NPR: Biden Lays Out Plan To Mandate Vaccines Or Testing For Millions Of Workers
President Biden on Thursday unveiled a series of steps to combat the newly surging pandemic, including the announcement of a forthcoming federal rule that all businesses with 100 or more employees have to ensure that every worker is either vaccinated for COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing for the coronavirus. "We're in a tough stretch, and it could last for a while," Biden conceded, as the delta variant of the coronavirus has caused cases, hospitalizations and deaths to rise across the country. But, he added: "We can and we will turn the tide on COVID-19." Speaking from the White House, Biden said the new emergency rule for private sector employers, which will be issued by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, would apply to 80 million workers. (Wise and Keith, 9/9)

The New York Times: Biden Mandates Vaccines For Workers, Saying, ‘Our Patience Is Wearing Thin’ 
Mr. Biden is acting through a combination of executive orders and new federal rules. Under his plan, private-sector businesses that have 100 or more employees will have to require vaccination, or mandatory weekly testing, after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration drafts a rule. Roughly 17 million health care workers employed by hospitals and other institutions that accept Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement will also face strict new vaccination requirements, as will federal contractors and most federal workers. (Rogers and Stolberg, 9/9)

Roll Call: Biden Announces Sweeping New Vaccine Requirements For Workers 
One of Biden’s executive orders requires vaccinations against the coronavirus for most federal workers. The order goes further than a previous policy requiring federal workers to attest to their vaccination status or undergo regular testing. In the second executive order, the administration’s message is in effect that if a company wants to sell products or services to the federal government, they should get their workers vaccinated.(McIntire and Lesniewski, 9/9)

CNBC: Biden Pushes Vaccine Mandates Covering 100 Million U.S. Workers
President Joe Biden sternly outlined a broad plan Thursday to boost Covid-19 vaccination rates in the U.S. as cases plateau at dangerously high rates, pressuring private employers to immunize their workforce as well as mandating the shots for federal employees, contractors and health-care workers. The nation is reporting an average of 151,500 new cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, hovering around levels seen in late January. An average of 1,500 people are dying from Covid every day in the U.S., near fatality rates last seen in March when the U.S. was coming down from its winter surge, Hopkins data shows. (Lovelace Jr., Mendez and Towey, 9/9)

Key points of Biden's plan —

CNN: What Matters: Biden's Six-Step Covid Plan, Explained 
The US Covid situation is as dire as ever, with 1,500 people dying each day -- an average of 150,000 new cases each day. With more than 100,000 hospitalized Americans, the number of deaths -- almost certainly an undercount -- will continue to rise above the 653,000 current total. It seems sure to eclipse the death total from the 1918 influenza pandemic and is far greater than every US conflict except the Civil War. President Joe Biden, outlining a new Covid strategy on Thursday, expressed near-anger at the unvaccinated. "We've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us," he said, before laying out new mandates and requirements for US citizens to get the virus under control. (Wolf, 9/10)

The New York Times: Biden’s Vaccine Push: What You Need To Know 
Moving aggressively to combat the spread of the Delta variant, President Biden announced a six-part plan on Thursday that would touch on nearly every aspect of society, in what amounted to the most expansive use of his presidential authority since he took office in January. Here is what is in the plan. (Kavi, 9/9)

Also —

The Hill: Education Department Promises Support To Districts Penalized For COVID-19 Measures
The Department of Education is promising to support school districts that get penalized for their COVID-19 protocols, unveiling on Thursday a grant program to provide the districts funding. The agency on Thursday unveiled Project Supporting America's Families and Education (SAFE), which will provide funding for districts that had money withheld because they implemented measures such as universal indoor masking.  (Williams, 9/9)

Bloomberg: Home Nurses Caring For Fragile Children Must Now Be Vaccinated
Parents of children with severe health conditions won a victory Thursday when President Joseph Biden required that in-home nurses be vaccinated against Covid-19. A plan Biden revealed to boost vaccine requirements across the U.S. includes home health workers among 17 million medical staff who must be inoculated, according to a White House summary. The order came less than a day after Bloomberg News reported that parents of children with conditions like cerebral palsy or severe epilepsy have had to choose between risking the virus or caring for children alone. They have forgone sleep and endangered their own mental health. (Edney, 9/9)

The Hill: Biden Comes Out Punching On COVID-19 
President Biden is done pussy-footing around on COVID-19 vaccination. And he’s betting most Americans are too. The pugnacious speech Biden delivered late Thursday afternoon marked an abrupt change of tone. It could be a political turning point. Biden, in the past, has favored a patient nudging of people toward vaccination. That’s gone now. In its place is a willingness to hammer vaccine skeptics for their irresponsibility. (Stanage, 9/9)

Axios: Biden Blames Unvaccinated As He Imposes Mandates On 100 Million Americans 
President Biden says he's met the enemy — and it's America's unvaccinated. The majority of U.S. sentiment may be with him. But Biden's still taking a major political risk, and he and his team know it. He's testing business leaders' resolve, putting Democrats' standing in swing states and districts on the line ahead of 2022's midterm elections and tempting a tsunami of litigation over new requirements that could touch 100 million Americans. (Nichols and Talev, 9/9)

AP: Biden's War On Virus Becomes War On Unvaccinated
They’re a source of frustration. A risk to their fellow citizens. A threat to the nation’s economic recovery. President Joe Biden is trying to concentrate the anger of the nation’s inoculated majority against the stubborn 25% of eligible Americans who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Nearly 8 months after declaring “war” on the coronavirus as he took office, Biden on Friday announced far-reaching new federal requirements that could force millions to get shots. In doing so, he embraced those who haven’t rolled up their sleeves as a new foe amid a devastating surge in cases that is straining the nation’s health system and constricting its economy. (Miller, 9/10)

The Washington Post: Republican Governors Threaten To Sue Over Biden’s Sweeping Vaccine Mandates 
Republican leaders in the United States are blasting President Biden’s sweeping new coronavirus vaccine mandates for businesses and federal workers, decrying them as unconstitutional infringements on personal liberties and promising to sue. ... Republican governors from Texas to Missouri and Georgia threatened to fight back. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the mandates “an assault on private businesses” and said the state is “already working to halt this power grab.” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said he asked his state’s attorney general “to stand prepared to take all actions to oppose this administration’s unconstitutional overreach of executive power,” as South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem said “see you in court.” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also said the group “will sue the administration to protect Americans and their liberties.” (Timsit and Pietsch, 9/10)

NBC News: RNC Says It Plans To Sue Biden Administration Over Federal Vaccination Mandate
The Republican National Committee said Thursday that it plans to sue the Biden administration after the president issued two sweeping executive orders that will require Covid vaccinations for as many as 100 million people in the U.S. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the mandate was "unconstitutional" in a statement. "Joe Biden told Americans when he was elected that he would not impose vaccine mandates. He lied. Now small businesses, workers, and families across the country will pay the price," she said. (Clark, 9/9)

AP: Arizona Gov: Biden 'Overreaching' With New Rule
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey says President Joe Biden is overreaching with his new requirement for employees of large businesses to be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19. The Republican governor said the Biden rule “requires pushback and response” but declined to say how the state would respond. (9/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Governor Threatens To Sue To Block Biden’s New Vaccine Mandates
Gov. Brian Kemp threatened to go to court to block President Joe Biden’s new federal vaccine requirements, the most expansive steps yet taken by the Democrat’s administration to contain a surging coronavirus pandemic. Kemp said Thursday that he will “pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration” shortly after the president announced plans that could affect as many as 100 million Americans. (Bluestein, 9/9)

AP: Gianforte Promises To Fight Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Thursday said a new federal coronavirus vaccination mandate that could affect as many as 100 million Americans is “unlawful and un-American.” The Republican said in a Tweet that he is “committed to protecting Montanans’ freedoms and liberties against this gross federal overreach.” (Samuels and Hanson, 9/9)

AP: Arkansas Governor Says Vaccine Mandate Not Right Approach
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday said President Joe Biden’s mandate that many private businesses require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is the wrong approach for boosting vaccination rates. Hutchinson, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association, compared Biden’s order to a push by some conservatives to prohibit private businesses from requiring vaccinations. (DeMillo, 9/9)

Anchorage Daily News: Anchorage Mayor Bronson Criticizes Biden Vaccine Mandate
Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson on Thursday criticized President Joe Biden’s newly announced vaccine mandate, calling it “wrong and immoral.” Biden’s new order requires all employers with 100 or more employees to have a fully vaccinated workforce or test unvaccinated workers weekly. Bronson also said that the municipality “will not comply” with the president’s directive, although a spokesman for the mayor later said attorneys for the city are still evaluating whether it applies to Anchorage municipal employees. (Goodykoontz, 9/9)

AP: Federal Mandate Takes Vaccine Decision Off Employers' Hands
Larger U.S. businesses now won’t have to decide whether to require their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Doing so is now federal policy. ... Large swaths of the private sector have already stepped in to mandate shots for at least some of their employees. But Biden said Thursday that “many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are not fully vaccinated.” ... The Associated Press reached out to a wide range of companies on Thursday. Many didn’t have immediate responses while others noted that they already require vaccinations. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, was one of the first major companies to mandate vaccines for some of its workers. Walmart said in late July that it was requiring that all workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its managers who travel within the U.S.; be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. (Ortutay, 9/10)

Bloomberg: Businesses Question Logistics, Cost Of Biden Vaccine Plan
U.S. companies grappling with the thorny issue of whether to require worker vaccinations against Covid-19 say the U.S. government needs to provide more details about a new, far-reaching mandate announced Thursday. President Joe Biden’s directive requires vaccinations for all executive-branch employees, federal contractors and millions of health-care workers, while large private employers must either mandate shots or provide weekly testing. Businesses are now digesting the order, but there are concerns over what the mandate may entail. (Roeder, 9/10)

The New York Times: New Mandate Raises Question: Who’ll Pay For All The Covid Tests? 
Spurred by persistently high Covid case numbers and only modest vaccination rates, the Biden administration announced Thursday a new effort to combat the pandemic. It intends to mandate that workers at large companies get vaccinated, or submit to regular testing. The rule applies to tens of millions of Americans, about two-thirds of the country’s work force. And it raises a thorny question: Who pays for those coronavirus tests? (Kliff, 9/9)

The Baltimore Sun: Many Maryland Business Groups, Unions Back Biden’s COVID-19 Mandates, With Some Caveats
As COVID-19 cases began to rise over the summer, Maryland manufacturers faced a wrenching choice. They could require employees to be vaccinated — a mandate that some companies feared could cause defiant workers to quit. Or they could forgo a mandate and then “they’ve got a bigger problem” if an outbreak developed, said Mike Galiazzo, president of the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland, an advocacy group. (Barker, 9/9)

Also —

The New York Times: Biden’s New Vaccine Push Is A Fight For The U.S. Economy
President Biden’s aggressive move to expand the number of vaccinated Americans and halt the spread of the Delta variant is not just an effort to save lives. It is also an attempt to counter the continuing and evolving threat that the virus poses to the economy. ... After weeks of playing down the threat that a new wave of infections posed to the recovery, the president and his team blamed Delta for slowing job growth in August. “We’re in a tough stretch,” he conceded on Thursday, after heralding the economic progress made under his administration so far this year, “and it could last for a while.” (Tankersley, 9/9)

CNBC: TSA To Double Minimum Fines For Travelers Who Refuse To Wear Masks To $500
Travelers who refuse to wear masks could soon face fines of up to $3,000. The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday said it is doubling fines for travelers who won’t follow a federal mask mandate for air, bus and other forms of transportation. Minimum fines will double, starting at $500, and go up to $3,000 for repeat offenders. (Joseph and Mendez, 9/9)

CNN: 'Show Some Respect:' Biden Blasts Travelers Who Harass Flight Attendants Over Face Masks 
President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted travelers who harass flight attendants because they don't want to wear a face mask and announced fines would double for those who don't comply with the US federal transportation mask mandate. "If you break the rules, be prepared to pay," Biden said, speaking from the White House. "And by the way, show some respect. The anger you see on television toward flight attendants and others doing their job is wrong. It's ugly." (Sullivan and Wallace, 9/9)

The Washington Post: Rep. Don Beyer Introduces Bill To Require Vaccines Or Negative Coronavirus Test For Domestic Travel
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) introduced a bill on Thursday to require all domestic travelers to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test at airports or for Amtrak trips, seeking to revive largely stagnant discussions among federal officials about more restrictive pandemic travel requirements. The bill, the Safe Travel Act, would also require all Amtrak, airport and air carrier employees or contractors to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. Unvaccinated travelers would have to present a negative test within 72 hours before travel. (Flynn and Aratani, 9/9)

In related news about air travel —

USA Today: Miami Airports Tests Out COVID-19 Detecting Dogs In Airport First
The power of a dog's nose could be the latest COVID-19 detection tool for travelers. Miami International Airport is two weeks into a pilot program using two COVID-19 detecting canines to screen American Airline employees for the virus at a security checkpoint, according to airport officials in a news release Thursday. In an airport first, Miami has partnered with the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University and American Airlines to screen employees. If successful, it may move to busier parts of the airport. (Gilbert, 9/9)

Politico: DOJ Sues Texas Over Abortion Law
The Biden administration on Thursday sued the state of Texas over its highly restrictive abortion law that the Supreme Court allowed to take effect last week. “The act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference. “This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear.” (Niedzwiadek and Gerstein, 9/9)

The Texas Tribune: Texas’ “Fetal Heartbeat” Abortion Ban Target Of Justice Department Lawsuit
The Texas statute, which went into effect Sept. 1, is considered one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. It prohibits abortions once a “fetal heartbeat” — a term medical and legal experts say is misleading — can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant. Providers say that the law prevents at least 85% of the procedures previously completed in the state. Garland said Texas' statute is "invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the 14th Amendment, is preempted by federal law and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity." (Oxner and Bohra, 9/9)

CNN: Stephen Breyer Calls Supreme Court Decision On Texas Abortion Law 'Very, Very, Very Wrong' 
US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer called the high court's recent refusal to block a controversial Texas law that bars abortions at six weeks "very, very, very wrong." "I'll add one more 'very,' " the liberal Justice told NPR in an interview published Thursday. "And I wrote a dissent. And that's the way it works." Breyer's comments build on his pointed dissent in the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that allowed the Texas law -- which is one of the strictest in the nation and bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant -- to remain on the books. (LeBlanc, 9/9)

The New York Times: As Abortion Rights Expand, The U.S. Joins A Handful Of Telling Exceptions 
The story of abortion rights in the 21st century can be seen in two world-shaking developments this past week. In the first, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld drastic new abortion restrictions in Texas. A few days later, Mexico’s high court paved the way for nationwide legalization. It may be tempting to see Mexico’s ruling as the more surprising, catapulting the world’s second most populous Catholic country on a deeply contentious social matter. But experts say it is the United States that stands out. (Fisher, 9/9)

The New York Times: Here’s What The Texas Abortion Law Says 
A new Texas law that the Supreme Court did not block last week has made abortion functionally illegal in the state. Several other states have tried over the years to limit or ban abortions before fetal viability but have not managed to maneuver past the courts. Texas lawmakers did so through a unique legal approach. The law, Senate Bill 8, bans most abortions after about six weeks — before many people know they are pregnant — and authorizes citizens to enforce it. Abortion providers in Texas said that 85 to 90 percent of the procedures they previously performed were after the six-week mark. (Astor, 9/9)

AP: Texas Law Gives Limited Window For Abortions
Gov. Greg Abbott, in defending Texas’ near-ban on abortions, says women and girls who are raped won’t be forced to give birth because the new law “provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.” But that’s not how pregnancy works. ... Typically, women don’t test for pregnancy until after they’ve missed a period. Those with irregular cycles or unplanned pregnancies may not learn of the pregnancy until after the six-week mark. Extra-sensitive pregnancy tests can sometimes detect a pregnancy about five or six days before a missed period. That means someone who has regular periods and is carefully tracking her cycle could know of a positive result no earlier than about four weeks into a pregnancy. That would give her two weeks or less to get an abortion in Texas. (Bleed and Stengle, 9/9)

In other abortion news —

The Washington Post: ‘Roe Baby’ Whose Conception Sparked Landmark Abortion Ruling Comes Forward To Share Her Name — And Her Story
The child of “Jane Roe,” whose conception brought about the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade on a woman’s legal right to an abortion, came forward for the first time Thursday after decades of secrecy where she was known only as the “Roe baby.” Shelley Lynn Thornton was publicly identified in an excerpt published in the Atlantic of journalist Joshua Prager’s upcoming book “The Family Roe: An American Story,” which explores those connected to the landmark 1973 case. In the excerpt, Thornton, 51, of Tucson, opened up about her life and the complex family history connected to the “Roe baby” over the last half-century. (Bella, 9/9)

Indianapolis Star: Federal Appeals Court Says Indiana Can Keep Enforcing Abortion Laws
A federal appeals court has said Indiana can continue enforcing five abortion restrictions while the state appeals the original lawsuit challenging those restrictions. In an order issued Wednesday two judges with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said Indiana's challenged abortion laws, which a federal judge in Indiana said were unconstitutional in August, can remain in place because the state may win its legal case in favor of those laws in the long-term. "All we hold today is that existing precedents provide strong grounds for concluding that Indiana is likely to prevail on the contested issues," the two judges wrote after citing past U.S. Supreme Court cases. (Magdaleno, 9/9)

Stat: FDA Misses Deadline For Deciding On E-Cigarette Products
The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it has failed to meet a court-ordered deadline for deciding which e-cigarette products can stay on the market. In fact, it has yet to rule on whether any of the largest and most controversial e-cigarette companies, including JUUL, can keep selling their products. (Florko, 9/9)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Needs More Time To Decide Fate Of Juul 
The Food and Drug Administration said it needed to take more time before deciding whether e-cigarettes made by Juul Labs Inc. and other top manufacturers can remain on the U.S. market. The FDA faced a Thursday deadline to respond to applications from Juul and other e-cigarette makers who had to submit their products for review to keep them on the U.S. market. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the FDA would take more time to reach a decision on Juul, the market leader. (Maloney, 9/9)

USA Today: FDA Delays Juul Decision, Rejects 950K Vaping Product Applications
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday banned the sale of hundreds of thousands of vaping and electronic cigarette products, but delayed its decision on the industry's leading company, Juul. The agency faced a court deadline to issue decisions on marketing applications from the vaping giant and hundreds of other companies after anti-tobacco groups successfully sued the agency to speed up its review. Regulators previously said they would prioritize Juul and a handful of other key players, but none were included in the agency's announcement. (Rodriguez, 9/9)

Politico: Biden Admin Backs Direct Government Drug Price Negotiations 
A new Biden administration plan aimed at lowering prescription drug prices endorses giving the government sweeping power to directly negotiate the cost of medicines, calling it one of the key steps Congress could take to make drugs “more affordable and equitable” for all Americans. The plan — developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and released on Thursday — largely backs Democrats’ ongoing efforts to lower drug prices as part of a $3.5 trillion reconciliation proposal, and mirrors a range of legislative options that both House and Senate lawmakers have floated in recent years. (Cancryn, 9/9)

CNBC: Biden Administration Unveils Plans To Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Thursday unveiled the Biden administration’s road map to lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The plan, summarized in a 29-page document, supports legislation that allows the federal government to negotiate lower prices on the costliest drugs each year and pass those savings on to private insurers. Current rules prohibit HHS from negotiating drug prices on behalf of Medicare — the federal government’s health insurance plan for the elderly. (Lovelace Jr., 9/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Unveils Plan To Cut Prescription-Drug Prices
The plan, which was released Thursday, backs legislation from congressional Democrats, including a push to empower the federal government to negotiate for drug prices in Medicare and pass those lower costs along to the private sector. The road map goes further, however, by outlining administrative actions by agencies and departments that could come in concert with possible legislative changes.Administrative measures include testing reimbursement for drugs in Medicare based on the clinical value they provide to patients and offering federal funding for research into new treatments, according to the plan viewed by The Wall Street Journal. (Armour, 9/9)

Stat: Biden Plan To Lower Drug Prices Drawn From Familiar Democratic Playbook
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited plan to lower prescription drug prices that included a number of aggressive proposals but largely tread over ideas that Democrats have pushed for years. The plan would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, a longstanding pledge from Biden, Democratic lawmakers, and every Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. It also would limit yearly price increases, allow the importation of drugs from Canada, and place a cap on out-of-pocket spending for Medicare beneficiaries. (Facher, 9/9)

And on House and Senate efforts to tackle drug pricing –

The Hill: House Democrats Unveil Proposals On Drug Prices, Medicaid Expansion 
House Democrats on Thursday unveiled a range of health care measures to be included in their coming $3.5 trillion package, including provisions to lower prescription drug prices and expand Medicaid in the 12 GOP-led states that have refused to do so. The measure unveiled by the House Energy and Commerce Committee ahead of consideration next week includes House Democrats’ signature legislation to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices, known as H.R. 3. (Sullivan, 9/9)

Modern Healthcare: House Democrats Propose ACA Subsidies For Medicaid Expansion Gap
More than 2 million low-income people who live in states that have rejected the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion would get help buying coverage on the ACA's exchanges under a bill released Thursday by a congressional committee. The U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee released its portion of the $3.5 trillion health, education, labor and social services package congressional Democrats hope to pass this year, proposing permanent coverage of people who fall in the Medicaid expansion gap in states like Texas and Florida. Through 2024, those individuals would be eligible for ACA premium tax credits with enhanced cost-sharing assistance. (Hellmann, 9/9)

Stat: Senate Considers Pegging Medicare Drug Prices To Discounted VA Rates
Senate lawmakers are actively considering pegging the prices Medicare pays for drugs to those drug makers offer to other government programs like the nation’s veterans health program, according to sources familiar with the discussions as well as an internal slide deck obtained by STAT. The proposal, known internally as domestic reference pricing, could have a multibillion-dollar impact on drug makers, which have long opposed allowing Medicare to negotiate over drug prices. (Florko and Cohrs, 9/9)

Axios: Democrats' Reconciliation Health Care Plans Are Taking Shape 
Democrats' ambitious health plans are slowly transitioning from bullet point proposals to more fleshed-out policies, inching the legislative process forward and shedding more light on who stands to win or lose. Some of these proposals put the House and Senate in conflict with one another, emphasizing just how far Democrats still have to go. (Owens, 9/10)

Also —

The Hill: House Democrat Says She'll Oppose Parts Of $3.5T Spending Package
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), a prominent moderate House Democrat, indicated Thursday that she is planning to vote against the provisions under consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee's markup of portions of Democrats' $3.5 trillion spending bill, citing concerns about the legislative process. "Despite this committee's extraordinary efforts, I find myself in an impossible situation, " she said, adding that she expects to vote "no," "unless something changes." (Jagoda, 9/9)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Politico: Klobuchar Announces Successful Breast Cancer Treatment 
Sen. Amy Klobuchar revealed Thursday she was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year but that she had since been treated successfully for the disease and was at no greater risk of developing it again. The Minnesota Democrat wrote in a Medium blog post that upon a visit to the Mayo Clinic in February, doctors “found small white spots called calcifications during a routine mammogram.” She then underwent a biopsy at Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis and “learned that I had Stage 1A breast cancer.” (Forgey, 9/9)

CNN: This Is What A US Endgame For Covid-19 Should Look Like, Fauci Says 
With more than 75 million eligible Americans still not vaccinated, hospitals in many states overwhelmed and fears that cases could grow further in the fall, experts and officials are scrambling to slow the Covid-19 pandemic. "The one thing that we do know for sure... 160,000 cases a day is not where we want to be," the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday. "Unfortunately, that is where we are right now." (Holcombe, 9/10)

Fox News: Fauci On COVID-19: US Lacking ‘Modestly Good Control’ Over Pandemic
The U.S. is logging daily COVID-19 infections at a rate more than 10 times the threshold needed to suppress the pandemic, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser. "The endgame is to suppress the virus," Fauci told Axios. "Right now, we're still in pandemic mode, because we have 160,000 new infections a day. That's not even modestly good control...which means it's a public health threat. "As of Sept. 7, the latest federal figures, the country recorded a seven-day moving average of 140,058 daily infections, while an estimated 62.4% of Americans aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated. President Biden is expected to announce later on Thursday a six-part strategy to tamp down spread of the delta variant and boost vaccinations. (Kayla Rivas, 9/9)

New York Post: 99% Of Hospital Admissions Were Among Those Not Fully Vaccinated
They are the new 99 percenters: The vast majority of Americans who are getting serious cases of COVID-19 or dying are unvaccinated. While COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the US, the overwhelming majority of deaths and hospitalizations from the virus continue to overwhelmingly be among unvaccinated Americans, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30, about 99 percent of hospital admissions were among those who hadn’t been fully inoculated, which is defined by the CDC as two weeks after the second dose of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two weeks after Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose jab. (Fonrouge, 9/9)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

Las Cruces Sun-News: Ivermectin Suspected Cause Of Fatal Poisoning In New Mexico
New Mexico's acting Health Secretary came down hard Wednesday on unfounded claims that the drug Ivermectin is a suitable treatment for COVID-19 disease. During a weekly update on the state's COVID-19 cases and response, state Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase, temporarily heading the state health department as well, said clinicians were investigating what was likely the state's first fatal case of an individual dosing themselves with the drug, while a suspected second case was in critical condition. “I’d like people to know, if they’re out there taking it, it can kill them," Scrase said. (D'Amassa, 9/9)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: About 40 Cases Of Mu Coronavirus Variant Detected In Nevada
There have been roughly 40 cases identified in Nevada of the mu variant of the coronavirus, the latest troubling strain to join the World Health Organization’s watchlist, a top state public health official said. In designating mu a “variant of interest” on Aug. 30, WHO said it possesses a constellation of mutations that could make it resistant to the protection against disease afforded by vaccination or past COVID-19 infection. Despite the designation, the head of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory thinks it’s unlikely that mu (pronounced “mew”) will overtake the highly contagious delta mutant as the state’s dominant strain. (Hynes, 9/9)

Journal Star: COVID Hospitalizations In Illinois Surging Among Pregnant Women
A recent surge in the number of pregnant women hospitalized for COVID-19 is causing Dr. Michael Leonardi to lose sleep. Leonardi is an OB-GYN with OSF HealthCare who specializes in high-risk pregnancies. He said there was a dramatic jump in the number of pregnant COVID-19 patients hospitalized at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center between July and August. “The last weekend that I was on call, one-third of labor and delivery beds were taken up by women with COVID who had no reason other than COVID to be in the hospital,” said Leonardi. “I can think of two people recently who were intubated and on ventilators in the ICU and delivered early because of COVID. I am concerned that we're on the  beginning of an upsurge." (Renken, 9/9)

The Advocate: Louisiana COVID Cases Peak In Fourth Surge, Remain ‘Exorbitantly High': State Health Officer
While COVID-19 cases in Louisiana remain "exorbitantly high," the state appears to have peaked in its fourth surge of the deadly disease, state health officer Dr. Joseph Kanter said Thursday. "In short we are moving in the right direction," Kanter said. "That is encouraging. But the level of COVID out there remains exorbitantly high." Gov. John Bel Edwards said about 2 million state residents are fully vaccinated, which is just over 50% of the eligible population. (Sentell, 9/9)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi Nurses Talk The Last 18 Months In The COVID-19 Pandemic
Thirty minutes after the clinic double-doors at Urgent & Primary Care of Clarksdale opened, two people had already tested positive for COVID-19. Another three were awaiting test results. By then, Mary Williams had at least eight hours left in her workday. Her Clarksdale clinic, in a Mississippi Delta city of about 15,000, typically treats 18 to 20 patients a day. A month ago that number doubled. In the past 18 months, Williams' staff of eight have fought to stay healthy. Three have had the virus. (Haselhorst, 9/9)

AP: Michigan Hospital Leaders Renew Vaccination Plea Amid Deaths
Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, said hospitals are operating at near capacity as coronavirus caseloads rise and high numbers of non-COVID-19 patients seek care they delayed earlier in the pandemic. The number of adults hospitalized with the disease Wednesday — 1,300 — was well below the state’s peak of roughly 4,100 in April. However, Peters said there are fewer employees and non-virus patients who waited need higher levels of care and longer hospital stints. “Our staffing is stressed to a level that we have not seen previously,” Peters said. “One of the ways to prevent that is to get the vaccine. There’s just no question.” (Eggert, 9/10)

KHN: ECMO Life Support Is A Last Resort For Covid, And In Short Supply In South
Hospital discharge day for Phoua Yang was more like a pep rally. On her way rolling out of TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, she teared up as streamers and confetti rained down on her. Nurses chanted her name as they wheeled her out of the hospital for the first time since she arrived in February with covid-19, barely able to breathe. The 38-year-old mother is living proof of the power of ECMO — a method of oxygenating a patient’s blood outside the body, then pumping it back in. Her story helps explain why a shortage of trained staff members who can run the machines that perform this extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has become such a pinch point as covid hospitalizations surge. (Farmer, 9/10)

Also —

The New York Times: When Was The First U.S. Covid Death? CDC Investigates 4 Early Cases 
Late last year, the federal government’s chief statistician on death received word about a tantalizing discovery: Someone had died from Covid-19 in January 2020, a death certificate said, a revelation that would have sped up the timeline of the virus’s spread in the United States by several weeks. That death was ultimately not what it seemed. The person who certified it had meant June 2020, not January. But that blip on the radar screen of Robert Anderson, the chief of mortality statistics at a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, helped to kick off a quiet, yearlong campaign at the agency to check and recheck the country’s first suspected Covid-related deaths in the uncertain days of early 2020. (Mueller, 9/9)

CNN: North Carolina Sounds Alarm That Nearly Half Of State's Middle And High School Covid-19 Clusters Tied To Sports 
Forty-five percent of all Covid-19 clusters in North Carolina's middle and high schools since July have been among sports teams, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). The state's department of health said it was seeing a "sharp increase" in clusters among sports teams. (Simon, 9/9)

Bangor Daily News: Early COVID-19 Outbreaks In Maine Schools Show Challenges Of In-Person Class During Surge
More than a dozen Maine schools have reported COVID-19 outbreaks in the first few weeks of the new semester, highlighting the challenges of returning for in-person learning this fall as the virus surges here. They come as schools start to return for in-person learning five days a week during a recent COVID-19 surge that has seen daily cases here rising more than tenfold over the past two months. Schools from Freeport to Van Buren have required some students to quarantine in the first few weeks of classes due to infections among students or staff. (Piper, 9/9)

Billings Gazette: COVID Cases Rise In Youth, Case Investigators Overwhelmed
Yellowstone County Public Health Officer John Felton updated the public Thursday on the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, citing numbers similar to the initial surge, including overflowing hospital capacity and an uptick of COVID cases in school-aged kids. An upward trend has continued since July and August when numbers began to climb after a relatively quiet summer. August brought 1,193 COVID cases, more than April, May, June and July combined, Felton said during a press conference in Billings. (Schabacker, 9/9)

Salt Lake Tribune: Rising Number Of Coronavirus Cases In Children Is Largely Preventable, Utah Doctor Says
When kids are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the pediatric intensive care unit, their families face restrictions on being with their child and feelings of isolation, said Jacob Ferrin, a registered nurse at Primary Children’s Hospital. “I’ve seen parents that have to sleep in the bathroom in the room,” Ferrin said Thursday in a virtual news conference. “...They’ll go a day or two or three with no sleep because of how intense the environment is.” And when hospitals are at 110% capacity during the coronavirus pandemic, “there’s no way ... that everything is being done as well as when it’s running at 75 or 80%, where it’s designed to run,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, who joined Ferrin, and is chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah Health and director of hospital epidemiology at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. (Jacobs, 9/9)

Houston Chronicle: A 4-Year-Old Galveston County Girl Got A Fever. She Died Of COVID A Few Hours Later, In Her Sleep
Kali Cook was running around her Bacliff home Monday, gleefully batting the fake red eyelashes her grandmother had given her for Labor Day. By 2 a.m., she had a fever. By morning she was gone. The 4-year old died of COVID-19 in her sleep Tuesday at 7 a.m., her mother Karra Harwood told the Chronicle.“It took her so fast,” Harwood said. The preschooler, a student at Bacliff’s Kenneth E. Little Elementary School, is the first child younger than 10 to die of COVID-19 in Galveston County. Health officials confirmed the death Thursday afternoon. (Mishanec, 9/9)

Also —

Axios: HHS Awards Over $13M In Grants To Bolster Students' Health Care Access 
The Biden administration has awarded over $18 million in grants to expand students' access to health care and mental health support as the new school year takes off, according to new numbers shared with Axios. Both children's mental health and their utilization of mental health services worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, per research from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). The return to in-person instruction could also lead to increased health risks depending on masking and vaccinations in the community. (Chen, 9/9)

Axios: Moderna Developing Combination COVID-19, Flu Booster Shot 
Moderna announced Thursday that it is in the process of developing a new vaccine that combines a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine with a seasonal flu vaccine. "We believe this is just the beginning of a new age of information-based medicines," CEO Stéphane Bancel said in the press release, which also gave a slew of updates on projects the company is pursuing. (Saric, 9/9)

Reuters: BioNTech To Seek Approval Soon For Vaccine For 5-11 Year Olds
BioNTech is set to request approval across the globe for use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as five over the next few weeks and preparations for a launch are well on track, two of the biotech firm's top executives told Der Spiegel. "Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11 year-olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe," Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci told the weekly magazine. (9/10)

Axios: Latinos Have Higher Vaccination Rates In Big Cities 
The number of Latinos getting vaccinated against the coronavirus in some of the most populated cities in the U.S. is slowly increasing. Latinos have surpassed whites in the percentage of fully vaccinated adults in New York City. They represent 29.1% of the city's population and non-hispanic whites are 32.1%. (Gonzalez, 9/9)

Stat: Any Qualms About Getting A Covid Vaccine Booster? STAT Readers Respond
Covid-19 vaccine boosters continue to stir controversy as most of the world seeks a first dose, not to mention the intense debate over the scientific evidence for their need and timing. Meanwhile, individuals are also grappling with ethical questions. We asked STAT readers if they had qualms about getting an extra dose before others had their first, and whether they thought their individual decisions mattered. (Cooney, 9/10)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. School District Approves Student COVID Vaccine Mandate
All children 12 and older in Los Angeles public schools must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January to enter campus under an order approved Thursday by the Board of Education, the first such mandate among the nation’s largest school systems and a decision that triggered immediate pushback. The requirement cements the standing of the L.A. Unified School District as an early adopter of COVID-19 school safety measures that are wide-reaching and aggressive. The nation’s second-largest school system has moved faster and more comprehensively than most others in testing all students and employees for coronavirus infection every week, requiring masks indoors and outdoors and ordering employees to get vaccinated. (Blume and Gomez, 9/9)

CNN: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Files Emergency Appeal On School Mask Mandates 
Lawyers for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have filed an emergency appeal with the First District Court of Appeals in Florida in hopes of halting school mask mandates while the case goes through the court system. DeSantis' lawyers argue they "have a high likelihood of success on appeal. Therefore, the trial court abused its discretion in vacating the automatic stay, and this Court should reinstate the stay pending review," according to a court document. (Simon, 9/9)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky School Mask Mandate To End After Andy Beshear Veto Overridden
Kentucky's school mask mandate is null and void after lawmakers quickly overrode a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear late Thursday night. Beshear vetoed portions of Senate Bill 1 shortly before 11 p.m., hours after lawmakers passed the measure. He was almost immediately overridden by the Senate on a 22-6 vote and by the House on a 69-24 vote. School districts will have five business days to determine their mask policy before the statewide requirement officially ends. (Krauth, 9/9)

CNN: After Two Teachers Died Of Covid-19 In A Week, A Texas School District Implements Mask Mandate 
A Texas school district that closed for a week after two junior high school teachers died from Covid-19 within a few days, is now requiring masks inside all of its facilities as the community is seeing surge of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Connally ISD, in McLennan County, shut down all of its campuses on August 31 due to an increase of Covid-19 cases and rising absences by students and staff. (Williams, 9/9)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mandate Requires Milwaukee Public School Staff Be Vaccinated By Nov. 1
Employees of Milwaukee Public Schools must be vaccinated by Nov. 1 unless they qualify for a religious or medical exemption, school board members decided unanimously Thursday night. Students are not being required to get vaccinated, but those who are vaccinated by Nov. 1 will be eligible for $100 monetary incentives — including those who have already been vaccinated. “The more people we can have vaccinated, the better off we will be in controlling and mitigating this virus," Superintendent Keith Posley said. (Linnane, 9/9)

NBC News: Tennessee Teen Talking About Grandma Who Died Of Covid Heckled By Adults At School Board Meeting
A Tennessee teenager who was mocked by adults as he defended masks by explaining his grandmother died of Covid-19 called the moment “complete insanity.” Grady Knox, a junior at Central Magnet School, was mocked and shouted down while speaking at a Rutherford County School Board meeting Tuesday night. A clip of the moment made the rounds of social media, showing adults telling the teenage boy to “shut up” as he gave a personal story to relay his views in favor of mask mandates. (Madani, 9/9)

AP: Loophole Allows Some Pennsylvania Students To Avoid Masking
An apparent loophole in Pennsylvania’s mask mandate for schools is making it easier for some students to go to class without having to cover their faces, even as state education regulators sought to make an example of one openly defiant school board. The state health secretary’s order requiring masks to be worn inside K-12 school and child care facilities, which took effect Tuesday, includes an exemption for students who claim it would cause or worsen a medical condition. (Rubinkam, Scolforo and Levy, 9/10)

The Washington Post: University Of Delaware Warns Faculty Not To Tell Students About Covid-19 Cases In Class 
The University of Delaware is warning its faculty not to tell students if their classmates get a confirmed case of the coronavirus. The change in protocol, sent in an email on Wednesday reviewed by The Washington Post, comes as rising cases on campus resulted in the university’s special accommodations for those who have covid-19 filling up. The email said that “if an instructor is notified by a student that the student has covid-19, the instructor may not tell the class that someone has tested positive for covid-19.” (Pietsch, 9/9)

AP: Judge Extends Block Of Western Michigan Vaccine Mandate
A federal judge on Thursday extended his order blocking Western Michigan University from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement against 16 athletes. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney issued a ruling from the bench granting the athletes the right to continue to compete and participate in intercollegiate athletics until he issues an opinion and order on converting a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction. (9/9)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia University System Leader Defends COVID Policies Against Faculty Protests
The head of Georgia’s university system gave her most vigorous public defense Thursday morning of the system’s coronavirus prevention efforts, and warned of disciplinary action against anyone not following the system’s guidelines. Acting University System of Georgia Chancellor Teresa MacCartney made the comments during a state Board of Regents meeting, despite new demands Thursday afternoon by faculty groups to enact a mask mandate and rising numbers of new positive COVID-19 cases at its largest universities. The University of Georgia, for example, on Wednesday reported 505 new positive cases during a recent seven-day stretch. (Stirgus, 9/9)

NBC News: Covid Long-Haulers Face New Challenges As They Head To College. Universities Are Listening
As excited as Lily Rose Clifton is about starting college as a freshman at the University of Washington in a few weeks, she’s just as anxious about attending school in person after being homebound with long-haul Covid symptoms for the last 15 months. Before getting sick, she was a healthy active teenager but that all flipped after Covid left her struggling with, among other things, post-viral autoimmune dysautonomia which affects her nervous system triggering dizziness, elevated heart rate, and rapid breathing when she stands up or exerts energy quickly. She said she also feels bouts of brain fog, officially diagnosed as dissociate syndrome, which she now takes medication for in order to keep focus. (Ali, 9/9)

The Boston Globe: Brown University Initiative Aims To Offer Facts And Advice On ‘Long Covid’
Among the greatest mysteries surrounding COVID-19 is the syndrome known as “long COVID” — a group of symptoms that linger months after the virus has gone, sometimes preventing people from resuming work. Little is known about what causes long COVID, who is susceptible, how long it lasts, and how best to treat it. But data is pouring in as doctors struggle to come to grips with a new illness affecting millions and sure to strike millions more as the virus continues to spread. Now, a new project at the Brown University School of Public Health, launched with a $1 million grant from the Hassenfeld Family Foundation, will aim to sort through the evolving knowledge, clarify the facts as they emerge, and provide recommendations on how society can cope. (Freyer, 9/8)

CNBC: Delta Air Lines’ $200 Per Month Experiment For Changing Unvaccinated Employees’ Minds Seems To Be Working
Americans infamously vote with their wallets. Turns out, they may get vaccinated against Covid with their wallets, too. In the two weeks since Delta Air Lines announced a $200 monthly health insurance surcharge for unvaccinated employees, 20% of Delta’s unvaccinated employees have already gotten the jab, Dr. Henry Ting, Delta’s chief health officer, said in an Infectious Disease Society of America briefing Thursday. “I think [that’s] a huge number in terms of shifting that group that’s most reluctant,” he said. (Stieg, 9/9)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Won't Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines For Its 275k+ Workers
HCA Healthcare has opted against a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for its more than 275,000 employees, the for-profit hospital giant's finance chief said Thursday. Chief financial officer Bill Rutherford made the disclosure during a virtual presentation at Morgan Stanley's 19th Annual Global Healthcare Conference. He said 186-hospital HCA "obviously" encourages the vaccinations, but is not mandating them. "Those are ongoing discussions that our clinical leadership team coupled with our epidemiologists and our operating team will continue to look at," he said. "But that's not a position HCA has taken at this point." (Bannow, 9/9)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Senate Plan Would Let COVID Immunity Test Equal Proof Of Shot
A measure to let proof of immunity equal proof of a COVID-19 vaccine advanced in the Senate Thursday but it was unclear whether enough time remained for it to win final passage in the House as lawmakers worked to wrap up the special legislative session. Senate Joint Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, passed the Senate 26-10. The temporary measure applies only to state employees and state venues and would last only until January. And the state does not currently require proof either of vaccination or immunity for employees or at any of its venues such as state parks. (Yetter, 9/9)

The New York Times: Vaccination Mandates Are An American Tradition. So Is The Backlash. 
As disease and death reigned around them, some Americans declared that they would never get vaccinated and raged at government efforts to compel them. Anti-vaccination groups spread propaganda about terrible side effects and corrupt doctors. State officials tried to ban mandates, and people made fake vaccination certificates to evade inoculation rules already in place. The years were 1898 to 1903, and the disease was smallpox. News articles and health board reports describe crowds of parents marching to schoolhouses to demand that their unvaccinated children be allowed in, said Michael Willrich, a professor of history at Brandeis University, with some even burning their own arms with nitric acid to mimic the characteristic scar left by the smallpox vaccine. (Astor, 9/9)

Bay Area News Group: Are More Vaccine Mandates Coming To California?
It’s going to get harder for the one in four eligible Americans — nearly 80 million — and one in five Californians yet to be vaccinated to avoid the shots. President Joe Biden ratcheted up pressure on the unvaccinated Thursday with expanded federal mandates, as Los Angeles schools voted to require eligible students in the country’s second largest district to get shots. In California, a state that hasn’t been shy in ordering people around in its efforts to beat back the virus, such vaccine requirements are likely only to multiply. “A lot of people who are not vaccinated are going to have to get vaccinated,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, who said he fully supported those requirements. (Woolfolk, 9/9)

Also —

AP: Washington State To Require Masks For Large Outdoor Events
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that starting next week, the state’s indoor mask mandate will be expanded to include outdoor events with 500 or more attendees, regardless of vaccination status. The new requirement — which takes effect Monday — comes days after a similar outdoor mask mandates took effect in the state’s two most populous counties, King and Pierce, due to rising COVID-19 cases. An indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status, has been in place in Washington since Aug. 23. (La Corte, 9/9)

Stat: Biogen Admits Aduhelm Launch ‘Slower Than We Anticipated’
Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos admitted Thursday that the launch of Aduhelm, the company’s intensely scrutinized treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, has been “slower than we anticipated,” which he blamed in part on “confusion, misinformation, and controversy” about whether the drug works and how it was approved. Only about 50 centers around the country have administered at least one dose of Aduhelm, which won Food and Drug Administration approval on June 7, Biogen said at an investor conference sponsored by the investment bank Morgan Stanley. That has led Biogen to revisit its “already very low sales target” for 2021, Vounatsos said. (Garde and Feuerstein, 9/9)

Stat: Early Data Suggest Hemophilia Drug Could Contend With Gene Therapy
Centessa, a biotech company that raised more than $300 million in an IPO earlier this year, has an early-stage treatment for hemophilia that might compete with the gene therapies nearing the market. The company’s drug, a monthly treatment injected under the skin, significantly reduced the rate of bleeding for patients with hemophilia A and B in a small study, Centessa said Thursday. In the trial, which enrolled just 23 people and was not placebo-controlled, the highest dose of Centessa’s drug led to an 88% reduction in annualized bleeding rate compared to baseline after six months. (Garde, 9/9)

Stat: FDA Rejection Of Humanigen Drug Points To Industry Challenge In Covid Fight
The Food and Drug Administration has declined to grant emergency use authorization to lenzilumab, an experimental drug developed by Humanigen, for the treatment of hospitalized patients with Covid-19, the company said Thursday. “In its letter, FDA stated that it was unable to conclude that the known and potential benefits of lenzilumab outweigh the known and potential risks of its use as a treatment for COVID-19,” Humanigen said. (Herper, 9/9)

In other pharmaceutical and biotech news —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Scientists Win $3 Million Breakthrough Prize For RNA Research That Enabled COVID-19 Vaccines
Sixteen years after their research at the University of Pennsylvania paved the way for billions to be vaccinated against COVID-19, two scientists have been honored with a $3 million Breakthrough Prize. The award for Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, one of five such honors announced Thursday for achievements in science and math, recognizes their success in modifying the genetic molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) so it can instruct human cells to make customized proteins. (Avril, 9/9)

Stat: For First Time, The FDA Warns A Researcher For Failing To Report Trial Results
In a little noticed warning, the Food and Drug Administration threatened to fine the principal investigator of a clinical trial for failing to submit results as required by federal law, marking the first time the agency has widened its list of targets that could face penalties for such a violation. Until now, the regulator had warned two different drug makers for failing to post study results to a federal database, ClinicalTrials.gov. Those moves came as a belated response to years of complaints that too many drug makers and universities do not follow requirements for reporting results, an issue that has riled countless researchers and transparency advocates. (Silverman, 9/9)

Stat: Digital Clinical Trials Can Improve, Accelerate Therapy Development 
Biopharmaceutical companies were conducting more than 9,000 clinical trials in the U.S. in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted trial operations with broad travel restrictions and concerns about patient safety and investigative site capacity. Many clinical trials that required repeated, in-person visits to a clinic or trial site were delayed or halted. But some researchers forged ahead, combining novel tactics like mailing medications and relying on digital technologies such as transmitting photos of home-based blood pressure readings via text message to conduct trials remotely. (Anderson, 9/9)

Genomeweb: Amazon Investment Helps Mammoth Biosciences Reach $195M
CRISPR technology startup Mammoth Biosciences said on Thursday that it has raised a combined $195 million through Series C and Series D financing rounds, making it a so-called unicorn company — startups that are valued at more than $1 billion. The financing included a $45 million Series C round, which was completed in late 2020, and was led by Redmile Group and Foresite Capital. That round also included participation from previous investors, as well as Amazon. The financing also included a $150 million Series D round, which was led by Redmile Group, with participation from Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street, Greenspring Associates, Mayfield, Decheng Capital, NFX, and Plum Alley. (9/9)

Stat: Study Results Cloud The Future Of Apellis Pharma's Eye Disease Treatment
Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a good news-bad news problem involving its experimental treatment for geographic atrophy — a chronic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in older people. Two large and identically designed Phase 3 clinical trials produced confounding results: One study showed Apellis’ drug, injected into the eye, was a success — significantly slowing the progression of the disease compared to a sham injection. But the drug failed to show a benefit in the other study, albeit narrowly. (Feuerstein, 9/9)

In updates from the Theranos trial —

San Francisco Chronicle: Elizabeth Holmes' Trial Delayed After Juror's Potential COVID Exposure
The trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been delayed just a day after opening statements took place after a juror was potentially exposed to the coronavirus, according to multiple reports. Friday’s hearing was postponed and the next trial date is Tuesday, Sept. 14. During an emergency Zoom hearing late Thursday, Judge Edward Davila said a juror may have been exposed last weekend and was awaiting a coronavirus test. The juror is vaccinated and isn’t showing symptoms. (Li, 9/9)

NBC News: The U.S. Just Had Its Hottest Summer On Record
The United States had its hottest summer on record this year, narrowly edging out the previous milestone that was set 85 years ago during the Dust Bowl. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that the average temperature this summer for the contiguous U.S. was 74 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2.6 degrees warmer than the long-term average. The heat record caps off a season full of extremes, with parts of the country experiencing persistent drought, wildfires, record-breaking heat waves, hurricanes and other extreme weather exacerbated by climate change. (Chow, 9/9)

In covid developments —

AP: Virus Claims Black Morticians, Leaving Holes In Communities
Since the start of the pandemic, about 130 Black morticians have died from COVID-19, according to the association that represents them. Deaths of funeral workers are not closely tracked. But the National Funeral Directors Association, which represents the broader industry, said it has not seen a corresponding rise in COVID deaths among its members. The deaths of Black morticians are particularly notable because of the prominent role they have long played in many communities. Often admired for their success in business, a number have been elected to political office, served as local power brokers, and helped fund civil rights efforts. (Geller, 9/10)

NPR: An Anti-Vaccine Book Tops Amazon's COVID Search Results. Lawmakers Call Foul
Amazon is under pressure from Democrats in Congress over how its algorithms promote hoax COVID-19 cures, including the livestock dewormer ivermectin, as well as anti-vaccination claims and other medical misinformation. Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent letters this week to CEO Andy Jassy pressing for information on Amazon's misinformation policies and what the company is doing to stop its systems from recommending books and other products linked to falsehoods about the pandemic and vaccines. (Bond, 9/9)

The Baltimore Sun: Many Of The Changes Wrought By The Pandemic In Maryland Helped The Disabled. They’re Not Ready To Give Them Up
Traveling from Glen Burnie to Towson for her community language program has been a struggle for 63-year-old veteran Alison Elinoff. A stroke 15 years ago left the right side of her body paralyzed. She skipped class several times — often for a doctor’s appointment at the Veterans Administration hospital or because she was too tired. Her performance suffered. “I really like virtual — virtual is great,” Elinoff, who struggles to speak clearly because she has aphasia, a condition developed after a stroke. She likes being in class in person, but it takes 45 minutes to get there, which she said is a hassle. (Louis and Green, 9/10)

Axios: 3.2 Million Americans Say They're Not Working Due To COVID Concerns 
COVID concerns are keeping a growing number of Americans out of the labor market. The wave of Delta variant infections over the past two months has renewed worker fears, which threatens to exacerbate ongoing labor shortages. It's a reversal from earlier in the summer when the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines enabled employers to fill open jobs for months as workplace safety improved. (Ro, 9/9)

AP: NFL Opens To Full Stadiums As COVID-19 Surges
Tom Brady calmly ran out from a smoke-filled tunnel, leading the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers onto the field Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys in front of a full stadium for the first time since COVID-19 upended the world and changed the way sports were viewed. The NFL kicked off its biggest season — teams are playing a 17-game schedule — with no capacity limitations as the league follows the NBA, NHL, MLB, NCAA and others in opening its doors to soldout stadiums. (Maaddi, 9/10)

In other public health news —

Fox News: Alzheimer’s Disease And Sleep: Could 7 To 8 Hours Lower The Risk?
Sleep is key in the healthy aging process, with disruptions linked to outcomes like greater risk of depression, cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. But how much sleep is ideal as adults progress into late life? A recent study published in JAMA Neurology, stemming from PET scans among 4,417 older adults with normal cognition, indicated short sleep of 6 hours or less was linked to a higher burden of the amyloid-beta protein; toxic buildup of amyloid is believed to serve as a precursor for Alzheimer's disease. The study authors from Stanford University also found that both short and longer sleep of 9 hours or more were tied to higher body mass index (BMI), worse self-reported cognitive function and depressive symptoms. (Rivas, 9/9)

The New York Times: Three-Minute Work Exercise Breaks Counter The Ill Effects Of Sitting 
Sitting for hours at a desk can play havoc with our metabolic health, contributing over time to high blood sugar and high cholesterol, even in people who otherwise seem mostly healthy. But a practical though small new study shows that standing up and moving every 30 minutes for about three minutes may lessen the health impacts of over-sitting. The study found that climbing several flights of stairs, bopping through some jumping jacks or squats or even taking as few as 15 steps during these mini-breaks improved aspects of blood sugar control among office workers, without noticeably interrupting their work flow. (Reynolds, 9/8)

The New York Times: Breaking Down The ‘Wellness-Industrial Complex,’ An Episode At A Time 
Aubrey Gordon collects vintage diet books. She has amassed almost 100 titles, including the 1973 volume “Slimming Down,” written by Johnny Carson’s sidekick, Ed McMahon. “Slimming Down” — which featured chapter titles like “The Breadstick Conspiracy” and “Two Martinis Into Connecticut” — is the book that began Ms. Gordon’s collection. And while the idea of mixology as nutritional strategy might seem absurd to a reader today, Ms. Gordon said that so much of the current thinking about what is now known as wellness is just as “hilarious and wacky.” (Petersen, 9/9)

NBC News: ‘Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.’ Tells The Story Of Native Hawaiian Prodigy In Series Reboot
More than three decades after Neil Patrick Harris rose to fame on the hit ABC medical drama “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” Peyton Elizabeth Lee has stepped into the lead role of a wunderkind physician in the reimagined Disney+ series “Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.” Created by Kourtney Kang (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Fresh Off the Boat”), the gender-flipped reboot, which premiered Wednesday, centers on Lahela Kameāloha (Lee), a 16-year-old Native Hawaiian prodigy who is juggling a burgeoning medical career and unconventional life as a teenager in present-day Hawaii. (Gao, 9/9)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Future Of Public Health 
The covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on public health, a key part of the health care system that usually operates in the background. Public health has, over the past century, helped ensure that Americans have clean water to drink, untainted food to eat and vaccines that have helped obliterate once-common deadly diseases. But like other issues related to the pandemic, public health has become politicized and controversial, leading some public health officials to quit or retire. Some even have been physically threatened just for doing their jobs, trying to keep people healthy and safe. (9/9)

The Washington Post: Stillbirths Double In Mississippi Amid Coronavirus Pandemic 
Mississippi has recorded 72 fetal deaths in unvaccinated pregnant women infected with the coronavirus, state health officials announced Wednesday, sounding the alarm on the virus’s danger in pregnancy. Speaking during a news conference, Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said those deaths had occurred since the start of the pandemic. The number, which includes only deaths that occurred past 20 weeks of gestation, “is twice the background rate of what would be expected,” he said. (Shammas, 9/9)

In updates from Louisiana, New York and Michigan —

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Orleans Parish Coroner Says 7 Deaths At Senior Apartments Likely Due To Excessive Heat
The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office confirmed that seven residents of apartment complexes for seniors who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida likely perished because of the excessive heat during the extended outage after the storm. The deaths include four of the five residents who died at a group of 10 senior complexes that were evacuated by the city starting five days after Ida, when sweltering temperatures and a lack of air conditioning left tenants struggling to find food, water and ice. The other three deaths attributed to the hot conditions occurred in three separate complexes for older adults that were also left without power but were not evacuated. Those complexes have not, so far, been the focus of city officials' ire. (Adelson, 9/9)

AP: Endo Latest Company To Settle With New York Over Opioids
The state of New York and two large counties agreed Thursday a $50 million deal to end their lawsuits with drugmaker Endo International, in the latest of a progression of settlements of government claims over the opioid addiction and overdose crisis. Under the deal announced Thursday night, the Dublin-based drugmaker and its subsidiary Par are to pay $22.3 million to the state attorney general’s office and $13.85 million to both Suffolk and Nassau counties. (9/10)

Detroit Free Press: How Local Organizations Are Tackling 'Period Poverty'
A pair of bills that would eliminate a tax on feminine hygiene products in Michigan is welcome news for local advocates and community organizations on the forefront of the fight to tackle "period poverty" — or the struggle to afford pads and tampons. The legislation, introduced this year and headed to the House floor for a vote, seeks to exempt tampons, pads and other menstrual products from Michigan's 6% sales and use tax. That tax unfairly burdens people who menstruate, advocates say. For years, advocates and local organizations have been pushing to eliminate the so-called "tampon tax." They've been filling in gaps, too, by providing pads, tampons and other menstrual hygiene products to people who can't afford them. (Rahman, 9/10)

In updates from California —

AP: California May Require Menstrual Products In Public Schools
California public schools and colleges would have to stock their restrooms with free menstrual products under legislation sent Thursday to Gov. Gavin Newsom as women’s rights advocates push nationwide for affordable access to pads, tampons and other items. The bill by Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia builds on her 2017 law requiring low-income schools in disadvantaged areas to provide students with free menstrual products. (Thompson, 9/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: BinaxNow Vs. Ellume: Why One Rapid COVID Test Seems To Be Sold Out Everywhere
Rapid at-home antigen tests have become convenient tools for people hoping to quickly determine whether their cold symptoms are COVID-19. But the tests, which are not as accurate as PCR lab tests but return results in far less time, can be hard to find in the Bay Area. The two at-home tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration are Abbott Laboratories' BinaxNow and Ellume’s COVID-19 home test. But at least in the Bay Area, it’s challenging to find a drugstore that isn’t sold out of BinaxNow, though Ellume is far easier to get. (Vainshtein, 9/9)

KHN: It’s Not Just Covid: Recall Candidates Represent Markedly Different Choices On Health Care 
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s covid-19 rules have been a lightning rod in California’s recall election. But there’s a lot more at stake for Californians’ health care than mask and vaccine mandates. Newsom, a first-term Democrat, argues that their fundamental ability to get health insurance and medical treatments is on the line. Republicans are seeking to “take away health care access for those who need it,” according to his statement in the voter guide sent to Californians ahead of Tuesday’s recall election. (Young and Bluth, 9/10)

Bay Area News Group: $2.75 Billion For Homeless Housing Up For Grabs In California
California housing officials on Thursday made $2.75 billion available for cities, counties and nonprofits to create new homeless housing — vastly expanding a program that already has provided more than 1,600 residential units in the Bay Area. Thursday’s expansion more than triples the size of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Homekey program, which launched last year to purchase hotels, apartments and other buildings, and convert them into long-term housing for homeless residents. In 2020, the program doled out $846 million and created 6,029 units of housing throughout the state. (Kendall, 9/9)

CNBC: Covid: U.S. Is The World’s Largest Donor Of Vaccines, Data Shows
The U.S. is the largest donor of Covid-19 vaccines globally — way ahead of other major economies such as China, Japan and the U.K., according to public data compiled by UNICEF. UNICEF is a United Nations agency responsible for the protection and development of children. It also manages Covid vaccine supply for the COVAX initiative, which aims to share doses with lower-income countries. (Lee, 9/9)

Bloomberg: Pandemic Risks Worsening On Africa Variants, Scientists Say 
The proliferation of Covid-19 variants in Africa, partly attributed to the low rates of vaccination on the continent, could lead to vaccine-evading mutations that complicate attempts to end the pandemic, a group of 112 African and 25 international organizations said. A study of genomes from 33 African nations and two “overseas territories,” published in the journal Science on Thursday, tracks the evolution of the pandemic across the continent and the emergence of a number of so-called Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest. One of those, beta, spread around the globe earlier this year and rendered some vaccines partially ineffective. (Sguazzin, 9/9)

Bloomberg: Funding Boost For U.K. Health Service Enough For Two Years Only
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cash boost for U.K. health care is insufficient to meet the medium-term costs of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The analysis published Friday raises the possibility that further tax increases or spending cuts will be required to fund the National Health Service from the middle of the decade. Johnson’s government this week announced an extra 16 billion pounds ($22 billion) for NHS England over the next two fiscal years, paying for the increase with a tax hike on workers and companies that is set to take taxation as a share of the economy to its highest sustained level in at least 70 years. (Atkinson, 9/10)

Also —

CNN: World Suicide Prevention Day: How To Help In 2021
More than 700,000 people die by suicide each year, according to the World Health Organization. Translated: Every 40 seconds, someone in the world takes their own life. That's a sobering statistic to ponder today, on 2021's World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide rates have been climbing for years in some parts of the world. In the United States alone, suicide rates have increased by 35% between 1999 and 2018. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls suicide a "growing public health problem." (LaMotte, 9/10)

NBC News: 2 People Killed In World Trade Center On 9/11 Identified With DNA Ahead Of 20th Anniversary
Two people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were identified this week by authorities, providing some closure for the victims’ families who had waited nearly two decades for answers. Dorothy Morgan, of Hempstead, New York, and a man whose name was withheld at the request of his family are the 1,646th and 1,647th people whose remains have been identified through “ongoing DNA analysis,” according to a statement Tuesday from the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (Planas, 9/8)

The New York Times: 9/11 Victims Are Still Being Identified, 20 Years Later
For 20 years, the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office has quietly conducted the largest missing persons investigation ever undertaken in the nation — testing and retesting the 22,000 body parts painstakingly recovered from wreckage after the attacks. Scientists are still testing the vast inventory of unidentified remains for a genetic connection to the 1,106 victims — roughly 40 percent of the ground zero death toll — who are still without a match so that their families can reclaim the remains for a proper burial. (Kilgannon, 9/6)

The New York Times: Trying To Find Your Mother’s Remains From Ground Zero, 20 Years Later 
Last month, two detectives showed up at Nykiah Morgan’s Long Island home. Her son, Dante, called her while she was at work. “They’re here about Grandma,” he said. Nearly 20 years ago, Dorothy Morgan, Ms. Morgan’s mother, disappeared into the rubble of the collapsed towers, like most of the 2,753 ground zero victims on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. She was working as an insurance broker in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. With no remains, her daughter was never able to give her a proper burial. But now the detectives had arrived with news that the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office had just positively identified Dorothy Morgan through advanced DNA testing. (Kilgannon, 9/6)

Newsweek: More People Died Of 9/11-Related Illnesses Than In The Initial Attack: Report
The September 11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) released its "20th Anniversary Special Report" that reported it believes more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were lost in the initial 2001 attacks. Forty-eight percent have those who claimed compensation reported having cancer, and 20 percent of those with cancer were found to have an additional qualifying condition. Under the "Never Forget the Heroes" Act, the VCF provides funds to those who survived, lost a family member, responded, removed subsequent debris, or were near the exposure site on the day of the attacks. (Rouhandeh, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Among 9/11 Survivors, Health Effects Linger 
Dana Nelson was sitting in English class on the ninth floor of Stuyvesant High School on Sept. 11, 2001, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Then 14 years old, she watched from the window of her classroom with her classmates. Like hundreds of thousands of others in Manhattan that day, she fled through a cloud of toxic dust and debris. A month later, she returned to class in that same building. “That smell. There’s nothing that matches it,” she said. “It is such a sense memory. It brings me right back there.”Ms. Nelson said she has paid for her quick return to school with her health. Now 34 years old, she has spent the last year undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for aggressive breast cancer. (Wernau, 9/6)

The Washington Post: The Mystery Of 9/11 First Responders And Dementia 
More than a decade after the twin towers fell, Ron Kirchner began forgetting things. Buckling his belt. Closing his car door. Once, while visiting a preschool class on the 13th anniversary of 9/11, he even neglected to wear his customary necktie and New York City Fire Department hat. “He was in a panic,” says his wife, Dawn. “He used to like to bring the kids something, like coloring books. And he couldn’t find anything. ”This was unlike Ron, who had always been devoted and dutiful. He frequently wrote Dawn love notes, hiding them around their house. He made time after work to play with his two children, Luke and Ava. He mopped the floors before going to bed, whistling while he pushed the handle. “He did it joyfully,” Dawn says. “Ronnie was a giver.” (Hurby, 8/30)

CBS Miami: Doctors Still Seeing New York First Responders For Mental Health Issues 
New patients who have never been treated are still coming in every week, according to Dr. Sandra Lowe, medical director of the World Trade Center Mental Health program at Mount Sinai in New York. “Most of them have post-traumatic stress disorder. But we also see individuals who have major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders,” she said. Dr. Lowe said 9/11 anniversary reactions are also common. “We started to hear about people having an exacerbation of their symptoms, like more nightmares, or feeling more on edge, ” said Dr. Lowe. (9/8)

The Scientist Magazine: Q&A: Health Of 9/11 First Responders 20 Years Later 
Almost immediately after the attacks, many first responders began to report health issues, including the so-called World Trade Center cough. And in the two decades since, scientists have documented a number of diseases and mental health disorders among those who helped in rescue and cleanup efforts in the months that followed. According to a recent report released by the Fire Department of the City of New York’s World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, an initiative started in 2010 to monitor and treat those who responded to the tragedy, more than half of its participants have at least one certified medical condition that the disaster aggravated, contributed to, or caused. The Scientist spoke with Rachel Zeig-Owens, an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, the director of epidemiology for the WTC Health Program, and a coauthor of the report. (Heidt, 9/7)

KHN: ‘Luckiest Man Alive’: Why 9/11 First Responders’ Outlooks May Improve Even As Physical Health Fails
Ray Pfeifer and Luis Alvarez’s names are on the federal 9/11 legislation that establishes benefits for first responders. Both men fought to make Congress pass it while they were dying of cancer — and they had another thing in common. In spite of it all, they were content. “I am the luckiest man alive,” Pfeifer, a former New York City firefighter, told me in 2017, just about two months before he died of cancer linked to his time working in the ruins of the World Trade Center. It was something he said often. (McAuliff, 9/10)

Fox News: 9/11 Toxic Exposure Triggers Cancer Battles 20 Years Later
After his exposure to toxic debris from the collapsed twin towers, Tom Wilson, a former NYPD sergeant on 9/11, recalled his eyes and throat burning. However, the exposure ultimately took a significant toll: severe sinusitis, gastrointestinal issues and an aggressive cancerous tumor on the tongue, among other adverse health effects. Wilson secured the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge on 9/11, conducted security around Ground Zero in the month following, was involved in rescue efforts, and among other assignments, searched rooftops in lower Manhattan for remains. He also combed through the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island for hours at a time into April 2002, sifting and raking through debris for items like bone fragments, rings and personal belongings to bring victims' families closure. (Rivas, 9/9)

The Independent: Marcy Borders: The Tragic Story Of ‘Dust Lady’ And Other 9/11 Survivors Who Developed Fatal Health Problems 
Even among the million photographs taken on one of the most devastating days of the 21st century, it’s a picture possessed of unusual power. Just after the collapse of the World Trade Center’s South Tower, a woman staggers from the street into an office building, caked in dust. Her face is caught somewhere between blank shock and acute pain. From head to toe, she’s been powdered white by pulverised concrete and cement. (Naughtie, 9/8)

WXXI: 20 Years Later, Mohawk Ironworkers Reflect On Unique Connection To 9/11 
The health effects of working long hours breathing in toxic dust were impossible to avoid. In the beginning, most ironworkers didn’t have respirators, and used makeshift face coverings or went without. Ironworker Michael Mitchell said that in the first months, no one was certain about the possible health effects. "You look back," he said, "and you were walking in 2 feet of asbestos." (Williams-Bergen, 9/8)

The Washington Post: They Weren’t Born Yet When Their Dads Died On 9/11. The Loss Shaped Their Lives.
For the children who weren’t yet born when their fathers died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — more than 100, according to Tuesday’s Children, an organization that counsels them — their fathers exist only as a lifelong, heartbreaking absence. On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, here are four stories of children who entered the world after their fathers had already left. (Shammas and Rosenwald, 9/7)

USA Today: Did 9/11 Permanently Change Life In The US? More Americans Say So Than Ever Before
The sense among Americans that the Sept. 11 attacks permanently changed life in the USA has grown, not faded – as the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches and a new peril threatens the nation. In a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, those surveyed call the COVID-19 pandemic a more dangerous challenge to the country than the terrorist strikes in 2001. But by a wider margin than ever, 60%-38%, they say 9/11 changed Americans' lives forever.  (Page and Elbeshbishi, 9/2)

Everyday Health: How To Cope With 9/11 Anniversary Grief 
For many who survived or lost someone in the 9/11 attacks, the anniversary reignites memories of what they experienced that day, says the grief psychologist Heidi Horsley, PsyD, an adjunct assistant professor of social work at Columbia University in New York City, and the executive director and cofounder of Open to Hope, an organization for grief recovery. Dr. Horsley has counseled widows and children of firefighters who died in the New York City attacks. ... Here’s why she says anniversaries like 9/11 can reawaken grief, how you can cope, and when you should seek professional help. (Vogt, 9/8)

Axios: A 9/11 Every Two Days: The Toll Of COVID Deaths 
This weekend, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people. But we've lost track of the fact that at least that many will die of COVID-19 within the span of two days. 9/11 was a shocking attack that sparked massive domestic foreign policy changes and conflict in two countries. While the pandemic has certainly led to enormous policy and lifestyle changes, the daily drumbeat of hundreds of COVID deaths in America isn't garnering the attention it once did. (Reed, 9/10)

Stat: Covid-19 Trauma Complicates The 9/11 'Anniversary Effect' 
Trauma caused by violence or tragic events can have a huge impact on individuals’ lives. And though their responses to trauma may fade away, it can reemerge or be heightened by anniversaries. That the 20th anniversary of the horrific attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, is taking place amid the ongoing collective tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic is bound to make this year’s remembrances of 9/11 extra difficult for some Americans. (Ken Yeager, 9/10)

Doctors describe treating patients from the Pentagon —

WJLA: For Two Young Doctors Working At Virginia Hospital, 9/11 Was A 'Test Of Tests' 
For two young physicians, a quiet Tuesday morning that turned into an attack on the United States, shaped what kind of doctors they would become over the next 20 years. Virginia Hospital Center’s emergency department on the morning of September 11, 2001, was quiet. ... “I had been working at Virginia Hospital Center for about six weeks before 9/11,” Dr. Peter Liu told 7News Reporter Victoria Sanchez. “I just got out of residency, I was a new grad and this was a test of tests.” (Sanchez, 9/6)

WJLA: Doctor Who Treated 9/11 Patients After Plane Crashed Into Pentagon Shares Harrowing Story
When American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, Dr. Veena Railan was there carrying out her daily duties as a physician. 7News reporter Kellye Lynn has this rare interview with the doctor who cared for many of the injured on that horrific day. ... "As I picked up the radio there was a lot of crackling and I heard requests for crash carts for burn victims." Railan said. "It surprised me, why do we have burn victims?" (Lynn, 9/8)

And environmental concerns trouble the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania —

The Allegheny Front: Twenty Years After Flight 93 Crashed, The Living Memorial Faces Both Old And New Threats 
Today, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County is peaceful. A grassy, windswept meadow stretches from the site’s visitor center seated on a ridge down to the walkway overlooking the plane’s final resting place. In the summer, it blooms with yellow and purple wildflowers. Trails are lined with maples that turn stunning shades of red and orange in the fall. But the field where Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, was not a pristine natural space — it was a former strip mine. The memorial’s designers set out to restore life at the site, and provide a space for healing and reflection in nature. But maintaining that vision is proving to be a challenge. (McDevitt, 9/7)

State Impact Pennsylvania: Flight 93 Crashed Among Coal Mines. Treating The Water There Was No Ordinary Project 
At the time of the crash, the mines [near the Pennsylvania crash site] were owned by PBS Coals, Inc. They were shuttered soon afterward, and the families of Flight 93’s passengers and crew were looking to buy the roughly 900 acres from the coal company for the memorial. For that sale to happen, PBS needed to prove it had taken care of any water pollution problems from its mines. ... But in 2003, an inspector discovered contaminated water — highly acidic and heavy with iron and a metal called manganese — at what the families called the sacred ground: the place where their loved ones died. (Goldberg, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: These Sensor-Studded Smart Clothes Just Might Save Your Life
Startups are developing clothing to take the place of tests typically performed at a doctor’s office, from taking blood pressure and body temperature to listening to the heart and lungs, and running an electrocardiogram, or ECG, to monitor the heart’s electrical activity. New York-based Nanowear has spent about $12 million to develop SimpleSense, a sash lined with billions of nanosensors that is worn close to the chest and over the right shoulder. The sensors double as tiny microphones and capture data for 85 medical signs, including heart rate and blood pressure, which are measured by “listening” to the heart and its electric signals, the company says. A smartphone app is used to start and stop the data recording and transmit it to a physician via an online portal. (Morenne, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Tech Advances Put The Annual Doctor Visit On The Critical List 
Shortly after his office closed in the early months of the pandemic, Paul Hyman, a primary care physician in Brunswick, Maine, scanned a printout of patients who were scheduled to see him in the next 30 days. Many were due for an annual physical exam, which by definition seems to require an in-person visit.“You had to decide for every single patient how you’re going to provide care for them in a way you never had before,” he recalls. That prompted him to ponder the role of the physical itself: “What would happen if I delayed it three months, or didn’t do it at all?” For Dr. Hyman and many other physicians and their patients, the pandemic triggered a disruption in one of medicine’s most common encounters—and, through virtual visits, provided an early glimpse of the physical of the future. (Winslow, 9/6)

The New York Times: Why Lawsuits Over 'Misleading' Food Labels Are Surging 
Shoppers drawn to sustainable, humanely raised meat and dairy products could be forgiven for thinking the nation’s big food companies have turned away from the industrial farming practices that have long dominated American agriculture. Consider the package labels and marketing claims for some of the country’s best known brands: Cargill turkeys are sourced from “independent family farmers,” Sargento cheeses contain “no antibiotics” and Tyson uses “humane and environmentally responsible production” to raise its chickens while providing workers “a safe work environment.” (Jacobs, 9/7)

The Washington Post: Adult Vaccinations Such As Tetanus, Shingles, Pneumonia Are Often Forgotten 
As children grow up, pediatricians routinely remind their parents when vaccinations are due. But there are few regular notices that nudge adults into getting vaccinations — except for annual flu shots and, more recently, public discussions about coronavirus vaccinations and boosters. Yet, vaccines aren’t just for kids. Adults and older adolescents need them, too. There are numerous recommended vaccines, including for shingles, pneumonia, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, and others targeted to specific age or risk groups, such as hepatitis B, meningitis and human papillomavirus. (Cimons, 9/6)

The Wall Street Journal: With Fertility Needs In Flux, Men Eye Freezing Their Sperm 
Saad Alam, a 39-year-old founder of a biotech startup and self-described fitness fanatic from Jersey City, N.J., started experiencing fatigue and low sex drive when he was 35. After a series of tests, he found that he had “the testosterone levels of an 80-year-old man,” he says, a revelation that sent his girlfriend into a panic. Now, he says, he has frozen sperm samples with five different companies as a way of making sure his genetics remain viable in multiple locations. Mr. Alam believes that his generation could live to be 110 or 120 years old, which he says “fundamentally changes how you think about the arc of your life,” and when to have children. (Whelan, 9/8)

The Washington Post: Why Pregnant People Are More Vulnerable During Natural Disasters Like Hurricane Ida
The night Hurricane Jeanne hit in September 2004, Kisha Hartman stayed up all night, staring anxiously out her window at the ominous green lights bursting over the highway — transformers exploding in the distance. It was the third major storm to hit her Lakeland, Fla., home in six weeks. Eight months pregnant, she had already experienced weeks of power outages after Hurricanes Charley and Frances hit in close succession. The night “Mean Jeanne” came to town, Hartman looked out at the dark, rubbing her belly and listening on her shower radio to the local weatherman who had for weeks been her only lifeline. Throughout the night she heard loud thuds. Hartman, now 49, assumed they were branches tumbling down. In the morning, she discovered they were actually whole trees. But the worst was yet to come. Hartman and her husband were uninsured — not so poor that they qualified for assistance, she said, but they didn’t make enough to stock up on supplies and leave town. (Branigin, 9/2)

Scientific American: Misophonia Might Not Be About Hating Sounds After All 
To a chef, the sounds of lip smacking, slurping and swallowing are the highest form of flattery. But to someone with a certain type of misophonia, these same sounds can be torturous. Brain scans are now helping scientists start to understand why. People with misophonia experience strong discomfort, annoyance or disgust when they hear particular triggers. These can include chewing, swallowing, slurping, throat clearing, coughing and even audible breathing. Researchers previously thought this reaction might be caused by the brain overactively processing certain sounds. Now, however, a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience has linked some forms of misophonia to heightened “mirroring” behavior in the brain: those affected feel distress while their brains act as if they are mimicking the triggering mouth movements. (Gelitz and Bender, 9/1)

The Washington Post: That Time America Almost Had A 30-Hour Workweek
The nature of work has undergone a lot of changes during the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of office workers began working from home; the service industry has struggled to get workers to come back, and some businesses, like Kickstarter, are now experimenting with four-day workweeks — without reducing salaries. In Congress, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation to make a 32-hour workweek standard. This “great reassessment” of labor feels revolutionary. But we have been here before. In 1933, the Senate passed, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported, a bill to reduce the standard workweek to only 30 hours. (Brockell, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Paralympians Who Made History In Tokyo, Including The First Nonbinary Medalist And More 
When the postponed 2020 Paralympic Games wrap up Sunday in Tokyo, many “firsts” will have been accomplished by women — several of whom are bringing home medals to their countries for the first time. This Paralympic Games, which started on Aug. 23 after a year-long delay for the 4,405 competitors due to the coronavirus pandemic, has already made history. For the first time since the debut of the Paralympics in 1960, Paralympians will be paid the same for their medal wins as their Olympic peers. Because the U.S. government doesn’t financially support its Olympic or Paralympic athletes, the winnings are especially dear to these athletes who often need expensive and custom gear. (Youn, 9/2)

Also —

The Washington Post: Inside The Wuhan Lab: French Engineering, Deadly Viruses, And A Big Mystery 
One chilly morning in February 2017, a tall Chinese scientist in his 50s named Yuan Zhiming showed Bernard Cazeneuve, then the French prime minister, around Wuhan’s new high-security pathogen lab. Built with French engineering, it was China’s first P4 lab, one of several dozen in the world with that highest security designation. Yuan, the director of the lab, had worked more than a decade to make it a reality. (Dou, Wu, Aries and Tan, 9/7)

The Atlantic: The Plan to Stop Every Respiratory Virus at Once
A virus that lingers in the air is an uncomfortable and inconvenient revelation. Scientists who had pushed the WHO to recognize airborne transmission of COVID-19 last year told me they were baffled by the resistance they encountered, but they could see why their ideas were unwelcome. In those early days when masks were scarce, admitting that a virus was airborne meant admitting that our antivirus measures were not very effective. “We want to feel we’re in control. If something is transmitted through your contaminated hands touching your face, you control that,” Noakes said. “But if something’s transmitted through breathing the same air, that is very, very hard for an individual to manage.” (Zhang, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Toss The Clorox Wipes, Stock Up On Masks To Be Safe At Work 
What can you do to protect yourself and others in the workplace? First, get the vaccine, doctors and researchers say. Then block the virus particles with a well-fitting, leakproof mask and do whatever you can to ventilate or filter the air around your desk. ... Be ready to adjust how you get to work. If you can, aerosol scientists say, avoid taking trains or buses at peak times. In a car, taxi or ride-hailing vehicle, crack the windows by about an inch. (Morris, 9/7)

Dallas Morning News: Mocking Vaccine Resisters Isn’t Helping
You’ve likely seen the headlines about COVID-19 killing radio hosts and activists who opposed vaccines and masks. Several of those headlines were about Caleb Wallace, a Texan who helped organize a “freedom rally” this summer to protest mask-wearing. Some corners of the internet reacted with ridicule to news of his death last month, sparing no thought to Wallace’s grieving wife and daughters. It’s important that we all resist the impulse to scream, “I told you so!” Yes, it’s maddening to find ourselves swept up in yet another wave of COVID-19 cases eight months into the rollout of vaccines that should have ended this pandemic by now. But every death is a tragedy and should be treated as such. (9/10)

USA Today: Use Data, Masks To Manage COVID As Vaccinated Regions See Cases Climb
The six New England states lead the country in achieving high vaccine coverage that reduce the severity of COVID-19. Unfortunately, rapidly growing cases and hospitalizations in New England show high levels of vaccination alone will not control the spread of delta, a COVID-19 variant that is more transmissible among both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. As schools reopen and many workers return to offices, New England has seen a 700% rise in COVID-19 hospital admissions and a 1900% rise in cases since early July. The surge threatens economic recovery and has already started to close schools in the region. (Julia Raifman, Anne Sosin, Gregg Gonsalves, Brandon D. L. Marshall, Elizabeth Samuels and Tania D. Strout, 9/9)

The New York Times: Are Covid Booster Shots Really Necessary? 
Starting Sept. 20, millions of Americans who received their second shot of either of the mRNA coronavirus vaccines at least eight months ago are supposed to become eligible for a third dose. But America’s nascent booster campaign has a problem: When the Biden administration announced it last month, the idea of offering third doses hadn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration — and it still hasn’t. The timing of the decision drew criticism from some scientists and accusations of vaccine hoarding from the World Health Organization, whose director said booster programs “make a mockery of vaccine equity.” (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 9/9)

Houston Chronicle: I Got My Coronavirus Booster Early. It Was Infuriatingly Easy
I recently received a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. I am not immunocompromised. I do not have any conditions that would put me at higher risk if I were to get COVID-19. I do not live in a nursing home or work in a health care setting. I am not, in any way imaginable, an ideal candidate for receiving a booster dose now. Though the Biden administration initially anticipated making booster shots available to the general public by Sept. 20, eight months after people received their initial doses, that plan has been delayed as health agencies review safety data. (Rachel Fairbank, 9/13)

The Washington Post: Biden’s Six-Step Covid Strategy Does Not Go Far Enough To Compel Vaccinations 
President Biden’s much-hyped new strategy for fighting covid-19 is a tepid half-measure that falls short of the dramatic reset the country needs. The six-pronged strategy announced on Thursday can be summarized as “more of the same” — these are good steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough to get the job done. (Leana S. Wen, 9/9)

The New York Times: Biden's Vaccine Mandate, Enforced By OSHA, Is A Big Mistake
There’s one person that President Biden desperately needs to consult about his new federal vaccine mandate: President-elect Biden. In December 2020, as the prospect of imminent mass vaccination against Covid-19 was finally becoming a reality, Mr. Biden leveled with the American people: He said he would not force anyone to get the jab. “No, I don’t think it should be mandatory,” he told reporters. “I wouldn’t demand it be mandatory.” (Robby Soave, 9/10)

The Boston Globe: The COVID Cavalry Has Arrived 
As the summer ends and fall begins, COVID-19 continues to thwart the celebrations we had all planned to mark the fading of the pandemic in the United States. Instead, anxiety and foreboding have become more common as we look ahead. And everyone is wondering: What’s next? President Biden’s new pandemic plan recognizes the urgency and challenges of this moment. Americans seem to have hit a wall on vaccinations, and the Delta variant is sending too many, almost all unvaccinated, to hospitals and deadly illness. Children are returning to schools, workers to their workplaces, and the air is starting to get a bit cooler, signaling that outdoor activities will become harder. It is understandable why so many Americans are feeling a sense of dread and worrying that we are returning to 2020, when the pandemic hit. (Ashish K Jha, 9/9)

Bloomberg: 12 Of Today’s Most Pressing Covid Questions Answered 
The race to tame Covid-19 has resulted in a wealth of research, new vaccines and promising treatments that hold out the promise of an end to the pandemic. But many questions remain. Here, Max Nisen and Sam Fazeli, who cover health care and the pharmaceutical industry for Bloomberg Opinion and Bloomberg Intelligence, discuss some of the most pressing ones. The dialog has been edited and condensed. (Sam Fazeli and Max Nisen, 9/9)

Newsweek: The Build Back Better Plan Is A Win For America's Home Care Workers 
COVID-19's resurgence at the hands of self-interested politicians is threatening workers' lives and stalling our recovery. Jobs have been slow to return, especially for service workers. But there's reason to be optimistic. We have a chance to turn home care, the fastest-growing job in America, from poverty-wage employment into a good union job. It could be a real turning point—and an incredibly popular one—in our movement to win unions for every worker and create the most inclusive middle class this nation has seen. (Mary Kay Henry, 9/9)

NBC News: Texas' Abortion Crisis Proves The Abortion Pill Needs To Be In Every Drug Store
If it wasn’t clear before the Supreme Court’s decision greenlighting Texas’ draconian abortion ban, it’s certainly clear now that we are in the middle of a safe abortion care crisis. And it’s only going to get worse as other conservative state legislatures aim to follow Texas' lead. (Dr. Daniel Grossman, 9/9)

The Washington Post: The Best Way To Fight The Texas Abortion Law 
The Supreme Court’s decision last week to allow Texas’s ban on most abortions to take effect raised many questions about legal procedure and the future of abortion in the United States. The most pressing is how to limit the damage that Texas’s plainly unconstitutional law will do to women’s constitutional rights. Many ideas involving the use of Justice Department powers or the raising of private funds are surfacing. But the overriding goal must be for the courts to strike down the Texas law, officially and for good. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see how that can happen without a Texas abortion provider allowing itself to be hauled into court. (9/9)

Bloomberg: Spending Prescription Painkiller Settlement Cash 
Makers and sellers of prescription painkillers will soon begin paying out billions of dollars to settle lawsuits that have accused them of fueling the opioid epidemic. Most recently, more than 40 states have agreed to accept $26 billion from Johnson & Johnson and three big drug distributors, to be paid out over 18 years. (9/9)

Stat: Online Pharmacies Could Save Medicare Billions On Generic Drugs 
Public outcry about the shockingly high cost of brand-name drugs and a demand for new laws to rein in the cost of these medicines has persisted for years. But more than 90% of all prescriptions — almost 4 billion a year — are filled with generic drugs. Little attention has been paid to how much insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, and pharmacies charge to fill these generic prescriptions. Yet the difference between the highest and lowest price being charged for the same generic drug is so large that many billions of dollars could be saved each year by having prescriptions filled at the lowest-cost pharmacies. (Alfred Engelberg, 9/10)