Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California To Compensate Victims Of Forced Sterilizations
AP: California To Pay Victims Of Forced, Coerced Sterilizations
California is poised to approve reparations up to $25,000 to victims who were among the thousands of people — some as young as 13 — who decades ago were sterilized because state officials deemed them unfit to have children. The payments, part of the state’s new $262.6 billion operating budget that is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, will make California at least the third state after Virginia and North Carolina to pay victims of the so-called eugenics movement that peaked in the 1930s. Proponents believed sterilizing people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities and other so-called undesirable traits would improve the human race. (Beam, 7/7)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Gets $4 Million To Lower Racial Disparities Exposed By COVID
The City of Milwaukee’s Office of African American Affairs was awarded a $4 million grant to help reduce the racial disparities brought to the fore in the COVID-19 pandemic. The city aims to accomplish that goal by using the federal funding to increase health literacy — the ability to access and use information and services to make health care decisions — among racial and ethnic minorities and other vulnerable communities, according to Mayor Tom Barrett's office. The effort will also seek to boost COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccination rates in communities that are the focus of the grant funding. (Dirr, 7/6)
Daily Montanan: Students In Limbo With Mental Health Support In Schools
Funding and services for students are on the line, and school officials are worried. To keep counseling going, they worry they’ll be left with holes in their budgets that total hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the meantime, they’re concerned the mental and behavioral health services children receive are at risk even as students cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. (Szpaller, 7/5)
And the heat wave presses on along the East and West coasts —
Bloomberg: New York Wilts Again As Heat Advisories Blanket U.S. Northeast
New York and the U.S. Northeast will get a blast of heat through Wednesday, adding another bout of unusually high temperature for the region and sending air-cooling demand surging anew. Temperatures in Manhattan’s Central Park are forecast to touch 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on Tuesday, with downtown Boston reaching 91, Washington 97 and heat advisories stretching from West Virginia to Massachusetts. Humidity will make it feel even hotter. (Sullivan, 7/6)
CNN: Pacific Northwest Heat Wave Continues This Week With No End In Sight
Unrelenting heat is expected to continue in the West after a late-June heat wave left hundreds dead in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Records could topple again this weekend as temperatures climb well above normal. The number of Oregonians who died from heat-related illnesses during the historic late-June heat rose to 107, the state medical examiner said Tuesday in an updated statement. While the deaths were reported across the state, nearly two-thirds occurred in Multnomah County, home to the city of Portland. (Gard and Ward, 7/7)
Salt Lake Tribune: National Weather Services: Temperatures Will Be "Dangerously" High In Utah
It’s going to be hot across Utah on Tuesday, and then it’s going to be scorching — so hot the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory. And there’s no rain in the forecast and no end in sight to the heat. After a high of 97 in the Salt Lake City area on Tuesday, temperatures will break the triple-digit barrier on Wednesday and Thursday. The heat advisory will be in effect from 10 a.m. Wednesday to 9 p.m. Thursday, with temperatures up to 104 expected. (Pierce, 7/6)
Hi-Line Today: Air Quality Awareness Is Important During Wildfire Season
Exposure to wildfire pollutants can irritate lungs, cause inflammation, alter immune function and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections, including covid-19. Wildfire smoke can affect Montana communities even where there are no wildfires in the immediate vicinity. (Margolis, 7/3)
