Roll Call: Biden Issues Dire Warning For Unvaccinated As Omicron Surges Before Holidays
President Joe Biden, just four days before Christmas, sought Tuesday to convince a country craving a normal holiday season that a largely unknown COVID-19 variant will not undo two years of pandemic progress. “Are we going back to March 2020?” Biden said as the omicron variant threatens to deluge hospitals with sick patients. “The answer is absolutely no.” Biden sought to draw a clear contrast when describing how the omicron surge will affect the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated, issuing a dire warning to 60 million unvaccinated Americans. (Kopp, 12/21)

The Hill: Biden Preaches Concern, Not Panic On Omicron 
President Biden repeatedly emphasized that the U.S. was in a different position than March 2020, largely because of the wide availability of coronavirus vaccines. There are over 200 million Americans who are fully vaccinated. “We're prepared. We know more. We just have to stay focused," Biden said. (Weixel, 12/21)

Modern Healthcare: Biden's New COVID-19 Plans Include Hospital Staffing Support, PPE
Hospitals will get staff reinforcements, Federal Emergency Management Agency aid and additional personal protective equipment to help fight the latest COVID-19 wave under an expanded pandemic response strategy the White House unveiled Tuesday. An additional 1,000 military doctors, nurses, paramedics and other personnel will be deployed to hospitals in January and February as needed, according to a fact sheet. The federal government will dispatch emergency response teams first to Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wisconsin. President Joe Biden outlined the latest steps to combat the pandemic in a speech Tuesday "The federal government's paying for all this, period," he said. (Goldman, 12/21)

The Hill: Five Things To Know About Biden's Omicron Plan
President Biden laid out a plan Tuesday to tackle the new threat of increasing COVID-19 cases across the U.S. that is largely due to omicron quickly becoming the dominant variant. Here are five things to know about the plan. (Sullivan, 12/21)

Also —

The New York Times: Omicron Will Surge Despite Biden’s New Plan, Scientists Say.
Even as President Biden on Tuesday outlined new plans for battling the highly contagious Omicron variant, public health experts warned that the measures would not be sufficient to prevent a grim rise in infections and hospitalizations over the next few weeks. The administration’s strategy includes doubling down on vaccination campaigns and propping up hospitals as they confront a large influx of patients. Federal officials will direct resources, including Army doctors, to support health care systems and distribute rapid tests to Americans. (Rabin and Anthes, 12/22)

CNBC: Americans Are Tired Of Covid, Official Response To Omicron Creates Confusion
American corporations, government officials and other institutions are once again weighing the risks of Covid-19 as they plot a path forward during the holiday season. But this time around, instead of facing a scared public, they’re dealing with a largely vaccinated population increasingly exhausted by the virus and its variants. The result is a jumbled, contradictory response to the heavily mutated omicron variant. (Sherman, 12/21)

And the CDC may reevaluate its isolation guidance for fully vaccinated people —

Axios: Experts Urge CDC To Shorten COVID Isolation Period 
Health care experts believe the CDC needs to shorten its guidance for a 10-day isolation period for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 — or else hospitals will face even more severe shortages of staff as the Omicron variant takes hold. "Mandatory 10-day isolation is going to make things really difficult for essential services," tweeted Aaron Carroll, chief health officer at Indiana University. (Herman, 12/22)

USA Today: Huge COVID Test Kits Demand Leads To Pharmacy Rationing Purchases
Heavy demand for COVID-19 home test kits, including sellouts at some stores, has led major pharmacy chains to ration individual purchases. Increased interest in testing comes as the nation is experiencing a COVID case surge, with the omicron variant rising quickly in its percentage of diagnoses. Tests are at a premium for holiday travelers hoping to gather safely with family and friends. Customers are limited to four over-the-counter antigen tests at Walgreens pharmacies, while CVS is restricting buyers to six kits. (Keveney, 12/22)

CNN: CVS And Walgreens To Limit Purchases Of At-Home Covid Tests 
The two largest pharmaceutical chain stores in the US -- CVS Health and Walgreens -- are limiting the number of at-home Covid kits customers can buy due to huge demand. The rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant ahead of the holidays has sparked the surge -- and there has been anecdotal evidence over the past week of test shortages at stores across the country. CVS Health acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that tests may be temporarily out of stock at their stores. "To ensure equitable access to tests both in store and digitally, we've added a limit of six test kits per purchase," the company said. (Alonso, 12/21)

Reuters: Walmart Limits Online Ordering Of COVID-19 Tests To Eight Kits 
Walmart Inc said on Tuesday demand for at-home COVID-19 testing kits was "extremely high" and that it had set a limit of eight test kits per online order. (Soni, 12/21)

The New York Times: All Anyone Wants For Christmas Is A Covid Test
Abbott Laboratories, which made headlines back in August for destroying materials used in its tests, citing limited shelf life, said the company is currently making more than 50 million BinaxNOW rapid antigen test kits every month. In January, the company said, it will increase its output to 70 million a month. “We actually maintained usable test components, many of which have been in short supply during the pandemic — such as reagent bottles, cardboard packaging, swabs, nitrocellulose strips and even paper labeling — so that we could have them in the event that we needed to scale back up, which is exactly what’s happening now,” John Koval, a company spokesman, said in a statement. (Cherelus and Kambhampaty, 12/21)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: The Rapid-Test Edition: Who’s Making A Buck? 
Rapid, at-home covid-19 tests are close to essential if you want to see friends and family this holiday season, and do your best to stay safe. But they’re freaking expensive and can be hard to find. What the heck happened? (Weissmann, 12/22)

Bloomberg: New Omicron Severity Study Shows Hospitalization Rate 80% Lower Than Delta 
South Africans contracting Covid-19 in the current fourth wave of infections are 80% less likely to be hospitalized if they catch the omicron variant, compared with other strains, according to a study released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Once admitted to the hospital, the risk of severe disease doesn’t differ from other variants, the authors led by scientists Nicole Walter and Cheryl Cohen said. (Kew, 12/22)

In related news about the spread of omicron —

Stat: Omicron By The Numbers: Where Things Stand Now
For the last four days, New York has posted all-time record case numbers of Covid-19. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new forecast that estimates that the Omicron variant is already the dominant variant in the U.S. Meanwhile, cases have been climbing in the Northeast and Midwest for the last several weeks. The nation’s Delta wave isn’t over and an Omicron wave has just begun. Here’s where things stand. (Parker, 12/21)

The Boston Globe: These 5 Charts Show How Fast Omicron Is Spreading
Here’s a look at charts that show just how quickly and widely Omicron has spread. The variant has now been detected in all but three states in the country: Montana, South Dakota, and Oklahoma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Huddle, Fujiwara and Kaufman, 12/21)

AP: South Africa's Case Drop May Show Omicron Peak Has Passed
South Africa’s noticeable drop in new COVID-19 cases in recent days may signal that the country’s dramatic omicron-driven surge has passed its peak, medical experts say. Daily virus case counts are notoriously unreliable, as they can be affected by uneven testing, reporting delays and other fluctuations. But they are offering one tantalizing hint — far from conclusive yet — that omicron infections may recede quickly after a ferocious spike. ... After hitting a high of nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide on Thursday, the numbers dropped to about 15,424 on Tuesday. (Meldrum, 12/22)

Also —

The New York Times: Hospitals Scramble As Antibody Treatments Fail Against Omicron 
Hospitals, drug companies and Biden administration officials are racing to address one of the Omicron variant’s biggest threats: Two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments that doctors have depended on to keep Covid-19 patients from becoming seriously ill do not appear to thwart the latest version of the coronavirus. The one such treatment that is still likely to work against Omicron is now so scarce that many doctors and hospitals have already run through their supplies. (Jewett, Zimmer and Robbins, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Possible Weapon Against Omicron: Early Use Of Convalescent Plasma Reduced Hospitalizations 
Convalescent plasma may be another tool to help prevent coronavirus infections sparked by the omicron variant from turning severe if patients receive it soon after developing symptoms, according to data presented Tuesday. ... Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine published findings showing that giving plasma early during the course of illness reduced hospitalization by half in a clinical trial that spanned from June 2020 to October 2021. (Shepherd and McGinley, 12/21)

North Carolina Health News: Omicron Variant Q&A With UNC Virologist Lisa Gralinski 
Lisa Gralinski is a virologist who studies human coronaviruses. She’s an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She’s been studying human coronaviruses for close to 13 years and has published dozens of papers, including 29 papers in the past two years. Gralinski was willing to take a few minutes as she prepared for the holidays to talk to NC Health News about what’s happening with Delta, what we can expect in coming weeks and to explain how Omicron has spread so quickly. (Hoban, 12/22)

NBC News: Omicron Delays Quarter Of Companies’ Reopening Plans, Survey Says
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is forcing many companies to once again change their back-to-the-office plans, upending expectations for whiplashed workers. According to a recent Gartner survey, 44 percent of companies have pushed back or altered their reopening plans because of the omicron variant. (White, 12/21)

CNN: Cleveland-Area Hospitals Battling Latest Covid-19 Surge Put Ad In Local Paper That Reads: 'Help' 
"Help." That word, in big black letters and surrounded by white space, called out from Ohio's largest newspaper -- a desperate plea from six Cleveland-area medical systems facing a crush of Covid-19 cases. "We need your help," read the bottom of the ad. "We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before. "And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated." The ad was sponsored by Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth, Summa Health, the US Department of Veterans Affairs and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. (Moshtaghian, 12/22)

The Boston Globe: Baker Deploys National Guard To Help Stressed Hospitals And Advises Residents To Wear Masks Indoors
Sounding a new urgency over a resurgent pandemic, Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday deployed the National Guard to help hospitals in Massachusetts struggling with staff shortages and ordered them to cancel nonessential surgeries to accommodate a tide of patients sick with COVID and other serious illnesses. However, Baker stopped short of imposing a statewide mask mandate, instead opting to issue an advisory recommending that people should now wear masks inside public places. (Dayal McCluskey, Freyer and Lazar, 12/21)

KHN: As Pandemic Wears Down Hospital Staff, One Town Offers Groceries To Say Thanks
This mountain community — which comes alive during the winter ski season and annual Sundance Film Festival — is home to the Park City Hospital, which has 460 employees. As in countless hospitals across the country, the demands of covid-19 at times overwhelmed the facility and dramatically changed the way caregivers interact with patients. “The last year and a half has taken a toll on us,” said Jodie Connelly, nurse manager of the intensive care unit at the hospital, which is part of the Intermountain Healthcare System based in Salt Lake City. “Nurses have pretty thick skins, but the pandemic has tested us in ways we’ve never really been tested before.” (Austin, 12/22)

Covid cases are jumping all over —

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports Most New COVID Cases Recorded In 24-Hour Period, 6,218, As Officials Warn Of Surge’s Impact On Hospital Capacity 
Maryland reported 6,218 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, marking the most infections added in 24 hours during the coronavirus pandemic, as officials painted a bleak picture of how the virus’ surge could shape the rest of the winter. The new data means that more than one in every 1,000 Marylanders was confirmed to have a coronavirus infection in the past day. But officials said they were most concerned about COVID-19 hospitalizations, which doubled since the beginning of December. Those patients, approximately 75% of whom are unvaccinated, are burdening a health care system experiencing an exodus of medical personnel due to fatigue and frustration, health experts said. (Mann and Opilo, 12/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Case Rates Double In Five Days As Omicron Tightens Grip
The highly infectious omicron variant appears to be well established in the Bay Area and likely is fueling outbreaks and early surges in COVID-19 cases across the region, health officials said Tuesday. Case rates have doubled in San Francisco over just the past five days, almost certainly due to omicron spreading in the community, said Dr. Grant Colfax, head of the Department of Public Health. He said the city has now identified 32 omicron cases, but he expects there are many more. (Allday, 12/21)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: New COVID-19 Cases Jump Sharply In Clark County And Nevada
Clark County and Nevada both reported unusually high numbers of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, suggesting the surge of the disease that began last month is gaining momentum. The Southern Nevada Health District reported 974 new cases and 15 deaths in Clark County during the preceding day, while the state added 1,139 cases and 28 deaths. Both figures were likely inflated by delayed reporting following the weekend, when some agencies don’t submit new cases or deaths to the state. But key metrics for the disease have been climbing in the county since early November and public health officials have said the surge is expected to continue to rise as the holiday season reaches its peak, with more people traveling and gathering. (Dylan, 12/21)

The Hill: New York House Republican Tests Positive For COVID-19 
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, becoming one of the most recent members of Congress to contract the virus amid a surge in cases across the U.S. ... Other lawmakers including Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) have also tested positive for the coronavirus this week. (Choi, 12/21)

In other news —

CIDRAP: Most COVID-Related EUAs Backed By Low-Quality Data, Review Finds
Most US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19–related medical products were not supported by high-quality data, and the FDA revoked authorizations for 17 products because of effectiveness or safety problems, according to a research letter yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors say that relying on suboptimal supporting data is understandable at the beginning of a pandemic, but standards should be raised later on. (Van Beusekom, 12/21)

AP: Secret Service: Nearly $100B Stolen In Pandemic Relief Funds
Nearly $100 billion at minimum has been stolen from COVID-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday. The estimate is based on Secret Service cases and data from the Labor Department and the Small Business Administration, said Roy Dotson, the agency’s national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator, in an interview. The Secret Service didn’t include COVID-19 fraud cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. (McDermott, 12/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Long Covid Patients Report Vibrations, Tremors: ‘My Body Is Moving Inside, It’s Jolting’ 
For Kerri McCrossen Morrison, the sensation feels like an electric toothbrush going off in her chest. The feeling is so intense that it wakes her from a deep sleep at times. “It feels like someone put something on my bed and it’s vibrating,” she says. “My body is moving inside, it’s jolting, and at night it’s really bad.” (Reddy, 12/21)

Bloomberg: Omicron Could Double Or Triple Covid Infection Risk On Planes: IATA Adviser
Aircraft passengers are twice or even three times more likely to catch Covid-19 during a flight since the emergence of the omicron variant, according to the top medical adviser to the world’s airlines. The warning comes as travelers take to the skies in their thousands for year-end holidays and family reunions, and as omicron becomes the dominant Covid strain in a matter of weeks -- in the U.S. it now accounts for more than 70% of new cases. (Whitley, 12/21)

CNBC: Delta Asks CDC To Cut Quarantine Guidelines For Breakthrough Covid, Citing Workforce Impact
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian on Tuesday asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to halve its recommended quarantine time for vaccinated people who contract Covid-19, saying the current isolation period could negatively affect the airline’s operations. Bastian wrote to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky proposing a five-day recommended quarantine period for fully vaccinated individuals who contract Covid. The existing recommendation calls for a 10-day period of isolation. (Josephs, 12/21)

Should you gather for the holidays? It depends —

WSBTV: Flying For Christmas? Here’s How Atlanta’s Airport Is Preparing For Holiday Travel 
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said it expects more than 3.7 million passengers during the holiday period from Dec. 20 to Jan. 4, 2022. Airport officials, along with Atlanta police, the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection are taking steps to ensure that passengers have a safe, efficient, and enjoyable experience as they travel with their families and loved ones through the airport. (12/20)

CNBC: Rethinking Your Travel Plans? If You Go, Experts Have 4 Pieces Of Advice
Still, some in the medical and research fields are striking a different tone this year than 2020′s “stay home, stay safe” mantra — at least for now. “At this point in the pandemic, we’ve learned so much about this virus and how to keep ourselves from spreading infection to others — and from acquiring infection,” said Stephen Kissler, research fellow at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in an online discussion on Dec. 9 with “The World” public radio program. If certain precautions are taken, it’s possible to “travel relatively safely,” he said. (Pitrelli, 12/21)

The Washington Post: You’re Vaccinated And Boosted. How Should Omicron Affect Your Plans?
But how should omicron factor into your plans after vaccination? Infectious-disease experts give a range of answers. Some think it’s best to skip the New Year’s Eve party, as the country weathers a new wave of disease. Others underscore that Americans must “live with the virus” — especially as vaccines seems to protect well against the worst illness but are less effective at stopping milder cases of omicron. (Knowles and Firozi, 12/21)

Also —

Marin Independent Journal: Covid: 28 People Infected At Marin Holiday Party, Omicron Suspected
Marin health officials suspect that the omicron variant might be the cause of a COVID-19 outbreak that occurred after a holiday party at a Larkspur restaurant. At least 28 people have tested positive for COVID-19 following the event, which took place Dec. 11 at Farm House Local. Some attendees have experienced flu-like symptoms. All were in their 40s and 50s. “I think this is a glimpse into the next chapter of the pandemic for us,” Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, said on Monday. “I would not be surprised if this particular outbreak was fueled by omicron.” Mike and Eliza Koeppel, a Larkspur couple in their 50s, hosted the event. (Halstead, 12/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: U.S. Population Growth Hits Record Low Amid Pandemic, California Population Drops
U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday. The United States grew by only 0.1%, with an additional 392,665 added to the U.S. population from July 2020 to July 2021, bringing the nation’s count to 331.8 million people, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Schneider, 12/21)

Death rates have gone up, and life expectancy has gone down —

AP: 2021 On Track To Surpass Last Year As Nation's Deadliest 
U.S. health officials say 2021 is shaping up to be even deadlier than last year. It’s too early to say for sure, since all the death reports for November and December won’t be in for many weeks. But based on available information, it seems likely 2021 will surpass last year’s record number of deaths by at least 15,000, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s death statistics. Last year was the most lethal in U.S. history, due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic. A CDC report being released Wednesday shows 2020 was actually even worse than the agency previously reported. (Stobbe, 12/22)

NBC News: U.S. Death Rate Soared 17 Percent In 2020, Final CDC Mortality Report Concludes
Death rates for Americans ages 15 and older rose sharply in 2020, hitting Black and Hispanic Americans the hardest, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report — the agency’s finalized data on 2020 death rates — confirmed that life expectancy in the United States fell last year by nearly two years, the largest one-year drop since World War II. (Sullivan, 12/22)

PBS NewsHour: COVID Helped Cause The Biggest Drop In U.S. Life Expectancy Since WWII
COVID-19 helped erase 1.8 years from the average American’s life expectancy in 2020, according to the latest federal mortality data released Wednesday, marking the greatest change in the American lifespan since World War II. During that one brutal year, COVID-19 became the third-most common cause of death in the United States, with one out of 10 fatalities due to the virus. “A loss of two years seems limited, but that’s rolling back decades and decades of progress,” said Dr. Zinzi Diana Bailey, a social epidemiologist at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. “We are going backwards.” (Santhanam, 12/22)

The Washington Post: Bureau Of Prisons Can Keep Inmates In Home Confinement After Coronavirus Emergency Ends
The Justice Department ruled Tuesday that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is not required to reimprison thousands of federal inmates who were granted home confinement to limit the spread of the coronavirus — even after the federal health emergency ends. The decision reverses a January order issued in the final days of the Trump administration and allows the federal agency to avoid recalling prisoners en masse. (Nakamura, 12/21)

Politico: Biden Justice Department Reverses On Returning Federal Convicts On Home Detention To Prison 
According to the Bureau of Prisons, about 36,000 federal inmates were released early due to the pandemic, largely based on authority Congress included in the CARES Act passed in March 2020. Most have finished serving their sentences, but about 4,500 faced the threat of being returned to prison when the pandemic emergency terminates. (Gerstein, 12/21)

In related pandemic news from the Biden administration —

Fox Business: Biden Touts 'Significant Progress' By His Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force As Crisis Continues
President Biden will hold a "convening" Wednesday at which members of his economic team and business leaders will cite a variety of positive indicators about the economy, even as inflation roars and supply chain problems continue. Problems with the economy likely will factor into the 2022 midterm elections and Biden's own 2024 reelection campaign — if he runs — should inflation and shortages of goods and labor persist. Among those expected to attend: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; National Economic Council Director Brian Deese; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack; port envoy John Porcari; FedEx CEO Fred Smith; Yellow Corp. CEO Darren Hawkins; and Christopher Connor, CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities. (Mark Miller, 12/22)

The Washington Post: White House Braces For Economic Hit From Omicron As Obstacles Emerge
White House officials are carefully watching the economic impact of the latest coronavirus surge, as concerns mount both at home and abroad that surging caseloads could again lead to restrictions that hurt growth and jobs. At this point, Biden administration officials have not requested additional federal funding as the omicron variant rapidly spreads. And they are optimistic that the March 2021 stimulus package provides policymakers with the financial flexibility to mitigate the economic damage that might be caused by the new variant. Still, many economists are watching the latest surge, particularly on the East Coast, with some alarm. (Stein, 12/22)

Stat: Oxfam Wants The SEC To Investigate Moderna For 'Misleading' Investors
Oxfam America has filed a complaint with securities regulators accusing Moderna of providing “misleading statements” and concealing material information about its dispute with the U.S. government over Covid-19 vaccine patents. Specifically, the advocacy group maintained the company wrongfully described a simmering patent dispute with the National Institutes of Health in its regulatory filings over the past year as theoretical when, in fact, the federal government was threatening litigation. Oxfam contended Moderna should have expressly acknowledged this risk, and that its failure to do so violated securities laws. (Silverman, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Fauci Says Fox News Host Jesse Watters Should Be Fired For ‘Ambush’ And ‘Kill Shot’ Comments 
Anthony S. Fauci has become accustomed to receiving a barrage of criticism and invective from conservative media personalities. But even he seemed surprised by the comments made about him by Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday. Onstage at a conservative political conference, Watters encouraged an audience of young conservatives to “ambush” the nation’s top infectious-disease expert and to finish him off with a rhetorical “kill shot” of pointed questions. (Barr, 12/21)

In other news about ACA coverage of birth control —

Axios: Democrats Say Insurers Are Skirting Birth Control Coverage Requirements
Senate Democrats say many insurers are falling short on ACA requirements to fully cover birth control and are calling on the Biden Administration to step up enforcement. The issue has taken on increased significance, they say, amid other threats to women's health access, such as abortion care. (Reed, 12/21)

Axios: Supreme Court Denies Challenge To New Mexico's Vaccine Mandate 
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected, without comment, a bid to challenge New Mexico's vaccine mandate for workers in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, among other settings. The court has repeatedly denied bids to block states' vaccine mandates, including in New York and Maine. The New Mexico requirement, which includes medical and religious exemptions, took effect in August. (Chen, 12/21)

In more news about vaccine mandates —

Sacramento Bee: California Will Require Health Care Workers To Get COVID Vaccine Boosters, Gavin Newsom Says 
California will require its health care workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday evening. “With Omicron on the rise, we’re taking immediate actions to protect Californians and ensure our hospitals are prepared,” Newsom wrote in a tweet. (Bollag, 12/21)

The Mercury News: San Jose Mayor Liccardo Calls For Booster Requirement At SAP Center
With the omicron variant fueling another dangerous surge of COVID-19 cases, the mayor of the nation’s 10th largest city wants to require employees and visitors of city-owned venues to show proof they got their booster shots before entering. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo announced a new plan Tuesday that would make visitors prove they’ve received a booster shot in addition to the initial vaccine doses to enter city-owned facilities like the SAP center. For employees who work in those buildings, booster shots would be a condition of employment. (Angst, 12/21)

Los Angeles Times: UC Requires COVID Boosters, Weighs Online Start Amid Omicron
UCLA and six other University of California undergraduate campuses announced Tuesday that classes will begin remotely at the start of the new term, as colleges throughout the nation wrestle with plans for a safe return after winter break amid an increasingly serious surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Additionally, all eligible students and staff in the 10-campus UC system will be required to provide proof that they have received a COVID-19 booster shot, officials announced. (Gomez, Shalby and Watanabe, 12/21)

AP: Chicago To Require Proof Of Vaccination At Restaurants, Bars 
Chicago will require proof of coronavirus vaccination at restaurants, bars, gyms and other indoor venues, as the rapidly spreading omicron variant drives a spike in COVID-19 infections, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday. Lightfoot said the requirement will take effect Jan. 3, and will apply to places in the nation’s third-largest city where food and beverages are served — including sport and entertainment venues — and fitness centers. It doesn’t apply to people getting takeout, who stay in a businesses for less than 10 minutes. (Burnett, 12/22)

Politico: Boston Mayor Lines Up Vaccine Mandates Amid Pushback From City Workers
Mayor Michelle Wu’s sweeping new vaccine mandates for restaurants, gyms and city workers are drawing mixed reactions from businesses and public employees as local officials scramble to blunt the latest Covid-19 surge. Patrons and staff at certain indoor spaces — restaurants, bars and nightclubs; gyms and fitness centers; and entertainment venues such as theaters and sports arenas — will have to show proof of at least one vaccine dose by Jan. 15 and two by Feb. 15. Wu is also requiring all city employees to get vaccinated along the same timeline unless granted an exemption — a departure from the previous policy that gave workers the option of weekly testing. (Kashinsky, 12/21)

In news about mask mandates —

AP: Atlanta Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate As Omicron Spreads
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday reinstated a mask requirement inside stores and other businesses in the city due to rising COVID-19 infections and the emergence of the extraordinarily contagious omicron variant, which has quickly become the dominant version of the virus in the U.S. The move came as infections in Georgia continued to sprint upward, rising to nearly 6,000 cases detected on Tuesday. The state’s seven-day average of infections has more than doubled in less than a week. (12/22)

Anchorage Daily News: Anchorage School Board Overrules Superintendent, Extends Mask Mandate To Jan. 15
The Anchorage School Board has voted to keep the school district’s mask policy in place until at least Jan. 15, overruling a decision by the superintendent to make masks optional when students return to classrooms after the holidays. All school board members except Dave Donley voted in favor of the extension. School board member Pat Higgins said he was disappointed by Superintendent Deena Bishop’s announcement, citing the rise of the highly infectious new omicron variant and the fact that many Alaskans remain unvaccinated. (12/21)

Dallas Morning News: As Texas Preps For Omicron Variant Threat, Gov. Greg Abbott Won’t Ease Stance Against Mask Mandates
With only slight tweaks, the state is responding to threats posed by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus the same way it handled the virus’ delta mutation last summer: It’s setting up COVID-19 antibody treatment infusion centers, “ramping up” vaccination efforts and surging personnel and equipment to hospitals and nursing homes, according to Renae Eze, spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott is not reconsidering his ban on mask requirements, which constitute one public health tool for tamping the spread of infections, he said Tuesday on Ware & Rima, a conservative radio talk show on KTSA-AM in San Antonio. (Garrett, 12/21)

Teaneck Daily Voice: Original COVID-19 'Ground Zero' In NJ Approaches Virtual Lockdowns Again  
An “alarming” spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases forced all township buildings closed to the public on Tuesday in Teaneck, which had been considered "ground zero" in New Jersey when the virus first exploded 21 months ago. “This action is just one measure that will be taken to help keep our community, workforce and families safe from the spread of the virus,” Township Manager Dean B. Kazinci said. (DeMarco, 12/21)

AP: De Blasio Says 'No More Shutdowns' As NYC Faces Virus Spike
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he’s committed to keeping the city open as it grapples with a huge spike in coronavirus cases. The Democrat said Tuesday that New York can’t see schools and businesses close again like they did when COVID-19 first hit the city in 2020.De Blasio has faced questions over the past week about whether he would reinstate closures as the omicron variant surges in the city. (Price, 12/22)

Bloomberg: NYC Mayor-Elect Eric Adams Postpones Inauguration Ceremony
New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams said in a statement that his inauguration ceremony will be postponed “in order to prioritize the health of all who were planning to attend, cover, and work on this major event.” “It is clear that our city is facing a formidable opponent in the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and that the spike in cases presents a serious risk to public health,” he said. (Sherman, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Broadway Hits ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Lion King’ Among Shows To Halt As Covid-19 Cases Rise
Some of the most popular shows on Broadway, including “Hamilton” and “The Lion King,” have canceled performances through Christmas due to Covid-19 outbreaks within their companies. “Jagged Little Pill” said it would end its run altogether. The temporary closures come as the coronavirus pandemic resurges in New York City, with the Omicron variant fueling transmissions and higher test-positivity rates. (Calfas, 12/21)

WUSF Public Media: An FIU Study Finds Media Coverage Of Disasters Can Harm Kids' Mental Health 
Media coverage of natural disasters like hurricanes can be vital to public safety, but it can also have negative impacts on children's mental health, according to researchers at Florida International University. They analyzed hundreds of children who were already participating in a national long-term study known as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, or ABCD, before Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on parts of the country in 2017. Researchers then followed up with families months after the storm with questionnaires about how it affected them in terms of damage to property, disruptions to life and emotional trauma. (Colombini, 12/21)

In other public health news —

Axios: FDA Investigates Listeria Outbreak Linked To Fresh Express 
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday an investigation into listeria infections in multiple states linked to Fresh Express packaged salads, which has recalled of some of its products in response to the outbreak. The outbreak "has been associated with 10 illnesses, 10 hospitalizations and one death" in eight states from July 26, 2016 to Oct. 19, 2021, per an FDA statement. Fresh Express said Monday some items made in its Streamwood, Illinois, facility had the "potential to be contaminated" with listeria monocytogenes. (12/21)

Indianapolis Star: The Leading Cause Of Death For New Moms Isn’t Delivery Complications. It’s Substance Abuse
The leading cause of death for Hoosier women in the year following childbirth isn’t a medical complication from the delivery: It’s substance use disorder. Almost 30 women died from substance use in 2019 in Indiana. The year before, 32 women died from substance abuse during pregnancy or in the year following childbirth — over those two years, that accounts for almost half of the women who died from childbirth. In one regard that's not surprising. Substance use is one of the most common causes of death in Indiana, for all Hoosiers. (Gibson, 12/20)

AP: After SCOTUS Hearing, A New Look At Baby 'Safe Haven' Laws 
For years, Nicole Olson had longed for a baby and gone through a rigorous and emotional adoption process. Then Olson and her husband got a call asking if they’d like to adopt a newborn. That day. As soon as possible. The baby had been relinquished through what’s known as a safe haven law. Such laws, which exist in every state, allow parents to leave a baby at a safe location without criminal consequences. The laws began to pass in state legislatures in the early 2000s in response to reports of gruesome baby killings and abandonments, which received copious media attention. Infants are at the highest risk of being killed in their first day of life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Galvan, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Launches Digital Health Accelerator To Tackle COVID-19 Disparities
More than a dozen digital health startups will get federal support to tackle COVID-19 disparities, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. These companies are the first selected to participate in the PandemicX Accelerator, which is overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and managed by MassChallenge HealthTech, a digital health innovation hub. (Kim Cohen, 12/21)

In other health care developments —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Nixes Proposal That Could Have Increased At-Home Infusions
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will not finalize a 2020 proposal to let Medicare beneficiaries receive more drugs through home infusion by covering external infusion pumps, the agency announced in a final rule published Tuesday. Durable medical equipment providers will continue to get higher reimbursement for providing items and services in rural areas, the rule also spells out. Under the now-final policy, medical equipment suppliers in rural areas, Alaska, Hawaii and the territories will continue to be paid rates that are half of the regular fee schedule amount combined with half of an adjusted rate for rural providers. Stakeholder input showed higher costs, greater travel expenses, logistical difficulties and other challenges associated with providing equipment and services in rural areas, the regulation says. (Goldman, 12/21)

KHN: Layers Of Subcontracted Services Confuse And Frustrate Medi-Cal Patients
Theresa Grant, a resident of Culver City, California, has endured debilitating pain for the past year from a mysterious bulge protruding from her lower rib cage. She takes multiple painkillers every day. And the cause of her agony remains undiagnosed because, despite her tenacious efforts, she hasn’t been able to get a referral to a suitable doctor. Grant, 63, is in Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, the program for people with low incomes. She is enrolled in L.A. Care, one of two managed-care Medi-Cal health plans in Los Angeles County and the largest one in the state, with 2.4 million members. (Wolfson, 12/22)

Stat: Verily Shakes Up Its Leadership Team 
Alphabet’s life sciences arm Verily is in the midst of a shakeup of its leadership. The company is promoting Stephen Gillett to serve as both president and chief operating officer, it announced Monday. Along with that move, according to an Insider report on Tuesday, CEO Andy Conrad will be focusing more on long-term strategy. Gillett will partner with Conrad, the company shared in a blog post, “to advance the organization as it scales and evolves into being a broader commercial company.” (Palmer, 12/21)

Modern Healthcare: Lawsuit Says Duke Trying To Take Over Large Multispecialty Practice
A new lawsuit accuses Duke University of attempting to illegally take over a large independent multispecialty physician practice without paying for its fair value. Anesthesiologist Dr. Eugene Moretti filed the derivative action Monday on behalf of the Durham, North Carolina-based practice where he works, Private Diagnostic Clinic. Duke and PDC have had a partnership agreement for 50 years that allows PDC to stay independent, but the lawsuit filed in North Carolina Superior Court, Durham County this week claims Duke is rolling out a takeover plan without input from PDC's 1,850 physician members. (Bannow, 12/21)

Boston Globe: Harvard Nanoscientist Found Guilty Of Lying About Ties To Chinese University
A federal jury found Harvard University professor and renowned nanoscientist Charles Lieber guilty of all counts Tuesday for lying to the government about receiving payments from a Chinese university and cheating on his taxes. Lieber, 62, showed no emotion as the jury announced its verdict after deliberating for 2 hours and 45 minutes following five days of testimony in federal court in Boston. (Murphy, 12/21)

And more on medical billing —

Modern Healthcare: Commercial Prices For Common Hospital Procedures Often Exceed Cash Prices
The discounted cash prices hospitals set for common procedures are often lower than the rates they negotiate with insurers, new research shows. The proportion of hospitals that set their cash price below their median commercial negotiated price ranged from 38.4% for liver tests to 68.5% for C-section deliveries, according to an analysis of 922 hospitals' rates for what CMS calls "shoppable" services. Hospitals were less likely to disclose the prices of more expensive services, the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open found. The findings surprised researches, who expected commercially negotiated rates to be lower because an individual has less bargaining power than insurers. (Kacik, 12/21)

KHN: New Parents Slapped With Surprise Bills For Treating Newborns 
After Christine Malik gave birth to her first daughter three years ago, a clinician affiliated with a company called Pediatrix entered the hospital room and fitted the infant with sensors and wires for a hearing test. The child failed the screening required by law for all newborns, the tester said, requiring a follow-up exam. “We were scared as first-time parents,” said Malik, who agreed to the second exam. The clinician, Malik said, didn’t tell them that infants often fail an initial screening because of fluid from the womb in the ears that soon dissipates. The second screening found no problem with the baby’s hearing. (Hancock, 12/22)

The Boston Globe: Brookline’s ‘Tobacco-Free Generation’ Bylaw Now In Place
Brookline officials are advising community members that a new bylaw prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2000 is now in effect. The measure, proposed by a citizens’ petition and adopted by Town Meeting in November 2020, took effect in late September following its approval in July by the office of Attorney General Maura Healey. Referred to as a “tobacco-free generation” policy, the ban is intended to prevent those born after Jan. 1, 2000 from becoming tobacco users. Officials said none of the town’s 18 licensed tobacco sellers have been cited for violations of the bylaw since it took effect. (Laidler, 12/21)

In other news from across the U.S. —

Los Angeles Times: Imperial County Medical Groups Decry 'Unproven' Virus Meds
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors defied the warnings of medical groups Tuesday by hearing a presentation from two doctors who have promoted COVID-19 treatments, including ivermectin, that authorities say have not been proved to work. The decision alarmed the Imperial County Medical Society, which had urged supervisors to “not contribute to the dissemination of false or misleading information by legitimizing unproven treatments.” In a statement, the group said that “prevention and treatment of COVID-19 must follow the science.” (Alpert Reyes and Vives, 12/21)

Charleston Gazette-Mail: W.Va. Nursing Gets $45M From CARES Act; State Has 10 Days To Allot Remaining $77M
With just 10 days remaining for West Virginia to allocate more than $125 million in CARES Act funds, Gov. Jim Justice announced Tuesday that $45 million of that money will go toward attracting, training and retaining nurses in the state. The announcement came as the hospital systems approach a “breaking point” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, the West Virginia Hospital Association said leadership expects to see hospitalizations for COVID-19 increase to levels not seen before in the Mountain State as the new year approaches. The $45 million from the CARES Act will help fully fund the West Virginia Nursing Scholarship program and will assist in developing loan repayment programs for nurses who work in the state. (Coyne, 12/21)

AP: Addiction Treatment Center For Women Expanding
A Kentucky addiction treatment center for women is expanding. Addiction Recovery Care said in a statement that its residential center in Owenton is increasing from 16 beds to nearly 100. The facility provides several services including detoxification, in-house and outpatient treatment and career opportunities for women with substance use disorders, officials said. (12/22)

AP: As COVID Fueled The Drug Crisis, Native Americans Hit Worst 
The medicine man told her she should soon give her son back to the earth. Rachel Taylor kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the crow sewn onto a leather bag nestled on the couch in the living room. “Oh, my baby,” she whispered, and hugged the buckskin satchel filled with his ashes. Nearly a year ago, she had opened his bedroom door and screamed so loud she woke the neighbor. Kyle Domrese was face down on his bed, one of more than 100,000 Americans lost in a year to overdoses as the COVID-19 pandemic fueled America’s addiction disaster. (Galofaro, 12/22)

Health News Florida: Youth Vaping Trend Is Rebounding In Florida, Ladapo Says 
Cigarette use by young people in Florida has plummeted this year, to 1.1 percent, but state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph says the vaping trend is rebounding. “The not-so-great news is that in the same year about 18% of high schoolers in Florida reported using a vaping device. So a lot of people are vaping," Ladapo said this past week while addressing a meeting of the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet. Laura Corbin, bureau chief for Tobacco Free Florida, told the group that while vaping use by youths was 30 percent higher this year than 2017, there is a statistical decrease over the past two years. (12/20)

CNN: Israel Begins Fourth Covid-19 Dose Vaccine Rollout For People 60 And Over As Omicron Cases Surge 
Israel is to begin rolling out a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine with immediate effect for people ages 60 and over, medical workers and people with suppressed immune systems, the Prime Minister's Office announced Tuesday, following a recommendation from the country's panel of coronavirus experts. Those eligible for the fourth dose can receive it provided at least four months have passed since the third dose, it said. In Israel, almost all vaccinated citizens have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. (Carey, Williams and Gold, 12/21)

AP: Omicron Compels Portugal To Reimpose COVID-19 Restrictions
Portugal is reimposing coronavirus restrictions because of fears over the threat from the omicron variant, despite the country having one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world. With new daily infections ticking slowly but steadily higher, and despite almost 87% of the population being fully vaccinated, the government announced Tuesday a new raft of restrictions over the holidays — a week earlier than it had planned. Prime Minister António Costa announced that from midnight Saturday, working from home will be mandatory and discotheques and bars will be closed. (12/21)

CIDRAP: Study: 0 Of 107 French Teens With MIS-C Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19
A study of 107 French teens hospitalized with the COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) shows that none had been fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and only 7 had received one dose. (12/21)

In other global developments —

CIDRAP: Report Underscores Superbug Risk Of Medical Tourism 
An investigation led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant infections among US medical tourists in 2018 and 2019 to a single facility and surgeon in Mexico. The results of the investigation, published last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, revealed that 38 US patients who traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, for bariatric surgery from January 2018 through December 2019 came back with an infection caused by carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa—a virulent and opportunistic pathogen capable of causing severe illness. Of the 38 patients, 31 were operated on by the same surgeon, with 27 undergoing surgery at the same facility. (Dall, 12/21)

Stat: 3 Issues To Watch In Global Health In 2022
Welcome to Year 3 of the Age of Covid. We’d hoped by now, with the country awash with vaccine doses, that the pandemic would have entered a different phase. We frankly thought that, after the stunning science that brought multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccines into use around the globe in less than a year, countries with highly vaccinated populations might be heading toward a time when humans and SARS-2 could co-exist in a way that didn’t crash hospital systems and end lives. But the dastardly virus keeps upping the ante. (Branswell, 12/22)

FiercePharma: Novo Nordisk's Weight Loss Drug Wegovy To Run Short Amid Contract Manufacturer Hiccup 
Demand for Novo Nordisk’s obesity medicine Wegovy is high, but a manufacturing hitch with one of the Danish company’s partners has put near-term supply in jeopardy. Novo Nordisk on Friday said that a contract manufacturer in charge of syringe filling for Wegovy pens in the U.S. had temporarily halted deliveries following issues with good manufacturing practices. (Kansteiner, 12/20)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: A New ‘Biological Computer' Targets Cancer While Sparing Healthy Cells
The holy grail of cancer drug targets is akin to a unicorn horn: a marker that only cancer cells have, clearly distinguishing them from healthy cells. In reality, nearly all cancer drug targets are also found on many healthy cells, leading to serious off-tumor toxicity that — in extreme scenarios — can be fatal. Synthetic biologist Kobi Benenson might have a way around that. Inside an engineered virus, he and his colleagues at ETH Zurich packaged a programmable genetic circuit that uses multiple targets to build a profile of a cancer cell. Detailed in a mouse study recently published in Science, it’s a nanoscopic biological computer that roams through the body, executing a program that seeks to recognize and kill cells matching that cancer profile, but spares healthy cells that don’t fit all the criteria. (Chen, 12/22)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Puts Plans To Test LSD In Anxiety Patients In Clinical Study On Hold 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration put a clinical hold on Mind Medicine Inc's application to start testing the psychedelic drug commonly known as LSD in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. The Canada-based drug developer said on Tuesday the FDA hold was related to its investigational new drug application, which is required to start a mid-stage trial of the drug -- lysergic acid diethylamide. (12/21)

FiercePharma: Otezla Now The Only Oral Drug For All Levels Of Plaque Psoriasis
As Amgen’s Otezla girds for competition against a potentially formidable rival, the company is doing all it can to gain an edge for the plaque psoriasis treatment. On Monday, Otezla nabbed an FDA approval that expands its use to those who are candidates for phototherapy or systemic therapy. The indication, for the milder version of the disorder, now makes Otezla the only oral treatment sanctioned all severities of plaque psoriasis—mild, moderate and severe. It also brings roughly 1.5 million potential patients into the fold. (Dunleavy, 12/21)

FiercePharma: 2022 Forecast: Cell, Gene Therapy Makers Push Past Regulatory, Payer Hurdles To Set Up High Hopes For 2022
For developers of cell and gene therapies, the path to market often seems to be marred with potholes. The FDA rejected BioMarin Pharmaceutical’s gene therapy to treat hemophilia A in 2020, citing the need for more durability data and sending the company’s shares down more than 20% in a day. In November of this year, the FDA delayed a much-anticipated decision on multiple myeloma CAR-T candidate cilta-cel from Legend Biotech and Johnson & Johnson, causing Legend’s stock to fall nearly 8%.Now, those companies are preparing for the FDA to finally hand down its rulings—and they’re making those preparations optimistically. (Weintraub, 12/22)

On drug costs —

Columbus Dispatch: PBM Fees That Affect Drug Costs For Consumers, Taxpayers Under Review
In a surprise move, a top federal regulator promises to delve into extensive fees assessed on pharmacies by drug-chain middlemen in what could be the first nation-wide crackdown on pharmacy benefit managers. At stake are billions of dollars in prescription drug costs born by consumers and taxpayers. The probe by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will center on huge increases in direct and indirect remuneration fees that PBMs charge pharmacies on Medicare prescriptions. These DIR fees were implemented as a way to incentivize U.S. pharmacies collecting millions of Medicare dollars to do more than simply push pills. (Rowland, 12/17)

KWTX: With Proposals To Cap Drug Costs Stalled, Clinics Say Help Still Needed
As President Joe Biden says his hopes for the Build Back Better program are stalled, so is the hope to cap some drug prices. That is one of the provisions with the proposal. It is something those who work around health care say there is a need for. There are a lot of people in the Central Texas area who need help paying for drug costs, particularly when it comes to things like insulin. “When we saw the pandemic happen it just amazed us how many patients, how many individuals who really needed health care services,” said Taneika Moultrie, executive director of the Greater Killeen Community Clinic. (Cantu, 12/17)

CNBC: You Can Appeal Those Income-Related Medicare Charges. Here's How
For some Medicare beneficiaries, premiums are only the start of what they must pay monthly for coverage. That is, instead of paying the standard premiums for Part B (outpatient care) and Part D (prescription drugs) like most Medicare enrollees, their income is high enough for “income-related monthly adjustment amounts,” or IRMAAs, to kick in. However, the surcharge is typically based on their tax return from two years earlier — which may not accurately reflect their current financial situation. (O'Brien, 12/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  Build Back Better’s Punitive Stances Will Hinder Medical Innovation
When the history of the coronavirus pandemic is written, one fact will stand out: the scientific community and pharmaceutical manufacturers delivered for us. Against all odds, we had access to COVID-19 inoculations in record time (two based on cutting-edge messenger RNA technology that holds promise for other diseases like cancer). What often gets lost in the debate are the decades of research and financial investments by drug manufacturers and the federal government that went into this remarkable achievement. (U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., 12/20)

Stat: Trying To Answer The Big Questions About Drug Prices Is Hard To Do 
Public debate over legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs has been dominated by stories of personal suffering caused by high drug prices, accounts of lifesaving cures provided by pharmaceutical innovations, and arguments regarding nuanced economic models of how reducing drug prices could affect government spending and pharmaceutical innovation. Big questions related to the role of companies or government in providing for the health of the public have gotten short shrift. Here are two of the biggest. (Fred D. Ledley, 12/16)

Also —

USA Today Network: Delaware Needs To Take Overdose Mortality Rates Seriously. Here's Why
If the Democratic Party and Republican Party of Delaware wish to serve Delaware and its citizens, both parties must address new ways and approaches to the opioid crisis. With the upcoming election on Nov. 8, 2022, if Christopher Hill is elected without reassessing his views and relationship to the opioid crisis — or the Democratic and Republican parties continue their misunderstood approach to the opioid epidemic — the state of Delaware may rise from second in the United States for overdose mortality rates to first. Hill describes on his website: “As a Delaware Board certified alcohol and drug counselor, the opiate and opioid crisis are one of my top priorities. And as such, I will be donating half of my salary as your congressman, distributed evenly, to all the substance abuse treatment facilities in the state of Delaware.” (Josh McClements, 12/19)

Seattle Times: ‘A Generational Opportunity’ To Invest In Substance Use Services In Washington State 
In the next few weeks, the state Health Care Authority will begin rolling out drug treatment outreach programs and a new therapy for methamphetamine use disorder across Washington. These moves are part of an unprecedented $88.5 million investment for substance abuse services. Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, was instrumental in moving the package through the Legislature earlier this year. She answers questions about the effort, the state Supreme Court’s decision on reducing drug crimes and what communities can expect from the focus on treatment instead of incarceration. (Alex Fryer, 12/19)

The Atlantic: The Big Omicron Unknown: Is It Milder?
When omicron appeared, scientists had three big questions. First, would Omicron be more transmissible than previous variants? Judging from the nearly vertical charts of case growth in South Africa, Europe, New York City, and just about every other place Omicron has made an unwelcome appearance, the answer is yes. This may be the most transmissible strain of the coronavirus that we’ve ever seen. (Derek Thompson, 12/22)

NBC News: Biden's Covid Vaccine Mandate Is Smart. Here's Why Rejecting It Is Illogical.
In the war against Covid-19, the recent emergence of the omicron variant might be our toughest battle yet. So it makes no sense to ease up on our defense strategies, or to give in to misinformation questioning the proven benefits of Covid vaccines. Yet, states and companies around the country are rejecting the Biden administration’s call for vaccine mandates, while evolving science about the vaccines — like the recent recommendation to avoid the Johnson & Johnson shot — is being met with fear. (Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, 12/21)

East Bay Times: Delta, Omicron And Flu — The Deadly 'Tridemic' We Now Face
The United States has just surpassed 50 million reported cases of COVID-19 and over 800,000 (a conservative estimate) deaths from this disease. While these numbers are a stark reminder of where we’ve been, the current view of where we’re going is unclear and potentially alarming. We had been confronted with a surge of delta cases and then omicron, a much more transmissible variant, exploded last week in our country as it had around the world. As if this is not enough, we are entering the influenza season. (Dr. John Swartzberg and Dr. Michael S. Ascher, 12/21)

The Washington Post: It’s Time To Start Requiring Booster Shots 
To many Americans, entering 2022 feels too much like entering 2021. We are coming to grips with what is sure to be an onslaught of cases from omicron and a holiday season marred with outbreaks, full hospitals and canceled plans. But 2022 is a far cry from 2021, as we now have something we didn’t have then: an arsenal to fight back. To fully engage that arsenal, private actors should require people who use their services to receive a booster shot. (Andy Slavitt, 12/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Neglecting Those Most Vulnerable To COVID-19 Renders Us All Vulnerable 
A team of four doctors, experts in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, are sounding a warning about Americans who remain most vulnerable to COVID-19 — those with existing health conditions or the immunosuppressed. They can harbor what the doctors call “evolving viral swarms” and could produce even more harmful variants of the coronavirus that would undermine the nation’s and the world’s efforts to break out of the 2-year-old pandemic. (Dan Rodricks, 12/21)

The New York Times: Omicron And Kids: How To Navigate The Covid Winter 
The Omicron variant is spreading widely and risk for infections is higher than before. This creates uncertainty for parents, especially those with children too young to be vaccinated. We asked two experts about how to think about risk for children. Their answers have been edited for length and clarity. (Jennifer Nuzzo and Dr. Peter Hotez, 12/22)

The CT Mirror: With Vaccination Rates Flagging, Flu Is On The Rebound. Get Your Shot!
We celebrate the anniversary of the first COVID-19 vaccines this winter—and progress in controlling the virus. With vaccines readily available and recommended for everyone age 5 years and older, more people are traveling and including travel in their holiday plans. While we welcome the return of more human connection, one unwelcome consequence is an increase in influenza activity.  With COVID-19 prevention measures in place, the 2020–21 influenza season was marked by historically low influenza virus circulation.  However, influenza activity is on the rebound for 2021–22.  With the return of influenza comes both mild and severe illness in all ages, including infants, pregnant people, older adults, and people with chronic health conditions. (Litjen Tan, PhD, 12/22)

Los Angeles Times: The FDA's Decision To Allow Abortion Pills To Be Mailed Won't Help If You Live Where It's Banned. 
Finally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the long overdue decision last week to drop the requirement that abortion-inducing medication be dispensed in person by a healthcare provider at a medical facility. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, reproductive health experts and abortion rights supporters had urged the FDA for years to lift restrictions on the safe and effective two-drug regimen that has been available in the U.S. since 2000 and is a popular method of abortion during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. (12/22)

Stat: Inflexible Methadone Rules Impede Fight Against Overdose Deaths 
Imagine if people who needed insulin to control their diabetes had to trek across town each day to receive this lifesaving drug at an insulin clinic — with no accommodations for work or family obligations — an approach justified because they can’t be trusted to administer insulin correctly and avoid life-threatening episodes of low-blood sugar. Not in America you might say. But such paternalism is a reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans using methadone to treat opioid addiction and live a healthy life. (Paul J. Joudrey and Adam J. Gordon, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: Increasing Diversity In The Nursing Workforce: A Social Determinants Of Learning Framework
Creating a more diverse and inclusive nursing pipeline is a public health priority, and one that requires leadership from schools of nursing. Increasingly, research findings indicate that when healthcare workers are more representative of their patient demographics, communication, access to care and patient satisfaction improves. However, just 1 in 5 nurses come from a racial or ethnic minority group, even as the Census Bureau projects that by 2045 more than half the country will shift in that direction. (Karen Cox, 12/21)

The Tennessean: How Nurse Practitioners Can Solve Tennessee's Health Care Desert Issue
The past two years have revealed just how much our communities rely on nurses and nurse practitioners to provide quality care. Amid a COVID-19 pandemic that has devastated clinics, hospitals and other facilities across the country, those of us in the health care industry have rushed to the front lines— doing everything they can to ensure that we stay healthy and safe. Tennessee has many areas that are considered “health care deserts." These are areas, often rural, that are medically underserved with little or no access to health care from hospitals, clinics or doctors. (Kimberly K. Estep and Jan Jones-Schenk, 12/20)

The Star Tribune: Health Care CEOs, Thank You Is Not Enough 
Last weekend, nine of Minnesota's health care CEOs released a joint statement warning that hospital operations are strained, and many health care workers are feeling "demoralized." They warned that individuals suffering from car accidents, strokes and heart attacks could experience life-threatening delays in care. "Your access to health care is being seriously threatened by COVID-19," they said, imploring the public to take COVID-19 more seriously, to get vaccinated, boosted and to wear a mask. They paid tens of thousands of dollars to print a full-page advertisement in Minnesota's largest newspapers. (Jamie Gulley, 12/21)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Must End The Ignorance Surrounding Endometriosis
Years of excruciating pain, gaslighting, misdiagnosis, missed work, and depression. Endometriosis affects far too many women to be so misunderstood. Endometriosis impacts one in 10 people born with a uterus in the United States and yet, on average, takes 10 years to diagnose. It occurs when the tissue that lines the uterus in preparation for implantation of a fertilized egg is found in other parts of the body. This tissue responds to the hormones that trigger menstruation, bleeding and attempting to shed each month. The result is pain, inflammation, and the formation of nodules, cysts, and scar tissue. (Jillian Gilchrest, 12/22)

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Holmes And A Theranos Blood Test Remind Me: Silicon Valley Was Her Co-Conspirator 
After 15 weeks of testimony, the fate of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes now rests with a jury. Did she, as the prosecution has alleged, run a greedy scam? Or, as her defense contends, was she the victim — of her own inexperience, of sexual abuse, of overwhelming pressure to deliver? We’ll find out soon. (Meghan Kruger, 12/21)