Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Deep Cleaning: Houston Voting Site Closes For One Hour
KHOU: Houston Early Voting Location Temporarily Closed Due To COVID-19
An early voting location was closed temporarily Thursday after a clerk there reported a positive coronavirus test, Elizabeth Lewis, with Harris County Votes, confirmed. A clerk at the Iglesia Una Luz En Tu Camino, at 9045 Howard Drive in southeast Houston near Hobby Airport, had not been feeling well and decided to get a COVID-19 test, which came back positive, Lewis said. The clerk told the polling site's election judge. (10/15)
Boston Globe: R.I. Governor Closes Company Break Rooms, Bans Trick-Or-Treating After Dark As COVID-19 Cases Rise
No Halloween parties, no employee break rooms for 90 days, no trick-or-treating after dark, forget about traveling for Thanksgiving. And get used to wearing a mask around anyone you don’t live with. As another 228 people tested positive for COVID-19 and two people in their 90s died, Governor Gina M. Raimondo on Thursday announced new restrictions designed to tamp down the coronavirus in Rhode Island — and pleaded with residents to cooperate. (Milkovits, 10/15)
In other state news —
AP: Officials Fired: Problems With 2nd Birth At Florida Jail
Two officials at a county jail in South Florida have been fired following problems surrounding a second birth at the facility in just over a year, authorities said Thursday. The more recent Broward County jail birth took place Sept. 27, nearly three months after the state enacted the Tammy Jackson Healthy Pregnancies for Incarcerated Women law, the Sun Sentinel reported. The law puts safeguards in place preventing pregnant women being in restrictive or isolated cells during their detention. (10/16)
AP: Possible Abuse Investigated At Iowa Facility For Disabled
Iowa officials are investigating possible abuse at a troubled state-run institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Kelly Garcia, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services, said in an interview Thursday that there is a “visible marking” on a resident at the Glenwood Resource Center, which has been rocked by scandals twice in the past four years, the Des Moines Register reports. (10/15)
Politico: California Propositions 2020 Guide: Track CA’s Props And Ballot Measures
Existential battles over the cash bail industry and gig work titans like Uber and Lyft. Historic opportunities for voters to reconsider affirmative action and long-inviolable property tax limits. New rounds in recurring fights over rent control and kidney dialysis. A criminal justice redo that overlaps with a national reckoning over policing. There’s no shortage of consequential measures on California’s 2020 ballot, with campaigns poised to collectively shatter past spending limits during a high-turnout presidential election — although the pandemic has scrambled that equation. (Nieves, White and Jin, (10/13)
KHN: KHN On The Air This Week
California Healthline correspondent Angela Hart discussed how the coronavirus pandemic has derailed California’s efforts to deal with homelessness on KPBS “Midday Edition” on Oct. 8. (10/16)
