First Edition: Feb. 15, 2022

KHN: Medical Boards Pressured To Let It Slide When Doctors Spread Covid Misinformation 
Tennessee’s Board of Medical Examiners unanimously adopted in September a statement that said doctors spreading covid misinformation — such as suggesting that vaccines contain microchips — could jeopardize their license to practice. “I’m very glad that we’re taking this step,” Dr. Stephen Loyd, the panel’s vice president, said at the time. “If you’re spreading this willful misinformation, for me it’s going to be really hard to do anything other than put you on probation or take your license for a year. There has to be a message sent for this. It’s not OK.” (Farmer, 2/15)

KHN: ‘American Diagnosis’ Episode 3: Uranium Mining Left Navajo Land And People In Need Of Healing
Episode 3 is an exploration of the forces that brought uranium mining to the Navajo Nation, the harmful consequences, and the fight for compensation that continues today. (2/15)

KHN: This Doctor Thought She Could Navigate US Health Care. Then Her Autistic Son Needed Help
Alexander Roodman was packing up his room, preparing for a gap year before college, when I met him at his family’s Washington, D.C., townhouse. The room was a typical teenage disaster zone, with clothes and books strewn everywhere. Then, Alex picked up an origami sculpture that rippled with dozens of ridges and depressions. “It’s kind of a repetitive pattern,” he said. “First, you make the diagonal folds and these lateral folds to cut the paper in half.” It’s pretty complicated. Alex, a slim teenager with long black hair and penetrating eyes, is gifted with the focus for this. But the way his brain works can be a challenge. (Levey, 2/15)

Stat: Senate Advances Califf’s FDA Nomination Toward Final Vote
In a dramatically close procedural vote Monday night, the Senate voted 49-45 to advance Robert Califf’s nomination to lead the Food and Drug Administration, virtually guaranteeing he will soon be confirmed as its commissioner. The Senate vote Monday night technically only limits debate on Califf’s confirmation; lawmakers will have to hold another formal floor vote on Califf’s confirmation before he assumes the agency’s top job. That vote is expected later this week. But the procedural vote, known as a cloture vote, generally signals how lawmakers will vote on the nomination itself. (Florko and Cohrs, 2/14)

Roll Call: Senate Sets Up Califf Confirmation Vote With Narrow Procedural Win 
Califf faced controversy throughout his nomination process from both parties. The former FDA commissioner had to cut deals with multiple lawmakers ahead of the floor vote, trading policy promises for votes. Several Senate Democrats opposed Califf’s nomination, due to his past ties to the pharmaceutical industry and handling of the opioid crisis when he led the FDA during the tail end of the Obama administration. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have all publicly said they’ll oppose Califf’s nomination in a final floor vote. (Cohen, 2/14)

The Hill: Biden's FDA Pick Clears Key Senate Hurdle
The final confirmation vote on Robert Califf, which could come as early as Tuesday, is expected to be even closer than the 49-45 vote to invoke cloture. Five Republicans joined with Democrats to invoke cloture and end debate: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Richard Burr (N.C.), Mitt Romney (Utah), and Roy Blunt (Mo.). ... Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) is absent after suffering a stroke, so if all Republicans who oppose Califf are present, Democrats will need one more vote in their favor to confirm. (Weixel, 2/14)

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Fires 1,430 Workers Over Vaccine Mandate 
New York City fired 1,430 city workers on Friday for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate, a figure that represent less than 1 percent of the city’s work force, but likely the nation’s largest mass termination of municipal employees in response to a Covid vaccine mandate. Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday that 1,428 workers, who had already been on unpaid leave for months, were sent termination notices after they failed to receive a first dose of the vaccine. Two newer hires, who faced more stringent requirements, were also fired for failing to receive two vaccine doses. Nearly 4,000 city workers had faced a deadline of Friday to comply with the vaccine mandate. (Fitzsimmons, 2/14)

AP: Unvaccinated Medical Workers Turn To Religious Exemptions 
When nurse Julia Buffo was told by her Montana hospital that she had to be vaccinated against COVID-19, she responded by filling out paperwork declaring that the shots run afoul of her religious beliefs. She cited various Old and New Testament verses including a passage from Revelation that vaccine opponents often quote to liken the shots to the “Mark of the Beast.” She told her managers that God is the “ultimate guardian of health” and that accepting the vaccine would make her “complicit with evil.” (Hollingsworth, 2/14)

The Washington Post: D.C. To Drop Coronavirus Vaccine Requirement To Enter Businesses 
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said Monday she is dropping the city’s requirement that people show proof of coronavirus vaccination before entering many businesses in the city, as coronavirus transmission continues to trend downward throughout the region. The District’s requirement for residents to show proof of vaccination to enter most businesses — announced in December — will cease Tuesday, said Bowser (D). She also said she’s allowing the city’s mandate to wear masks in all indoor public spaces to be lifted starting March 1. Bowser had rescinded the indoor masking mandate in November before the surging omicron variant spurred her to bring it back. (Brice-Saddler and Elwood, 2/14)

AP: South Dakota Senate Passes Noem's Vaccine Mandate Bill
South Dakota Senate Republicans gave hearty support on Monday to Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to allow employees to gain exemptions from their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, passing it with the two-thirds majority required if it is to be enacted immediately. The bill drew just four “nay” votes in the 35-member Senate, sending it to the House. The proposal would allow employees to receive an exemption to their employer’s vaccine requirement by citing either a medical exemption certified by a medical professional, any religious grounds for refusal or a test showing antibodies against COVID-19 in the last six months. (Groves, 2/14)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia's COVID-19 Vaccine And Mask Mandates Could Soon End Under New City Rules
Philadelphia’s vaccine mandate for indoor dining could end this week, according to sources familiar with new rules outlining the process coming as soon as Wednesday from the city health department. And if cases continue to decline, the mask mandate could also lift some time later. The benchmarks would create a novel system where restrictions could ease when overall illness falls and be reimposed in the event of a COVID-19 resurgence. The effect could ease the bite on hotels and restaurants, which have lost significant business during the pandemic, while also protecting people’s health and reducing the burden of illness on hospitals and caregivers. (Laughlin, 2/15)

The New York Times: Masks Come Off In More States, But Not Everyone Is Grinning 
New York’s governor said on Wednesday that she was ending the state’s indoor masking rules. The governor of Massachusetts announced that face coverings would soon become optional in schools. And by day’s end, the governors of Illinois, Rhode Island and Washington said that they, too, would loosen coronavirus rules. The moves, which came rapid fire, one after another, mean that many of the Covid-19 restrictions that have divided Americans will soon be eliminated in places where politicians have long championed sweeping virus precautions. (Smith and Hubler, 2/9)

CNN: Should Parents Be Worried If Their Child's School No Longer Requires Masks? An Expert Weighs In 
Oregon's health department and the governors of Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey have announced when their states will end the school mask mandate. Leaders in other states, cities and counties are also considering when to end required masking as well. The White House is also reported to be discussing an off-ramp for pandemic restrictions, although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet updated its guidance on masking in schools. Should parents and caregivers be worried if their child's school is no longer going to require masks? What steps can they take if they want to continue reducing their children's risk of contracting Covid-19? How can families weigh the risk of going to school and extracurricular activities? What about kids younger than 5, who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated? (Hetter, 2/9)

AP: Kemp: Let Parents Opt Kids Out Of Masks Through June 2023 
Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to let Georgia parents opt their children out of public school mask mandates would only run through June 30, 2023, and he took repeated shots at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as he discussed it Monday, underlining the political basis of the move. The measure, which is being introduced by Republican Sen. Clint Dixon of Buford, would say that school districts couldn’t require face coverings unless parents could opt their children out without giving a reason. The bill also says no student can be disciplined or get a worse grade if their parent says they don’t have to wear a mask. (Amy, 2/14)

Los Angeles Times: California School Mask Mandate Will Stay Through Feb. 28
California will keep its indoor mask mandate for K-12 schools in place at least through the end of the month, the state’s top health official said Monday, even as it moves this week to relax face covering rules in other settings. While other states have announced plans to relax their requirements in the near future, California will reassess conditions Feb. 28 to see whether the promising trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s health and human services secretary. (Money, 2/14)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Cases Drop By 40% In US 
The COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant continues to recede in the United States, with the nation reporting a 7-day average of 175,492 new daily cases, with 2,458 daily deaths, according to the Washington Post tracker. New daily cases fell 42% in the past week, deaths fell 6%, and hospitalizations fell 19%. (Soucheray, 2/14)

AP: Virus Hospitalizations And Cases Still Falling Across State
The number of virus hospitalizations and cases continues to decline sharply across Nebraska giving hospitals some relief. But hospital officials said Monday that their facilities remain busy with non-COVID-19 patients, and they are dealing with ongoing staff shortages and a backlog of procedures that were delayed during last month’s surge driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. (2/14)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Will Report Inflated COVID-19 Counts This Week While Clearing Huge Backlog
Maine will use an automated system to power through a massive backlog of positive COVID-19 cases in a step that will correct long-flawed counts but lead to artificially inflated counts this week, state officials said Monday. The improved system for counting tests comes while several key metrics indicate the virus has begun to recede here after surging to record levels in January. But COVID-19 hospitalizations, one statistic used to measure the incidence of severe disease, still remained higher as of Monday than they were any time prior to November 2021. (Piper, 2/14)

The Atlantic: The COVID Strategy America Hasn’t Really Tried
This is why, even though America’s vaccination and booster rates look better in the older groups compared with the young, they are still too low. As a result, deaths in the United States are still too high. The unvaccinated elderly have been dying at incredibly high rates, but even the vaccinated and unboosted elderly are still dying of COVID at four times the rate of unvaccinated adults under 49. A booster cuts that risk dramatically. This is based on detailed CDC data in early December, which are the latest available. Age continues to be the driver of COVID’s brutal math with Omicron, though: In 2022 so far, three-quarters of COVID deaths in America have been in people 65 and older, 93 percent in people 50 and older. (Zhang, 2/14)

The Washington Post: Vaccine Scientists Have Been Chasing Variants. Now, They’re Seeking A Universal Coronavirus Vaccine
Volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to receive shots of experimental vaccines tailored to beat the omicron variant — just as the winter coronavirus surge begins to relent. By the time scientists know whether those rebooted vaccines are effective and safe, omicron is expected to be in the rearview mirror. Already, mask mandates are easing. People are beginning to talk about normalcy. (Johnson, 2/14)

CIDRAP: Mix-N-Match COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters May Result In Fewer Infections
People who received a different brand of COVID-19 vaccine booster than they did in the primary series had lower rates of infection than those who received the same brand, according to a study in Singapore published late last week in JAMA. The study also found that participants who received a booster of any vaccine brand after the primary Pfizer/BioNTech series had lower rates of severe COVID-19 than did their unboosted peers. In a similar study earlier last week, US scientists writing in the New England Journal of Medicine found better booster protection only among those who initially received the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. (2/14)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas Teen Relearning To Walk After Rare Vaccine Reaction
Emma Burkey, who suffered a devastating brain injury after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, spends most of her waking hours trying to get better. The 19-year-old Las Vegan spends five hours or more most days undergoing therapy to relearn to walk and to improve fine motor skills in her hands, function lost after a series of strokes caused by a blood clot in her brain. Burkey has come a long way. When she first came out of a medically induced coma, she could not speak, move or even blink her eyes. (Hynes, 2/14)

The Washington Post: How An Unvaccinated Pregnant Mom Survived Covid, Three Strokes And A Heart Attack
Chris Crouch had had low expectations for online dating. He was a police officer in his 30s, almost a year out from a painful divorce, and, he said, the women he had met had been “playing games” in ways that left him dispirited. Then he met her. Diana Garcia Martinez was 24 and a busy single mom whose sister had set up her profile without her knowing. She was intelligent, empathetic and upfront, and by the third date, he was in love. “It was just a feeling. … I felt like I knew her my whole life,” he recalled explaining to his cousin Gilbert, knowing it was a cliche but also true. (Cha, 2/14)

CIDRAP: Scientists Propose Cause Of Symptoms, Treatment For Long COVID-19
Two studies to be presented at upcoming professional society meetings suggest that some long COVID-19 symptoms may be related to the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the vagus nerve and that the use of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP)—which increases blood flow—can improve some of those symptoms, respectively. Long COVID may affect up to 15% of those who survive their infections, causing symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, and cognitive problems that linger for months. Neither study has been peer-reviewed, and the second one comes with the added caveat that it was conducted by an EECP provider. (Van Beusekom, 2/14)

AP: Insider Q&A: NIH Official On Testing For Infectiousness 
More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic the U.S. is still grappling with its coronavirus tests: how to improve them and how to make more of them. Dr. Bruce Tromberg of the National Institutes of Health is the top government scientist tasked with solving the nation’s testing woes. He’s in charge of $1.5 billion in congressional funding provided to scale up testing under the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, or RadX, initiative. ... Tromberg says infectiousness is a complicated scientific question that goes beyond any single test result. His conversation with The Associated Press has been edited for length and clarity. (Perrone, 2/14)

AP: State Making 1.5 Million Free COVID-19 Test Kits Available
The North Dakota Department of Health said Monday it will make more than 1.5 million free at-home COVID-19 test kits available statewide. The kits will supplement the ongoing federal program that is making free tests available. The kits are being distributed statewide and will be available for pickup beginning Tuesday. (2/14)

AP: Dr. Deborah Birx, COVID Adviser Under Trump, Has A Book Deal 
Dr. Deborah Birx has a memoir coming out this spring that will focus on her contentious time as White House coronavirus task force coordinator in the administration of President Donald Trump. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Monday that Birx’s “Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of The Trump Administration, COVID-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late,” will be published April 26. (Italie, 2/14)

NPR: State Medical Boards Tackling COVID Misinformation Face GOP Blowback
The growing tension in Tennessee between conservative lawmakers and the state's medical board may be the most prominent example in the country. Now the Federation of State Medical Boards is tracking legislation, introduced by Republicans in at least 14 states, that would restrict a medical board's authority to discipline doctors for their advice on COVID. Dr. Humayun Chaudhry, the federation's CEO, calls it "an unwelcome trend." The nonprofit association, based in Euless, Texas, says the statement is merely a COVID-specific restatement of an existing rule: that doctors who engage in behavior that puts patients at risk could face disciplinary action. (Farmer, 2/14)

Axios: Health Workers Weighing Their Options 
Some of America's health care workers appear to be considering their job options outside the industry, according to a new Axios/Morning Consult survey. Health care workers aren't immune from the trends driving the Great Resignation across the U.S. workforce. Those caring for COVID-19 patients are more likely than other health care workers to report that they've been thinking about heading to another industry. (Reed, 2/15)

Stat: Private Equity Firms Cash In On The Travel Nursing Business
As the U.S. health system buckles under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, private equity firms are cashing in. Some of their investments center on nurse staffing agencies, a little-known cluster of companies that helps send free-floating nurses to help hospitals when they’re short-staffed or otherwise in need of extra help. Hospitals have relied on the agencies like never before during the pandemic, as wave after wave of hospitalizations strained nurses, who face a crushing burden of sick patients and the possibility that they will fall ill themselves. (Cohrs, 2/15)

The Boston Globe: Clinicians Are Leaving Their Jobs At Mental Health Centers Amid Rising Demand, Survey Finds
The professionals who provide care at community mental health clinics around the state are leaving their positions faster than they can be replaced, worsening access just as the stresses of the pandemic have intensified the need among their mainly lower-income patients, according to a survey released Tuesday. The survey, conducted by the Association for Behavioral Healthcare, found that for every 13 clinicians who leave these outpatient facilities, only 10 can be found to replace them. As a result fewer patients are getting care than before the pandemic, while many more are seeking it. The 37 clinics that responded to the survey had nearly 14,000 people on waiting lists. (Freyer, 2/15)

Crain's Cleveland Business: Making Mental Health A Top Priority Is Growing Trend For Employers, Employees
Roughly two years of a pandemic have forced mental health needs front and center for many employers. Faced with new or different challenges, many employees are more aware of their own mental health needs, and as they spoke up, employers, too, have developed a stronger awareness of the importance of addressing those needs, said Patty Starr, president and CEO of Health Action Council (HAC), a nonprofit coalition representing midsize to large employers that aims to enhance human and economic health. (Coutré, 2/14)

Bloomberg: Workers Are Healthier, Safer, And Log Fewer Sick Days Despite Covid
The omicron wave of Covid-19 put less of a dent in U.S. employment growth than most forecasters expected, but it did keep a lot of workers home. The 2.3% of employed Americans not at work because they were ill for the entire mid-January jobs survey reference week was the highest such percentage since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track in 1976, and by far the highest in recent years. Still, it wasn’t that much higher than the 2% recorded in January 1978, during an outbreak of a highly contagious but not very dangerous influenza strain that came to be known as “Russian flu.” From the looks of the accompanying chart, missing work because of illness was probably even more common before the mid-1970s. (Fox, 2/14)

NBC News: State Takes Over New Jersey Nursing Home Where 17 Bodies Were Stacked In A Morgue
The state of New Jersey has suspended new admissions at a nursing home where 17 bodies were found stacked in a morgue in 2020, citing the results of recent inspections in which staff members allegedly failed to do CPR or call 911 for unresponsive patients or provide lifesaving medicine for Covid patients. According to state officials, 16 residents at the facility have died from Covid since September. (Strickler, 2/14)

The Washington Post: Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones Seeks State Constitutional Right To Abortion
Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones wants voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, pushing a measure that could be on the ballot this fall. Flanked by female lawmakers and Planned Parenthood of Maryland leaders, Jones (D-Baltimore County) launched the effort Monday against a backdrop of mounting challenges to the landmark Roe v. Wade case. (Cox, 2/14)

The New York Times: Abortion Opponents Hear A ‘Heartbeat.’ Most Experts Hear Something Else
The Texas law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy is based on a singular premise disputed by many medical experts: that once an ultrasound detects electrical cardiac activity in an embryo, its heart is beating and a live birth is on the way. At this very early stage of a pregnancy, however, the embryo is the size of a pomegranate seed and has only a primitive tube of cardiac cells that emit electric pulses and pump blood. (Rabin, 2/14)

AP: New Mexico May Legalize Test Strips To Detect Fentanyl 
New Mexico lawmakers are poised to legalize test strips that can detect the presence of the potent opiate fentanyl and potentially help avoid deadly overdoses. The Democrat-sponsored bill from legislators in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos would lift restrictions on public access to devices that can test for drug impurities. It also gives state health health officials new authority to intervene and prevent the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis through intravenous drug use. (Lee, 2/14)

AP: Bills Would Lower Drug Prices, Expand Contraceptive Coverage 
A pair of bills in the Maine Legislature would require state-regulated health care plans to cover all prescription contraceptives while linking prescription drugs rates to lower costs paid in Canada. Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and Sen. Ned Claxton, D-Auburn, discussed the bills on Monday, a day before the proposals were to be considered by the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee. (2/14)

Stateline: Utah's Tougher DUI Law Cut Deaths, Study Finds
Utah’s lower blood alcohol level standard for drivers has resulted in decreased traffic deaths and improved road safety, a new federal study has found. In 2019, Utah became the first and only state to make it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of .05% or higher. All other states and the District of Columbia use a .08% standard. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found that Utah’s fatal crash rate dropped by nearly 20% in 2019, compared with 2016. (Bergal, 2/14)

Los Angeles Times: San Francisco Police Misused Rape Victims' DNA, D.A. Says 
San Francisco’s district attorney said Monday that police used a database with DNA collected from victims of rape and sexual assault to connect some of them to crimes. Dist. Atty. Chesa Boudin said the San Francisco Police Department crime lab had been using the database to “attempt to subsequently incriminate” victims of rape and sexual assault, a practice he called “legally and ethically wrong.” The district attorney called for an immediate end to the alleged practice, committed to working with police to address the allegations and urged changes to local and state laws, according to a statement by Boudin’s office. (Yee, 2/14)

The Hill: Idaho Lawmakers To Consider Bill To Keep Source Of Lethal Injections Secret 
A bill that would hide the source of lethal injection drugs was introduced in the Idaho state legislature on Monday, with the lawmaker behind it saying that "woke" anti-death penalty activists have shamed lethal drug makers. As Boise State Public Radio reported, state Rep. Greg Chaney (R) argued on Monday that anti-capital punishment groups have concentrated a tactic to "leverage woke, cancel culture to shame providers of lethal injection drugs away from providing those drugs for executions for states." (Choi, 2/14)

AP: Fox Tests Positive For Rabies; 1st New Mexico Case This Year
A fox from Catron County near Reserve has tested positive for rabies. New Mexico Department of Health officials announced Monday. They said it’s the first positive fox rabies case in New Mexico so far this year. The fox was submitted to the state public health laboratory in Albuquerque for testing after it bit a person last Friday. Authorities said the unidentified victim is receiving treatment. They said rabies is a deadly viral disease that can be prevented, but not cured. (2/14)

Bloomberg: Bird Flu Spreads To Kentucky And Virginia After Discovery Last Week
A strain of influenza deadly to chickens and other fowl has spread to poultry flocks in Kentucky and Virginia, less than a week after an outbreak in Indiana prompted some countries to limit shipments from the state. Mexico is among countries that have banned or limited poultry imports from Indiana after the virus was detected there, and the wider spread raises the possibility of additional curbs. The U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement Monday that tests show the virus present in a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Fulton County, Kentucky, and a backyard flock of mixed species birds in Fauquier County, Virginia. (Dorning, 2/14)

The Washington Post: Megadrought In Southwest North America Worst In 1,200 Years 
The extreme heat and dry conditions of the past few years pushed what was already an epic, decades-long drought in the American West into a historic disaster that bears the unmistakable fingerprints of climate change. The long-running drought, which has persisted since 2000, can now be considered the driest 22-year period of the past 1,200 years, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. (Leonard, 2/14)

The Boston Globe: ‘Everything’s Going Up’: Seniors Struggle With The Prices Of Food, Fuel, And Medicine
The last time prices rose this fast, today’s seniors were in their prime and drawing paychecks. Now they’re older, retired, and feeling the crunch in a world where everything suddenly costs more. Higher rents and heating bills and steeper gas and prescription drug prices are pinching almost everyone. But older folks on fixed incomes are being squeezed hardest. Lately, seniors make up nearly half — more than in the past — of those stopping by a food pantry on Mission Hill run by Action for Boston Community Development, an antipoverty group, on the three days each week it distributes chicken, fruit, cereal, and other provisions. (Weisman, 2/14)

USA Today: CDC: US Travelers Should Avoid 135+ Destinations Due To COVID
Federal health officials are warning U.S. travelers to avoid more than 135 destinations as of Monday due to COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved South Korea, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Comoros, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and French Polynesia to its level 4 COVID-19 risk category Monday due to “very high” levels of the virus. Larger countries are considered to have very high COVID-19 levels when they report more than 500 cases of new cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days. (Shulz, 2/14)

Reuters: Turk Sets Unenviable COVID Record By Testing Positive For 14 Straight Months
When Muzaffer Kayasan first caught COVID-19, he thought he was destined to die since he was already suffering from leukemia. Fourteen months and 78 straight positive tests later, he is still alive - and still battling to shake off the infection. Kayasan, 56, has Turkey's longest recorded continuous COVID-19 infection, doctors say, possibly due to a weakened immune system from the cancer. Despite being in and out of hospital since November 2020, his spirits have been high. (Dikmen, 2/14)

Bloomberg: Is Novak Djokovic Anti Vaccine? He's Willing To Sacrifice Trophies To Avoid Shot
Novak Djokovic has made it clear: He will not get a Covid vaccine. The world’s top tennis player said he’s willing to sacrifice trophies and skip Wimbledon in order to avoid a Covid-19 shot. At stake, he said, was freedom of choice. “The principles of decision-making on my body are more important than any title, or anything else,” Djokovic said in an interview with BBC journalist Amol Rajan. Djokovic is at the heart of a contentious global debate over vaccine mandates. Last month, the 20-time Grand Slam winner was deported from Australia after a protracted dispute over his vaccine status. (Schultz, 2/15)

AP: Prince Charles' Wife Camilla Tests Positive For COVID-19 
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for COVID-19 four days after her husband Prince Charles was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, the couple’s office said Monday. Clarence House said Camilla was self-isolating. Charles has been isolating since he tested positive on Thursday, but Camilla had continued with public engagements while taking daily tests. Both Charles, 73, and 74-year-old Camilla are triple-vaccinated. ... Charles is believed to have met with his mother Queen Elizabeth II early last week when both were at Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace hasn’t said whether the 95-year-old queen has tested positive, though it said last week she wasn’t displaying symptoms. (2/14)

USA Today: Russian Kamila Valieva Says Her Positive Drug Test Was Due To Grandfather's Medication
Attorneys for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva argued that the banned substance trimetazidine entered her system through a medication that her grandfather takes, a member of the International Olympic Committee confirmed Tuesday. In a scrum with reporters after the IOC's daily press briefing, a reporter asked IOC member Denis Oswald if the IOC was aware of the explanation that Valieva, 15, offered to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in an appeal hearing earlier this month. "I was not in this hearing," Oswald said. "Her argument was this contamination which happened with a product her grandfather was taking." (Schad, 2/15)