First Edition: April 20, 2021

KHN: Humana Health Plan Overcharged Medicare By Nearly $200 Million, Federal Audit Finds
A Humana Inc. health plan for seniors in Florida improperly collected nearly $200 million in 2015 by overstating how sick some patients were, according to a new federal audit, which seeks to claw back the money. The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s recommendation to repay, if finalized, would be “by far the largest” audit penalty ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company, said Christopher Bresette, an HHS assistant regional inspector general. (Schulte, 4/20)

KHN: UVA Health Will Wipe Out Tens Of Thousands Of Lawsuits Against Patients
University of Virginia Health System, which for years has sued thousands of patients annually for unpaid bills, said Monday it will cancel a massive backlog of court judgments and liens resulting from those lawsuits dating to the 1990s. Combined with reforms UVA announced in 2019, the move is likely to benefit tens of thousands of families and make UVA Health’s collections policies much more generous than those of many hospital systems, said scholars who study health care finance. The decision to wipe out liens that can drain home equity years after a hospital visit is extremely rare, they said. (Hancock, 4/20)

KHN: From Rotten Teeth To Advanced Cancer, Patients Feel The Effects Of Treatment Delays
With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against covid-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments. Dr. Brian Rah, chair of the cardiology department at Montana’s Billings Clinic, was confused in the early days of the covid pandemic. Why the sudden drop in heart attack patients at the Billings Clinic? And why did some who did come arrive hours after first feeling chest pains? (Alpert, 4/20)

KHN: After A Deadly Year On The Roads, States Push For Safety Over Speed 
As more Americans start commuting to work and hitting the roads after a year indoors, they’ll be returning to streets that have gotten deadlier. Last year, an estimated 42,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes and 4.8 million were injured. That represents an 8% increase over 2019, the largest year-over-year increase in nearly a century — even though the number of miles driven fell by 13%, according to the National Safety Council. (Bluth, 4/20)

KHN: Public Health Experts Worry About Boom-Bust Cycle Of Support
Congress has poured tens of billions of dollars into state and local public health departments in response to the covid-19 pandemic, paying for masks, contact tracers and education campaigns to persuade people to get vaccinated. Public health officials who have juggled bare-bones budgets for years are happy to have the additional money. Yet they worry it will soon dry up as the pandemic recedes, continuing a boom-bust funding cycle that has plagued the U.S. public health system for decades. If budgets are slashed again, they warn, that could leave the nation where it was before covid: unprepared for a health crisis. (Smith, Weber and Recht, 4/19)

The New York Times: All U.S. States Have Met Biden's Vaccine Expansion Deadline 
All adults in every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine, meeting the April 19 deadline that President Biden set two weeks ago. “For months I’ve been telling Americans to get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Well, it’s your turn, now,” Mr. Biden said Sunday on a program called “Roll Up Your Sleeves” on NBC. “It’s free. It’s convenient and it’s the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Covid-19.” (Anthes, Ngo and Sullivan, 4/19)

NBC News: Map: These States Are Opening Up Vaccinations To People From Out Of State
Is your Covid-19 vaccination just across state lines? In addition to making every adult eligible for the shots Monday, several states lifted their residency requirements, meaning that providers will vaccinate even nonresidents. As of Monday, 18 states and one territory, including California, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Puerto Rico, no longer have residency requirements. Check the map below to see if your state is on the list. (Chiwaya, 4/19)

AP: AP Source: Guantanamo Prisoners Now Getting COVID-19 Vaccine
Prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center can now begin getting the COVID-19 vaccine, a senior defense official told The Associated Press on Monday, months after a plan to inoculate them was scuttled over outrage that many Americans weren’t eligible to receive the shots. The new timing coincides with President Joe Biden’s deadline for states to make the vaccines more widely available across the U.S. Beginning Monday, anyone 16 and older qualifies to sign up and get in a virtual line to be vaccinated. (Fox, 4/19)

CNN: The US Is Vaccinating Americans At A Record Pace. But Here's Why Covid-19 Cases And Hospitalizations Are Up 
Experts say Covid-19 vaccinations in the US are continuing at an impressive pace, and now all Americans 16 and up can get a shot. But a leading health official said that the country remains in a "complicated stage." "More people in the United States are being vaccinated every single day at an accelerated pace," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House Covid-19 briefing on Monday. (Maxouris, 4/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Cases Rise In Parts Of U.S. Even As Vaccinations Pick Up 
The CDC reported Monday that the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases is at more than 67,443, up 1% from the prior seven-day average of 66,702. Four weeks ago, the seven-day average was 53,000 cases a day, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, during a press briefing Monday. The U.S. is in a “complicated stage” of the pandemic, Dr. Walensky said. (West, 4/19)

AP: US Warns Against Travel To 80% Of World Due To Coronavirus
The advice issued by the department isn’t a formal global advisory. Instead, it says the State Department will start using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards as it prepares health and safety guidelines for individual countries. Because of those standards, about 80% of countries will be classified as “Level 4” or “do not travel.” Travel is also discouraged for the remaining 20%, though not as emphatically. It says people with plans to visit those countries should reconsider before proceeding. (4/19)

Reuters: U.S. Will Boost ‘Do Not Travel’ Advisories To 80% Of World 
The U.S. State Department said on Monday it will boost its “Do Not Travel” guidance to about 80% of countries worldwide, citing “unprecedented risk to travelers” from the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Department already listed 34 out of about 200 countries as "Level 4: Do Not Travel," including places like Chad, Kosovo, Kenya, Brazil, Argentina, Haiti, Mozambique, Russia and Tanzania. (Shepardson, 4/19)

CNN: Disinfecting Surfaces To Prevent Covid Often All For Show, CDC Advises 
The risk of surface transmission of Covid-19 is low, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Far more important is airborne transmission -- and people who obsessively disinfect surfaces may be doing more harm than good. "CDC determined that the risk of surface transmission is low, and secondary to the primary routes of virus transmission through direct contact droplets and aerosols," Vincent Hill, Chief of the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, said on a CDC-sponsored telephone briefing. (Langmaid, 4/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Considering Rule To Cut Nicotine In Cigarettes
The Biden administration is considering requiring tobacco companies to lower the nicotine in all cigarettes sold in the U.S. to levels at which they are no longer addictive, according to people familiar with the matter. Administration officials are considering the policy as they approach a deadline for declaring the administration’s intentions on another tobacco question: whether or not to ban menthol cigarettes. (Maloney, 4/19)

CNBC: Tobacco Stocks Drop On Report Biden Is Planning To Limit Cigarette Nicotine
Tobacco stocks tumbled Monday on a report that the Biden administration is considering whether to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes. The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, was published in the Wall Street Journal. The paper said the discussion came as public officials approach a deadline to say whether they plan to seek a ban of menthol cigarettes or not. (Tsai, 4/19)

The Washington Post: White House Closes In On $1 Trillion Plan Centered On Child Care, Pre-K, Paid Family Leave 
White House officials are closing in on a large spending plan centered on child care, paid family leave and other domestic priorities, according to two people aware of internal discussions. The package could amount to at least $1 trillion of new spending and tax credits, though details remain fluid. The American Families Plan, the second part of the administration’s Build Back Better agenda, is expected to be unveiled ahead of President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, the people said. (Stein and Pager, 4/19)

Stat: Biden Officials Met With 3M, PhRMA, Others On Shoring Up The Stockpile
The Biden administration met privately this month with some of the nation’s biggest health care companies and lobbying organizations to discuss how to rework the health care supply chain. Some 30 companies, including 3M, AmerisourceBergen, and Dupont were invited to a private “workshop” held via WebEx on April 5, along with lobbying groups representing drug makers, hospitals, pharmacists and drug distributors, according to an invite obtained by STAT. (Florko, 4/20)

NPR: Not 'Illegal Alien," But 'Undocumented Noncitizen' Under New Immigration Policy
The Biden administration is ordering U.S. immigration enforcement agencies to change how they talk about immigrants. The terms "illegal alien" and "assimilation" are out — replaced by "undocumented noncitizen" and "integration." The new guidance is laid out in a pair of detailed memos sent Monday by the heads of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to roll back the previous administration's hard-line policies and build what they call a more "humane" immigration system. (Rose, 4/19)

AP: Groups Push For Easier Student Loan Relief For The Disabled
Advocates for the disabled are pressing the Biden administration to cancel student debt for hundreds of thousands of Americans who have disabilities that make them eligible for federal debt forgiveness but who have not applied for the benefit. Using a rarely pursued federal petition process, three federal advocacy groups on Monday asked the U.S. Education Department to consider erasing debt for nearly 400,000 people with severe disabilities and to overhaul a debt forgiveness program that critics say is overly burdensome. (Binkley, 4/19)

The Washington Post: Federal Turf Wars Over Coronavirus Rescues Created ‘Health And Safety Issues,’ Watchdog Concludes
A chaotic effort to return hundreds of Americans to the United States in the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak — including bureaucratic infighting over whether flights out of Wuhan, China, were an “evacuation” or “repatriation” — put the evacuees, federal officials and even U.S. communities at risk, a government watchdog concluded. The U.S. government-led missions, which included an operation to evacuate Americans from a virus-stricken cruise ship off the coast of Japan in February 2020, were plagued by “serious fundamental coordination challenges,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report requested by Congress and released Monday. (Diamond, 4/19)

The New York Times: Officer Attacked In Capitol Riot Died Of Strokes, Medical Examiner Rules
Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the U.S. Capitol Police had multiple strokes hours after sparring with a pro-Trump mob during the Jan. 6 riot and died of natural causes, Washington’s medical examiner said on Monday. The determination is likely to complicate the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute anyone in the death of Officer Sicknick, 42; two men have been charged with assaulting him by spraying an unknown chemical on him outside the Capitol. (Goldman, 4/19)

CBS News: Illinois And OxFam Ask Shareholders To Reject Johnson & Johnson CEO's $30 Million Payday 
The fight over Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky's $30 million payday is heating up. The state of Illinois, charitable organization OxFam and several religious organizations have filed letters with the Securities and Exchange Commission opposing his pay. The letters urge shareholders to vote no on a "say on pay" proposal set for consideration at J&J's annual shareholder meeting on April 22. Officials in Illinois, which owns J&J stock in its municipal retirement fund, take issue with how the company computed Gorsky's 2020 pay. They said it is unfair to exclude the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical company has paid to settle legal claims related to its role in the opioid epidemic. Illinois is asking J&J to cut Gorsky's pay by at least $2 million. (Gandel, 4/19)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Woman Had 3 Brain Surgeries For Clots After J&J Vaccine Shot
An 18-year-old Clark County woman who became critically ill after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has undergone three brain surgeries related to dangerous blood clots, a spokesman for the patient’s family said on Monday. The young woman, Emma Burkey, began to feel ill about a week after being vaccinated on or about April 1, eventually experiencing seizures that sent her to the hospital, spokesman Bret Johnson said. Burkey was first treated at St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus, in Henderson before being airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California for specialized care. Her parents, Russ and Kathy, are at her bedside, but only for a brief period each day due to COVID-19 restrictions. (Hynes, 4/19)

The Washington Post: The Race To Untangle The Secrets Of Rare, Severe Blood Clots After Johnson & Johnson Vaccination
When an otherwise healthy 48-year-old Nebraska woman arrived at an emergency room after three days of abdominal pain and malaise, doctors discovered a life-threatening puzzle. Her platelets, the colorless blood cells that clump to form clots, had plummeted. But a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis revealed extensive blood clots. Her medical team raced to untangle the seemingly paradoxical combination of symptoms. Even as they treated the patient with a common blood thinner, more clots appeared — in her brain and in the blood vessels around her liver and spleen. (Johnson, 4/19)

The Hill: Alaska To Allow Prison Visits For Fully Vaccinated Inmates, Family Members
Alaska's Department of Corrections (DOC) will allow family members to visit fully vaccinated inmates starting on Wednesday, Alaska Public Media reported. It will be the first time public visitations are open for the state’s prisons in more than a year, as corrections officials closed all nonessential access in March 2020 amid to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only facilities in Anchorage and Ketchikan will remain closed due to recent outbreaks. (Oshin, 4/19)

AP: The Latest: Yale Requiring Students Get Vaccine Before Fall
Yale has joined a growing list of universities that are requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning in the fall. The university’s president and provost made the announcement Monday in an email to the Yale community. They urged students to get their shots as soon as possible, calling inoculation “the strongest tool for preventing transmission of the virus.” (4/19)

AP: A Jab On The Job: Companies, Unions Offer COVID-19 Vaccines
Marie Watson wanted to be among the first in line when she and other essential workers became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine — and with good reason. The maintenance parts buyer for a Mission Foods tortilla plant in Pueblo, Colorado, had lost her father to COVID-19 in the fall and was told by a doctor last year that she herself almost certainly had the virus. So when her union, the United Food Workers and Commercial Workers, secured appointments for the plant’s 200 workers, she jumped in her car and drove to a nearby drive-thru clinic for the first of two doses. (Olson, 4/19)

The Washington Post: New Jersey Couple Offers Free Rides To Coronavirus Vaccination Sites Aboard ‘Joe’s Covee Car’ 
When Joseph Cicchetti rolls up to strangers’ driveways in his black hatchback, he is instantly recognizable. There aren’t many Fiat 500s covered in handcrafted red spikes intricately designed to resemble the coronavirus protein. Cicchetti had a good reason to turn his car into a mobile virus: The 58-year-old will take anyone in his suburban New Jersey neighborhood to their coronavirus vaccine appointment aboard “Joe’s Covee Car.” (Salcedo, 4/19)

CBS News: Some Long-Haul COVID Patients Report Vaccines Are Easing Their Lingering Symptoms
A Facebook group called "Survivor Corps" polled 962 COVID-19 long haulers and found 39% said they saw mild to full resolution of their lingering symptoms after they were vaccinated. 46% of people said they remained the same after their shot, 14% said they felt worse. "For me, this is a miracle," COVID long-hauler Kimberly Willis-Rinaldi told CBS News senior medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula. "The viral conjunctivitis specifically in my right eye is gone. The rash that was on my back and on my arms and my neck, that's gone." (4/19)

AP: Arizona Governor Orders 'Vaccine Passport' Ban For The State
Gov. Doug Ducey used his executive powers Monday to prohibit local and regional governments from making “vaccine passports” a requirement for people to enter businesses or get services, calling it an encroachment on the private medical information of Arizona residents. The Republican governor signed an executive order that also bans state agencies or businesses that contract with state government from requiring the vaccine passports that prove people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. (Tang, 4/19)

Houston Chronicle: Texas A&M Researchers Discover A New COVID-19 Variant In College Station
College Station is best known as the home of Texas A&M University, but as of this month, researchers have confirmed it’s now the birthplace of a new COVID-19 strain. Only one student has tested positive for BV-1, named for the Brazos Valley. They were diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 5 and experienced mild respiratory symptoms. A second test on March 25 turned up positive results, worrying researchers the variant would cause a longer infection in young adults. (Wu, 4/19)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Damages Brain Without Infecting It, Study Suggests 
Although SARS-CoV-2 probably does not infect the brain, it can damage it significantly, a new study of autopsies of 41 COVID-19 patients finds. Researchers at Columbia University say that they found no signs of virus inside the patients' brain cells but saw many brain abnormalities that could explain the confusion and delirium seen in some patients with severe coronavirus and the lingering "brain fog" in those with mild disease. (Van Beusekom, 4/19)

Roll Call: Tribes See Progress In COVID-19 Fight 
Last summer, the Navajo Nation had the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the country. The nation’s largest Native American reservation reported 2,304 cases per 100,000 people in mid-May, compared to the U.S. average in mid-May of 8 per 100,000. On Nov. 21, Navajo Nation daily cases peaked at 401 — over 1.5 times the number of cases on the worst day of May. But on March 22, the reservation had good news. There were no deaths or even new cases to report. (Raman, 4/19)

ABC News: Over-The-Counter COVID-19 Rapid Tests To Be Sent To Major Pharmacies This Week 
Store shelves at pharmacies across the county will soon be filled with affordable, quick, at-home coronavirus test kits. BinaxNOW, a rapid COVID test made by Abbott Laboratories, was shipped Monday to major pharmaceutical chains, including Walgreens, CVS and Walmart, to be sold over the counter. The tests will be sold in two-count packs for $23.99. (Pezenik and Pereira, 4/19)

CIDRAP: Study: Indoor School Sports Most Likely To Spread COVID-19
A study in an Atlanta school district revealed that the highest secondary COVID-19 attack rates were in indoor, high-contact sports settings (23.8%), staff meetings or lunches (18.2%), and elementary school classrooms (9.5%), and that staff were more susceptible to COVID-19 than students were. The study, published late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases, tracked COVID-19 cases and case contacts from Dec 11, 2020, through Jan 22, 2021, in a district that included eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. Students were in-person 4 days per week and wore masks, and desks were spaced 3 to 6 feet apart. (4/19)

Fox News: Oxford Challenge Trial Assessing Coronavirus Reinfection, Immune Responses
The University of Oxford announced Monday it launched a challenge trial intentionally re-infecting participants with the novel coronavirus to better understand how the immune system mounts a response the second time around, and potentially pave the way for improved vaccines and treatments. Britain marked the first country worldwide to greenlight "challenge trials" in February, Reuters reports, which generally involves "a carefully controlled study that involves purposefully infecting a subject with a pathogen or bug, in order to study the effects of that infection," per a related university release posted Monday. (Rivas, 4/19)

Boston Globe: Adagio Raises $336 Million To Advance Covid-19 Antibody Treatment
Waltham-based Adagio Therapeutics announced on Monday that it has raised $336 million in new funding to rapidly advance its Covid-19 antibody treatment, which aims to treat and prevent the disease and all of its known variants. Last week the Waltham biotech began recruitment for global clinical trial to test the drug’s efficacy as a treatment for high-risk individuals with mild or moderate Covid-19. The goal: to determine whether a single intramuscular dose could prevent hospitalizations and deaths. (Gardizy, 4/19)

Fox News: Coronavirus Antiviral Drug Shows Promise In Hamsters, Enters Human Testing
An experimental antiviral treatment against the virus causing COVID-19 showed promise in animal studies and has entered human clinical trials, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The drug, MK-4482, was said to drop viral levels and reduce damage from the disease in the lungs of hamsters treated for infection, per an NIH release. The treatment works by preventing the virus from replicating, with benefits seen when the drug was given 12 hours before or 12 hours after infection. Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases published findings in the Nature Communications journal. (Rivas, 4/19)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Allocates $145 Million To Health Center Look-Alikes To Fight COVID-19
Community-based healthcare providers will get $145 million from HHS to support their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said Monday. The funding is for so-called "health center look-alikes," providers that deliver primary care services to underserved communities and vulnerable populations but don't get health center grants from HHS. They can use it to slow the spread of the virus, strengthen vaccine efforts and improve healthcare services and related infrastructure. The new spending is part of the $7.6 billion that Congress gave HHS to help community health centers fight COVID-19 under the American Rescue Plan. (Brady, 4/19)

Stat: The Future Of Voice Tech In Medicine Is Here. Can It Live Up To The Promise?
Microsoft’s high-profile of acquisition of Nuance Communications is a seeming win for patients and providers. The voice recognition company, which sells artificial intelligence solutions that can listen to clinical conversations and auto-populate electronic health records, has the potential to dramatically improve care by removing frequent sources of digital friction. (Palmer, 4/20)

Stat: A PBM Offered A $500 Gift Card To Persuade Patients To Switch Drugs
Dozens of patient advocacy groups are angry over an unusual move by a health insurer that recently began offering $500 debit cards to people who agree to switch psoriasis medicines after it removed a widely used drug from several of its formularies. At issue is a decision by Cigna (CI) to offer the debit cards as an incentive to psoriasis patients to try alternatives to a Novartis (NVS) treatment called Cosenytx. (Silverman, 4/19)

AP: Did Mask Hamper Chauvin's Image At Murder Trial?
The mask that former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was required to wear during most of his trial in George Floyd ’s death hid his reaction to testimony, including any signs of sympathy or remorse that legal experts said could make a difference to jurors. As his attorney delivered closing arguments in his defense, his mask came off. Coronavirus concerns forced Chauvin and other participants to wear masks except when they were addressing the court. Chauvin, wearing a light gray suit with a blue shirt and blue tie, removed his mask Monday while his defense attorney presented his closing arguments to jurors. While prosecutors made their case, though, he kept his mask on with his eyes mostly focused on taking notes. (Groves, 4/19)

ABC News: Universities Provide Mental Health Support To Students As Derek Chauvin Trial Continues 
Several universities and colleges across the country have reached out to students to provide campus support and resources as deliberations continue in the Derek Chauvin trial. Universities including Princeton University, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston University, Northwestern University, Grinnell College, Binghamton University and Columbia College Chicago have reached out to their student communities, listing mental health resources and virtual community spaces to help students and faculty process a trial that has sent shockwaves across the country. (Arancio, 4/20)

CBS News: Racism's Corrosive Impact On The Health Of Black Americans 
When the Centers for Disease Control declared last week that racism is a serious public health threat in America, it acknowledged something that researchers have found for decades: on nearly every measure of health, African Americans are more prone to serious disease and premature death. The coronavirus pandemic has provided devastating evidence of this: Black Americans have died of COVID-19 at twice the rate of Whites, and so far are being vaccinated at a dramatically lower rate. Poverty and unequal access to high-quality health care play a role in these disparities, but this is not a matter of genetics. Harvard researcher David Williams has spent his career showing what the CDC now recognizes: racism itself can be a killer. (Whitaker, 4/18)

The New York Times: Authorities Did Not Try To Use ‘Red Flag’ Law For Indianapolis Gunman
In Brandon Hole’s case, prosecutors considered his immediate mental health crisis — his mother told them he had talked of killing himself — to be the priority, and after his gun was taken away, they considered the crisis averted. Research has shown that red flag laws do prevent gun suicides, and some of those who have studied gun violence say that suicide prevention should be seen as the primary purpose of such laws. (Robertson, 4/19)

AP: Asian Americans Wary About School Amid Virus, Violence
A Chinese American mother in the Boston suburbs is sending her sons to in-person classes this month, even after one of them was taunted with a racist “slanted-eyes” gesture at school, just days after the killings of women of Asian descent at massage businesses in Atlanta. In the Dallas area, a Korean American family is keeping their middle schooler in online classes for the rest of the year after they spotted a question filled with racist Chinese stereotypes, including a reference to eating dogs and cats, on one of her exams. (Marcelo, 4/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Accused Of Causing Opioid Addiction In Trial 
A lawyer for several large California communities accused four drugmakers of causing a deadly wave of opioid addiction with their aggressive marketing of pain pills, while defense attorneys said the firms followed the law, on the opening day of a trial closely watched by the pharmaceutical industry. “Without an avalanche of prescription opioids, there wouldn’t be an opioid epidemic,” said Fidelma Fitzpatrick, a plaintiffs’ lawyer hired to represent the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara and the city of Oakland. (Randazzo, 4/19)

Bloomberg: J&J, Teva Opioid Trial May Signal Cost of Drug Maker Accords
A California judge may soon provide a clearer picture of what it will cost drug makers including Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. to resolve liability for their role in the U.S. opioid epidemic. The first trial against opioid companies in almost two years started Monday in Santa Ana, where four California municipalities are demanding at least $50 billion for what they claim was the illegal marketing of pain pills. The case, which will be decided without a jury and tried virtually, may be a road map for thousands of similar claims pending against drug makers, distributors and pharmacies. (Feeley, 4/19)

Stat: A New Book Traces The Roots Of The Opioid Crisis Through The Sackler Family
The family behind the OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma was already under intense legal and public scrutiny when they learned in 2019 that comedian John Oliver was planning to do a segment about them on his show, “Last Week Tonight.” But being the target of a social commentary like Oliver’s struck a chord for at least one member of the Sackler family. (Joseph, 4/20)

The Washington Post: A 73-Year-Old With Dementia Took $14 Of Items From Walmart. Police Broke Her Arm In A Violent Arrest.
Karen Garner was plucking purple wildflowers and strolling back to her home in Loveland, Colo., last year when the police spotted her. A few minutes earlier, the 73-year-old with dementia had walked out of a Walmart without paying for some items worth roughly $14 before returning them to employees outside. Now, as the officer tried to arrest her, she appeared confused and frightened. “I’m going home,” she pleaded, still clutching the flowers as he wrestled her into handcuffs. (Elfrink, 4/20)

The Washington Post: The Big Number: A Major Pandemic Weight Gain 
Since the pandemic began, about 42 percent of U.S. adults have gained weight — 29 pounds, on average, according to the American Psychological Association’s latest “Stress in America” report. About half of the weight-gainers reported adding more than 15 pounds; 10 percent, more than 50 pounds. Men have put on more weight than women (37 vs. 22 pounds, on average), and younger adults have gained more than older people (millennials averaging 41 pounds vs. baby boomers at 16 pounds). (Searing, 4/19)

The New York Times: Emerging From The Pandemic With Acne, Facial Hair And Body Odor 
Dr. Chanelle Coble, an adolescent medicine specialist at N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine, said that young people are experiencing the body changes of puberty without the supports they would usually get from their peer group, and that is part of the general stress of the pandemic year. In her New York City practice, Dr. Coble said that she has seen higher than usual rates of severe anxiety and depression, as well as disordered eating, including among 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds. (Klass, 4/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Strains, Sprains And Pinched Nerves: Injuries At Home Are On The Rise 
For more than a year, some of us have been working in makeshift offices, hunched over computers on beds, floors or coffee tables. Stuck at home, we’ve taken on projects and have been climbing ladders, painting walls and using tools that once collected dust in the basement. Some of us stopped exercising entirely—or launched into fitness routines without proper preparation. The result, doctors say, is more injuries among people hunkered down during the pandemic. “I’ve seen neck strains, rotator cuff injuries, low-back strains,” says Carlo Milani, a physiatrist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. That’s not all. Dr. Milani also is seeing “lumbar disc injuries, cervical spine disc injuries, pinched nerves in the neck, pinched nerves in the lower back.” (Reddy, 4/19)

CIDRAP: Review Finds Increased MRSA Risk From Dog Ownership
A review and meta-analysis of previously published studies has identified dog ownership as a risk factor for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization, German researchers reported last week in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. ... The data suggest that transmission occurs primarily from humans to dogs, who then may serve as a reservoir for reinfection and transmission to other household members. In addition, dogs may be a vector for livestock-associated strains of MRSA. (4/19)

AP: North Dakota Backs Health Care For Fallen Officers' Families
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed bipartisan legislation Monday that will cover the cost of health insurance for the surviving spouses and children of emergency responders killed in the line of duty. The bill, sponsored by Grand Forks Democrat Rep. Zac Ista, covers law enforcement, corrections officers, firefighters and other public-employed emergency workers. Ista said 17 other states, including neighboring Minnesota, offer similar benefits to surviving families. (MacPherson, 4/19)

The Advocate: John Bel Edwards Won't Support Bills That Ban Transgender Athletes, Restrict Medical Treatment
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday he will not back bills that would place curbs on transgender athletes and other proposals that would restrict minors pursuing transgender treatments. "I am concerned about emotionally fragile people," Edwards told reporters. The brief comments could signal the death knell of the bills at the start of the second week of Louisiana's two-month session. (Sentell, 4/19)

The Washington Post: He Raised Over $40,000 On Facebook To Feed Hungry Neighbors During The Pandemic. Now He Owes $16,000 In Taxes.
When Louis Goffinet, a middle school science teacher in Connecticut, first started buying groceries for struggling families, he never expected to be handling tens of thousands of dollars. Determined to help a few elderly or laid-off neighbors last April, he appealed to his Facebook friends to throw him a few bucks on an online fundraiser. Much to his surprise, that effort quickly drew hundreds of donors from around the world. By July, Goffinet had raised more than $30,000, using the money to buy and deliver bags of food — as well as gas and rental assistance — for more than a hundred families in Mansfield Center, Conn. The bad news came in January, in an envelope from the Internal Revenue Service: He owed about half that amount in taxes. (Armus, 4/19)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Plans To Double Number Of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Businesses can apply for 73 new dispensary licenses this summer, bringing the total allowed to 130 statewide. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy approved the expansion Monday afternoon. Under the plan, applicants would have to apply by the same rules as the initial 2017 application process, including security and business plan requirements. Applicants that meet the qualifications would be entered into a lottery to allocate licenses by dispensary district, which is typically one county or a group of two or three smaller counties. Licensees would be limited to five dispensary licenses total statewide, including licenses they have now. (Borchardt, 4/19)

AP: Should States Set Pot Policy By Its Potency? Some Say Yes
As marijuana legalization spreads across U.S. states, so does a debate over whether to set pot policy by potency. Under a law signed last month, New York will tax recreational marijuana based on its amount of THC, the main intoxicating chemical in cannabis. Illinois imposed a potency-related tax when recreational pot sales began last year. Vermont is limiting THC content when its legal market opens as soon as next year, and limits or taxes have been broached in some other states and the U.S. Senate’s drug-control caucus. (Peltz, 4/20)

CBS News: Nevada Killer Seeks Firing Squad Over Lethal Injection If He's Executed
A convicted killer fighting a possible June execution date that would make him the first person put to death in Nevada in 15 years is calling for the state to consider the firing squad as an option, a rare method in the United States. Attorneys for Zane Michael Floyd say he doesn't want to die and are challenging the state plan to use a proposed three-drug lethal injection, which led to court challenges that twice delayed the execution of another convicted killer who later took his own life in prison. (4/20)