Reuters: U.S. CDC Looking Into Heart Inflammation In Some Young Vaccine Recipients
Some teenagers and young adults who received COVID-19 vaccines experienced heart inflammation, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group said, recommending further study of the rare condition. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in a statement dated May 17 said it had looked into reports that a few young vaccine recipients, predominantly adolescents and young adults, and predominantly male, developed myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. (Anilkumar, 5/23)

The New York Times: CDC Is Investigating Heart Problems In A Few Young Covid-19 Vaccine Recipients
The group’s statement was sparse in details, saying only that there were “relatively few” cases and that they may be entirely unrelated to vaccination. The condition, called myocarditis, is an inflammation of the heart muscle, and can occur following certain infections. The C.D.C.’s review of the reports is in the early stages, and the agency has yet to determine whether there is any evidence that the vaccines caused the heart condition. The agency has posted guidance on its website urging doctors and clinicians to be alert to unusual heart symptoms among young people who had just received their shots. (Mandavilli, 5/22)

Other news related to youth vaccinations —

Roll Call: Parents Getting Kids Shots Left Out Of COVID-19 Paid Leave Options 
The Biden administration and some employers have not extended COVID-19 vaccine paid leave policies to parents helping kids get shots, which children's health advocates say could make it difficult for some of the most vulnerable to get vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week cleared Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 12 to 15, and the agency says at least 600,000 kids got a shot within the first week. (Cohen, 5/21)

NBC News: Faced With Anti-Vaccination Parents, Teens Are Helping One Another Get Covid Shots
The Gen Zer from Ohio who made a splash two years ago for defying his mother to get his childhood immunizations has a message for teenagers seeking Covid-19 vaccinations and getting pushback from their parents — get one if you can. Ethan Lindenberger, 20, got his first dose three weeks ago and said doing so “could save someone’s life.” “Teens faced with this have to weigh things like ‘I know vaccines are lifesaving, but I don’t want to become homeless,’” he said. “So I tell them if you can’t have that loving conversation with your parents and you’re of age, weigh those consequences seriously. (Gostanian and Siemaszko, 5/23)

Axios: Colleges Navigate Vaccine Hurdles For International Students 
As more colleges and universities announce COVID vaccine requirements for the fall, they are facing additional logistical challenges figuring out what that will look like for international students. Ensuring international students can get their vaccines is one big piece of safely reopening campuses — which, in turn, could also help reverse some of the dramatic enrollment declines U.S. colleges saw due to COVID-19. (Fernandez, 5/24)

Axios: Study: Pandemic School Closures Will Cost The U.S. Economy Trillions 
The long-term economic cost of school closures could reach into the trillions, according to a paper released this week. Beyond the direct health damage caused by COVID-19, no other area will have as far-reaching impact as pandemic-driven school closures. (Walsh, 5/22)

ABC News: How Greenlighting Pfizer's New Vaccine Storage Requirements Could Dramatically Improve Access
With little fanfare, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer permission this week to store its COVID-19 vaccine in a typical refrigerator for one month -- freeing the vaccine from the need to be shipped in cumbersome boxes stuffed with dry ice. Among authorized COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer's vaccine was notorious for its ultra-cold storage requirements. Now, as the only vaccine authorized for children ages 12 to 17, this new flexibility could dramatically accelerate the effort to vaccinate America's teens and adolescents. (Brownstein and Weintraub, 5/22)

Reuters: Moderna, Novavax To Produce More COVID-19 Vaccines In S.Korea 
Moderna Inc and Novavax Inc entered into a deal with the South Korean government to manufacture their COVID-19 vaccines, as the country has been under pressure to secure more and faster deliveries of U.S.-made vaccines. Saturday's agreements with the U.S. drugmakers came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said that he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had agreed on a comprehensive partnership on COVID-19 vaccines and that the United States would provide vaccinations for 550,000 South Korean soldiers. (Ponnezhath and Cha, 5/22)

Stat: Wealthy Nations, Drug Makers Offer Moves To Bridge Covid Vaccine Divide
The leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations and several drug makers took steps to widen equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, such as issuing voluntary licenses to expand manufacturing, increasing donations to a global distribution program, and investing in production capacity in Africa. Specifically, the G20 leaders asked the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization to compile a report by October on obstacles to greater vaccine access. They also agreed to extend through 2022 a WHO program called Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator, or ACT Accelerator, which was created to develop, produce and distribute vaccines, diagnostics and therapies. (Silverman, 5/21)

CNBC: Covid Vaccine Passports: Everything We Know So Far
Italy, Iceland, Greece and Spain now allow or are opening their borders to people who’ve been vaccinated or who recently tested negative for Covid-19. The European Union has agreed to open its borders to more vaccinated tourists, including from the U.S.The question is: How will individuals prove their vaccine or Covid status? (Josephs, 5/22)

More covid shot information and disinformation —

North Carolina Health News: Why Do We Get Shots In The Arm? It’s All About The Muscle 
Millions have rolled up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine, but why haven’t they rolled up their pants legs instead? Why do we get most shots in our arms? As an associate professor of nursing with a background in public health, and as a mother of two curious kids, I field this question fairly often. So here’s the science behind why we get most vaccines in our arm. (Richards, 5/23)

The Oregonian: Does COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Violate Nuremberg Code That Protects Against Coercion Of Medical-Experiment Subjects? 
“Good morning from Prison Island UK,” a woman wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “Just a reminder that The Nuremberg Code demands voluntary consent of participants in medical experiments. It forbids duress, overreach and coercion to obtain such consent. How many of the vaxxed were made aware that the jab is an experiment?” This argument can be found all over social media -- and it’s wrong. (Perry, 5/21)

The Atlantic: A Better COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Less Spike-Centric
In the race to build the world’s first round of coronavirus vaccines, the spike protein—the thorny knobs that adorn each of the pathogen’s particles—was our MVP. Spike is a key ingredient in virtually every one of our current pandemic-fighting shots; it has been repeatedly billed as essential for tickling out any immune response worth its salt. “People put all their eggs in the spike basket,” Juliet Morrison, a virologist at UC Riverside, told me. And it undoubtedly paid off. In recent months, though, it’s become clear that the coronavirus is a slippery, shape-shifting foe—and spike appears to be one of its most malleable traits. Eventually, our first generation of spike-centric vaccines will likely become obsolete. To get ahead of that inevitability, several companies are already looking to develop new vaccine formulations packed with additional bits of the coronavirus, ushering in an end to our monogamous affair with spike. (Wu, 5/21)

CBS News: As COVID Restrictions Loosen, The Debate Over "Vaccine Passports" Intensifies
Medical experts support the use of "vaccine passports," but the idea is a hard sell for the millions who distrust government mandates. (Novak, 5/23)

Axios: Coronavirus Vaccine Mandates More Popular Than Vaccine Passports 
There's much higher public support for government-imposed vaccine mandates than businesses' use of "vaccine passports," even if they're called something else, according to recent surveys by the COVID States Project. Private businesses are increasingly responsible for making pandemic policy, but this polling suggests that it'd be much more popular for the government to take the stronger role, at least when it comes to vaccine requirements. (Owens, 5/24)

CNBC: Covid Vaccine Passports: Everything We Know So Far
Italy, Iceland, Greece and Spain now allow or are opening their borders to people who’ve been vaccinated or who recently tested negative for Covid-19. The European Union has agreed to open its borders to more vaccinated tourists, including from the U.S.The question is: How will individuals prove their vaccine or Covid status? (Josephs, 5/22)

Axios: Employers Dangle Rewards For COVID-19 Vaccines Despite Legal Hurdles 
Instead of mandating COVID-19 vaccination, more companies are offering employees cash, paid time off, and other financial incentives to get the shot. Employers are favoring "carrots" over "sticks" in the push to get more people vaccinated. But those carrots could run afoul of federal law — if the rewards are too big. (Herman, 5/24)

KHN: If You Are Vaccinated, You Can Dance The Night Away
Marissa Castrigno was walking through downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, when she spotted the sign in the window of one of her favorite dance clubs. After months of being shuttered by the pandemic, Ibiza Nightclub was reopening April 30, it announced. Thrilled, Castrigno immediately made plans with friends to be there. About 50 miles north in Jacksonville, Kennedy Swift learned of Ibiza’s reopening on social media. He, too, decided to attend with friends. (Pattani, 5/21)

AP: COVID Testing’s Value Shrinks As Vaccines Beat Back Virus
Federal health officials’ new, more relaxed recommendations on masks have all but eclipsed another major change in guidance from the government: Fully vaccinated Americans can largely skip getting tested for the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that most people who have received the full course of shots and have no COVID-19 symptoms don’t need to be screened for the virus, even if exposed to someone infected. (Perrone, 5/23)

Politico: Vaccines' Success Could Undercut Biden's Multibillion-Dollar School Testing Plans
President Joe Biden took office pledging to help curb the pandemic by supporting regular Covid-19 testing in schools and other group settings like homeless shelters and workplaces — but the future of those multibillion-dollar plans is murky amid dramatic drops in infection rates nationwide. The administration has struggled to launch a $650 million program it announced in February to set up regional Covid-19 testing hubs for schools and facilities like homeless shelters. Federal officials had hoped to have the first hub open and coordinating 150,000 tests per week by late April, but have not yet awarded any contracts. (Lim, 5/23)

NPR: How The Biden White House Learned To Stop Wearing Masks
What a difference a vaccine makes (that, and CDC guidance saying vaccinated people can safely do just about anything mask-free). At the Biden White House, which remained a COVID-cautious bubble longer than many corners of the country, it's like 2019 all over again, with large and largely mask-free events in the East Room both Thursday and Friday. The White House is opening up as the rest of the country sorts through what the latest guidance means and how it applies to them. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people can be indoors or outdoors without masks, the mask rules still apply in some settings. (Keith, 5/22)

On HHS migrant shelters —

Stateline: Biden Wants To Prepare For Future Surges Of Unaccompanied Minors
The Biden administration wants to create a permanent federal workforce to provide housing for unaccompanied migrant children during surges like the one that began in January and continues to overwhelm authorities. “We all know that surges arise periodically,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a congressional hearing earlier this month. “They arose in 2019. They arose in 2016, in 2014 and well before that. Migration is a very dynamic and fluid challenge that we have faced for many, many years.” (Hernández, 5/24)

BBC News: Children Tell Of Neglect, Filth And Fear In US Asylum Camps
The US has a vast system of detention sites scattered across the country, holding more than 20,000 migrant children. In a special investigation, the BBC has uncovered allegations of cold temperatures, sickness, neglect, lice and filth, through a series of interviews with children and staff. (Andersson and Laurent, 5/23)

And other administration news —

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Moves Toward Making The Pandemic Work-From-Home Experiment Permanent For Many Federal Workers
As the Biden administration contemplates how to return the massive federal workforce to the office, government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent by allowing more employees than ever to work from home — a sweeping cultural change that would have been unthinkable a year ago. The shift across the government, whose details are still being finalized, comes after the risk-averse federal bureaucracy had fallen behind private companies when it came to embracing telework — a posture driven by a perception that employees would slack off unless they were tethered to their office cubicles. That position hardened during the Trump administration, which dialed back work-from-home programs that had slowly expanded during the Obama era. (Rein, 5/24)

NBC News: 50 Years Later, The Culture Wars Debate Over The Child Care Crisis Has Barely Budged
In 1971, President Richard Nixon vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have laid the groundwork for a national child care system, saying it would have placed the government on "the side of communal approaches to child rearing [and] against the family-centered approach." Fifty years later, as President Joe Biden makes subsidized child care for low- and middle-income families a major plank of his legislative agenda, the socially conservative argument against his plan sounds much the same as the one Nixon aide Pat Buchanan was making when he wrote that veto message. (Smith, 5/24)

AP: Growing Mystery Of Suspected Energy Attacks Draws US Concern
The Biden administration is facing new pressure to resolve a mystery that has vexed its predecessors: Is an adversary using a microwave or radio wave weapon to attack the brains of U.S. diplomats, spies and military personnel? The number of reported cases of possible attack is sharply growing and lawmakers from both parties, as well as those believed to be affected, are demanding answers. But scientists and government officials aren’t yet certain about who might have been behind any attacks, if the symptoms could have been caused inadvertently by surveillance equipment — or if the incidents were actually attacks. (Merchant, Burns and Tucker, 5/23)

CNBC: U.S. Covid Cases Hit Lowest Level Since June 2020
Covid cases in the U.S. have dropped to their lowest level since June as the nation prepares for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer travel season. The seven-day average of new infections is about 26,000 as of Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That is the lowest number since June of last year. (Repko, 5/23)

AP: New COVID-19 Cases Plummet To Lowest Levels Since Last June
New coronavirus cases across the United States have tumbled to rates not seen in more than 11 months, sparking optimism that vaccination campaigns are stemming both severe COVID-19 cases and the spread of the virus. As cases, hospitalizations and deaths steadily dropped this week, pre-pandemic life in America has largely resumed. Hugs and unmasked crowds returned to the White House, a Mardi Gras-style parade marched through Alabama’s port city of Mobile, and even states that have stuck to pandemic-related restrictions readied to drop them. However, health experts also cautioned that not enough Americans have been vaccinated to completely extinguish the virus, leaving the potential for new variants that could extend the pandemic. (Groves, 5/22)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Cases And Deaths In The United States Drop To Lowest Levels In Nearly A Year
The United States is adding fewer than 30,000 cases a day for the first time since June of last year, and deaths are as low as they’ve been since last summer. In much of the country, the virus outlook is improving. Nearly 50 percent of Americans have received at least one vaccine shot, and though the pace has slowed, the share is still growing by about two percentage points per week. (Morales and Grullón Paz, 5/24)

CNN: Half Of States Have Fully Vaccinated At Least 50% Of Adults. We Need To Keep Going To Prevent Future Outbreaks, Official Says 
At least 25 states -- plus Washington, DC -- have now fully vaccinated at least half of their adults, data published Sunday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Those states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington state and Wisconsin. (Maxouris, 5/24)

The Hill: 12 New COVID-19 Cases, 2 Deaths Reported Among Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation on Saturday reported 12 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, according to the Navajo Department of Health. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement on Twitter that health officials reported the total number of deaths for the tribe was 1,299 with the total number of cases being 30,767. More than 29,000 of those infected have recovered from their symptoms. Nez continued to encourage the tribe to take health precautions associated with COVID-19. (Oshin, 5/23)

The Hill: UK Variant Now Dominant In Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Health Department revealed on Saturday that the dominant coronavirus strain in the area originated in the United Kingdom. The department reported that the U.K. variant was detected more than half of the 40 specimens analyzed by the L.A. County Public Health Laboratory in the past week. The lab also discovered the Brazilian and South African variants. Two California variants were previously the most common strains circulating the county, the department noted, but testing in the past week did not detect either of the variants. (Schnell, 5/23)

NPR: POTS Diagnosis Offers Hope And Treatment For People With Long-Haul COVID-19
Jennifer Minhas is among those who suffer lingering problems after COVID-19. A diagnosis of POTS, a little-known circulation disorder that mostly affects women, offers a way forward. (Aubrey, 5/22)

CNN: The Women Possibly At Higher Risk For Covid-19 That No One Is Talking About 
Last July, when her immediate family tested positive for Covid-19, Breanna Aguilar did not fit into any groups considered at higher risk for severe disease. She is 31 years old, a pet sitter and former fitness teacher who once ran a half marathon. She was, by most measures, healthy. When Aguilar got Covid-19 she lost her sense of taste, had mild fevers and muscle weakness. She could barely keep anything down yet gained about 30 pounds. Later, she developed pelvic pain, cystic acne, breast tenderness, headaches, brain fog and extreme fatigue. (Masi, 5/23)

In other pandemic news —

Stat: He's A Nobel Laureate. Critics Say He Was Misleading On Covid 
One day last August, as they struggled to figure out whether to lift Covid-19 restrictions, the supervisors of Placer County, California, convened a panel of experts. It was a reasonable move. If being a local official could be thankless in normal times, the pandemic had made it nearly impossible. Federal messaging had been hopelessly muddled. Rules meant to stop viral spread came with painful side effects. One constituent insisted the sheriff enforce lockdowns; another called stay-at-home-orders an economic death sentence. Wanting advice from doctors and professors was hardly surprising. (Boodman, 5/24)

KHN: Tips For Older Adults To Regain Their Game After Being Cooped Up For More Than A Year
Alice Herb, 88, an intrepid New Yorker, is used to walking miles around Manhattan. But after this year of being shut inside, trying to avoid covid-19, she’s noticed a big difference in how she feels. “Physically, I’m out of shape,” she told me. “The other day I took the subway for the first time, and I was out of breath climbing two flights of stairs to the street. That’s just not me.” Emotionally, Herb, a retired lawyer and journalist, is unusually hesitant about resuming activities even though she’s fully vaccinated. “You wonder: What if something happens? Maybe I shouldn’t be doing that. Maybe that’s dangerous,” she said. (Graham, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Lower Their Sights On Healthcare Changes
Many progressive Democrats and President Biden are facing the political reality that far-reaching healthcare overhauls aren’t likely to succeed in the short term, which means their hopes may rest instead on building on recent Affordable Care Act changes and reducing prescription drug costs. Nearly 1.4 million uninsured people have become newly eligible for the ACA’s subsidies following revisions to the health law through pandemic relief legislation passed in March. In addition, many people who already have plans have seen their premiums reduced. The changes marked the biggest overhaul to the health law since its passage in 2010, and have resulted in consumers saving an average of $70 a month, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Armour, 5/22)

Politico: The Tortured Saga Of America’s Least-Loved Policy Idea
By the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a lawsuit seeking to overturn the entirety of the ACA. For the second time, the core legal argument confronting the Court involves the ACA’s “individual responsibility requirement,” better known as the “individual mandate” that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance. For 33 years, and especially since President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law in 2010, the mandate has been a prize and a booby trap for Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives alike, rarely at the same time. Initially a policy favored by many Republicans and conservatives and reviled by most Democrats, both sides swapped roles during the ACA’s creation between 2008 and 2010. Since then, the mandate has been the least favored part of the now popular health law, and the most disputed feature of one of U.S. history’s most contested laws. (McDonough, 5/22)

Cronkite News: Affordable Care Act Sign-Ups Continued Surge In Arizona, U.S. In April
Health care coverage in Arizona under the Affordable Care Act is at its highest level in three years, as enrollment continued to climb in April during a special open enrollment period, according to the latest government data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that 17,081 Arizonans had selected insurance plans for 2021 from Feb. 15 through April 30. They were just some of the 939,575 Americans who got coverage during that period. (Long, 5/22)

MoneyWise: Health Insurance Companies Owe Refunds To Millions Of Consumers — Maybe You?
Among the proposals in President Joe Biden's recently announced American Families Plan is an indefinite extension of the expanded Obamacare subsidies originally passed in March as part of the administration's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan. If that weren't already enough good news on the health care front, private insurance companies are also expected to dole out $2.1 billion in rebates to more than 10.7 million policyholders this fall, according to analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That sum will be the second-highest amount ever issued under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after last year’s record-breaking $2.5 billion in refunds. (Forberg, 5/22)

In other insurance reform news —

The CT Mirror: CT Public Option Bill Dies After Governor Threatens Veto
Proponents of a measure that would create a public option insurance plan for small businesses and nonprofits said Friday that the proposal will be shelved for a third consecutive year because Gov. Ned Lamont threatened not to sign the bill if it passed the General Assembly. A watered-down version of the public option bill cleared the House in 2019 but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. And a similar proposal raised last year was suspended after the state Capitol shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Carlesso, 5/21)

The Hill: Democrats: Roe V. Wade Blow Would Fuel Expanding Supreme Court
Democratic senators say if the Supreme Court strikes a blow against Roe v. Wade by upholding a Mississippi abortion law, it will fuel an effort to add justices to the court or otherwise reform it. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority this week agreed to hear the Mississippi case, which could dramatically narrow abortion rights by allowing states to make it illegal to get an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Bolton, 5/24)

KHN: KHN Journalists Comment On Abortion Case, Wasted Covid Doses
KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge in an abortion case from Mississippi on Newsy on Tuesday. KHN freelancer Sara Reardon discussed allegations by a rail company that a clinic in Libby, Montana, is defrauding Medicare by overdiagnosing asbestos-related diseases on Montana Public Radio on May 13. (5/22)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Stat: Health Care Providers Hope To Cash In Through Congress' Earmark Process
Earmarks are back, and so is the health care industry’s insatiable appetite to get a piece of them. A decade ago, Republicans banned the congressional funding process that allowed lawmakers to request earmarks, or money for pet projects in their home districts. But with Democrats in charge of both chambers of Congress, the requests are being permitted again, with some caveats. (Cohrs, 5/24)

Politico: Summertime Scramble: Dems Sweating A Pileup Of Big Votes On Biden's Agenda
This summer will be the furthest thing from a vacation for congressional Democrats. President Joe Biden's party is gearing up to sprint through Washington's sweltering season, trying to squeeze through a long list of top legislative priorities in barely two months. With Biden's sprawling infrastructure plan stuck in bipartisan talks, a voting rights bill mired in the Senate and the fate of police reform hanging in the air, Democrats acknowledge that time is not necessarily on their side. (Levine and Ferris, 5/24)

Axios: What's At Stake For Employers In Congress's Drug Pricing Fight 
Employers and their workers have hundreds of billions of dollars at stake in the fight over House Democrats' drug pricing bill, according to a new West Health Policy Center analysis. If anyone has the political clout to take on the drug industry, it's employers. The House bill could reduce employer health spending by $195 billion between 2023 and 2029, West Health estimates, noting that this is a conservative scenario. (Owens, 5/21)

Roll Call: Suited Up, K Street Returns
After more than a year of virtual-only advocacy because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the freshly vaccinated lobbying set is reemerging for real-life meetings on the Hill and in-person fundraisers, as well as meals and sit-downs to reconnect with clients and coworkers. Still, many say they expect the Zoom life to carry on, as the industry wrestles with the future of lobbying and seeks to balance the grind of face time with the irreplaceable intimacy of face-to-face encounters. (Ackley, 5/24)

AP: Rand Paul Says He's Skipping Vaccine For Now, May Reconsider
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said on a radio show he won’t be getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but that he might change his mind if people who previously contracted the disease are getting reinfected at a greater rate than those who are vaccinated. The Republican — more than a year after contracting COVID-19 — said on a podcast released Sunday on WABC-AM in New York that he doesn’t want the federal government ordering him around. (5/23)

The Boston Globe: Failure Of Command
Gov. Baker and a top deputy played key roles in events leading up to the COVID-19 tragedy at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, but publicly faulted others. A Boston Globe Spotlight team investigation examines what left it all but leaderless when the virus stormed in. (Ostriker and Estes, 5/20)

Politico: Nursing Homes Invoke Trump-Era Protections To Fight Lawsuits Over Covid Deaths
Nursing homes are increasingly seeking to shield themselves from a raft of wrongful death lawsuits from the families of Covid-19 victims by invoking new liability protections they received from Washington last year as the coronavirus tore through the facilities. About 200 lawsuits in nearly half the states have already been filed, and the industry says it’s bracing for many more in the coming months given the virus’ outsize toll on residents and staff. But an emergency preparedness law expanded by Congress last year limiting health providers’ exposure to coronavirus-related lawsuits — and the Trump administration’s broad interpretation of those protections — are upending litigation against nursing homes. (Luthi and Roubein, 5/22)

Axios: Pandemic Exacerbates Massive Shortage Of Health Care Workers 
There are hundreds of open healthcare jobs for every applicant — and the shortfall is only growing. America is aging, and millions of recovering COVID patients will need long-term care, dramatically increasing the demand for physicians, nurses, and home health aides. But there aren't enough workers with the skills to fill these jobs. (Pandey, 5/21)

On future industry innovations —

KHN: Is Your Living Room The Future Of Hospital Care?
Major hospital systems are betting big money that the future of hospital care looks a lot like the inside of patients’ homes. Hospital-level care at home — some of it provided over the internet — is poised to grow after more than a decade as a niche offering, boosted both by hospitals eager to ease overcrowding during the pandemic and growing interest by insurers who want to slow health care spending. But a host of challenges remain, from deciding how much to pay for such services to which kinds of patients can safely benefit. (Appleby, 5/24)

KHN: No-Cancel Culture: How Telehealth Is Making It Easier To Keep That Therapy Session
When the covid-19 pandemic forced behavioral health providers to stop seeing patients in person and instead hold therapy sessions remotely, the switch produced an unintended, positive consequence: Fewer patients skipped appointments. That had long been a problem in mental health care. Some outpatient programs previously had no-show rates as high as 60%, according to several studies. (Berger, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: How Covid-19 Is Helping To Change The Doctor’s Waiting Room
Historically, the waiting room has served several functions. It is where doctors collect all of the necessary information (and then some) from patients via the dreaded clipboard. It is where patients settle their bills, often through a pane of glass or plastic with a receptionist behind it. And, of course, it is a holding pen for patients to wait until the doctor is ready to see them. Now healthcare providers are using technology and redesigning their facilities to change the experience and bring much of it out of the waiting room. “There should be no waiting room,” says Dr. Rahul Khare, chief executive of Innovative Care clinics in the Chicago area. “We should do what we can to eliminate that.” (Kornelis, 5/23)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Kansas City Star: ‘It’s Just Shocking’: How Missouri Republican Politics Drove Twin Crises In Medicaid
Mike Levitt’s nursing homes have experienced a difficult 14 months. Still recovering after being ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, Levitt’s Tutera Senior Living & Health Care, which operates five facilities in the Kansas City region, suddenly finds itself at the edge of financial oblivion. Missouri lawmakers are at fault. The General Assembly adjourned earlier this month without renewing a tax that funds vast swaths of Medicaid in Missouri. Nursing homes are heavily reliant on Medicaid patients, who have spent down their savings and now depend on the program to pay for their care. (Shorman and Kuang, 5/23)

Missouri Independent: Missourians, Health Care Providers Pause Plans As Medicaid Expansion Heads To Court
A lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of three Missourians who would have qualified under expansion argued that there is no legal reason to treat people who become eligible July 1 differently from those who are currently eligible. In anticipation of that lawsuit, The Independent reached out to eligible individuals and health care providers to learn about their expectations for coverage and plans to provide care.  (Weinberg and Keller, 5/22)

Health News Florida: Report Points To Benefits Of Florida Medicaid Expansion 
Florida could add 134,700 jobs, lower the number of uninsured residents by 852,000 and pump billions of additional federal dollars into the economy if it would expand Medicaid to low-income adults without children, according to a report released Thursday. The Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based organization that focuses on health care issues, released the report, which said expanding Medicaid in Florida would add 61,600 health-care jobs from 2022 to 2025. It also said an expansion would lead to job increases in the construction, retail, finance and insurance sectors. (Sexton, 5/21)

Wyoming Tribune Eagle: New Reports Highlight Benefits Of Medicaid Expansion For Wyoming Workforce
With Medicaid expansion back in the state’s spotlight this year, a pair of new studies released last week highlighted the potential benefits that could come to Wyoming workers, as well as the state’s employment numbers, if lawmakers decide to opt into the federal program. One of them, conducted by the Commonwealth Fund and George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, projected that Medicaid expansion would create 1,900 jobs in Wyoming, with about two-thirds of those coming in the health care industry. The study’s lead author, Leighton Ku, said the new employment opportunities would come as a result of more than $100 million in additional federal funds coming to the state. (Coulter, 5/23)

Penn Live: Pa. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. Is Pitching A Big, Expensive Plan To Help Kids. And He’s Ready For A Fight.
In the eyes of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., America’s leaders have consistently fallen short when it comes to protecting the nation’s children. Too many kids are hungry, in poverty and lack access to a good education. Casey, D-Pa., is pitching a massive plan aimed at giving all kids a fair shot to succeed. His proposals include automatic Medicaid eligibility for all children, investing billions into an expansion of Head Start, permanent tax credits for families and money to fight child abuse. (Southwick, 5/24)

AP: Pandemic Has Fueled Eating Disorder Surge In Teens, Adults
Many hospital beds are full. Waiting lists for outpatient treatment are bulging. And teens and adults seeking help for eating disorders are often finding it takes months to get an appointment. The pandemic created treacherous conditions for eating disorders, leading to a surge of new cases and relapses that is not abating as restrictions are loosened and COVID-19 cases subside in many places, doctors and other specialists say. “We are absolutely seeing massive increases,” said Jennifer Wildes, an associate psychiatry professor and director of an outpatient eating disorders program at the University of Chicago Medicine. Some patients are waiting four to five months to get treatment such as psychotherapy and sometimes medication. Waits usually lasted only a few weeks pre-pandemic, Wildes said. (Tanner, 5/23)

Axios: Parents Will Have A Big Challenge Reducing Their Kids' Screen Time After The Pandemic 
After over a year in which parents let kids sit in front of screens pretty much all the time, reining in their digital fixation will be a challenge. Some studies have suggested that certain types of digital content such as social media can have addictive qualities, and that consuming too much can be harmful to children, particularly adolescents. (Hart, 5/24)

And on school safety —

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Will Eliminate Remote Learning For The Fall, In A Major Step Toward Reopening.
New York City will no longer have a remote schooling option come fall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced during a television appearance on Monday, a major step toward fully reopening the nation’s largest school system. This school year, most of the city’s roughly one million students — about 600,000 — stayed at home for classes. When the new school year starts on Sept. 13, all students and staff will be back in school buildings full-time, Mr. de Blasio said. New York is one of the first big cities to remove the option of remote learning altogether for the coming school year. (Shapiro, 5/24)

The Washington Post: Kids Staying Masked Inside Classrooms Is ‘Reasonable’ For A Period Of Time, Former FDA Chief Says
Parents of children under 12, who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, will have to continue to make individual assessments about their risk, said Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration — even as officials cheer the steady decline in covid cases in the United States and the return to relative normalcy for many vaccinated adults. In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Gottlieb said about 85 percent of those above the age of 65 have been vaccinated, which has helped account for a drop in infections and hospitalizations. On Friday, the seven-day average of new coronavirus infections in the United States fell to 27,815, dropping below 30,000 for the first time in 11 months, according to state health department data compiled by The Washington Post. (Wang, 5/23)

Axios: Study: Pandemic School Closures Will Cost The U.S. Economy Trillions 
The long-term economic cost of school closures could reach into the trillions, according to a paper released this week. Beyond the direct health damage caused by COVID-19, no other area will have as far-reaching impact as pandemic-driven school closures. (Walsh, 5/22)

Axios: Health Companies Get Into The School Reopening Business 
Health companies and startups are getting into the business of helping K-12 schools in the U.S. figure out how to safely reopen in person — and stay open in person — in the fall. Even as cases and deaths come down nationwide, experts worry about the unknowns the fall could bring as people retreat indoors. That's a particular concern with the uncertainty in child COVID vaccine uptake and adults' looming need for booster shots. (Fernandez, 5/24)

The New York Times: Ventilation And Testing Can Help Keep U.S. Schools Open In Fall, Studies Suggest
Several Covid-19 mitigation measures — including improving ventilation, requiring adults to wear face masks and conducting frequent surveillance testing — can help schools stay open and students remain safe, two new studies suggest. The studies, which were published on Friday, come as many school districts are drawing up their plans for the fall. They also follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that all schools teaching students from kindergarten through grade 12 should continue to have mask-wearing policies through the end of the 2020-21 school year, after the agency’s recent move to allow for vaccinated people to forgo wearing masks indoors. The agency also kept in place its suggestions to observe physical distancing and to test for coronavirus infections. (Anthes, 5/21)

Health News Florida: Study Could Ease FDA Blood-Donation Restrictions For Gay Men 
A pilot study with three of the nation's largest blood donation organizations could help the FDA change its blood-donation restrictions for men who have sex with men. Current FDA guidelines say that men who have sex with men must wait three months before they can donate blood. The study by OneBlood, the American Red Cross and Vitalant will determine whether the FDA should replace its three- month waiting period with an individual risk assessment. (Prieur, 5/21)

NPR: Skepticism Of Science In A Pandemic Isn't New. It Helped Fuel The AIDS Crisis
It's been 40 years since the first U.S. AIDS cases were were reported, and some who experienced the early years of the crisis say the effects of denialism then have carried into the COVID-19 pandemic. (Benk, King and Advani, 5/23)

On mental health —

AP: On A Mission To Heal After Exposing Her Dad To Deadly Virus
For a year, Michelle Pepe awoke every day, recited the Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, and kissed a photo of her father. And coped with her guilt. “’Dad,” she says, “I’m so sorry that this happened.”“This” was COVID-19. ... Hers is a common sorrow of the times. Around the world, countless people are struggling to shake off the burden of feeling responsible for the death of a loved one due to COVID-19. They regret a trip or feel anguish over everyday decisions that may have spread the disease — commuting to work, hugging parents, even picking up food. (Andres Henao and Wardaski, 5/24)

NPR: To Heal From Her Trauma, She Turned To Weight Lifting
When personal trainer and former competitive weight lifter Laura Khoudari experienced a traumatic incident that left her with PTSD, her response was to get back to the gym and train as hard as possible. She was participating in three sports, sometimes going to two training sessions per day. "When I was living with trauma, I was using [training] as a coping skill but in a non-healthy way. I was training all the time like I was preparing for battle because I wanted to be invincible against an invisible threat," Khoudari recalls. (Mertens, 5/21)

In other public health news —

CIDRAP: CDC Confirms 163 Salmonella Illnesses Linked To Backyard Poultry
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 163 new Salmonella infections in 43 states that are linked to backyard poultry. A total of 34 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been recorded. Case-patients range in age from less than 1 to 87 years, with a median age of 24. But a third of the cases occurred in children under the age of 5 years, the CDC said. Of 92 patients interviewed, 81 (88%) reported contact with backyard poultry before falling ill. (5/21)

NBC News: Nearly 1 In 10 Teens Identify As Gender-Diverse In Pittsburgh Study
The number of young people who are gender-diverse — including transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer — may be significantly higher than previously thought, according to a new study. Researchers in Pittsburgh found that nearly 1 in 10 students in over a dozen public high schools identified as gender-diverse — five times the current national estimates. Gender diversity refers to people whose gender identities or gender expressions differ from the sexes they were assigned at birth, according to the American Psychological Association. (Avery, 5/21)

NBC News: 'Mind-Boggling': Pedestrian Deaths Surged In 2020, Despite Fewer Cars On The Road
Pedestrians deaths in 2020 increased by 21 percent from 2019 — the largest annual increase since such data collection began in the mid-1970s — according to a report released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association. The figure is particularly striking because there were fewer drivers on the road for much of 2020, as Americans hunkered down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "All of the metrics indicate there were fewer people on the roads, and so you would expect to see fewer traffic deaths, but it's the opposite," said Richard Retting, a safety researcher the GHSA contracted to do the data analysis. "It's kind of mind-boggling." (Edwards, 5/21)

Politico: How The Covid Vaccine Push Squeezed Out Drugs For Sick Patients
Coronavirus vaccines have reached American adults in record time, but the development of treatments for Covid-19 is stagnating — threatening efforts to stamp out clusters of infection and end the pandemic. While the Biden administration has committed to channeling billions of dollars into finding therapies, a key government agency that invests in drug development recently stopped reviewing requests for new treatments — in part because it doesn't have enough cash available, according to one senior health official. (Owermohle and Ellen Foley, 5/24)

Stat: Freenome, High-Profile Liquid Biopsy Company, Quietly Replaces Its CEO
Freenome, a high-profile startup that aims to develop a blood test to detect colon cancer, has quietly replaced its co-founder and chief executive, Gabriel Otte. The company’s chief business officer, Mike Nolan, a long-time veteran of the genomics and diagnostic industries, is Freenome’s new CEO. He was identified as such in a Freenome press release on Friday about new data on its experimental test; he is also listed as CEO on Freenome’s website and on his own LinkedIn profile. (Herper, 5/21)

And on the Theranos trial and opioid litigation —

The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes Jury To Hear Of Faulty Theranos Tests From Patients
Jurors will be able to hear limited evidence of Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes’s wealth, and from customers who said they got faulty blood-test results, a judge concluded in a weekend order that will help shape her criminal fraud trial. Ms. Holmes faces multiple counts of mail fraud for allegedly deceiving investors, patients and doctors about Theranos’s blood-testing technology, which purported to test for a range of health conditions from a few drops of blood extracted from a finger prick. Ms. Holmes has pleaded not guilty and faces an August trial, after several delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and news that she is due to give birth in July. (Randazzo, 5/23)

CNBC: Elizabeth Holmes: Jury Can Hear Limited Evidence Of CEO Lifestyle
Jurors in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes will hear evidence about her extravagant lifestyle as Theranos CEO but with some limitations. That’s the ruling issued by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila late Saturday as part of a 100 page response to motions in Holmes’ upcoming criminal trial. (Khorram, 5/23)

The New York Times: Paul J. Hanly Jr., Top Litigator In Opioid Cases, Dies At 70
Paul J. Hanly Jr., a top trial lawyer who had been central to the current nationwide litigation against pharmaceutical companies and others in the supply chain for their role in the deadly opioid epidemic, died on Saturday at his home in Miami Beach. He was 70. The cause was anaplastic thyroid cancer, an extremely rare and aggressive disease, said Jayne Conroy, his longtime law partner. (Seelye, 5/22)

Arizona Daily Star: Some Tucsonans Report Being Billed For Free COVID-19 Vaccines
Coronavirus vaccines are supposed to be free, but that hasn’t stopped two major Tucson medical providers from sending out requests for money. Some of the thousands vaccinated at Banner Health sites in Tucson were wrongly billed, while thousands more who received shots at Tucson Medical Center were solicited for donations after TMC shared their contact information with the hospital’s fundraising branch, the Arizona Daily Star has learned. (Alaimo, 5/22)

Georgia Health News: Black, Latino Georgians Lag Behind Whites In COVID Shots, Report Says 
Blacks and Latinos in Georgia have significantly lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than whites, a newly released Kaiser Health News analysis shows. Thirty percent of whites in Georgia have had at least one shot, yet they trail another group — Asians, who are at 44 percent. The data were provided to KHN by the CDC in response to a public records request. But nearly half of the vaccination records are missing race or ethnicity information, KHN reported, which would mean the statistics are far from complete. (Miller, 5/21)

Health News Florida: Florida Report Shows Vaccinations Lag Among Blacks
More than 9.8 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Florida since the first round of shots arrived in the state in December. But a report Thursday by the Florida Department of Health said just 7 percent of the vaccinated people have been identified as Black. By comparison, about 66 percent have been identified as white. Another 15 percent were listed as “unknown,” and 11 percent were identified as “other.”Less than 1 percent were categorized as American Indian or Alaskan. (5/21)

The Baltimore Sun: How Can I Enter Maryland’s Vaccine Lottery? What Are The Odds Of Winning Cash? 
Flanked by a Lotto-ball mascot, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan laid out the stakes: Forty daily drawings for $40,000 each and a $400,000 Fourth of July jackpot, he said. Get one coronavirus vaccine shot and you’ve got a chance for a share of the cash. As the Republican governor put it last week, “Get your shot for a shot to win.” (Mann and Wood, 5/24)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘It’s Kind Of Weird To See People Without Masks Now’: Marylanders, Retailers Navigate (Mostly) Relaxed Mandates 
When Jules Abbott visited a liquor store in Bel Air earlier this month, she was surprised to see about half the shop’s customers without face masks. Beverage samples had even returned to the store. But Abbott kept her mask on. It just didn’t feel right to go without something that had been such an integral part of her life for the past year, she said. (Condon and Louis, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Shifting Covid-19 Face-Mask Rules Divide Ohio City
In communities across America, masks have become a symbol of the personal anxieties that have divided friends and neighbors throughout the pandemic. People have been forced to make difficult decisions, weighing their physical and mental health against their economic livelihoods and those of others. Business owners in cities like Sandusky can’t blame their decisions on a faraway corporate parent. Their decisions on masks have meant confronting friends, neighbors and co-workers on a daily basis. In the 60% of America that lives in cities with fewer than 50,000 people, that can be a deeply personal task. (Wernau, 5/23)

AP: Mainers Can Remove Masks Indoors Starting Today
The day has arrived for Maine residents who want to stop wearing a mask. The state’s new guidance about mask use during the coronavirus pandemic takes effect on Monday. Mainers no longer have to wear a face covering in most indoor settings, except for schoolchildren 5 and older. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, made the decision in mid-May to align the state rules with the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state is also lifting physical distancing requirements at indoor public settings where people are eating or drinking, such as bars and restaurants. (5/24)

The Guardian: The New York Highway That Racism Built: ‘It Does Nothing But Pollute’
For years, New York state officials have known that the ageing I-81 viaduct has needed to be radically redeveloped. Most residents and public officials agree that it must be rethought for safety, economic and public health reasons. However, for a neighborhood that has long been disenfranchised, tearing down the highway also means repairing the legacy of injustice done to their community. Across the US, community organizers have long been fighting to shine a light on the racist urban planning policy that led to highways being built through historically Black neighborhoods. And now, thanks to a recent gesture of support from the Biden administration, organizers in Syracuse feel there is finally some acknowledgment of the harm I-81 has caused, and new momentum around the idea of tearing it down. (Ramirez, 5/21)

WUSF 89.7: USF To Allow Full Capacity For Football Games In 2021 
The University of South Florida will allow full capacity for its home football games at Raymond James Stadium this season. The university announced Thursday it will open up the 65,857-seat Raymond James Stadium starting with its home opener Sept. 11 against the University of Florida — the Gators' first game against USF in Tampa. The Bulls will play six home games this season — five on Saturday, along with a Friday night game against Cincinnati. USF Associate Athletic Director for Communications Brian Siegrist said the university has yet to determine whether masks will be required at games. (Lisciandrello, 5/21)

AP: India Battles Fatal Fungal Threat As Virus Deaths Near 300K
Doctors in India are fighting a fatal fungal infection affecting COVID-19 patients or those who have recovered from the disease amid a coronavirus surge that has driven the country’s fatalities to nearly 300,000. The life-threatening condition, known as mucormycosis, is relatively rare but doctors suspect that the sudden increase in the infection could further complicate India’s fight against the pandemic. India has reported more than 26 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began, with almost half occurring in the past two months. On Sunday, the Health Ministry reported 3,741 new deaths, driving India’s confirmed fatalities to 299,266. (Saaliq, 5/23)

CNN: 'Black Fungus' In India: What We Know About The Disease Affecting Covid Patients
In early May, doctors in India began raising the alarm about a rise in mucormycosis -- a rare and potentially deadly infection also known as black fungus. Many of those being infected are coronavirus patients, or those who have recently recovered from Covid-19, whose immune systems have been weakened by the virus or who have underlying conditions -- most notably diabetes. In the past few weeks, thousands of black fungus cases have been reported across the country, with hundreds hospitalized and at least 90 dead. Two states have declared it an epidemic, and the central government has made it a notifiable disease. Here's what we know about black fungus and its spread in India. (Yeung and Sud, 5/21)

The Washington Post: Indian American Doctors Offer Help From Afar To Ease Indian Health Care Crisis
Anup Katyal, an intensive care physician in Missouri, was finally getting a break from treating hundreds of covid-19 patients at the hospital where he works. Then, catastrophe descended on India, his homeland. Each day since, he has awakened to a flurry of messages from 20 relatives, friends and fellow doctors in India seeking medical advice. And then, before bed, he has hopped on Zoom with a family in New Delhi who contracted the virus and turned to a physician 7,700 miles away because local doctors turned off their phones and shuttered their offices. (Nirappil, 5/24)

AP: UK Officials: Vaccines Effective Against Indian Variant
British health officials expressed optimism Sunday that the coronavirus restrictions remaining in England can be lifted in June after an official study found that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines offer effective protection against the variant first identified in India. Authorities in Britain have expressed concern in recent weeks that increasing cases of the Indian variant could jeopardize the U.K.’s so-far successful plan to reopen its economy. More than 2,880 cases of the Indian variant have been recorded in England, figures show. The government has said the variant appears to be more transmissible, but there was still uncertainty about how concerning this was. (Hui, 5/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Intelligence On Sick Staff At Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin
Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory. The details of the reporting go beyond a State Department fact sheet, issued during the final days of the Trump administration, which said that several researchers at the lab, a center for the study of coronaviruses and other pathogens, became sick in autumn 2019 “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.” (Gordon, Strobel and Hinshaw, 5/23)

AP: Japan Opens Mass Vaccination Centers 2 Months Before Games
Japan mobilized military doctors and nurses to give shots to elderly people in Tokyo and Osaka on Monday as the government desperately tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout and curb coronavirus infections just two months before hosting the Olympics. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is determined to hold the Olympics in Tokyo after a one-year delay and has made an ambitious pledge to finish vaccinating the country’s 36 million elderly people by the end of July, despite skepticism it’s possible. Worries about public safety while many Japanese remain unvaccinated have prompted growing protests and calls for canceling the Games set to start on July 23. (Yamaguchi, 5/24)

Reuters: No One's Safe Anymore: Japan's Osaka City Crumples Under COVID-19 Onslaught
Hospitals in Japan's second largest city of Osaka are buckling under a huge wave of new coronavirus infections, running out of beds and ventilators as exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse", and advise against holding the Olympics this summer. Japan's western region home to 9 million people is suffering the brunt of the fourth wave of the pandemic, accounting for a third of the nation's death toll in May, although it constitutes just 7% of its population. (Takenaka, 5/24)

Axios: Singapore Approves COVID Breath Test That Gives Results Within Minute 
A COVID-19 breath test designed to return accurate results within one minute has received provisional authorization from Singapore health regulators Monday, per a statement from the National University of Singapore (NUS). An accurate test like this breathalyzer, developed by NUS startup Breathonix, could play a key role in reviving the pandemic-hit travel industry, per Bloomberg. (Falconer, 5/24)

Axios: China Flooded Taiwan With COVID Disinformation In 2020 — Report 
Chinese government-backed disinformation flooded Taiwan in 2020, amplifying discord prior to Taiwan's elections and spreading COVID-19-related disinformation aimed at delegitimizing Taiwan's democratic government and improving Beijing's image, a new report finds. The Chinese government has developed a sophisticated set of disinformation tools that it is deploying inside liberal democracies. Beijing's information operations in Taiwan follow a set pattern also deployed elsewhere, suggesting other governments might emulate Taiwan's largely successful response. (Allen-Ebrahimian, 5/24)

The Hill: Germany Bans Most Travel From UK Amid Concerns Of Contagious Variants
Germany on Friday issued a ban on most travel from the United Kingdom (U.K.), citing concerns about the spread of more infectious variants, including a new variant found in India, throughout the country. The restrictions came the same day the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control and prevention agency, added Great Britain and Northern Ireland among its list of international areas of concern, labeling it a “virus variant area.” (Castronuovo, 5/22)

Axios: Zimbabwe To Impose Lockdown In Central City After Detecting COVID Variant 
Zimbabwe's health ministry announced a two-week lockdown on the central city of Kwekwe after detecting the coronavirus variant dominant in India. The lockdown will start Friday and a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be strictly imposed. (Gonzalez, 5/21)

Axios: At Least 100 COVID-19 Cases On Everest, Guide Says 
A Mount Everest climbing expert on Saturday told the AP there are at least 100 active coronavirus cases at the base camp. The remarks from Lukas Furtenbach contradict statements from Nepalese officials who have denied knowledge of active infections among climbers and support staff during this season, AP reports. (Gonzalez, 5/22)

CBS News: Latin America Surpasses 1 Million COVID-19 Deaths
More than 1 million total COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Latin America and the Caribbean as of Saturday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The region — which accounts for 8% of the world population — has reported approximately 29% of all global COVID fatalities. "This is a tragic milestone for everyone in the region," Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa F. Etienne said Friday in a statement. "This pandemic is far from over, and it is hitting Latin America and the Caribbean severely, affecting our health, our economies, and entire societies." (Powell, 5/23)

Los Angeles Times: Can The COVID-19 Vaccines Keep Us Safe Over The Long Term? 
Imagine that it is 2023 or 2025, and protection from our COVID-19 vaccines is starting to wane or mutant virus strains are evading the vaccines. Can we realistically expect the entire populace to line up again in stadiums and parking lots to get a shot? The rapid development of effective vaccines has been worthy of celebration. But we’re now facing a major practical question: How long will the vaccines work and can the immunity provided so far defend against new viral variants? The answer will depend on the quality of immune memory that the vaccines can produce. (Marc Hellerstein, 5/23)

The Atlantic: What Parents Need To Hear From The CDC 
Parents of young children have some pressing questions for the CDC. In recent guidance, the public-health agency suggested that fully vaccinated individuals can burn their masks and never wear a face covering again. (I’m exaggerating. Masks are still required on public transit and in medical facilities, among other places.) Meanwhile, unvaccinated people should continue to mask inside as well as at crowded outdoor venues. The sound scientific basis for these recommendations is that the vaccines are excellent, work well against the new variants, and seem to protect against even asymptomatic disease and transmission. Vaccinated people are quite safe from COVID-19, the odd breakthrough case notwithstanding. Many states have accordingly dropped their mandates. You can now shop unmasked in the Providence, Rhode Island, Whole Foods near where I live (though practically no one does). (Emily Oster, 5/21)

Dallas Morning News: Vaccinating Kids Is How We Get Back To Normal. Schools Must Play A Starring Role
As more people get vaccinated, we’re dipping our toes into normalcy, and oh, it’s exhilarating. Many of us are finally gathering for family birthdays and scheduling lunch dates with friends we haven’t seen in months. Some of us are plotting our return to the office. But for many young children and their families, “normal” is still on pause. Children under age 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and federal authorities estimate these kids will have to wait until late fall or early 2022 to get shots. (5/23)

CNN: One Big Question About The End Of Covid-19
After eight months of rigorous consultation and research, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness Response, co-chaired by Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia, has issued our final report, COVID-19: Make It the Last Pandemic. The title deliberately begs the question: can this be the last time a disease causes this degree of global loss, suffering and death? We believe the answer is yes, if our package of recommendations is adopted. (Mark Dybul, 5/23)

Bloomberg: The Vaccine Rollout Is Succeeding, But We Haven't Beaten Covid Yet 
The U.S. was woefully, heartbreakingly slow to respond to the dangers of Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic. But it has been an early leader in the race to get vaccines to as many of its residents as possible: More than 280 million doses have been administered this year, granting more than 40% of Americans protection from the virus — and the freedom to drop their masks. Still, many say they won’t be lining up for shots, and vaccine hesitancy will only prolong the pain. The U.S. can, however, do a lot to promote vaccination both at home and abroad, with the help of science, economics and a few hefty nudges. (Brooke Sample, 5/23)

The New York Times: I’m A Vaccinated Transplant Recipient. I Don’t Have Antibodies. Now What?
“When can we meet?” As more people are vaccinated, my inbox grows ever more hopeful. Emails from conference organizers, employers, friends, family and businesses promise that we will soon “get back to normal” and put the dark shadow of the pandemic behind us. Now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that masks are no longer necessary for the vaccinated, the spring has brought with it an optimistic news cycle that eagerly anticipates the post-Covid world. What is receiving considerably less attention, however, is that not everyone who is vaccinated will develop antibodies, and many of those who don’t are at high risk for the most severe consequences of Covid-19. As a kidney transplant recipient, I am one of those people. (Candida Moss, 5/24)

The New York Times: This Is The Wrong Way To Distribute Badly Needed Vaccines 
A global alliance to assure poor and moderate income countries “equitable access” to Covid vaccines is shortchanging nations in desperate need, while providing vaccines to others that have comparatively few cases or lack the ability to distribute them. Leaders of the effort, known as Covax, argue that vaccines initially should be allocated proportionally by population. But this approach is ethically wrong. Priority should be given to countries being hit hardest by Covid-19 or those likely to be hit soon and capable of distributing and administering the vaccines they receive. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Govind Persad, 5/24)

Los Angeles Times: How Biden's Cutting-Edge Health Agency Could Succeed 
When President Biden recently presented Congress, and Americans, with his vision for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the acronym may have sounded familiar. It should have. The new health agency would be modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA, a Department of Defense research and development agency. DARPA is responsible for such life-altering technological advancements as the computer mouse and “packet-switching”— the foundation for today’s internet (and conceived in partnership with the Rand Corp., where we work). (Luke Muggy, Catherine Cohen and Kristie Gore, 5/24)

USA Today: Deadly Pandemic: Effective Malaria Vaccine After Century Of Trying
Death tolls over 500,000 in a single year. Millions falling ill across the world. This is a relentless pandemic. I’m not talking about COVID-19; I’m talking about malaria. The disease is caused by a microscopic, mosquito-borne parasite – Plasmodium falciparum – that infected 229 million people just two years ago. (Susannah Hills, 5/24)

Stat: Use Single-Cell Biology To Shed Light On Pediatric Diseases 
There are few things harder for a physician to say to a patient than “I don’t know what’s wrong.” Saying that is even harder when you’re sitting across from the parent of a child with an undiagnosed condition. And as I learned from experience, it is harder still when you work at a national referral center for rare pediatric diseases, since you are a family’s last hope: the physician they’re seeing after they’ve spent months — even years — searching for help and exhausting every other option. My heart broke every time I had to say, “I’m so sorry, but I don’t know what’s wrong.” (Priscilla Chan, 5/24)

NBC News: What Do Steve Bannon's Covid Supplements And Gwyneth Paltrow's Candles Have In Common?
As Americans try to push past the pandemic, a tsunami of sketchy products and suspect regimens threaten our health — though likely the only thing they purge is our bank accounts. From Trump buddy Steve Bannon’s vitamin “defense pack” to Gwyneth Paltrow’s apparently exploding vagina-scented candles, ever more celebrities are using their star power to hawk the evidence-free, the ridiculous or the downright dangerous. (Lynn Stuart Parramore, 5/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Lawmakers Must Clarify The Standard For Involuntary Commitment 
The killing by Everton Brown of three of his neighbors in Woodlawn was a tragedy that in all likelihood could have been prevented. It should serve as a catalyst for the Maryland General Assembly to revisit the legal standard for determining if a person may be involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric facility — a move that is long overdue. Our state has one of the most restrictive laws on involuntary psychiatric admission in the nation. The intersection of law and psychiatry can be tricky. I was a psychiatric social worker before I was a lawyer. I saw the challenges in applying legal standards to mental health problems from different perspectives, beginning with triaging patients presenting mental health problems in an emergency room and outpatient clinic. (David A. Plymyer, 5/21)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Heartbeat Act Will Fail For Reasons Having Nothing To Do With Abortion
Those favoring tighter restrictions on abortion ought not to be cheering the enactment in Texas this week of Senate Bill 8, the “Texas Heartbeat Act.” Instead, they should be angry with the Legislature for wasting political energy on a bill certain to be found unconstitutional for reasons having nothing to do with abortion. The bill says that every doctor must check for a fetal heartbeat and that once a heartbeat is detected — often at about six weeks into pregnancy — an abortion can’t be performed. The provision is clearly unconstitutional under cases like Roe v. Wade and its successors, which say that states can’t prohibit abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb, which occurs at about 23 weeks. Rather than attempting a direct assault on that doctrine as states such as Mississippi have attempted, with SB8 Texas seeks an end run. It says Roe v. Wade only constrains the state itself and that, here, the state will not itself enforce the prohibition. Instead, SB8 will let almost anyone anywhere in the world sue the abortion provider (and other people assisting) for $10,000 in damages. (Seth Chandler, 5/24)