First Edition: July 20, 2022

KHN: Critics Worry Government Surveillance Of HIV May Hurt More Than It Helps
Robert Suttle has seen firsthand the legal risks of having HIV. In 2008, Suttle said, a former partner accused him of not disclosing he was HIV-positive. He was charged under Louisiana law with “intentional exposure to AIDS virus.” Rather than fight the charge and risk a longer sentence, Suttle pleaded guilty, received a sentence of six months in state prison, and was required to register as a sex offender. (Whitehead, 7/20)

KHN: Watch: Why The Public Health System Is Having Trouble Containing Monkeypox
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber appeared on CBS News’ streaming network to discuss “Fighting Monkeypox, Sexual Health Clinics Are Underfunded and Ill-Equipped,” an article she wrote with KHN senior correspondent Liz Szabo. It details how ill-equipped the nation’s sexual health clinics and public health system are to tackle monkeypox after decades of underfunding. Weber described how funding cuts and outdated technology are hampering the U.S. response on the ground as monkeypox cases continue to rise. (7/20)

The New York Times: A Fourth Covid Vaccine Is Cleared For Use In The United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended that a newly authorized vaccine from Novavax be used as an option for adults seeking a primary immunization against the coronavirus. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C.’s director, signed off on the recommendation of a panel of vaccine experts that had unanimously endorsed the vaccine on Tuesday afternoon. The decision removes the final regulatory hurdle for the fourth Covid-19 shot authorized in the United States. (Robbins and Zimmer, 7/19)

Reuters: Novavax Says U.S. FDA Clears COVID Vaccine Doses For Release
Vaccine maker Novavax (NVAX.O) on Tuesday said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had cleared a lot of its COVID vaccine for release in the United States, and it plans to ship doses to be distributed by the U.S. government in the coming days. (7/19)

AP: CDC Endorses More Traditional Novavax COVID Shot For Adults
“If you have been waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine built on a different technology than those previously available, now is the time to join the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC’s director, said in a statement, endorsing an earlier decision from an influential advisory panel. (Neergaard, 7/19)

Stat: Pharma, Advocacy Groups Differ On Achieving Vaccine Equity During Pandemics
Amid criticism over its approach to Covid-19, the pharmaceutical industry has issued a new “declaration” to work closer with intra-governmental groups in order to provide greater access to medicines and vaccines in future pandemics. (Silverman, 7/19)

The New York Times: House Moves To Protect Same-Sex Marriage From Supreme Court Reversal
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level, with a bipartisan coalition supporting a measure that addresses growing concerns that a conservative Supreme Court could nullify marriage equality. Forty-seven Republicans joined Democrats in backing the bill, the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the federal protections for same-sex couples that were put in place in 2015, when the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges established same-sex marriage as a right under the 14th Amendment. (Lai, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Same-Sex Marriage, Birth Control On House Voting Agenda
Tuesday’s bipartisan vote proves a striking evolution on the issue of same-sex marriage for members of both parties. Just a decade ago, Democratic Vice President Joe Biden got castigated for announcing his support for gay marriage before the sitting president, Barack Obama, had announced his own views on the issue. More than a decade before that, Biden helped pass the Defense of Marriage Act in the Senate, while House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) joined 116 Democrats supporting it in the House. (Sotomayor, Ann Caldwell and Kane, 7/19)

The New York Times: Abortion Provider Prepares Defamation Suit Against Indiana Attorney General
An Indianapolis doctor who provided abortion care to a 10-year-old rape victim is preparing to sue Attorney General Todd Rokita of Indiana for defamation after he said he would investigate her actions in the case, according to a statement released on Tuesday by her lawyer. (Sasani and Gay Stolberg, 7/19)

Axios: Doctor Who Treated 10-Year-Old Rape Victim Moves To Sue Indiana AG For Defamation
Caitlin Bernard, the OB-GYN who provided an abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who was raped, took the first legal step to sue Indiana's attorney general for defamation over his comments alleging medical misconduct. (Gonzalez, 7/19)

The New York Times: Colleges Are Resisting Demands To Provide The Abortion Pill
Even in states that protect abortion rights, colleges are proceeding with caution. Providing the abortion pill on campus rather than referring students elsewhere enmeshes colleges in a personal, sometimes emotionally and physically taxing medical decision, according to administrators at several colleges who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. (Hartocollis and Saul, 7/19)

AP: Mississippi Clinic Ends Challenge Of Near-Ban On Abortion
The Mississippi abortion clinic that was at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade ended a lawsuit Tuesday in which it had sought to block the state from enforcing a law that bans most abortions. Jackson Women’s Health Organization dropped its litigation a day after clinic owner Diane Derzis told The Associated Press that she sold the facility and had no intention to reopen it, even if a state court allowed her to do so. (Wagster Pettus and Willingham, 7/20)

AP: S. Carolina Conservatives Suggest Almost Total Abortion Ban
A House committee reviewing South Carolina’s abortion law suggested Tuesday the state ban almost all abortions other than when the life of the mother is at risk. The state currently has a ban at roughly six weeks that includes exceptions for rape and incest. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, conservatives in the General Assembly started to look if they could join the growing number of states banning the procedure. (Collins, 7/19)

AP: Montana Republican Party Opposes Nearly All Abortions
The Montana Republican Party platform opposes nearly all abortions, after a vote of those attending the party’s platform convention over the weekend. Party members on Saturday approved a platform that opposes all elective abortions. They rejected a proposal to allow exceptions for rape or incest, Montana Public Radio reported. (7/19)

AP: Crowd Protests Relocation Of Abortion Clinic To New Mexico
Anti-abortion activists from across the country converged in southern New Mexico on Tuesday to protest relocation plans by the Mississippi clinic at the center of the court battle that overturned Roe v. Wade, but New Mexico’s governor vowed not to back down from her support for access to abortions. (7/20)

The Hill: Supreme Court Clears Way For Indiana Parental Notice Abortion Law
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Indiana to enforce a law that stiffens parental notice requirements in cases where a minor seeks an abortion. The law at issue had been blocked since 2017 by lower courts based on Roe v. Wade and related precedents. Following Roe’s overruling, Indiana asked the justices last week to fast-track an order to lower courts to clear the way for the law to become effective immediately. (Kruzel, 7/19)

AP: After Judge's Order, W.Va.'s Abortion Clinic Resuming Care
West Virginia’s only abortion clinic pressed forward Tuesday with scheduling abortions, even as the state’s attorney general went to the Supreme Court to try to stop it. A Charleston judge on Monday blocked enforcement of the state’s 150-year-old abortion ban, freeing the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to begin scheduling abortion patients. Executive Director Katie Quiñonez said Tuesday her staff planned to begin performing abortions as early as next week. (Willingham, 7/19)

CIDRAP: US Approaches 2,000 Monkeypox Cases
The current official US monkeypox total is 1,972 cases, up 158 cases from yesterday, from 45 affected states and territories. Over the past 5 days, monkeypox cases have doubled, to 490 cases, in New York, while Washington, DC, has the highest per capita rate, followed by New York, Illinois, and California. Health officials in DC have said there has been overwhelming interest in the vaccine and treatments for the poxvirus. (Soucheray, 7/19)

Politico: Covid Cases Are Skyrocketing Again. States Have No New Plan
There are no new plans or bold initiatives on the horizon, officials in 10 states told POLITICO, even as much of the South remains unvaccinated and vaccination uptake among children nationwide is well below what state and federal officials would like. Instead, state and federal strategies for managing 130,000 new daily Covid cases in the U.S. are largely the same as they were for managing 30,000 new daily cases four months ago. (Messerly, Mahr and Cancryn, 7/20)

Reuters: Omicron BA.5 Makes Up Nearly 78% Of COVID Variants Circulating In U.S. - CDC
The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 77.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. (7/19)

The Washington Post: Schools Race To Improve Indoor Air Quality As Coronavirus Cases Climb
The benefits of doing so stretch far beyond controlling covid-19. Study after study proves that cleaner indoor air leads to better student health, higher attendance rates and even improved academic performance. But when schools received an influx of funds in the early days of the pandemic, most districts neglected to use the money to make investments in their ventilation systems, according to Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council. (Beard and Roubein, 7/19)

The Hill: Majority Of US Thinks COVID Will Never Go Away: Poll 
The Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index found that 78 percent of Americans surveyed agreed with the statement “We will never fully be rid of the coronavirus in my lifetime.” This trend was consistent for Democrats, Republicans and independents. (Choi, 7/19)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Cases Soar In L.A. County, But This Is Different
Super-contagious Omicron subvariants that can reinfect people within weeks are fueling a new wave of the pandemic across California. Hospitalizations are rising, and Los Angeles County is moving toward an indoor mask mandate, perhaps by the end of the month. (Lin II, Money and Reyes, 7/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Counties Are Not Now Looking To Follow L.A.’s Mask Mandate — Here’s Why
COVID-19 case numbers are surging, hospitalizations are up and at least one California county — Los Angeles — is moving toward a new indoor mask mandate. But the Bay Area isn’t planning to follow suit, at least not yet. Health experts in the region say that approach makes sense for now. County health departments across the Bay Area told The Chronicle they have no plans to resume requirements that people don masks in indoor public places. They haven’t set benchmarks for when that might or should happen. The story is different in Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, where public health officials said they’ll return to indoor masking requirements as of July 29 unless the number of COVID hospitalizations drops. (Cabanatuan, 7/19)

Los Angeles Times: California's Summer COVID Wave Could Top Winter Surge
New coronavirus infections in parts of California may be surging even higher than winter’s Omicron wave, potentially explaining why so many people seem to be infected simultaneously. The concentration of coronavirus levels in San Francisco’s wastewater is at even higher levels than during the winter, according to data tweeted by Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor in environmental health at Emory University. (Lin II and Money, 7/18)

inewsource: San Diego County Surge Has Experts Concerned About Long COVID
San Diego County has been moved into the high-risk level for COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as confirmed case numbers have continued to increase over the last few weeks, which has experts worried about the risk for severe outcomes as a result of infection. The CDC Community Level tracking system is designed to determine the impact of the virus on communities and guide preventative action. While it is not clear whether San Diego County will reimplement any previous measures to slow the spread of the virus, this shift is concerning to experts, particularly given fears around the long-term implications of infection. (Dawson, 7/18)

Bloomberg: White House Considers Emergency Declaration To Fight Climate Change
President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce executive action to confront climate change, including plans to steer federal dollars to heat-ravaged communities, though he’s holding off for now on an emergency decree that would allow him to marshal sweeping powers against global warming. (Dlouhy, Natter and Wingrove, 7/19)

The New York Times: New York City Opens Cooling Centers As It Braces For A Heat Wave
As New Yorkers brace for a week of extremely hot weather, cooling centers in air-conditioned buildings throughout the city will be open to the public from Tuesday through Thursday to offer relief from the heat. The scorching days ahead will not be limited to the New York region. Other cities in the Northeast, like Washington, Philadelphia and Boston, may see similar temperatures this week and will also offer residents places to cool down. (Meko and Grullón Paz, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Crushed By Heatwaves, More Cities Are Hiring ‘Chief Heat Officers’
The relentless heat in some parts of the nation and abroad are in line with what scientists have said humans can expect in a warming world: more intense and frequent weather extremes. Searing heat is one of the most common, and deadly, manifestations of those changes. Given that reality, a growing number of cities now employ a “chief heat officer” to focus on the risks posed by sweltering temperatures — and to seek opportunities for how to adapt. Miami, Phoenix and Athens are among the prominent places to hire for such a role. (Dennis and Montalbano, 7/19)

Bloomberg: As UK Temperatures Soar, UN Warns Of Worsening Heat Waves To At Least 2060
Climate change-driven heat events that pushed UK temperatures to record highs Tuesday will become more frequent and intense for decades to come, the head of the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. “The negative trending climate will persist until at least 2060,” Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, of the WMO said at a briefing in Geneva. (Hoffman, 7/19)

The New York Times: Europe’s Heat Wave Breaks UK Temperature Records And Drives Wildfires
While the heat’s effects cascaded from Greece to Scotland, the greatest damage was in fire-ravaged France. More than 2,000 firefighters battled blazes that have burned nearly 80 square miles of parched forest in the Gironde area of the country’s southwest, forcing more than 37,000 people to evacuate in the past week. (Landler, 7/19)

Politico: White House Eyes Limited Abortion Health Emergency Declaration
White House officials plotting the administration’s post-Roe response are weighing a narrow public health directive aimed at safeguarding nationwide access to abortion pills, three people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. (Cancryn, 7/19)

The Hill: Fauci: ‘I’m Not Going To Retire’ 
Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, clarified on Tuesday that he does not plan to retire, though he has been considering when he will step down from his current government position. After Politico on Monday published an interview with Fauci, 81, in which he said he did not expect to stay on in his current position by the end of Biden’s current term, a frenzy of media speculation arose around the veteran immunologist’s potential retirement. (Choi, 7/19)

The New York Times: Bennie Thompson, Chairman Of The Jan. 6 Panel, Has Tested Positive For The Coronavirus
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol, announced on Tuesday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and will not appear in person at what could be the committee’s last hearing of the summer. (Cochrane and Haberman, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Lawmakers, Abortion Rights Protesters Arrested Outside Supreme Court
Seventeen members of Congress — including Democratic Reps. Cori Bush (Mo.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) — were among dozens of abortion rights protesters arrested Tuesday outside the Supreme Court in a rally demanding immediate action to protect abortion following the court’s decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Silverman, 7/19)

Politico: House Dems Still Wrangling The Votes For An Assault Weapons Ban
Democrats are still shy of the 216 supporters required to steer the bill through the chamber, as a small number in their own caucus remain skeptical about both the legislation and diving further into gun safety just four months before an election. But as pressure builds after a spate of recent shootings, party leaders insist they will get there — perhaps with some help from retiring Republicans. (Carney and Ferris, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Amid Controversies, FDA Seeks Advice On Food And Tobacco Operations
The head of the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday he is asking outside experts to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the agency’s food and tobacco programs, which in recent months have endured sharp criticism involving two high-profile issues: the infant-formula shortage and e-cigarettes, particularly the vaping company Juul. (McGinley, 7/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Higher Overdose Death Rates Among Blacks, Native Americans Reflect Treatment Disparities, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that overdose deaths per 100,000 people increased 44% for Black people and 39% for Native Americans in 2020 from a year earlier compared with a 22% increase among white people. The CDC said 2020 was the most recent year for which it had complete data from 25 states analyzed in the study as well as Washington, D.C. (Wernau, 7/19)

Stat: As Overdose Deaths Soared In 2020, Racial Gap Widened, CDC Finds 
As U.S. overdose deaths soared to devastating new heights in the first year of the pandemic, racial disparities widened sharply, with rates spiking much more among Black people and American Indians and Alaska Natives than among white people, according to a federal report released Tuesday. (Joseph, 7/19)

Stat: At 988 Call Center, Volunteers Provide Familiar Hope At A New Number
Don smiled when he saw who was calling. He usually works the overnight shift at a suicide hotline call center outside Boston, so he knew she’d be surprised to hear his voice on a Saturday afternoon. (Gaffney, 7/20)

CIDRAP: Flu Levels Stabilize In Most Global Regions
In its latest global flu update, which covers the last half of June, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the level of virus activity has stabilized after dropping from a March peak. Activity appears to have plateaued in the temperate Southern Hemisphere countries following increasing levels there. Tropical regions South America and Africa also reported decreasing or low activity. (7/19)

The Washington Post: Regular Coffee Drinkers Had Lower Chance Of Dying In 7-Year Period
The type of coffee — whether instant, ground or decaffeinated — made no difference, but the results were described as inconclusive for the use of artificial sweeteners. The latest research does not prove that coffee alone was responsible for participants’ lowered mortality risk. Still, over the years, research has revealed a variety of health benefits for coffee, linking its consumption to a reduced risk for Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, depression and more. (Searing, 7/19)

Stat: Diabetes During Pregnancy Is Increasingly Prevalent, CDC Study Finds
Gestational diabetes is on the rise, climbing 30% between 2016 and 2020, according to a new study published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Chen, 7/20)

Axios: Hospitals With More COVID Patients Had Higher Mortality Rates Among Surgery Patients
Hospitals with more COVID patients during the first pandemic wave in 2020 saw more patients who underwent surgery die afterward, a Journal of the American Medical Association study found. (Dreher, 7/19)

AP: Hospital System Says It's Hurt By Lack Of Medicaid Expansion
A county-owned Mississippi hospital system that wants to put itself up for sale says one of its main financial challenges is the decision by the state’s elected officials not to extend Medicaid to provide insurance coverage for the working poor. (Wagster Pettus, 7/19)

Stat: Medicare Offers Perks For Rural Hospitals To Convert To A New Provider Type
Medicare is tacking on financial perks for rural hospitals that convert to its new provider category. So far, reception’s been mixed. (Bannow, 7/20)

Axios: Health Reform May Be Making Gender Wage Gaps Worse For Female Docs
It's no secret that gender pay disparities are a problem in medicine, but it turns out reforms to how we pay doctors — specifically in primary care — could make the problem worse. (Reed, 7/20)

AP: US Health Insurers Raise Rates To Match Increase In Usage
Health insurers in individual marketplaces across 13 states and Washington D.C. will raise rates an average of 10% next year, according to a review of rate filings by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s a big increase after premiums remained virtually flat for several years during the pandemic as insurers seek to recoup costs for more people using their policies, combined with record-high inflation that is driving up prices for virtually everything, including health care. (Beam, 7/19)

The Wall Street Journal: WHO Rushed In New Security Steps After 2020 Cyberattack
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization’s cybersecurity team was caught off guard by a huge increase in attempts to hack its systems and a cyberattack that led to some of the organization’s data leaking online. (Stupp, 7/19)

AP: US Disrupts North Korean Hackers That Targeted Hospitals
The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware, ultimately recovering half a million dollars in ransom payments and cryptocurrency, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday. (Tucker, 7/19)

CIDRAP: Survey: COVID + Childcare Woes = Burnout In Health Workers
Stress from inconsistent, unavailable, or unaffordable childcare amid the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an 80% higher chance of burnout among US healthcare workers (HCWs), leading to anxiety, depression, and an intention to reduce work hours or leave the job, suggests a survey-based modeling study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 7/19)

AP: Gun-Control Measure Will Be On Oregon's Fall Ballot
Oregonians will decide in November whether people wanting to purchase a gun will first have to qualify for a permit, after one of the strictest gun-control measures in the nation landed on the ballot. (Selsky, 7/19)

AP: Police Officer Suspended After Handcuffing EMT At Hospital
The suspension was announced by city police Monday, a week after EMT Lekia Smith was handcuffed at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Security video obtained by WHEC-TV shows the investigator backing Smith, a Black woman, into a corner as she stood beside a patient on a stretcher. He grabs her arm, cuffs her hands behind her back and takes her outside. (Hill, 7/19)

Health News Florida: Lawsuit Targets Florida Medicaid Program Over Incontinence Supplies
Attorneys for two women with disabilities have filed a potential class-action lawsuit alleging that Florida’s Medicaid program is improperly denying coverage for incontinence supplies. (Saunders, 7/19)

KQED: County Officials Are Skeptical Over Gov. Newsom's CARE Court Program
In early March, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a controversial proposal to compel people with serious mental health issues into care and housing. Mental health advocates, mayors and family members who stood alongside him at the press conference at a San José behavioral health treatment program heralded the plan, known as CARE Court, as a visionary move. (Wiener and Tobias, 7/18)

Reuters: China Reports One Human Infection Of Bubonic Plague In Northwestern Region Of Ningxia
The northwestern Chinese region of Ningxia reported one human infection of plague, state television said late on Tuesday. The caseload of human plague infection, a highly infectious and severe disease, is low in China, with just one in 2021 and no deaths, down from four infections and three deaths in 2020, according to data from the National Health Commission, which does not specify the types of plague for each person. (7/19)

Reuters: Australians Urged To Work From Home As Winter Omicron Wave Swamps Hospitals
Australians admitted to hospitals from COVID-19 neared record levels on Wednesday as authorities urged businesses to let staff work from home and recommended people wear masks indoors and get booster shots urgently amid a major coronavirus outbreak. (Jose, 7/20)