First Edition: Feb. 8, 2021

KHN: Why The U.S. Is Underestimating Covid Reinfection 
Kaitlyn Romoser first caught covid-19 in March, likely on a trip to Denmark and Sweden, just as the scope of the pandemic was becoming clear. Romoser, who is 23 and a laboratory researcher in College Station, Texas, tested positive and had a few days of mild, coldlike symptoms. In the weeks that followed, she bounced back to what felt like a full recovery. She even got another test, which was negative, in order to join a study as one of the earliest donors of convalescent blood plasma in a bid to help others. (Aleccia, 2/8)

KHN: Schools Walk The Tightrope Between Ideal Safety And The Reality Of Covid 
California mom Megan Bacigalupi has had enough. She wants her kindergartner and second grader back in their Oakland classrooms. But the coronavirus is spreading too quickly to open schools in Alameda County, based on the current state standards. And the local teachers union hasn’t agreed to go back — even after teachers have been vaccinated. So she expects her kids will be logging on to school from home for a while. (Ungar and Young, 2/8)

KHN: California’s Smallest County Makes Big Vaccination Gains
In the winter, the roughly three-hour drive from Alpine County’s main health clinic in Woodfords to the remote enclave of Bear Valley winds along snowy two-lane roads and over 8,000-foot mountain passes, circumventing the more direct route, which is closed for the season. So to get a box of the frozen Moderna covid-19 vaccine to the ski resort hamlet of about 100 people, the clinic has enlisted the sheriff’s department. (Norman, 2/8)

KHN: Community Health Workers, Often Overlooked, Bring Trust To The Pandemic Fight
For 11 months, Cheryl Garfield, a community health worker in West Philadelphia, has been a navigator of pandemic loss and hardship. She makes calls to people who are isolated in their homes, people who are sick and afraid and people who can’t afford their rent or can’t get an appointment with a doctor. The conversations always start with a basic question: “Tell me about yourself.” She wants to know her clients before she figures out how she can help. “Sometimes a patient just needs somebody to listen to them, so you just listen,” said Garfield, 52. (Cohen Marill, 2/8)

AP: South Africa Suspends AstraZeneca Vaccine Drive
South Africa has suspended plans to inoculate its front-line health care workers with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a small clinical trial suggested that it isn’t effective in preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country. South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and was expected to begin giving jabs to health care workers in mid-February. The disappointing early results indicate that an inoculation drive using the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be useful. (Meldrum and Hui, 2/7)

The New York Times: AstraZeneca’s Vaccine Does Not Work Well Against Virus Variant In South Africa 
The findings were a devastating blow to the country’s efforts to combat the pandemic. Scientists in South Africa said on Sunday that a similar problem held among people who had been infected by earlier versions of the coronavirus: The immunity they acquired naturally did not appear to protect them from mild or moderate cases when reinfected by the variant, known as B.1.351. (2/8)

Reuters: South Africa Halts AstraZeneca Rollout On Fears It Doesn't Stop Mild Illness 
Protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation or death could not be assessed in the study as the target population were at such low risk, the researchers said. ... Professor Shabir Madhi, lead investigator on the AstraZeneca trial in South Africa, said the vaccine’s similarity to another produced by Johnson & Johnson, which reduced severe disease by 89%, suggested it would still prevent serious illness or death. “There’s still some hope that the AstraZeneca vaccine might well perform as well as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a different age group demographic that I address of severe disease,” he told BBC radio. (Faulconbridge and Holton, 2/8)

CNBC: AstraZeneca Races To Adapt Covid Vaccine As South Africa Halts Rollout
Drugmaker AstraZeneca is racing to adapt its Covid-19 vaccine in the face of new variants of the virus, with the process becoming more urgent after a small-scale study found that it was less effective at protecting against the more virulent strain discovered in South Africa. The country said it would suspend the use of the shot in its vaccination program after a study, published Sunday and not yet peer-reviewed, found that the vaccine offered “minimal protection” against mild to moderate disease caused by the South African variant. (Ellyatt, 2/8)

The Hill: Modified AstraZeneca Vaccine Aimed At South Africa Strain Expected By Fall, Researcher Says 
Developers of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine expect to have a modified version that will be effective against the South Africa strain by fall, a top researcher said on Saturday. (Choi, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Rollout Of AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Halted In South Africa After Study 
South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, said that while the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine was on hold, the country would accelerate the deployment of the J&J shot, of which it has ordered 9 million doses. That vaccine, which requires only one dose, was found to be 57% effective at preventing mild and moderate cases of Covid-19 in a recent clinical trial in South Africa and offered 85% protection against severe illness. (Steinhauser, 2/7)

Bloomberg: South Africa To Speed Up Plans To Use J&J Covid Shot
South Africa will temporarily halt the rollout of AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine and accelerate its supply of shots from Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Inc. after a trial showed the shot had limited efficacy against a new variant of the virus first identified in the country late last year. The South African arm of the trial found that the shot from Astra and the University of Oxford had only 22% efficacy against mild and moderate illness, according to lead researcher Shabir Madhi on Sunday. There was no conclusive data showing whether the vaccine protects against severe illness, mainly because of the relative youth of the 2,000 trial participants, he said. (Naidoo and Bax, 2/7)

Popular Science: Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine, Explained 
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is what’s called an adenovirus-vectored vaccine. It’s a technique that was attempted in the development of an HIV vaccine in the mid-2000s, but which proved ineffective. But over the summer, the EU authorized Johnson & Johnson’s Ebola vaccine based on the same technology, and a number of COVID vaccine candidates, including that of Oxford/AstraZeneca, use a similar approach. (Kiefer, 2/1)

The Washington Post: Biden Discusses Vaccinations, School Reopenings, Foreign Policy In First Network Interview As President
In his first network television interview since taking office, President Biden acknowledged it will be “very difficult” for the United States to reach herd immunity at the current rate coronavirus vaccines are being administered in the country and that his administration would utilize all 32 National Football League stadiums as mass vaccination centers to help in the effort. “It is a national emergency,” Biden said on “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell,” referring to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its effect on schoolchildren and the workforce. (Wang and Gearan, 2/7)

CNBC: Covid Herd Immunity: Biden Says Getting There By Summer's End Will Be Hard
President Joe Biden won’t commit to achieving herd immunity to the coronavirus in the U.S. by the end of summer, suggesting a long road ahead to defeating the deadly virus. “The idea that this can be done and we can get to herd immunity much before the end of this summer is very difficult,” the Democrat said in an interview broadcast on CBS on Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl. (Higgins, 2/7)

The Hill: Biden Expects To Take NFL Up On Offer To Use Stadiums As Vaccination Sites 
President Biden said he expects to take the NFL up on an offer to use its 32 stadiums as mass vaccination sites during an interview that aired Sunday. The president told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell in the interview that aired in party ahead of the Super Bowl that he received a call from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in which the commissioner offered the league’s 32 stadiums as potential vaccination sites. (Coleman, 2/7)

The Hill: CDC Could Lay Out School Reopening Requirements This Week, Biden Says 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could as soon as Wednesday lay out the requirements for schools to reopen, President Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday. Biden told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired in part before the Super Bowl that he believed “it’s time for schools to reopen safely,” after calling it a “national emergency” that about 20 million American children have not been in a classroom for almost a year. (Coleman, 2/7)

CBS News: Biden Says Women Dropping Out Of Workforce During COVID Pandemic Is A "National Emergency" 
President Biden said the exodus of millions of women from the labor force and the closing of schools —along with the mental health issues for children that could arise — during the COVID-19 pandemic constitute a "national emergency."  "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell spoke to Mr. Biden in the first network news interview he has given since his inauguration. (Linton, 2/7)

The Hill: Bidens Express Gratitude For Health Care Workers Ahead Of Super Bowl Kickoff 
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden thanked health care workers from around the country for their work during the coronavirus pandemic in an ad that aired ahead of the Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday. The couple in a pre-recorded message called on viewers to continue to “do our part” to combat the virus and to participate in a moment of silence for those who died of COVID-19 ahead of the game. (Coleman, 2/7)

Roll Call: Biden To Use Defense Production Act For Gloves, COVID-19 Vaccines 
The White House COVID-19 task force announced Friday that the Biden administration plans to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, surgical gloves and at-home testing kits as part of an effort to increase supplies and reduce long-term dependence on foreign suppliers. The administration said it will use the DPA to contract with six more COVID-19 at-home test suppliers, which should result in more than 60 million at-home tests becoming available by the end of the summer. This news comes just days after the administration announced a $231.8 million deal with at-home COVID-19 test-maker Ellume to produce 100,000 test kits per month for the United States from February to July, with a goal of ramping that number up to 19 million tests per month by the end of the year. (Cohen, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Inside Biden's Decision To Go It Alone With Democrats On Coronavirus Relief 
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), one of Biden’s closest confidants and a longtime colleague, said that while the president cares deeply about bipartisanship, he won’t let that impulse prevent him from helping Americans struggling amid the pandemic. “Who Joe is and who he’s been for decades is a Senate man, a person who wants to see the best in others, who if it’s at all possible wants to reach a reasonable, principled compromise,” Coons said. “But he’s perfectly clear that if he spends months and months chasing Republican partners who never emerge, he’s doing a real disservice to a country in crisis.” (Parker, Viser and Kim, 2/7)

Politico: Biden Brushes Off Rescue Plan Critics From Left And Right 
Joe Biden had a message for naysayers on Friday as he looks to move his Covid-19 relief package forward: get on board or get out of the way. In remarks at the White House, the president showed no signs of moving off his $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan, pointing to lackluster January jobs numbers released Friday as further justification for spending big and moving quickly. (Cassella, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Majority Of Americans Approve Of Biden’s Coronavirus Response, Poll Finds 
Two in 3 Americans approve of President Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll by ABC News-Ipsos, with widespread support for his efforts to pass a relief bill. The survey was conducted Feb. 5 and 6 among 508 adults using the probability-based KnowledgePanel. Biden’s 67 percent approval on handling the coronavirus contrasts sharply with how Americans felt President Donald Trump handled the pandemic. In October, 61 percent said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the coronavirus. (Shammas, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Senior Democrats To Unveil $3,000-Per-Child Benefit As Biden Stimulus Gains Steam
Senior Democrats on Monday will unveil legislation to provide $3,000 per child to tens of millions of American families, aiming to make a major dent in child poverty as part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package. The 22-page bill to dramatically expand direct cash benefits to American families was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release. (Stein, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Paid Family And Sick Leave Could Expand For The First Time In Decades Because Of The Pandemic
As the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate workers — particularly women — a new generation of advocates are hopeful a more expansive iteration of the FMLA might finally have a shot. On Friday, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would grant workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave, whether to recover from illness or childbirth, or provide care for a loved one. (Bellware, 2/6)

Politico: Dems Try To Shoehorn Major Child Poverty Reduction Plan Into Covid Bill 
Congressional Democrats will try to insert a major child poverty reduction proposal into their Covid relief package when it comes up for consideration in the next few weeks. The proposal, details of which are still being finalized, would provide families a $3,600-per-child allowance for children under the age of 6 over the course of three years. and $3,000 per child for those between the ages of 6 and 17. The size of the benefit would grow smaller at certain yearly income levels — $75,000 for single parents and $150,000 for a couple’s aggregate total — and would be distributed on a monthly basis. (Stein, 2/7)

Politico: Biden’s Vaccine Ad Campaign Hits Roadblock: Not Enough Doses 
President Joe Biden is planning a massive campaign to sell Americans on getting a coronavirus vaccine — just as soon as there are enough shots for everyone. The limited vaccine supply has curbed the Biden administration’s early ambitions for a national effort to build enthusiasm for shots that can help smother the pandemic. Much of an envisioned $1 billion public awareness campaign remains on hold, with health officials figuring it makes little sense to make their pitch when so few Americans can get vaccinated. The U.S. is not expected to make vaccines widely available to the public until the spring. (Cancryn, 2/7)

USA Today: Pfizer Expects To Cut COVID-19 Vaccine Production Time By Almost 50%
Pfizer expects to nearly cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of COVID-19 vaccine from 110 days to an average of 60 as it makes the process more efficient and production is built out, the company told USA TODAY. As the nation revs up its vaccination programs, the increase could help relieve bottlenecks caused by vaccine shortages. "We call this 'Project Light Speed,' and it's called that for a reason," said Chaz Calitri, Pfizer's vice president for operations for sterile injectables, who runs the company's plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. "Just in the last month we've doubled output." (Weise, 2/7)

The Hill: Vaccine Troubles Overseas Could Haunt United States 
The Biden administration and states across the country are slowly making progress with their coronavirus vaccination campaign, but the unequitable scramble for doses overseas threatens to prolong the pandemic indefinitely. Rich countries have essentially cleared the shelves, securing almost 60 percent of global vaccine supply, according to a Duke University procurement tracker, and the U.S alone has pre-purchased enough doses to inoculate the population twice over. (Weixel, 2/6)

Fox News: Daily Coronavirus Cases In US Drop Below 100,000, Data Shows
The U.S. recorded fewer than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday for the first time in months, data shows. Just over 96,000 new cases were identified Sunday, a decrease from the 113,927 cases reported on Saturday, according to the COVID Tracking Project (CTP). It was the first time since Nov. 2 that less than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported. The data on Sunday was missing updates from a handful of states because some do not regularly report on the weekend, while others were having "technical difficulties." (Aaro, 2/7)

USA Today: US COVID Cases Are Falling But It's Not From Vaccine, Yet, Experts Say
New coronavirus cases are on the decline in the United States after staggering post-holiday peaks last month, but experts say it's too early for new COVID-19 vaccines to be having an influence. The positive trend also is not assured to continue, because new and more transmissible variants threaten to reverse it, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. "Although we have seen declines in cases and admissions and a recent slowing of deaths, cases remain extraordinarily high, still twice as high as the peak number of cases over the summer," she said this week. (Rodriguez, 2/6)

NPR: Actual Coronavirus Infections Far Higher Than Confirmed Cases, Model Shows
Ever since the coronavirus reached the U.S., officials and citizens alike have gauged the severity of the spread by tracking one measure in particular: How many new cases are confirmed through testing each day. However, it has been clear all along that this number is an understatement because of testing shortfalls. Now a research team at Columbia University has built a mathematical model that gives a much more complete — and scary — picture of how much virus is circulating in our communities. (Aizenman, Carlsen and Talbot, 2/6)

The Hill: UK Strain Doubling Every 10 Days In US: Study 
The COVID-19 strain first discovered in the U.K. is doubling in the U.S. every 10 days, presenting a potential risk of increased cases and deaths in the country, according to a study released Sunday. (Coleman, 2/7)

The Hill: CDC Study: Mask Mandates Reduce COVID-19 Hospitalizations 
States and counties that implemented mask mandates saw a substantial decline in the number of people admitted to the hospital to treat COVID-19 symptoms in the weeks after the mandates took effect, according to a new study published Friday. (Wilson, 2/5)

The Hill: Immunization Expert Accuses CDC Of Stealing COVID-19 Tracking Idea 
An immunization expert is accusing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with a company called Deloitte for stealing her ideas for a mass vaccination tracker. A cease-and-desist letter from August obtained by The New York Times shows Tiffany Tate, creator of vaccination tracker PrepMod, is seeking $15 million in damages after she believes the CDC and Deloitte took the ideas from her vaccination tracker and implemented them in their own Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS). (Lonas, 2/6)

The New York Times: Where Do Vaccine Doses Go, And Who Gets Them? The Algorithms Decide
Faced with the daunting task of parceling out a limited supply of coronavirus vaccines, Trump administration officials came up with a seemingly simple formula last year to streamline distribution of the shots. First, federal administrators would run an automated algorithm to divide vaccine doses nationwide, based on the size of each state’s adult population. Then each state would decide how to dole out the shots to local hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. (Singer, 2/7)

CIDRAP: Small Study Finds Colchicine Improves Outcomes In COVID-19 Patients
Colchicine appeared to be safe and effective in treating moderate to severe COVID-19 infections in hospitalized patients, according to a randomized, double-blind clinical trial published yesterday in RMD Open. Patients who took the inexpensive drug, which is commonly used to treat gout, required supplemental oxygen and hospitalization for less time. (2/5)

USA Today: COVID Tongue May Be A Rare Symptom Of The Coronavirus
"COVID tongue" and mouth ulcers may need to be included in what could become a vast list of symptoms of the coronavirus, a British researcher says. Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, says one in five people with COVID are presenting with less common symptoms such as skin rashes not on lists published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health entities. Spector, an investigator of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study that encourages Britons to report symptoms via an app, says a swollen or discolored tongue is another manifestation he has been seeing. (Bacon, 2/7)

The New York Times: The Coronavirus Is A Master Of Mixing Its Genome, Worrying Scientists 
In recent weeks, scientists have sounded the alarm about new variants of the coronavirus that carry a handful of tiny mutations, some of which seem to make vaccines less effective. But it is not just these small genetic changes that are raising concerns. The novel coronavirus has a propensity to mix large chunks of its genome when it makes copies of itself. Unlike small mutations, which are like typos in the sequence, a phenomenon called recombination resembles a major copy-and-paste error in which the second half of a sentence is completely overwritten with a slightly different version. (Khamsi, 2/5)

Stat: FDA Blasts Merck's Keytruda Data For New Breast Cancer Indication
Merck (MRK) may have readily turned its Keytruda cancer drug into a medical and financial juggernaut, but its bid to win regulatory approval for at least one additional use may not come so easily, judging by documents from the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 2/5)

Stat: How A Journal's Censure Inflamed Debate Over Biogen's Alzheimer's Drug
A science journal owned by the Alzheimer’s Association punished a trio of leading researchers after they published a stinging rebuke of Biogen’s controversial treatment aducanumab — a drug that the powerful advocacy group is lobbying regulators to approve. (Garde and Feuerstein, 2/8)

Stat: What 23andMe's Filing To Go Public Says About The Big Genetics Business
It seemed a foregone conclusion: Despite the early popularity of companies offering health and ancestry insights for the cost of roughly $200 — and the brief but awkward experience of spitting into a tube — the consumer genetics industry was not going to thrive. Privacy concerns took center stage. Sales declined. Profits never materialized. (Brodwin and Palmer, 2/5)

The New York Times: Emil Freireich, Groundbreaking Cancer Researcher, Dies At 93
Dr. Emil Freireich, a relentless cancer doctor and researcher who helped devise treatments for childhood leukemia that dramatically transformed the lives of patients thought to have little hope of survival, died on Feb. 1 at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he had worked since 1965. He was 93. His death was confirmed by his daughter Debra Ann Freireich-Bier. The hospital said he had tested positive for Covid-19 but it has not yet been determined as the cause of death. (Sandomir, 2/7)

CIDRAP: Poll Finds Older US Adults Often Use Leftover Antibiotics
A new poll of US adults aged 50 to 80 years indicates that taking leftover antibiotics without consulting a healthcare professional is a common practice, University of Michigan researchers reported today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Among 2,256 respondents to the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, 47.7% reported receiving an antibiotic prescription in the previous 2 years. The most common indications were respiratory (49.7%), dental (17.6%), urinary tract (16.6%), and skin (11.7%) infections. (2/5)

USA Today: Thousands Of Fans, Many Without Masks, Flood Tampa Streets After Buccaneers Win Super Bowl 55
Thousands of people took to the roads and the streets across this city Sunday night after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl 55. What many didn’t bring to the impromptu celebration was masks. The festivities turned especially raucous outside the Tampa Convention Center downtown, where college-aged revelers cheered, guzzled alcohol and sometimes surrounded cars that were blaring music. There was little sign of masks. (Peter, 2/8)

The New York Times: Celebratory Cannon Salute At Baby Shower Ends In Death, Police Say 
A 26-year-old Michigan man died on Saturday after he was hit with shrapnel from “a small cannon type device” that exploded when it was fired in celebration at a baby shower, the Michigan State Police said. The man, Evan Thomas Silva, a guest at the party, was about 10 to 15 feet from the device when it blew up in the backyard of a home. Metal shrapnel hit Mr. Silva, three parked cars and the garage where the shower was being held, the police said. (Paybarah, 2/7)

Boston Globe: Firefighters May Be Wearing Gear That Contains Toxic Chemicals, Researchers Find
The heavy turnout gear firefighters use to protect themselves from flames and other hazards is highly likely to contain a range of carcinogenic chemicals, according to a new study. Harvard University researchers took dust samples at 15 fire stations in Eastern Massachusetts and found significant amounts of toxic compounds known as PFAS. The so-called “forever chemicals,” which never fully degrade, have been linked to cancer, low infant birth weights, and suppression of the immune system. Researchers found the highest concentrations of the chemicals in rooms where turnout gear was stored. The stations rarely, if ever, used foam, a known source of PFAS, to fight fires. (Abel, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Companies Are Charging Hidden ‘Covid Fees’ To Make Up For Lost Profits. They May Be Illegal.
Nearly a year into the pandemic’s gutting of the economy, businesses across the country are increasingly charging coronavirus-related fees, ranging from a $5 disinfection charge in a hair salon to $1,200 for extra food and cleaning in a senior living center, which are often undisclosed until the customer gets a bill. According to a survey by The Washington Post of attorney general offices and financial departments in 52 states and territories, U.S. consumers in 29 states have filed 510 complaints of coronavirus-related surcharges at dentist offices, senior living facilities, hair salons and restaurants. (Denham, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Iowa Lifts Mask Mandate, Gathering Restrictions As U.K. Variant Surges 
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Friday that she will be lifting coronavirus restrictions including the use of masks, social distancing and limitations on social gatherings, yet at least two cities have defied the new health proclamation and said they will keep their own measures in place, arguing this is not the time to “let the guard down.” Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie announced Saturday that the city’s mask mandate will remain and disparaged Reynolds’s “confusing” decision, arguing it “can’t be rationalized with the number of positive cases we continue to see across the state and here in Polk County.” (Villegas, 2/7)

NPR: Supreme Court Rules Against California Ban On In-Person Worship
A deeply divided Supreme Court doubled down on religious rights late Friday, ruling that California can no longer continue with a ban on indoor church services put in place to fight to the coronavirus pandemic. But the court said that the state, for now, can keep in place restrictions on singing and chanting inside. The two cases at the center of Friday's ruling marked a test of how far states can go to safeguard public health before running afoul of constitutional protections for the free exercise of religion. In response to suits brought by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista and the Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, the court said California cannot bar in-person services altogether, but can limit attendance to 25% of capacity. (Breslow and Totenberg, 2/6)

AP: Some California Churches Hold Indoor Services After Ruling
Some California churches opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday, after the state revised its guidelines for houses of prayer following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lifted a ban on indoor services during the coronavirus pandemic. “This morning we declare that this house will be a house of freedom,” announced Pastor Brittany Koopman at Harvest Rock Church near Los Angeles, one of the churches that sued the state over the ban. She led a socially distanced indoor crowd in prayer before Sunday’s service, which was also streamed online. (Weber, 2/4)

The Washington Post: Virginia Assisted-Living Facility Markets A ‘Vaccination Staycation’
As seniors across the country struggle to book appointments for scarce doses of coronavirus vaccines, one assisted-living facility marketed access to the doses through a “Vaccination Staycation.” Tall Oaks Assisted Living in Fairfax County advertised that those who booked a month-long stay in a $5,000, all-inclusive studio apartment there could also receive a two-dose vaccine at the facility. (Portnoy, 2/7)

Politico: Republicans Seek To Pin California’s Covid-19 Problem On Biden’s HHS Pick 
Senate Republicans plan to link President Joe Biden’s pick for Health secretary with California’s troubled pandemic response in a long-shot bid to sink the nomination later this month. As the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra enforced stay-at-home orders and other restrictions imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, including limits on indoor religious services that outraged many on the right. (Ollstein, 2/6)

Politico: Production Snags Likely To Leave EU Lagging In Vaccinations For Months To Come 
Rather than shooting citizens in the arm, European countries might be shooting themselves in the foot. Increasing numbers of European public health authorities and scientists say they will restrict the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to younger populations, citing the fact that current data doesn't show the jab is effective in people over the age of 55. Some British experts say EU countries are setting age restrictions only because of limited supplies. (Deutsch, 2/5)

Bloomberg: U.K. Plans Annual Vaccinations To Fight New Coronavirus Strains
The U.K. is on track to vaccinate all people over age 50 by May and is already planning for a program of top-up immunizations to fight new variants of coronavirus from the autumn, officials said. Health Minister Nadhim Zahawi predicted annual vaccination drives similar to the program of injections given for influenza each year. Work is already under way to develop a shot that will offer better protection against the South Africa variant, after a study suggested the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine had limited effect on mild Covid-19. The government expects “probably an annual or a booster in the autumn and then an annual” dose of vaccines to be given “in the way we do with flu vaccinations,” Zahawi told the BBC on Sunday. (Ross, 2/8)

The Hill: UK Official Says Annual Vaccines Probable 
Britain’s vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said on Sunday that annual coronavirus vaccinations are highly possible. “We see very much probably an annual or a booster in the autumn and then an annual (vaccination), in the way we do with flu vaccinations where you look at what variant of virus is spreading around the world,” Zahawi told the BBC, according to Reuters. (Choi, 2/7)

Stat: WTO Urged To Ease Trade Rules To Boost Global Access To Drugs, Vaccines
More than 100 advocacy groups from dozens of countries are urging the World Trade Organization council to extend an exemption in a trade deal governing intellectual property rights so that low-income countries can more easily obtain drugs and vaccines, a concern that has been magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic. (Silverman, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: In Mexico, Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Stalls, Despair Grows
The vaccine pipeline is clogged, hospitals are overflowing, oxygen tanks for the ill are scarce — and the toll of dead and infected keeps spiking. Meanwhile, restaurant workers and others have taken to the streets protesting shutdowns as Mexico’s coronavirus-ravaged economy continues to crater absent any significant stimulus package from the government. “It feels like a horror film that never ends,” said Evelyn Beltrán, 39, a nurse in the city of Puebla. “What an awful sense of hopelessness and desperation.” (McDonnell and Sánchez, 2/7)

Reuters: China Reports No New Local COVID-19 Infection For First Time In Nearly Two Months 
China reported no new locally transmitted mainland COVID-19 case for the first time in nearly two months, official data showed on Monday, adding to signs that it has managed to stamp out the latest wave of the disease. The total number of COVID-19 cases rose slightly to 14 on Feb. 7 from 12 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement, but all were imported infections from overseas. Seven of the cases were in Shanghai, the rest in the southeastern Guangdong province. (2/7)

The Washington Post: What If You Test Positive For Covid-19 Abroad? Here’s What Travelers Need To Know.
Now that entry into the United States requires a negative coronavirus test result taken within 72 hours, travelers have been scrambling to secure coronavirus tests abroad — with many opting for speedier, though less-accurate, rapid tests. And most travelers probably do so under the assumption that their test will come back negative, allowing them to board their flight home without issue. But what if that test comes back positive? (McMahon, 2/6)

Bloomberg: Ebola Resurfaces In Previous Epidemic Zone Of Congo, WHO Says
A deceased woman was found to have been infected with Ebola in an area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an outbreak was declared over in June, the World Health Organization said. The woman, the wife of an Ebola survivor, had sought treatment in a health center in Butembo, in North Kivu province, for Ebola-like symptoms, the WHO said in a statement Sunday. Butembo was one of the epicenters of the world’s second-largest Ebola outbreak that lasted almost two years in eastern Congo, causing 3,481 cases and 2,299 deaths. More than 70 contacts have been identified amid a WHO investigation, and sites visited by the patient are being disinfected, the agency said. “It is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak,” WHO said. (Gale, 2/7)