First Edition: Dec. 22, 2020

KHN: Inside The First Chaotic Days Of The Effort To Vaccinate America
One tray of COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital in Arkansas. But with the logistical gymnastics required to safely get the Pfizer vaccine to rural health care workers, splitting the trays into smaller shipments has its own dangers. Once out of the freezer that keeps it at 94 degrees below zero, the vaccine lasts only five days and must be refrigerated in transit. (Pradhan, Weber and Hancock, 12/22)

KHN: Surprise! Congress Takes Steps To Curb Unexpected Medical Bills 
Most Americans tell pollsters they’re worried about being able to afford an unexpected medical bill. Late Monday, Congress passed a bill to allay some of those fears. The measure is included in a nearly 5,600-page package providing coronavirus economic relief and government funding for the rest of the fiscal year. (Appleby, 12/22)

KHN: Democrats Are Running Hard On Health Care In Georgia’s Senate Runoffs. Republicans? Not So Much. 
Vice President Mike Pence was the clear celebrity draw at a Nov. 20 campaign event for Georgia’s two incumbent U.S. senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Both Republicans are fighting to keep their seats against two Democratic challengers in the runoff election set for Jan. 5. People were so eager to see Pence at the rally in Canton, Georgia, that parking spots were scarce and a long line of cars snaked through the parking lot of a community college. Some drivers jumped the curb and parked in the grass. (Whitehead, 12/22)

KHN: Health Officials Fear Pandemic-Related Suicide Spike Among Native Youth 
Fallen pine cones covered 16-year-old Leslie Keiser’s fresh grave at the edge of Wolf Point, a small community on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation on the eastern Montana plains. Leslie, whose father is a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, is one of at least two teenagers on the reservation who died by suicide this summer. A third teen’s death is under investigation, authorities said. (Reardon, 12/22)

KHN: California’s COVID Enforcement Strategy: Education Over Citations
Nearly six months since Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to target businesses that are flagrantly violating public health orders to control the spread of COVID-19, California regulators have issued just 424 citations and suspended two business licenses as of Monday, according to data from 10 state regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Instead of strictly penalizing businesses for violations, the Democratic governor and businessman with a portfolio of wineries, bars and restaurants under the brand name PlumpJack, has relied on educating owners about infectious disease mandates. State agencies have contacted establishments primarily by email, sending them 1.3 million messages since July 1 to urge them to comply with state and local public health rules. (Hart, 12/22)

USA Today: Congress Approves COVID Relief, Sends Bill To Trump
After weeks of painstaking negotiation and months of partisan finger-pointing, the Senate resoundingly passed a sweeping COVID-19 relief package Monday, sending a bill to President Donald Trump to sign that will send millions of Americans direct payments and rescue thousands of small businesses nationwide struggling to stay open in the face of the pandemic's suffocating grip. The roughly $900 billion measure was attached to a $1.4 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government through Sept. 30, 2021 (the end of the fiscal year) to form a nearly 5,600 page-bill that is one of the largest pieces of legislation Congress has ever tackled. It also includes bipartisan provisions like the end of surprise medical billing and legislation creating Smithsonian museums for women and Latinos. (King and Wu, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Senate Approves Huge Spending Package, Sends Economic Relief Measure To Trump For Enactment 
The legislation was the product of intense negotiations over the past two weeks and was introduced as a 5,593-page bill earlier on Monday. The Senate passed the bill with a 92-to-6 vote at 11:42 p.m., about two hours after the House easily passed it. The bill reflected a growing unease in Washington about the spike in coronavirus cases and deaths, and recent signs that the economy is weakening markedly. Nine months after the pandemic upended the U.S. economy, government leaders are still scrambling to try to contain the carnage exacted on millions of households and businesses in every U.S. state. Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, who is still a senator from California until next month, was among the bipartisan group of lawmakers to vote on the bill. (Stein and DeBonis, 12/22)

The New York Times: Congress Rushes To Pass Huge Coronavirus Relief Bill 
Congress on Monday night overwhelmingly approved a $900 billion stimulus package that would send billions of dollars to American households and businesses grappling with the economic and health toll of the pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said hundreds of dollars in direct payments could begin reaching individual Americans as early as next week. (Cochrane, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Biden's Push For More Covid Relief Sets Up Like Clash With GOP 
Republicans brimmed with pride over the $900 billion stimulus package taken up by Congress on Monday, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling it “a historic bipartisan rescue package” and Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska) predicting it would be remembered when “the history of this challenging year is written.” President-elect Joe Biden saw it differently, calling the deal merely a “down payment.” Biden’s assessment, made repeatedly in recent weeks, echoes the view of many Democrats who see the bill as the beginning of a negotiation, not the end. The notion that more aid is necessary — Biden at times has said talks should start as early as January — sets up perhaps the first major legislative test for the new president and his self-proclaimed negotiating skills. (Linskey and DeBonis, 12/21)

The New York Times: E.U. Agency Approves Pfizer Covid Vaccine 
From Stockholm to Athens and from Lisbon to Warsaw, European Union governments are gearing up to receive a coronavirus vaccine later this week, even as cases keep rising in some parts of the continent. The bloc formally approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, setting off a logistical marathon the likes of which most of the authorities in the region have not had to contend with before. (Stevis-Gridneff, 12/21)

The Hill: EU Drug Regulator Approves Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine 
The EMA’s approval will allow the 27 EU member nations as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to get access to vaccinations starting between Dec. 27 and 29. Countries including Germany, France, Austria and Italy said they intend to start vaccinations Dec. 27, Reuters reported. (Coleman, 12/21)

NPR: EU Regulator Clears Way For Use Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine
"Our thorough evaluation means that we can confidently assure EU citizens of the safety and efficacy of this vaccine and that it meets necessary quality standards," Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency, said in a statement. The European regulator is recommending the use of the vaccine in people 16 or older as U.S. federal officials did earlier this month. The U.K., no longer a member of the EU, is also already carrying out inoculations with the Pfizer vaccine. (Kennedy and Wamsley, 12/21)

The New York Times: Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Begins Arriving At Strained Hospitals Across The U.S. 
Just one week after the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine were administered in the United States, a new batch of vaccines fanned out across the country on Monday, an urgently needed expansion of a vaccination effort that is expected to reach vulnerable populations and rural areas where hospitals are strained as soon as this week. ... Roughly six million doses of the newly authorized Moderna vaccine are being shipped to more than 3,700 locations around the country this week, adding to the nearly three million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that were dispatched mostly to health care workers starting last week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 614,117 doses had been administered as of Monday morning. (12/22)

Bloomberg: BioNTech To Boost Vaccine Capacity, Sees Shot Beating New Strain
Pfizer Inc. partner BioNTech SE is pursuing all its options to make more Covid-19 vaccine doses than the 1.3 billion the companies have promised to produce next year, according to the German firm’s chief executive officer. The companies will probably know by January or February whether and how many additional doses can be produced, Ugur Sahin said late Monday in an interview. “I am confident that we will be able to increase our network capacity, but we don’t have numbers yet.” Sahin also said the vaccine will probably work against the new SARS-CoV-2 strain that has emerged in the U.K. Lab tests of the vaccine’s performance have already been done against 20 mutant versions; the same tests will now be run against the new U.K. version, and should take about two weeks, he said. (Kresge, 12/21)

Bloomberg: Why The U.K.’s Mutated Coronavirus Is Fanning Worries
Dubbed the “B.1.1.7 lineage,” the strain has acquired 17 mutations compared to its most recent ancestor. That’s a faster rate of genetic change than scientists typically observe. Some of the changes are in key areas of the virus involved in its ability to infect cells. Preliminary analysis in the U.K. suggests it may be as much as 70% more transmissible than other circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains and may be contributing to a spike in cases in the country. Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on Covid-19, told the BBC on Dec. 20 that the WHO is working to understand the extent to which the virus may spread more easily, along with other human behavioral factors that may be driving transmission. It’s also looking at whether the mutation causes more severe illness and can evade the antibodies generated by vaccination. (Gale, 12/21)

The New York Times: Concerns About Coronavirus Variant Cut Off U.K. From Europe
Britain was all but cut off from the rest of Europe on Monday, with flights and trains banned by some 40 countries and freight deliveries halted at French ports, as its neighbors tried desperately to stop a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus from leaping across the English Channel. The sudden disruption left Britain isolated and unnerved, its people stranded at airports or quarantined at home. It aroused fears of panic buying in British supermarkets, as a nation already rattled by a mysterious new strain of the virus now had to worry about running out of fresh food in the days before Christmas. (Landler and Castle, 12/21)

Stat: The Big, Looming Questions About The New Variant Of The Coronavirus
A variant of the coronavirus that emerged in the United Kingdom has forced London to shut down, led some countries to ban travel to and from the U.K., and set off a global manhunt to find out where else this version has arrived. So what comes next? (Joseph, 12/21)

The New York Times: The New Covid Strain In The UK: Questions And Answers 
It’s just one variation among many that have arisen as the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has spread around the world. Mutations arise as the virus replicates, and this variant — known as B.1.1.7 — has acquired its own distinctive set of them. ... When researchers took a close look at its genome, they were struck by the relatively large number of mutations — 23, all told — that it had acquired. Most mutations that arise in the coronavirus are either harmful to the virus or have no effect one way or another. But a number of the mutations in B.1.1.7 looked as if they could potentially affect how the virus spread. (Zimmer and Carey, 12/21)

AP: BioNTech CEO Confident Vaccine Will Work On UK Variant
German pharmaceutical company BioNTech is confident that its coronavirus vaccine works against the new UK variant, but further studies are need to be completely sure, its chief executive said Tuesday. The variant, detected mainly in London and the southeast of England in recent weeks, has sparked concern worldwide because of signs that it may spread more easily. While there is no indication it causes more serious illness, numerous countries in Europe and beyond have restricted travel from the UK as a result. (12/22)

CNN: Pfizer And Moderna Test Vaccines Against UK Coronavirus Variant 
Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version of the virus that's recently been found in the United Kingdom and other countries, according to company statements. "Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK; we will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation," according to the Moderna statement. (Levenson and Cohen, 12/22)

The Washington Post: BioNTech Can Create Vaccine For New Variant In Six Weeks If Needed, CEO Says
BioNTech said Tuesday that its coronavirus vaccine will likely be effective against the new variant identified in Britain, but that a new version could be developed within six weeks if necessary. Whether regulators would be willing to quickly approve a slightly-modified version of the vaccine that has been cleared for distribution in the United States, Britain and European Union is another story, CEO Ugur Sahin told reporters at a news conference. But from a technical perspective, tweaking the vaccine co-developed with Pfizer would simply be a matter of replacing one mutation with another while the “messenger” molecule remains the same. (Noori Farzan, 12/22)

The Hill: Warp Speed Official: 'No Hard Evidence' New Coronavirus Strain Is More Transmissible 
There is no "hard evidence" that a new coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom is more transmissible or more infectious, a top Operation Warp Speed official said Monday. Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser for the initiative, told reporters that conclusive laboratory studies of the new variant will take at least several weeks. (Weixel, 12/21)

Reuters: U.S. Could Require Negative COVID-19 Tests For Passengers From Britain - Sources
Airline and U.S. officials said requiring testing for UK arrivals won backing among task force members. The White House has yet to make a final decision on the matter, they said. Earlier, airlines operating flights from London to John F. Kennedy International Airport voluntarily agreed to a request from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that they only allow passengers who test negative to fly. (Shepardson and Rucinski, 12/21)

Politico: Cuomo Wants Pre-Flight Testing For Travel From U.K. To New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is asking airlines transporting passengers from the United Kingdom to New York to require a negative Covid-19 test before boarding. Cuomo announced the request during a virtual briefing on Monday in response to reports of a new mutated variant of the coronavirus that appears to be spreading rapidly and has prompted new lockdowns in Britain. (Gronewold, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: House Panel Subpoenas HHS, CDC Heads In Coronavirus Probe 
An HHS spokesperson disputed the committee’s allegations of political interference. “While the administration is focused on vaccination shots, the subcommittee is focused on cheap shots to create headlines and mislead the American people.” Representatives for the CDC didn’t return a request for comment. (Hackman, 12/21)

The Hill: House Panel Subpoenas For Azar, Redfield CDC Documents 
"The subpoenas were necessary because the Select Subcommittee’s investigation has revealed that efforts to interfere with scientific work at CDC were far more extensive and dangerous than previously known," Clyburn said in a letter sent to Azar and Redfield along with the subpoenas. An HHS spokesperson pushed back on the committee's claims and insisted the department has cooperated with the subcommittee's probe. (Weixel, 12/21)

The Hill: Fauci, Azar To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Tuesday 
Top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and other Trump administration health officials will receive the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday. Along with Fauci and Azar, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, as well as front-line NIH medical workers, will receive a dose of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine. The event will take place at the NIH in Bethesda, Md. (Weixel, 12/21)

NPR: 'There's Nothing To Worry About,' Biden Says As He Receives COVID-19 Vaccine
President-elect Joe Biden publicly received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday as the death toll from the disease nears 320,000 in the United States. Rolling up his sleeve at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., Biden told nurse practitioner Tabe Mase, "I'm ready!" and thanked her for her work with COVID-19 patients. "We owe you big, we really do," Biden said. Biden said his wife, Jill, also received her first vaccine shot Monday. (Sprunt and Wise, 12/21)

CNN: Republican Lawmakers Who Downplayed Coronavirus Concerns Face Backlash Over Early Vaccinations 
A slate of GOP lawmakers who downplayed different concerns about the coronavirus pandemic or ignored public health advice are now facing a wave of backlash for being among the first to receive a vaccine. With only limited doses available across the US, members of Congress have been prioritized for inoculation in an effort to maintain governmental continuity on Capitol Hill. (LeBlanc, 12/21)

The Hill: Ilhan Omar Says She Won't Get Vaccine: 'People Who Need It Most, Should Get It' 
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) broke with other members of "the squad" on Monday by deciding to not get a coronavirus vaccine available to members of Congress, saying it was “shameful” that political leaders got the vaccine due to their “importance.” (Choi, 12/21)

The Hill: NIH Seeking Individuals For Study On Severe Allergic Reactions To Pfizer Vaccine 
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is searching for participants in a study of rare but severe allergic reactions to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. Daniel Rotrosen, director of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Washington Post that researchers need people who have a history of severe anaphylaxis. (Mastrangelo, 12/21)

AP: Vaccine Injury Claims Could Face Bureaucratic 'Black Hole'
Lost in the U.S. launch of the coronavirus vaccine is a fact most don’t know when they roll up their sleeves: In rare cases of serious illness from the shots, the injured are blocked from suing and steered instead to an obscure federal bureaucracy with a record of seldom paying claims. Housed in a nondescript building in a Washington, D.C., suburb, the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program has just four employees and few hallmarks of an ordinary court. Decisions are made in secret by government officials, claimants can’t appeal to a judge and payments in most death cases are capped at $370,376. (Condon and Sedensky, 12/22)

Fox News: Surgeon General Calls On Coronavirus Survivors To Donate Convalescent Plasma
The U.S. surgeon general is calling on Americans who have recovered from coronavirus to donate plasma in order to help those who are still battling the illness. Surgeon General Jerome Adams sad current ongoing research shows that convalescent plasma is "safe and, when it’s given early and contains a high concentration of antibodies, it can help improve a patient’s chance of recovery." "If you are among the millions of Americans who have had COVID-19, you may have a precious resource that can help save other lives," Adams said, in a statement released Monday. "Plasma donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 may contain antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. These antibodies may help suppress the virus and provide patients with clinical benefit." (Hein, 12/21)

USA Today: Monoclonal Antibodies May Have Helped Donald Trump Recover From COVID-19, But Many Others Aren't Getting Them
President Donald Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani all received monoclonal antibodies when they were treated for COVID-19. And despite having risk factors such as age and weight that put them at risk of getting really sick, they recovered quickly, although Christie spent a week in intensive care. They all credit monoclonal antibodies. But only a fraction of those doses have reached the people who could benefit from them, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday. (Weintraub, 12/21)

US News and World Report: Life Expectancy Increased In 2019, But COVID Deaths Loom Large
Life expectancy in the U.S. increased for a second consecutive year in 2019 – notable progress that could be derailed by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. A report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics shows that life expectancy at birth for the U.S. population in 2019 was 78.8 years, an increase from 78.7 years in 2018. For males, life expectancy increased from 76.2 years in 2018 to 76.3 years in 2019, while it increased from 81.2 years in 2018 to 81.4 years in 2019 for females. (Cirruzzo, 12/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Deaths To Reverse U.S. Life-Expectancy Gains 
U.S. life expectancy inched up last year but in 2020 could decline by the largest amount since World War II, as Covid-19 becomes the nation’s third-leading cause of death. Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday showed that life expectancy rose to 78.8 years in 2019, an increase of one-tenth of a year, marking the second consecutive year of progress on the key measure of national well-being. (Adamy, 12/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Opens Field Hospitals To Cope With Crush Of Coronavirus Cases
With intensive care capacity buckling under an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, California has opened four field hospitals where dozens of patients are being treated and the state is bringing in hundreds of additional health care providers. The majority of the state — all of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley — continued to be at, or far past, intensive care capacity as of Monday as COVID-19 hospitalizations hit new peaks. Statewide, intensive care availability was 2.5%. (Allday, 12/21)

The Hill: More Than 150 California Children Have Been Diagnosed With Coronavirus-Related Syndrome 
More than 150 California children have been diagnosed with a coronavirus-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) throughout the pandemic. The state Department of Public Health has reported that as of Dec. 14, at least 152 children have been diagnosed with MIS-C, a rare and sometimes deadly inflammatory illness that scientists believe can infect children who have been exposed to the coronavirus. (Coleman, 12/21)

AP: California Desperately Searches For More Nurses And Doctors
Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S., Sara Houze has been on the road — going from one hospital to another to care for COVID-19 patients on the brink of death. A cardiac intensive care nurse from Washington, D.C., with expertise in heart rhythm, airway and pain management, her skills are in great demand as infections and hospitalizations skyrocket nationwide. Houze is among more than 500 nurses, doctors and other medical staff California has brought in and deployed to hospitals that are running out of capacity to treat the most severe COVID-19 cases. (Nguyen, 12/22)

Philadelphia Inquirer: The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Killing People With Diabetes Or Alzheimer’s Who Didn’t Even Contract The Virus
The coronavirus has so far killed about 325,000 people in this country, but that staggering toll does not include the multitudes who have died because of disruptions, isolation, and destitution related to the pandemic. People with diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease are particularly vulnerable. An Inquirer analysis of federal data found that from mid-March through November, Pennsylvania had 753 more deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s and diabetes than would be expected based on the last four years, a 14% increase for each cause. In New Jersey, there were 634 more deaths than expected for the two causes, an increase of 11% for Alzheimer’s and 33% for diabetes. (McCullough, Burling and Williams, 12/22)

The New York Times: How Full Are Hospital I.C.U.s Near You? 
Almost one-fifth of U.S. hospitals with intensive care units reported that at least 95 percent of their I.C.U. beds were full in the week ending Dec. 17, as the coronavirus pandemic surged to alarming highs. Nationwide, 78 percent of intensive care hospital beds were occupied. See how the pandemic has affected recent hospital capacity in the map below, which shows data reported by individual hospitals. Health officials said that the data should not discourage sick people from seeking care. (Conlen, Keefe, Leatherby and Smart, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Why Americans Are Numb To The Staggering Coronavirus Death Toll 
When Todd Klindt buried his dad, he was stunned. Some of the mourners arrived not wearing masks — for the funeral of a man killed by the coronavirus .Just days earlier, Klindt had held his father’s hand in a hospital intensive care unit. Now, watching people at the funeral — acting as if the world was not on fire, as if people were not dying by the dozen every hour of every day — he wanted to shout, “He’s right here!” “I’m like, ‘Are you paying attention at all? Is any of this sinking in?’ ” said Klindt, who lives in Ames, Iowa. (Wan and Shammas, 12/21)

Houston Chronicle: Rio Grande Hospital Workers Turned Down The Vaccine. A Senator And A Sheriff’s Deputy Lined Up
So many workers at a hospital in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that the facility offered doses to other medical workers in the region. Many showed up, but so did a state lawmaker, a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy who weren’t on the state’s priority list for vaccination. Hospitals across Texas began to receive the first batches of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the last several days. Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, one of the Texas facilities hardest hit by the virus this year, received 5,850 doses of the vaccine. (Davila and Brooks Harper, 12/21)

Stat: 3 Lessons From Stanford’s Covid-19 Vaccine Algorithm Debacle
Stanford found itself in hot water last week after deploying a faulty Covid-19 vaccine distribution algorithm. But the fiasco offers a cautionary tale that extends far beyond Stanford’s own doors — and holds crucial lessons as the country prepares to confront complex decisions about who gets the vaccine, when, and why. (Ross and Brodwin, 12/21)

Politico: Why Social Media Hasn’t Been Able To Shut Down Vaccine Misinformation 
False claims about the dangers of coronavirus vaccines were running rampant on social media even before Americans began receiving their first shots last week — and now the months-long rollout to the entire population is giving bad information even more room to fester. It started with baseless rumors that the inoculations would kill or sterilize the recipients, alter people’s DNA or fail to keep up with virus mutations. Now it is expanding to more elaborate conspiracy theories in an era already rife with mistrust of government and other institutions. Social media companies are trying to keep up, but in many ways they’re already behind, given the monumental task of combating misinformation about a massive, first-of-its-kind public health campaign. (Levine, 12/21)

The Atlantic: The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 And Sleep
The newly discovered coronavirus had killed only a few dozen people when Feixiong Cheng started looking for a treatment. He knew time was of the essence: Cheng, a data analyst at the Cleveland Clinic, had seen similar coronaviruses tear through China and Saudi Arabia before, sickening thousands and shaking the global economy. So, in January, his lab used artificial intelligence to search for hidden clues in the structure of the virus to predict how it invaded human cells, and what might stop it. One observation stood out: The virus could potentially be blocked by melatonin. (Hamblin, 12/21)

CIDRAP: Higher Pandemic Death Rate Found In Hispanics, Older Adults, Less Educated
A study of pandemic deaths in California in JAMA Internal Medicine today found the highest excess mortality in older adults, black and Hispanic residents, and those without college degrees. Excess death rates for Hispanic residents and those without a high school degree more than tripled after reopening, likely due to increased COVID-19 risk faced by low-wage, essential workers. Researchers evaluated mortality data across population subgroups in California from Mar 1 to Aug 22, finding 19,806 deaths in excess of those predicted by historical trends (95% prediction interval, 16,364 to 23,210). California has a population of 39 million, about 12% of the total US population. (12/21)

KQED: UCSF Doctor Challenges Reports Of High COVID-19 Rates In Black Community
When UCSF wanted to look into COVID-19 disparities in the Black community, they tapped Dr. Kim Rhoads. Rhoads is an epidemiologist and biostatistician at UCSF who has done extensive outreach in the Bay Area’s Black community. Most current research points to higher COVID-19 infection rates among Black people in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Black Americans are 1.4 times more likely to catch the virus compared to their white counterparts. (That rate was at 2.6 times more likely when KQED checked on Nov. 21.) And according to the state public health department, Black people make up approximately 4% of positive cases in California but only 6% of the total population in the state. But according to Rhoads, those statistics don't tell the full story. (Chang, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Headaches, Migraines Are Getting Worse During The Pandemic 
The familiar, all-consuming pain hit Kate Sosin in early May: a migraine. As a chronic migraine sufferer who typically experienced full-blown attacks a couple of times a month, Sosin simply thought: “Here we go again.” But the intense migraine attacks started coming more frequently, and are “eating me alive,” said Sosin, a 35-year-old reporter for the 19th, an online news organization. The Los Angeles resident, who uses they/them pronouns, now has three to four bad days a week — despite an increase in medication and regular treatment through a headache clinic. (Chiu, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Long-Haul Covid Patients Put Hope In Experimental Drugs 
Some pharmaceutical companies and researchers are moving to launch the first clinical trials for drugs intended to treat long-term Covid. So far, these drugs are experimental, and aren’t FDA-approved for any condition, whether Covid or any other disease they were originally developed to treat. The enthusiasm for them among patients reflects a hope for anything that might give them some relief. (Reddy, 12/21)

CIDRAP: Pigs Susceptible To SARS-CoV-2, Researchers Discover
In a study in Emerging Infectious Diseases late last week, Canadian and US researchers found that pigs are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, highlighting the need for additional livestock assessment to determine the potential role of domestic animals in the pandemic. Previous studies indicated that swine are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, but they did not measure seroconversion (antibody production), the authors note. (12/21)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Returns Almost Half Of Its COVID-19 Relief Grants
Mayo Clinic said Monday it has given back to the federal government nearly half of the COVID-19 stimulus grants it received because it recovered faster than expected. The Rochester, Minn.-based health system said it has returned $156 million of its $338 million worth of Provider Relief Fund grants, effective Dec. 21. The money was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act. (Bannow, 12/21)

The Hill: CDC Questioned EPA Rule Declining To Impose Tougher Soot Regulations 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rationale for freezing air quality regulations was “not scientifically defensible” before the agency finalized the rule earlier this month. The EPA opted to keep Obama-era standards on particulate matter, or soot, in a move critics argued failed to take into account a growing body of evidence showing even low levels of air pollution can be harmful to human health. (Beitsch, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Feeling Depressed? Bacteria In Your Gut May Be To Blame 
Scientists are exploring evidence that major depression may in part be a gut feeling, orchestrated by the microbiome—trillions of microorganisms living in and around our bodies, which influence our health and well-being. In a series of studies, researchers are discovering that the microbial menagerie living in our digestive tract may help regulate brain function, including mental health. Recent findings by scientists in the U.S., Europe and China are linking our feelings of stress, anxiety and severe depression to disturbances among hundreds of microbe species living in our gut that some researchers have started calling the psychobiome. (Hotz, 12/21)

Stat: Uniqure's Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Program Put On Hold
UniQure, the Dutch gene therapy company, said Monday that it had temporarily halted the clinical development of its hemophilia B treatment after a patient was diagnosed with liver cancer. The clinical hold, mandated by the Food and Drug Administration, encompasses three ongoing studies of Uniqure’s hemophilia B gene therapy called etranacogene dezaparvovec. Patient dosing in all three studies had already been completed and there is no plan to enroll or treat new patients, the company said. (Feuerstein, 12/21)

The New York Times: Don't Postpone Children's Health Care In The Pandemic 
Last May, the American Academy of Pediatrics launched a campaign named #CallYourPediatrician. There were humorous visuals, to-do lists with “call pediatrician” right above “learn 3rd grade math,” informational graphics about safe visits in the time of Covid, and adorable videos (watch the baby panda getting his checkup). But there’s still concern out there that parents aren’t calling, that children aren’t getting looked at. And there are some pediatric concerns that just shouldn’t wait. (Klass, 12/21)

USA Today: US C-Section Rates Are High: The Joint Commission To Publicize Data
The Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care, plans to start publicly reporting next year on hospitals with high cesarean section birth rates. “We are trying to identify hospitals that have high cesarean section rates as they work to improve,” said Dr. David Baker, executive vice president for Healthcare Quality Evaluation at TJC. “We want to encourage organizations to reduce their C-sections and encourage leaders to do that in a safe way.” (Rodriguez, 12/21)

Stat: Agios Sells Cancer Business To French Drug Maker For Up To $2 Billion
Agios Pharmaceuticals said Monday that it is selling its cancer business to the French drug maker Servier — a decision that will narrow the biotech’s focus to developing medicines for inherited diseases and enable a shareholder-friendly stock repurchase program. (Feuerstein, 12/21)

AP: Farm Company Fined $2 Million After 2 Workers Die Of Virus
An agricultural company in Washington state where two workers died from COVID-19 was fined more than $2 million for repeatedly violating coronavirus virus safety procedures. “It’s unacceptable to chose to ignore health and safety rules,” Joel Sacks, the director of state Department of Labor & Industries, told reporters Monday. Labor & Industries launched an investigation in July after being contacted by an employee of Gebbers Farm Operations in Brewster, Washington. (12/21)

AP: US Public School Enrollment Dips As Virus Disrupts Education
An analysis of data from 33 states obtained by Chalkbeat and The Associated Press shows that public K-12 enrollment this fall has dropped across those states by more than 500,000 students, or 2%, since the same time last year. That is a significant shift considering that enrollment overall in those states has typically gone up by around half a percent in recent years. And the decline is only likely to become more pronounced, as several large states have yet to release information. Chalkbeat and AP surveyed all 50 states, but 17 have not released comparable enrollment numbers yet. (Belsha, LaMarr LeMee, Willingham and Fenn, 12/22)