First Edition: April 22, 2022

KHN: US Rep. Gaetz’s Diagnosis Of What’s Driving Insulin Costs Misses The Root Cause
At the end of March, after the House passed a bill that would cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month for insured consumers, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted about why he voted against the legislation. “Insulin price increases have more to do with increased consumer demand than the bad behavior of Big Pharma, which I am quick to condemn,” Gaetz wrote. (Knight and DeGuzman, 4/22)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: A Conversation With Peter Lee On What’s Next For The ACA
In this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” podcast, host Julie Rovner talks with Peter Lee, former head of Covered California, the largest state-run marketplace for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Lee, who was the first executive director of Covered California and held the job for more than 10 years, stepped away in March. He reflects on how the ACA has changed the nation’s health system, what could result if Congress fails to renew expanded premium subsidies that have helped boost coverage, and what should happen next with the health law and the millions of Americans who still lack health insurance coverage. (4/21)

The Washington Post: CDC Issues Nationwide Alert About Mysterious Hepatitis Cases In Kids
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a nationwide health alert Thursday about an unusual cluster of serious hepatitis cases in young children for which the cause, or causes, is not known. Federal health officials and the Alabama Department of Public Health are investigating nine cases of hepatitis in children 1-to-6 years old who were hospitalized between October 2021 and February 2022 with significant liver injury. All of the children were previously healthy, officials said, and two required liver transplants. There are no reported deaths. CDC’s alert is to notify physicians and public health authorities nationwide to be on the lookout for symptoms and report suspected cases. (Sun and Cha, 4/21)

Reuters: U.S. Warns Doctors To Look For Hepatitis In Children As Probe Widens 
The first such U.S. cases were identified in October 2021 at a children’s hospital in Alabama that admitted five young patients with significant liver injury - including some with acute liver failure - of unknown cause. In those cases, the children tested positive for adenovirus. The more common forms of the liver disease - hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C - were ruled out. A review of hospital records identified four additional cases, all of whom had liver injury and adenovirus infection. Lab tests found that some of these children were infected with adenovirus type 41, which causes acute infection of the digestive system. The state has not found any new cases beyond the original cluster. (Steenhuysen, 4/21)

Stat: N.C. Is Second U.S. State To Report Unusual Cases Of Hepatitis In Kids
Health authorities in North Carolina say they are investigating two cases of hepatitis in young children, making the state the second to report cases that appear to be linked to an outbreak that is being seen in a growing number of countries. Bailey Pennington, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, told STAT of the cases in an email on Thursday, saying the state is both conducting surveillance for other possible cases and working with its poison control center and epidemiologists to try to determine the cause of the illnesses. (Branswell, 4/21)

The New York Times: Routine Childhood Vaccinations In The U.S. Slipped During The Pandemic 
Kindergartners in the United States fell behind on routine childhood vaccinations during the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday, a slide that experts attributed to skipped checkups and to a groundswell of resistance to Covid-19 shots spilling into unease about other vaccines. During the 2020-21 school year, about 94 percent of kindergartners had the required vaccines, a drop of roughly one percentage point from the previous school year, the C.D.C. said. That pulled coverage levels below the target of 95 percent, raising fears that life-threatening childhood illnesses like measles could at some point become more prevalent. (Mueller and Hoffman, 4/21)

AP: Rates For Measles, Other Vaccinations Dip For Kindergartners 
In addition, almost 400,000 fewer children than expected entered kindergarten and their vaccination status is uncertain, the CDC said. ... “We haven’t seen outbreaks and that’s probably representative of the fact that families were staying home during the pandemic,” said Dr. Georgina Peacock, the CDC’s director of immunization services. But authorities worry that could change if kids remain behind on their shots as more people return to normal routines. (Tanner, 4/21)

NBC News: In A First, Firearms Were Leading Cause Of Death For U.S. Children And Teens In 2020
Guns became the leading cause of death among children and teens in 2020, killing more people ages 1 to 19 in the U.S. than vehicle crashes, drugs overdoses or cancer. More than 4,300 died of firearm-related injuries that year — a 29 percent increase from 2019 — according to a research letter published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The letter analyzed decades of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bendix, 4/22)

Forbes: The Leading Cause Of Death In Children And Youths Is Now Guns
Accidents and injuries remain the leading cause of death for children and young adults. Until recently, motor vehicle accidents were the number one cause of accidental death in these age groups. But in recent years, gun-related injuries surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the most common cause of death in youths and children, and this number continues to increase each year. An article published in the April 16, 2022 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reviewed this change, and discussed implications and likely reasons for this shift. (Shapiro, 4/18)

AP: Biden Drug Control Plan Stresses Harm Reduction, Treatment
President Joe Biden is sending his administration’s first national drug control strategy to Congress as the U.S. overdose death toll hit a new record of nearly 107,000 during the past 12 months. The strategy, released Thursday, is the first national plan to prioritize what’s known as harm reduction, said White House drug czar Dr. Rahul Gupta. That means it focuses on preventing death and illness in drug users while trying to engage them in care and treatment. (Johnson, 4/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: VP Kamala Harris Decries U.S. Maternal Health Care Crisis In S.F. Visit, Praises UCSF Program
The United States is facing a maternal health crisis, with the highest maternal death rate among wealthy nations and particularly high rates among Black women, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a visit to UCSF medical facilities in San Francisco on Thursday. The country must make solving the crisis a national priority, she said. “It is real and it is impacting so many women and their families and communities,” Harris said after touring UCSF’s perinatal care program for Black families, called EMBRACE, located at the medical center’s Mission Bay campus. “A big factor that contributes to these outcomes is system inequities, the differences in how people are treated based on who they are or where they live.” (Ho, 4/21)

ABC News: Army Revises Policies On Pregnancy, Parental Leave For Soldiers
The United States Army has announced new policies to expand soldiers' and their family's health. The 12-part directive expands previous policies such as allowing paid medical leave for pregnancies and pregnancy losses for soldiers and/or their spouses. It also creates new policies such as ones addressing soldiers and spouses going through fertilization treatment. (Dunn, 4/21)

Task & Purpose: The Army Just Became The Only Service To Give Non-Birthing Parents Leave After A Miscarriage
The Army will now give both parents convalescent leave in the case of a miscarriage, stillbirth, or loss after birth. “The Army will be the only service so far to apply this convalescent leave to male soldiers, acknowledging emotional loss after this very significant life event,” Amy Kramer, the policy lead action officer, told reporters on Thursday. “So in addition to the convalescent leave provided to the female soldier that undergoes the actual miscarriage for physical healing and emotional healing, male soldiers, their spouses, will also be eligible.” (Britzky, 4/21)

NBC News: At Least Five USS George Washington Shipmates Died By Suicide In Last Year
At least five U.S. sailors who served on the same aircraft carrier in Virginia have died by suicide in the last year, including three who died within a week earlier this month, military officials said Thursday. The string of suicides among USS George Washington sailors may indicate a larger mental health problem, according to experts, and it comes less than three years after a similar cluster of suicides on another Navy vessel. (Chan, 4/21)

Military.com: 10 Deaths In 10 Months: String Of Suicides On A Single Aircraft Carrier
The fact that the carrier is in the shipyards -- and for far longer than originally planned -- has created a difficult environment, according to the sailors who spoke to Military.com. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier has been undergoing a refueling and complex overhaul at Newport News since 2017. The massive maintenance period, which typically lasts four years, is usually done halfway through a carrier's 50-year life to refuel the nuclear reactor and see to repairs and upgrades. In 2019, the ship was scheduled to be done in 2021. By 2020, that had changed to 2022. Danny Hernandez, a spokesman for Newport News Shipbuilding, told Military.com in an email that "COVID-19 impacts and unplanned growth work resulted in delays to the schedule." (Toropin, 4/20)

The Hill: Fauci: Judge’s Decision To Strike Down Travel Mask Mandate Could Set ‘Disturbing’ Precedent 
Top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday said a judge’s decision this week to strike down a federal mask mandate on public transportation systems could set a “disturbing” precedent for the next public health crisis. The White House’s chief medical adviser told CBS’s Robert Costa that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should be the arbiter of public health decisions, not the courts. Fauci said the mask mandate was “not a judicial matter.” (Dress, 4/21)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Lifts Mask Mandate, Hours After Mayor Jim Kenney Defended It
Philadelphia’s Board of Health rescinded its indoor mask mandate Thursday night — three days after it went into effect, and hours after Mayor Jim Kenney defended the controversial policy that made his city an outlier in the national COVID-19 response. The city still strongly recommends masking in indoor public spaces, city spokesperson Kevin Lessard said. “Due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts, the City will move to strongly recommending masks in indoor public spaces as opposed to a mask mandate,” he said. (Laughlin, 4/22)

AP: Boston Officials Recommend Wearing Masks Indoors Again
Boston health officials are recommending that people wear masks indoors again because of a steep increase in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks. The Boston Public Health Commission said Thursday that people should take precautions, citing a 65% increase in cases and a slow rise in hospitalizations. The number of COVID-19 deaths statewide has been on the decline since January and is far from the peaks earlier in the pandemic. (4/21)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Keeps Mask Mandate At Airports, Public Transit
Despite recent changes at the federal level, Los Angeles County is continuing to require travelers to mask up when aboard public transit or in indoor transportation hubs such as airports. The new health officer order, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, means the nation’s most populous county again has face-covering rules that go beyond those set by the state. On Wednesday, the California Department of Public Health unveiled its own updated guidance that strongly recommends residents mask up when using public transit, though it’s no longer required. (Money and Lin II, 4/21)

The Washington Post: How A Single Judge’s Ruling Upended National Covid Policy
For more than a year, a little-known group called the Health Freedom Defense Fund has been working to roll back vaccine and mask mandates all over the country, often filing lawsuits one community at a time — from a tiny town in Idaho to the Los Angeles Unified School District and beyond. The group, created last year by a former Wall Street executive turned anti-vaccine activist to advocate for “bodily autonomy,” saw mixed results, with some local officials bending under the pressure and others winning efforts to dismiss lawsuits they viewed as coming from a fringe organization. Until this week. (Abutaleb, Sampson and Marimow, 4/21)

AP: California Will Keep Workplace Pandemic Rules Through 2022
California workplace regulators on Thursday extended mandatory pay for workers affected by the coronavirus through the end of 2022, acting more than two months after state lawmakers restored similar benefits through September. The decision again pitted management against labor as the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board renewed revised workplace safety rules that would otherwise have expired in early May. (Thompson, 4/21)

The Washington Post: Metro Schools Report Post-Spring Break Covid Case Counts 
D.C. regional schools reported post-spring break coronavirus case numbers this week that were mostly lower in comparison to previous returns from breaks during the school year. Testing strategies have varied across the region. Some school districts required testing to return after breaks, such as at D.C. Public Schools. Others sent test kits home, but instructed families to report only positive results, like in Montgomery County. Most Virginia schools did not have compulsory testing after spring break. (Asbury and Stein, 4/21)

Bay Area News Group: San Mateo: Nearly 90 Students Test Positive For COVID-19 After Attending Prom
Nearly 90 San Mateo High School students have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending prom earlier this month, according to school officials. The school held its prom April 9 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. As of 11 a.m. Thursday, about 90 of the nearly 600 students who attended the event had tested positive for the coronavirus disease, said San Mateo Union High School District spokesperson Laura Chalkley. “From what is being reported to us, cases are mild or students are asymptomatic,” Chalkley said. Chalkley said masks were strongly recommended at the event, per current public health guidelines in San Francisco, however many students chose not to wear a mask. (Green, 4/21)

The Boston Globe: A Puzzling Phenomenon: Patients Report A Rebound Of COVID-19 Symptoms After Taking The Antiviral Paxlovid
When it first hit the market in December, the COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, was hailed as a game-changer, an effective medicine that kept at-risk people out of the hospital. But now some patients are reporting on social media an unusual and unnerving phenomenon: their COVID symptoms appear to rebound after taking the medication. And it’s not just their symptoms that reappear. Many report that after finishing their five-day course of treatment, feeling better, and testing negative on an at-home rapid test, they then test positive again a few days later. (Lazar, 4/21)

AP: UK Patient Had COVID-19 For 505 Days Straight, Study Shows 
A U.K. patient with a severely weakened immune system had COVID-19 for almost a year and a half, scientists reported, underscoring the importance of protecting vulnerable people from the coronavirus. There’s no way to know for sure whether it was the longest-lasting COVID-19 infection because not everyone gets tested, especially on a regular basis like this case. (Ungar, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Unionized Nursing Homes Have Lower COVID-19 Mortality Rates, Study Finds
Unionized nursing homes have a 10.8% lower resident COVID-19 mortality rate and a 6.8% lower worker COVID-19 infection rates than non-unionized nursing homes, according to research published this week. Using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Service Employees International Union, the Health Affairs research analyzed 13,350 nursing homes between June 8, 2020 and March 21, 2021. Labor unions representing nursing home workers have asked for numerous policies to decrease worker infection risk and lower resident mortality rates, including paid sick leave, access to personal protective equipment, surveillance COVID-19 testing, higher staffing levels, and the isolation of infected residents, said Adam Dean, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the department of political science at George Washington University. (Devereaux, 4/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Can An Employee’s Spouse Who Contracts COVID Sue The Employer? A Federal Court Wants The California Supreme Court To Weigh In
In a case from San Francisco, a federal appeals court asked the California Supreme Court on Thursday whether a worker’s spouse who contracts COVID-19 can sue the worker’s employer — an answer that seems likely to be affirmative, based on the state court’s past actions. The suit was filed by Corey Kuciemba and her husband, Robert Kuciemba, an employee of Victory Woodworks, a furniture construction company in San Francisco. After the city imposed COVID health restrictions on workplaces in May 2020, they said, the company brought in workers from an infected site, disregarded the restrictions and required Robert Kuciemba to work near them. (Egelko, 4/21)

AP: Hawaii Ends Free COVID-19 Testing Program As Cases Rise 
Hawaii’s coronavirus positivity rate has more than doubled in the last month as mask mandates ended and demand for tests dropped. Despite the rise, the state Department of Health Health stopped its free testing program Wednesday as federal funding ended. State organized vaccination efforts will also transition to traditional health care settings and a mobile vaccine program to reach people who can’t leave their homes will end. (4/21)

The Hill: Fauci Says Vaccine Approval For Those Under 5 Likely Not Until June
A COVID-19 vaccine for children under five might not be approved for emergency use until June, Anthony Fauci said on Thursday. Fauci, the chief medical adviser for President Biden, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that health regulators were concerned because vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer were creating slightly different products, which required additional scrutiny. (Dress, 4/21)

CIDRAP: Risk Of Myocarditis After COVID Vaccine Low But Highest In Young Men 
A new study of 23.1 million Scandinavians suggests that the risk of myocarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination is low but highest in 16- to 24-year-old males after the second dose. The results were published yesterday in JAMA Cardiology. .(Van Beusekom, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Cuts Squeeze Rural Hospitals
Sequestration's Medicare payment cuts will have a disproportionate impact on small, rural hospitals, new reports show, and the cuts will soon get deeper. A 1% reduction to all Medicare payments via sequestration kicked in April 1, after Congress suspended the program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cuts will scale up to 2% on July 1; an additional 4% Medicare reimbursement reduction is slated for 2023 via the Pay-As-You-Go Act. Sequestration, combined with waning reimbursement levels from private insurers, declining COVID-19 relief grants, lower patient volumes and higher operating costs, jeopardize more than 600 rural hospitals, or more than 30% of the U.S.' approximately 1,800 rural hospitals, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Two hundred of those hospitals are at risk of closing over the next two to three years, according to the report. (Kacik, 4/21)

AP: HBCU Known For Placing Grads In Med School Planning Its Own 
A small, historically Black university known for its success in getting Black graduates into medical school announced Thursday that it is now planning its own medical school in New Orleans. The coronavirus pandemic emphasized the need for greater diversity in medicine, because representation and trust are part of the reasons for health disparities affecting underrepresented populations, said Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana. (4/21)

The Boston Globe: Scientists To FDA: Don’t Forget About T Cells
A group of nearly 70 academic scientists, doctors, and biotech leaders sent a letter with an unusual request to the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday: Please pay more attention to T cells, an overlooked part of the immune system that helps clear up viral infections. For much of the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccine developers and researchers have largely focused on studying antibodies induced by the shots. Neutralizing antibodies, which many labs are skilled at measuring, are essential for preventing the coronavirus from infecting our cells in the first place. Earlier in the pandemic, the Pfizer and Moderna shots triggered high levels of antibodies that prevented 95 percent of infections. But as new variants emerged, fewer of those antibodies were able to recognize the changing virus. Booster shots can help raise the level of helpful antibodies, but protection against infection is short-lived. (Cross, 4/21)

Stat: The Good Science Project Wants To Rethink How The U.S. Funds Science
The Good Science Project is hoping to push the NIH and other government science agencies to be faster, bolder, and more efficient. The new nonprofit, launched this week, highlights simmering concerns among researchers and science policy experts across the country that the U.S. isn’t getting its money’s worth when it comes to the billions of taxpayer dollars spent each year in pursuit of new knowledge. (Facher, 4/22)

AP: Study Mines Cancer Genetics To Help With Targeted Treatment 
Scientists have analyzed the full genetic blueprints of more than 18,000 cancer samples, finding new patterns of mutations that could help doctors provide better, more personalized treatment. Their study, published Thursday in the journal Science, isn’t the first to do such comprehensive “whole genome” analyses of cancer samples. But no one has ever done so many. (Ungar, 4/21)

Stat: Multiple Myeloma Defies Early Detection. This Precursor Could Help 
For all the recent advances in treating multiple myeloma, scientists have only inched forward in finding ways of screening or intervening early for the disease. Where the discovery of a polyp or a lump might avert progress of colon or breast cancer, blood cancer clinicians have few ways to treat patients who are on the cusp of developing cancer. “We wait, wait, and wait until people get cancer and have, like, organ damage,” said Irene Ghobrial, a hematologist-oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “Then we treat. But if we can reverse that and think of early detection — detecting it before people get it — could I completely cure myeloma? Can I prevent a whole cancer from happening? We have amazing drugs that work. We shouldn’t just wait.” (Chen, 4/21)

Stat: U.S. Spending On Pharmaceuticals Jumped 12% In 2021, Fueled By Costs Of Covid-19 Vaccines And Therapies
Thanks to Covid-19 vaccines and therapies, U.S. spending on pharmaceuticals rose 12% in 2021 as use reached record levels and new prescriptions for acute and chronic care largely recovered from the slowdown seen during the pandemic, according to a new analysis. Meanwhile, out-of-pocket costs paid by patients hit $79 billion, a $4 billion rise from the year before and the same level seen in 2018 after two years of declining costs. Overall, these costs were relatively low — less than $20 per prescription — but about 1% of all prescriptions filled, or 64 million, ran patients $125, underscoring ongoing barriers to affordability. In fact, 81 million prescriptions were not filled last year. (Silverman, 4/21)

Louisville Courier Journal: Federal Judge Puts Temporary Hold On Kentucky Abortion Law, Clearing Way For Services To Resume
A federal judge has issued a temporary order blocking Kentucky's sweeping new abortion law that has forced the state's only two providers to stop offering the procedure. In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings granted a request from one of the state's two abortion providers for a temporary restraining order. The law has put Kentucky in the national spotlight for becoming the first state to eliminate access to all abortion services. (Yetter, 4/21)

AP: Bill Regulating Medication Abortions Heads To Tenn. Governor 
Tennessee would become the latest state to impose harsh penalties on doctors who violate new, strict regulations dictating the dispensing of abortion pills under a proposal headed toward Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. The proposal mirrors similar proposals introduced in Republican-controlled states seeking to clamp down medication abortion access. It’s a coordinated nationwide effort spearheaded by anti-abortion groups upset over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to remove a rule that required women to pick up the abortion medication in person. (Kruesi, 4/21)

AP: Bill Adding Exception To NH Abortion Ban Headed To Governor
A bill adding an exception to New Hampshire’s new abortion ban for cases in which the fetus has been diagnosed with “abnormalities incompatible with life” is heading to the desk of Gov. Chris Sununu, who has said he will sign it. Since Jan. 1, New Hampshire has outlawed abortion after 24 weeks gestation, with exceptions only for pregnancies that threaten the mother’s life or health. Doctors who provide late-term abortions can face felony charges, and ultrasounds are required before any abortion. (Ramer, 4/21)

AP: VT Governor Signs Bill For Toxic Exposure Medical Monitoring
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill into law Thursday that will allow people exposed to toxic substances to sue the culpable facility for medical testing or procedures to monitor for diseases from the exposure. The governor’s bill signing came three days after U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford gave final approval to a $34 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against a plastics company over toxic chemical contamination of soil and groundwater in the Bennington area. (Rathke, 4/21)

AP: 'Amazing': Cannabis Sales In New Jersey Bring Excited Buyers 
Michael Barrows wore his Grateful Dead T-shirt and Jerry Garcia face mask for opening day of recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey on Thursday, one of dozens of people who lined up before dawn to join the celebratory scene. “It’s pretty amazing, exciting, and if I get pulled over on the way home and I’m ever asked if I have any drugs in the car, now I’m allowed to say ‘Only this,’” Barrows said, holding up the canister of marijuana flower he had just purchased. Possession of cannabis is now legal in New Jersey, although driving under the influence is still prohibited. (Catalini, 4/22)

AP: Beshear Seeks Input For Possible Action On Medical Cannabis 
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday he will form an advisory team as part of a broad review as he weighs whether to take executive action to legalize access to medical marijuana. Beshear said he instructed his legal team to analyze potential options for executive action to create a framework to make medical cannabis available for people suffering from specified medical ailments. (Schreiner, 4/21)

NBC News: Florida Bride, Caterer Accused Of Serving Cannabis-Laced Food At Wedding
A Florida bride and a caterer have been charged with serving food containing cannabis to unsuspecting guests at a February wedding, according to officials.The bride, 42, and the caterer, 31, were arrested this week and charged with violations of an anti-tampering law and delivery of cannabis, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department and court records. ... Some people felt so ill that they went to the hospital, where they tested positive for THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Guests reported feeling heavily drugged and said they had not been warned, according to a detective’s affidavit. One guest said he had trouble operating a cellphone, and another thought she might die, the sheriff’s detective wrote. (Helsel, 4/21)

AP: Judge Blocks Montana's Transgender Birth Certificate Law 
A Montana judge on Thursday temporarily blocked enforcement of a law that required transgender people to have undergone a “surgical procedure” before being allowed to change their sex on their birth certificates. The law was part of a growing list of Republican-controlled states including Alabama that have moved to restrict transgender rights as they gain more visibility in culture and society. (Hanson, 4/21)

AP: EXPLAINER: What Medical Treatments Do Transgender Youth Get? 
Transgender medical treatment for children and teens is increasingly under attack in many states, labeled child abuse and subject to criminalizing bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations. Many clinics use treatment plans pioneered in Amsterdam 30 years ago, according to a recent review in the British Psych Bulletin. Since 2005, the number of youth referred to gender clinics has increased as much as tenfold in the U.S., U.K, Canada and Finland, the review said. (Tanner, 4/21)

Fox News: Maine Resident Dies From Rare Tick Virus
A person in eastern Maine has died from a rare virus spread by an infected tick. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the person from Waldo County contracted the Powassan virus. They developed neurologic symptoms and died while in the hospital. The person likely became infected in Maine, the agency said. Maine has identified 14 cases of the Powassan virus since 2010. Cases of the virus are rare in the U.S., with about 25 cases reported each year since 2015. (Musto, 4/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Norovirus Case Linked To Waukesha North Prom That Left Students Sick
While it says it is still investigating what caused some Waukesha North High School students to become ill after attending prom earlier this month, the Waukesha County Health Department has said one of the ill attendees has norovirus. The department said in an emailed statement that it has not identified a potential source or cause of the illness. According to an April 13 letter from Waukesha North principal Kristin Higgins, the school's administration received more than a dozen reports of students experiencing gastrointestinal issues such as vomiting and diarrhea following prom. The school held its prom on April 9 at the Brookfield Conference Center. (Johnson, 4/21)

Oklahoman: How Oklahoma Is Preparing For 988, The Number For Mental Health Crises
With a crisis call center vendor selected, Oklahoma is preparing for the July launch of 988, a new national three-digit phone number for people to call in a mental health crisis. The state Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Department announced last week that it has selected Arizona-based Solari Crisis and Human Services to operate Oklahoma’s 988 call center. The state’s mental health commissioner wants 988 to address and de-escalate mental health crises in the moment, but also to serve as an entry point to connect with other mental health resources. Depending on a person’s needs, that could look like dispatching a mobile crisis team or setting a follow-up appointment with a local treatment provider. (Branham, 4/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Highway Death Toll Messages Linked To Rise In Car Crashes, Study Says
Digital highway signs displaying year-to-date road fatalities—intended to boost safer driving—can backfire, causing an uptick in crashes in the segment of road following the messages, according to a new study. The research, based on several years of crash and road-sign data from Texas, shows the number of vehicle crashes increased, on average, by 4.5% in the 6.2 miles following a fatality-statistic message. Such death-toll messaging on dynamic signs—the kind that typically show travel times or crash alerts—is distracting, the study authors said. They theorize that the signs put excessive demands on drivers’ attention and information-processing abilities, what’s known as cognitive load. (Woodward, 4/21)

ABC News: Over 20,000 Car Seats Recalled Over Choking Hazard 
Over 20,000 car seats are being recalled due to loose pieces of foam that can present a choking hazard to kids. The recall impacts certain CYBEX Sirona M Convertible Child Car Seats, which were manufactured between November 3, 2017, and August 31, 2018, and include model numbers 518000385, 518002153, 518000387, 518002145, 518002149, 518002151 and 519000211. (Maile, 4/21)

Stat: For Kids With Down Syndrome, A New Device Offers Hope For Sleep Problems
Kate Dougherty pairs all of her son Elliot’s doctor’s appointments with a treat, like a trip to his favorite lunch spot or a professional bull riding show — one of Elliot’s favorite sports, right behind baseball and basketball. So when they flew from Missouri to Boston in 2018 for Elliot to have a new device implanted into his chest to treat his sleep apnea, the treat had to be big. Three days after the surgery, Elliot was at his first Red Sox game. Since then, “it’s been a miracle,” his mother said. (Gaffney, 4/21)

The New York Times: How To Manage Allergy Symptoms This Season 
Several studies show that pollen seasons are getting longer and more intense across the country. Climate change and rising carbon dioxide emissions are expected to boost the growth of trees and grasses in many areas, which will mean higher pollen concentrations. “For people who have been managing seasonal allergies for a long time, they may have already noticed allergy symptoms starting earlier, lasting longer and being more intense than even a few years ago,” said Kenneth Mendez, the president and chief executive of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. (Sheikh, 4/21)

CBS News: Want To Go Green After Death? Aquamation, Composting Offer Eco-Friendly Burial Options
People who care about protecting the environment might recycle or conserve water while alive. But there are green end-of-life options as well. Dawna Agosto lost her mother to bladder cancer in April 2021. "She was very strong and put up a really good fight," she says. Agosto adds, "I knew that she wanted to be cremated and have some of her remains spread with my father's remains. "Instead of a traditional cremation, Agosto decided to go with an eco-friendly water cremation, known as aquamation. It combines warm water and an alkali solution to decompose the body. (Bacchus, 4/21)

Politico: Supreme Court Rejects Disability Payments For Puerto Rico Residents 
The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a bid to allow Puerto Rico residents to claim benefits under the federal government’s main disability insurance program, ruling that the Constitution does not require Congress to offer such payments to residents of the island even though people born there are U.S. citizens. The only dissenter from the high court’s ruling was Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was born in New York and is of Puerto Rican descent. (Gerstein, 4/21 )

Bloomberg: Thailand Scraps Covid Testing Mandate To Lure More Tourists
Thailand will scrap a mandatory Covid test on arrival as the Southeast Asian nation rolls back some of the pandemic-era measures seen as deterring global tourists. The RT-PCR tests will be replaced with a voluntary self-administered antigen tests for those entering via air and land borders from May 1, Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the nation’s main virus task force, told reporters after a meeting on Friday. (Nguyen, 4/22)