First Edition: Dec. 6, 2021

KHN: Texas Toughens Ban On Medication-By-Mail Abortions With Jail Time And Hefty Fine 
Texas already had the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. — and they just got tougher. On Wednesday, a new law took effect that adds penalties of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000 for anyone who prescribes pills for medication abortions through telehealth or the mail. Texas bans all abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in the embryo, which typically occurs about six weeks into pregnancy — often before people realize they’re pregnant. Medication abortions via telehealth or mail were already illegal in Texas, and the new criminal penalties took effect on the day the Supreme Court heard arguments in a Mississippi case that ultimately could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion. (Lopez, 12/6)

KHN: Is It Time To Change The Definition Of ‘Fully Vaccinated’? 
As more indoor venues require proof of vaccination for entrance and with winter — as well as omicron, a new covid variant — looming, scientists and public health officials are debating when it will be time to change the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include a booster shot. It’s been more than six months since many Americans finished their vaccination course against covid; statistically, their immunity is waning. (Knight, 12/3)

KHN: Journalists Explore Health Care Disparities And Policy Pitfalls 
KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discussed how Black entrepreneurs in the medical-technology industry are looking to fill health care gaps on Newsy on Wednesday. ... KHN Colorado correspondent Rae Ellen Bichell discussed covid-19 sick leave programs on KUNC’s “Colorado Edition” on Wednesday. ... KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed the unintended consequences of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s policies regarding medications for substance abuse on the podcast “Scope of Practice” on Wednesday. (12/4)

USA TODAY: Omicron In At Least 15 States, But Delta Remains Biggest COVID Challenge
Vaccinations and booster shots continue to be the best defense against the coronavirus for the U.S., even with the spread of the new omicron variant, which now has been reported in at least 15 states, health officials said Sunday. Vaccines developed to fight the original COVID-19 strain have offered good protection against the delta variant, the dominant strain in the U.S., said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He believes they will help with omicron, especially for those who also get a booster shot. (Santucci, Keveney, andd Ortiz, 12/5)

The Washington Post: U.S. Cases Top 100,000 Daily As Delta Remains Dominant
The United States is averaging more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases each day for the first time in two months, as the delta variant remains dominant amid fears of the new omicron variant. On Sunday, the seven-day average was more than 118,000 new cases per day, according to a Washington Post tracker. The last time it topped 100,000 was Oct. 6, when the country was averaging more than 101,000 new cases daily. (Pietsch and Timsit, 12/6)

Newsweek: Rochelle Walensky Warns That Omicron Cases 'Likely To Rise' As U.S. Still Battles Delta
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Sunday that Omicron coronavirus cases are "likely to rise" as the U.S. is still working to combat a surge of infections from the Delta variant. Walensky told ABC's This Week that the CDC is still working to determine information about Omicron, but maintained that a majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continue to come from the Delta variant of the virus. "We have about 90 to 100,000 cases a day right now in the United States, and 99.9 percent of them are the Delta variant. We have an issue right now with Delta. And we have so many things we can do about Delta, including getting vaccinated and getting boosted," Walenksy said Sunday. (Colarossi, 12/5)

AP: Fauci Says Early Reports Encouraging About Omicron Variant 
U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that scientists need more information before drawing conclusions about omicron’s severity. ... “Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta.” (Johnson, 12/5)

Stat: Early South Africa Data Hints Omicron May Cause Less Severe Covid, But More Research Needed
As the world waits for studies that give a clear picture of the Omicron variant, early clinical data emerging from South Africa hint at a virus that may cause less severe cases of Covid-19. The South African Medical Research Council posted a report Saturday of the early experiences at several hospitals in Gauteng Province, where Omicron was first spotted in the country. Strikingly, most hospitalized patients who tested positive for Covid did not need supplemental oxygen. Few developed Covid pneumonia, few required high-level care, and fewer still were admitted to intensive care. (Branswell, 12/4)

Reuters: S. African Official Says Children Sick With COVID-19 Have Mild Infections 
Higher hospital admissions among children during a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in South Africa that has been driven by the Omicron coronavirus variant should not prompt panic as infections have been mild, a health official said on Saturday. A large number of infants admitted with COVID-19 last month in Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes the capital Pretoria, raised concerns that the newly identified Omicron could pose greater risks for young children than other variants. (Winning, 12/4)

The Washington Post: Omicron Coronavirus Variant Possibly More Infectious Due To Sharing Genetic Code With Common Cold, Study Says 
The omicron variant is likely to have picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans, according to a new preliminary study, prompting one of its authors to suggest omicron could have greater transmissibility but lower virulence than other variants of the coronavirus. Researchers from Nference, a Cambridge, Mass.-based firm that analyzes biomedical information, sequenced omicron and found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold. They say this particular mutation could have occurred in a host simultaneously infected by SARS-CoV-2, also known as the novel coronavirus, and the HCoV-229E coronavirus, which can cause the common cold. The shared genetic code with HCoV-229E has not been detected in other novel coronavirus variants, the scientists said. (Cheng, 12/4)

Fox News: Omicron Infects 2 Fully Vaccinated Individuals In Separate Hotel Rooms, Report Says
While health officials continue to study the COVID-19 variant called Omicron, researchers in Hong Kong said the mutation infected two fully vaccinated people staying across the hall from each other inside a quarantine hotel in the city, according to a report. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong published a report that said these individuals never exited their rooms and must have come down with the virus through airborne transmission when they opened their doors for food or COVID-19 tests, Bloomberg reported. The study highlighted the "potential concern" about its transmissibility, the researchers wrote, according to the report. (DeMarche, 12/6)

Politico: Fauci: U.S. Reviewing Its South African Travel Ban And Hopes To Lift It Soon
President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said Sunday that the U.S. is reviewing its travel ban on South Africa and other African countries daily and hopes to lift it “within a reasonable amount of time” even as the Omicron variant spreads through the U.S. The White House announced the travel ban over a week ago as the new Covid-19 variant rattled South Africa. Days later, the U.S. first detected a case of the Omicron variant in California. (Sheehey, 12/5)

CBS News: Cruise Ship Disembarks In New Orleans With At Least 17 COVID Cases, Including A "Probable" Omicron Infection 
A Norwegian Cruise Line ship with at least 17 passengers and crew members infected with COVID-19 docked Sunday in New Orleans, where health officials said the ship was disembarked amid efforts to prevent any spread into the community. At least one of the infected crew members is suspected to have the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Louisiana Department of Health said late Sunday. The Norwegian Breakaway arrived in the city on Sunday after departing from New Orleans on November 28 and making stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico over the past week. (12/6)

Reuters: Norwegian Cruise Ship Detects One Probable Case Of Omicron Variant 
A probable case of the Omicron variant has been identified in a crew member of a Norwegian Cruise ship that reached New Orleans on Sunday after detecting COVID-19 among some crew and guests, the Louisiana Department of Health said. The probable case was found among 10 people who tested positive for the virus on Saturday, the health agency said in a tweet on Sunday. (12/6)

The Washington Post: U.S. Coronavirus Vaccine Demand Increases Amid Omicron Variant Concerns
Demand for coronavirus vaccines has spiked in the United States in recent weeks, as more Americans are eligible for booster shots and concerns grow over the omicron variant. Health-care providers administered 2.18 million doses of coronavirus vaccines on Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the “highest single-day total since May,” the White House said. According to the latest CDC report, over the week ending on Thursday, the average number of daily administered vaccine doses reported to the agency was 22 percent higher than the previous week. (Timsit, 12/5)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Plans To Fast-Track Revamped Covid-19 Vaccines 
The Biden administration is preparing to fast-track authorization of revamped Covid-19 vaccines to combat Omicron as a study from South Africa suggests the fast-spreading variant might cause less severe illness than its predecessors. Federal regulators on Sunday said cases have been identified in 16 states and that the Food and Drug Administration is already in conversations about streamlining authorization for revamped vaccines. Agency officials have met with vaccine makers and are working to set guidelines for the type of data that will be needed to swiftly evaluate the safety and efficacy of changes to current vaccines. (Douglas and Armour, 12/5)

AP: Contact Tracing Revs Up In Some States As Omicron Reaches US
The arrival of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the U.S. has health officials in some communities reviving contact tracing operations in an attempt to slow and better understand its spread as scientists study how contagious it is and whether it can thwart vaccines. In New York City, officials quickly reached out to a man who tested positive for the variant and had attended an anime conference at a Manhattan convention center last month along with more than 50,000 people. Five other attendees have also been infected with the coronavirus, though officials don’t yet know whether it was with the omicron variant. (Hollingsworth and Calvan, 12/4)

The New York Times: Before Even Receiving a Name, Omicron Could Have Spread in New York and the Country
They wore fluorescent wigs and capes with gold tassels. They arrived in knee-high white platform boots, and with feathered wings affixed to their backs. Dressed like their favorite characters, or just wearing street clothes, they packed into Manhattan’s main convention hall — some 53,000 of them — over three days in November to celebrate their love of Japanese animation shows known as anime. In the crowd was Peter McGinn, a 30-year-old health care analyst in town from Minneapolis. He attended discussion panels, chatted with strangers about his anime podcast and, at night, sang karaoke with friends. After flying home, he learned that one friend from the convention — an anime fan from North Carolina — had just tested positive for the coronavirus. In the days to come, many more of his friends from the convention would test positive, as well. Coughing and feeling tired, Mr. McGinn also took a test. He had the virus, too. (Goldstein, Bosman, de Freytas-Tamura and Rabin, 12/5)

CBS News: Study Shows Men Spread COVID Particles More Than Other Populations 
A study focused on tracking the spread of COVID-19 in performing arts settings has also unveiled the population of humans who spread the most COVID-19 particles. Researchers at Colorado State University learned that men more frequently spread the coronavirus particles than women or children. The study, which lasted months, was originally developed in an effort to see what those in the performing arts can do to facilitate a safe return to the stage following the pandemic. The performing arts, from the educational level all the way to Broadway performances, were some of the most drastically impacted fields. (12/6)

NBC News: Anti-Abortion Advocates Thrilled With Possibility Of Overturning Roe V. Wade
It’s taken decades, but anti-abortion activists feel like they’re on the cusp of history after the Supreme Court signaled Wednesday a willingness to weaken Roe v. Wade, and they’re already gearing up for the inevitable multifront fight that will erupt if the court rules in their favor. “We've been working towards this goal for many years, so I think we are fully prepared,” said Carol Tobias, the president of the National Right to Life Committee. “We've got 50 state affiliates and state legislators across the country ready to take up the challenge.” (Seitz-Wald, 12/4)

AP: Both Sides Planning For New State-By-State Abortion Fight 
As the Supreme Court court weighs the future of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, a resurgent anti-abortion movement is looking to press its advantage in state-by-state battles while abortion-rights supporters prepare to play defense. Both sides seem to be operating on the assumption that a court reshaped by former President Donald Trump will either overturn or seriously weaken Roe. “We have a storm to weather,” said Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. “We have to weather the storm so that in the future — five, 10, 15 years from now — we’re talking about how we managed to repeal all these abortion bans.” (Khalil, 12/6)

The Hill: Mississippi Governor Says He Will Enforce Law Banning Most Abortions In State If Roe Is Overturned
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) on Sunday said his state will enforce a law banning most abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, days after the Supreme Court held a hearing on the Magnolia State’s 15-week abortion ban that could chip away at the landmark 1973 ruling .A "snapback law" for abortion is currently in existence in Mississippi, which calls for most abortions in the state to be banned if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The only exemptions to the law would be rape and if the life of the mother is in danger. (Schnell, 12/5)

The Hill: Klobuchar Says 'Best Way' To Protect Abortion Rights Is To Codify Roe V. Wade Into Law
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday said the “best way” to protect abortion rights in the U.S. is by codifying Roe v. Wade’s verdict into law. Asked by host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if the U.S. should consider determining abortion regulations through legislatures or referendums rather than Supreme Court decisions, Klobuchar made the case for codifying the 1973 decision through legislation. “Fifty years of precedent -- as Elena Kagan pointed out, 50 years of decisions and court decisions, part of the very fabric of women’s existence in this country, this is how our country protected rights. And now they're willing to just flip it on its head. And so what is the answer?” Klobuchar said. (Schnell, 12/5)

The Washington Post: Twin Republican Strategies Brought The Antiabortion Movement To The Cusp Of Victory In The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s oral arguments over the future of abortion restrictions put into sharp relief the twin forces that appear to have brought the high court to the edge of either overturning or dramatically curtailing the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which gave women nationwide a right to most abortions. Decades of political organizing by abortion opponents have transformed the Republican Party into a force for remaking courts, and a separate revolution in law schools has created the intellectual foundation to make it possible. (Scherer, 12/4)

Politico: Why The Threat To Roe May Not Save Democrats In 2022 
The quick-setting gospel in Washington, D.C. last week was that any rollback of Roe v. Wade next year would trigger a Democratic revolt, placing abortion rights at the center of the midterm elections and sparking unprecedented turnout on the left. But in the days since the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on a case from Mississippi, a more sober and nuanced assessment has begun to settle in. Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic strategists, pollsters and officials reveal skepticism that the court’s decision will dramatically alter the midterm landscape unless — and perhaps not even then — Roe is completely overturned. Privately, several Democratic strategists have suggested the usefulness of any decision on abortion next year will be limited, and some may advise their clients not to focus on abortion rights at all. (Siders, 12/5)

The New York Times: What An America Without Roe Would Look Like
Last week’s Supreme Court arguments on a Mississippi abortion law raised the prospect of a return to a time half a century ago — when the procedure was illegal across most of the United States and women, perilously, tried to end pregnancies on their own or sought back-alley abortions. If the court decides to reverse or weaken the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, it will usher in a somewhat different era. Abortion would remain legal in more than half of states, but not in a wide swath of the Midwest and the South. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 12/5)

The New York Times: After Success In Seating Federal Judges, Biden Hits Resistance 
After early success in nominating and confirming federal judges, President Biden and Senate Democrats have begun to encounter stiffer Republican resistance to their efforts to reshape the courts. Tennessee Republicans have raised objections to Mr. Biden’s pick for an influential appeals court there — the administration’s first judicial nominee from a state represented by two Republican senators — and a circuit court candidate is likely to need every Democratic vote to win confirmation in a coming floor showdown. The obstacles threaten to slow or halt a little-noticed winning streak for the Biden administration on Capitol Hill. (Hulse, 12/5)

The New York Times: J.&Amp;J. Booster Works Well For People Who Had Pfizer Originally, Study Finds.
People who received Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines may get as much benefit from a Johnson & Johnson booster shot as a Pfizer one. That’s the finding of a small study released on Sunday. Researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston studied 65 people who had received two shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Six months after the second dose, the researchers gave 24 of the volunteers a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine and gave 41 the Johnson & Johnson shot. (The study was funded in part by Johnson & Johnson and has not yet been published in a scientific journal.) (Zimmer, 12/5)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Affords Cancer Patients Good Protection Against Infection
A US Veterans Affairs (VA) study finds that the COVID-19 vaccine offered good protection against infection starting 2 weeks after the second dose in cancer patients, who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19.The retrospective nationwide study, published yesterday in JAMA Oncology, involved 29,152 vaccinated patients who received systemic cancer therapy at VA sites from Aug 15, 2010, to May 4, 2021. (12/3)

The Washington Post: The Most-Vaccinated Big Counties In America Are Beating The Worst Of The Coronavirus 
About 1 in 420 Americans has died of covid-19, according to official data. And we’re still averaging more than 1,000 deaths per day. But in certain areas — and indeed in many areas in which the population is much more tightly packed and the coronavirus could transmit more easily — the story is far less grim. A big reason: widespread vaccination. Death rates are far below the national average in the most-vaccinated, often-urban areas. (Blake, 12/4)

NPR: Pro-Trump Counties Now Have Far Higher COVID Death Rates
Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic. NPR looked at deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which vaccinations widely became available. People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden. Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates. (Wood and Brumfiel, 12/5)

The Hill: Trump Haunts Biden Vaccine Mandate In Courts 
President Biden's coronavirus vaccine mandates are hitting a pivotal moment, with federal courts emerging as a major obstacle to their implementation and the Senate poised to vote on a GOP-backed effort to defund the mandate on businesses. Biden’s vaccine rules for private business, health care workers and federal contractors have all been tied up in court challenges from Republican officials, with some GOP-appointed judges blocking them. Even if the administration ultimately wins the fights, the implementation of the rules could be delayed, potentially significantly. (Chalfant, 12/5)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Can Go Into Effect
A Superior Court judge has denied a request by the Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters union seeking a preliminary injunction to delay enforcement of the city’s vaccine mandate. The ruling is “a victory for public health and safety in Los Angeles,” City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. “The Court recognized the emergency we’re in, and the harm that enjoining implementation of the vaccine mandate could have caused,” Feuer said. “Beyond this case, the presence of the new, highly contagious variant here in L.A. underscores the importance of vaccinating our first responders — indeed, of vaccinating everyone.” (Oreskes, 12/4)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Mask Mandate To Remain In Place Into 2022, Nevada Official Says
Southern Nevada and other areas of the state labeled at “high” risk of COVID-19 transmission will remain under a state mask mandate through the rest of the year and into early 2022, a state official said Thursday. “We will continue to have indoor masking, regardless of vaccination status, through the holiday season and into the start of the new year,” DuAne Young, policy adviser to Gov. Steve Sisolak, said at a news briefing. “Right now we’ve made a decision that with this new variant (omicron), with the winter surge, with what we know can happen, we just wanted to put it out there that we will continue masking through the holidays.” (Dylan, 12/2)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Risk Factors In Healthcare Workers Spelled Out
Close contact with COVID-19 cases outside of work is the biggest risk factor for infections among American healthcare workers, according to research published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. The case-control study was based on participants from 25 healthcare facilities across the country and included 33,644 healthcare workers (3,416 cases and 30,228 controls) who reported COVID-19 infections and exposures to Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites. Among 3,416 COVID-19 cases, 1,172 healthcare personnel were interviewed. (12/3)

AP: US Drugstores Squeezed By Vaccine Demand, Staff Shortages
A rush of vaccine-seeking customers and staff shortages are squeezing drugstores around the U.S., leading to frazzled workers and temporary pharmacy closures. Drugstores are normally busy this time of year with flu shots and other vaccines, but now pharmacists are doling out a growing number of COVID-19 shots and giving coronavirus tests. The push for shots is expected to grow more intense as President Joe Biden urges vaccinated Americans to get booster shots to combat the emerging omicron variant. The White House said Thursday that more than two in three COVID-19 vaccinations are happening at local pharmacies. (Murphy, 12/4)

The Washington Post: Walgreens Cancels Covid Vaccine Appointments For Kids Without Notice, Angering Parents 
Dania Palanker and her 7-year-old daughter, Nadia, felt excited as they bundled into the car in Washington last week to get Nadia’s coronavirus vaccine. The evening before, Palanker received an automated email from Walgreens confirming Nadia’s appointment at the chain’s outlet in Cheverly, Md. “We’ll see you tomorrow!” read the subject line. Their anticipation turned to disappointment once they arrived for the 6:30 p.m. shot. The store was still open, but the pharmacists had left, the pharmacy counter was closed and no one could provide vaccines. The pharmacy shuttered a half-hour before Nadia’s confirmed appointment, part of service cutbacks by Walgreens caused by a labor shortage hitting drugstores across the country. (Rowland, 12/5)

The Advocate: Gov. John Bel Edwards Plans To Add COVID-19 Vaccine To Louisiana's Required School Shots List
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the required immunization schedule for students at K-12 schools has energized a wave of opposition from mostly Republican state lawmakers, who are gathering in Baton Rouge Monday for an oversight hearing where they’ll attempt to thwart the proposal. No matter what happens at that hearing, Edwards will have the final say on whether the vaccine gets added to the schedule, and the Democratic governor said Friday that so far, no evidence has been presented to change his mind. (Patterson, 12/5)

Houston Chronicle: More Than Half Of Houstonians Who Died From COVID Had Diabetes
Half of Houstonians who died of COVID-19 had diabetes, a Houston Health Department review concluded late last month. The virus killed more than 3,600 city residents as of November, nearly 52 percent of whom had diabetes, according to health department data. One quarter were obese. Stephen Williams, director of the Houston Health Department, said the findings are not surprising, given the city’s high rate of diabetes. The chronic endocrine condition, which results from too much sugar in the bloodstream, is more prevalent in Houston than most other major cities. Diabetics account for 13.5 percent of the Houston-area population; the national average is 10 percent. (Mishanec, 12/3)

CIDRAP: CDC: Flu Rising, But Still Below Baseline
Flu activity in the United States continues to rise slowly, mostly involving the H3N2 strain and more than 80% of cases in people ages 5 to 24, the CDC said today in its weekly update. Flu markers—such as outpatient visits for flulike illness—are still below baseline, and activity is low but slowly increasing, the CDC said. (12/3)

The Washington Post: Over Half Of Young Adults Are Obese Or Overweight, Study Says
More than half of America’s youngest adults — 56 percent of those ages 18 to 25 — are overweight or obese, according to Johns Hopkins research, published in JAMA. Using data from a nationally representative sample of 8,015 people in that age bracket, the researchers compared average weights over the past four decades. In that time, that population’s average body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on a person’s height and weight, had increased by 4.6 points — from 23.1 (considered normal weight) to 27.7 (considered overweight). That shifted the number of overweight young adults from about 18 percent in the late 1970s to nearly 24 percent by 2018. (Searing, 12/5)

Modern Healthcare: A Third Of Children Underinsured, Study Says
A third of children lacked adequate and continuous insurance coverage from 2016 to 2019, a new study says. The number of underinsured children grew by 2.4 million during the three-year period, bringing the number of kids with inadequate coverage to 23.7 million, according to a paper published in the journal Pediatrics Monday. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzed data from the annual National Survey of Children's Health and found the increase was mainly driven by increased rates of inadequate private insurance. (Tepper, 12/6)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Despite Efforts, Many Black Babies In Milwaukee Die During First Year
Kristy Bassel was two months pregnant when she saw a flyer about doula services at her doctor’s office. “I really didn’t know what a doula was, so I Googled it,” Bassel said. “I have a small support system because I lost both of my parents, so I figured I would call to find out what a doula could offer.” After meeting her doula, she knew she was in good hands. (Causey, 12/1)

Fox News: Stroke Contributing Factors May Include Losing Temper, Extreme Exercise: Study
Losing one's temper or exercising too rigorously could be contributing factors for a stroke, according to new research. In a study published Wednesday in the European Society of Cardiology's "European Heart Journal," a team of international researchers looked at more than 13,000 stroke patients in 32 countries as part of the INTERSTROKE study. Using a "case-crossover approach," the team determined whether a trigger within one hour of symptom onset was associated with acute stroke, versus the same time period on the previous day. (Musto, 12/4)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Saw Telehealth Use Grow More Than 6,000% During Pandemic
The Health and Human Services Department found that Medicare visits held via telehealth increased 63-fold from 2019 to 2020 as a result of flexibilities put into place due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to a new HHS study released Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will use the report's results to inform future Medicare telehealth policy, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release. Providers have been eager to see how lawmakers and policymakers will regulate telehealth once the PHE ends. Medicare payment advisors have suggested a temporary extension of flexibilities to allow time to study telehealth's impacts. (Broderick and Goldman, 12/3)

Stat: Care For Complex Mental Health Conditions Is Shifting Virtual
When the pandemic lockdowns slammed society’s doors closed in March 2020, the leaders at McLean Hospital’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute in Massachusetts needed a new plan. Some of the care they delivered so carefully wasn’t safe in person anymore. By the end of April, McLean had overhauled its approach, launching services online for people in need of partial hospitalization. Three thousand miles away, a similar experiment played out on the same timeline at UCLA’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Intensive Treatment Program, where patients came for more dedicated help when lighter-touch treatments weren’t working. (Aguilar, 12/6)

Modern Healthcare: Judge Pushes Lawsuit Over UnitedHealth's Retirement Plan Forward
A federal judge on Thursday denied UnitedHealth Group's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the healthcare giant failed to effectively oversee management of its retirement plan for its 200,000 employees and their families. Judge John Tunheim of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ruled that a plan participant's claims were strong enough to move forward. Her complaint highlighted that UnitedHealth Group's 401(k) plans underperformed compared with industry benchmarks over the course of 11 years. Kate Snyder sued UnitedHealth in April, seeking class-action status. She accused the healthcare giant, its board of directors, former CEO David Winchmann and the company's employee benefit plan investment and administrative committees of violating their fiduciary duty under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. (Tepper, 12/3)

Crain's New York Business: New York Nursing Homes Reach Deal With 33,000 Union Workers
Members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reached tentative three-year contract agreements this week with the operators of 249 nursing homes in the metropolitan area, just in time to avert a 24-hour strike planned for Wednesday. The deal hinges on a pledge by Gov. Kathy Hochul to devote up to $35 million per year in state funding to reimburse anticipated cost increases for the union’s health benefits fund, leaders in the nursing home industry said. The fund, which pays members’ health insurance claims, had been a major sticking point in the monthslong negotiations, Crain’s Health Pulse previously reported. (Kaufman, 12/3)

AP: UK Tightens Travel Testing Rules Amid Omicron Concerns 
Britain’s government tightened travel restrictions Saturday amid concerns about the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, saying all travelers arriving in England will need to take a COVID-19 test before they board their flight. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the new rules will apply from 4 a.m. London time Tuesday. “In light of the most recent data, we are taking further action to slow the incursion of the omicron variant,” he said in a tweet. (12/4)

The New York Times: Britain And Denmark Report A Rise In Known Omicron Cases
Britain and Denmark each reported a rise in confirmed coronavirus cases of the new Omicron variant on Sunday as countries with robust testing uncover more known instances of the variant in their backyards. There were 86 new cases of the Omicron variant, Britain’s health security agency said on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 246 — nearly double the total number of cases reported on Friday. In Denmark, local health authorities confirmed there were 183 known cases of the variant, more than triple the total number of suspected cases reported on Friday, and called them “worrying.” (Kwai and Erdbrink, 12/5)

The Washington Post: Antwerp Zoo Hippos Test Positive For Covid-19 In First Known Cases 
Two hippos in Belgium that vets noticed were “expelling snot” have been placed in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Antwerp zoo said, in what appears to be the first known case of covid-19 among the species. It remains unclear how hippopotamuses Imani, 14, and Hermien, 41, contracted the virus, but the pair appear to be doing well and have no symptoms other than their runny, sticky noses. (Hassan, 12/5)

Reuters: Omicron Spreads In India, Full Vaccination In Focus
Cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have risen to 21 in India over the weekend and people must step up for vaccination, officials said on Monday. The western state of Rajasthan reported the most number of Omicron cases with nine, followed by eight in Maharashtra, two in Karnataka and one each in Gujarat and the capital New Delhi. (Das, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Australia Confirms Community Transmission Of Omicron Variant
Five people in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, have contracted the omicron variant of the coronavirus locally, New South Wales health authorities confirmed. The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym in Sydney’s western suburbs, which may also be the source of a confirmed omicron infection in the Australian Capital Territory, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Sunday. Urgent genome testing is underway for a number of other cases linked to the venues and should be available in coming days, she said in a video update. (Burgess, 12/5)

Reuters: COVID Shots Are Finally Arriving, But Africa Can't Get Them All Into Arms 
When a group arrived at the Sekenani health clinic in rural Kenya for their COVID-19 vaccines recently, staff told them there were no doses left and that they should come back soon. For some, it meant a long wasted journey on foot and a day away from their cattle herds. Yet Narok county, where the clinic is located, was not short of vaccines; nearly 14,000 doses were sitting in a fridge in the nearest town, 115 km away. A mix-up with county officials meant Sekenani did not get enough, two health workers said. (Fick and Mcallister, 12/6)

Reuters: 'Extreme' Vaccine Discrimination Risks Leaving Africa Behind - Report 
Africa has little chance of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic unless 70% of its population is vaccinated by end-2022, yet "extreme vaccine discrimination" is leaving the continent behind, a report published on Monday said. The discovery of the Omicron variant in southern Africa has heightened claims that low inoculation rates can encourage viral mutations, which can then spread to countries where rates are much higher. (Wilkes, 12/5)

NPR: Philippines Vaccinates 7.6 Million In 3 Days — With More To Come
The Philippine government, beset by charges of incompetence and corruption in its handling of the pandemic, has mounted a vaccination campaign that any of its Southeast Asian neighbors might envy. Over the course of just three days this week the country vaccinated 7.6 million people ages 12 and above. 34.53% of the country is now fully vaccinated. Conky Quizon, field epidemiologist and member of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, called it "a big, big deal" and put the unprecedented numbers down to easy access to the vaccines — there were 8,000 centers set up across the Philippines — and several different vaccines on offer, including Pfizer, Moderna and China's Sinovax. (McCarthy, 12/3)

AP: Italian Dentist Presents Fake Arm For Vaccine To Get Pass
A dentist in Italy faces possible criminal charges after trying to receive a coronavirus vaccine in a fake arm made of silicone. A nurse in the northern city of Biella, Filippa Bua, said she could tell right away that something was off when a man presented the phony limb for a shot on Thursday. “When I uncovered the arm, I felt skin that was cold and gummy, and the color was too light,’’ Bua told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. She said she initially thought the 57-year-old man was an amputee and had mistakenly offered the wrong arm. She lifted his shirt and saw a silicone arm. (12/4)

Bloomberg: Scholz Names Harvard Medical Expert To Oversee Pandemic Policy
Germany’s incoming chancellor, Olaf Scholz, named a high-profile health expert who has taught at the Harvard School of Public Health to tackle a brutal surge in Covid-19 infections. The Social Democrats’ Karl Lauterbach, a trained epidemiologist who has become a public figure during the pandemic, will be health minister. Scholz on Monday named the seven ministers from the SPD who will be in the new government, including Christine Lambrecht as Germany’s third-consecutive female defense minister and one of four women in the cabinet. Hubertus Heil will retain his post as labor minister. (Donahue, 12/6)