First Edition: Feb. 10, 2021

KHN: Farmworker Camps To Urban Tent Cities: Tailoring Vaccine Info To Where It’s Most Needed 
Kim Wagenaar has been preparing to bring covid-19 vaccines to western North Carolina for months. She’s signed up the community health center she operates in Asheville to receive and distribute the doses. She’s ordered a subzero freezer to store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and transport it to rural counties. She’s also allocated her staff between covid testing sites and vaccine clinics. But those logistics make up only half the equation, said Wagenaar, CEO of Western North Carolina Community Health Services. (Pattani, 2/10)

KHN: As Pandemic Surged, Contact Tracing Struggled; Biden Looks To Boost It 
Contact tracing, a critical part of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, has fallen behind in recent months as covid-19 cases have soared. President Joe Biden had pledged to change that. Biden proposes hiring 100,000 people nationwide as part of a new public health jobs corps. They would help with contact tracing and facilitate vaccination. Experts said it’s not clear that would be enough tracers to keep up with another surge in covid cases, even if the vaccination rate increases at the same time. (Findlay, 2/10)

KHN: Pandemic-Fueled Alcohol Abuse Creates Wave Of Hospitalizations For Liver Disease 
As the pandemic sends thousands of recovering alcoholics into relapse, hospitals across the country have reported dramatic increases in alcohol-related admissions for critical diseases like alcoholic hepatitis and liver failure. Alcoholism-related liver disease was a growing problem even before the pandemic, with 15 million people diagnosed with the condition around the country, and with hospitalizations doubling over the past decade. (Cahan, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Brutal Covid-19 Surge In The U.S. Weakens Significantly 
The most severe surge of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. has weakened significantly, according to key metrics, though public-health experts and epidemiologists urge caution, given the spread of highly contagious new variants. Newly reported cases have dropped 56% over the past month, based on a seven-day average, marking a significantly steeper fall than the U.S. saw after the spring and summer surges. Hospitalizations have declined 38% since Jan 6. The seven-day average of Covid-19 tests returning positive fell over the past week to 6.93%, the lowest since Oct. 31. (Kamp and Ansari, 2/9)

Stat: Covid-19 Cases Are Falling. It Could Be A Calm Before A Variant-Driven Storm
If the U.S. Covid-19 epidemic were a marathon, the country might have made it to Mile 20. It’s been through a lot, and already, there are signs things are getting better. But there are building leg cramps that could make this last push, which isn’t actually all that short, really painful. (Joseph, 2/10)

The New York Times: California, Besieged By Virus For Months, Has Most Deaths In U.S.
Dozens of times a day in Covid-19 wards across California, a scene like this plays out: A hospital chaplain watches as a death is announced by machine. Kristin Michealsen, a hospital chaplain in Los Angeles, stood at a man’s bedside, holding his hand. His relatives gathered at their home just minutes from the hospital — they were not allowed into the hospital ward. The patient’s heart had just stopped. Ms. Michealsen, an ordained minister, had watched a computer monitor as she accompanied the man to the edge of his life. Eighty beats per minute. Sixty. Forty. (2/10)

Bloomberg: White House Announces Boost in Vaccine Shipments, New Sites
President Joe Biden’s administration will boost weekly vaccine shipments to states to 11 million from 10.5 million and launch a vaccination program through community health centers in every state and territory, White House adviser Jeff Zients said Tuesday. The administration will begin shipping doses to the centers as soon as next week. That will include a total of one million doses -- enough for 500,000 full vaccinations -- as the program ramps up in coming weeks, Zients said at a briefing. The timeline for those shipments wasn’t immediately clear. (Wingrove and LaVito, 2/9)

Politico: Biden Administration To Begin Shipping Vaccines To Health Centers
The Biden administration will begin shipping coronavirus shots to community health centers next week in an effort to reach some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations. The program’s launch comes as White House officials are trying to address inequities in the nation's vaccination push. Initial data shows Black and Hispanic people are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than are white people. (Roubein, 2/9)

The Hill: White House To Ship COVID-19 Vaccines Directly To Community Health Centers 
Community health centers will be receiving coronavirus vaccines directly from the federal government next week, White House officials announced Tuesday. The goal of the new program is to focus on equitable vaccine distribution, in order to reach traditionally underserved areas. (Weixel, 2/9)

Reuters: Eli Lilly's Antibody Combination Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization For COVID-19
Eli Lilly’s combination antibody therapy to fight COVID-19 has been granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Lilly said on Tuesday. Lilly’s combination therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, helped cut the risk of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients by 70%, data from a late-stage trial showed in January. Lilly said the therapy will be available immediately. (2/10)

The Hill: FDA Issues Emergency Use Authorization For Eli Lilly's COVID-19 Antibody Combo 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday gave emergency use authorization for a new combination antibody drug from Eli Lilly that the company says can treat mild and moderate cases of the coronavirus. (Axelrod, 2/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Plans Covid-19 Safety Campaign Focused On Social Distancing, Mask Wearing 
The Biden administration plans to ramp up a public safety campaign focused on social distancing and mask wearing to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the coming weeks as states begin relaxing public-health measures, according to a person familiar with the matter. But the administration will delay a broad national campaign it had been planning that would promote vaccine awareness until more doses are available, the person said, and will instead launch a limited version targeting smaller groups where skepticism is pervasive. (Armour, 2/9)

The Hill: Biden Backs House Democrats' Proposed Threshold For COVID-19 Checks 
President Biden said Tuesday he agrees with a proposal from House Democrats to begin phasing out the next round of direct coronavirus relief payments to Americans who make more than $75,000, a key sticking point among some in the party. (Samuels, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Jamie Dimon, Other CEOs Meet With President Biden At White House As Relief Plan Advances 
President Biden met at the White House on Tuesday with JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and other leading business executives to discuss the administration’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package, as Democrats work to speed the plan through Congress. The meeting also included Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart; Sonia Syngal, chief executive of Gap; Marvin Ellison, chief executive of Lowe’s; and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also took part. (Stein and Werner, 2/9)

Stat: House Democrats Slip Drug-Pricing Proposal Into Covid-19 Relief Bill 
House Democrats are expected to insert a controversial Medicaid drug pricing policy into a fast-moving Covid-19 relief bill, several health care lobbyists and a congressional aide briefed on the package told STAT. The policy aims to help states recoup some of the costs they incur in their Medicaid programs when drug makers hike the prices of certain drugs. (Cohrs, 2/9)

Bloomberg: House Plans Medicaid, Drug Price Reforms: Stimulus Update
Major changes to Medicaid are included in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s stimulus proposal. State and local governments will receive $350 billion in aid, according to a draft of a stimulus bill. House Democrats have budgeted for commodity purchases to help U.S. farms. President Joe Biden backed a proposal for quicker phase-outs of planned $1,400 stimulus checks. House and Senate Democrats are clashing on the design of expanded support for the unemployed, an early sign of the intra-party squabbling in the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in the coming weeks. The debate comes as the House continues to release elements of the bill. A dozen different House committees are working on the specific components of Biden’s plan and releasing their portions as they go along. (2/9)

The Hill: Lawmakers Debate Role Of Prescription Drugs And Generics In Health Care Costs 
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle Tuesday debate the role of prescription drugs and generics in the rising costs of overall health care. Speaking at The Hill's “Complex Generic & the Prescription Drug Landscape” event, Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said affordability needs to be a key focus when crafting new policies. (Oakes, 2/9)

Stat: Biden Administration To Make Nursing Schools Pay For Government Mistake
The federal government miscalculated funding for hospital-based nursing schools for nearly two decades, and now the Biden administration is forcing them to pay up during the worst health care workforce crisis in decades. (Cohrs, 2/10)

The Washington Post: Lawmakers Urge Biden To Back Opioid-Treatment Measure
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on President Biden to let more physicians prescribe an opioid-treatment drug, in what has emerged as an early test of his administration’s opioid strategy. The effort centers on the “X-waiver,” a two-decade-old requirement, first mandated by Congress, that physicians undergo a day’s training before being allowed to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid-use disorder. (Diamond, 2/9)

Politico: Democratic Lawmakers Push FDA To Lift Restrictions On Abortion Pill 
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are asking the Food and Drug Administration to lift rules requiring people seeking medication abortion to obtain pills in-person, citing pandemic-related health risks. Democratic women on the watchdog panel, in a letter to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock that was first shared with POLITICO, said the agency must "immediately eliminate the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone," referring to one of two drugs used in medication abortions. (Ollstein, 2/9)

The Hill: Democrats Urge Biden FDA To Drop In-Person Rule For Abortion Pill 
A group of House Democrats pressed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Tuesday to lift “medically unnecessary” restriction on the abortion pill that have been in place for several years. Under the FDA rule, mifepristone, which is used to end early pregnancies and treat early pregnancy loss, can only be dispensed in person, a requirement that has received renewed criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Hellmann, 2/9)

The Hill: Advocacy Group Launches Campaign To Press Congress On Paid Family Leave 
A national advocacy group is putting six figures behind a new ad campaign pressuring Congress to include paid family and sick leave in the COVID-19 relief package. The ad from PL+US, which will run in Washington, D.C., during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CNN’s “The Situation Room,” features emotional testimony from paid family leave advocate Mai Ton recounting her personal experience of having a newborn child at a time when her father was dying. (Easley, 2/9)

Politico: Former Obama HHS Secretary Joins Marijuana Industry Group 
Former Obama administration Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is the new co-chair of the National Cannabis Roundtable. Effective Tuesday, Sebelius joins former House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, atop the group's board of directors, putting a bipartisan pair of political heavyweights in place at a time of heightened industry optimism that federal marijuana restrictions could be loosened. (Demoko, 2/9)

The Hill: EPA Alleges Political Interference By Trump Officials Over Toxic Chemical 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday asserted that political appointees from the Trump administration interfered with a safety assessment for a chemical linked to health issues. The agency said in a statement that it was removing from its website a toxicity assessment for a compound known as PFBS due to the alleged interference. (Frazin, 2/9)

The New York Times: Biden Pushes For Racial Equity In Vaccination, But Data Lags 
Federal health officials are struggling to gather accurate data on the race and ethnicity of people being vaccinated against the coronavirus, hampering President Biden’s push for racial equity in a pandemic that has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of color. Mr. Biden has repeatedly said racial equity will be at the core of his administration’s coronavirus response. On Tuesday, White House officials announced a program to ship doses of vaccine directly to a network of federally funded clinics in underserved areas, beginning next week. (Stolberg, 2/9)

Stat: Doctors, Lawmakers Urge FDA To Study Racial Disparities In Pulse Oximeters
A long-documented, under-the-radar disparity is garnering new attention as the Covid-19 pandemic stretches into another year: Some pulse oximeters, which measure oxygen levels and are critical to making decisions about patient care, aren’t as accurate in Black patients and other people of color. (Brodwin and St. Fleur, 2/10)

Boston Globe: CDC Survey Finds People Are Warming Up To The Idea Of Coronavirus Shots, But Many Remain Reluctant
Americans warmed up this fall to the idea of getting coronavirus vaccinations, though a large percentage as of December were still not planning to get their shots, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of people who said they were “absolutely certain” or “very likely” to be vaccinated, increased overall from 39.4 percent in September to 49.1 percent in December, said the study, which was released Tuesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. With the people who said they were “somewhat likely” to get vaccinated added in, the numbers were 61.9 percent in September, rising to 68 percent in December. (Finucane, 2/9)

The Washington Post: As CDC Weighs Coronavirus Testing Requirement For Domestic Flights, Industry Voices Fierce Opposition 
U.S. public health officials are weighing whether to require domestic travelers to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding their flights, drawing fierce opposition from airlines, labor unions and lawmakers but underscoring the severity of the pandemic and difficult trade-offs involved with trying to subdue it. ... Ed Bastian, chief executive of Delta Air Lines, said Tuesday on CNN that a testing requirement is a “horrible idea” and argued it would not make domestic travel safer. He is backed by a coalition of aviation groups, which released a four-page document outlining reasons requiring travelers in the United States to test negative before they board a flight would be ill-advised. (Aratani, Laris and Duncan, 2/9)

The Hill: Scientists Ramp Up Work On Vaccine That Would Address Every Type Of Coronavirus: Report 
Scientists are ramping up research into creating a vaccine that would be effective against all types of coronaviruses as new strains have been reported around the world. A new report from the New York Times details previous and current efforts to develop a “pancoronavirus” vaccine that would protect against all types of the virus. Past enthusiasm for such a medicine was low as it was commonly believed, before the pandemic, that the coronavirus was not a serious threat and only caused mild colds. (Choi, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Did We Underestimate Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine? 
Not long ago, talk of the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine provoked mockery. “There’s no way in hell the U.S. tries this on monkeys, let alone people,” a Trump administration official told CNN in August, referring to initial reports about Russia’s development of the Sputnik V drug — which bypassed traditional steps in testing before its release. Even at home, where a history of political opacity and bureaucratic incompetence has left a lingering distrust of authority, many ordinary Russians shied away from getting the jab once it was made available to the public in December. But now, Sputnik V — named after the world’s first satellite that saw the Soviets initially outpace the Americans in the space race — is starting to look like it could be a global success story. (Tharoor, 2/10)

PBS NewsHour: COVID-19 Vaccines Can Adapt To New Variants. Here’s What It Will Take
These vaccines can be quickly tweaked, said Dr. Drew Weissman, a physician and infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania. The genome for SARS-COV-2 maps out the sequence of proteins that form the virus. The mRNA vaccines are short segments of the viral genome, so if the virus changes at all, researchers can swap out proteins to mimic those evolutionary adaptations. For 15 years, Weissman worked with biochemist Katalin Kariko to develop the research and technology for the mRNA vaccines, which have been vital in fighting the virus. (Santhanam, 2/9)

The New York Times: N.Y.’s Vaccine Websites Weren’t Working. He Built a New One for $50.
Huge Ma, a 31-year-old software engineer for Airbnb, was stunned when he tried to make a coronavirus vaccine appointment for his mother in early January and saw that there were dozens of websites to check, each with its own sign-up protocol. The city and state appointment systems were completely distinct. “There has to be a better way,” he said he remembered thinking. So, he developed one. In less than two weeks, he launched TurboVax, a free website that compiles availability from the three main city and state New York vaccine systems and sends the information in real time to Twitter. It cost Mr. Ma less than $50 to build, yet it offers an easier way to spot appointments than the city and state’s official systems do. (Otterman, 2/9)

AP: Iowa Taps Microsoft To Create Vaccination Appointment System
Iowa public health officials selected Microsoft to create an online COVID-19 vaccination scheduling system as they seek to get past a frustrating start that has the state ranked near the bottom nationally in doses administered. The Iowa Department of Public Health posted notice online Monday that it intends to award an emergency contract to Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. The agency told bidders that it would select a separate contractor to run a vaccine call center later this week. (Foley, 2/9)

The Hill: Uber And Walgreens To Offer Free Rides To COVID-19 Vaccine Sites 
Uber and Walgreens are partnering to offer free rides to COVID-19 vaccination sites in an effort to expand vaccine availability in communities of color. The companies said in a joint statement that Uber will offer free transportation to Walgreens and offsite vaccination clinics. Once an individual has made an appointment, they will then be able to schedule a free ride. (Williams, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Live Updates: Most Americans Are Not Happy With How The Vaccination Process Is Going, Says New Gallup Poll 
Amid an unprecedented effort to vaccinate the country against the coronavirus, most Americans are dissatisfied by the daunting process to get immunized, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday morning. Days into the Biden presidency, 66 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the handling of the vaccine rollout, including 21 percent who were “very dissatisfied,” according to the Gallop survey of 4,098 adults conducted Jan. 25 to Jan. 31. The effort, riddled with long lines and supply shortages, has frustrated many people eligible for immunization, including health care workers and seniors, as some have been unable to book appointments. (Kornfield, 2/10)

Reuters: Common Asthma Drug Cuts COVID-19 Hospitalization Risk, Recovery Time - Oxford Study
A commonly used asthma treatment appears to reduce the need for hospitalizations as well as recovery time for COVID-19 patients if given within seven days of symptoms appearing, researchers at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday. The findings were made following a mid-stage study of the steroid budesonide, sold as Pulmicort by AstraZeneca Plc and also used for treating smoker’s lung. The 28-day study of 146 patients suggested that inhaled budesonide reduced the risk of urgent care or hospitalization by 90% when compared with usual care, Oxford University said. (2/9)

The Hill: Asthma Drug Reduces Hospitalization For COVID-19: Study 
Inhaled budesonide, a drug commonly used for asthma, appeared to reduce the need for hospitalization for COVID-19, according to a study from the University of Oxford. Researchers conducted a 28-day study of 148 patients, half of which took 800 micrograms of the inhaled budesonide, sold as AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort, twice per day. (Williams, 2/9)

The Hill: Cancer Drug Could Reduce COVID-19 Deaths, Study Finds 
Biotech company Veru announced Tuesday that the results of a COVID-19 treatment trial indicate that one of the firm's anti-cancer treatments was effective in reducing the risk of death among coronavirus patients. The company pointed to the results of a double-blind study involving 40 hospital patients, some of whom were given the company's VERU-111 anti-cancer treatment and others who were given a placebo, which found the drug was responsible for an 82 percent "relative reduction" in the rate of respiratory failure or death. (Bowden, 2/9)

CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 Found To Last Longer On Nonporous Surfaces Like Glass, Plastic
"Based on our study, we recommend that furniture in hospitals and offices, made of impermeable material, such as glass, stainless steel, or laminated wood, be covered with porous material, such as cloth, to reduce the risk of infection upon touch," co-author Sanghamitro Chatterjee, PhD, MSc, added. The study itself goes on to suggest how these findings could be extrapolated to schools, warehouses and package sorting centers, clothes outlets, and more. (2/9)

The New York Times: Study Finds People With Dementia Are Twice As Likely To Get Covid
People with dementia had significantly greater risk of contracting the coronavirus, and they were much more likely to be hospitalized and die from it, than people without dementia, a new study of millions of medical records in the United States has found. Their risk could not be entirely explained by characteristics common to people with dementia that are known risk factors for Covid-19: old age, living in a nursing home and having conditions like obesity, asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. After researchers adjusted for those factors, Americans with dementia were still twice as likely to have gotten Covid-19 as of late last summer. (Belluck, 2/9)

The New York Times: Childhood Colds Do Not Prevent Coronavirus Infection, Study Finds 
The theory was simple and compelling: Children are less vulnerable to the new coronavirus because they carry antibodies to other common coronaviruses that cause the common cold. The idea might also explain why some people infected with the new virus have mild symptoms while others — presumably without antibodies to common cold coronaviruses — are much more severely affected. ... But for all its appeal, the theory does not hold up, according to a new study published on Tuesday in the journal Cell. (Mandavilli, 2/10)

Fox News: Many First Report Peanut Allergy Symptoms In Adulthood, Study Finds
While a peanut allergy is commonly associated with pediatric care, a new study has found that up to one in six adults with sensitivity to peanuts developed it after age 18. The report, put forth by Northwestern University researchers in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that 2.9% of U.S. adults report a current peanut allergy, but only 1.8% report a physician-diagnosed allergy and or history of reaction symptoms. Additionally, among this group, two in three adults have at least one other food allergy such as tree nuts or shellfish. Researchers say the lack of physician-diagnosed allergy is concerning as that means patients do not have a current epinephrine prescription, possibly leaving them susceptible to severe reactions without having potentially life-saving treatment on hand. (Hein, 2/9)

Stat: To Delight Of Generic Drug Makers, Court Tosses 'Skinny Labeling' Decision
In a surprising move, a federal appeals court panel may revisit a controversial decision that has raised concerns about the ability of generic drug makers to supply Americans with lower-cost alternatives to pricey brand-name medicines. (Silverman, 2/9)

Boston Globe: The Broad Institute’s New Leader Wants To ‘Double Down’ On Biology
It has been an action-packed pandemic for the Broad Institute, the biomedical research center in Cambridge with ties to both Harvard and MIT. First, the Broad set up one of the country’s first large-scale COVID-19 test processing facilities. Since March 2020, it has run more than 10 million tests for the state, nursing homes, universities, the Cambridge Public School system, and homeless shelters. The number of tests may be more than any other non-commercial lab has analyzed — though no one is certain. (Kirsner, 2/9)

Stat: Gawande Says Haven Work Helped Shape His Covid-19 Response Efforts 
The storied health tech startup Haven may have shuttered, but its famous former CEO, Atul Gawande, says the experience is still informing his current efforts to tackle Covid-19. Gawande said his time at the health care initiative gave him the technological and operational know-how he needed to roll out mass testing and vaccination sites at locations including Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium. (Brodwin, 2/9)

Stat: KalVista Pill Halts Swelling Attacks Caused By Rare Disease, Study Shows
KalVista Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday that its oral, on-demand treatment for the swelling “attacks” commonly experienced by patients with a genetic condition called hereditary angioedema achieved the goals of a mid-stage clinical trial. (Feuerstein, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: Centene Reports $12 Million Loss In Q4
Centene reported a $12 million loss during its fourth-quarter in 2020, with higher than expected costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic and an extra $200 million state Medicaid risk-corridor expense cutting into its bottom-line. During the same period in 2019, the St. Louis-based insurer booked $209 million in profits. Additionally, CEO Michael Neidorff said Centene will eliminate 1,500 people from its workforce or about 6% of the company. He said the restructuring plan was announced in December and was primarily due to employee overlap, thanks to the company's recent acquisitions. (Tepper, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: AdventHealth May Be Liable For Non-Employed Physician, Appellate Court Rules
AdventHealth may be liable for purportedly suspect treatment advice offered by a non-employed physician, a Florida appellate court found. The state appeals court on Friday ruled that the consent agreement disavowing a physician-hospital relationship wasn't clear, which could open the door for the Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based health system to be held liable for the care. A Florida trial court previously absolved AdventHealth from responsibility for the patient's post-operative complications because, in part, the doctor was an independent contractor and Advent didn't influence treatment decisions. (Kacik, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: Northwell Sues Property Insurers For Not Covering Hundreds Of Millions In COVID-19 Losses
Northwell Health is suing two property insurers over their refusal to pay hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of claims the New York health system says it's owed for losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. New York's largest private employer argued in its federal lawsuit against Lexington Insurance Co. and Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. that the policies it purchased are designed to cover "exactly" the type of losses and expenses it sustained during the pandemic. New York City, where Northwell's facilities are located, was hit hard early on in the crisis, with approximately 200,000 coronavirus cases reported during the first three months alone. (Bannow, 2/9)

Modern Healthcare: Oklahoma State Medical Association To Challenge State's Medicaid Managed-Care Program
The association plans to challenge the Oklahoma Health Care Authority's decision to allow UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Humana Healthy Horizons and Centene Corp. subsidiary Oklahoma Complete Health to manage Medicaid benefits for the state's 903,000 enrollees come Oct. 1. The initiative, named SoonerSelect, covers lower-income adults, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Children's Health Insurance Program. The group said it takes issue with private companies operating the state's Medicaid program, rather than the Health Care Authority. Through SoonerSelect, the state will pay private insurers under a capitated payment model, offering payers a set fee per enrollee to coordinate care and allowing payers to elect how they reimburse providers. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority currently reimburses providers through a fee-for-service model. (Tepper, 2/9)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pandemic Unemployment Spurs Health Insurance Marketplace Enrollment As Exchanges Prepare To Reopen
The private health insurance marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act had a busier-than-usual fall enrollment season, as people who lost their jobs — and their employer-sponsored health insurance — during the pandemic shopped for coverage. And with the marketplaces reopening for a special COVID-19 enrollment period, even more people are expected to sign up. About 5,000 more people signed up for insurance through Pennsylvania’s marketplace, Pennie, during the 2021 enrollment period compared to the year before. A total of 337,700 people signed up for coverage, including 75,000 who had never bought a marketplace plan before — a 9.7% increase in new customers. (Gantz, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Chicago Strikes Deal With Teachers To Reopen School Buildings
Teachers in Chicago, home to the nation’s third-largest school district, are set to return to classrooms this week after striking a deal with the city on health and safety standards, capping months of tense negotiations that raised the specter of a strike during a school year that has already seen repeated disruptions. Chicago Teachers Union officials accepted the agreement begrudgingly after concluding that they would be unlikely to extract any more concessions from the city. Nearly 70 percent of members who cast ballots endorsed accepting the agreement, less than a day after union brass had passed a vote of “no confidence” in Mayor Lori Lightfoot. (Balingit, 2/10)

The Washington Post: DC Teachers Union Votes Against Strike 
The Washington Teachers’ Union voted Tuesday against authorizing a strike, with the union’s lawyer informing a judge that the more than 4,000-member group has no plans to participate in a strike or work stoppage. The declaration prompted the city’s lawyers to withdraw a request for a temporary restraining order against the union over allegations that the group had been deliberating on a potential strike. (Stein, 2/9)

New York Post: Very Little Spread Of COVID Found At Summer Camps: Study
Day camps are not a breeding ground for the coronavirus, according to a new study. Researchers at Duke University found very few instances of COVID-19 spreading at North Carolina summer camps where mitigation measures were strictly followed. The team analyzed data from more than 6,500 children and staffers at 54 YMCA camps — and identified just 10 kids and nine workers with confirmed infections. "Our study suggests that appropriate measures to reduce the spread of disease can create an environment where normal childhood activities such as day camp, school and after-school recreation can be provided with minimal risk," said study co-author Emily D’Agostino. (Lapin, 2/9)

AP: 1 Dead, 4 Hurt In Minnesota Health Clinic Shooting; Man Held
A 67-year-old man unhappy with the health care he’d received opened fire at a clinic Tuesday, killing one person and wounding four others, and bomb technicians were investigating a suspicious device left there and others at a motel where he was staying, authorities said. All five victims were rushed to the hospital, and a hospital spokeswoman confirmed the one death Tuesday night. Three remained in stable but critical condition and a fourth had been discharged. (Ibrahim and Ehlke, 2/10)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Mardi Gras 2020 Spawned Up To 50K Coronavirus Cases, Likely From A Single Source, Study Says
Public health officials have largely accepted that last year's Mardi Gras helped make New Orleans an early coronavirus hotspot in the U.S., even if a lack of testing made it hard to be sure. But a new study that sought to pinpoint how the virus spread through the city has found that 2020 Carnival revelry was responsible for tens of thousands of coronavirus cases, after a single person likely brought it to New Orleans in the weeks before Mardi Gras. Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute, Tulane University, LSU Health Shreveport and several other institutions said in a pre-publication report released Monday that the coronavirus probably arrived in New Orleans about two weeks before Fat Tuesday, likely from a person traveling from Texas. (Woodruff, 2/9)

AP: South Africa Scraps AstraZeneca Vaccine, Will Give J&J Jabs
South Africa will give the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to its front-line health workers beginning next week as a study to see what protection it provides from COVID-19, particularly against the variant dominant there, the health minister said Wednesday. Zweli Mkhize said South Africa has scrapped plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because it “does not prevent mild to moderate disease” of the variant. The one-shot J&J vaccine is still being tested internationally and has not been approved in any country. (Meldrum, 2/10)

AP: Canada To Require Negative COVID Test At Land Border Feb 15
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that starting next week any nonessential traveler arriving in Canada by land will need to show a negative PCR-based COVID-19 test or face a fine if they don’t have one. Trudeau said customs officers can’t send Canadians back to the U.S. if they don’t have a test because they are technically on Canadian soil but said the fine will be up to $3,000 Canadian (US$2,370) and the traveler will be subject to extensive follow up by health officials if they don’t show a negative test. (Gillies, 2/9)

AP: Lying On Arrival Could Mean 10 Years In Prison In England
Anyone arriving in England and found to have lied about a recent visit to a country on the British government’s travel ban list faces up to 10 years in prison under new tough coronavirus border policies announced Tuesday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that from Monday, residents of the U.K. and Ireland arriving in England from the places on the government’s “red list” will have to purchase a “quarantine package” that costs 1,750 pounds ($2,400) per person and covers accommodation, virus testing and other items. (Pylas, 2/9)

Reuters: Europe's Oldest Person, 117-Year-Old French Nun, Survives COVID-19 
Europe’s oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, has survived COVID-19 and will celebrate her 117th birthday this week, her caregivers said. Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, tested positive for coronavirus in her retirement home in Toulon, southern France, on Jan. 16. She was isolated from other residents, but displayed no symptoms. (2/9)