8 Opioid Overdoses In 3 Weeks Hit A Single Virginia High School
The overdoses among students at a high school in Sterling, Virginia, show how dramatic the opioid crisis has become — all of them required medical intervention of some sort. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has been asked for the first time to block anti-trans youth care laws in Tennessee.
NBC News:
One H.S. In Virginia Had 8 Opioid Overdoses In 3 Weeks In Unprecedented Outbreak
Authorities are investigating an unprecedented outbreak of opioid overdoses at a single high school in Sterling, Virginia. Eight students at Park View High School have overdosed in the last three weeks, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. In total, the sheriff’s office is investigating nine opioid overdoses at Park View this year among male and female students. None of the overdoses were fatal, but each required some sort of medical intervention such as treatment, CPR or transport to a hospital. (Bendix, 11/1)
On transgender health care in Tennessee and New Hampshire —
The 19th:
Tennessee Families, ACLU Ask Supreme Court To Block Gender-Affirming Care Ban
For the first time, attorneys working for LGBTQ+ rights have asked the Supreme Court to rule on a gender-affirming care ban for transgender youth. Lawyers with Lambda Legal and the ACLU, alongside other legal partners, are asking the court to block Tennessee’s law preventing trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care. (Rummler, 11/1)
New Hampshire Public Radio:
NH Republicans Revive Effort To Ban Some Gender-Affirming Surgeries For Trans Youth
After putting the policy on hold earlier this year, Republican lawmakers are proposing a narrower version of a bill that would restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth in New Hampshire. The original version of House Bill 619 would have banned any type of gender transition-related medical care for people under 18, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. That bill was retained in committee. (Cuno-Booth, 11/1)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
The Boston Globe:
Sixth Human Case Of WNV Detected In Massachusetts
A man in his 70s has become the sixth Massachusetts resident infected with West Nile virus and was likely exposed in Middlesex County, the state Department of Public Health said Wednesday. The county remains at moderate risk for the mosquito-borne virus, the statement said. Despite colder temperatures, some risk for the virus will continue until areas have a “hard frost,” or when temperatures fall below 28 degrees, the department said. (Lawler, 11/1)
The Washington Post:
New York City Has A Plan For Everyone To Live To At Least 83
New York City officials on Wednesday announced a sweeping agenda “to achieve healthier, longer lives for all New Yorkers” and raise the city’s average life span to at least 83 years, as public health leaders across the country grapple with declining life expectancy and seek strategies to reverse the trend. (Diamond, 11/1)
AP:
Migrants In Cities Across The US May Need Medical Care. It's Not That Easy To Find
All the chairs in the waiting room were filled by dozens of newly arrived migrants waiting to be seen by a Cook County health worker at a clinic in Chicago. Julio Figuera, 43, was among them. He didn’t want to talk much about traveling to Chicago from Venezuela, where a social, political and economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty and led 7 million to flee, Figuera and three of his kids included. But somewhere along the way, he’d gotten pneumonia. (Shastri, 11/2)
Stateline:
GOP States Embrace Uber, Lyft To Take Low-Income Patients To Medical Appointments
This month, Mississippi becomes the latest state to partner with ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to ferry residents to their medical appointments. ... Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association, said groups such as his have been working to promote more regular annual checkups, but added that transportation barriers have contributed to high rates of missed appointments. The no-show rate for some providers can be as high as 75%, he said. (Claire Vollers, 11/1)
KFF Health News:
‘Worse Than People Can Imagine’: Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Breeds Chaos In States
More than two dozen people lined up outside a state public assistance office in Montana before it opened to ensure they didn’t get cut off from Medicaid. Callers in Missouri and Florida reported waiting on hold for more than two hours on hotlines to renew their Medicaid coverage. The parents of a disabled man in Tennessee who had been on Medicaid for three decades fought with the state this summer to keep him enrolled as he lay dying from pneumonia in a hospital. (Galewitz, Houghton, Kelman and Liss, 11/2)
