USA Today: Idaho Abortion Ban Bill, Modeled After Texas, Heads To Governor's Desk
Idaho became the first state to pass abortion legislation modeled after Texas' six-week ban on Monday. The Idaho House voted 51-14 with no Democratic support to pass a bill that would allow potential family members to sue any doctor who performs an abortion during a pregnancy longer than six weeks. The state Senate had already approved the bill, which now goes to Gov. Brad Little, who is likely to sign it. Little, a Republican, signed a similar so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill into law last year. That measure includes a trigger provision that requires a federal court to rule in favor of it – which hasn’t happened yet. (Tebor, 3/14)

Idaho Statesman: Last Month Of Abortion In Idaho? Texas-Inspired Bill Heads To Gov. Little’s Desk 
“They did a very clever thing,” said Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian, the Idaho bill’s House sponsor. “They allowed for a civil cause of action, meaning that you could be sued in civil court if someone performs an illegal abortion post-heartbeat.” The Idaho Family Policy Center helped craft the private enforcement legislation and lobbied the Legislature to prevent most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Around five or six weeks is generally when an ultrasound can pick up a so-called “fetal heartbeat,” though specialized physicians have said the sounds are more accurately described as electrical activity. (Suppe, 3/14)

AP: Lawmakers Send Texas-Styled Abortion Bill To Idaho Governor 
“This bill makes sure that the people of Idaho can stand up for our values and do everything in our power to prevent the wanton destruction of innocent human life,” Republican Rep. Steven Harris, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement after the vote. The measure has already passed the Senate and now heads to Republican Gov. Brad Little. Marissa Morrison, Little’s spokeswoman, said Monday the governor hadn’t seen the bill and doesn’t comment on pending legislation. (Ridler, 3/15)

NBC News: Idaho Passes Texas-Inspired Bill To Ban Abortion At 6 Weeks
There are some differences between the Idaho bill and the Texas statute. The Idaho measure is narrower; it would allow the potential father, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of a "preborn child" to sue an abortion provider for a minimum of $20,000 in damages within four years of an abortion. The Texas law allows any citizen to file a lawsuit, with the possibility of being awarded $10,000 by a court. (Gregorian, 3/14)

In abortion news from Colorado —

CNN: Abortion Rights Bill Passes Colorado House 
The Colorado House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation that seeks to codify the right to an abortion in the state. The Reproductive Health Equity Act -- which cleared the chamber 40-24 -- now heads to the state's Democratic-controlled Senate, where it's expected to pass. The legislation states that "every individual has a fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; every pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state." The bill also prohibits state and local entities from denying, restricting, interfering with or discriminating against a person's decision to either use contraception, give birth or have an abortion. (Simonson, 3/14)

And more on reproductive rights —

Kansas City Star: What Planned Parenthood’s Missouri Lawsuit Means For Patients 
The state of Missouri has decided to no longer cover healthcare provided to Medicaid patients at Planned Parenthood’s 11 local health centers. In response, the reproductive health and family planning organization is suing the state, and absorbing the cost of care for its patients. “Not only does this defunding defy a 2020 state Supreme Court ruling that held that defunding Planned Parenthood through the state’s budget is unconstitutional, it also violates federal Medicaid law,” the organization wrote on Thursday, March 10.Missouri is the fourth state to ban reimbursements to the group, a move sometimes referred to as “defunding” Planned Parenthood. (Wallington, 3/14)

NPR: Can States Limit Abortion And Gender-Affirming Treatments Outside Their Borders?
Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. have unleashed a wave of state legislation attempting to restrict access to abortions and to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth by allowing lawsuits to be filed against anyone who helps them. But now there's a new twist in what appears to be a broader Republican strategy: Representatives in multiple states are pushing bills that would attempt to limit what residents can and can't do even beyond state lines. Recently in Missouri, a state representative introduced a measure that would let people sue anyone they suspect of helping a resident get an abortion in another state. (Romo, 3/15)

Idaho Capital Sun: VA Eyes Major Changes In Health Care System As Veterans Flock To The South, Southwest 
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday began the years-long process of restructuring its nationwide health care network, an endeavor that will require the president and Congress to sign off before it could begin. The restructuring would mean the closures or consolidations of some medical facilities, likely provoking opposition from communities and members of Congress. Montana Democrat Jon Tester, chairman of the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Monday that “any effort to kneecap our veterans’ health care is a non-starter for me.” (Shutt, 3/14)

USA Today: Veterans Affairs Could Close Three Hospitals, Open Other Facilities In System Overhaul
In a report released Monday, the VA said it would close medical centers in Massachusetts, New York and Ohio along with dozens of other facilities. At the same time, it wants to open hundreds of new points of care it said will improve access to primary care, mental health treatment and other specialty care for hundreds of thousands of veterans. (Brown and Rouan, 3/14)

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: VA Recommends Cutting Back On Health Care Services But They Want To Build A New Facility In South Dakota
The United States Veteran Administration released the official set of recommendations for the future of veteran care in South Dakota on Monday. The 84-paged report breaks down the care for the region, which includes South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and parts of Iowa. The entire report is two volumes and was provided to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission. (Todd, 3/14)

AP: VA Proposal To Close Rural Health Clinics Spurs Opposition 
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, said the analysis done by the VA has flaws, including that it was based on data collected before the coronavirus pandemic put a strain on health care systems in New Mexico and elsewhere. He said many providers have disappeared over the last years, leaving a void. There are four clinics in New Mexico that are on the list, with three of them serving predominantly Native American and Hispanic populations in areas that are typically underserved. They are in Gallup, Las Vegas, Española and Raton. (Bryan, 3/14)

In other news about veterans' health care —

Chicago Tribune: Lawsuits Follow Deadly COVID Outbreak At LaSalle Veterans Home 
Richard Cieski for years received care at the veterans home in downstate LaSalle that his family recalled as “amazing.” The 89-year-old decorated Korean War Army veteran schmoozed with friends, participated in an array of activities and excelled in an environment even as he coped with escalating dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. “They had church. They had animals that came in. They had coffee and conversation. They had haircuts. Physical therapy. Everything. He was clean. His hair was combed. He had his room and it was clean,” a granddaughter, Lindsay Lamb of Lockport, said. “He was thriving in there until it happened.” (Pearson, 3/14)

Bloomberg: Are Covid Cases Going Back Up? Sewer Data Has Potential Warning 
A wastewater network that monitors for Covid-19 trends is warning that cases are once again rising in many parts of the U.S., according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by Bloomberg. More than a third of the CDC’s wastewater sample sites across the U.S. showed rising Covid-19 trends in the period ending March 1 to March 10, though reported cases have stayed near a recent low. The number of sites with rising signals of Covid-19 cases is nearly twice what it was during the Feb. 1 to Feb. 10 period, when the wave of omicron-variant cases was fading rapidly. (Armstrong and Tartar, 3/14)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Stat: Patients Are Flocking Back To Hospitals, But Covid Still Affects Volume
Hospitals and outpatient clinics filled up with patients early last year, as vaccines and the waning pandemic allowed people to venture out of their homes, and providers anticipate treating more people than ever this year as they catch up with backlogged procedures and appointments. But the coronavirus can still change that trajectory in an instant. Many hospitals were on pace to return to, or even exceed, pre-pandemic levels of patient visits in 2021 — until the Delta and Omicron variants infected large swaths of Americans and forced facilities to prioritize Covid patients and postpone less-urgent care, like they did in 2020. The unpredictability of those surges underscores how the coronavirus and any new potential variants still have a tight grip over the hospital industry’s business. (Herman, 3/15)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Hits Lull In New COVID Cases, With Lowest Level In 4 Months — But How Long Will It Last?
New coronavirus cases across the greater Houston area dropped to their lowest level in four months, new data showed Monday, just days after Harris County’s COVID threat level dropped to yellow, signaling the virus is not immediately threatening the capacity of the region’s healthcare system. The demise of the omicron wave appeared all but complete in the latest numbers from the Texas Medical Center, which collectively admitted 77 new COVID-19 patients daily last week, down 63 percent since February. (Mishanec, 3/14)

CIDRAP: 99.1% Of Close Contacts Of Omicron-Infected Patients Diagnosed By 10 Days
Late last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, South Korean researchers reported that average time from exposure to COVID-19 diagnosis was 3.7 days in quarantined close contacts of patients infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and that 99.1% of diagnoses occurred by day 10, supporting a 10-day quarantine. (3/14)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 In US Prisoners, Staff At Triple The Community Rate
A study of COVID-19 rates among inmates and staff at 101 US federal prisons compared with surrounding counties from May 2020 through January 2021 finds three-times-higher infection rates in prisons. German and US researchers conducted the study, published late last week in BMC Public Health, using data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center from May 18, 2020, to Jan 31, 2021. (Van Beusekom, 3/14)

AP: Detroit Archbishop Has COVID-19, Reports Mild Symptoms 
Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and reported “very mild” symptoms. The 73-tear-old spiritual leader of 1.2 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan said on Twitter he was “fully vaccinated and boosted.” (3/15)

Axios: Multiple House Democrats Get COVID After Retreat
At least four House Democrats who attended their caucus's annual retreat last week have since tested positive for COVID-19. The development comes as Congress, like the country, is softening its posture towards the virus amid a steep decline in cases, with the Capitol physician lifting remaining mask requirements late last month. In January, the retreat was postponed by a month amid an explosion of cases due to Omicron. The Democratic retreat in Philadelphia was mask-optional. (Solender, 3/14)

Also —

USA Today: Federal Funeral Benefits For COVID-19 Victims Available, But Obscure
Minnesota resident George Campbell handled the 2021 California funeral arrangements for his parents, who died the same day at age 96, after 75 years of marriage. Barred from traveling by COVID-19 restrictions, he did the work by computer and phone. Then came the hard part, complicated by difficulties with his parents' estate – obtaining the Federal Emergency Management Agency's $9,000 death benefit for coronavirus deaths. That took roughly three months. (McCoy, 3/15)

Axios: Partisanship Undermines A Playbook For The Next Pandemic
Public health experts are already creating blueprints for the next pandemic, but it seems increasingly unlikely that policymakers or Americans themselves will have much of an appetite to follow those plans. The past two years have provided concrete examples of what works and what doesn't, but those lessons can only help if the U.S. is willing to apply them — whether in response to another new variant or an entirely new virus sometime in the future. (Bettelheim, 3/15)

Pioneer Press: Dr. Mia Taormina Was Part Of Team That Diagnosed The First COVID Case In DuPage County. Two Years Later, She Shares Where The Pandemic Stands
On March 9, 2020, Dr. Mia Taormina, chair of the department of infectious disease at Duly Health and Care (formerly named DuPage Medical Group), was part of the team that diagnosed the first case of COVID-19 in DuPage County. The case was diagnosed at Elmhurst Hospital, just a few days after Taormina returned home from giving a lecture in Costa Rica. “I mean, it’s so ironic,” she said. “I remember giving an interview similar to this saying, this could absolutely be something that we have to deal with for the next two years. And it’s so weird that here we are, and we really are at that transition point. This is the life cycle of a typical pandemic to have these surges and these waves that are this high and this severe for a couple of years.” (Syed, 3/14)

USA Today: COVID: Anxiety, Depression Lingers For Bedridden Patients, Study Finds
People who were bedridden for a week or more with COVID-19 remain at increased risk for anxiety and depression more than a year later, according to a new study. But those who had milder infections are actually at lower risk for mental health problems than the general public. "The good news is that the patient group as a whole is not at higher risk of developing long-term (mental health) symptoms," said Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Iceland, who helped lead the research. (Weintraub, 3/14)

NBC News: Lasting Depression And Anxiety Can Follow Severe Case Of Covid, Study Finds
Feelings of depression and anxiety can last nearly a year and a half after a serious bout of Covid-19, according to a study released Monday. The research, published in The Lancet Public Health, is among the first to analyze long-term mental health repercussions following severe cases of Covid, which researchers described as being unable to get out of bed for at least a week.  (Edwards, 3/14)

In related news about mental health during the pandemic —

The New York Times: ‘Think Of Groundhogs’: For Life Advice From A Grade Schooler, Press 2 
If, for some reason, you happen to find yourself feeling overwhelmed or anxious about matters personal, professional or geopolitical, a new hotline offers advice on how to deal with those big feelings. “If you’re nervous, go get your wallet and spend it on ice cream and shoes,” a distinctly young-sounding voice enthusiastically advises. “If you’re frustrated, you can always go to your bedroom, punch your pillow or cry on it. And just go scream outside,” another child says matter-of-factly. ... At various points since it became operational late last month, about 9,000 people an hour were calling PepToc, a hotline dispensing the wit and wisdom of students at West Side School, a small primary school (enrollment: 147) in rural Healdsburg, Calif., about 70 miles north of San Francisco. (Paz, 3/13)

The Conversation: An Excess Of Empathy Can Be Bad For Your Mental Health
Have you found yourself irritable, sad or close to tears when watching the news lately? If so, you are not alone. Experiencing empathy has its benefits, but there are also many downsides to it, which is why we must learn to practice healthy empathy. (3/14)

Detroit Free Press: Dogs Are The ‘Rock Stars’ Of Michigan’s Student Mental Health Crisis
There are many ways to address a youth mental health crisis, including throwing a massive birthday party for a dog named Gravy. A sweet-natured chocolate Lab, Gravy quickly became a celebrity to students at Grand Ledge High School after she started working there as a therapy dog in September. She showed off tricks in the hallways with her handler, Dean of Students Maria Capra. When students knelt to pet Gravy, she crawled onto their laps. So when students learned that Gravy’s first birthday fell just before Thanksgiving break, they asked Capra whether they could throw a party. (Levin, 3/14)

Detroit Free Press: How Do Michigan Teens Feel About Decisions Made Over COVID-19, Safety?
It's a Sunday afternoon in early January and about a dozen Michigan teenagers have hopped onto a conference call. In just over a month, these teens have seen so much: a school shooting in their state that shocked an already-fragile sense of security. Another new, deadly, more infectious variant of the coronavirus, sending them back in front of their laptops for eight hours a day. Finals. They are living through normal, teenage milestones — and sometimes missing them — amid the unfamiliar angst of multiple crises happening all at once. (Altavena, 3/14)

Newsweek: Republican Lawmakers Sue CDC To End Airplane Mask Mandate
Republican lawmakers have sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to force an end to the requirement that face masks be worn on airplanes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, a group of 16 House members led by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and joined by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filed a lawsuit to end what they described as an "illegal mask mandate for individuals traveling on commercial airlines." (Slisco, 3/14)

AP: UK To End All COVID-19 Travel Rules Ahead Of Easter Break
Britain’s government said Monday all remaining coronavirus measures for travelers, including passenger locator forms and the requirement that unvaccinated people be tested for COVID-19 before and after their arrivals, will end Friday to make going on holiday easier for the Easter school vacation. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes will mean people “can travel just like in the good old days.” The passenger locator forms require people to fill in travel details, their address in the U.K. and their vaccination status. (3/14)

In cruise line industry news —

The Washington Post: CDC Lowers Coronavirus Warnings For Cruise Travel, Popular Caribbean Islands 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday moved several popular beach destinations — as well as cruise ship travel — into categories at lower risk of spreading the coronavirus. The public health agency reassigned travel warnings for nine vacation destinations in the Caribbean and Atlantic from Level 4 — which means a “very high” level of covid-19 — to Level 3, which means the level of the virus is merely “high.” They include Cuba, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos. (Sampson, 3/14)

The Courier-Journal: Kentucky Ending COVID Emergency Early To Cost Millions In Federal Aid
The Kentucky General Assembly's recent decision to call an early end to the public health emergency over COVID-19 will come at a cost to more than a half-million of the state's residents. Kentuckians stands to lose $50 million a month in extra food stamp benefits starting in May. The legislature's decision means the average benefit of $243 a month will drop by about $100 for the 544,000 low-income Kentuckians who qualify for the federal program known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. (Yetter, 3/14)

AP: Louisiana Governor: COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Ending
A public health emergency declaration in effect since March of 2020 will end Wednesday in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards told state lawmakers in a wide-ranging speech on the first day of the 2022 regular legislative session. Opening day fell two years to the day after Louisiana recorded its first COVID-19 death. The Democratic governor’s mitigation efforts at times included mask mandates and strong limits on public gatherings that put him at odds with some Republican lawmakers and state officials. Although Edwards continually renewed the emergency status over two years, he largely eliminated the restrictions and mandates as the state’s coronavirus picture improved. (McGill, 3/14)

And more on covid mandates —

The Washington Post: U.S. Capitol Complex Takes Steps Toward Phased Reopening After Coronavirus Shutdown 
House and Senate officials are considering a phased reopening of the Capitol beginning March 28 after shutting down the complex because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 12, 2020, members of the general public have been restricted from entering the Capitol complex. Only lawmakers, staff, the credentialed Capitol press corps and those deemed to be official visitors have been allowed to enter. (Sonmez and Sotomayor, 3/14)

Los Angeles Times: Schools Go Mask Optional In Most Of L.A. County
Monday marked the first day since most schools reopened in spring 2021 that students across Los Angeles County have the option to remove their masks in class — although the L.A. Unified School District is an exception. The option to remove masks took effect based on a revised county health order and clearance from state health officials. Yet county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer strongly urges that masking continue as a prudent and valuable measure, especially because student vaccination rates are lagging: 29% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated. (Blume and Money, 3/14)

Bay Area News Group: Many Bay Area Students Still Masked As State Mandate Lifts
It was supposed to be mask-free Monday for California school kids, but you couldn’t tell from watching Willow Glen Middle School eighth grader Trish Ha as she darted off to her first class. Though San Jose Unified School District adopted the state’s new mask-optional guidance, Ha was having none of it. “I’m still going to wear my mask,” the 14-year-old said. “I don’t want to take it off because people might be a bit reckless.” Ha was hardly alone. Mask-wearing has become so baked in that nine out of 10 kids at San Jose Unified opted to keep them on Monday, said district spokeswoman Jennifer Maddox, and many of the few who showed up bare faced slipped theirs back on to avoid standing out. Allegiance to masks was on display throughout the Bay Area on Monday, the first school day since the statewide K12 mask mandate lifted over the weekend. (Woolfolk, Prodis Sulek, Prieve and Kamisher, 3/14)

The Washington Post: These Schools Did Less To Contain Covid. Their Students Flourished
As school systems around the country were battening down for their first remote start-of-school in the fall of 2020, the Lewis-Palmer district here was embarking on another kind of experiment: Elementary students would be in class full time, sitting maskless at communal tables. The band program would resume in-person classes, saxophonists and flutists playing a few feet apart. The high school football teams would practice and compete. While most of the nation kept students at home for part or all of the last academic year, these schools in the suburbs of Colorado Springs, like thousands of others around the country, opened with the overwhelming majority of students in their seats. Masks were optional in elementary school. Although middle- and high-schoolers began with hybrid learning, in November, high school-aged students with significant special education needs were back in-person five days a week. (Stein, 3/14)

Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: Americans Ditch COVID Masks, Gain Confidence
Americans' emotional and physical health is bouncing back, along with record confidence about life returning to "normal" as mask mandates are abandoned, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. Two years after the start of the pandemic, the nation is ready to move on, even as disinformation at home and a resurgence of cases in Europe driven by the B.A.2 variant point to challenges on the horizon. (Talev, 3/15)

Also —

USA Today: Costco To End Senior Hours, COVID Operating Hours For Healthcare Workers And First Responders
Costco will soon drop its senior hours after holding them for more than two years amid the coronavirus pandemic. The special operating hours will be in place until April 17 for members 60 and older, healthcare workers and first responders, the wholesale club said Monday in an update on its COVID updates webpage. The hours have also been for members with disabilities or those who are immunocompromised. "As of April 18, 2022, Costco will no longer be offering special shopping hours for members ages 60 or older, healthcare workers and first responders," Costco said in the update. (Tyko, 3/14)

AP: Biden Attends First In-Person Fundraiser Since Pandemic
President Joe Biden on Monday held his first in-person fundraiser since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, marking a return to a traditional form of politics that many Democrats eschewed as a matter of public safety over the past two years. ... Biden has attended several in-person political events in recent months, including a speech he gave at a DNC gathering last week. But his return to in-person fundraisers for the first time since the 2020 presidential primary nonetheless marks a new chapter in the politics of the pandemic, signaling a desire by Democrats to get back to normal after years of social distancing, lockdowns and virtual campaigning. (Slodysko and Boak, 3/15)

Bloomberg: Do I Need A 4th Covid Shot? Pfizer, Moderna Executives Split Over The Need
Top executives at two of the biggest Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers are split over how necessary a fourth dose is for most of the world’s population. Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a CBS interview on Sunday that protection from three shots will wane and a fourth dose is needed “right now”. Then, in an interview, Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge said a second booster is probably only necessary for older people or those who are immunocompromised, with the rest of the public able to be more selective about receiving the shot, Business Insider reported Monday. (Matsuyama, 3/15)

Axios: Moderna President: 4th Vaccine Dose Only Necessary For Certain Groups
A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will likely only be necessary for elderly and immunocompromised people but not for the general public, Moderna president Stephen Hoge told Business Insider on Monday. His words are in contrast to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's comments on Sunday, who said that fourth doses will be necessary in order to maintain manageable levels of hospitalizations and mild infections. (Saric, 3/14)

And more on the vaccine rollout —

The New York Times: A Florida Public Health Official, Suspended After Promoting Vaccination To His Staff, Has Been Reinstated.
The Florida Department of Health has allowed its top public health official in Orlando to return to work, two months after the official was placed on administrative leave for sending an email to employees urging them to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The official — Dr. Raul Pino, the health administrator for Orange County — was reinstated on March 11, after a review of “compliance issues with department policy,” Jeremy T. Redfern, a spokesman for the department, said in a statement on Monday. (Mazzei, 3/15)

NPR: The Goal: Vaccinate 70% Of The World Against COVID. Scientists Are Proposing A Reboot
"We seem to have lost perspective as to what the major goal of vaccines is and where they are going to yield the greatest public health benefit," says Shabir Madhi, a prominent vaccine researcher at South Africa's University of Witwatersrand. Specifically, Madhi argues that governments in countries that still have low vaccination rates should shift their attention to vaccinating those who are most vulnerable to severe disease from the coronavirus. That means people age 50 and above or those with health conditions that put them at particular risk. The aim, says Madhi, should be to get 90% or more of people in this category vaccinated. (Aizenman, 3/14)

Los Angeles Times: The Wellness Community’s Fight Over COVID Vaccine Misinformation
The vaccination selfie, showing a gloved hand holding a needle and a smiling face hidden behind a mask, looked like thousands of others posted to Instagram as the COVID-19 vaccine rolled out across the U.S. But the comments it drew did not. Sell out puppet, sneered one user in response to Dr. Michael Greger’s photo. Burning your book tonight in my fire pit, said a second. Another simply wrote: 👎💔💩. Greger is a prominent advocate for a plant-based diet, with a devoted following among people who believe food is the best medicine. But his statement on vaccines — that sometimes, medicine is the best medicine — put him directly at odds with many of his fans, and thrust him into the ugly, conspiratorial fight over vaccination roiling the online worlds of wellness and nutrition. (Nelson, 3/14)

And in updates on vaccination mandates —

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Nursing Homes, Despite Low Vaccination Rate, Comply With Mandate
March 15 is the federal government's final deadline for all Ohio nursing home staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. And Ohio is doing just fine, said the head of the state's largest long-term care association. "They're in pretty decent shape as far as compliance," said Pete Van Runkle, who oversees the Ohio Health Care Association. "I would call it a tragedy averted." After fears a vaccine mandate would exacerbate staffing shortages at many nursing facilities, it may not be the case. That may seem a surprise to many, given Ohio ranks near the bottom in the nation for vaccination rate of workers. At the end of February, with 88% of facilities reporting, only three-quarters of the workforce was fully vaccinated, according to federal data. Only Oklahoma fared worse. (Wu, 3/14)

The New York Times: New York’s Vaccine Mandates Saved Lives, Departing Health Boss Says
Five months into the pandemic, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi took on the greatest challenge of his career: helping to guide New York City in its fight against the coronavirus as the new health commissioner. He quickly became the face of the city’s efforts, joining Mayor Bill de Blasio at his daily Covid-19 briefings and appearing in television ads encouraging New Yorkers to wear masks and get tested. (Fitzsimmons, 3/14)

The Washington Post: ‘People’s Convoy’ Drives Through D.C. After Permit For Organized Demonstration Downtown Partially Denied
Police blocked interstate exits into downtown Washington as hundreds of trucks, cars and SUVs protesting the government’s response to the pandemic rode into the nation’s capital to start a second week of demonstrations. Members of the “People’s Convoy” and thousands of other motorists encountered severe backups Monday afternoon, when highway traffic that already was heavy only worsened with the convoy’s arrival. The convoy entered the city via the 14th Street Bridge on Interstate 395 amid a near-standstill, then continued to Interstate 695 before crossing the Anacostia River and returning to the Beltway. (Silverman, Elwood and Duncan, 3/14)

AP: Nets Fined $50K For Letting Kyrie Irving Enter Locker Room 
The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $50,000 on Monday for letting Kyrie Irving into their locker room during a game in which he was unable to play because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Irving was a spectator at Barclays Center on Sunday, sitting across from the Nets bench for Brooklyn’s 110-107 victory over the New York Knicks. There is no longer a mandate that fans be vaccinated to enter the arena, but there is still one requiring it for someone who works there. (3/15)

AP: Mississippi Could Renew Push To Extend Medicaid For New Moms
Mississippi’s Republican-led Senate will try to revive a proposal to let mothers keep Medicaid coverage for a year after giving birth, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Monday. The state allows two months of postpartum coverage. Advocates for low-income women say longer coverage by the government health insurance program could reduce Mississippi’s high rate of maternal mortality. (Pettus, 3/14)

The Washington Post: Mississippi Lawmakers Just Killed A Bill That Would Expand Postpartum Care
Laurie Bertram Roberts is relieved her postpartum complications happened when she lived in Indiana, a state with more expansive Medicaid options for pregnant women. If they had happened in Mississippi, where she lives now, she worries she might have died, she said. During her second pregnancy, in 1996, Roberts said the incision site for her Caesarean section got infected about six weeks after she gave birth — a problem that antibiotics could clear up, she added, but that might have been life-threatening without treatment. And during her fifth pregnancy in 2002, she went to her doctor for migraine treatment, she said, only to find out that the high blood pressure that had developed during her pregnancy lasted for months after giving birth. It was so high that her doctor warned her that if they hadn’t caught it, she could have had a stroke, Roberts said. (Higgins, 3/14)

In other news about Medicaid —

The Washington Post: Millions Of Vulnerable Americans Likely To Fall Off Medicaid Once The Federal Public Health Emergency Ends 
As many as 16 million low-income Americans, including millions of children, are destined to fall off Medicaid when the nation’s public health emergency ends, as states face a herculean mission to sort out who no longer belongs on rolls that have swollen to record levels during the pandemic. The looming disruption is a little-noticed side effect of the coronavirus crisis, and it is stoking fears among some on Medicaid and their advocates that vulnerable people who survived the pandemic will risk suddenly living without health coverage. For the Biden administration — which will make the decision on when to lift the health emergency — there is the potential political stain of presiding over a surge of poor, newly uninsured Americans, depending on how things go once states resume checking which Medicaid beneficiaries still qualify. (3/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Stacey Abrams Makes A Personal Case For Medicaid Expansion
Stacey Abrams kicked off her first day on the campaign trail in front of a shuttered hospital in rural Cuthbert with a vow to expand Medicaid. She ended it atop a stage in west Atlanta where she sharpened her message before a cheering crowd of hundreds of supporters. Much like her 2018 campaign for governor, the Democrat’s central argument hinged on expanding the federal program, which Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans contend would be too costly and inflexible in the long term. And just like in 2018, she used unsparing language to describe her Republican opponent, casting Kemp as “too lazy or too inept” to effectively lead the state as it struggles with mounting economic challenges. His Republican challenger, David Perdue, went unmentioned. (Bluestein, 3/15)

AP: Ex-Ohio Gov. Kasich Among Out-Of-State Speakers On Medicaid 
North Carolina legislators weighing whether to expand Medicaid are getting advice from people who understand how it’s been done in Republican-leaning or closely divided states. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich heads a lineup of out-of-state speakers for a General Assembly study committee meeting on Tuesday in Raleigh. (3/15)

KHN: Want Vulnerable Californians To Have Healthier Pregnancies? Doulas Say The State Must Pay Up
This was supposed to be the year that low-income Californians could hire a doula to guide them through pregnancy and advocate for them in the hospital. But the new benefit for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program, has been delayed twice as the state and doulas — nonmedical workers who help parents before, during, and after birth — haggle over how much they should get paid. (Bluth, 3/15)

And on Medicare —

The Boston Globe: Medicare Takes Center Stage In New Push To Hold Down Prescription Drug Prices
Two months after Medicare refused to cover most patients eligible for a costly new Alzheimer’s treatment, called Aduhelm, the move has sparked a battle over how much the federal health insurance program can afford to pay for biotech therapies that treat millions of older Americans. Some are now warning the finances of Medicare, which insures 62.7 million US residents age 65 and older, may be on a collision course with a fast-expanding biopharma industry that has built a business model around charging sky-high prices for innovative medicines. “This was a wake-up call,” said Alicia Munnell, director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, who coauthored a new report on the financial implications of Aduhelm for the Medicare program. (Weisman, 3/14)

KHN: Medicare Advantage Plans Send Pals To Seniors’ Homes For Companionship — And Profits 
Widowed and usually living alone, Gloria Bailey walks with a cane after two knee replacement surgeries and needs help with housekeeping. So she was thrilled last summer when her Medicare Advantage plan, SummaCare, began sending a worker to her house in Akron, Ohio, to mop floors, clean dishes, and help with computer problems. Some days, they would spend the two-hour weekly visit just chatting at her kitchen table. “I love it,” she said of the free benefit. (Galewitz, 3/15)

The Texas Tribune: Texans Experience Surge Of Fentanyl-Related Deaths 
One hundred thousand Americans died of drug overdoses in a single year between April 2020 and April 2021. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths increased nearly 30% from the same period the year before. Most of these overdoses are attributed to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is lethal in very small amounts. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has doubled down on law enforcement and border security in response to the crisis. In July, he signed laws that enhance criminal penalties for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl. (Santucci, 3/15)

Houston Chronicle: Deaths Tied To Fentanyl Skyrocket In Harris County, Where The Drug Kills More Than One Person Every Day
Houston and Texas are seeing a record number of deaths from the opioid epidemic, with fentanyl as the principal driver. All it takes is a dose of fentanyl the size of a pencil tip to kill a person. In Harris County alone, fentanyl kills more than one person every day. Fatal drug overdoses increased 52 percent from 2019 to 2021, according to Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences data. Deaths involving fentanyl skyrocketed by 341 percent in the same period, from 104 to 459. (Tallet, 3/14)

In news on the opioid crisis in Florida and California —

Miami Herald: Fentanyl Causing Spike Of ODs In South Florida 
In less than a week, fentanyl has been linked to at least 10 overdoses in South Florida — a sudden and scary spike in victims of a synthetic drug that can be up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and is far and away the state’s deadliest opioid. On Sunday, four men were hospitalized after overdosing in a home near Fort Lauderdale. Three days earlier, a group of students that included West Point cadets — including one player on the Army football team — were hospitalized after overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine while on spring break at a vacation rental property in Wilton Manors. Whether the two incidents are related, possibly pointing to a dangerous mixture being peddled in the Fort Lauderdale area, was not yet clear. (Ovalle, 3/14)

NPR: One Person Was Arrested After West Point Cadets Overdose In South Florida
One person was arrested Saturday in connection with an incident involving several people, including cadets from the West Point military academy, overdosing on fentanyl on Thursday in Wilton Manors, Fla., police said. Wilton Manors Police Department officers responded to a call Thursday evening where six males were "feeling the effects of a drug overdose," officials said. All six were transferred to nearby hospitals for care, and later a seventh female patient was later transported to a hospital after feeling sick. (Shivaram, 3/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl Test Strips Are In Demand At Bay Area Bars And Restaurants: ‘People Come In Just For The Strips’
On a Thursday afternoon, Alison Heller arrived at Rockridge Improvement Club in Oakland right when it opened at 4 p.m. But she wasn’t there just for fun — she was coming in to refill the bar’s supply of fentanyl test strips. “We just restocked yesterday, but I’m sure they need more,” Heller said, as she took the plastic lid off of the fishbowl in the bathroom. Sure enough, eight of the bowl’s 12 strips had already been taken. Heller promptly restuffed the bowl. (Echeverria, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mayor Breed Is Not Extending The Tenderloin Emergency For S.F. Drug Crisis. What Does That Mean For The Neighborhood?
Mayor London Breed is letting the 90-day state of emergency in the Tenderloin expire, but will continue daily operations in the neighborhood with street cleaning and outreach to get people who are homeless and using drugs into services and off the sidewalk. Breed will also keep open the city’s new linkage center at U.N. Plaza, opened as part of the emergency, which provides basic services such as food, laundry and showers to people on the streets and tries to connect them with housing and drug treatment. (Moench, 3/14)

Also —

North Carolina Health News: NC's First Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program 
North Carolina psychiatrists who want to become board certified in treating addiction will have an in-state option to learn and practice starting as soon as July. The Mountain Area Health Education Center — known as MAHEC — will train up to two psychiatrists in a yearlong fellowship based in western N.C. They’ll learn trauma-informed practices for managing substance use disorder, as well as skills for identifying and effectively treating people experiencing both addiction and other mental illnesses. There are only about 50 other addiction psychiatry fellowships nationwide, just two others are located in rural regions. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 3/15)

Stat: Three Years After The Senate Grilled Drug Makers … Nothing’s Changed
Back in 2019, when the Senate Finance Committee called seven drug industry executives to testify, it seemed like proof that Washington was within striking distance of actually reining in the industry’s high prices. “It’s past time to get beyond the excuses and make prescription drugs affordable,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the committee, told drug makers that day. Almost exactly three years later, Wyden will chair another hearing on prescription drug pricing. But this is not a victory lap, nor an opportunity to look at implementation of the sweeping changes Congress has made to this country’s drug pricing system. Far from it. (Florko, 3/15)

In other pharmaceutical and biotech industry news —

The Washington Post: Drop Boxes Are Making It Easier To Get Rid Of Old Medication
If there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it’s that we have a lot of excess stuff in our homes — including bottles and bottles of expired or no-longer-needed medications. That’s a problem, according to Elizabeth Skoy, an associate professor at North Dakota State University’s School of Pharmacy. “In recent years, there’s been a spotlight on medication disposal, because of the opioid epidemic,” she said. “It’s important to get rid of any medication when you are done with it to prevent misuse or having it fall into the hands of others.” Plus, having old medications in the home increases the chances of accidental poisoning of children or pets. (Daily, 3/14)

Stat: Arrowhead Shareholders Urged Not To Approve 'Excessive' Compensation
In an unusual move, a prominent shareholder advisory firm is urging investors in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) not to approve what it calls “excessive” compensation for board members who are not executives at the company. Glass Lewis explained the drugmaker awarded non-executive directors an average annual compensation package — including cash, stock awards, and payments for serving on a special board project — that totaled roughly $446,900, $758,300, and $791,300 in 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. The aggregate compensation levels were above the 90th percentile among companies of a similar size. (Silverman, 3/14)

Stat: Study: Nektar, Bristol Combo Treatment Fails To Benefit Melanoma Patients
Nektar Therapeutics said Monday that its experimental immunotherapy failed to provide additional benefit for patients with melanoma when given in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s approved treatment Opdivo. The negative trial results cast significant doubt on the future of Nektar’s lead pipeline drug called bempegaldesleukin, which is designed to stimulate T cells in the body of cancer patients, thereby enhancing the tumor-killing power of other immunotherapy treatments. Nektar and Bristol have a long-running partnership that is conducting multiple late-stage clinical trials of a bempeg-Opdivo combination treatment for patients with different types of cancer. (Feuerstein, 3/14)

Stat: Upstart Element Biosciences Looks To Disrupt DNA Sequencing 
After quietly raising hundreds of millions of dollars and building a team stacked with genomics pros, Element Biosciences announced on Monday the commercial launch of its new DNA sequencer — and with it, plans to rival industry behemoth Illumina. In a virtual event featuring the company’s leadership and partner organizations, the biotech boasted that its sequencer, Aviti, has the right blend of affordability, accuracy, and flexibility to disrupt the current sequencing landscape. And the startup’s executives — a number of them Illumina alums — say that’s just the beginning, adding that their technology could be adapted to study RNA, proteins, and cells. (Wosen, 3/14)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Need An Expensive Drug? Here’s What You Need To Know 
Lillian Karabaic teaches personal finance to millennials through a podcast and community called Oh My Dollar! — and she needs an expensive drug to treat a chronic condition. That makes her an expert on one of the most complex arrangements in the American health care system: the copay accumulator. In short, it’s an invention by the insurance industry to make sure only your money counts toward your yearly deductible — not any assistance you might receive from a drug company. (Weissmann, 3/15)

Modern Healthcare: ECRI's Top 10 Patient Safety List Highlights Staff Shortages
Staff shortages and workers' mental health are top patient safety concerns that health system executives must tackle, according to ECRI's annual Top Ten Patient Safety Concerns for 2022. The report usually focuses on clinical problems like diagnostic errors or cybersecurity attacks. While those issues still exist, the pandemic disrupted health system operations during the past two years. Hospitalizations are decreasing but many in healthcare expect COVID-19 will continue as a public health crisis. The not-for-profit patient safety organization reported that staff shortages actively threaten patient care by creating longer wait times for care. (Gillespie, 3/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Report: Workforce Shortages A Concern As Alzheimer's Disease Projected To Grow In Ohio
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is projected to increase in Ohio by more than 13% from 2020 to 2025 even as workforce shortages leave a significant gap in specialist care, a report released Tuesday revealed. By the year 2025, 250,000 Ohioans age 65 and older will have Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association projected in its annual report that includes statewide information about the disease's prevalence, mortality and quality of care. But major gaps in care, something widespread in the health care industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlight the need to retain more specialists to treat the progressive disease that affects 1 in 9 people age 65 and older in the United States. (Sutherland, 3/15)

In other updates on the health care industry —

Modern Healthcare: DirectTrust Launches Patient Information Exchange Standard-Setting Group
DirectTrust created an initiative to review and develop standards that could facilitate a voluntary patient credentialing and matching system. The initiative will form the Privacy-Enhancing Health Record Locator Service Ecosystem standard, which will define a model that either the private or public sector could deploy to ensure secure, identity-verified electronic exchanges of health information, the not-for-profit alliance said Monday. The group will identify and analyze existing standards while also forming new standards that improve record locators' privacy—and regulate interactions between identity providers, electronic health record systems and health information exchanges and networks. (Devereaux, 3/14)

Modern Healthcare: Atrium Health, French Surgical Institute Partner On Innovation District
Atrium Health is working with IRCAD, a French-based surgical research and training institute, to form the organization's first North American headquarters and create a space where surgeons can practice performing safer procedures. The research building will be constructed in Charlotte, N.C.'s new innovation district, called "The Pearl," next to the Wake Forest University School of Medicine – Charlotte campus currently being built, Atrium said Monday. "We envision IRCAD being a 'super magnet,' attracting businesses, physicians and surgeons to train and collaborate in the latest surgical techniques, including: robotics, medical virtual and augmented reality, surgical artificial intelligence and simulation training," said Eugene Woods, president and CEO of nonprofit Atrium Health, in a news release. (Devereaux, 3/14)

Modern Healthcare: 'SPAC Frenzy' Has Cooled In Healthcare
The wave of shell company-led healthcare acquisitions has ebbed as valuations have dropped and financing has dried up. Special purpose acquisition companies experienced a meteoric rise in 2020, when more healthcare companies turned to these "blank check" companies as an alternative to executing their own initial public offerings. SPACs, which raise money through IPOs and use it to acquire other companies and take them public, were involved in 119 deals across all sectors in the third quarter of 2020 valued at a cumulative $40 billion, according to consulting firm RSM's analysis of Bloomberg data. (Kacik, 3/14)

Modern Healthcare: Providence’s Aaron Martin Confirms He’s Returning To Amazon
Providence chief digital officer Aaron Martin is returning to Amazon after spending nearly six years at the Catholic-based health system. Martin has led Providence Ventures, overseeing the health system’s $300 million health tech fund. Under Martin, Providence has spun out two digital health companies from its digital innovation group and invested in a number of other successful companies, including Omada Health and Lyra Health. (Perna, 3/14)

Montana Public Radio: The State Hospital Has More Time To Try To Save Its Medicare Funding
The Montana State Hospital has received an extension to work out a possible deal with federal health officials to prevent the loss of Medicare funding. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) warned the Montana State Hospital that it could lose Medicare funding this month if it didn’t correct issues related to patient safety. Inspectors found that some patients repeatedly fell and that the hospital didn’t implement COVID-19 mitigation measures, leading to four patient deaths. (Bolton, 3/14)

NPR: Stroke Rates Are Increasing Among Young People. Here's What You Need To Know
Over the weekend, the model Hailey Bieber told her Instagram followers that she experienced stroke-like symptoms while at breakfast with her husband Thursday morning. Doctors found a small clot in her brain, she said, which caused "a small lack of oxygen." Bieber said on Instagram that her body passed the clot on its own, and she recovered within a few hours. Though Bieber recovered in her case, blood clots in the brain can lead to ischemic strokes, which make up a majority of all strokes. And among young people, stroke rates are on the rise. Here's what you need to know.

In other public health news —

The Texas Tribune: Ken Paxton Says Texas’ Investigations Of Trans Kids’ Families Can Continue 
When a judge ruled Friday that Texas could not investigate parents for child abuse simply for providing gender-affirming care, it was immediately clear that the legal fight was far from over. That same night, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal and then announced on Twitter that the “Democrat judge’s order permitting child abuse is frozen.” He said that “[m]uch-needed investigations [will] proceed as they should,” and noted that his “fight will continue up to the Supreme Court.” Lawyers representing the families of transgender children said they don’t believe the appeal should affect the injunction. Legal experts say this case falls into a complicated corner of the law until the appeals court weighs in. (Klibanoff, 3/14)

Oklahoman: Transgender Oklahomans Sue Over State's Birth Certificate Policies
Three transgender Oklahomans who are seeking to alter the gender designation on their birth certificates are suing Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state's health commissioner over an executive order that they say blocks such changes. Stitt in November signed an executive order that barred the Oklahoma Health Department from issuing nonbinary or gender-neutral birth certificates. As a result, the health department says it cannot amend a person's gender marker on a state-issued birth certificate, even if the person presents a court order, according to the lawsuit. The agency previously required a court order from an Oklahoma court to change the sex designation on a birth certificate. (Forman, 3/14)

The Mercury News: Why Families Facing Anti-Transgender Persecution Are Moving To Colorado
She isn’t sure when, but someday soon her family will get in the car and travel from Houston to northern Colorado, where they’ll start a new life. She’s a fourth-generation Texan and all her close relatives live near her. She’s only been to Colorado a few times, and her family has zero friends here. But her eldest child, a 17-year-old boy, is transgender, and in Texas that now makes her a child abuser in the eyes of her governor, whose recent dictate has led to at least nine investigations of parents like her. Lawyers have advised she keep her name out of the news, lest she tip-off authorities. (Burness, 3/14)

AP: Homelessness Jumps 35% In 2 Years In Biggest Arizona County
Authorities say an official count shows the number of homeless people in Arizona’s largest county surged 35% over two years amid a housing crisis and economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic. A report released by the Maricopa Association of Governments says that 5,029 people in the county, including 3,096 people in Phoenix, experienced homelessness in unsheltered situations the night of Jan. 25. (Snow, 3/15)

In other news from Arizona —

PBS NewsHour: Arizona’s Privatized Prison Health Care Has Been Failing For Years. A New Court Case Could Change That 
When Timothy Pena was moved from a federal prison to a state prison in Arizona, he said the first thing the state prison authorities tried to do was take him off his HIV medication. After explaining to the medical staff that the federal prison provided him Genvoya, which was prescribed by his doctor, they switched Pena to a different drug that he said made him suicidal. “I spent the first four months in the Department of Correction trying to kill myself,” he told the PBS NewsHour. (Stabley, 3/14)

In nursing home news —

AP: Report: Nursing Home Put Residents In Jeopardy During Storm 
A North Carolina nursing home put its residents in “immediate jeopardy” when it failed to enact an emergency plan, leaving just three people to take care of 98 residents during a January storm, according to a state report released Monday. The News & Observer account says the report from the state Department of Health and Human Services said police arrived at Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center on the night of Jan. 16 after receiving a 911 call from a resident who complained about not seeing staff members for a “long period of time.” Police found two residents dead and two others in critical condition inside the nursing home. (3/15)

The CT Mirror: Wallingford Nursing Home Shut Down After Two Resident Deaths
A Wallingford nursing home that once served as a COVID-19 recovery center will be shuttered after two patients died and a state Department of Public Health inspection that followed uncovered seven life-threatening violations. The 94 residents in the Quinnipiac Valley Center will be transferred to other facilities. The DPH assigned a temporary manager to oversee the transfer of the patients and sent an emergency alert to all nursing home providers, seeking new homes for the residents. (Altimari, 3/14)

In other news from across the U.S. —

AP: Senate OKs Bill Removing Health Background For Commissioner 
Oklahoma’s health commissioner would no longer need to be a medical doctor or have a background in health administration under legislation the state Senate passed Monday. The Senate approved the bill on a 31-15 vote, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The measure now heads to the House for consideration. (3/14)

Idaho Statesman: Idaho Bill To Shield Lethal Injection Drug Suppliers In Executions Heads To Senate
Idaho lawmakers breathed new life into a contentious bill aimed at preserving the state’s death penalty, holding a disputed re-vote Monday in committee and advancing the proposed law to the Senate floor for a full vote. House Bill 658 would shield suppliers of lethal injection drugs and all execution participants from any public disclosure, including in a court of law. Proponents have framed the bill as vital to maintaining capital punishment in the state. (Fixler, 3/14)

ProPublica: Washington State Budgets $1.6 Million For Study And Removal Of Toxic Lights
Washington state lawmakers are set to dedicate $1.5 million to removing toxic fluorescent lights from schools and another $125,000 to studying environmental hazards and creating new standards to protect students from exposure to harmful substances. In requesting the funding, lawmakers cited an investigation by The Seattle Times and ProPublica into a Seattle-area campus where children and staff were exposed to a combination of harmful conditions, including elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a banned chemical that the Environmental Protection Agency has linked to cancer and other illnesses. (Ramadan, 3/14)

AP: Oregon Man Sues For $43.5M Over Brain Surgery Paralysis 
A La Pine man is suing St. Charles Health System in Bend for $43.5 million after complications from brain surgery left him paralyzed. Jackie Dale Yeley filed the lawsuit Thursday in Deschutes County Circuit Court, through attorneys with the Barton Law Group, The Bulletin reported. The lawsuit alleges medical malpractice and also names Bend-based surgery provider Northwest Brain and Spine. St. Charles was served with the lawsuit on Friday, according to spokeswoman Lisa Goodman. (3/15)

The Boston Globe: Massachusetts Spent $1.5 Billion Less On Health Care In First Year Of Pandemic
Massachusetts spent $1.5 billion less on health care in 2020 than 2019, the first time health care spending decreased since state officials began tracking the information in 2013. The decrease came as health care institutions halted elective procedures and patients canceled screenings and other preventive appointments out of fear of catching COVID-19. Experts said spending would surge back in the near future, as hospitals grapple with the consequences of delayed care. “We’re trying to constrain the growth of health care spending, [but] not the way that it happened in 2020,” said Ray Campbell, executive director of the state’s Centers for Health Information and Analysis, which released the report. “What you saw was a very indiscriminate approach.” (Bartlett, 3/14)

AP: W. Virginia Senate Blows Deadline To Pass Teaching Race Bill 
The West Virginia Legislature’s Republican supermajority failed to pass a controversial bill restricting how race is taught in public schools because they missed a midnight deadline in the final moments of the 2022 session, a state Senate spokesperson confirmed early Sunday. Lawmakers had spent weeks during the legislative session debating and advancing proposed bills similar to the “Anti-Racism Act of 2022.” It wasn’t immediately clear why Republicans waited until late Saturday to take the final vote. The act had passed the Senate and House overwhelmingly, and the late-night vote was merely to greenlight the House’s version. (Willingham, 3/13)

The New York Times: American Samoa, Which Had Largely Avoided The Coronavirus, Sees A Surge In Cases.
Until recently, American Samoa, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, was one of the world’s last holdouts from the coronavirus. But in recent weeks, infections have spread quickly. Weekly cases jumped from around two dozen in mid-February to more than a hundred by the end of the month, according to the World Health Organization. (May and Meheut, 3/15)

NPR: A Surge In COVID-19 Spurs New Lockdowns In China's Cities
The entire Chinese province of Jilin is under lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge across the country. Jilin's daily case counts topped 4,067 on Monday alone, leaving health officials scrambling to catch up to the highly transmissible omicron variant. China is combatting the highest level of COVID-19 cases ever, with more than 10,000 cases since scattered across 27 provinces and municipalities since the start of this month. (Feng and Cao, 3/15)

NBC News: Covid Cases Climb In Europe As Restrictions Ease And BA.2 Subvariant Spreads
Nearly half of all European countries have recorded increases in new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Among the countries with the biggest recent surges are Finland, where new cases jumped by 84 percent in its weekly case total, to nearly 62,500 weekly cases; Switzerland, whose weekly total rose by 45 percent, to 182,190; and the United Kingdom, which had a 31 percent increase, to a weekly total of 414,480 new cases. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy have also recorded double-digit percentage increases in their weekly tallies. (Ortiz, 3/14)

CNBC: Is Omicron Subvariant BA.2 To Blame For Rising Covid Cases?
Covid cases are rising in Europe, with an increasing number being attributed to the prevalence of a “stealth” subvariant of the omicron strain. Covid cases have risen dramatically in the U.K. in recent weeks, while Germany continues to mark record high daily infections with over 250,000 new cases a day. Elsewhere, France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands are also seeing Covid infections start to rise again, aided and abetted by the relaxation of Covid measures and the spread of a new subvariant of omicron, known as BA.2. Public health officials and scientists are closely monitoring BA.2, which has been described as a “stealth” variant because it has genetic mutations that could make it harder to distinguish from the delta variant using PCR tests, compared to the original omicron variant, BA.1. (Ellyatt, 3/15)

In other health news from around the world —

The Washington Post: Chernobyl Power Line Again Damaged By Russia, Ukraine’s Nuclear Agency Says 
A high-voltage power line at the former Chernobyl nuclear plant has once again been damaged by Russian forces, Ukraine’s nuclear agency said Monday, just one day after Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko announced that power had been restored following a Russian attack last week that disconnected the site from the electricity grid. (Hassan and Simon, 3/14)

CNN: Why Potassium Iodide Pills Are Suddenly In High Demand 
As Russia's assault in Ukraine intensifies, fear of radioactive fallout from accidental or intentional attacks on Ukraine's nuclear plants, or from the use of a nuclear bomb, has triggered surging demand for potassium iodide pills. In such an event, there's the frightening risk of large amounts of radioactive iodine (or radioiodine) being released into the atmosphere which can be breathed into lungs as well as contaminate water, soil, plants and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although potassium iodide itself isn't harmful and is an important chemical that's needed by the human body, the CDC says radioactive iodide can harm the thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the neck that produces many of the hormones that regulate the body. (Kavilanz, 3/14)

Reuters: Suicides By Women Up In Japan For Second Year
The number of women who died by suicide in Japan rose for a second straight year in 2021 although the overall number of people who took their own lives in the country edged down, police said on Tuesday. Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way of avoiding shame or dishonour, and its suicide rate had long topped the Group of Seven nations, but a concerted national effort brought numbers down by roughly 40 percent over 15 years - although they rose in 2020 due to stresses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Ministry said. (3/15)

CNN: Florida's Top Doctor Is Dangerously Misguided 
A few years ago, I visited a cemetery in an old mining town in Utah. My husband and I were struck by the rows of little tombstones. Each tombstone's death date was within a few weeks of each other in the early 1900s. They were all children who had died of diphtheria. As a parent and a physician, it was an all-too-concrete reminder of the toll that infectious diseases used to take on US families and children. Luckily, we rarely see these kinds of little tombstones any longer. Thanks to pediatric vaccination, one of the greatest public health successes of the 20th century, we have all but eliminated diphtheria -- along with polio, measles, Haemophilus influenzae type b and more -- from the United States. (Megan Ranney, 3/11)

Stat: Covid-19 And Telehealth: Holding On To The Gains Of Remote Care 
In January 2020, telehealth companies were proceeding with a long, slow slog toward sustainability. Four months later, Covid-19 had changed the world and Americans’ reliance on digital medicine. Almost overnight, the specialty I’ve worked in for nearly a decade took center stage, going from a growing niche business to one with skyrocketing utilization rates. The pandemic also altered the geography of care, shifting it from doctors’ offices and hospital clinics to individuals’ homes. The question health care policymakers, providers, and payers must now ask is: “Will the pendulum swing back to how things used to be, or has the pandemic opened the door to new ways of delivering care?” (Kevin Riddleberger, 3/15)

Chicago Tribune: The Pandemic Highlights A Global Failure To Protect The Elderly 
When the COVID-19 pandemic finally ends, our most glaring failure, and our greatest source of shame, will unquestionably be our unwillingness to protect society’s most vulnerable group: the elderly. The 65 years and older cohort makes up only a little more than 15% of the U.S. population but accounts for more than 75% of all COVID-19 deaths, a significant increase in elderly deaths over recent non-pandemic years. (Cory Franklin and Robert A. Weinstein, 3/14)

Chicago Tribune: Chicagoans, Imagine No Doctors Or Nurses When You Go To The Hospital. It Could Happen. 
As a nurse of 44 years with experience in major health systems in the Chicago area, I can tell you that nurses, doctors and other front-line workers are fleeing your local hospitals in droves, which means you may not have the medical professional you’ll need in the ER or elsewhere should you have a medical emergency during the ongoing critical staffing shortage. (Judy Friedrichs, 3/14)

Kansas City Star: Patients In Kansas Assisted Living Facilities Can Be Evicted 
If you have loved ones in a Kansas assisted living facility, you need to know that they have no legal protection from being evicted without cause. The facility can appeal infractions, but the residents cannot. Involuntary discharge is the primary complaint received by the long-term care ombudsman at the Kansas Office of Public Advocates. Here is what happened to us several years ago. (Rachel Imthurn, 3/15)

Stat: Applied Neuroscience Needs A Governance Task Force 
In the United States alone, more than 100 million people are affected by at least one neurological disease. These conditions, which range from Alzheimer’s disease to depression and Parkinson’s disease, cost the health care system almost $800 billion per year. The toll is far higher if you add in the almost unquantifiable financial and emotional costs of diminished quality of life and caretaking. While the brain has historically been difficult to study directly, applied neuroscience is on the verge of transformative breakthroughs that could provide enormous benefits — as well as harms. (David Beier, Lucy Nalbach Tournas and Gary Marchant, 3/15)

CNN: What Happened When Smoking Was Banned In American Indian Casinos 
It took more than a decade to achieve. But anyone who cares about health in Indian country will gladly take the win. American Indian tribes are joining the effort across the nation to ban smoking in casinos, permanently, in the case of the Navajo Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and others. This development may have once seemed unthinkable in communities where consuming tobacco is both a sacred ritual and a heavily entrenched public-health burden. But it's happening. It is a striking reversal given that the tobacco industry has pushed its toxic products on American Indian lands for a century or more, and the gambling industry has argued against smoking bans since Indian casinos first emerged in the 1980s. (Patricia Nez Henderson and Catherine Saucedo, 3/12)

Dallas Morning News: Changing The Perception Of Prescriptions
Illicit drug use has never been so perilous. More than 100,000 Americans succumbed to drug overdoses in the last 12 months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, largely due to the emergence of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid nearly 50 times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl has taken over the drug trade; it has been found in cocaine, heroin, marijuana and counterfeit pills, and it is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 — more than car accidents, COVID-19 or suicide. (Jim Crotty, 3/15)

Stat: Commissioner Califf Needs To Put The F Back In FDA 
Robert Califf is taking the reins as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration with the nation in a nutrition crisis. Americans are living shorter, less-healthy lives due to the foods they are being sold. The new commissioner can meet this challenge by harnessing the FDA’s effective but underused food-related regulatory powers, which were created with FDA itself for a similar food crisis more than 100 years ago. (Bill Frist, Jerome M. Adams and Jerold Mande, 3/14)

Newsweek: Providing Medical Care For Women And Girls Can Change The World 
We have witnessed incredible displays of unity and progress so far this year. We banded together to put a stop to a global pandemic, created rockets to transport everyday people into space and leveraged AI and VR to revolutionize everything from how we shop to how we treat disease. And despite all these advancements, we have not been able to keep up when it comes to health care for women and girls, who are often left behind even as, societally, we move forward. (Doris Macharia, 3/14)

The CT Mirror: Use Evidence-Based Models To Allocate Opioid Suit Proceeds
As a result of a lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson, AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health, and McKesson Corp, Connecticut will receive over $300 million. Recently, I submitted testimony in support of HB 5044, an act implementing the governor’s budget recommendations regarding the use of opioid litigation proceeds. I appreciate the many leaders who have tenaciously fought to contain the opioid epidemic that has plagued our state and who have worked tirelessly to form this bill. In addition, I am grateful for the fight against big pharmaceuticals and the litigation proceeds that will bring much-needed funds for prevention, treatment, and recovery to our state. But sadly, the outcome of this litigation is not a victory. (Dita Bhargava, 3/15)