The New York Times: Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary Of State, Dies Of Covid Complications
Colin L. Powell, who in four decades of public life served as the nation’s top soldier, diplomat and national security adviser, and whose speech at the United Nations in 2003 helped pave the way for the United States to go to war in Iraq, died on Monday. He was 84.He died of complications from Covid-19, his family said in a statement. He was fully vaccinated and was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, his family said. Mr. Powell was a path breaker serving as the country’s first African American national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state. (Schmitt, 10/18)

The Hill: Colin Powell Dead At 84 From COVID-19 Complications 
The family said the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been fully vaccinated and was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Medical Center. “General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment,” the Powell family said in a statement posted to Facebook. (Schnell, 10/18)

CNN: Colin Powell, Military Leader And First Black US Secretary Of State, Dies After Complications From Covid-19 
Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. ... Though he never mounted a White House bid, when Powell was sworn in as Bush's secretary of state in 2001, he became the highest-ranking Black public official to date in the country, standing fourth in the presidential line of succession. (Cole, 10/18)

BBC: Obituary: Colin Powell 
Colin Powell came from a humble background to become the first African-American US secretary of state. A highly decorated army officer, he saw service in Vietnam, an experience that later helped define his own military and political strategies. He became a trusted military adviser to a number of leading US politicians. And, despite his own misgivings, he helped swing international opinion behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (10/18)

Stat: FDA Advisory Panel Votes 19-0 To Endorse Booster Dose Of J&J Vaccine 
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Friday that booster shots should be made available to people who have received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. Unlike the authorizations for boosters for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, no restrictions were put on the J&J booster. The panel effectively said that the J&J vaccine, like the other vaccines, requires two doses to be effective. (Herper and Branswell, 10/15)

Roll Call: FDA Advisers Back Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Booster 
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted, 19-0, to authorize a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 booster shot at least two months after the first dose, providing some reassurance to the 14 million Americans who received its vaccine and face a higher risk of mild cases than other vaccinated people. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended the second shot after parsing the data for five hours. The panel also showed some support at its meeting Friday for allowing people to get a booster shot made by a different manufacturer than the vaccine they originally received. (Kopp, 10/15)

New York Post: Johnson And Johnson Vaccine Recipients Urged To Get Booster Shot ASAP
Experts are urging those who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to get the booster shot as soon as possible after a new study showed a drop in its effectiveness during the Delta variant surge. ... “J&J is a very good vaccine. I also believe it’s probably a two-shot vaccine,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told CNN. “It’s really urgent that people get that second shot pretty quickly.” (Reilly, 10/16)

Also —

Axios: Fauci: J&J Recipients Will Likely Be Able To Mix And Match Boosters 
The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will likely allow recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 to mix and match vaccine boosters depending on their individual health, NIAID director Anthony Fauci told ABC News' '"This Week" on Sunday. The FDA's vaccine expert panel on Friday unanimously endorsed booster shots for adult recipients of the J&J vaccine. The panel is also exploring the mix and match strategy but hasn't yet taken a formal vote on the matter. (Saric, 10/17)

Politico: Fauci Tamps Down Concern About Covid-19 Booster Review Process 
President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser sought to dismiss concerns Sunday over whether the White House’s vocal embrace of Covid-19 boosters had any influence over the regulatory process. “I don’t think there’s any a political issue there; I think it’s just public health data and evidence,” Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on “Fox News Sunday.” (Niedzwiadek, 10/17)

New York Post: Fauci Says FDA Panel Concluded J&J Shot Should've Been Two Doses
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said he believes Johnson & Johnson should’ve doled out a two-dose COVID-19 shot — as health experts recommend getting a booster to the one-shot jab as soon as it becomes available. The White House chief medical advisor said that the unanimous decision Friday by the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to recommend the booster shots should be welcomed news for recipients of the vaccine. (Salo, 10/17)

USA Today: Fauci Says Johnson & Johnson One-Shot Vaccine Should Have Been Two All Along
The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that last week won approval from FDA advisers for a booster shot probably should have been a two-shot vaccine from the start, the nation's top infectious disease physician said Sunday. "What the advisers to the FDA felt is that, given the data that they saw, very likely this should have been a two-dose vaccine to begin with," Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC's "This Week." The Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory panel unanimously approved booster shots for the vaccine Friday for all J&J recipients 18 years and older – as early as two months after the first dose. (Bacon and Santucci, 10/17)

FiercePharma: Johnson & Johnson Wins FDA Panel Backing For A Second Dose Of Its COVID Shot But Don’t Call It A ‘Booster’
Over the last year, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has been commonly referred to as a single-shot alternative to the two-dose regimens of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. But meeting Friday to consider whether to recommend approval of a booster dose for J&J's vaccine, an FDA advisory committee unanimously concluded that a second dose should be administered and suggested that the vaccine performs better as a two-dose series. (Dunleavy, 10/15)

In related news —

CNN: 'It's Going To Be Within Our Capability' To Prevent Another Coronavirus Surge, Fauci Says 
The optimistic turn in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths could end in another spike in infections, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday. But the US could still prevent that spike with higher vaccination rates. "If we don't do very well in that regard, there's always the danger that there will be enough circulating virus that you can have a stalling of the diminishing of the number of cases, and when that happens, as we've seen in the past with other waves that we've been through, there's the danger of resurgence," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, on Fox News Sunday. (Holcombe, 10/18)

AP: States Can Reserve COVID-19 Shots For Younger Kids Next Week
U.S. health officials are setting the stage for a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign for younger children, inviting state officials to order doses before the shots are authorized. Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is currently being given to people as young as 12 in the U.S. In the next three weeks, federal officials plan to discuss making smaller-dose versions available to the nation’s 28 million children between the ages of 5 and 11. (Stobbe, 10/15)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

San Francisco Chronicle: Confusion Cited As Boosters Lag Among Bay Area's Older Adults
Health officials said they’re eager for all three boosters to be authorized because it will streamline their public outreach and make it easier to talk about who should get the shots. “It complicates things a little bit when not all the vaccines have been authorized,” said Dr. Martin Fenstersheib, the vaccine officer for Santa Clara County. “We had to say, ‘Everybody 65 and older, come and get a booster — but only if you’re Pfizer.’ And people say, ‘What’s going on here?’ Hopefully we can alleviate that confusion and make it across-the-board available, no matter what vaccine you got.” (Allday, 10/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: To Encourage COVID-19 Booster Shots, Philly Officials Set Up Shop At Senior Centers
There’s no trouble convincing people of the need for COVID-19 vaccines at the South Philadelphia Older Adult Center. “The people who don’t want it are ridiculous,” said Concetta Buonadonna, 94, as she waited for a workout class at the center to begin. What remains challenging, though, is getting seniors information on where to get doses. Health officials said they’re eager for all three boosters to be authorized because it will streamline their public outreach and make it easier to talk about who should get the shots. Approval of Pfizer booster shots for people age 65 and older in late September began another round of frustration for older people who can be less adept at online searches to find doses and make appointments. So the Philadelphia Department of Public Health is staffing senior centers like the one in South Philadelphia to help people find their shots. (Laughlin, 10/16)

KHN: What Will It Take To Boost Vaccinations? The Scene From Kentucky’s Back Roads 
In the end it was the delta variant that drove Rose Mitchell, 89, down the winding mountain road to the Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ to get the shot. Her pastor, Billy Joe Lewis, had told his congregation that, No, ma’am, a covid vaccine would not leave the “mark of the beast” nor rewrite their genetic codes. Mitchell, who has known the deaths of eight of her 13 children over the years, was done taking chances with the virus stealing up the hollers along Cutshin Creek. “That stuff’s getting so bad, I was afraid to not take it,” she said, sitting in her daughter’s car in the church parking lot. “I said, ‘Well, if all the rest of them are going to take it, I’ll take it too.’” (Varney, 10/18)

CNBC: Reddit Channel Posts Stories Of Anti-Vaxxers Dying Of Covid, Scaring Fence-Sitters Into Getting The Shot
For most of the pandemic, Sarah Ostrowski went to her full-time gas station job in Indiana, accepting the risk of being unvaccinated. Many times a day she interacted with customers and even cleaned up the public bathroom with no protection beyond her mask. Ostrowski doesn’t believe Covid-19 is a hoax. She takes it seriously. But she had reasons for not getting the shot. She was concerned about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine causing blood clots, as had been reported in a few recipients. She was hesitant about the mRNA technology used to develop the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. She also worried about potential side effects forcing her to take time off work. (Rodriguez, 10/16)

WLRN 91.3: Why Experts Say People Should Get Both Flu And COVID Shots As Soon As Possible
Although the peak of flu season starts in December and lasts through February, it officially starts in October. This year, doctors recommend not only getting a flu shot this month, but also getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Leandris Liburd, associate director for minority health and health equity at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, explained the urgency in a conversation with WLRN's Veronica Zaragovia. (Zaragovia, 10/15)

NPR: Vaccinated Foreign Travelers Can Enter The U.S. Starting Nov. 8
Foreign tourists who have been shut out of the United States since the early days of the pandemic will be allowed to visit starting on Nov. 8, as long as they can show that they are fully vaccinated, the White House said. The White House had previously announced it would lift the travel ban but had not given a date for doing so until now. Cities that count on foreign tourists for revenue — as well as families who have been separated by the bans — have been urging the government to allow people to travel. (Naylor, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Fully Vaccinated Travelers Can Come To The U.S. Even If Their Doses Are Mixed, Authorities Say
International travelers who are fully vaccinated with mixed doses of approved coronavirus vaccines will be allowed into the United States after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Friday. The White House said U.S. travel restrictions will be lifted Nov. 8 for fully vaccinated international travelers, a policy that will in part require foreign travelers to show proof of vaccination before boarding a flight. According to a Friday update to CDC guidance, individuals will be considered fully vaccinated if they receive vaccines fully- or emergency- approved by the Food and Drug Administration or by the World Health Organization — including combinations of such shots. (Firozi, 10/17)

In related news —

NPR: The CDC Emphasizes Vaccinations As Key To Safe Holiday Gatherings
Following confusion earlier this month on how the country should safely celebrate the holidays, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its updated guidance around gatherings and traveling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the new guidance issued Friday, the CDC says the best way to safely celebrate the holiday season is by being vaccinated (if eligible) against the coronavirus. "Protect those not yet eligible for vaccination such as young children by getting yourself and other eligible people around them vaccinated," the CDC said on its website. (Franklin, 10/15)

Modern Healthcare: BCBS Sues COVID Testing Lab Again
Another Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer sued GS Labs over its COVID-19 tests on Thursday, alleging the national testing facility forced commercially insured customers to take unnecessary, expensive tests to fleece Premera Blue Cross out of $26 million. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, represents the second complaint against Omaha, Nebraska-based testing company. In July, BCBS Kansas City accused GS Labs of attempting to profit from the public health crisis by upcharging the not-for-profit insurer $9.2 million for COVID-19 tests. GS Labs responded by counter-suing BCBS Kansas City, accusing the insurer of "legal bullying" by filing a surprise lawsuit intended to stiff the company out of paying for some 34,600 member claims. The case is pending. (Tepper, 10/15)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

The New York Times: Coronavirus Cases Rise In The North Amid Lower Temperatures
Even as the Delta-variant-driven virus wave is receding in much of the United States, many counties across the country’s northernmost regions are experiencing rising cases as colder weather arrives. ... The five states with the fastest rising caseloads are Vermont, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota, and the two counties with the most cases per capita in Vermont and New Hampshire are on the Canadian border. The virus followed a similar pattern last fall: Cases receded in the Southern regions after summer surges, while they steadily increased throughout the North as the weather became colder and people moved indoors. (Slotnik, 10/18)

Oklahoman: Oklahomans Will See The COVID-19 Death Toll Jump Next Week. Here’s Why
The Oklahoma Health Department’s death toll for COVID-19 in Oklahoma will jump by about 1,000 next week as part of a data reconciliation process. The update will bring the Health Department’s toll, which stood at 9,402 as of its last update, closer to the one reported by the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. The discrepancy in numbers is not believed to be indicative of an inaccuracy in either figure. The CDC numbers are the most timely count of Oklahoma lives lost to COVID, according to state officials. The state's health department numbers lag slightly as each case goes through an investigative process before a death is ruled a result of COVID-19. (Branham, 10/16)

The Washington Post: District To Hire More Pandemic Staff To Help School Administrators
The District plans to spend nearly $40 million to hire additional contact tracers, substitute teachers and workers who would handle coronavirus logistics in schools, marking an attempt to address staffing shortages that have hampered the reopening of campuses. (Stein, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Antibody Tests Can’t Give Answers You Want About Covid-19 Immunity
Talk of the need for coronavirus booster shots has prompted many Americans to seek antibody tests.In most cases, however, getting an antibody test to determine immunity is a fool’s errand, infectious-disease doctors agree. The tests for antibodies, also known as serology tests, do not provide the answers that most people are seeking. ... The tests might indicate the presence or even the level of coronavirus-fighting antibodies in the bloodstream, but scientists don’t yet know what number of antibodies provide protection from covid-19. (Ollove, 10/17)

KHN: Journalists Tell How Covid Complicates Organ Transplants And The Health Of Rural America 
KHN senior correspondent JoNel Aleccia discussed organ transplants and the covid-19 vaccine on NBC’s “NBC Now” on Oct. 8. ... KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber discussed covid deaths in rural America on Iowa Public Radio’s “River to River” on Oct. 7. (10/16)

Politico: These Republicans Torpedoed Vaccine Edicts — Then Slipped In The Polls
Republican governors crusading against vaccine mandates are facing significantly lower approval ratings on their handling of the coronavirus pandemic than their counterparts. But they’re not worried. From Florida to Texas to South Dakota, GOP governors have been on the front lines of the war against vaccine mandates, barring immunization requirements in their states and threatening to fight President Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate in court. Just last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott flat-out banned vaccine requirements, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed up by vowing to sue the Biden administration. (Kashinsky, 10/17)

AP: Fauci Dismayed By Texas' Move To Ban Mandates
Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying Sunday that it is “really unfortunate” that Gov. Greg Abbott has moved to ban vaccine mandates in the state of Texas. The nation’s leading infectious disease doctor, speaking on Fox News Sunday, said that the Republican governor’s decision to block businesses from requiring inoculations would damage public health since vaccines are the “most effective means” to stop the spread of COVID-19. (10/17)

Billings Gazette: Gov. Defends Pandemic Policies As Montana Remains National Hotspot
In a brief phone interview Thursday, Gov. Greg Gianforte defended his administration’s policies toward the pandemic, which have included signing into law the nation’s only prohibition on private businesses requiring vaccines in the workplace, and several measures that limited the power of local health departments to implement measures to curb the virus’ spread. “The government’s role is to educate, to communicate — it’s not to mandate,” Gianforte said. “We’ve seen increases in infections in states with mandates, in states without mandates, and ... the best way for Montanans to protect themselves and their families is to get vaccinated. These vaccines are safe and effective, I’ve continually told that story and I’m encouraged that we’ve seen an increased number of people decide to get vaccinated.” (Wilson, 10/17)

AP: Pritzker Delays Vaccine Deadline For Some State Workers
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pushed back a deadline for state employees of veterans’ homes, prisons and other congregate facilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as his office negotiates with labor unions representing some workers. Pritzker, who in August set an Oct. 4 deadline for state workers covered by his requirement to get the vaccine, on Friday said employees have until Nov. 30 to be fully vaccinated, the Chicago Tribune reported. The workers are employed by the departments of Corrections, Veterans Affairs, Human Services and Juvenile Justice. (10/16)

In other news about covid mandates —

The Washington Post: Deadlines Arrive For School Staff To Be Vaccinated In Washington Region 
Teachers and other school staff in Arlington, Va., have reached a deadline to be vaccinated — among the first school systems in the Washington region to begin enforcing a coronavirus vaccination mandate as the pandemic persists. In coming weeks, other school systems in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland will cross the same public health threshold, which could mean days out of work, disciplinary action or in the worst case firings for those who do not meet their district’s vaccination requirements. (St. George, Natanson and Stein, 10/17)

AP: Judge Limits Unpaid Leave For Unvaccinated Workers At US Lab
A federal judge has limited the ability for now for the nonprofit running Oak Ridge National Laboratory to place employees on unpaid leave who receive exemptions to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in Knoxville issued the temporary restraining order Friday barring UT-Battelle from placing employees on indefinite unpaid leave or firing them after they receive a religious or medical accommodation to the vaccine. (Mattise, 10/18)

The CT Mirror: Over 100 Long-Term Care Facilities Still Haven't Reported Vaccination Rates
Nearly three quarters of the more than 600 long-term care facilities that fall under a state mandate requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 reported that 95% of their staff are fully or partially immunized, the Department of Public Health said Friday, more than two weeks after the deadline. Long-term care facilities — including nursing homes, assisted living centers, residential care homes, chronic disease hospitals, intermediate care facilities and managed residential communities — had to report their staff participation to the state by Sept. 28. All employees of those facilities were required to be immunized against COVID-19 unless they obtained a religious or medical exemption. (Carlesso, 10/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: With Vaccine Mandates Looming, Companies Are Worried About Worker Shortages
The coming federal vaccine mandate could result in a wave of firings of employees who are reluctant to get the life-saving shots. That has many companies nervous that those jobs will be difficult to fill in a labor market where willing hands are increasingly hard to come by. Close to three quarters of respondents to a survey this month who haven’t implemented a mandate of their own said fears of worker shortages were behind that decision. The survey, run by labor law firm Fisher Phillips LLP, contacted more than 1,500 professionals from different companies including executives, general counsels, human resources staff and others. (DiFeliciantonio, 10/17)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mask Mandate Debate Leads To Divides At City Hall
Milwaukee leaders' early pandemic unification over a mask mandate ended this summer, and a debate over bringing face coverings back continues. The city's mask ordinance, which only remained in force as long as the city's COVID-19 health orders were in place, lapsed along with the lifting of the last health order on June 1. While Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic has been vocal in pushing for a return to masking, Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson has resisted for a number of reasons. (Dirr, 10/17)

In updates from New York —

Crain's New York Business: NYC Healthcare Orgs Retained 97% Of Employees After Vaccine Mandate
The COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers has largely resulted in few resignations or dismissals at hospitals in the metropolitan area, according to data manually compiled by Crain’s. NYC Health + Hospitals and Northwell Health reported the highest rates of noncompliance with the state mandate, which enacted a Sept. 27 deadline for healthcare workers to get at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a Crain’s data analysis showed. The city’s public hospital system has about 2,500 unvaccinated workers among its 43,000-person staff, while Northwell terminated 1,400 of its 76,000 employees, spokespeople for the systems said. The systems declined to share breakdowns by individual hospital. (Kaufman, 10/15)

AP: Data: Nearly Two-Thirds Of New Yorkers Are Fully Vaccinated
Nearly two-thirds of New York residents are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the latest federal statistics. About 12.7 million of New York’s 20 million residents are fully vaccinated, according to data released Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the seventh highest percentage of any state — below Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts and New Jersey. (Villeneuve, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Fauci Urges Police Officers To Get Vaccinated As Unions Protest 
Anthony S. Fauci, the United States’ top infectious-disease expert, is urging police officers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus — saying the resistance “doesn’t make any sense” as “more police officers die of covid than they do in other causes of death.” Police departments are facing an infection crisis as departments around the country seeking to mandate vaccines clash with police unions and officers who oppose the requirements. (Pietsch, Timsit and Beachum, 10/18)

AP: Cities, Police Unions Clash As Vaccine Mandates Take Effect
Police departments around the U.S. that are requiring officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance that some fear could leave law enforcement shorthanded and undermine public safety. Police unions and officers are pushing back by filing lawsuits to block the mandates. In Chicago, the head of the police union called on members to defy the city’s Friday deadline for reporting their COVID-19 vaccination status. (Calvan and Seewer, 10/15)

CNN: Chicago Police Department Restricts Time Off For Officers After Vaccine Mandate Deadline, CNN Affiliate Reports
A day after Chicago police officers were required to disclose their Covid-19 vaccine status or risking losing pay, the city's police department issued a memo informing officers elective time off is restricted, according to a copy of the memo obtained by CNN affiliate WLS. "Until further notice, the use of elective time by sworn CPD members is restricted. Furthermore, the use of elective time will require prior approval from the Deputy chief or above within the requesting member's chain of command," the memo obtained by WLS reads. (Allen, 10/18)

The Baltimore Sun: How Many Police And Firefighters Are Vaccinated Against COVID-19? Most Don’t Want To Tell You. 
The first full week of mandates requiring all municipal workers in Baltimore and Baltimore County to either be vaccinated or undergo regular testing has begun, but tabulating the exact number of police and firefighters who complied remains a work in progress, officials said. Residents in many cities and towns throughout the region hoping to find out the status of the person responding to their 911 calls are out of luck. That’s because the vast majority of departments say that if there is no mandate they aren’t even asking the vaccination status of their employees, according to a survey of area police and fire departments, and local officials. (Anderson, 10/18)

Axios: Five Times As Many Police Officers Have Died From COVID As From Guns Since Pandemic Began 
COVID-19 is the leading cause of death for police officers even though members of law enforcement were among the first to be eligible to receive the vaccine, CNN reports, citing data from the Officer Down Memorial Page. Nearly 476 police officers have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started, compared to the 93 deaths as a result of gunfire in the same time period, according to ODMP and CNN. (Frazier, 10/16)

NPR: Federal Government Pledges $100 Million To Address Health Care Worker Shortages
As health care workers face increased pandemic burnout, some states — particularly in underserved areas — have had challenges retaining existing staff and recruiting new clinicians. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now committing $100 million through the American Rescue Plan to help solve the problem. "Our health care workers have worked tirelessly to save lives throughout this pandemic and now it's our turn to invest in them," Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. (Shivaram, 10/15)

CIDRAP: Understaffed, Underfunded, Under Siege: US Public Health Amid COVID-19 
A study yesterday in PLOS One details how the COVID-19 pandemic pummeled an already underfunded and understaffed US public health system, straining workers, upending services, and putting patients at risk. Led by a University of Tennessee at Knoxville researcher, the study involved a survey of 298 public health experts working for government agencies or academic public health departments from Aug 23 to Oct 5, 2020. Respondents included epidemiologists and workers who conduct disease surveillance, contact tracing, testing, and vaccination programs. (Van Beusekom, 10/15)

Anchorage Daily News: Enduring Hostility In A Medical Profession With A Fast-Food Pace, Alaska’s Pharmacies Struggle To Keep Workers
Pharmacy workers, especially technicians, are usually the first people customers deal with. Now, in the state’s charged atmosphere surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, some report angry pushback on vaccines and pressure to provide unproven treatments like ivermectin, state officials say. Pharmacists who for years have asked anyone picking up a prescription if they want a flu shot don’t dare bring up a COVID-19 vaccination. “I’ve talked to few pharmacists recently who are considering getting out of the profession or leaving Alaska due to the hostility they’re seeing at their job on a daily basis,” said Dr. Coleman Cutchins, the state pharmacist. (Hollander, 10/17)

The New York Times: Why Public Health Is In Crisis: Threats, Departures, New Laws 
As she leaves work, Dr. Allison Berry keeps a vigilant eye on her rearview mirror, watching the vehicles around her, weighing if she needs to take a more circuitous route home. She must make sure nobody finds out where she lives. When the pandemic first hit the northern edge of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Dr. Berry was a popular family physician and local health officer, trained in biostatistics and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. She processed Covid-19 test kits in her garage and delivered supplies to people in quarantine, leading a mobilization that kept her counties with some of the fewest deaths in the nation. (Baker and Ivory, 10/18)

In related news about health care personnel —

The New York Times: Short On Staff, Some Hospices Ask New Patients To Wait
Anne Cotton had enjoyed her years at an assisted living facility in Corvallis, Ore. But at 89, her health problems began to mount: heart failure, weakness from post-polio syndrome, a 30-pound weight loss in a year. On Sept. 30, Dr. Helen Kao, her palliative care doctor and a medical director at Lumina Hospice & Palliative Care, determined that she qualified for hospice services — in which a team of nurses, aides, social workers, a doctor and a chaplain help patients through their final weeks and months, usually at home. ... But Lumina and other hospices that serve Benton County, Ore., are grappling with pandemic-fueled staff shortages, which have forced them at times to turn away new patients or delay their enrollment — as it did with Ms. Cotton. “It’s devastating,” Dr. Kao said. (Span, 10/16)

AP: Physician Assistant’s License Suspended Over COVID Actions
The Washington Medical Commission has suspended the license of a pediatric health care provider in southwestern Washington. The suspension came this week after an investigation into more than a dozen complaints against physician assistant Scott C. Miller, who runs Miller Family Pediatrics in Washougal, The Columbian reported. The complaints say he interfered with the care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, engaged in a threatening public campaign against hospitals and doctors, and also prescribed medications without seeing patients. (10/16)

Modern Healthcare: Walmart Makes Headway Into Self-Insured Space With Transcarent Partnership
Walmart is making its first foray into the self-insured employer market through a new partnership with healthcare startup Transcarent, the retailer announced Friday. Employers that contract with Transcarent will share any cost savings that result from workers using Walmart expanding suite of healthcare services, which includes in-person clinics, discounted prescription drugs, virtual care, vision care and specialty medications. In addition to shared savings, Walmart stands to benefit from additional customers in its stores.Transcarent currently has 100 self-insured employer clients and serves more than 1 million employees. Among the company's offerings are expert second opinions, medication reviews, and referrals to surgery sites and centers of excellence. (Gillespie, 10/15)

In other health care industry news —

The Advocate: First Hospital System In Louisiana Creates Medicare Advantage Plan
New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System is the first hospital system in Louisiana to create its own health insurance arm selling Medicare Advantage policies. Ochsner's Medicare Advantage plans include prescription drug coverage, fitness, dental, hearing and vision. Ochsner's premiums and copays begin at $0. The Medicare Advantage plan is integrated into the health system, according to the hospital network. Before rolling out statewide, Ochsner wants to sell plans in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge region, which includes the following parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany and West Baton Rouge. (Mosbrucker, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: East Orange General Hospital's New Owners Aim To Bolster Mental Health
East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey is changing ownership, the for-profit company announced Friday. Paige Dworak, who will be the first female owner-CEO of a New Jersey hospital, will continue to lead operations and assume a 20% ownership stake. EOH Acquisition Group, the new owners, aim to stabilize the struggling hospital, which has reported operating losses the last two years. "We are so excited about the future of this historic hospital and its impact on the community," Dworak, who has led the 201-bed hospital since 2017, said in a news release. "The change in ownership will help accelerate the transformation of this vital community asset, ensuring the hospital continues to deliver the quality care the patients and the community have come to rely on for over a century." (Kacik, 10/15)

Albany Herald: Lee County Hospital Is 'On The Clock' With Six-Month Extension 
Billy Mathis admits that the challenge presented to the Lee County officials and private individuals who remain hell-bent and determined to build a hospital in the county is a daunting one ... actually, an insurmountable one. Talking about the glimmer of hope that the Department of Public Health gave partners in the Lee County Medical Center venture by granting a six-month extension on the project, Mathis conceded that the DCH had asked for the impossible. (Fletcher, 10/16)

Gainesville Times: What Changes NGHS Will Keep In Place After Pandemic Slows 
Even after the COVID-19 pandemic calms, the Northeast Georgia Health System plans to increase its critical care capacity. The health system was forced to serve patients in unconventional places during the biggest waves of the pandemic, including providing care in the back of ambulances, in hallways and in outdoor mobile units. COVID-19 numbers in the health system have dropped in recent weeks from a Sept. 9 peak of 333 COVID-19 positive patients, influenced by the delta variant. As of Friday, Oct. 15, there were 127 COVID-19 patients in the health system, with 36 patients waiting for test results. (Evans, 10/15)

Also —

Stat: Security Flaws In Third-Party Apps Leave Millions Of Patient Records At Risk
In the last year, cyberattacks on hospitals have surged, putting a spotlight on the need to protect patients’ health data. But hackers don’t need to attack providers directly to get that valuable info. A new cybersecurity report shows it is remarkably easy for bad actors to steal it through third-party apps and data aggregators that tap into providers’ electronic health record systems. (Palmer, 10/18)

Stat: Five Ways The FDA Could Build Transparency Into AI Devices
Artificial intelligence tools in health care should be safe and effective. They should be fair to people of different races, genders, and geographies. And they should be monitored to ensure they are improving outcomes in the real world. Most participants agreed on those goals in a Food and Drug Administration workshop on the regulation of artificial intelligence late last week.  But how to accomplish them remained a source of considerable debate. (Ross, 10/18)

Axios: Eren Bali's Journey To Building "Unicorns" Udemy And Carbon Health 
Eren Bali’s first “unicorn,” online course marketplace Udemy, is readying an IPO. Meanwhile, Carbon Health, his other company, is helping people in the U.S. get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 — on top of running 83 clinics in 12 states. Bali isn't a household name, but he's quietly built two companies that were perfectly poised to fill in gaps created by the pandemic. (Kokalitcheva, 10/16)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Hello? We Spend 12 Million Hours A Week On The Phone With Insurers 
After Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer got back surgery years ago, he kept a file folder labeled “Blue Shield Troubles.” When Pfeffer got an offer to collaborate with the polling company Gallup, he suggested a study on how much time Americans spend on the phone with their health insurers. Gallup agreed. Their finding: We spend about 12 million hours a week calling our health insurance. (Weissmann, 10/18)

In obituaries —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Jose Russo, Physician And Scientist Acclaimed For His Work On Breast Cancer Research, Dies At 79
Jose Russo, 79, a Fox Chase Cancer Center physician and scientist who was acclaimed for his research on reducing the risk of breast cancer, died Friday, Sept. 24, at home in Rydal. Dr. Russo worked until a week before his death, when he became too weak from his own bout with cancer of the stomach, said his daughter, Patricia A. Russo. Dr. Russo spent decades studying how various synthetic chemicals may increase the risk of breast cancer and why the risk is reduced in women who have babies in early adulthood. (Avril, 10/18)

Anchorage Daily News: National Shortage Of A Chemo Drug Is Affecting Some Alaska Clinics, Providers Say
Over the last few weeks, a manufacturer’s shortage of one medication means some Alaska chemotherapy patients have had to postpone the lifesaving treatment. Abraxane is a prescription drug that is used to treat certain advanced pancreatic, breast and lung cancers. A note on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ website explains that the shortage is due to manufacturing delays, and that there is currently insufficient supply for usual ordering. “We’ve exhausted our resources, and it’s a well-known national shortage,” said Hertha Monroe, clinical nurse manager with the Katmai Oncology Group, a cancer clinic in Anchorage. (10/17)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: Biogen Drug For Rare Form Of ALS Fails Pivotal Study 
Biogen reported disappointing results Sunday from a late-stage clinical trial involving its experimental treatment for a rare, genetically defined form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. In the Phase 3 study, the Biogen drug called tofersen failed to slow the neurologic and functional decline of ALS patients compared to a placebo. The drug showed some improvements on other measures of disease progression, the company said, although interpreting those secondary results is challenging because the study’s main goal was not met. (Feuerstein, 10/17)

AP: In Quiet Debut, Alzheimer's Drug Finds Questions, Skepticism
The first new Alzheimer’s treatment in more than 20 years was hailed as a breakthrough when regulators approved it more than four months ago, but its rollout has been slowed by questions about its price and how well it works. Several major medical centers remain undecided on whether to use Biogen’s Aduhelm, which is recommended for early stages of the disease. Big names like the Cleveland Clinic and Mass General Brigham in Boston say they’ll pass on it for now. (Murphy, 10/17)

In news about drug use —

WJCT News: Medical Marijuana Is Exploding In Florida, And Regulators Are Asking For Financial Help
As Florida’s legal pot industry is poised to mushroom, health regulators are asking lawmakers for nearly $13 million to more than double the number of workers in the office that oversees medical marijuana issues. Health officials also want $4 million for a state education and prevention campaign to publicize “accurate information” about medical marijuana, money to buy vehicles to transport samples of THC-infused edible products to a testing lab in Jacksonville and additional funds to open three regional offices within the Office of Medical Marijuana Use, according to documents submitted to the Legislature. (Kam, 10/15)

KHN: Watch: Going Beyond The Script Of ‘Dopesick’ And America’s Real-Life Opioid Crisis 
KHN and policy colleagues at our parent organization KFF teamed up with Hulu for a discussion of America’s opioid crisis, following the Oct. 13 premiere of the online streaming service’s new series “Dopesick.” The discussion explored how the series’ writers worked with journalist Beth Macy, author of the book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America,” and showrunner Danny Strong to create and fact-check scripts and develop characters. It quickly moved on to a deeper discussion of how the fictionalized version of the opioid epidemic portrayed in the Hulu series dovetailed with the broader reality KFF’s journalists and analysts have been documenting in their work for the past few years. (10/18)

AP: New Technology Offers Anonymous Way To Report Abuse, Doping
A college basketball player hatched the idea after seeing a discrimination case nearly implode his own team, then wondering why nobody had done anything about it sooner. Ten years later, that player has developed the idea into a key tool for fixing a sports landscape teeming with cases of sexual abuse, along with examples of racism and sexism in the workplace, discrimination, harassment and doping cheats at virtually every level. (Pells, 10/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Teen Girls Are Developing Tics. Doctors Say TikTok Could Be A Factor
Teenage girls across the globe have been showing up at doctors’ offices with tics—physical jerking movements and verbal outbursts—since the start of the pandemic. Movement-disorder doctors were stumped at first. Girls with tics are rare, and these teens had an unusually high number of them, which had developed suddenly. After months of studying the patients and consulting with one another, experts at top pediatric hospitals in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. discovered that most of the girls had something in common: TikTok. (Jargon, 10/16)

In other public health news —

Axios: Study Finds Hello Heart Digital Therapeutic Helps Control Hypertension 
An internet-connected blood pressure cuff and smartphone app helped patients control hypertension over time, a new study finds. The research — the longest and largest published study looking at how a digital therapeutic can help patients remotely manage hypertension — provides meaningful evidence that the devices can be used to control long-term lifestyle diseases at home. (Walsh, 10/16)

Fox News: We May Not Need 10,000 Daily Steps For Long Life, Studies Suggest
Adults likely need at least 7,000 steps daily or should play sports for more than 2.5 hours every week to maximize longevity, according to two large-scale studies. The first study, published in JAMA Network Open last month, followed over 2,000 middle-aged men and women for over 10 years. When the participants first joined the study, they wore a monitor that tracked their steps consecutively over one week. Researchers found that those who took more than 7,000 steps daily cut their mortality risk by 50-70% compared to those who took fewer steps. (Sudhakar, 10/16)

The New York Times: A Racial Disparity In Schizophrenia Diagnoses In Nursing Homes
The share of American nursing home residents who are recorded as having schizophrenia has soared over the past decade. As The New York Times reported last month, the change is driven in part by a surge of questionable diagnoses. A 2012 government effort to reduce unnecessary antipsychotic drug use in nursing homes included an exemption for residents with schizophrenia. Since then, the diagnoses have grown by 70 percent. Experts say some facilities are using the schizophrenia loophole to continue sedating dementia patients instead of providing the more costly, staff-intensive care that regulators are trying to promote. (Gebeloff, 10/15)

The CT Mirror: Wet Summer Raises Risk Of Mosquito-Borne Illnesses In October
With mosquito levels at the highest in 20 years, three mosquito-borne illnesses are most dangerous to humans in October after being passed from birds to mosquitoes over the summer months. This year, the first report of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) occurred Sept. 23 in mosquitoes trapped in Voluntown, in southeastern Connecticut, as part of the state’s surveillance program. EEE is rare but kills one-third of those who catch it, according to the state Department of Public Health. (Woodside, 10/16)

The New York Times: Should You Get A Microbiome Test?
How do I know if my gut microbiome is healthy? Is there a test I can take to see what’s going on? A growing number of companies offer tests that provide a glimpse into our gut microbiome, the community of trillions of microbes that live in our digestive tract. Scientists increasingly recognize that these microorganisms play a crucial role in our health, influencing everything from how successfully we age or fight off infections to our risks of developing obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. (O'Connor, 10/13)

Also —

AP: Bill Clinton Released From Southern California Hospital 
Bill Clinton was released Sunday from the Southern California hospital where he had been treated for an infection. The former president was released around 8 a.m. from the University of California Irvine Medical Center. ... An aide to the former president said Clinton had a urological infection that spread to his bloodstream, but he is on the mend and never went into septic shock, a potentially life-threatening condition. (10/17)

Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Sexual Assault Nurses Fight Effort To Change Review Process
Police, prosecutors and nurses who conduct sexual assault exams for the city are fighting a proposal that would require a doctor to review a portion of the procedures, arguing it adds an unnecessary step that could ultimately harm victims. The proposed change to the sexual assault nurse examiners' contract — which is up for renewal by the Louisville Metro Council — would require a physician review of 3% of exams each year —even though all exams already are peer-reviewed by nurses. A Louisville Metro Council committee is scheduled to discuss the contract and amendment Tuesday. (Mencarini, 10/18)

In other news from across the U.S. —

AP: Michigan Moves To Fund Mental Health Like Physical Health
Starting this month, 13 mental health and addiction clinics across Michigan will receive the same Medicaid funding as any other health center in an effort U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow says will help bridge the stigmatic and funding divide between mental and physical health. The selected Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, which meet high standards of care for those in need of mental health and addiction services, will now be fully reimbursed by Medicaid, the same as other health care services, instead of relying on grants to supplement costs. (Nichols, 10/17)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Metro East Abortion Providers Feel Ripple Effects Of Texas Ban 
Jenna and her boyfriend were a week away from starting their freshman year in college and moving into their dorms in Murray, Kentucky, when they learned her birth control had failed and she was pregnant. Jenna, who requested to be identified only by her first name, couldn’t get an abortion appointment in Louisville near where they lived before the move. Before Jenna started classes, she found herself sick with COVID-19 and had to quarantine for 10 days. She fell behind in her studies. While trying hard to catch up, she had to desperately search for an abortion appointment. (Munz, 10/16)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Issues First Fish Consumption Advisory Because Of PFAS
Maryland is recommending that people limit their consumption of certain fish in the Piscataway Creek in Prince George’s County because of PFAS contamination. It’s the first time the state has issued such an advisory as a result of elevated levels of a per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substance in seafood, according to a news release from Friday. (Condon, 10/17)

CBS News: A Stench Has Been Lingering Over A California City For 2 Weeks And Residents Say It's Making Them Sick 
A smell like rotten eggs has been lingering over a small California city for the last two weeks, and residents say it has made them sick. "Fortunately, for me, I've been only having to deal with nonstop headaches and bouts of nausea and dizziness," Anna Meni, who has lived in Carson for 42 years, recently told CBS Los Angeles. The stench is coming from the Dominguez Channel, a waterway that runs through Carson. Mark Pestrella, the director of Los Angeles County Public Works, said the odor is hydrogen sulfide, which is created by rotting plants and other materials in the channel, CBS Los Angeles reported. According to the Los Angeles Times, California's ongoing drought has contributed to the vegetation buildup. (Reardon, 10/16)

The Boston Globe: Flooding Could Shut Down Logan Airport, Hospitals, And Other Critical Infrastructure In Mass., And The Risk Is Only Growing, Report Says
More than 45 percent of the county’s critical infrastructure, including Logan International Airport, hospitals, and police and fire stations, are at risk of flooding, according to the report. Those risks are expected to increase by 20 percent by 2051. The report estimates that more than a third of roads in Suffolk are at risk of flooding, with those risks rising by 14 percent in 30 years. It also finds that nearly a third of the county’s commercial buildings and a fifth of its residential buildings are at risk of flooding, increasing by 22 percent and 8 percent, respectively, in 2051. (Abel, 10/17)

Bloomberg: U.K. Covid Surge Sparks Call For Probe Into Delta Plus Mutation
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for “urgent research” into a mutation of the delta variant -- known as delta plus -- following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the U.K. “We need urgent research to figure out if this delta plus is more transmissible, has partial immune evasion,” Gottlieb said in a tweet. “There’s no clear indication that it’s considerably more transmissible, but we should work to more quickly characterize these and other new variants. We have the tools.” (Yang, 10/17)

AP: Vaccines, Masks? Japan Puzzling Over Sudden Virus Success
Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story. Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low. The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop. (Yamaguchi, 10/18)

Bloomberg: Valneva Says Covid Shot Beat AstraZeneca’s in Trial, Seeks EU Approval
Valneva SE’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine elicited better immunity than AstraZeneca Plc’s shot in a clinical trial that will pave the way for regulatory submissions and sent the shares up as much as 42%. Patients injected with two doses of the product had more antibodies -- a proxy for protection against the coronavirus -- and fewer side effects than those who got the Astra shot in a U.K. study of about 4,000 adults, Valneva said in a statement Monday. Both groups had the same number of Covid cases and no patient got severely ill, the company said. (Mulier, 10/18)

Axios: Pope Francis Calls On Companies To Release COVID Vaccine Patents 
Pope Francis called on pharmaceutical companies on Saturday to release patents to make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to the poor, Reuters reports. There is a stark divide between countries that have access to COVID-19 shots and those that don't, and the gap has widened as some wealthier countries have begun distributing third doses. (Frazier, 10/16)

The New York Times: Will New Covid Treatments Be As Elusive For Poor Countries As Vaccines?
Unlike the vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, which have resisted calls for license agreements to let overseas manufacturers make their shots, Merck will allow generic manufacturers in India to sell the pills at a far lower price in more than 100 poorer countries. Most nations in sub-Saharan Africa, where vaccination rates are as low as 3 percent, are covered by the deal. (Nolen, 10/17)

In news about Ebola —

CIDRAP: Sequencing Suggests New DRC Ebola Cases Tied To Earlier Outbreak
Initial genetic sequencing of the Ebola virus isolated in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) most recent outbreak suggests a link to the large 2018-2020 outbreak that was centered in North Kivu province, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said yesterday on Twitter. So far, two cases have been confirmed in the flare-up in Beni, one of the hot spots in the earlier outbreak. Earlier this year, a similar recurrence in Butembo in North Kivu province resulted in 12 cases, all but 1 of them confirmed, and 6 deaths. (10/15)

The Washington Post: Covid Tests Are Too Hard To Find 
Thirty-six hours before my flight to Virginia to visit family, a friend texted to say she had tested positive for the coronavirus. We’d just had dinner together, indoors, side by side. Because we were both vaccinated, I was probably fine, but “probably” wasn’t good enough for flying shoulder to shoulder with other passengers, hugging 76-year-old parents and cuddling a 1-year-old niece. Which meant I needed to get tested and have the results before 8:15 a.m. the next day. How hard could that be? Thus began my epic quest to find a coronavirus test. (Kate Cohen, 10/15)

The Boston Globe: Why Aren’t The Nurses In Our Pediatrician’s Office Vaccinated? 
As parents of a pandemic baby, we find that life has revolved around diapers, nursing, and protecting our son from COVID-19, since he is too young to be vaccinated. Once our pediatrician began scheduling him for another round of the dozen vaccines that protect children from diseases that used to kill millions each year before their first birthday, we were shocked to learn that several nurses in our doctor’s practice were not vaccinated. How can this possibly be the case nearly a year after highly effective COVID-19 vaccines were approved and have saved thousands from illness and death? (Shan Soe-Lin and Robert Hecht, 10/18)

The Atlantic: How The Pandemic Fueled Sexism Against Women Doctors 
In the spring of 2020, as Boston’s first COVID-19 wave raged, I was the gastroenterologist on call responding to a patient hospitalized with a stomach ulcer. Wearing a layer of yellow personal protective equipment over a pair of baggy scrubs, I spent 30 minutes explaining to him that he needed an endoscopic procedure. We built a rapport, and by the end of our conversation about the pros and cons, he seemed to agree with my recommendation. I told him we would be ready to perform his endoscopy within half an hour. (Trisha Pasricha, 10/16)

CNN: How The Covid-19 Booster Shots Could Make The Vaccination Gap Worse 
"We're all triply-vaccinated!" friends gleefully told me last week, as they invited me to their home for dinner. They were thrilled. I had rarely seen such big smiles since the Covid-19 pandemic began. As recipients of the Pfizer vaccine, they became eligible for a booster dose starting in late September. Since then, millions of others have been waiting with great anticipation to know whether the US Food and Drug Administration would approve boosters of other Covid-19 vaccines as well. (Robert Klitzman, 10/17)

The Tennessean: Tennessee Must Step Up On Vaccines Before Loosening COVID Restrictions
Last Sunday, it poured in New York City. But heavy rain did not deter hundreds of visitors, including me, from waiting in line to enter the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The museum is a fantastic tribute that allows citizens to commemorate and reflect upon the worst attack on U.S. soil in American history, to remember a time when Americans came together with a single purpose, and to gain hope that maybe that unity is possible again. Before we made it to the entrance, however, museum staff told visitors to have their COVID-19 vaccine cards and IDs ready to show security. Everyone was wearing a mask. Nobody fought the staff. (David Plazas, 10/15)

Stat: Rebuilding The U.S. Health Care Workforce During And After Covid-19 
As an emergency medicine physician and director of emergency management, I have taken part in disaster and humanitarian responses in Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, in Haiti during the height of the AIDS epidemic, and elsewhere. I often experienced “reentry” afterward — the disjointed feeling of returning to the place and activities I had left behind. I never expected to experience reentry from working in my own hospital in Northern California, yet that’s what I am feeling today. (Mary Meyer, 10/18)

Stat: Malaria Vaccine Brings Hope But The Fight Is Far From Over 
Historic yet imperfect. That’s how I think of the World Health Organization’s recent endorsement of the long-awaited malaria vaccine, officially known as RTS,S/AS01, or simply as RTS,S. This recommendation follows careful determination by two of the WHO’s high-level advisory panels, one on immunization and another on malaria, that RTS,S provides significant protection against disease and deaths and that it is safe and cost-effective. (Fredros Okumu, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Reversal On Daily Aspirin Shows Medicine's Weak Spot 
There’s a pattern to medical reversals that can help explain this week’s seeming U-turn on that age-old advice to take an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Evidence had actually been building for some time that this might do a lot of people more harm than good. This latest news shouldn’t serve as an indictment of medicine but as a warning to be skeptical of certain kinds of recommendations. That includes any medical intervention aimed at healthy people — especially treatments that aren’t backed by multiple controlled clinical trials. (Faye Flam, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: I’m Recovering From Disordered Eating. My Schools Failed Me 
I first heard the term “hypothalamic amenorrhea” — a condition in which people stop menstruating from excessive exercise, stress, weight loss, or a combination of these factors — from my pediatrician in February. I’d missed periods for over a year and dropped 15 pounds since my last physical. But until my pediatrician’s diagnosis, I saw nothing wrong with doing two hours of high-intensity interval training on top of 3-mile runs daily. Perpetually cold and tired, I thought I was in the best shape of my life. (Juliet Fang, 10/18)

Newsweek: How The New Texas Abortion Ban Will Make Miscarriages Even More Devastating 
I was shocked when I heard the words no pregnant woman wants to hear: "I'm afraid there is no heartbeat," my OB/GYN said in a toneless voice, while waving the ultrasound over my ten-week pregnant belly. It was devastating to go to the doctor for a routine checkup—the one after we'd heard the heartbeat—only to discover that our planned pregnancy, the one we were so excited about, was no longer. (Amy Klein, 10/15)

Modern Healthcare: Long-Term Care Needs Long-Term Solutions 
Mothers, fathers, grandmas and grandpas, these are the people in our long-term care facilities. For the past 19 months, they and the millions of front-line heroes who have watched over them night and day have been at the center of this once-in-a-century public health crisis. Thanks to safe and effective vaccines, we've made considerable progress in our fight against COVID-19. While there is still a long road ahead, there is an important lesson we've learned: When long-term care has the support of federal and state governments, positive outcomes are achieved. (Mark Parkinson, 10/15)

The Baltimore Sun: Why Is Hopkins Limiting Its Medicare Advantage Enrollment? 
I am a retired employee of Johns Hopkins University. Upon retirement, my wife and I joined the Johns Hopkins Advantage MD program which can be used instead of regular Medicare. This wonderful program provides everything that regular Medicare provides but with lower co-pays and other additional benefits and is available to everyone not just Hopkins employees. The cost was $20 per month for surrounding counties and was free for city residents. (10/15)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Regulated Chemical Restraints Use In Nursing Homes. Other States Should Do The Same 
After seeing several recent reports that nursing homes throughout the nation are improperly using antipsychotic medications to “chemically restrain” residents with dementia, I feel compelled to point out that this is an area where Illinois can and should serve as a national model. Since the 1980s, the media and watchdog groups have documented nursing homes — particularly understaffed facilities — using antipsychotic medications to deal with aggressive and confrontational patients, who often suffer from dementia. (Jacqueline Y. Collins, 10/15)