First Edition: Feb. 17, 2021

KHN: Why Biden Has A Chance To Cut Deals With Red State Holdouts On Medicaid 
President Joe Biden has an unexpected opening to cut deals with red states to expand Medicaid, raising the prospect that the new administration could extend health protections to millions of uninsured Americans and reach a goal that has eluded Democrats for a decade. The opportunity emerges as the covid-19 pandemic saps state budgets and strains safety nets. That may help break the Medicaid deadlock in some of the 12 states that have rejected federal funding made available by the Affordable Care Act, health officials, patient advocates and political observers say. (Levey, 2/17)

KHN: Rural Hospital Remains Entrenched In Covid ‘War’ Even Amid Vaccine Rollout
The “heroes work here” sign in front of St. James Parish Hospital has been long gone, along with open intensive care unit beds in the state of Louisiana. Staffers at the rural hospital spent hours each day in January calling larger hospitals in search of the elusive beds for covid-19 patients. They leveraged personal connections and begged nurses elsewhere to take patients they know are beyond their hospital’s care level. (Weber, 2/17)

KHN: Bay Area Cities Go To War Over Gas Stoves In Homes And Restaurants 
San Francisco restaurant owners, already simmering over covid-19 restrictions, are ready to boil over because of a city ban on natural gas stoves in new buildings that takes effect in June. The ban, which also affects other gas appliances, is part of a statewide campaign aimed at reducing climate change-feeding carbon emissions as well as health hazards from indoor gas exposure. A similar ban went into effect in Berkeley in 2020; Oakland and San Jose recently passed similar measures, and other California cities are considering them. (Green, 2/17)

KHN: Prominent Scientists Call On CDC To Better Protect Workers From Covid 
A prominent group of academics is pressing the Biden administration to move faster and take stronger action to protect high-risk workers from airborne exposure to the coronavirus, urging enforceable standards to help safeguard risky workplaces including health care, food processing and prisons. The researchers say that even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged the virus can spread through tiny airborne particles, it needs to take “strong immediate” action to update its guidance to reduce the risk. (Jewett, 2/17)

AP: Crippling Storm Hampers Vaccinations As FEMA Opens New Sites
Snow, ice and bitter cold forced authorities to halt vaccinations from Pennsylvania to Illinois and from Tennessee to Missouri. In snowy Chicago, Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said more than a hundred city vaccine sites didn’t get shipments Tuesday because of the extreme weather, leading to many cancellations. The Biden administration said the weather was expected to disrupt shipments from a FedEx facility in Memphis and a UPS installation in Louisville, Kentucky. Both serve as vaccine shipping hubs for a number of states. (Garcia and Noveck, 2/16)

Politico: Storms Likely Causing 'Widespread' Delays Of Vaccine Shipments, CDC Says 
The Biden administration is expecting "widespread" delays in Covid-19 vaccine shipments due to severe winter storms across the country, a CDC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday evening. At least two shipping hubs that multiple states rely on for vaccine distribution have been affected by the storms, and federal officials expect delays to continue for several days. (Ehley, 2/16)

The Hill: Pentagon, FEMA To Set Up Vaccine Sites In Texas, New York 
Up to 3,700 active-duty troops are on standby to administer COVID-19 vaccines at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sites, with an eye on locations in Texas, New York and the Virgin Islands. Several hundred service members have already been sent to FEMA sites in Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif., with more sites to be set up in Texas and New York in roughly a week, followed by the Virgin Islands in early March, U.S. Northern Command head Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck told reporters on Tuesday. (Mitchell, 2/16)

The New York Times: Power Is Still Off For Millions After Winter Storm 
The disruptions caused problems at water treatment plants, leading to boil water advisories for hundreds of thousands of people across Texas, from Fort Worth down to the Rio Grande Valley. Some customers lost water altogether, forced to flush their toilets with melting snow. By early Tuesday afternoon, Southwest Power Pool, which manages the electrical grid across 17 Central and Western states, had stopped ordering controlled rolling cutoffs of power service to customers as the energy supply began meeting the extreme demand, a spokesman said. (2/17)

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Is Slammed With 300+ Carbon Monoxide Cases - And Many Are Kids
Harris County has seen more than 300 carbon monoxide poisoning cases as temperatures bottomed out Monday in Houston and the state’s electricity grid failed, sending people scrambling for heat sources. That includes 90 carbon monoxide poisoning calls to the Houston Fire Department and 100 cases in Memorial Hermann's emergency rooms. Many of the cases stem from people using BBQ pits and generators indoors to stay warm, said Drew Munhausen, a Memorial Hermann spokesperson. Doctors are treating 60 of those cases at the hospital’s Texas Medical Center location. (Wu, 2/16)

NPR: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning From Portable Generators Can Prove Deadly
To Michelle Seifer, the timing was just a coincidence. After losing power in a summer storm, she came down with flu-like symptoms. It wasn't until two days later, when a carbon monoxide detector activated and a utility company worker tested levels in Seifer's home, that she learned she was being poisoned by the portable generator she had been running in her open garage. "That's when I went to the hospital and learned that my levels were high enough where they needed to admit me," said Seifer, a finance manager and mother of five in Hartland, Mich. "Because if I didn't receive the proper treatment for the carbon monoxide poisoning, if I were to fall asleep I wouldn't wake up." (Treisman, 2/4)

The New York Times: Biden Suggests Vaccines Will Be Available For Every American ‘By The End Of July.’
President Biden said on Tuesday that every American who wants a Covid-19 vaccine will be able to get one by the end of July, striking a more optimistic tone than he delivered last week when he warned that logistical and distribution hurdles would most likely mean that many people would still not have been vaccinated by the end of the summer. Mr. Biden made the comment in Milwaukee during a town hall-style meeting hosted by CNN. When the host, Anderson Cooper, asked him when every American who wants a vaccine was “going to be able to get a vaccine?” Mr. Biden replied without hesitation: “By the end of July this year.” (2/17)

The Hill: Biden Optimistic US Will Be In 'Very Different Circumstance' With Pandemic By Christmas 
President Biden on Tuesday said he expected the country will be in significantly better shape in fighting the pandemic by September and that the country will be "in a very different circumstance" by Christmas. Biden offered his timeline for when the country might return to something more akin to pre-pandemic life during a CNN town hall while cautioning that he did not want to overpromise. (Samuels, 2/16)

Los Angeles Times: Fauci Pushes Back COVID-19 Vaccine Timeline Amid Shortages
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, offered on Tuesday a more cautious note about when vaccines might be more fully available across the country. Last week, Fauci said the country could see “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine doses by April. However, in an appearance on “L.A. Times Today,” he said the timeline may be more like “late May and early June.” “We were expecting a greater number of doses from Johnson & Johnson, and it looks like, even though it’s a good vaccine, that we’re not going to have a substantial amount of doses until we get into April and May,” he said during the program, which is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Tuesday. (Money, 2/16)

The Hill: Biden Says Goal Is To Reopen Schools Five Days A Week In First 100 Days 
President Biden clarified Tuesday that his goal is to have the majority of K-8 schools physically reopened five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office as the U.S. grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. “I think we’ll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days,” Biden said during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee on Tuesday evening. “The goal will be five days a week.” (Chalfant, 2/16)

Politico: Biden Extends Foreclosure Moratorium And Mortgage Forbearance Through June 
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it would extend the foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance through the end of June. The actions would block home foreclosures and offer delayed mortgage payments until July, as well as offer six months of additional mortgage forbearance for those who enroll on or before June 30. (Payne, 2/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Extends Covid-19 Mortgage Relief 
Homeowners will now be able to receive up to six months of additional mortgage payment forbearance, in increments of three months, for those borrowers who entered forbearance before June 30, 2020, the White House said. Borrowers who enter into such plans can skip payments if they suffer a pandemic-related hardship but have to make them up later. Some 2.7 million homeowners have active forbearance plans—representing 5% of all mortgage-holders—and more than half of the plans are set to end for good in March, April, May or June, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight Inc. (Thomas and Ackerman, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Biden Indicates He’s Open To Negotiation On $15 Minimum Wage 
President Biden indicated Tuesday that he’s open to negotiation on his proposal for a $15 minimum wage, a centerpiece of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that’s emerged as a flash point as congressional Democrats push the legislation forward. Biden suggested he could be open to a longer phase-in than the current plan of five years in Democrats’ legislation. He also indicated that a lower number — $12 or $13 — could be beneficial while having less potential impact on business owners. (Werner, 2/16)

The New York Times: All Stimulus Checks Have Been Sent, I.R.S. Says 
The Internal Revenue Service says your stimulus payment has been sent, but there’s still a chance you’ll have to ask for the money when you file your taxes. The I.R.S. said on Tuesday that the payments, including the most recent $600 checks and the earlier $1,200 installments, have been issued. Most eligible people should have received their payments by now, even though an estimated 13 million payments were misdirected last month and had to be rerouted. (2/17)

Reuters: Biden Suggests More Police Funding, No Jail For Drug Offenders 
[Biden] also reiterated another campaign promise Tuesday, ending jail sentences for drug use alone. “No one should go to jail for a drug offense. No one should go to jail for the use of a drug, they should go to drug rehabilitation,” he said.

Bloomberg: Biden Says He Invoked Production Law For More Vaccine Doses
President Joe Biden said that Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. agreed to sell more doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. faster than planned after he invoked federal law that could force their production. In a CNN town hall event in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Biden touted his administration’s ramp-up of vaccine shipments while also warning that the pandemic won’t soon end. “We got them to move up time because we used the National Defense Act to be able to help the manufacturing piece of it, to get more equipment,” he said. He appeared to be referring to the Defense Production Act, a law that allows the government to nationalize commercial production in emergencies. (Sink, Wingrove and Epstein, 2/17)

NPR: Biden Administration Says It Has Increased Vaccine Supply
President Biden's COVID-19 czar Jeff Zients told governors on Tuesday that the weekly vaccine supply going out to states is increasing by more than 20% to 13.5 million doses this week, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, announced. Psaki also said the supply going directly to pharmacies will double to 2 million this week. Before taking office, Biden promised to improve and streamline Trump's Operation Warp Speed and pledged to get 100 million vaccine doses into arms in the first 100 days of his administration. (Romo, 2/16)

Politico: Biden Admin Rushes To Close Virus-Sequencing Gap As Variants Spread 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in discussions with at least 13 labs to expand its efforts to sequence the genomes of coronavirus samples as the U.S. races against time to track new variants. More than 40 states have reported cases of the three major coronavirus strains, first spotted overseas; all are more contagious than older versions of the virus, and at least one is more virulent. By sequencing genetic material from virus samples collected around the country, health officials can track where and how these strains are spreading — and use the information to help contain hotspots and guide vaccination efforts. (Lim, 2/16)

AP: COVID-19 Bill Would Scale Up Ability To Spot Virus Mutations
U.S. scientists would gain vastly expanded capabilities to identify potentially deadlier mutations of the coronavirus under COVID-19 relief legislation advancing in Congress. The U.S. now maps only the genetic makeup of a minuscule fraction of positive virus samples, a situation some experts liken to flying blind. It means the true domestic spread of problematic mutations first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa remains a matter of guesswork. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/17)

USA Today: COVID Variants Could Bring 'Staggering' Fourth Wave Of Pandemic
COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates are falling nationwide, but experts talk in dire terms about what will happen if variants of the virus are allowed to surge this spring. "I'm very worried we're letting our foot off the brakes," said Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The U.S. saw a spike in cases last spring, mainly in the Northeast, last summer in the South, and November through January pretty much everywhere. As the nation's death toll from COVID-19 approaches half a million people, public health experts said they dread the possibility of a fourth wave. (Weintraub, 2/16)

Detroit Free Press: 90 Cases Of B.1.1.7 COVID-19 Variant Found At Michigan Prison
The state health department has identified 90 cases of the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 at a prison in West Michigan. The cases were identified through daily testing of all prisoners and staff at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia. Of the 90 new cases, 88 are prisoners and two are employees, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Michigan State Police. The facility began daily testing last week after a case of the B.1.1.7 variant, known as the U.K. variant, was confirmed in a staff member on Feb. 8. (Jackson, 2/16)

Stat: Q&A: How The U.S. Can Respond To Coronavirus Variants
Coronavirus variants are here. Now what? A new report from infectious disease experts provides policy recommendations for how the United States can blunt the impact of the variants that have already emerged, as well as build a genomic surveillance system so the country can better identify, track, and assess other variants that might emerge as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus continues to evolve. (Joseph, 2/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Nursing Home Group Cites Evidence COVID-19 Vaccine Is Already Working For Their Residents
A new analysis found that cases dropped more quickly in nursing homes where residents and staff had been vaccinated than they did in facilities in the same county that had not yet hosted vaccination events. The comparison was made just three weeks after first shots were given, too early for recipients to have reached full immunity. Both vaccines currently being administered require two doses given three or four weeks apart. A couple of weeks after the second dose, the vaccines are 95% effective at preventing symptomatic disease, clinical trials found. After just three weeks from the first dose, studies show they are closer to 52% effective. It is still unclear how often vaccinated people might spread disease without having symptoms. (Burling, 2/16)

AP: Virginia Launches Statewide Vaccine Registration System
Virginia’s state health department has launched a centralized website where people can pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine. The website went live Tuesday. Previously, Virginia’s local health districts were handling pre-registration. The state says Virginians who have already pre-registered will be automatically imported into the new system and do not need to sign up again. (2/16)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Bill Would Include Broader Vaccine Exemptions, Bar On Vaccine Mandates
Iowa Senate Republicans advanced a bill Tuesday that would broaden the state's exemptions for childhood vaccinations, forbid Iowa employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated and provide other protections for people who decline to be vaccinated. The bill, Senate File 193, passed through a Senate subcommittee after more than 90 minutes of testimony, with Republican Sens. Jim Carlin of Sioux City and Mark Costello of Imogene supporting it and Democratic Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque opposed. It is now eligible for consideration by the full Senate Human Resources Committee, although the Republican senators suggested parts of the measure could be rewritten. (Gruber-Miller, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Vaccine Envy Is Real. Here’s How To Tame It.
The coronavirus vaccine rollout has been chaotic and confusing in many states, leaving some elderly residents and front-line workers unprotected, while those further down the priority list have been able to obtain shots. That’s leading to a new affliction: vaccine envy. (Haupt, 2/16)

The New York Times: Covid-Linked Syndrome In Children Is Growing And Cases Are More Severe 
“We’re now getting more of these MIS-C kids, but this time, it just seems that a higher percentage of them are really critically ill,” said Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, chief of infectious diseases at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. During the hospital’s first wave, about half the patients needed treatment in the intensive care unit, she said, but now 80 to 90 percent do. The reasons are unclear. The surge follows the overall spike of Covid cases in the United States after the winter holiday season, and more cases may simply increase chances for severe disease to emerge. So far, there’s no evidence that recent coronavirus variants are responsible, and experts say it is too early to speculate about any impact of variants on the syndrome. (Belluck, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Eye Nodules Found In 7% Of Small COVID-19 Patient Cohort
Almost 7% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in France had abnormal eye nodules, according to a Radiology article today, leading the authors to recommend looking for posterior pole nodules in patients who have severe disease. The French Society of Neuroradiology study ran from Mar 4 to May 1, 2020, and researchers looked at 129 patients across 16 hospitals who had severe COVID-19 and underwent a brain MRI. Nine showed abnormal nodules in the posterior pole of the eyeball, although two people also had them outside of the macular region as well. Bilateral nodules were found in 8 of 9 people. No patient had optic nerve, chiasm, or tract abnormalities. (2/16)

Fox News: Common Cold Antibodies Won’t Prevent Coronavirus Infection, Study Finds
For the study, conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published earlier this month in the journal Cell, researchers examined hundreds of blood samples collected prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, examining them for antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses (CoV). About 20% of the samples had antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses (CoV) that, in theory, could bind to both cold-causing CoVs but also to "key sites on SARS-CoV-2," the novel coronavirus, the researchers said. But these antibodies were not able to neutralize the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, they found, and "were not associated with better outcomes in people who later went on to get COVID-19," according to a news release on the findings. (Farber, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Studies Highlight Surges For Touted Drugs Early In COVID-19 
When the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in the spring of 2020, there was little to no guidance on how to treat them. Two research letters published last week in separate JAMA journals looked at how drug dispensing in US retail pharmacies and Italian hospitals changed as more information came to light—and, not surprisingly, they reveal early demand for drugs promoted with little evidence for their efficacy. The studies reported increased demand for the malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, the anti-parasitic ivermectin, the antibiotic azithromycin, and the antiviral combination lopinavir-ritonavir, an HIV drug. They also showed high demand for zinc and vitamin C. (McLernon, 2/16)

Stat: FDA's Woodcock Rejects Proposal To 'Firewall' Agency And Drug Companies
In response to criticism, a top Food and Drug Administration official maintained that creating a firewall between agency staff during the process for reviewing medicines “would cause significant negative repercussions for public health.” (Silverman, 2/16)

Stat: FDA Warns AcelRx Of Misleading Ads For Its Pain Drug Dsuvia
The manufacturer of Dsuvia, a pain drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration amid substantial controversy, was taken to task by the agency for creating misleading ads that minimized the risks associated with the opioid medicine. (Silverman, 2/16)

Modern Healthcare: CVS Health Announces Plan To Re-Enter ACA Markets, Reports 44% Drop In Q4 Profits
CVS Health will re-enter the Affordable Care Act exchanges come January 2022, with CEO Karen Lynch calling the market sound and estimating it could comprise up to 15 million lives. "It's obviously stabilized over time thanks to some of the remedies put in place," Lynch said. Aetna announced it was leaving the exchange in 2018, along with other insurers unable to manage the rising costs of sick patients signing up for such coverage. Lynch said the company will reverse course, although it has not finalized what exchange markets it would reenter or the rates it planned to offer. Lynch said the ACA exchanges will represent the first time a branded CVS Health-Aetna plan will enter the market. (Tepper, 2/16)

Stateline: Opioid Deaths Spark Push To Ease Buprenorphine Rules
With drug overdose deaths soaring during the pandemic to the highest levels ever recorded, a growing chorus of medical experts is calling on the federal government to deregulate the addiction treatment medication buprenorphine. They argue that a requirement that doctors take an 8-hour course and submit to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) oversight has stymied the drug’s availability. But opioid addiction treatment providers and a major patient group argue that, in fact, more training is needed to protect patients. Some also worry that looser rules will result in the pills being resold illegally. (Vestal, 2/16)

Stat: Bluebird Suspends Sickle Cell Gene Therapy Studies After Cancer Diagnoses
Bluebird Bio said Tuesday that it has suspended clinical trials involving its gene therapy for sickle cell disease after receiving reports that two patients treated with the one-time therapy were diagnosed with cancer. The trials were placed on “temporary suspension” so that Bluebird can investigate the cancer cases to determine if they were caused by the re-engineered HIV virus used to deliver its gene therapy. No such link has been established yet, the company said. (Feuerstein, 2/16)

Stat: Novartis, Gates Foundation Pursue A Simpler Gene Therapy For Sickle Cell
Novartis and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are joining forces to discover and develop a gene therapy to cure sickle cell disease with a one-step, one-time treatment that is affordable and simple enough to treat patients anywhere in the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where resources may be scarce but disease prevalence is high. The three-year collaboration, announced Wednesday, has initial funding of $7.28 million. (Cooney, 2/17)

Stat: Backed By Hospitals, Truveta Wades Into The Business Of Selling Health Data
He was once dubbed “the most important man at Microsoft,” a prodigiously talented software engineer who shepherded the company’s Windows franchise through the tumultuous start of the smartphone era and led the development of products such as Xbox and Surface. Now Terry Myerson is leading an equally bold — and treacherous — second act: He is the newly minted chief executive of Truveta, a company formed by 14 U.S. health systems to aggregate and sell de-identified data on millions of American patients to help answer some of medicine’s most pressing questions. (Ross, 2/17)

Stat: Moncef Slaoui To Test His R&D Philosophy In A New Company 
Moncef Slaoui, who headed the Operation Warp Speed vaccine-development effort under the Trump administration, is returning to his previous role as a venture capitalist and announced Tuesday the launch of a new company, Centessa Pharmaceuticals. (Herper, 2/16)

AP: Cardiologist, Anti-War Activist Bernard Lown Dies At 99
Dr. Bernard Lown, a Massachusetts cardiologist who invented the first reliable heart defibrillator and later co-founded an anti-nuclear war group that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, died Tuesday. He was 99. The Boston Globe reported the Lithuania-born doctor’s health had been declining from congestive heart failure. He died in his Boston-area home. (2/16)

The Washington Post: NBA Postpones 6 Games Due To Spurs’ Positive Coronavirus Tests 
The NBA postponed six upcoming games involving the San Antonio Spurs and Charlotte Hornets in response to four Spurs players testing positive for the coronavirus, marking the largest schedule disruption since the league tightened its health and safety protocols last month. (Golliver, 2/16)

The New York Times: Technology Executive Apologizes After Dozens of Event Attendees Contract Covid-19
A technology executive in California has apologized for hosting a conference in Culver City after which two dozen attendees and staff members at the event tested positive for the coronavirus. The executive, Peter H. Diamandis, was among those who contracted the coronavirus. He hosted the conference — an annual summit for a paid-membership group called Abundance 360 — indoors in late January, with a total of about 80 attendees, panelists and members of the support staff. (Fortin, 2/16)

Fox News: Coronavirus Lockdowns Saw Rise In Alcohol Use, Study Finds
Alcohol usage and dependency likely increased every month for Americans under COVID-19 lockdowns, a new study from the University of Arizona College of Medicine shows. Researchers let by William "Scott" Killgore, Ph.D., College of Medicine-Tuscon professor of psychiatry and director of the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, surveyed 5,931 U.S. adults from all 50 states -- roughly 1,000 of which completed a 10-item questionnaire regarding alcohol use and dependency. Hazardous alcohol use among those under lockdown rose from 21% in April to nearly 41% in September compared to those not under lockdown, probable alcohol dependence rose from nearly 8% to 29%, and severe alcohol dependence rose from nearly 4% to 17% over the same time period. (Conklin, 2/16)

The New York Times: New York Sues Amazon, Saying It Inadequately Protected Workers From Covid-19 
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, sued Amazon on Tuesday evening, arguing that the company provided inadequate safety protection for workers in New York City during the pandemic and retaliated against employees who raised concerns over the conditions. The case focuses on two Amazon facilities: a large warehouse on Staten Island and a delivery depot in Queens. Ms. James argues that Amazon failed to properly clean its buildings, conducted inadequate contact tracing for known Covid-19 cases, and “took swift retaliatory action” to silence complaints from workers. (Weise, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Fairfax Schools Reopen Classrooms For First Time In Months
On Tuesday, the Northern Virginia school district of 186,000 took its first major steps toward reopening, welcoming roughly 8,000 students — mostly young children with disabilities and high-schoolers enrolled in career and technical education classes — back to campus for at least one day of in-person instruction each week. (Natanson, 2/16)

Politico: Newsom: California School Reopening Talks 'Stubborn' With 'More Work To Do'
Gov. Gavin Newsom conceded Tuesday that he has not yet struck a school reopening deal with legislators and school groups after having said it could arrive last week. “We are making progress and it is stubborn, the negotiation, and we continue to negotiate,” Newsom said, adding that “on schools, we still have more work to do.” (White, 2/16)

The Wall Street Journal: School Reopening Pits Parents Against Teachers: “Is There A Word Beyond ‘Frustrating’?”
Patrick Cozzens had never spoken up at a school board meeting until he stood in front of a crowd of angry parents earlier this month to read a statement his 16-year-old daughter helped him to write. “I’ve watched her go from a child that has loved school, thrived at school her entire life, to one now, using her own words, who just doesn’t care anymore,” he said, his voice breaking. “What are you focused on? Get our children back!” (Maher and Calfas, 2/16)

Politico: Florida Lawmakers Gave DeSantis Total Power Over Pandemic Aid. Now They Want It Back.
Republican lawmakers in Florida are starting to look for ways to rein in Gov. Ron DeSantis' emergency powers nearly a year into the public health crisis that has crippled the state and killed more than 28,000 residents. As Florida's tourism-centered economy crumbled and the rate of new Covid-19 infections climbed last summer, the state's Republican-controlled Legislature let DeSantis, a fellow Republican, call the shots. Like legislators in other states, they deferred to their governor on the pandemic for months, on everything from whether to shut down bars to which schools should hold in-person classes. (Fineout, 2/16)

Politico: Covid Wars Launch DeSantis Into GOP ‘Top Tier’ 
Ron DeSantis once drew national scorn for his stewardship of Florida’s Covid-19 response — critics took to referring to the governor as “DeathSantis” for his resistance to restrictive measures. But that very blowback — marked by predictions of doom and widespread criticism for being divorced from science — has made DeSantis ascendant in the GOP. His position is strengthened among the GOP grassroots and elites heading into his 2022 reelection in Florida and accompanied by increasing conservative chatter nationwide about a presidential bid. (Caputo, 2/16)

AP: DHHS Updating Rules For Involuntary Commitments After Ruling
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is updating its involuntary commitment process following a state supreme court ruling that psychiatric patients may not be held for extended periods in emergency rooms without a judge getting involved. Details are still being worked out by the the Office of Behavioral Health on new rules to reflect the new precedent in the ruling late last month, said Jackie Farwell, Maine DHHS spokesperson. (2/16)

Fox News: UK Aims To Infect Healthy Volunteers With COVID-19 For Medical Research
In a move seen as pushing the limits of medical ethics, the United Kingdom announced Wednesday that it will fund a project that will intentionally infect young and healthy volunteers with COVID-19 in the name of research. Reuters reported that the government will invest $43.5 million into the trials that still need the final approval by an ethics committee. The hope is that scientists will learn a great deal about the virus in a controlled setting, leading to new breakthroughs in treatment and vaccines. About 90 volunteers, between the ages of 18 and 30, are expected to take part in the "human challenge."  The study was set to take place in the high-level isolation unit of the Royal Free Hospital in London, according to the Lancet. (DeMarche, 2/16)

Reuters: Great Escape? UK To Return To Work By July, Daily Mail Says 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering a staged exit from COVID-19 lockdown that would see the United Kingdom’s battered economy fully returning to work in July, the Daily Mail reported, citing government plans. ... The Mail said a limited escape from lockdown would begin in April with holiday lets and larger hotels reopening, though pubs, bars and restaurants would have to wait until May. Some sports such as golf and tennis could resume. (Faulconbridge, 2/17)

AP: Pfizer-BioNTech To Get EU 200 Million More COVID-19 Shots
Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday they have finalized an agreement to supply the European Union with another 200 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. and German companies said in a statement that the doses come on top of the 300 million vaccine doses initially ordered. The EU’s executive Commission has an option to request a further 100 million doses. (2/17)

Reuters: Japan Begins COVID-19 Vaccination In 'First Major Step' To Halt Pandemic 
Japan launched its COVID-19 inoculation drive on Wednesday, administering the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine to Tokyo hospital workers, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attempts to beat the odds and host the Olympics this summer. Workers at Tokyo Medical Center were among the first of some 40,000 medical professionals targeted to receive the initial shipments of the vaccine. They will be followed by 3.7 million more medical personnel, then 36 million people aged 65 and over. (Takenaka, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Spread Of S. African Variant In Eastern France Triggers Calls To Suspend AstraZeneca Vaccine Rollout To Health Workers
Concern about the spread of coronavirus variants in eastern France has prompted an acceleration of vaccination in that region, as well as calls to suspend the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the health-care workers there who had been first in line to get it. AstraZeneca vaccinations in France began only Feb. 6. But the French government’s top vaccine adviser, Alain Fischer, suggested in a weekend interview with the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that health workers in Moselle — where variants first detected in South Africa and in Brazil are suspected to be particularly widespread — should not receive that particular vaccine, one of three authorized in the European Union. (Noack, 2/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Canada Weighs Buybacks Of AR-15 Style Rifles Used In U.S. Shootings 
Canada is introducing new gun-control legislation that would make it possible for individual cities to ban handguns at a local level and says it will create a buyback program for military-style semiautomatic weapons that were banned from use by the country’s Liberal government last year. The planned legislation will also create new offenses for altering a magazine to allow more shots to be fired without reloading, and develop a system that would allow concerned friends or family members to apply to a court and request the immediate, temporary removal of an individual’s firearms. (Mackrael, 2/16)