First Edition: Aug. 3, 2021

KHN: Long Drives, Air Travel, Exhausting Waits: What Abortion Requires In The South
Just a quick walk through the parking lot of Choices-Memphis Center for Reproductive Health in this legendary music mecca speaks volumes about access to abortion in the American South. Parked alongside the polished SUVs and weathered sedans with Tennessee license plates are cars from Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida and, on many days, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. Choices is one of two abortion clinics in the Memphis metro area, with a population of 1.3 million. While that might seem a surprisingly limited number of options for women seeking a commonplace medical procedure, it represents a wealth of access compared with Mississippi, which has one abortion clinic for the entire state of 3 million people. (Varney, 8/3)

KHN: A Health Care Giant Sold Off Dozens Of Hospitals — But Continued Suing Patients 
Tennova Healthcare-Lebanon doesn’t exist anymore as a hospital. But it still sued Hope Cantwell. A knock came on the door of Cantwell’s Nashville, Tennessee, apartment early this year. She said she hadn’t been vaccinated against covid-19 yet and wasn’t answering the door to strangers. So she didn’t. But then several more attempts came over the course of a week. Eventually she masked up and opened. A legal assistant served her a lawsuit; she was summoned to appear in court. (Farmer, 8/3)

KHN: New Moms Latched On To Remote Breastfeeding Help. Will Demand Wane As Pandemic Fades? 
Madison Cano knew she wanted to breastfeed her son, Theo. But breastfeeding was painful for her. The skin on her breasts was chafed and blistered last July when she returned home from the hospital. And Theo sometimes screamed during feedings. Cano, 30, realized she needed help to get the short- and long-term health benefits of breastfeeding for moms and babies. New studies also have shown that covid-vaccinated mothers pass protective antibodies on to their newborns. However, Cano lives in Montrose in western Colorado, 60 miles away from her lactation counselor, Ali Reynolds, in Grand Junction — and it was during the thick of the pandemic. (Ruder, 8/3)

AP: US Hits 70% Vaccination Rate — A Month Late, Amid A Surge
The U.S. on Monday finally reached President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into 70% of American adults -- a month late and amid a fierce surge by the delta variant that is swamping hospitals and leading to new mask rules and mandatory vaccinations around the country. In a major retreat in the Deep South, Louisiana ordered nearly everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks again in all indoor public settings, including schools and colleges. And other cities and states likewise moved to reinstate precautions to counter a crisis blamed on the fast-spreading variant and stubborn resistance to getting the vaccine. (Catalini, 8/3)

NBC News: U.S. Hits 70 Percent Covid Vaccination Goal — A Month Later Than Biden Had Hoped To
The goal was ambitious, but Monday's development is a good step, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. "We’ve said from the beginning: Even when we set this goal, our work would not be done even when we reached it, and so we're forging ahead," she said. (Helsel, 8/2)

The New York Times: The U.S. Finally Hits Its 70 Percent Vaccination Goal — Four Weeks Late
There was no celebration at the White House. The announcement today was made on Twitter by Cyrus Shahpar, the COVID-19 data director for the Biden administration. “Let’s continue working to get more eligible vaccinated!” Mr. Shahpar wrote. The White House had hoped to announce the 70 percent vaccination benchmark four weeks ago. Mr. Biden initially used Independence Day to declare a victory of sorts over the pandemic and some kind of return to normal life. (Paybarah, 8/2)

The Hill: Graham's COVID-19 'Breakthrough' Case Jolts Senate
The coronavirus officially returned to the United States Senate on Monday. News that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tested positive quickly jolted through the Capitol and sparked an hours-long scramble to figure out who else might have been exposed, which only escalated after sources confirmed that the South Carolina Republican attended an outdoor event on Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) houseboat over the weekend with other senators.  (Carney, 8/2)

The New York Times: $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Pours Money Into Long-Delayed Needs
The sprawling, $1 trillion bill that the Senate took up on Monday — a 2,702-page bipartisan deal that is the product of months of negotiating and years of pent-up ambitions to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — would amount to the most substantial government expenditure on the aging public works system since 2009. It is also stuffed with pet projects and priorities that touch on nearly every facet of American life, including the most obscure, like a provision to allow blood transport vehicles to use highway car pool lanes to bypass traffic when fresh vials are on board and another to fully fund a federal grant program to promote “pollinator-friendly practices” near roads and highways. (Price tag for the latter: $2 million per year.) (Cochrane, Flavelle and Rappeport, 8/2)

Bloomberg: Eviction Moratorium Expires; Biden Moves To Stave Off Mass Evictions
President Joe Biden and top White House officials sought Monday to stave off a wave of evictions after the expiration of a federal moratorium, pressing federal, state and local government agencies to act quickly to stop tenants from losing their homes. The push comes amid intensifying criticism from liberals within his own party, who have complained the White House waited too long to ask Congress to pass legislation extending the moratorium. And it underscores the challenge the administration has faced in distributing billions of dollars in pandemic assistance through bureaucracies around the country. (House and Sink, 8/2)

The Hill: White House Says CDC Can't Renew Eviction Ban
The White House asserted on Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not have the legal authority to issue another eviction ban after Democratic leaders urged the Biden administration to take unilateral action. In a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that CDC officials “have been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium” after the administration floated a one-month emergency extension. (Lane, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Liberals Erupt In Fury At White House Over End Of Eviction Moratorium
Tensions escalated sharply Monday between liberal Democrats and President Biden, as disputes over the end of an eviction moratorium and the fate of the Democrats’ social agenda threatened to upend the Democrats’ delicate center-left alliance. Anger among left-leaning lawmakers centered on Biden’s decision not to extend a directive designed to keep people from losing their housing during the pandemic. White House officials said that despite Biden’s appeals to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider extending the order over the weekend, the agency found no legal authority to do so. (Sullivan, Sotomayor and Pager, 8/2)

AP: Landlords, Tenants Fill Courts As Eviction Moratorium Ends
Gabe Imondi, a 74-year-old landlord from Rhode Island, had come to court hoping to get his apartment back. He was tired of waiting for federal rental assistance and wondered aloud “what they’re doing with that money?” Hours later, Luis Vertentes, in a different case, was told by a judge he had three weeks to clear out of his one-bedroom apartment in nearby East Providence. The 43-year-old landscaper said he was four months behind on rent after being hospitalized for a time. “I’m going to be homeless, all because of this pandemic,” Vertentes said. “I feel helpless, like I can’t do anything even though I work and I got a full-time job.” (Casey and Marcelo, 8/3)

The New York Times: Biden Administration Will Keep Using Covid Rule To Limit Border Immigration 
With the number of migrants crossing the southern border surging and the pandemic proving to be far from over, the Biden administration has decided to leave in place for now the public health rule that has allowed it to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants, officials said. The decision, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, amounted to a shift by the administration, which had been working on plans to begin lifting the rule this summer, more than a year after it was imposed by the Trump administration. The C.D.C. said allowing noncitizens to come over the border from either Mexico or Canada “creates a serious danger” of further spread of the coronavirus. (Sullivan and Kanno-Youngs, 8/2)

NPR: Title 42 Foes Go Back To Court To Try To End COVID Measure Blocking Asylum-Seekers
Immigration advocates who had been negotiating with the Biden administration to end a Trump-era rule that blocks most migrants from entering the United States have given up waiting. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are going back to court. They plan to file a preliminary injunction to stop the continued use of the Title 42 public health law that has allowed border agents to swiftly remove tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border. (Ordoñez, 8/2)

USA Today: One-Third Of All COVID Cases Reported In Florida And Texas
Florida and Texas had one-third of all COVID cases reported last week, White House COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients said during a Monday news conference. Florida broke two records — in cases and hospitalizations — this weekend. Texas now has more total statewide deaths than New York, the early epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. The U.S. reported 599,334 cases in the week ending Sunday. A week earlier, cases numbered 364,123. The nation is now reporting 2,500 deaths per day, according to USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. (Aspegren, 8/3)

CNBC: CDC Says 7-Day Average Of Daily U.S. Covid Cases Surpassed Peak Seen Last Summer
The seven-day average of daily coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed the peak seen last summer when the nation didn’t have an authorized Covid-19 vaccine, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Monday, citing data published over the weekend. U.S. Covid cases, based on a seven-day moving average, reached 72,790 on Friday, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s higher than the peak in average daily cases seen last summer, when the country was reporting about 68,700 new cases per day, according to the CDC. (Lovelace Jr. and Rattner, 8/2)

Politico: Florida Covid Hospitalizations Shatter Record As DeSantis Downplays Threat
The head of Florida’s largest hospital association warned that the skyrocketing number of Covid hospitalizations is unlike anything the state has seen before — even as Gov. Ron DeSantis downplays the spike. The Florida Hospital Association on Monday reported 10,389 Covid-19 hospitalizations, the most statewide during any point in the pandemic. This follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting over the weekend that the state had more than 21,000 new coronavirus infections on Friday. It was the highest one-day total for Florida, which now makes up roughly one and five new cases nationally. (Dixon and Ritchie, 8/2)

Fox News: Florida Family Sees 3 COVID-19 Deaths In Matter Of Days
A Florida woman is grieving the loss of her grandmother, mother, fiancé and future father-in-law who all died within days of each other after contracting COVID-19. Tiffany Devereaux, of Callahan, told local news outlets that none of the family had been vaccinated aside from her 85-year-old grandmother. "I feel lost," Devereaux told News4Jax.com. "I feel so lost. I don’t know what to think or what to feel right now. I want my loved ones back. They’re the ones that always got me through the hard times in my life and now they’re all gone." (Hein, 8/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Cases Surpass Last Summer's Peak
The Bay Area has been averaging more than 1,400 coronavirus cases a day over the past several days, surpassing the peak of last year’s summer surge in mid-August. Regional hospitalizations have not yet reached last summer’s peak, but — despite high vaccination rates in much of the Bay Area — they are not far off: 815 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 on July 28 last year, compared with 713 on Sunday. (Allday and Vaziri, 8/2)

AP: Louisiana Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate Amid COVID Surge
Louisiana on Monday reinstated a mask mandate in all indoor locations, including schools and colleges, as the state experiences the highest per capita COVID-19 growth in the nation, driven by the delta variant and one of the country’s lowest vaccination rates. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said the mandate will go into effect on Wednesday and will apply to both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents. Less than three months ago, Edwards lifted a previous face covering requirement amid hopes that the virus was abating. But the state’s fourth coronavirus surge since the pandemic began 17 months ago shows no sign of flattening, Edwards said. (Deslatte, 8/2)

The New York Times: Mask Mandates Are Returning In Many Cities. N.Y.C. Is Holding Back
With the Delta variant of the coronavirus surging, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York on Monday stopped short of reinstating an indoor mask mandate even as more cities and at least one state did so. City officials have been deliberating what measures might be needed to head off a more serious resurgence in New York, the nation’s largest city and once the epicenter of the pandemic. Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C., have recently reintroduced mask requirements indoors; Louisiana did so on Monday, as did San Francisco and several surrounding Northern California counties. (Fitzsimmons and Rubinstein, 8/2)

USA Today: McDonald's Requires Masks Again For Customers And Employees In Areas With High COVID Transmission
McDonald's is requiring customers and employees to wear masks again at U.S. restaurants located in areas with high or substantial transmission of the coronavirus. The fast-food giant is the largest national chain to add the requirement back for both employees and customers following updated masking guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Tyko, 8/3)

CNBC: Facebook To Require All U.S. On-Campus Employees To Wear Masks
Facebook on Monday announced it will begin requiring all of its employees to wear masks when on its campuses in the U.S., regardless of an employee’s vaccination status. “The health and safety of our employees and neighbors in the community remains our top priority,” a spokeswoman for the company said in a statement. “Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants, and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirement in all of Facebook’s U.S. offices, regardless of an employee’s vaccination status.” (Rodriguez, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: Bay Area Mandates Indoor Masks Amid Delta Variant
In another sign the Delta variant is upending California’s attempts to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind it, officials in a large swath of the Bay Area announced Monday that residents will again need to wear masks in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status. The move comes several weeks after Los Angeles County became one of the first in the nation to return to an indoor mask mandate, and it greatly expands the number of people in California covered by such rules. (Dolan and Seidman, 8/2)

Houston Chronicle: Mayor Sylvester Turner To Require City Workers To Mask Up, Bucking Governor's Ban On Mandates
Mayor Sylvester Turner told city employees Monday that they again must wear masks when they are at work and unable to socially distance, a requirement that could run afoul of Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest executive order. Turner’s memo mentioned the recent uptick in cases because of the delta variant of the coronavirus and the importance of remaining vigilant against the spread of the virus. (McGuinness, 8/2)

AP: Central Michigan Orders Masks At Least Through September
Central Michigan University joined the ranks of schools to require people on campus to wear masks when students to return to campus this fall, the school’s president announced Monday. In a letter to students, President Bob Davies said students, faculty and staffers must wear masks in class at least through the end of September. The letter comes as the school said classrooms will return to full capacity and that the vast majority of classes will involve a “face-to-face component.” (8/2)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Democrats Call For Special Session To Repeal School Mask Ban
A contingent of legislative Democrats is calling for a special legislative session to repeal a new law that prevents school districts from imposing mask mandates unless a state of emergency is in effect. More than a dozen House Democrats want the GOP-led Oklahoma Legislature to undo the law that passed with support from more than two-thirds of state lawmakers. (Forman, 8/2)

NBC News: Supreme Court Won't Block Maine's Covid Restrictions On Churches
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from a church in Maine to prevent the state's reimposing Covid-related restrictions. Calvary Chapel of Bangor said the rules were the "most severe restrictions in the nation on places of worship," beginning with a ban on gatherings for religious worship, which was modified later to allow 50 worshippers in the church. The limits violated its religious freedom while making exceptions for other gatherings, it said. (Williams, 8/2)

ABC News: All 50 States Report Rising Vaccination Rates As COVID Infections Surge, Data Shows 
While states like Missouri end a second month enduring a surge in COVID-19 cases as the more contagious delta variant spreads, public health officials across the country are hearing the same story from an increasing number of people getting the vaccine: someone they know recently caught the virus and the experience was unsettling. "We don't want to see more people getting sick as a driving force to get people vaccinated, but we know the case counts and more people in the hospital will play a role in that conversation," Dr. Sam Page, St. Louis county executive, told ABC News. (Mitropoulos and Haslett, 8/3)

The Washington Post: The Surge In Coronavirus Cases Seems To Be Spurring More Vaccinations
However much Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wishes it weren’t so, the coronavirus is ravaging his state. DeSantis (R) has been at the forefront of the Republican effort to find a middle ground between his party’s stated opposition to measures aimed at containing the virus and keeping case totals low. That has meant that he has been more vocal than many about the need for widespread vaccinations, but the emergence of the delta variant (and not, as he has tried to argue, simple seasonality) has meant an alarming spike in new cases in the state. (Bump, 8/2)

AP: Beshear: Kentucky Posting Higher Recent Vaccination Numbers
Kentucky’s vaccination rate against COVID-19 has taken a sudden upward turn as people seek to protect themselves from the highly contagious delta variant that has caused the most coronavirus cases in months, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday. The delta variant is “spreading like wildfire” and puts the unvaccinated at significant risk, the governor warned, adding: “Please, go get vaccinated.” (Schreiner and Blackburn, 8/2)

NPR: Vaccine Mandate Laws Are Banned In Several States
Hemi Tewarson of the National Academy for State Health Policy is tracking state legislatures for such bills, and spoke to Morning Edition's A Martínez about what she's seeing. Notably: As of late last week, 9 states have enacted 11 laws with prohibitions on vaccine mandates (Arizona and Arkansas have each enacted two). They weren't all introduced or enacted at this stage of the pandemic — in fact, some were introduced back in February and March, and the most recent took effect in late June. Some of these laws are tied only to vaccinations that have emergency use authorization, so the prohibition will no longer apply if the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines get full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Treisman, 8/2)

Bloomberg: New Jersey Orders State Hospital, Jail Staffs To Vaccinate Or Test
People who work in New Jersey state-run hospitals, nursing homes and jails must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 7 or undergo routine Covid-19 testing, Governor Phil Murphy said. The order applies to veterans homes, psychiatric hospitals, home health agencies, the acute-care University Hospital in Newark and other high-risk congregate-care facilities. Additional employees may be subjected to the requirement if virus data continue to worsen, Murphy said Monday at a press briefing. (Young, 8/2)

USA Today: New York Gov. Cuomo Urges Businesses To Adopt 'Vaccine-Only Admission'
Pressure continues to increase from Democratic elected officials to get people vaccinated against the coronavirus as infections mount across the country, fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant. Days after President Joe Biden said federal workers and contractors would have to get vaccinated or face restrictions that include masking and testing, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday workers in New York City’s airports and public transit system will be required to get the shots or weekly tests. That follows last week's announcement by Cuomo that all state workers must get vaccinated or submit to weekly tests. At a Manhattan news conference Monday, Cuomo also urged private enterprises to require vaccination of their employees and customers. "Private business, bars, restaurants, go to a vaccine-only admission," he said. (Ortiz, Aspegren and Vargas, 8/2)

AP: Maine CDC Head: Set Aside Anger, Fear Over Virus Resurgence
The head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention used a radio appearance to call on residents to set aside anger and fear as the state battles a resurgence of the coronavirus. Maine has had more success than many states in controlling COVID-19, but cases have been rising in recent weeks. Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah told Maine Public on Monday that it’s a good idea to “cast aside the anger and fear” about the rising cases and work together. (8/3)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana University COVID-19 Requirements Upheld By Appeals Court
Students who don't like Indiana University's COVID-19 vaccine requirement can go elsewhere for their education. That was the message delivered by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling issued Monday that will allow the public university's requirement that all students and employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the fall semester to stand. The court said that colleges and universities may decide what is necessary to keep students safe in the decision denying a request for an injunction made by a group of eight students seeking to block the mandate, alleging that it violates their constitutional rights. (Herron, 8/2)

Houston Chronicle: Memorial Hermann: All 29,000 Employees Must Be Vaccinated By Oct. 9 Or 'Voluntarily Resign'
Memorial Hermann on Monday said it will require all employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 9, becoming the third Houston healthcare institution to do so. The hospital system follows Baylor College of Medicine, which announced its employee vaccine requirement last week, nearly two months after Houston Methodist reached its vaccination deadline. Managers and other leaders across the organizations must be compliant by Sept. 11. The deadline is Oct. 9 for all other employees, including the system’s affiliated providers and volunteers. (Gill, 8/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Permanente To Require All Employees, Physicians, To Be Vaccinated As Delta Cases Rise
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente healthcare system will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all employees and physicians, the nonprofit said Monday. The move came as the highly-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spike infections locally and across the state and country. Under existing state guidance all health workers and state employees must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or get tested weekly, but Kaiser appears to be going beyond those requirements and extending the mandate to all of its employees. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/2)

Louisville Courier Journal: Norton Healthcare, Baptist Health Announce Staff COVID Vaccine Mandate
Norton Healthcare and Baptist Health are the latest Kentuckiana hospital systems to require their staffs to get a COVID-19 vaccine as cases continue to climb in the region. Norton employees must get their first shot by Sept. 15, Norton President and CEO Russell Cox said in a company news update posted Monday. And in a Monday email to staff obtained by The Courier Journal, Baptist CEO Gerard Colman also announced a vaccine mandate. (Ramsey, 8/2)

AP: Tennessee Won't Incentivize COVID Shots But Pays To Vax Cows
Tennessee has sent nearly half a million dollars to farmers who have vaccinated their cattle against respiratory diseases and other maladies over the past two years. But Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who grew up on his family’s ranch and refers to himself as a cattle farmer in his Twitter profile, has been far less enthusiastic about incentivizing herd immunity among humans. (Loller, 8/3)

Crain's Cleveland Business: University Hospitals To Launch COVID Recovery Clinic
University Hospitals is launching a comprehensive clinic for patients affected by the post-acute residual symptoms of COVID-19, according to a news release. The UH COVID Recovery Clinic, centered at UH Ahuja Medical Center, will promote pathways to healing for affected patients of all ages, including children and young adults. "It is estimated that 20% or more of individuals infected with COVID-19 will experience health problems for weeks, even months after their body has cleared the virus, and unfortunately we know many are suffering in silence," said Dr. David M. Rosenberg, of UH's Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, in a provided statement. (8/2)

CIDRAP: Study: Severe COVID, Higher Viral Loads, Immune Response Linked To Obesity 
Among US Military Health System (MHS) beneficiaries diagnosed as having COVID-19, obesity was independently and strongly associated with hospitalization, need for oxygen therapy, higher viral load, and an altered immune response, according to a prospective study late last week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 8/2)

CIDRAP: Age Groups Tied To Different Frequent COVID-19 Symptoms
Researchers found that different age-groups had different associations with various COVID-19 symptoms, according to a Lancet Digital Health study late last week. The study was evaluating an artificial intelligence (AI) model for early COVID-19 detection (1 to 3 days of symptom onset). ... Participants from 16 to 39 years of age showed higher COVID-19 associations with loss of smell, chest pain, and abdominal pain. Loss of smell, however, had less significance in those aged 60 to 79. For those 80 and above, it was not the most common indicator. Instead, chest pain, diarrhea, and sore throat were. Overall, men were more likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills, and shivers, while women were more likely to report loss of smell, chest pain, and a persistent cough. (8/2)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Wants To Help Home Health Aides Get Health Coverage
CMS wants to allow state Medicaid programs to pay for home health aides' benefits, including health insurance. A proposed rule would permit state Medicaid agencies to use voluntary payroll deductions from home health workers' wages to pay third parties for employee benefits. Offering part-time workers benefits could help home health agencies recruit and retain employees, which in turn can improve access to home and community-based services, CMS said in a news release Friday. (Brady, 8/2)

Oklahoman: OU Health Launches Programs To Boost Nursing Workforce Amid Shortage
OU Health announced several new initiatives Monday aimed at strengthening the state's nursing workforce amid a shortage of nurses in Oklahoma and nationwide. Among the new initiatives is a weekend nursing program, which will pay nurses for 72 hours of work if they commit to four 12-hour weekend shifts over two weeks, which they can also choose to split with a coworker. (Branham, 8/3)

Modern Healthcare: Allegheny Health Network Sues Property Insurer For $1 Billion In COVID-19 Claims
Allegheny Health Network says its property insurer refuses to pay up to $1 billion in claims the health network is owed for losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's taking them to court. The Pittsburgh-based not-for-profit 13-hospital chain asserts that American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. is "obligated" to cover those losses and expenses. The company, along with 43 direct and indirect subsidiaries, seeks a jury trial in the Pennsylvania Civil Division's Court of Common Pleas. Allegheny's allegations mirror those of at least 177 U.S. businesses, many of which are healthcare providers, that are suing the U.S. subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group over unpaid COVID-19 claims. (Tepper, 8/2)

Modern Healthcare: Inpatient Pay Rule Gives Hospitals A $2.3 Billion Boost
Providers will no longer have to disclose their contract terms with Medicare Advantage insurers after CMS signed off on its 2022 inpatient pay rule Monday. The final rule gives providers a 2.5% bump for inpatient services payments, or $2.3 billion more than 2021. CMS expects Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments and Medicare uncompensated costs to fall by $1.4 billion compared to 2021. Long-term care hospitals will also get a 1.1% raise, a boost of $42 million. In addition, Medicare will continue paying add-on payments for COVID-19 treatments through the end of the fiscal year in which the pandemic ends. (Brady, 8/2)

Stat: Sanofi Pays $3B To Purchase Translate, Raising Stakes Around MRNA
Major drug makers are getting into mRNA, the technology behind the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines, in a big way. Sanofi, one of the largest vaccine makers, announced Tuesday it will spend $3.2 billion to purchase Translate Bio, its partner in an effort to create an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine. That follows a June announcement that Sanofi would create an mRNA vaccines center of excellence, funded with almost $500 million annually, with the goal of creating six experimental vaccine candidates by 2025. (Garde and Herper, 8/3)

Stat: Even As It Breaks Biotech’s Unwritten Rules, Amylyx Is Raising Big Money
If you want to raise big money in biotech, there are a few unwritten rules. You need a partnership with an established pharmaceutical company. You need an idea that gives you more than one shot at finding something that works. And you need seasoned executives or serial entrepreneurs at the helm. Amylyx Pharmaceuticals is breaking every single one of those industry edicts — yet it still managed to bring in a $135 million Series C last month. (Sheridan, 8/3)

CBS News: Alcohol Consumption Linked To Nearly 750,000 Cancer Cases In 2020, New Study Says 
Doctors are sounding the alarm over research showing a link between drinking alcohol and cancer. More than 700,000 new cancer cases were linked to alcohol consumption in 2020 — a time when many Americans reported drinking more. The research, published in the July 13 edition of Lancet Oncology, found that over 4% of all new cancer cases in 2020 were caused by alcohol consumption. While most cancers linked to alcohol use were in people who have more than two drinks a day, more than 100,000 cases worldwide were in people who averaged less than that, the study said. (Chen, 8/2)

Fox News: NJ Man Dies Following West Nile Diagnosis, Officials Say
A New Jersey man who died last month had tested positive for West Nile virus, health officials confirmed. The man, who was in his 60s, was from Camden and was first admitted to the hospital for symptoms on July 16. After treatment, he was discharged to a sub-acute care center where he died, Camden County officials said Saturday. (Hein, 8/2)

CIDRAP: US Reports 254 More Cyclospora Cases, Food Links Still Under Investigation
In a monthly update on domestic Cyclospora activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 254 more cases have been reported, raising the national total to 462.So far no specific food item has been identified. Cyclospora infections in people who haven't traveled out of the country typically rise in warmer months. Past outbreaks have been linked to fresh produce such as mesclun, basil, cilantro, and fresh raspberries. (8/2)

Stat: No New Monkeypox Cases Reported After Health Officials Monitor Hundreds
No new cases of monkeypox have been identified among the people monitored for possible exposure after they came into contact with an infected person last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Health officials had been monitoring more than 200 people in 23 states and territories, as well as other countries, most of whom flew on one of the two flights the person took to travel from Lagos, Nigeria, to Dallas on July 8 and 9. (Joseph, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Alerts For Destructive Thunderstorms To Appear On Your Phone
Before a violent thunderstorm complex unleashed winds up to nearly 140 mph in Iowa last August, many residents had no idea it was coming. It was the most costly thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history, but severe thunderstorm warnings issued by the National Weather Service did not sound on smartphones like they do for tornadoes and severe flash floods. Starting Monday, the Weather Service is implementing changes to their warning alerts to differentiate the threats posed by typical severe thunderstorms and those that are particularly dangerous, such as the Iowa complex last year. With winds rivaling those in a major hurricane, meteorologist classified it as a “derecho,” which is an extreme, fast-moving wind storm. Now, your smartphone will blare ahead of such violent storms, but will not for more common events. (Jeromin, 8/2)

NBC News: Covid Pandemic Linked To Increased Nearsightedness In Kids
More children may have developed nearsightedness as an unexpected side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new study suggests. An analysis of eye test data from nearly 2,000 Hong Kong school-age children revealed that the rate of nearsightedness that developed during the pandemic more than doubled what was found in a pre-pandemic study of children the same age, according to the report in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. (Carroll, 8/3)

CNN: CDC Adds 16 Destinations To 'Very High' Covid-19 Travel Risk List 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added 16 destinations to its "very high" Covid-19 risk level on Monday, including Greece, Ireland and the US Virgin Islands. According to the CDC, a risk designation of "Level 4: Covid-19 Very High" means people should avoid travel to these locations. Those who must travel should be fully vaccinated first. In its overarching guidance, the CDC recommends against all international travel until you are fully vaccinated. (Langmaid and Hunter, 8/3)

The New York Times: Germany Will Offer Vaccine Booster Shots Starting In September 
As concerns grow over the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, Germany on Monday became the biggest Western country yet to announce that it will offer vaccine booster shots to a wide range of people considered potentially vulnerable, adding to growing momentum in rich nations to give additional shots to fully vaccinated people. The move by Germany came even as a top European Union official criticized the bloc as falling far short of its promises to donate vaccine doses to Africa and Latin America. (Bennhold, 8/2)

Bloomberg: U.K. Tweaks NHS Covid App To Limit ‘Pingdemic’ Disruption
The U.K. government has changed the National Health Service’s Covid-19 mobile-phone app so that fewer people will be told to self-isolate, seeking to limit disruption to industry from the so-called pingdemic. Under the changes taking effect Monday, only those who come into contact with an infected person within two days prior to the positive test will be asked to self-isolate, rather than within five days previously. The changes won’t affect the sensitivity of the app or change the risk threshold. The announcement from the Department of Health comes after a surge in “pings” caused havoc for British food producers, retailers and pubs who warned supply chains were nearing the breaking point. The government is encouraging people to continue using the app after surveys suggested that many may have deleted it in recent weeks to avoid being alerted. (Gitau and Ashton, 8/2)

The Boston Globe: Can The UK And India Offer Clues Into The Future Of The Delta Variant?
The spike in coronavirus cases in New England due to the Delta variant has sparked familiar worries in a region that has seen more than a year of death and disruption because of the pandemic. But there may be some hopeful signals emerging from places overseas that have experienced earlier Delta outbreaks. Cases have been plummeting in the United Kingdom recently, even as that nation has fully opened up its economy after a long delay. The Netherlands has seen a similar decline. And India, where the super contagious variant was first identified, also saw a rapid drop after the horrific toll of April and May. (Chaidez and Huddle, 8/2)

Reuters: S.Korea On Alert For New Delta Plus COVID-19 Variant
South Korea has detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday, as the country battles with its fourth wave of infections. The Delta Plus variant is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first identified in India, and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N, which is also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. (Cha, 8/3)