First Edition: April 7, 2022

KHN: The Pandemic Exacerbates The ‘Paramedic Paradox’ In Rural America 
Even after she’s clocked out, Sarah Lewin keeps a Ford Explorer outfitted with medical gear parked outside her house. As one of just four paramedics covering five counties across vast, sprawling eastern Montana, she knows a call that someone had a heart attack, was in a serious car crash, or needs life support and is 100-plus miles away from the nearest hospital can come at any time. “I’ve had as much as 100 hours of overtime in a two-week period,” said Lewin, the battalion chief for the Miles City Fire and Rescue department. “Other people have had more.” (Houghton, 4/7)

KHN: Never-Ending Costs: When Resolved Medical Bills Keep Popping Up
Every now and then, Suzanne Rybak and her husband, Jim, receive pieces of mail addressed to their deceased son, Jameson. Typically, it’s junk mail that requires little thought, Suzanne said. But on March 5, an envelope for Jameson came from McLeod Health. Jim saw it first. He turned to his wife and asked, “Have you taken your blood pressure medication today?” He knew showing her the envelope would resurface the pain and anger their family had experienced since taking Jameson to McLeod Regional Medical Center two years ago. (Pattani, 4/7)

KHN: A Shortfall Of ECMO Treatment Cost Lives During The Delta Surge 
Speaking from his hospital bed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, James Perkinson’s voice was raspy. In February, he’d just been taken off ECMO, the last-ditch life support treatment in which a machine outside the body does the work of the heart and lungs. Full recovery is expected to take a year or more for Perkinson. “If it wasn’t for the ECMO and the doctors that were put in place at the right time with the right knowledge, I would not be here,” he said, with his wife, Kacie, by his side. (Farmer, 4/7)

NPR: Advisers To FDA Weigh In On Updated COVID Boosters For The Fall
In a daylong virtual meeting, a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration came out in general support of efforts to develop new COVID-19 vaccines tailored to variants. The committee wasn't asked to vote on any specific recommendations to the agency but instead discussed the framework for making decisions about when to change the viral strain or strains used for future vaccines, including boosters. "I think we're in uncharted territory because with SARS-CoV-2 a lot of things have happened that have never happened before," said Dr. Arnold Monto, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan and acting chair of the committee. (Hensley, 4/6)

NBC News: FDA Advisers Struggle With How To Move Forward On Covid Boosters
The committee members were presented with an extremely short timeline: Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, told the panel that scientists would need to determine which strain or strains to target by May or June, so drugmakers have enough time to produce the shots by the fall. (Lovelace Jr., 4/6)

CNBC: Scientists Divided On Need For 4th Covid Shot After FDA Quietly Approved Another Round Of Boosters
Leading U.S. scientists and physicians worry that the FDA and CDC are moving too fast in approving a fourth round of Covid shots, with little public debate that gives the vaccine makers too big a role in setting the pace with which the doses are distributed across the nation. The top U.S. public health agencies last week endorsed a fourth Covid shot for older adults without holding public meetings, drawing criticism from leading vaccine experts who believe federal health officials haven’t provided enough transparency about the reasons for the decision. (Kimball, 4/6)

USA Today: Pfizer COVID Vaccine Study: Unvaccinated Not Swayed By FDA Approval
After the Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine in August, public health experts were hopeful vaccine uptake would skyrocket. But a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found the shift from emergency use authorization of the vaccine to full approval did not sway unvaccinated Americans. Researchers from the University of Utah analyzed vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention starting July 25, a month before full FDA approval, to Sept. 9, the day before President Joe Biden made his vaccine mandate announcement. (Rodriguez, 4/6)

Los Angeles Times: Vice President's Staffer, Others Test Positive For The Coronavirus
Vice President Kamala Harris’ communications director tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, the second close contact of the vice president to become infected in less than a month. Harris’ office did not announce test results for the vice president, but a statement from her press secretary, Kirsten Allen, said she was following official guidance and “plans to continue with her public schedule,” implying that she is not ill. Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, tested positive last month for the coronavirus. (Bierman, 4/6)

Roll Call: Vote On COVID-19 Spending Bill Indefinitely Delayed 
A bipartisan $10 billion COVID-19 supplemental is stuck in the Senate amid a dispute over a tangential pandemic-related border control policy, with both parties at a loss on how the impasse will be resolved. “I don’t see a pathway,” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., who helped negotiate the bill, said Wednesday. The stalemate over the so-called Title 42 policy put the final nail in the coffin for action on the supplemental this week ahead of a scheduled two-week recess, absent a move from Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer to cancel the break and hold senators in town until they reach a deal. (McPherson and Weiss, 4/6)

AP: COVID Spending Bill Stalls In Senate As GOP, Dems Stalemate
A compromise $10 billion measure buttressing the government’s COVID-19 defenses has stalled in the Senate and seemed all but certainly sidetracked for weeks, victim of a campaign-season fight over the incendiary issue of immigration. There was abundant finger-pointing Wednesday but no signs the two parties were near resolving their stalemate over a bipartisan pandemic bill that President Joe Biden and top Democrats wanted Congress to approve this week. With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., prioritizing the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson by week’s end — quite possibly Thursday — the COVID-19 bill seemed sure to slip at least until Congress returns after a two-week recess. (Fram, 4/7)

Fox News: What To Do If A Rabies-Infected Animal Bites You?
The fox that bit Rep. Ami Bera, a reporter, and at least 7 other people in Washington, D.C. Tuesday was euthanized and tested positive for having the rabies virus, Fox News reported. Health experts told Fox News it is vital that a person who is bitten by an animal immediately seek medical treatment and try to get the animal tested for rabies, if possible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated on its website that rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus. It affects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord. The Federal Health Agency said once symptoms of rabies appear, the disease is "nearly always fatal." (McGorry, 4/6)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Home Care Is 'Broken,' U.S. Panel Reports
Critical flaws in the U.S. nursing home system threaten the health and safety of millions of residents, and urgent change is needed, according to a report the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued Wednesday. "Nursing home care in the United States is broken," David Grabowski, a Harvard Medical School professor who serves on the federally chartered organization's Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes, said during a telephone briefing. (Christ, 4/6)

AP: Nursing Home Care, Funding System Need Overhaul, Report Says 
To anyone who saw the scourge of COVID-19 on the country’s most vulnerable, the findings of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine might seem sobering but unsurprising, as the long-term care system’s inadequacies were made plain by more than 150,000 resident deaths. The authors of the 605-page report insist it could be an impetus to address issues that have gotten little more than lip service for decades. ... The report covers a vast cross-section of long-term care, from granular details such as the way facilities are designed to foundational issues that would require massive political capital and investment to address. Among them: the authors advocate for creating a new national long-term care system that would exist outside of Medicaid, the program that is at the center of most long-term care financing. (Sedensky, 4/6)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Health Workers Suffer Combat-Type Moral Trauma
A Duke University study shows that, amid COVID-19, US healthcare workers (HCWs) had similar rates of potential moral injury (PMI)—a type of trauma-induced wound to the psyche—as military combat veterans. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, surveyed 2,099 HCWs in 2020 and 2021 and 618 military veterans deployed to a combat zone after the Sep 11, 2001, US terrorist attacks about PMIs they may have experienced. (Van Beusekom, 4/6)

NPR: People Are Developing Trauma-Like Symptoms As The Pandemic Wears On
In February 2020, Jullie Hoggan picked up the phone to receive lifesaving news. She had been on the list for a kidney transplant and, to her relief, there was now finally a donor. But that reassurance was quickly overshadowed by the looming threat of the novel coronavirus. "I remember standing at my sink and thinking, what about this virus? Like, is this going to be a problem?" she said. It was a question that would completely restructure the next two years of her life. While the surgery was successful and Hoggan is now vaccinated and boosted, she is still severely immunocompromised and has to take significant safety measures. (Lonsdorf, 4/7)

Axios: COVID Cases Rise Again In Half The States
Half of the states are seeing COVID case numbers rise again while nationwide totals continue to fall. The Omicron subvariant known as BA.2 is the dominant strain circulating around the U.S., accounting for almost three out of every four cases. As in-person gatherings have begun again, COVID has sickened a number of Washington A-listers, reminding everyone — yet again — we're not out of the woods with this pandemic. Overall, cases dropped 5% across the U.S. to an average of about 28,700 cases from an average of more than 30,000 cases two weeks ago. (Reed and Beheraj, 4/7)

Bay Area News Group: California Reaches New Low For COVID Patients In ICU
California intensive care units are now treating fewer COVID patients than at any point since the state started tracking that number in March 2020. As of Monday, hospitals around the Golden State reported 231 patients in their ICUs were confirmed or suspected to have COVID, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. The previous low for hospitalized COVID patients in an ICU was 250, set on June 6, 2021, at the zenith of the summer 2021 COVID slump. The number of critically ill COVID patients requiring intensive care was consistently below 500 from early April through mid-July of 2021, but jumped to more than 2,000 during last fall’s delta surge and peaked at more than 2,500 in late January during omicron. (Blair Rowan, 4/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Health Officials Return Thousands Of Life-Saving COVID Drugs, Plead With Public To Use Them
San Francisco has returned thousands of doses of life-saving COVID-19 drugs to the state because the people who could have used them didn’t know the treatment was available, public health officials said Wednesday. Now city officials are sounding an urgent alert to let people know about the antiviral drugs, which must be taken within five days after the onset of COVID symptoms. Although physicians typically write prescriptions, many patients never let their doctors know they’ve tested positive for COVID, or tell them when it’s already too late to benefit from the pills. (Asimov, 4/6)

AP: Arizona Company Reduces COVID Testing, Cites Lack Of Funding
A leading Arizona provider of COVID-19 vaccinations and testing says a lack of federal funding has forced it to drop dozens of testing sites and is no longer providing free tests to uninsured people. People without insurance will have to pay a $100 fee for COVID-19 testing and testing has been suspended at 60 of Embry Health’s Arizona sites, the company said in recent announcements. (4/6)

AP: Several COVID Deaths In WA Happened Before 1st Was Announced 
The Washington state Department of Health has confirmed at least four other Washingtonians died from COVID complications before or on Feb. 28, 2020 — the date the first known death in Washington and the U.S. was announced. In a recent review of the state’s earliest COVID-19 deaths, three people who died before the initial announcement were from long-term care facility Life Care Center of Kirkland, the site of the first known U.S. coronavirus outbreak, The Seattle Times reported. (4/6)

CNN: Covid-19 Infections Can Set Off Massive Inflammation In The Body
From the early days of the pandemic, doctors noticed that in severe cases of Covid-19 -- the ones that landed people in the hospital on ventilators with shredded lungs -- most of the internal wreckage wasn't being directly inflicted by the virus itself but by a blizzard of immune reactions triggered by the body to fight the infection. Researchers knew that these so-called cytokine storms were damaging, but they didn't know why the SARS-CoV-2 virus seemed to be so good at setting them off. A new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature is helping to explain how these immune overreactions happen to Covid-19 patients. (Goodman, 4/6)

ABC News: COVID-19 Infection Increases Risk Of Serious Blood Clots 3 To 6 Months Later: Study 
Being infected with COVID-19 raises the risk of developing serious blood clots, a new study suggests. An international team of researchers from Sweden, the United Kingdom and Finland compared more than 1 million people in Sweden with a confirmed case of the virus between February 2020 and May 2021 to 4 million control patients who tested negative. (Kekatos, 4/6)

CIDRAP: C-Sections, Inductions Dropped During First Months Of COVID-19
Fewer in-person prenatal visits during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a 6.5% drop in premature caesarian sections (C-sections) and inductions, according to a new study in Pediatrics. The research was conducted by a team at Georgia Tech's School of Economics. This is the first major study to examine pandemic-era birth data at scale, the authors say, and it raises questions about how and if some medical interventions may unnecessarily result in preterm deliveries. (4/6)

AP: KS Sen. Mark Steffen Sends Letters To Physicians On COVID-19 
A Kansas physician-legislator who has acknowledged that he is under investigation by the state medical board after supporting the deworming drug ivermectin is instructing doctors on COVID-19 treatment in a letter. The Wichita Eagle reports that Kansas Sen. Mark Steffen sent a letter on official Senate stationery to health care providers telling them that the way COVID-19 patients are treated has changed and that they will be shielded from Board of Healing Arts “interference.” (4/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Napa Doctor Convicted Of Selling Fake COVID Vaccination Cards, Remedies
A naturopathic doctor from Napa was convicted Wednesday on charges that she sold fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and phony “immunization pellets” to her patients, officials said. Juli Mazi accepted a plea agreement in February and pleaded guilty this week to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements related to health care matters, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. (Picon, 4/6)

Stat: Many Medicare Part D Beneficiaries Don't Fill Prescriptions For Pricey Drugs
Medicare Part D beneficiaries who have low incomes and receive government subsidies were nearly twice as likely to fill a prescription for a high-priced medicine for cancer or other illnesses compared with Americans who don’t receive such support, according to a new study. The analysis found that many beneficiaries who do not receive subsidies — which can cap or lower out-of-pocket costs — did not fill their prescriptions. For instance, 30% of prescriptions for cancer drugs were not filled and more than 50% of prescriptions written for medicines used to treat high cholesterol or immune disorders also went unfilled. (Silverman, 4/6)

The New York Times: Inside A Campaign To Get Medicare Coverage For A New Alzheimer’s Drug
The day after Medicare officials announced a preliminary decision to sharply limit coverage of the controversial new Alzheimer’s medication Aduhelm, citing its unclear benefit and serious safety risks, the nation’s most prominent Alzheimer’s advocacy organization convened its policy team. The agenda: fighting Medicare’s proposal. “This is our top priority,” Robert Egge, the association’s chief public policy officer, said at the Jan. 12 session, according to recordings obtained by The New York Times. (Belluck, 4/6)

Modern Healthcare: Biosimilars, Generics To Slow Drug Cost Increases In 2022
Biosimilars and generic drugs are poised to slow drug cost growth this year, a new report indicates. Total drug spending increased 7.7% from 2020 to 2021 to $576.9 billion, driven by an uptick in the utilization of COVID-19 therapies, according to an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists analysis. Drug prices only increased 1.9% in 2021, in part thanks to new biosimilars and generics that came to market. Drug spending rose 4.9% to $535.3 billion from 2019 to 2020 while prices ticked up 0.3%. (Kacik, 4/6)

AP: Nebraska Weighs Bill To Ban Abortion If Court Overturns Roe 
Nebraska would immediately ban abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns its 1973 decision to legalize the procedure under a bill that sharply divided lawmakers on Wednesday. Lawmakers remained stuck on the measure and weren’t expected to take the first of three required votes on it until later Wednesday evening. If it passes, Nebraska would become the 14th state nationally to enact a so-called trigger law. (Schulte, 4/6)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska House Votes To Defund Medicaid Abortion Services Despite Court Rulings Requiring It
Defying court rulings, the Alaska House of Representatives voted 21-18 on Wednesday to cut Alaska’s Medicaid budget by $350,000 in an attempt to eliminate state funding for abortion services. The vote is the latest in a yearslong series of attempts by Alaska legislators to cancel public funding for abortion services. Prior votes have had little effect. The state has shifted Medicaid funding from other sources and continued to provide abortions. In 2021, according to the latest available figures, Medicaid funded 537 of 1,226 abortions in Alaska. (Brooks, 4/6)

NPR: Anti-Abortion Group Claims It Took 115 Fetuses From A Medical Waste Truck
An anti-abortion group that is facing previous federal charges said it took 115 fetuses from a medical waste company and buried 110 of them at an undisclosed location. Washington, D.C., police, which originally said it found five fetuses in one of the group members' apartments, is continuing to investigate the case. At a news conference Tuesday, two members of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy, said they got the fetal remains from a medical waste company employee who gave them the box from his truck. (Shivaram, 4/6)

The 19th: Sexual Assault Survivors Are Often Charged Hundreds Of Dollars For Rape Kits
$347. That was the average out-of-pocket cost for sexual assault survivors who received forensic exam services as part of a rape kit from 2016 to 2018, the Kaiser Family Foundation found.  Under federal law, they weren’t supposed to pay anything at all. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) — reauthorized last month as part of Congress’ omnibus spending bill — requires states to bear full out-of-pocket costs of forensic medical exams to receive federal funds for law enforcement agencies, courts and victim services. Even if victims are fully reimbursed later, states that allow hospitals to charge patients are still violating the requirements laid out for them by the Justice Department to access those funds. (Rummler, 4/6)

Dallas Morning News: Los Angeles Bans Official Travel To Texas, Florida Over LGBTQ Policies
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to prohibit official travel to Texas and Florida in response to those states’ policies regarding LGBTQ rights, according to multiple local media sources. The Pasadena Star-News reported that the board vote was unanimous and specifically called out Florida’s legislation barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, as well as Texas’ recent decision to investigate certain gender-affirming medical care for trans youth as child abuse. (McGaughy, 4/6)

The Texas Tribune: UT Austin To Allow Students To Live Together Regardless Of Gender
The University of Texas at Austin is starting a two-year pilot program next fall that will allow students to live together in certain campus residence halls regardless of their gender or sexual identity. Called the “Family and Friend Expanded Roommate Option,” any UT-Austin student can select any other UT-Austin as a roommate. Student advocates have been pushing the university to create a gender-inclusive housing option since at least 2006, according to Adrienne Hunter, a senior and transgender woman who has advocated for the change over the past few years. (McGee, 4/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: DEA Warns Of Fentanyl-Related ‘Mass-Overdose Events’ Across U.S.
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday warned state, local and federal law enforcement officials of a nationwide spike in fentanyl-related “mass-overdose events” in which three or more fentanyl poisonings happen in rapid succession in the same location. Fifty-eight people have overdosed and 29 people have died in recent months in mass-fentanyl overdose incidents, the DEA said in a news release. The overdoses were reported in Wilton Manors, Fla.; Austin, Texas; Cortez, Colo.; Commerce City, Colo.; Omaha, Neb.; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C. (Hernández, 4/6)

Billings Gazette: Montana Cannabis Sales Outpacing Projections, Opposition Targets Conservative Counties
Montana's recreational cannabis sales through the first quarter of the market's first year are outpacing projections and it's not even tourism season yet. Montana providers have sold $72.9 million in cannabis products, including both medical and recreational, since the start of 2022, according to figures released Wednesday by the Montana Department of Revenue. Recreational cannabis had its biggest month yet in March with nearly $15.9 million in sales. Medical sales came in at $9.8 million. (Larson, 4/6)

The New York Times: New York Agrees To Expand Voting Access For People With Disabilities 
Voting in New York will become easier for blind and disabled residents following the settlement of a lawsuit against the New York State Board of Elections this week. Under the new terms, the state board has until June 1 to create an electronic voting method that will allow voters with disabilities that make reading or writing text difficult, such as blindness or paralysis, to print out ballots online and mail them back. (Wong, 4/6)

CBS News: FDA Warns Of Raw Oysters Potentially Contaminated With Norovirus 
Public health officials are warning restaurants and retailers not to serve or sell potentially contaminated raw oysters linked to a norovirus outbreak that's sickened at least 91 people in more than a dozen U.S. states and 279 more in Canada.  Possibly tainted raw oysters harvested in British Columbia, Canada, were distributed in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated in a post updated on Wednesday. (Gibson, 4/6)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Veterans Have Fewer ED Visits, More Psychotherapy With VA Tablets
Rural veterans who received tablets from the Department of Veterans Affairs had more telehealth psychotherapy appointments and fewer suicide-related emergency department visits, according to a new study published Wednesday. Study authors from the VA Health Economics Resource Center located at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in California tracked more than 13,000 veterans with a mental health history over the first year of the pandemic, after receiving a broadband- and video-enabled tablet from the VA. The tablets enabled veterans to receive more mental healthcare than they normally would have, and they had a lower likelihood of having an emergency department visit for any reason, according to the study. (Gillespie, 4/6)

Anchorage Daily News: An Alarming Number Of Active-Duty Soldiers In Alaska Died By Suicide Last Year
The number of U.S. Army Alaska soldiers who died by suicide increased sharply in 2021 even after the military invested millions of dollars to address an identified mental health crisis at the state’s two major bases. At least 11 soldiers stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Fort Wainwright died by suicide last year. Six more deaths are being investigated as possible suicides. Top military officials say finding solutions to the worsening problem continues to be a top priority — and that the pandemic seems to have exacerbated existing risk factors. (Berman, 4/6)

NBC News: Florida Ride Where Teen Fell To His Death Is ‘Serious Danger To Public Health,’ Officials Say
The Florida amusement park ride where a teenager fell to his death last month is an "immediate serious danger to public health," state officials said in an order closing the ride. The order from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which was released to the public Monday, formally closed the Free Fall ride on March 25, the day after the incident at ICON Park in Orlando. (Fitzsimons, 4/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Pedestrians Killed By Drivers Rose 17% In First Half Of 2021
The number of U.S. pedestrians killed in motor-vehicle crashes surged 17% in the first half of 2021, according to a nonprofit safety group, which linked the increase to reckless drivers, outdated infrastructure and fewer officers patrolling the roads. In the first six months of 2021, drivers struck and killed 3,441 people, up from 2,934 in the same period in 2020, according to a report released Thursday from the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway-safety offices that supplied the preliminary data. (Furst, 4/7)

Press Association: Insomnia Could Increase People's Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
Having insomnia could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests. Those who have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep had higher blood sugar levels than people who rarely had sleep issues, the study of more than 336,999 UK adults found. The findings suggest insufficient sleep can cause higher blood sugars levels and could play a direct role in the development of type 2 diabetes. It is therefore thought that measures or treatments that improve insomnia could help to prevent or treat the condition. (Massey, 4/7)

Fox News: Sugar Substitutes May Interfere With Liver’s Ability To Detoxify, Researchers Say
Two sugar substitutes, also known as non-nutritive sweeteners, may disrupt the function of a protein that plays an important role in detoxifying the liver and the metabolizing certain drugs, including blood pressure medications and antidepressants, a new study suggested. These sweeteners are commonly used in foods and even some medications to give a sweet taste while providing an alternative to table sugar with few or no calories, according to nutrition experts. "With an estimated 40% of Americans regularly consuming non-nutritive sweeteners, it’s important to understand how they affect the body," Laura Danner, a doctoral student at the Medical College of Wisconsin said in the release. (McGorry, 4/6)

CIDRAP: Study: Dogs, Cats Share Resistant Bacteria, Resistance Genes With Owners
Observational research set to be presented later this month at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) suggests close contact with pets could result in sharing of multidrug-resistant bacteria and resistance genes. (4/6)

CBS News: Airlines Cancel Hundreds Of Flights Due To COVID-19 After Dropping Mask Rules 
Overseas airlines are having to cancel hundreds of flights as they grapple with coronavirus-related staffing shortages weeks after they ditched rules requiring passengers and staff to mask up in the air. The disruptions also come as the CEOs of leading U.S. airlines urge the Biden administration to roll back a federal rule requiring that masks be worn in the sky. Masks have not been required on flights operated by budget-friendly, Swiss airline EasyJet since March 27, the airline said in a statement. The move came after the UK removed all travel restrictions earlier in March. (Cerullo, 4/6)

AP: EU Officials Probe Salmonella Cases Linked To Chocolate Eggs 
European health officials say they are investigating a “rapidly evolving” outbreak of salmonella in 134 children that appears to be linked to chocolate Easter eggs that normally contain a surprise toy inside. In a statement on Wednesday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said chocolate products were identified “as the likely route of infection,” adding that children mainly under 10 years of age were affected. The first case was detected in Britain in January. (4/6)

AP: Kansas Nonprofit Sends Medical Supplies To Ukraine 
A Kansas nonprofit is sending medical supplies to Ukraine after hearing alarming accounts of a hospital in Kyiv low on treatments and basic tools. The Kansas City Star reports that Olathe, Kansas-based Global Care Force raised $21,000 to bring resources overseas. Brenda Poor, a spokeswoman for the organization. said the packages were stuffed into seven large suitcases and checked onto a plane to Warsaw, Poland, alongside the non-profit’s director of operations on Tuesday afternoon. (4/6)