First Edition: Aug. 20, 2021

KHN: ‘We Sent A Terrible Message’: Scientists Say Biden Jumped The Gun With Vaccine Booster Plan 
The Biden administration’s plans to make covid-19 booster shots available next month has drawn a collective scream of protest from the scientific community. As some scientists see it, the announcement is rash and based on weak evidence, and they worry it could undercut confidence in vaccines with no clear benefit of controlling the pandemic. Meanwhile, more information is needed on potential side effects or adverse effects from a booster shot, they say. Perhaps even worse, the announcement has fueled deeper confusion about what Americans need to do to protect themselves from covid. (Pradhan, 8/20)

KHN: After Pandemic Ravaged Nursing Homes, New State Laws Protect Residents
When the coronavirus hit Martha Leland’s Connecticut nursing home last year, she and dozens of other residents contracted the disease while the facility was on lockdown. Twenty-eight residents died, including her roommate. “The impact of not having friends and family come in and see us for a year was totally devastating,” she said. “And then, the staff all bound up with the masks and the shields on, that too was very difficult to accept.” She summed up the experience in one word: “scary.” (Jaffe, 8/20)

KHN: Biden’s No-Jab-No-Job Order Creates Quandary For Nursing Homes
President Joe Biden’s edict that nursing homes must ensure their workers are vaccinated against covid-19 presents a challenge for an industry struggling to entice its lowest-paid workers to get shots without driving them to seek employment elsewhere. Although 83% of residents in the average nursing facility are vaccinated, only 61% of a home’s workers are likely to be, according to data submitted by homes and published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as of the week ending Aug. 8. More than 602,000 staff members have contracted covid and more than 2,000 have died from it. (Rau and Miller, 8/20)

KHN: School Or ‘Russian Roulette’? Amid Delta Variant And Lax Mask Rules, Some Parents See No Difference 
The child had just started kindergarten. Or, as her mother called it, “Russian roulette.” That’s because her school district in Grand Junction, Colorado, experienced one of the nation’s first delta-variant outbreaks last spring, and now school officials have loosened the rules meant to protect against covid-19. The mother, Venessa, who asked not to be named in full for fear of repercussions for her family, is part of a group of parents, grandparents, medical professionals and community members who assembled in the past few weeks to push back. The group calls itself “S.O.S.,” which stands for “Supporters for Open and Safe Schools,” while nodding to the international signal for urgent help. It’s made up of Republicans and Democrats, Christians and atheists, and its main request: Require masks. (Bichell, 8/20)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Booster Time
As covid-19 cases in the U.S. continue to rise, the Biden administration is countering with new strategies. The latest efforts include preparing for vaccine boosters starting this fall, requiring that nursing home workers be vaccinated and pushing back against state bans on mask mandates in schools. Meanwhile, the U.S. House is returning early from its summer break to begin work on a planned $3.5 trillion budget bill that will address a long list of health issues, including changes to Medicare and Medicaid, extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies and lowering prescription drug prices. (8/19)

Politico: Nation Hits 1M Vaccinations Benchmark For First Time In Seven Weeks 
More than one million Americans received a dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday, a benchmark the nation has not met in nearly seven weeks amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic. White House Covid-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar announced the vaccine upswing on Twitter, noting a 31 percent week-over-week increase in the daily average of those becoming fully vaccinated. He said Thursday’s numbers include 562,000 newly vaccinated people. (Sheehey, 8/19)

The Hill: White House: More Than One Million Vaccine Doses Administered In Past 24 Hours 
The numbers show the vaccination rate is increasing across the country after weeks of stagnating at about 500,000 per day. Vaccinations had slowed down after hitting a peak in mid-April of about 3.3 million doses per day. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just under 60 percent of the entire eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated, indicating the U.S. still has progress to make to combat the virus, especially as cases, hospitalizations and deaths have surged across the country. (Weixel, 8/19)

CNN: As Covid-19 Hospitalizations Increase, More Americans Are Deciding To Get Vaccinated 
Oklahoma and Louisiana -- two states that have lagged the rest of the nation in vaccinations -- are now outpacing the national average, White House Covid-19 Response Team Chief of Staff Asma Mirza said in calls with local faith leaders Thursday. "We're seeing a new willingness, a new openness to getting vaccinated," she said in a discussion with Louisiana faith leaders. (Caldwell, 8/20)

The Hill: CDC Director: Annual COVID-19 Dose After Booster Not Anticipated
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Thursday said that while the CDC is recommending booster COVID-19 shots, annual shots going forward may not be necessary. "You know, this virus has been humbling, so I don't want to say never, but we are not necessarily anticipating that you will need this annually," Walensky said told host Tony Dokoupil during an appearance on "CBS This Morning." "It does look like after this third dose you get a really robust response, and so we will continue to follow the science both on the vaccine side but also on the virus side," she said. (Choi, 8/19)

CNBC: CDC Director Says We Might Not Need Annual Covid Boosters After Third Shot
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday that Americans may not need yearly Covid-19 booster shots, suggesting that a third shot may sufficiently strengthen the long-term protection of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccines. Walensky’s remarks come a day after she and other top U.S. health officials said they plan to start offering boosters to all eligible Americans eight months after their second vaccine shots. The effectiveness of mRNA vaccines lessens over time, particularly for anyone at high risk for dangerous coronavirus complications or for those who were immunized early in the vaccine rollout, Walensky and several of the country’s top medical officials said in a statement Wednesday. (Towey, 8/19)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Booster Review Postponed By CDC As Debate Swirls Over Third Shot
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pushed back by one week a meeting by a group of outside advisers who were set to review Covid booster shots as debate swells about the need for a third dose. The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, originally scheduled to meet and possibly make a recommendation about the need for boosters on Aug. 24, is now set to convene the following week. The delay was posted on the CDC website and confirmed by multiple committee members. The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it plans to allow most fully vaccinated adults to get a third shot of vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. eight months after their second dose, starting Sept. 20. (Torrence, 8/19)

The Washington Post: U.S. Officials Reviewing Possibility Moderna Vaccine Is Linked To Higher Risk Of Uncommon Side Effect Than Previously Thought 
Federal health officials are investigating emerging reports that the Moderna coronavirus vaccine may be associated with a higher risk of a heart condition called myocarditis in younger adults than previously believed, according to two people familiar with the review who emphasized the side effect still probably remains uncommon. The investigation, which involves the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is focusing on Canadian data that suggests the Moderna vaccine may carry a higher risk for young people than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, especially for males below the age of 30 or so. The authorities also are scrutinizing data from the United States to try to determine whether there is evidence of an increased risk from Moderna in the U.S. population. (Pager and McGinley, 8/19)

CNBC: Fauci: U.S. Expanding Covid Vaccine Manufacturing To Donate More Doses To World
The United States is expanding manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines to donate more doses to countries that don’t have as much access to the lifesaving shots. “We are now working on greatly expanding the capacity to allow us to donate hundreds and hundreds of millions of doses to the low- and middle-income countries,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said in an interview Thursday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” (Mendez, 8/19)

The New York Times: Texas Drops Enforcement Of Governor’s Ban On Mask Mandates 
The Texas Education Agency said it would temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and the State Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing school districts to require face-coverings. Both decisions are temporary. The agency said in new guidance on Thursday that it would immediately stop enforcing the ban on mask mandates until litigations were resolved. In a reversal, the agency’s new guidance requires schools to notify their local health department if a student tests positive. The school must also notify students in the same classroom as well as those who share extracurricular activities. (DePasquale and Hard, 8/20)

Houston Chronicle: School Mask Rules Stand For Now, As Texas Supreme Court Upholds Pause On Abbott's Order
The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday decided to temporarily allow school districts and some local governments to require masks on their property, rejecting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to expedite his challenge to the mandates. The court’s decision came within hours of new guidance from the Texas Education Agency that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order banning mask requirements would not be enforced “as the result of the ongoing litigation.” (Scherer, 8/19)

Houston Chronicle: TEA Reverses Course, Now Says Schools Must Notify Families When Kids Are Exposed To COVID
Texas schools now will be required to contact parents of children who are exposed to positive COVID-19 cases, per new guidance from the state. The Texas Education Agency’s new safety guidelines for public schools released Thursday say that schools must notify all teachers, staff and families of students who are in contact with someone in a classroom or extracurricular activity who has a test-confirmed case of COVID. The new requirement is effective immediately. (Dellinger and Serrano, 8/19)

The Hill: Greg Abbott Undergoes Antibody COVID-19 Treatment Following Diagnosis
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has undergone COVID-19 antibody treatment following his breakthrough positive diagnosis. “Governor Abbott’s doctor prescribed Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapy treatment, which is available at no cost to all Texans who get a doctor’s referral,” Abbott’s office said in a statement Thursday. “It is recommended that Texans testing positive for COVID-19 seek this antibody therapeutic drug because of its effectiveness to help keep people out of hospitals.” (Oshin, 8/19)

Houston Chronicle: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Says Unvaccinated African Americans, Not Republican Policies, To Blame For Rising COVID Cases And Hospitalizations
People criticizing the Republican leadership of Texas for the state’s rising COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths should instead blame unvaccinated African Americans, said Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in a Thursday night interview with Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham. “The COVID is spreading, particularly, most of the numbers are on the unvaccinated,” Patrick said in response to a question about people attacking the policies of Governor Greg Abbott, who is embroiled in legal battles with school districts and counties that have required masks despite the Republican governor’s ban on such mandates. (Zong, 8/19)

Bay Area News Group: LA County School District Requires COVID Vaccines For Kids
Amid worsening COVID-19 outbreaks and a rash of new vaccine requirements, a Los Angeles County school district is believed to be the first in the state to announce it will require eligible students to prove they’ve had the shots. They may soon have company.“ Other districts are thinking about it,” said Quoc Tran, superintendent of the Culver City Unified School District, which announced the policy this week ahead of Thursday’s first day of school. It is the latest in a series of new federal, state and local orders aimed at controlling a wave of COVID-19 infections throughout the state and across the country, driven by the highly contagious delta variant of the virus. (Woolfolk, 8/19)

The Hill: Rice University Announces Switch To Online Classes For Beginning Of School Year
Rice University on Thursday announced that it will be switching to online classes for at least the first two weeks of school amid a higher number of COVID-19 cases. Rice’s provost, Reginald DesRoches, said in a letter to students that classes would start on Aug. 25 and remain virtual through at least Sept. 3. (Vakil, 8/19)

Fox News: Connecticut, Oregon Mandate Vaccinations For Staff At K-12 Schools This Fall
As the fall season is ramping up for school districts across the country, some teachers will be required to be vaccinated amid the rise of the delta coronavirus variant, including those in Connecticut and Oregon. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, announced a new executive order on Thursday amending current COVID-19 emergency declarations to require all state employees, staff of all childcare facilities, and faculty and teachers at PreK-12 schools to receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by September 27, 2021. (Richard, 8/19)

The 19th: Spelman Faculty Won't Teach In Person, Citing COVID-19 Rules
Spelman College’s faculty council, the organizing arm for professors at the influential historically Black women’s college, told students on Thursday morning that they would no longer teach in-person classes, citing a lack of “clear and enforceable” safety guidelines from the school administration, per an email obtained by The 19th. Classes at the college began Wednesday. Spelman, located in Atlanta, is one of the first colleges or universities to feel this kind of pressure from faculty this fall after thousands of instructors at American colleges took a similar stand last summer. (Rummler, 8/19)

AP: Arizona School Board Imposes Gag Rule For Vaccines, Masks
Employees in a northwestern Arizona school district cannot discuss vaccination status or mask-wearing with students under a motion approved unanimously by the local school board. The edict from the Colorado River Union High School District Governing Board carries no repercussions for administrators, staff or teachers who violate it. That would be up to Superintendent Monte Silk, who supported the motion. (8/20)

AP: Mississippi Gov: Try To Keep Schools Open Amid Rise In COVID
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that his goal is to keep as many schools open as possible, even as COVID-19 cases continue to rise sharply in the state, because he does not want children to lose academic advancement. Reeves, a Republican, said local school districts have the power to offer vaccinations to children 12 and older, with parents’ permission. He said school districts also can set mask mandates or require students to maintain distance from one another to mitigate the spread of the airborne virus. (Wagster Pettus, 8/19)

Bloomberg: Florida’s DeSantis Must Face Suit Over School Mask Rule Ban
A judge denied a request by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to throw out a lawsuit challenging his ban on mask mandates in schools, setting up a clash next week that could see the court block his executive order. Parents who claim the ban is putting their children at risk just as the delta variant of the coronavirus is ravaging the state can proceed with their suit to block the governor’s action, Judge John C. Cooper ruled Thursday after a hearing in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee. Cooper said he will hold a hearing over two to three days starting Monday, with testimony from health experts and parents on both sides before ruling on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction against DeSantis. (Larson, 8/19)

AP: Education Secretary: New Mexico Needed More Outdoor Classes
New Mexico’s top education official during the pandemic headed into his final days in Santa Fe saying outdoor classrooms could have allowed more in-person instruction when schools were closed last year and may be key to addressing parents’ masking concerns. Education Secretary Ryan Stewart leaves on Friday, two years into his term, citing the need to be near family as his father faces serious illness. (Attanasio, 8/20)

The New York Times: Those Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers Probably Don’t Help and May Make Things Worse
Covid precautions have turned many parts of our world into a giant salad bar, with plastic barriers separating sales clerks from shoppers, dividing customers at nail salons and shielding students from their classmates. Intuition tells us a plastic shield would be protective against germs. But scientists who study aerosols, air flow and ventilation say that much of the time, the barriers don’t help and probably give people a false sense of security. And sometimes the barriers can make things worse. (Parker-Pope, 8/19)

Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Mayor Enacts Mask Mandate, Declares Civil Emergency
Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague declared a civil emergency and ordered a mask mandate Thursday evening due to the rising number of cases of COVID-19 and the highly contagious delta variant. A spokesperson for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called the mandate “against the law” and “not enforceable.” "While our path is uncertain and much is unknown we do have the tools to reduce the risk to ourselves and each other," Teague said. "We just have to use them." The order goes into effect Thursday, today, at 11:59 p.m. and will expire Sept. 30, unless he decides to extend it. Teague issued a similar order in July last year. (Ojeda, 8/19)

USA Today: US Deaths Nearly Double In 2 Weeks, Rise In 42 States: Updates
Deaths are rising in 42 states, the worst tally seen since December. In the week ending Wednesday, the U.S. reported 5,742 deaths, nearly double the total from two weeks earlier. The 10,991 Americans who died of COVID-19 in the first 18 days of August are already more than all the fatalities in June or July. The nearly 2.2 million U.S. cases in those first 18 days make this the fifth-worst month in the pandemic, blowing past the highest monthly totals of the 2020 spring and summer surges, with case counts rising in 44 states. (Ortiz and Fernando, 8/19)

AP: 'Bracing For The Worst' In Florida's COVID-19 Hot Zone
As quickly as one COVID patient is discharged, another waits for a bed in northeast Florida, the hot zone of the state’s latest surge. But the patients at Baptist Health’s five hospitals across Jacksonville are younger and getting sick from the virus faster than people did last summer. Baptist has over 500 COVID patients, more than twice the number they had at the peak of Florida’s July 2020 surge, and the onslaught isn’t letting up. Hospital officials are anxiously monitoring 10 forecast models, converting empty spaces, adding over 100 beds and “bracing for the worst,” said Dr. Timothy Groover, the hospitals’ interim chief medical officer. (Kennedy and Jackson, 8/20)

CNN: A Florida Library Is Converted To A Covid-19 Treatment Site: 'These People Were In Bad, Bad Shape,' One Patient Says 
The scene at the Jacksonville main public library was haunting, Louis Lopez recalled. As he waited for a Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment, he saw people so sick they couldn't even stand. "These people were in bad, bad shape," he said. His experience Wednesday at the library, set up by the state as a location for treatment, has made him even more grateful he's fully vaccinated. "I lost two cousins to Covid in San Diego," he told CNN in an interview. "If I was unvaccinated there's no doubt in my mind it would have taken me out." (Murphy, 8/20)

Florida Times-Union: Viral Reddit Photo Of COVID Patients On Floor In Florida Library
Louie Lopez showed up to the downtown Jacksonville Main Library Conference Center in the early afternoon for a Regeneron therapy appointment. His primary care doctor recommended it after Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing moderate to severe symptoms. While waiting in line for his turn, two other people got in the line behind Lopez. Both of them, he says, sat down on the floor immediately. They eventually laid down “sick and moaning.” Lopez, 59, told The Florida Times-Union, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the woman pictured in yellow was dragging herself on the floor as the line slowly moved forward. Lopez took a photo and sent it to his wife. (Lewin, 8/19)

AP: Gov: Hospitals In Critical Situation For Capacity, Staffing
Kentucky hospitals are reaching a “critical point” in finding enough space and staff to treat an influx of COVID-19 patients, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday. The governor pleaded with the unvaccinated to get inoculated and pushed back aggressively against vaccine and masking skeptics on social media. (Schreiner and Blackburn, 8/20)

AP: Alaska Says 5 Deaths From Facility That Had Virus Outbreak
Five residents of a state-supported elder-care facility in Ketchikan who tested positive for COVID-19 died in the last week, a state health department spokesperson said Thursday. Clinton Bennett, the spokesperson, in a written response to a question on whether the deaths were COVID-19-related, said the state-supported Pioneer Homes “do not determine the cause of death nor do they see the death certificates of residents.” He said the five residents of the Ketchikan Pioneer Home who recently died “had tested positive for COVID-19.” (Bohrer, 8/20)

Politico: Sens. Wicker, King, Hickenlooper Test Positive For Covid-19 After Vaccination
Sens. Roger Wicker, Angus King and John Hickenlooper all have Covid-19 breakthrough infections, their respective offices announced Thursday. Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, both tested positive for the virus following mild symptoms, according to their statements, released earlier in the day. Later on Thursday, Hickenlooper, a Democrat from Colorado, announced that he, too, tested positive following mild symptoms. (Sheehey, 8/19)

USA Today: Delta Variant Spurs More Than 1 Million COVID Tests Each Day
When COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations plummeted in late spring, many large, government-run testing sites from Los Angeles to New York switched to vaccinations or shut down. That was before the highly contagious delta variant became the dominant coronavirus strain, accelerating cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Now Americans are getting checked for COVID-19 at a pace of more than 1 million tests each day, according to Johns Hopkins University. But some experts say it's harder to find testing appointments than last winter, when large, drive-thru sites fueled more than 2 million daily tests. (Alltucker, 8/20)

AP: Kentucky Official: Don't Go To ER Just For COVID Test
Kentuckians who are not in need of emergency care should not visit hospitals for COVID-19 testing and should go to a pharmacy or contact their local health department for more resources instead, said Kentucky’s public health commissioner, Dr. Steven Stack. Kentucky’s emergency rooms have been reeling from record-high ICU admissions among virus patients, Stack said Thursday. Patients who arrive at hospitals seeking only a test may have to wait hours and could be billed even if they leave without being tested. (8/20)

AP: Vaccine Checks Beginning At San Francisco Eateries, Bars
Anyone who wants to eat, drink or exercise indoors in San Francisco must show they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on unvaccinated people takes effect. Restaurant and bar owners said they’ve contacted people who reserved tables to remind them of the new rule that begins Friday, and planned to have extra staff at the front door to verify people’s proof of vaccination and make sure they match their identity cards. (Nguyen, 8/20)

The Washington Post: Unvaccinated Federal Employees Face Discipline For Refusing Testing At Workplace 
Federal employees who are not fully vaccinated will face discipline if they refuse to be tested for the coronavirus when reporting to work in person, the Biden administration warned on Wednesday. The latest guidance from an interagency task force says agencies will have discretion regarding how to administer those tests, including in-house, at another agency or through a contractor. Testing will apply only to employees who are not fully vaccinated and who are working on-site, will be done during working hours, and will be at the agency’s expense. (Yoder, 8/19)

The Boston Globe: As Federal Worker Guidance Gets Stricter, Labor Advocates Denounce Repealed Mass. Protections
With federal workplace safety guidelines now calling for fully vaccinated workers to wear masks in areas with elevated risks of COVID-19 transmission, which currently includes every county in Massachusetts, labor advocates are doubling down on their criticism of the state’s expiring workplace regulations. Massachusetts rules on masking, distancing, and sanitization in the workplace haven’t been enforced since late May and are set to be officially repealed in the coming weeks, despite new guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that masks should be worn in public indoor spaces in areas of high or substantial transmission, regardless of vaccination status. (Johnston, 8/19)

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson CEO To Leave Role In January 
Johnson & Johnson announced on Thursday that its current CEO Alex Gorsky will step down from his role and  Joaquin Duato will take the helm in January. Gorsky will instead serve as the executive chairman for the healthcare company, and the new roles will become effective Jan. 3. Duato, who is currently the vice chairman for J&J’s executive committee, will also be named a member of J&J’s board of directors.  (Vakil, 8/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Google Health Boss Leaves To Take Over Cerner
David Feinberg, who led Google’s ambitious and sometimes controversial push into healthcare, is leaving the search giant to become Cerner Corp.’s chief executive officer. Dr. Feinberg joined Alphabet Inc.’s Google two years ago in a newly created role as vice president for health. He helped strike partnerships with some of the country’s largest hospital systems to collect and analyze their data. He has also led the company’s initiatives around Covid-19. (Mickle and Armental, 8/19)

Crain's Cleveland Business: MetroHealth To Assist Defendants In 'Gun Court' With Trauma Counseling, Mental Health Support
The Institute for H.O.P.E. Trauma Recovery Center will provide trauma counseling and mental health support for defendants in the Violence Intervention Docket, also known as "Gun Court," through a recently signed contract with the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. The program aims to target young adults to address their trauma before they are involved in violent crime, Cuyahoga County administrative judge Brendan Sheehan, who oversees the specialized docket, said in a news release. "The progress we can make working together is amazing," Sheehan said in a provided statement. "These efforts will make our community safer and save lives." (8/19)

Modern Healthcare: It's Time To Get Ready For The Surprise Billing Ban, Experts Say
It's time for hospitals and health systems to start getting ready for the surprise billing ban that takes effect next year. President Joe Biden's administration published an interim final rule last month that covers the basics, but left out essential details about how the No Surprises Act will work in practice. The regulation bars surprise bills for emergency care, high cost-sharing for out-of-network services, out-of-network charges from ancillary providers such as anesthesiologists or assistant surgeons, and out-of-network charges from providers who don't notify patients they are not in-network. (Brady, 8/19)

Stat: FDA Agrees To Review Controversial Drug To Prevent Premature Birth
In an unexpected turn of events, the Food and Drug Administration will hold a hearing on whether Covis Pharma should voluntarily withdraw its controversial treatment for preventing premature births after a key study found the medicine is ineffective. The move comes nearly two years after an FDA advisory panel recommended that the medication, known as Makena, should be withdrawn after the trial failed to verify a clinical benefit. The 9-to-7 vote called into question the future of a medication that has been the standard of care across the U.S. since it was approved a decade ago. (Silverman, 8/19)

Bloomberg: Extreme Heat Is Clear And Growing Health Issue, Two Studies Find
More than 356,000 people died in 2019 as a result of extreme heat and that number is likely to grow, according to a study published in The Lancet this week. The Global Burden of Disease review, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found while cold temperatures still cause a greater number of deaths, mortality rates attributable to heat are growing faster, particularly in hotter regions of the world. (Leon, 8/19)

The Washington Post: Philadelphia’s 1993 Heat Wave Killed More Than 100 And Taught City Important Lessons
The water trickled down quickly, enough to coat the sun-bleached concrete basin in a city park with a layer of wetness. A toddler danced, smiling as water from the park’s sprinklers rained down on her, keeping her cool. It was a blistering midsummer day in July, the kind that as recently as 30 years ago would have proven disastrous for vast numbers of this city’s most vulnerable residents. In the early 1990s, heat pounded Philadelphia’s most at-risk communities, killing or sickening scores. After a raft of changes, including the creation of an extensive heat warning system and opening “spraygrounds,” the city has been able to largely diminish the heat’s threat to its residents. And in a world where climate change is making extreme weather the norm, some say the city could be a model. (Suggs, 8/19)

AP: HIV Cases Climb In Kentucky City, More Screenings Offered
Health officials in Kentucky’s largest city say an increase in HIV cases has led the agency to offer more screenings and prevention measures. The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness also urged local health care providers on Thursday to start conducting HIV testing as a routine part of medical care. There have been 126 people diagnosed with HIV in the first five months of 2021, Louisville health officials said in a statement. Twenty-four of those cases were diagnosed in May, which is the most recent data available, officials said. The average number of cases annually from 2017 to 2020 was 144. (8/20)

The New York Times: Brazilian Butt Lifts Surge, Despite Risks
In 2020 alone, there were 40,320 buttock augmentations, which include both implants and fat grafting, reports the Aesthetic Society. According to Google keyword data, “BBL” was searched roughly 200,000 times per month between January and May 2021.It’s also one of the deadliest. A July 2017 report by the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation in Aesthetic Surgery Journal noted that one to two out of 6,000 BBLs resulted in death, the highest mortality rate for any cosmetic surgery. (Ellin, 8/19)

The Washington Post: What Is The Pelvic Floor And How Pandemic Life Could Be Harming Yours
Long stretches spent sitting in front of computers at makeshift workstations and less movement throughout the day can shorten the pelvic floor muscles and cause them to become tight, which can lead to pain, experts said. And people who are feeling stress may unknowingly tense their pelvic floor muscles — similar to people who clench their teeth in response to stress. (Chiu, 8/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Did Algae Bloom Kill Family Hiking In Mariposa County? Authorities Checking All Possibilities In Mysterious Deaths
Authorities are considering whether a dangerous algae bloom may have killed a young family whose bodies were found here on a hiking trail this week, and friends and investigators are pinning their hopes on a pending toxicology report for answers. Mariposa County sheriff’s officials are awaiting toxicology results and told The Chronicle that they aren’t ruling out any potential causes of death. The bodies of John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Muji, and their dog were discovered with no obvious signs of trauma by searchers on Tuesday on the Hite Cove Trail near an area known as Devil Gulch. The family had taken off on a day hike Sunday and was reported missing when they failed to return. (Gafni and Cassidy, 8/19)

Politico: U.S. Transport Ship And Field Hospitals Heading To Haiti For Quake Relief 
The United States has dispatched a massive transport ship and begun delivering field hospitals to Haiti after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern part of the island Saturday, crumbling homes, destroying roads and killing more than 2,000 people. The USS Arlington, a transport dock ship, left Naval Station Norfolk, Va. on Tuesday and is scheduled to reach Haiti by Sunday, according to a spokesperson with U.S. Southern Command. The ship is carrying a fleet surgical team, 200 marines, two helicopters and a landing craft unit. (Custodio, 8/19)

AP: Oxygen Plant Among Earthquake-Damaged Buildings In Haiti
As if Haiti’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a tropical storm and the coronavirus pandemic weren’t enough, the temblor damaged the only medical oxygen plant in the southern part of the country. The building that housed the oxygen concentrator machines that the region depended on partially collapsed, and the machines were upended. The Etheuss company is run by the a family famous for their vetiver perfume oils plant in the city of Les Cayes, one of the areas hardest hit by Saturday’s earthquake. (Stevenson and Sanon, 8/20)

AP: Food Agency Warns Of Hunger In Afghan Conflict
The head of the U.N. food agency in Afghanistan says a humanitarian crisis is unfolding with 14 million people facing severe hunger following the Taliban takeover of the country. Mary Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Program’s country director, said in a video briefing to U.N. correspondents from Kabul on Wednesday that the conflict in Afghanistan, the nation’s second severe drought in three years, and the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed an already dire situation into a “catastrophe.” (8/19)

AP: Israel Approves Booster Shots For Over-40s
Israel has made third booster shots against COVID-19 available to people age 40 and older in an effort to fight a surge of the delta variant. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is 49, got his jab on Friday. He pledged to share “all the data, all the information, all the insights” of the effort. Israel has been a leader in the fight against the deadly coronavirus and last month became the first country to offer booster shots. The U.S. has approved, but not yet made available, boosters for older Americans as well. (8/20)

CIDRAP: Australia, Japan Report Record COVID-19 Rises 
As many countries struggle to rein in the highly transmissible Delta (B1617.2) COVID-19 variant, Australia and Japan reported new single-day highs, while situations stabilized in some parts of Africa and the Americas. Elsewhere, New Zealand reported 11 new cases in a growing cluster in the Auckland area. (8/19)

Bloomberg: Ebola Case In Ivory Coast Spurs Urgent Hunt For Source In Guinea
Disease trackers have yet to identify how a teenager from rural Guinea treated for Ebola in a hospital in Abidjan sparked Ivory Coast’s first outbreak of the deadly viral disease in 27 years. The World Health Organization has sent expert teams to both West African nations to help authorities scale up measures to find and prevent additional cases, the agency’s regional office in Brazzaville said in a statement Thursday. As of Aug. 18, there was one confirmed and three suspected cases in Ivory Coast that later tested negative, WHO said. Six high-risk contacts have been quarantined and 131 contacts identified. No deaths have been reported. (Gale, 8/20)

NPR: Landmarks Around The World Are Lit In Purple For People With Disabilities
Rome's Colosseum, the London Eye, the Empire State Building and Tokyo's Skytree tower are among more than 125 landmarks around the world that are being bathed in purple light Thursday night, recognizing the world's 1.2 billion people with disabilities. The event, a call for inclusion and equal treatment, comes as the Paralympics are set to begin in Tokyo next week. The idea to light the Élysée Palace, Niagara Falls and other iconic places in purple stems from the WeThe15 campaign — named for the 15% of the world's population who live with disabilities, according to the International Paralympic Committee, which is leading the effort along with the International Disability Alliance. (Chappell, 8/19)