San Francisco To End Monkeypox State Of Emergency
The emergency declaration, now due to end October 31, has been in place for about three months and comes as case counts drop to fewer than one per day. But in Nevada, the first Clark County death from monkeypox was reported. Meanwhile, Seattle had the worst air in the world for a second day.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Monkeypox: San Francisco To End State Of Emergency This Month
The change comes nearly three months after the emergency declaration was announced, at a time when case counts have slowed to fewer than one per day, officials said. The emergency declaration has allowed San Francisco to marshal resources and personnel to confront the virus. (Vainshtein, 10/20)
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Health District Reports 1st Death Of Clark County Resident With Monkeypox
The first death of a Clark County resident with monkeypox was reported Thursday by the Southern Nevada Health District. The patient, a man over the age of 50, had a compromised immune system, and his death was attributed to other causes, according to the district. (Hynes, 10/20)
Meanwhile, Seattle's air quality continues to be a problem —
The Washington Post:
Why Seattle Air Quality Is The Worst In The World Two Days In A Row
It was the second day in a row that the city had the worst air quality on earth, beating out famously polluted cities such as Beijing and Delhi. Seattle’s air quality index, or AQI, reached over 240 on Wednesday and Thursday — a level defined as “very unhealthy” for all groups. It was hard to see the top of a building a block away, and people wore masks to protect themselves from particulates in the air and the acrid smell of smoke. (Osaka, 10/20)
On "active shooter" drills in Texas' schools —
KHN:
Texas Revamps ‘Active-Shooter’ Drills At K-12 Schools To Minimize Trauma
After Britt Kelly’s son participated in a lockdown drill two years ago in his Lamar, Texas, kindergarten class, he had nightmares and wet his bed. Now 8, he can sleep only with a light on. In August, Mary Jackson’s daughter, a kindergartner in Leander, asked her mom to put a “special lock” on her bedroom door to “keep bad adults out” in the wake of a separate lockdown drill. (Rayasam and DeGuzman, 10/21)
In other news from across the country —
Reuters:
U.S. Judge Blocks New York From Banning Guns In Church
A federal judge on Thursday barred the state of New York, at least for now, from enforcing the part of a closely watched gun law that bans firearms from churches or other places of worship. (Whitcomb, 10/20)
PBS NewsHour:
How This New York Clinic Helped Transform Reproductive Health Care
In October of 1918, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic at 46 Amboy Street in Brooklyn, New York. Back then, as now in some ways, reproductive rights and abortion were hotly contested issues. (Markel, 10/20)
The Boston Globe:
Amherst Mother And Son Had Life-Threatening Liver Damage After Eating Poisonous Wild Mushroom
An Amherst man was hospitalized and his mother needed a liver transplant after they mistakenly ate a highly poisonous mushroom they foraged from the wild, hospital officials said Thursday. (Sweeney, 10/20)
The New York Times:
Former UCLA Gynecologist Is Convicted Of Sexually Abusing Patients
An obstetrician-gynecologist who worked for years at the University of California, Los Angeles, was convicted on Thursday of sexually abusing patients in a case that cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and came amid similar accusations against doctors at other universities. (Levenson, 10/20)
Houston Chronicle:
Houston Region Again Fails To Meet Federal Ozone Requirement Set 14 Years Ago
Texas officials are in even deeper trouble with federal officials for failing once again to protect Houston residents from dangerous ozone pollution. (Foxhall, 10/20)
Salt Lake Tribune:
New Utah Bill Proposes To Ban Gender-Affirming Surgeries On Minors
A Utah legislative committee advanced a proposal to ban gender-affirming surgeries on minors in Utah, teeing up a debate on the contentious issue for the upcoming 2023 session. (Schott, 10/20)
AP:
Worker Who Lowered Vermont Town's Fluoride For Years Resigns
Richmond water superintendent Kendall Chamberlin disclosed in his five-page resignation letter, submitted Monday, that fluoride levels have not been in the state-recommended range for over a decade — instead of nearly four years, as the state had recently disclosed. (Rathke, 10/21)
The Washington Post:
Health Equity Grants Awarded To Groups Helping Low-Income D.C. Residents
Thirty-two nonprofit groups will receive $9.2 million in funding from the Health Equity Fund, which is managed by the Greater Washington Community Foundation. The fund was created last year, after the insurance company CareFirst agreed to pay $95 million to settle a 13-year legal battle between the insurer and the D.C. government. (Bahrampour, 10/20)
The New York Times:
This Minnesota Race Will Show The Potency Of Crime Vs. Abortion
Keith Ellison, the incumbent attorney general and a Democrat, insists that his bid for re-election will hinge on abortion, which remains legal in Minnesota. But his Republican challenger, Jim Schultz, says the contest is about public safety and what he argues are “extreme” policies that Ellison endorsed after the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis — the aftermath of which Minnesota is still wrestling with. (Hounshell, 10/20)
