Stat: Biden Officials Scramble As Covid Variants Test Evusheld's Effectiveness
Biden health officials are bracing for the prospect that the country’s sole preventive Covid-19 treatment for immunocompromised people could be ineffective this winter. (Owermohle, 10/18)

CNBC: White House Covid Czar Calls On Seniors To Get Omicron Booster Now
A top White House health official on Monday issued a stark warning to older people about the health risk they face this fall and winter from Covid-19. (Kimball, 10/17)

The Hill: US Warned To Get Ready As Europe Deals With New COVID-19 Rise 
The most recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows that cases began going up around the beginning of September in Europe.  The seven-day average is roughly 230,000 cases per day, reflecting rates that were seen in late July when Europe was still dealing with the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariant wave. (Choi, 10/17)

CNBC: Dr. Fauci: Covid Omicron Subvariants BQ.1, BQ.1.1 Are 'Troublesome'
As winter inches closer, Dr. Fauci is sounding the alarm about a pair of “pretty troublesome” Covid variants. The two descendants of omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, both have dangerous “qualities or characteristics that could evade some of the interventions we have,” Fauci told CBS News on Friday. (Constantino, 10/17)

The Atlantic: How To Make Sense Of This Fall's Messy COVID Data
Official case numbers now represent “the tip of the iceberg” of actual infections, Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told me. Although case rates may seem low now, true infections may be up to 20 times higher. And even those case numbers are no longer available on a daily basis in many places, as the CDC and most state agencies have switched to updating their data once a week instead of every day. (Ladyzhets, 10/17)

AP: Governor To End California Coronavirus Emergency In February 
California’s coronavirus emergency will officially end in February, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, nearly three years after the state’s first confirmed death from the disease prompted a raft of restrictions that upended public life. (Beam, 10/17)

And scientists are under fire for their work on a lab-made version of covid —

Stat: Boston University Researchers’ Testing Of Lab-Made Version Of Covid Virus Draws Government Scrutiny
Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is garnering heated headlines alleging the scientists involved could have unleashed a new pathogen. (Branswell, 10/17)

The Hill: Trump Officials Interfered With CDC Guidance For Political Purposes, House Panel Finds
The Trump administration regularly interfered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) process for developing and issuing guidance about the coronavirus, changed scientific reports and undermined top public health officials, a congressional panel said Monday. The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis said interviews, emails and other documents obtained by the panel showed how political appointees in the Trump administration took control of CDC’s public communications and overruled scientists in an effort to bend the agency to Trump’s rosy outlook on the pandemic. (Weixel, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Trump’s CDC Changed Covid Reports Under Political Pressure, Panel Finds
The CDC bowed to the Trump administration’s demands to change the editorial process of its weekly scientific journal after warnings from then health secretary Alex Azar to “get in line,” a House investigation found. The pressure faced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report‘s procedures was one of several instances of political interference by former President Donald Trump’s aides that the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis identified in a report released Monday. The report was provided to Bloomberg Law ahead of the official release. (Baumann, 10/17)

The Washington Post: CDC Officials Describe Intense Pressure, Job Threats From Trump White House 
Former CDC director Robert Redfield, former top deputy Anne Schuchat and others described how the Trump White House and its allies repeatedly “bullied” staff, tried to rewrite their publications and threatened their jobs in an attempt to align the CDC with the more optimistic view of the pandemic espoused by Donald Trump, the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis concluded in a report released Monday. Several public health officials detailed a months-long campaign against Schuchat sparked by Trump appointees’ belief that her grim assessments of the pandemic reflected poorly on the president, leading Schuchat, a 32-year CDC veteran, to openly wonder if she would be fired in the summer of 2020, her colleagues told the panel. (Diamond, 10/17)

On disinfectants, mask mandates, and hydroxychloroquine —

Insider: Fauci Had 'Bad Feeling' Before Trump Floated Using Disinfectants For COVID-19
"I didn't want to go up on there with this because I had a bad feeling about when Homeland Security brought this guy in, he briefed the people in the Situation Room beforehand. And as soon as I heard it, I said, holy [expletive], this is going to go bad. Why don't I bow out of this one?" Dr. Anthony Fauci said. (Dorman, 10/16)

Reuters: Trump Administration Blocked CDC Transit Mask Mandate, Report Shows
Former President Donald Trump's administration at a crucial time in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 blocked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from adopting a federal mandate requiring face masks on airline flights and other forms of transit, a congressional report released on Monday said. Marty Cetron, a senior CDC official, is cited in the report as saying the federal public health agency began working on the proposed order in July 2020 after its experts determined that there was scientific evidence to support requiring masks in public and commercial transportation. (Shepardson, 10/17)

Newsweek: Trump Admin Tried To Shelve Findings That Discredited COVID Drug: Report
The administration of former President Donald Trump allegedly attempted to bury findings that discredited drugs unproven to cure COVID, according to a congressional report released Monday. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis headed by Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn reported that scientific integrity was compromised by Trump and his White House "to serve the former president's political goals." (Mordowanec, 10/17)

CBS News: Top CDC Scientist Said COVID-Era Health Policy Used To Expel Migrants Unfairly Stigmatized Them
The U.S. government's top public health expert on migration told Congress he refused to approve a policy allowing mass expulsions at the U.S.-Mexico border because he believed the measure, enacted by President Donald Trump and retained by President Joe Biden, unfairly stigmatized migrants as spreaders of COVID-19. (Montoya-Galvez, 10/17)

Read the report —

New Select Subcommittee Report Details Trump Administration’s Assault On CDC And Politicization Of Public Health During The Coronavirus Crisis

In other abortion updates —

The Washington Post: The Covert Abortion Network That Could Upend GOP Plans For A Post-Roe America
A growing army of community-based distributors is reaching pregnant women through word of mouth and social media — and supplying pills for free. (Kitchener, 10/18)

Reuters: Planned Parenthood Asks N. Carolina Court To Let More Health Workers Provide Abortions 
North Carolina abortion providers on Monday asked a state court to allow health professionals other than physicians to provide medication abortions, as clinics struggle to accommodate an influx of abortion patients from across the U.S. South. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective filed a motion seeking temporary relief from a state law that bans "advanced practice clinicians," including nurse practitioners and physician assistants, from providing abortions. (Borter, 10/17)

In election news —

AP: Physicians Want Voter Pamphlet Correction On Abortion Bill 
Two physician groups have asked Montana election officials to issue a correction to statements printed in a voter information pamphlet that they argue are false and and could confuse voters as they consider an abortion-related ballot measure. The complaint comes from two groups that oppose a referendum that would raise the prospect of criminal charges for health care providers unless they take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of an infant born alive, including after an attempted abortion. (10/17)

Politico: Democrats’ Midterm Hopes Fade: ‘We Peaked A Little Early’
Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, it seemed possible that Democrats could avoid a midterm disaster. But if the post-Roe summer belonged to Democrats, by mid-October, even they can see the momentum they had is fading. A recent CBS News/YouGov survey has Democrats running 2 percentage points behind Republicans in the generic congressional ballot — a measure closely tied to a party’s performance in the midterms. (Siders, 10/17)

Los Angeles Times: Democrats Test Where Latino Voters Stand On Abortion Post-Roe
Gabe Vasquez’s latest campaign ad is simple to the point of austere: Black-and-white portraits of women, a melancholic piano score, and a recitation of his opponent’s stance on abortion. “I will always protect a woman’s right to choose,” Vasquez, a Democrat, vows, drawing a contrast with his Republican opponent, Rep. Yvette Herrell. (Mason and Bierman, 10/17)

NBC News: Vast Majority Of Republicans Support Abortion Exceptions For Rape, Incest And Mother's Health
Eight in 10 American adults say abortion is important to their vote in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, including a 56% majority who say it is very important, according to a Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES)/SurveyMonkey survey released Monday of nearly 22,000 American adults. (Perry, Trussler, Clinton and Lapinski, 10/17)

In related news about pregnancy —

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Justice Department Sues Cigna Over Medicare Fraud
The lawsuit alleges that from 2012 to 2019, Cigna hired health professionals to visit patients’ homes and falsely document medical conditions to increase the revenue it generated from taxpayers. (Tepper, 10/17)

KHN: Centene Gave Thousands To Georgia Leaders’ Campaigns While Facing Medicaid Overbilling Questions 
A health insurance giant that has paid out more than $485 million in legal settlements with states over pharmacy billing allegations has also been a major donor to Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, according to campaign finance records. (Prabhu and Miller, 10/18)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Local Hospitals Feel The Brunt Of AMC’s Emergency Room Closure
Piedmont Atlanta Hospital reported Monday afternoon severe overcrowding in its emergency room requiring all ambulances to be diverted elsewhere. It also reported no room for new patients needing psychiatric care, emergency care, or critically ill ICU patients. (Thomas and Hart, 10/18)

Modern Healthcare: Tracking Healthcare Data Breaches
In 2022, there were more data breaches through the end of September than for similar periods in all previous years. (Broderick, 10/17)

In news about rural health care —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Biden Signs Bill To Improve Rural Health Care In Nevada
The Nevada Primary Care Association endorsed legislation that would allow community health centers to use federal funds to provide mobile health care units to better serve residents in rural areas of states where facilities are often hard to reach for elderly, disabled or poor patients. (Martin, 10/17)

The Daily Yonder: Breaking Point: Specialists, Broadband And The Fight For Health Equity In Rural America 
Eyal Kedar didn’t start out in rural healthcare. He spent several years working in a big city before eventually realizing he wanted to become a generalized specialist in rheumatology, a branch of medicine that treats inflammatory or infectious conditions of the joints and other parts of the skeletal system. “I felt that the best way to do that would be in a rural community,” he said. Kedar is now the sole rheumatologist in St. Lawrence County in New York state. (Eaton, 10/17)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Modern Healthcare: New OTC Availability For Hearing Aids Sparks Innovation In Industry
“It’s comparable to how streaming completely upended the recording industry or to the iPhone coming out in 2007,” said Danny Aronson, CEO of Tuned, a digital hearing company based in New York City. “It’s a fundamental game changing shift in an industry that for decades has been completely dominated by an oligopoly of five hearing aid manufacturers.” (Perna, 10/17)

Stat: Milestone's Nasal Spray Rapidly Restores Normal Heart Rhythm 
Milestone Pharmaceuticals said Monday that an experimental nasal-spray medicine acted quickly to treat people experiencing episodes of a rapid but non-fatal heart rate — more than doubling the conversion to normal heart rhythm and achieving the primary goal of a late-stage clinical trial. (Feuerstein, 10/17)

The Boston Globe: 94-Year-Old Rhode Islander Creates Tech Device To Make Using A Walker More Enjoyable
“You constantly heard everyone getting told to use their walker. If one of us fell, it would be a disaster,” she said during a recent interview. She spoke to her daughter, who was working at Hasbro Toys at the time, and said there needed to be a product out there that would make a noise and attract seniors to use their walker. (Gagosz, 10/17)

In other news about Black women's health —

The Washington Post: FDA Wants To Yank Pregnancy Drug. Firm Argues Black Women Will Suffer
The company’s CEO, Michael Porter, has argued that there is evidence to suggest the drug may work in a narrow population that includes Black women, who have historically been at higher risk of maternal complications. That claim is based on a 2003 study that was used to grant the treatment accelerated approval in the first place. Several Black health groups support keeping Makena on the market for further testing, and the NAACP said it worries pulling the drug may “deepen profound existing maternal and infant health inequities in the U.S.” given the lack of alternatives. (Cha, 10/17)

AP: FDA Pushes To Remove Pregnancy Drug, Company Pushes Back
The maker of the only U.S. drug intended to prevent premature births is making a last-ditch effort this week to keep its medication on the market, even as health regulators insist that it doesn’t work. A Food and Drug Administration meeting that opened Monday comes more than two years after the agency declared the drug ineffective and called for its removal. Drugmaker Covis Pharma has challenged the agency’s conclusion, setting up the highly unusual three-day public hearing. (Perrone, 10/17)

CBS News: Florida County Sees Spike In Deadly Infections Caused By "Flesh-Eating" Bacteria After Hurricane Ian
In Lee County — where Ian made landfall on Sept. 28 as a Category 4 hurricane — officials say storm surges and subsequent flooding led to a spike in potentially deadly infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus, a species of bacteria found in warm, brackish water that typically comes in contact with humans through raw or undercooked seafood. (Mae Czachor, 10/17)

The Texas Tribune: Greg Abbott: Texas Must Fund Distribution Of Overdose Reversal Medication
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said the state should fund the distribution of an overdose reversal medication to help curb the growing number of opioid-related deaths. (Salhotra, 10/17)

Houston Chronicle: Texas School Districts Distribute DNA Kits In Case Of Emergencies
Texas public school systems are set to distribute DNA and fingerprint identification kits for K-8 students to parents who wish to store their child's DNA is case of emergency. (Dellinger, 10/17)

Los Angeles Times: Ports Blame COVID-19 For Surge In Harmful Emissions
At the Port of Los Angeles, cancer-causing diesel particulate matter rose 56% compared with 2020. The emissions of nitrogen oxides, the precursor to smog, increased 54% while lung-irritating sulfur oxides rose 145%. (Briscoe, 10/17)

KHN: Campaigning Ramps Up As South Dakota Voters Decide On Medicaid Expansion
A silver minivan decorated with a large sticker reading “Love Your Neighbor Tour” recently circumnavigated South Dakota. Catholic nuns, Protestant pastors, a synagogue president, and a Muslim nonprofit professional were among the interfaith leaders who packed into the rented six-seater or caravanned behind. The road trip’s mission: to register voters and urge them to support expansion of the state’s Medicaid program to cover thousands more low-income adults. (Zionts, 10/18)

USA Today: As US Life Expectancy Drops, Europe Shows Signs Of Recovery Post-COVID
Researchers examined data from 29 countries around the world and found seven countries in Western Europe saw a significant increase in life expectancy in 2021, according to the study published Monday in Nature Human Behavior. Four of those countries – France, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden – returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the U.S. reported the third-largest decline in life expectancy, following closely behind Bulgaria and Slovakia. (Rodriguez, 10/17)

In monkeypox updates —

CIDRAP: CDC Notes Ocular Monkeypox Cases, Needlestick Infection
Four of the five patients with ocular monkeypox required hospitalization, and two were also HIV-positive, according to a study from CDC and state researchers. Four of the five patients were men. One patient experienced significant vision impairment, and the authors caution that ocular monkeypox infection could result in permanent vision loss. The patient with significant vision impairment has been hospitalized since August, and the prognosis for vision recovery is unknown. All patients received treatment with tecovirimat (Tpoxx); four also received topical trifluridine (Viroptic) treatment. (Soucheray, 10/17)

In other health and wellness news —

Fox News: Healthy Living Habits Include Eating Dinner Earlier — It May Also Help Keep Weight Down
"Accumulating data suggest that eating earlier in the day is associated with lower body weight and improved weight loss success," senior author Frank A.J.L. Scheer, Ph.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the medical chronobiology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told Fox News Digital. (McGorry, 10/17)

Chicago Tribune: Study Uses Exercise To Fight Diabetes In South Asian Women
Like many moms, Asmita Patel has struggled to find time to exercise in recent years. Between working, taking care of her children, caring for relatives and shuttling her kids to activities, she didn’t work out much. That changed, however, last month when the Niles woman and her 13-year-old daughter joined a Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine clinical trial focused on getting South Asian women — who have high rates of diabetes and other ailments — to exercise more. (Schencker, 10/18)

KHN: Don’t Drill Your Own Teeth! And Quashing Other Rotten Dental Advice On TikTok
Watch enough TikTok videos and you’re sure to see one extolling a special kind of do-it-yourself dentistry. Not about brushing and flossing, except maybe flossing with strands of your hair. These are videos on drilling into your teeth and cementing gems to them or filing your teeth to reshape them. People have been styling their teeth for centuries across the globe throughout North and South America, Africa, and Asia. But social media — particularly TikTok, where everything old and new is nip/tucked into short videos with trendy sounds and served up fresh to young eyes — has breathed life into trends like tooth gems. Celebrities such as Drake, Rihanna, and Bella Hadid wore them years ago. Now, some TikTok influencers are selling DIY gem kits. (Giles, 10/18)

Bloomberg: Is The Flu Shot Worth Getting? Too Many People Say 'No' 
It’s the time of year when US public health officials are practically begging people to go out and get a flu vaccine. This year, their message is particularly urgent: Protect yourself now because the country might be in for a bad flu season that coincides with a resurgence in Covid cases. (Lisa Jarvis, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: We Know How To Improve Mental Health, So Why Aren't We Taking Action?
The U.S. has experienced several distressing trends over the last decade, including a dramatic rise in suicides and an increase in opioid use, overdose and related deaths. (Gabriela Khazanov, Rebecca Stewart and David Mandell, 10/18)

The Tennessean: How Medicare Advantage Plans Are An Affordable, Convenient Option For Seniors
When making day-to-day decisions about where to spend money, most people consider how much a product or service costs and the value it provides. Healthcare can have a significant impact on a personal budget, especially as we age, so choosing an affordable health insurance plan is critical. (George Renaudin, 10/17)

The Tennessean: How To Support Older Adults With Health Challenges
For many, one of the perks of reaching the third age− between 65 and 84− is pursuing retirement and ultimately having more free time. However, being a senior might also introduce some new challenges that people may not always consider. (Wally Acevedo, 10/17)

The Atlantic: What Did We Learn From COVID? 
I set out to discuss what COVID-era lessons we should—and shouldn’t—apply to other illnesses with the professor, epidemiologist, and physician Jay K. Varma, who formerly worked for the CDC. Our conversation ended up veering toward a much more fundamental question: Have we actually learned from COVID? And does that even matter? (Caroline Mimbs Nyce, 10/17)

Stat: Food Insecurity And The End Of The Public Health Emergency 
Expansions to social safety net programs during Covid-19 have been essential for low-income Americans hit hard by the pandemic. But the stabilizing impact of these expansions will be at risk when the federal Covid-19 Public Health Emergency, which was initially declared on January 31, 2020, comes to an end, possibly by Jan. 11, 2023. (Allison Maria Lacko, Allison Bovell-Ammon and Richard Sheward, 10/18)

Newsweek: Why Are Some Global Health Efforts Failing?
The worldwide death toll officially attributed to COVID-19 stands at more than 6.5 million. And when researchers include deaths that are likely due to the pandemic as well, the toll stands much higher. (Harald Nusser, 10/17)