its arms around what officials now say is a new surge of the virus. Public health officials reported 2,551 new infections Wednesday — the highest figure since early March, when the county was shaking off the last vestiges of the fall-and-winter wave. Wednesday’s report continues a troubling pattern of increased transmission that emerged after the state’s June 15 reopening and coincided with increased circulation of the hypercontagious Delta variant. (Money, 7/21)
PBS NewsHour:
Traumatized Arkansas Hospital Workers Struggle As COVID Surges Among Unvaccinated
Casey Johnson has never let a COVID patient die alone. In her years as a bedside nurse at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Johnson has watched countless patients pass. But the pandemic — especially the state’s third surge in the final months of 2020 — brought a wave of death unlike any she’d ever seen. To those who die in her care, she is a stranger, she said. But she can still offer them comfort. She’s caressed patients’ hands, quietly played “Amazing Grace” from her iPhone, gently bathed tired limbs. She sharpened her sixth sense for when someone was about to die — their breathing more sporadic, their mood more restless before becoming solemn and withdrawn. Those who hadn’t been robbed of their voice by the virus would often tell her “‘Today’s the day,’” or “‘I want to go home.’” She’s never gotten used to the conversations with loved ones who have been left behind, she said, and each time, it “takes a little bit out of you.” (Santhanam, 7/21)
Fox News:
NJ Hospital System Threatening To Fire Unvaccinated Employees Faces Backlash
Unvaccinated healthcare workers are sparking outrage after receiving an ultimatum from their employer. Hackensack Meridian Health, one of the largest hospital organizations in New Jersey, is making its employees choose: get vaccinated or be terminated. A letter sent out to staff by CEO Robert Garrett calls for all hospital staff to have at least one coronavirus vaccine dose by October 1, or face continued suspension and eventual termination. Amanda Heim is a licensed practical nurse for a Hackensack Meridian hospital and one of the employees facing termination for her decision to not be vaccinated, she told Fox News. "I feel awful," she said. "I feel like I have to choose between my values and a career, it's terrifying." (Coffey, 7/21)
Detroit Free Press:
Henry Ford Health COO: Employee COVID-19 Vaccines Is 'Right Thing To Do'
Days after hundreds of people protested outside five Henry Ford Health System hospitals, the COO and president of health care operations said Wednesday that "we have never been more committed" to the system's decision to require COVID-19 vaccinations of its employees. The decision "is the right thing to do for the health and safety of our patients, our workforce and the communities we serve. If health care is not going to lead on this issue, who will?" COO Bob Riney said. "They depend on us and trust us to ensure a safe and healthy environment and we pledged to honor that promise." (Hall, 7/22)
ABC News:
Lawmakers: Parental OK Needed For Minors To Get COVID Shot
Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they received assurances that the state's health agency won't vaccinate minors for COVID-19 without parental consent, doubling back on a decades-old provision about children's vaccination rights that was a lightning rod in the firing of the state's top vaccine official. (Mattise, 7/21)
CBS News:
Tens Of Thousands Of Children Cope With "Pandemic Grief" After Losing Parent Or Caregiver
Alyssa Quarles is overwhelmed by guilt that she couldn't save her 48-year-old father, Theodis, after he got COVID. "As the days passed, he started to say, like, 'Help me. Please don't let me die,'" she told CBS News, crying. "Like I don't know what to say to him. Like I don't think he's gonna die, but he keeps saying it. It was hard." The Quarles girls are among at least 113,000 American children struggling with "pandemic grief" after losing a parent, or caregiver, to the virus, according to Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association. A quarter of them are younger than age 10, while 20% are Black. Minorities are disproportionately affected. (Villarreal, 7/21)
The Hill:
New Jersey Officials Say Nearly 50 Fully-Vaccinated Residents Have Died From COVID-19
New Jersey health officials say that almost 50 fully-vaccinated people have died from COVID-19 according to data through July 12, NJ Advance Media reported on Wednesday. Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, told the news outlet that all 49 people who died were over 50 years old. Thirty were over 80 years old, 13 people were between 65 and 79 years old, and six were between 50 and 64 years old. (Vakil, 7/21)
AP:
Rare 'Breakthrough' COVID Cases Are Causing Alarm, Confusion
Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe illness and death. The best indicator: U.S. hospitalizations and deaths are nearly all among the unvaccinated, and real-world data from Britain and Israel support that protection against the worst cases remains strong. What scientists call “breakthrough” infections in people who are fully vaccinated make up a small fraction of cases. (Neergaard, 7/21)
AP:
More Trucks, Cash Given Away In WVa Vaccination Sweepstakes
Two women have won custom-outfitted trucks and a nurse won $1 million as the latest recipients of West Virginia’s vaccination sweepstakes prizes. Gov. Jim Justice surprised Shannon Cook of Glen Dale in Marshall County while she was shopping Wednesday by calling her name over the store’s loudspeaker. She came to the front desk and was told she was among the winners in the fifth prize drawing of the sweepstakes, the governor’s office said. (7/22)
The Washington Post:
Virginia Urges All Elementary-Schoolers, Some Middle- And High-Schoolers, To Wear Masks Indoors This Fall
Virginia is urging all elementary school students, staff and teachers to wear masks indoors this fall — even if they are vaccinated — and asking that students, staff and teachers in middle and high school wear masks indoors if they are not fully vaccinated. The state’s departments of health and education published the highly anticipated fall masking guidelines in a news release Wednesday afternoon. The guidance, although “strongly recommended,” is not binding, according to the release. Schools will have the freedom to “implement local mask policies” as determined by district health officials. (Natanson, 7/21)
CIDRAP:
COVID-19 Didn't Spread Among School Bus Riders, Virginia Study Finds
A study yesterday in the Journal of School Health finds that while 39 elementary and high school students in a Virginia public school district rode school buses while infected with SARS-CoV-2, investigators found no evidence of viral transmission to other students or adults. A team led by Eastern Virginia Medical School researchers tested all 1,154 in-person students in grades 1 to 12 every 1 or 2 weeks in the first 7 months of the 2020-21 school year, during the period of highest community transmission. (7/21)
CIDRAP:
Study Ties Superbug Prevalence In The ED To Ambulance Rides
A study by Duke University scientists today reveals that patients arriving at their emergency department (ED) via ambulance were almost four times more likely to have methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) colonization or infection than those who didn't arrive by ambulance, though numbers of both were small. The single-center retrospective cohort study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, involved 11,324 patients from 2016 to 2019. About one third (3,903) were in the ambulance group, with the remainder in the unexposed group. (7/21)
Stat:
Happify To Launch Prescription App For Depression Under Loosened FDA Rules
Leveraging Food and Drug Administration regulations loosened during the pandemic, Happify Health, which is best known for its consumer wellness app, will launch new prescription-only software to treat depression. Happify, founded in 2012, recently announced it had raised $73 million to bolster its efforts in digital therapeutics, a space that is rapidly growing as well-funded companies make the case to regulators, insurers, and clinicians that software can be used to treat disease. (Aguilar, 7/22)
Modern Healthcare:
Cigna Paying Members To Use Biosimilars Draws Providers Ire
Cigna pays members to switch to biological drugs that it says are clinically equivalent and cheaper—a new policy provoking objections from providers, who maintain that it crosses the line between covering medical expenses and practicing medicine—and that it threatens patients' health. Cigna, a Bloomfield, Connecticut-based insurer with 14 million members, offers patients $500 prepaid debit cards when they switch to biosimilar versions of the biologic drugs Cosentyx, which is used to treat psoriasis and certain types of arthritis, and Remicade, which is used on patients with psoriasis, arthritis and gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's disease. Patients can choose between two biosimilar medications for each of the brand-name drugs. (Tepper, 7/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Former San Diego Hospital Worker Accused Of Stealing Patient Data For Unemployment Claims
A former employee of Scripps Health in San Diego is accused of stealing the personal information of dozens of patients as part of a scheme to file fraudulent pandemic-related unemployment claims in their names, according to a federal complaint. Matthew Lombardo is one of seven people charged in two separate investigations surrounding the use of stolen identities to file for pandemic employment assistance under the CARES Act, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday. (Davis, 7/21)
Fox News:
Two Paramedics Suspended After Grandmother Alleges They Falsely Pronounced Teen's Death
Two Houston paramedics have been suspended for seven days following an investigation involving the resuscitation of a teenage boy that failed to meet "standards and expectations," authorities confirmed to Fox News. Stacy Williams dialed 911 on Jan. 26 in search of a catheter for her 14-year-old grandson Jacah, a survivor of shaken baby syndrome, who had been administered two doses of trazodone and was asleep for an extended time, as expected. Williams grew concerned after Jacah didn’t urinate all day. The boy’s lips were turning white and when Williams pressed on his nails, the color wasn’t returning, she told Fox News. She wasn’t alarmed because the child’s body temperature and heart rate typically run low. (Rivas, 7/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Havana Syndrome Task Force To Be Led By Veteran Of Hunt For Bin Laden
CIA Director William Burns has tapped a veteran of the agency’s hunt for Osama bin Laden to head a task force aimed at finding the cause of unexplained health incidents suffered by U.S. spies and diplomats around the world, current and former officials familiar with the matter said. The choice of the Central Intelligence Agency officer—whose identity remains undercover—is part of what the officials described as a quickening effort to determine the source of the apparent attacks, which has proven elusive. They have affected scores of U.S. officials posted overseas over the last five years, and are sometimes known as “Havana Syndrome” because the symptoms were first reported in 2016 by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. (Strobel, 7/21)
CNN:
Breastfeeding Linked To Lower Blood Pressure In Toddlers
Toddlers who were breastfed for any amount of time had lower blood pressure than those who were not breastfed at all, according to a new study, suggesting once again that "breast is best" for health. The reduction in blood pressure found in the study "is of clinically important magnitude and surprising," Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter told CNN in an email. Feldman-Winter, who was not involved in the study, is the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding. (Molano, 7/21)
CBS News:
Children Increasingly Overdosing On Marijuana Edibles
Last month, Elizabeth Perry felt helpless as it became clear something was very wrong with her 21-month-old son Oliver. "When I laid him down in his crib, he kind of went rigid and started shaking and crying," Perry said. Within an hour, he was in a Maryland hospital and doctors determined he had THC, the chemical in marijuana that gives users a high, in his system. Oliver had managed to open a tin containing edible cannabis gummies that Perry used to help her sleep. To Oliver, it looked like candy. "My first thought was, I did this to him, this is my fault," she said. (Pegues, 7/21)
CNN:
Schizophrenia Linked To Marijuana Use Disorder Is On The Rise, Study Finds
The proportion of schizophrenia cases linked with problematic use of marijuana has increased over the past 25 years, according to a new study from Denmark. In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. (Hunt, 7/22)
USA Today:
Muffin Recall 2021: Walmart, 7-Eleven Sold Recalled Muffins
Give and Go Prepared Foods Corp. is voluntarily recalling select muffins for possible listeria contamination. The muffins were sold nationwide under various brand names, including Uncle Wally's, and store brands, including at Walmart, 7-Eleven and Stop & Shop, according to a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website. "Consumers who have these products should immediately dispose of the products and not eat them," the company said in the recall. (Tyko, 7/21)
CNN:
This Group Of Children Is Up To 10 Times More Likely To Drown Than Others, A Report Finds
Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 19 in the United States, but some children have a significantly higher chance of drowning than others. Teenage boys ages 15 to 19 are 10 times more likely to drown than girls, according to a July report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The report said it could be due to multiple factors, including boys overestimating their swimming abilities more than girls or greater alcohol use among boys compared to girls. (Marples, 7/21)
KSHB:
Drowning Prevention Group Hopes To Build Momentum On Olympic Swimming
As the world watches swimmers compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, an American-based nonprofit is reminding viewers water safety is a year-round commitment. “Water never goes away,” said Jim Spiers, president of Stop Drowning Now. “The lakes are still there in the winter, and the rivers are still there in the winter, the ponds are still there, some pools don't get drained. Water never goes away. So water safety is a year round thing you should be focused on not just when the Olympics come around.” (Keegan, 7/22)
AP:
As Wildlife Smoke Spreads, Who's At Risk?
Smoke from wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada is blanketing much of the continent, including thousands of miles away on the East Coast. And experts say the phenomenon is becoming more common as human-caused global warming stokes bigger and more intense blazes. Pollution from smoke reached unhealthy levels this week in communities from Washington state to Washington D.C. Get used to it, researchers say. (Brown, 7/22)
AP:
Hall Of Famer Bobby Bowden Has Terminal Medical Condition
Hall of Fame college football coach Bobby Bowden announced Wednesday he has been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. “I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come,” Bowden said in a statement released to news outlets, including The Associated Press. “My wife Ann and our family have been life’s greatest blessing. I am at peace.” The 91-year-old Bowden was hospitalized last October after he tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test came a few days after returning to his Tallahassee home from a lengthy hospital stay for an infection in his leg. He did not disclose his condition in his statement. (Reed, 7/22)
Fox News:
Michigan Reports Uptick In Legionnaires' Disease
Michigan health officials are investigating a recent uptick in cases of Legionnaires' disease, or a severe form of pneumonia. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services noted 107 cases reported across 25 counties between July 1 and July 14, translating to a 569% surge over the same period in 2020 and a 161% increase over the same period in 2019. (Rivas, 7/21)
Fox News:
Florida Town Hit By ‘Triple Threat’ Of Respiratory Illnesses
Tampa Bay, Florida, is battling a unique combination of three separate respiratory illnesses, causing mass hospitalizations. Area doctors are calling it a "triple threat". Red tide, COVID-19 and bronchitis are "waging war" on the area, doctors told WFLA. Red tide is a harmful algal bloom that can cause respiratory system issues in humans. Doctors say that the symptoms usually include a short-lived but intense cough that can sometimes be fatal. Experts said this year's bloom is the worst the area has seen since 1971. (Lewitas, 7/21)
Politico:
Judge Halts West Virginia Law Targeting Transgender Athletes
A federal judge decided Wednesday to temporarily block a West Virginia law that bars transgender women and girls from participating on school sports teams that match their gender identity. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson, a soon-to-be middle schooler looking to try out for her school's girls cross-country team. Lawyers on behalf of Pepper-Jackson argued the West Virginia law discriminates on the "basis of sex" and "transgender status," violating both the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and Title IX, a federal education law that prevents sex-based discrimination. (Quilantan, 7/21)
AP:
Mississippi To File Arguments In Landmark Abortion Case
The Mississippi attorney general’s office is expected to file briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to outline the state’s arguments in a case that could upend nearly 50 years of court rulings on abortion rights nationwide. A 6-3 conservative majority, with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, said in May that the court would consider arguments over a Mississippi law that would ban abortion at 15 weeks. Justices are likely to hear the case this fall and could rule on it in the spring. (Wagster Pettus, 7/22)
Houston Chronicle:
300,000 Texans Bought Affordable Care Act Coverage From February Through June
Nearly 300,000 Texans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces between February and June, the second highest total of any state, according to new federal data. The signups came during a special enrollment period that the Biden administration opened this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which left many without employer-backed coverage. It also corresponded with newly added financial assistance that Congress approved for low-income earners as part of the administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. (Blackman, 7/21)
AP:
2 More Olympic Athletes Among 91 Total Tokyo Virus Cases
Two athletes were among four residents of the Olympic Village who were added to the tally Thursday of people accredited for the Tokyo Games who have tested positive for COVID-19 this month, bringing the number to 91. Skateboarder Candy Jacobs of the Netherlands and table tennis player Pavel Sirucek of the Czech Republic tested positive and had to leave the village to enter a quarantine hotel in cases announced Wednesday. (7/22)
NPR:
Tokyo Reports Its Highest COVID-19 Numbers Since January As First Olympic Games Start
Two days before the Olympics' opening ceremony, Tokyo is reporting new COVID-19 cases at levels not seen since January — when Japan was enduring a record spike in coronavirus infections. The 1,832 new cases represent a sharp rise from last Wednesday, when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 1,149 cases. "There is a high risk of a resurgence of the virus," Tokyo's government said in a bulletin issued on Wednesday. It added that the caseload has put Tokyo's health system under pressure, in terms of providing non-COVID-related care. (Chappell, 7/21)
The Washington Post:
USOPC Responds To Criticism Over Becca Meyers' Withdrawal From Tokyo Paralympics
Facing widespread outrage and political pressure over the withdrawal of swimmer Becca Meyers from the U.S. Paralympic team for the Tokyo Games out of concern for her own safety and well-being, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a new statement Wednesday outlining and defending the support it is providing its athletes during these pandemic-altered Games. “The safety, well-being and positive experience of all Team USA athletes is our number one priority,” the USOPC statement said. “We take pride in being the best-prepared [national Olympic committee] and [national Paralympic committee] in the world, and that includes supporting all athletes as they navigate the excitement, and complexity, of the Olympic or Paralympic Games.” (Sheinin, 7/21)
Newsweek:
U.K. Reportedly To Stop Checking COVID Documentation For Visitors From Some Countries
Border officers from the United Kingdom will stop checking COVID documentation, such as proof of a negative test, for travelers from certain countries, according to leaked government documents reported on by British media Wednesday. The rule pertains to travelers entering the U.K. from green and amber list countries, which represent the two highest ranks in the government's three-tiered classification system for foreign travel, the Associated Press reported. The U.K. government recently eased quarantine protocols for amber list countries, which include most of Europe. The change triggered concerns that airport immigration lines would take hours for holiday travelers to get through, according to the AP. (Strozewski, 7/21)
AP:
Death Rates Soar In Southeast Asia As Virus Wave Spreads
Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from COVID-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials. Images of bodies burning in open-air pyres during the peak of the pandemic in India horrified the world in May, but in the last two weeks the three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death rate as a new coronavirus wave, fueled by the virulent delta variant, tightens its grip on the region. (Rising and Ng, 7/22)
AP:
Thailand To Join COVAX, Acknowledging Low Vaccine Supply
The head of Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute apologized Wednesday for the country’s slow and inadequate rollout of coronavirus vaccines, promising it will join the U.N.-backed COVAX program to receive supplies from its pool of donated vaccines next year. Thailand is battling a punishing coronavirus surge that is pushing new cases and deaths to record highs nearly every day. There is fear that the numbers will get much worse because the government failed to secure significant vaccine supplies in advance of the onslaught. (Ekvittayavechnukul, 7/22)
AP:
South African Firm To Make Pfizer Vaccine, First In Africa
A South African firm will begin producing the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the first time that the shot will be produced in Africa, Pfizer announced Wednesday. The Biovac Institute based in Cape Town will manufacture the vaccine for distribution across Africa, a move that should help address the continent’s desperate need for more vaccine doses amid a recent surge of cases. (Meldrum and Petesch, 7/21)
AP:
Man With Coronavirus Disguises As Wife On Indonesian Flight
An Indonesian man with the coronavirus has boarded a domestic flight disguised as his wife, wearing a niqab covering his face and carrying fake IDs and a negative PCR test result. But the cover didn’t last long. Police say a flight attendant aboard a Citilink plane traveling from Jakarta to Ternate in North Maluku province on Sunday noticed the man change the clothes in the lavatory. (Basri, 7/22)
Bloomberg:
Boy Dies Of Bird Flu In India’s First Case Of Human Death
India reported its first case of human death due to bird flu after a child succumbed to the disease. The 11-year-old who died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi was infected with avian influenza, the first human case of bird flu in the country, according to the health ministry. Local media including Hindustan Times reported that the boy was infected with the H5N1 strain. Avian influenza is an illness that occurs mainly in birds like chickens and turkeys. While the H5N1 virus does not infect humans easily, the consequences for public health could be very serious if it becomes easily transmissible from person to person. Infection in humans can cause severe disease and has a high mortality rate, according to the World Health Organization. (Pradhan and Prakash, 7/21)