First Edition: Dec. 23, 2020

KHN: Retiree Living The RV Dream Fights $12,387 Nightmare Lab Fee
Lorraine Rogge and her husband, Michael Rogge, travel the country in a recreational vehicle, a well-earned adventure in retirement. This spring found them parked in Artesia, New Mexico, for several months. In May, Rogge, 60, began to feel pelvic pain and cramping. But she had had a total hysterectomy in 2006, so the pain seemed unusual, especially because it lasted for days. She looked for a local gynecologist and found one who took her insurance at the Carlsbad Medical Center in Carlsbad, New Mexico, about a 20-mile drive from the RV lot. (Knight, 12/23)

KHN: COVID Vaccines Appear Safe And Effective, But Key Questions Remain
The recent rollout of two newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines is a bright ray of hope at the pandemic’s darkest hour. We now have a path that can lead us to happier times — even as we watch and suffer from the horrible onslaught of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths that mark the end of this regrettable year. (Wolfson, 12/23)

KHN: At Risk Of Extinction, Black-Footed Ferrets Get Experimental COVID Vaccine
In late summer, as researchers accelerated the first clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for humans, a group of scientists in Colorado worked to inoculate a far more fragile species. About 120 black-footed ferrets, among the most endangered mammals in North America, were injected with an experimental COVID vaccine aimed at protecting the small, weasel-like creatures rescued from the brink of extinction four decades ago. (Aleccia, 12/23)

The New York Times: Trump Calls Covid Relief Bill A 'Disgrace,' Demands Changes 
President Trump on Tuesday evening threatened to derail months of bipartisan work in Congress to deliver $900 billion in coronavirus relief to a country battered by the pandemic, demanding checks to Americans that are more than three times as much as those in the bill, which he called a “disgrace.” The president, who has been preoccupied with the baseless claim that the election was stolen from him, seized on congressional leaders’ decision to pass the relief bill by combining it with a broader spending plan to fund government operations and the military. That spending plan includes routine provisions like foreign aid and support for Washington institutions like the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian. (Broadwater and Rappeport, 12/22)

The Hill: Trump Slams Relief Bill, Calls On Congress To Increase Stimulus Money 
President Trump on Tuesday evening blasted Congress over the already-passed COVID-19 relief package and called on both chambers to send him a new bill increasing stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. The president expressed dismay with the $2.3 trillion package that Congress passed Monday, which includes $900 billion in coronavirus relief and $1.4 trillion to fund the government until October, conflating the two bills and saying the spending goals were misguided. (Elis and Axelrod, 12/22)

AP: Trump Threatens To Torpedo COVID Relief With New Demands
Trump did not specifically vow to veto the bill, and there may be enough support for the legislation in Congress to override him if he does. But if Trump were to upend the sprawling legislation, the consequences would be severe, including no federal aid to struggling Americans and small businesses, and no additional resources to help with vaccine distribution. In addition, because lawmakers linked the pandemic relief bill to an overarching funding measure, the government would shut down on Dec. 29. (Freking, Taylor and Mascaro, 12/23)

Politico: Trump Takes Aim At Covid Stimulus Bill, Raising Specter Of Veto
In a video tweeted by the president Tuesday evening, Trump delivered a four-minute speech listing his many grievances with the bill — which would send much-needed aid to Americans struggling amid the pandemic. Trump specifically criticized the relief package for including “wasteful spending” on issues unrelated to Covid-19, only providing $600 to individuals and families, and not giving enough emergency aid to small businesses. (Hooper, 12/22)

The Washington Post: Trump Calls On Congress To Approve $2,000 Stimulus Checks, Hinting He Might Not Sign Relief Bill Without Changes 
The video landed like a sonic boom in Washington. His own aides were stunned. Congressional aides were stunned. Stock market futures quickly slumped on the prospect that the economic aid could be in doubt. And the implications for what happens next could be severe. If he refuses to sign the bill, the government will shut down on Dec. 29. The $900 billion in emergency economic aid will be frozen, and the race for the two Senate seats in Georgia could also be upended. (Siegel, Dawsey and DeBonis, 12/22)

The Hill: CDC Says New UK Strain Of Coronavirus Could 'Already Be In The United States' 
A new strain of the coronavirus spreading widely in the United Kingdom may already be circulating in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday. The agency in a scientific brief said scientists are working to better understand how easily it might be transmitted, and they do not yet know why it has emerged in the U.K. (Weixel, 12/22)

The Hill: Fauci: Assume New COVID-19 Strain Is In US 
Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, said early Tuesday that Americans should assume a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus detected in the U.K. is already in the U.S. It’s “certainly possible” that the strain is already present within the U.S., Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” (Budryk, 12/22)

Politico: CDC Warns That Travel Could Spread British Covid-19 Strain In U.S. 
The CDC on Tuesday for the first time raised the possibility that travelers could bring a newly identified coronavirus strain from the U.K. to the U.S. The agency said more research is needed to determine whether the strain is easier to transmit than other versions of the virus, as scientists in Britain have suggested. (Ehley, 12/22)

The Hill: New COVID-19 Strain Spreads To Italy, Denmark, Netherlands 
Health officials in a handful of countries on Tuesday reported new coronavirus cases involving people infected with a mutated strain of the virus that is believed to be more infectious. Sky News reported that the new strain has now been detected in Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Gibraltar. (Bowden, 12/22)

The New York Times: Why Experts Think Travel Bans Won't Stop Coronavirus Variant Spread 
It is not known how widely the variant is already circulating, experts say, and the bans threaten to cause more economic and emotional hardship as the toll wrought by the virus continues to grow. “It is idiotic” was the blunt assessment of Dr. Peter Kremsner, the director of Tübingen University Hospital in Germany. “If this mutant was only on the island, only then does it make sense to close the borders to England, Scotland and Wales. But if it has spread, then we have to combat the new mutant everywhere.” (Santora, 12/22)

Reuters: As Mutated Variant Spreads, PM Johnson Mulls Stricter Lockdown
The British government will review whether it needs to impose its strictest COVID-19 restrictions on more of the country on Wednesday as a highly infectious variant continues to spread but will not change Christmas rules, a minister said. Britain reported a record number of new infections on Tuesday as a mutated strain of the coronavirus, which could be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, causes the number of cases and hospital admissions to soar. (12/23)

The Hill: 2020 On Track To Be Deadliest Year In US History 
This year is on track to be the deadliest in U.S. history with a total of more than 3 million deaths expected by the end of December, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Associated Press reported Tuesday that preliminary numbers suggest the U.S. will have at least 3.2 million deaths by the end of 2020, about 400,000 more than in 2019. (Castronuovo, 12/22)

The Hill: US Tops 18M Coronavirus Cases 
The U.S. topped 18 million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic on Tuesday, clocking a grim milestone during a holiday week and growing concerns about a more contagious coronavirus strain discovered in the U.K. The U.S. surpassed 18 million cases midday Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data, with the last 1 million cases being recorded within six days. (Coleman, 12/22)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Wave Pushes California To Brink Of 2 Million Cases
It took almost 10 months for California to record its millionth confirmed coronavirus case. Now, just six weeks after crossing that milestone, the state is on the cusp of surpassing 2 million. The staggering rate of growth demonstrates how widely the coronavirus is circulating statewide and underscores the reality that activities and behaviors thought to be relatively safe just weeks ago now carry a higher risk of infection than ever before. (Money and Lin II, 12/22)

AP: California Health System Buckling Under COVID-19 Pandemic
California’s health care system is buckling under the strain of the nation’s largest coronavirus outbreak and may fracture in weeks if people ignore holiday social distancing, health officials warned as the number of people needing beds and specialized care soared to previously unimagined levels. Top executives from the state’s largest hospital systems —Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health and Sutter Health, which together cover 15 million Californians — said Tuesday that increasingly exhausted staff, many pressed into service outside their normal duties, are now attending to COVID-19 patients stacked up in hallways and conference rooms. (Jablon and Thompson, 12/23)

AP: US Hospitals Facing Worrisome Shortage Of Nurses, Doctors
With so many states seeing a flood of coronavirus patients, U.S. hospitals are again worried about finding enough medical workers to meet demand just as infections from the holiday season threaten to add to the burden on American health care. California, which is enduring by far its worst spike in cases and hospitalizations, is reaching out to places like Australia and Taiwan to fill the need for 3,000 temporary medical workers, particularly nurses trained in critical care. (Nguyen, 12/22)

Bloomberg: Hospitals Deluged As Vaccine Still Months Away For Most In U.S.
Covid-19 has hospitalized almost twice as many Americans as at any point in the pandemic, leaving medical providers on the brink of crisis with vaccine doses months away for most people. The U.S. health-care system and those who serve it are enduring more strain than ever. And the virus’s grip on hospitals has shifted toward more rural communities, where treatment alternatives are scarce.In the near term, sustained patient loads threaten to accelerate deaths, as access to critical care declines in intensive-care units. Longer term, the risks are more systemic: fatigue, attrition and mental-health damage to the doctors and nurses working to care for the sick. (Querolo and Tozzi, 12/22)

NPR: As Covid Cases Surge, Tennessee Hospitals Near Breaking Point
COVID-19 is hitting a handful states harder than anywhere else — California, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee. And in Tennessee, hospitals are having to improvise, as nearly 3,000 people are hospitalized for COVID-19 and treatment is underway for far more COVID patients than ever thought possible. Clinicians say they are trying to bend but not break as they wait for vaccines. (Farmer, 12/22)

Houston Chronicle: Latest COVID-19 Projections Suggest Houston Could Be Nation's Next Hot Spot
The spread of COVID-19, steadily increasing in Houston and Texas since the beginning of November, is expected to accelerate in coming weeks, according to the latest modeling, a trajectory that could make the city and state one of the nation’s next hot spots. The models project COVID-19 numbers — cases, hospitalizations, deaths — to continue rising in Houston and many other parts of Texas before likely peaking sometime in January. Parts of the state at crisis levels the past month have peaked. (Ackerman, 12/22)

The Hill: Birx Says She Will Help Biden Team But Plans To Retire 
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said Tuesday that she would help President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration “for a period of time” but ultimately plans to retire. "I want the Biden administration to be successful. I’ve worked since 1980 in the federal government, first through the military then through [Health and Human Services] and then detailed to the State Department and detailed here, where I hope I was helpful,” Birx told Newsy in an interview. (Chalfant, 12/22)

Politico: Deborah Birx Eyeing Retirement After Biden Transition 
In a longer response, Birx added: “I will be helpful through a period of time. And then I will have to say that this experience has been a bit overwhelming. It’s been very difficult on my family.” Birx confirmed her plans to retire from government in a text message to POLITICO. But she stressed that there is no set date for her departure, and that she would stay on for as long as the Biden team requires. “I want to ensure the transition goes well,” Birx wrote, “meaning I will stay as long as needed and then retire.” (Forgey, 12/22)

The Hill: White House Wishes Birx Well After She Announces Retirement 
The White House wished coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx well after she announced her plans to retire on Tuesday. “President @realDonaldTrump has great respect for Dr. Birx and likes her very much. “We wish her well,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted on Tuesday. (Williams, 12/22)

The Hill: Growing Number Of Lawmakers Decline Early Access To COVID-19 Vaccine 
A small but growing number of lawmakers are declining early access to a COVID-19 vaccine that’s being offered to them under continuity of government policies. A handful of lawmakers in both parties, including Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and incoming Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), all made a point of announcing they would refuse a vaccine before all front-line health care workers and seniors get inoculated. (Marcos, 12/22)

AP: Governor Gets Vaccine, Texas Hospitalizations Still Soaring
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday joined the ranks of governors receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on live television in hopes of assuring the public that the inoculations are safe. Abbott, a Republican, said after getting the vaccine at a hospital in the state capital that federal health officials have urged governors to set an example. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also received the first dose this week, while other governors have said they’ll wait. (12/23)

AP: US Close On Deal With Pfizer For Millions More Vaccine Doses
The U.S. government is close to a deal to acquire tens of millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the deal is under discussion and could be finalized shortly. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe ongoing deliberations. (Lemire and Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/23)

The New York Times: Pfizer Nears Deal To Provide More Vaccine Doses 
The Trump administration and Pfizer are close to a deal under which the pharmaceutical company would bolster supply of its coronavirus vaccine for the United States by at least tens of millions of doses next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, people familiar with the discussions said. An agreement, which could be announced as early as Wednesday, would help the United States at least partly offset a looming vaccine shortage that could leave as many as 110 million adult Americans uncovered in the first half of 2021. (LaFraniere and Thomas, 12/22)

The Hill: Biden: Pandemic Will Get Worse Despite Vaccine 
President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic will likely get worse despite the arrival of vaccines, and urged Americans to be vigilant in the coming months. "Experts say things will get worse notwithstanding the vaccine," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Del. "We’re averaging a death rate of close to 3,000 a day. That means we will lose tens of thousands of more lives in the months to come, and the vaccine won’t be able to stop that." (Manchester, 12/22)

NPR: The 'Darkest Days' Are Ahead Of Us, Biden Warns About COVID-19 Pandemic
President-elect Joe Biden warned Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic will get worse before it gets better. "Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us," Biden told reporters during a year-end news conference in Wilmington, Del. He said that Americans, when united, could overcome the crisis, and he called the first vaccines being administered a good thing. But he noted that distribution of the vaccines is one of the biggest operational challenges the country has ever faced. (Montanaro and Wise, 12/22)

AP: Feds Sue Walmart Over Role In Opioid Crisis
The Justice Department sued Walmart on Tuesday, accusing it of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis by pressuring its pharmacies to fill even potentially suspicious prescriptions for the powerful painkillers. The civil complaint filed points to the role Walmart’s pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and Walmart’s own responsibility for the allegedly illegal distribution of controlled substances to the pharmacies at the height of the opioid crisis. Walmart operates more than 5,000 pharmacies in its stores around the country. (Balsamo and D'Innocenzio, 12/22)

NPR: Walmart Sued Over Its Alleged Role In The Opioid Crisis
If the retailer is found liable in the case, it could face civil penalties of up to $67,627 for each unlawful prescription filled and $15,691 for each suspicious order not reported. The case, which the department says was the result of a multi-year investigation, was filed in federal court in Delaware. The complaint alleges that Walmart violated the Controlled Substances Act in multiple ways, as the operator of both pharmacies and wholesale drug distribution centers. (Wamsley, 12/22)

The Hill: Justice Department Sues Walmart, Alleging Role In Opioid Crisis
The Justice Department sued Walmart on Tuesday for allegedly contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis, accusing the nation's largest retailer of failing to properly screen for abuse in its prescribing practices. The federal government alleged that the company pressured its pharmacy employees to fill prescriptions as quickly as possible and discouraged scrutiny of them. (Budryk and Castronuovo, 12/22)

The New York Times: Justice Department Sues Walmart, Saying It Fueled Opioid Crisis 
The 160-page civil complaint alleges that Walmart knew its system for detecting questionable prescriptions was inadequate and details numerous instances when employees warned federal authorities and company managers about suspicious prescriptions. “As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids,” Jeffrey Bossert Clark, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. “Instead, for years, it did the opposite — filling thousands of invalid prescriptions at its pharmacies and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids and other drugs placed by those pharmacies.” (Benner and Corkery, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: Walmart Ignored Red Flags In Illegitimate Opioid Prescription Orders, Feds Allege
Managers across Walmart's 5,000 U.S pharmacies denied its pharmacists the authority to refuse to fill prescriptions from known "pill mills" and withheld related compliance data from their workers, federal regulators alleged in the complaint filed in federal court. While Walmart stopped distributing controlled substances in 2018, it had received hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders that it failed to report to the Drug Enforcement Agency, according to the lawsuit, which is seeking what could be billions of dollars in damages and limitations on its prescribing privileges. (Kacik, 12/22)

Houston Chronicle: Millions Likely To Ignore COVID Holiday Travel Warnings
The American Automobile Association predicts that 81.1 million U.S. residents will travel beginning Wednesday and ending Sunday, Jan. 3, 25 percent less than during the comparable period last year and the biggest drop since AAA began gathering statistics in 2001. In Texas, AAA predicts, 6.8 million people will travel during the holiday season, almost 30 percent fewer than in 2019. “Year-end holidays are typically when people venture out for longer, more elaborate vacations,” said Joshua Zuber, a spokesman with AAA Texas. “That’s not going to be the case this year.” (Takahashi, 12/22)

Los Angeles Times: A Negative COVID-19 Test Doesn't ‘Clear’ Christmas Parties
Amid growing signs that many people are not heeding warnings to avoid Christmas gatherings and travel, some people are getting COVID-19 tests in hopes of being “cleared” to enjoy the holidays in groups. This happened before Thanksgiving with disastrous results: Many attended holiday events and got sick, causing the coronavirus to spread uncontrolled, filling hospitals and contributing to a worsening surge. Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer urged people not to believe that a negative test result means it’s safe to attend or host a holiday gathering with people from more than one household. (Smith, Lin II)

The New York Times: Passenger Who Had Medical Emergency On Flight Died Of Covid-19, Coroner Says
A coroner in Louisiana confirmed on Tuesday what some had feared: that the death last week of a 69-year-old man who experienced a medical emergency aboard a United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles had been caused by Covid-19.The coroner’s office in Jefferson Parish identified the passenger as Isais Hernandez, 69, of Los Angeles, who was on United Flight 591 when it took off from Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 14. (Paybarah, 12/22)

USA Today: COVID Vaccine Distribution Plan Creates Winners, Losers Among States
As health care workers and nursing home residents await the first scarce syringes of COVID-19 vaccine, few realize that when they will get a dose depends a lot on what state they live in. Though they’re first in line for the vaccine, some people in those groups may end up getting vaccinated after people in other states who are deemed lower priority. The vaccine is allocated according to the number of adults in each state, which doesn’t correlate to the number of high-risk people there. As long as supplies are limited, some states won’t get doses proportionate to their needs. (Wagner, Slack and Bajak, 12/22)

Reuters: Production And Delivery Challenges Set Up Turbulent Year Of The Vaccine
As 2020 closes, regulatory approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes the world can defeat the pandemic next year. But production and delivery challenges suggest beating the disease will be a marathon whose finish line is still far away. Europe on Monday followed Britain and the United States in giving a green light to a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech which, like a similar shot from Moderna that has U.S. emergency approval, demonstrated 95% efficacy in large trials. Miller, 12/23)

Bloomberg: First-In-Line Health Workers Show Off Shots To Push Safety
Nurses sporting stickers and dancing doctors are the face of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the U.S. Health-care workers across the country are taking to social media to show they received the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine, with many using the hashtag #IGotTheShot. They are among the first to receive the vaccine outside of clinical trials after it was authorized for emergency use by regulators. Another shot from Moderna Inc. began rolling out this week. (LaVito, 12/22)

The Hill: When Fighting A Global Pandemic, All Options Must Be On The Table 
As the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are administered across the country, there is a sense of renewed optimism that the United States will, in time, beat back this virus and return to normalcy... Unfortunately, what can be lost in this wave of positive feeling is what those living in countless disparate communities scattered across America are facing. (Betsy Huber, 12/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: 65 Patients, Staff Infected At Napa Psychiatric Hospital
Sixty-five patients and staff at California’s oldest psychiatric hospital have been diagnosed with coronavirus infections — the facility’s largest spike in patient cases since the start of the pandemic, according to data reported Friday on the state website. Since March, more than 150 patients and staff have tested positive for the virus at Napa State Hospital, a psychiatric facility located alongside the Napa Vallejo Highway, as the virus continues ravaging long-term mental health care facilities. (Arredondo, 12/21)

Stat: ‘Every Day Is An Emergency’: The Pandemic Is Worsening Psychiatric Bed Shortages Nationwide
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically cut the availability of inpatient psychiatric beds, with facilities across the country forced to reduce their capacity to meet social distancing requirements, stem outbreaks of the virus, or repurpose psychiatric beds to care for the surge of Covid-19 patients. The crisis — combined with years of mental health care budget cuts, rising demand for mental health care, and an existing shortage of both psychiatric beds and providers — appears to have put health care systems on a wartime footing. (Rapoport, 12/23)

Stat: For People With Terminal Illnesses, Time Lost To Covid-19 Can't Be Made Up
After Aaron Hoover found out he had glioblastoma in 2019, a new imperative imbued each day. There were trips to take, family to embrace, friends to spend time with. What he didn’t envision, however, was a bucket-list-shredding pandemic. (Joseph, 12/23)

The New York Times: Sloan Kettering Paid $1.5 Million Severance To A Cancer Doctor Forced Out Over Conflicts 
In 2018, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s chief medical officer, Dr. José Baselga, resigned under fire over his failure to disclose payments from health care companies in dozens of research articles he wrote. Now, recent Internal Revenue Service filings show the nonprofit hospital paid more than $1.5 million in severance to Dr. Baselga in 2018 and 2019. (Thomas and Ornstein, 12/22)

The Hill: Suicides Decline For First Time In Two Decades 
The national rate of suicide fell for the first time in two decades in 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC's final report on mortality in the U.S. in 2019 showed that suicide deaths dropped by 2.1 percent in 2019 compared with 2018. Suicides were still the 10th leading cause of death in the nation. (Williams, 12/22)

CIDRAP: Parents Say Social Media, Screen Time Top Pandemic Concerns For Kids
A University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital national poll released yesterday spotlights social media and screen time as parents' top concerns for children during the pandemic, with key racial and ethnic differences. The poll surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,027 parents with at least one child in the household. Eight of parents' top 10 concerns may be related to efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic, including overuse of social media and screen time, internet safety, unhealthy eating, depression and suicide, and lack of physical activity. Overall, 72% of parents ranked overuse of social media and screen time as their top concern, followed by bullying/cyberbullying (62%) and internet safety (62%). Almost half of parents (48%) described COVID-19 disease as a "big problem," ranked tenth overall in parents' top health concerns. (12/22)

The Washington Post: Keyontae Johnson Released From Hospital On Tuesday
Florida forward Keyontae Johnson was released from the hospital 10 days after he collapsed on the court against Florida State, his family said in a statement released through the school. “Today is a great day! Keyontae is being released from the hospital. We continue to be amazed at the pace of his recovery and look forward to spending Christmas together as a family,” they said. ... Johnson, 21, had been hospitalized since Dec. 12. The Gainesville Sun reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified person, that he was diagnosed with acute myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. (Hill, 12/22)

The Washington Post: Health And Wellness Coaches: What You Should Know
Desiree Udell, an artist, screen printer and mother from Lilburn, Ga., found herself frequently ordering in meals during the pandemic. “With the challenges of self-quarantining taking over my family’s life, I barely went out for groceries anymore,” she said. “We weren’t eating healthy at all. And I was stressed.” So Udell, 38, hired a health coach. The primary goal of this new form of lifestyle coaching is to encourage positive behavior changes in areas such as nutrition, physical fitness, smoking cessation and stress management. Although dietitians, personal trainers and psychotherapists provide similar services, what makes the United States’ 4,100 board-certified health and wellness coaches different is not so much what topics they address, but how they address them. (Opler, 12/22)

CNN: Henry McMaster, South Carolina Governor, Tests Positive For Covid-19 
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tested positive for Covid-19 Monday evening. The Republican governor, 73, is "experiencing mild symptoms with a cough and slight fatigue," his office said in a statement Tuesday. (Sayers and Stracqualursi, 12/22)

AP: Moderna Vaccine Arrives In South Dakota As Virus Cases Drop
South Dakota reported a drop in virus cases on Tuesday as hospital systems in the state readied to administer a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna. Monument Health, the largest hospital system in the western part of South Dakota, began administering the vaccine to hospital workers and staff at long-term care facilities in several locations. Meanwhile, the largest hospital systems in the eastern part of the state planned to distribute the Moderna vaccine in the coming days. (12/22)

AP: Feds Probe Iowa Care Home: Disabled 'Not Human Guinea Pigs'
The U.S. Justice Department has found a state-run care center for people with intellectual disabilities has likely violated the constitutional rights of residents by subjecting them to human experiments, some of which were deemed dangerous by federal investigators. A report released Tuesday identified broad failures at the Glenwood Resource Center, including poor treatment of residents and failure of the Iowa Department of Human Services to respond. The report said breakdowns in the quality of physical health care exposed residents to harm and serious risk of harm. (Pitt, 12/23)

AP: WVa, Others To Get $1.85M In Federal Opioid Misuse Funding
West Virginia’s U.S. senators announced $1.85 million in federal funding for opioid misuse research and treatment programs in the state. The bulk of the money, $1.53 million, will go to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. West Virginia University will also get $222,500 for drug abuse and addiction research. (12/23)

Boston Globe: Lawmakers Reach Agreement For Telehealth Coverage
Massachusetts House and Senate leaders said Tuesday they’ve reached a deal on legislation that would mandate insurance carriers cover telehealth services in any case where in-person services would be covered, extending emergency requirements the state had put in place amid the pandemic. The 70-page compromise bill released by legislative leaders would also require insurers to cover a range of COVID-19-related care, including emergency and inpatient services, as well as lab work, lawmakers said. (Stout, 12/22)

Politico: Flint Has Clean Water Now. Why Won’t People Drink It?
In a city synonymous for half a decade with disaster, something remarkable happened in February 2019. A team of researchers reported that Flint’s homes—even the ones at the highest risk for undrinkable, lead-poisoned tap water—finally had clean water running through their pipes. After years of painstaking cleanup and rebuilding, the study’s results were a sparkling capstone. Earlier tests already hinted at good news, and this one confirmed it: In the vast majority of such homes, lead levels were 5 parts per billion or better—far below even the strictest regulations in the country. Local news outlet MLive trumpeted the news, and Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality tacked it to their ongoing list of promising signs that indicated the city’s potable present and future. (Robertson, 12/23)

USA Today: COVID-19 Reaches Antarctica, Meaning All Continents Are Now Infected
For months, the hundreds of scientists and researchers who live in Antarctica have inhabited the only continent in the world without a reported case of COVID-19. But now the virus has reached even there. Three dozen people at a Chilean base have tested positive, the country's army announced Monday. On Tuesday, a regional health minister in Chile said there are 21 infections involving people aboard the Chilean navy's Sargento Aldea supply vessel. (Shannon, 12/22)

AP: Peru Reaches 1 Million Confirmed Coronavirus Infections
Peru passed 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus infection Tuesday, becoming the fifth nation in Latin America to report that number as the region struggles with the pandemic’s economic and health effects. Peru, which has a population of 32 million, was quick to declare lockdown measures in March as the pandemic spread in Europe. But in spite of closing its airports for almost six months and ordering most of its residents to stay at home it has struggled to contain the virus. Officials said they had recorded 1,000,153 cases as of Tuesday evening. (Munoz and Rueda, 12/23)

Reuters: Keep Calm, Taiwan Says After First Local COVID-19 Case In 8 Months 
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on people on Wednesday to keep calm after the island confirmed its first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since April 12, as the government announced negative tests so far for the person’s contacts. Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention methods and widespread use of masks, with all new cases for more than the last 250 days being among travellers arriving on the island. (12/23)