First Edition: February 22, 2022

KHN: ‘Injections, Injections, Injections’: Troubling Questions Follow Closure Of Sprawling Pain Clinic Chain
On May 13 of last year, the cellphones of thousands of California residents undergoing treatment for chronic pain lit up with a terse text message: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lags Medical Centers will be closing effective May 19, 2021.” In a matter of days, Lags Medical, a sprawling network of privately owned pain clinics serving more than 20,000 patients throughout the state’s Central Valley and Central Coast, would shut its doors. Its patients, most of them working-class people reliant on government-funded insurance, were left without ready access to their medical records or handoffs to other physicians. Many patients were dependent on opioids to manage the pain caused by a debilitating disease or injury, according to alerts about the closures that state health officials emailed to area physicians. They were sent off with one final 30-day prescription, and no clear path for how to handle the agony — whether from their underlying conditions or the physical dependency that accompanies long-term use of painkillers — once that prescription ran out. (Maria Barry-Jester and Gold, 2/22)

KHN: Covid Still Threatens Millions Of Americans. Why Are We So Eager To Move On?
Iesha White is so fed up with the U.S. response to covid-19 that she’s seriously considering moving to Europe. “I’m that disgusted. The lack of care for each other, to me, it’s too much,” said White, 30, of Los Angeles. She has multiple sclerosis and takes a medicine that suppresses her immune system. “As a Black disabled person, I feel like nobody gives a [expletive] about me or my safety.” (Knight, 2/22)

KHN: Journalists Review Hospital Penalties And Problems Riddling Medicaid Rx Program
Samantha Young, a political correspondent for California Healthline, on Feb. 15 discussed how Medi-Cal patients struggle to get their prescription drugs on KCRW’s “Press Play.” Interim Southern bureau editor Andy Miller discussed Medicare penalties for hospitals in Georgia on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Lawmakers” on Feb. 10. (2/19)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Eyes Second Covid-19 Booster Shot
U.S. health regulators are looking at potentially authorizing a fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the fall, according to people familiar with the matter. The planning is still in early stages, and authorization would depend on ongoing studies establishing that a fourth dose would shore up people’s molecular defenses that waned after their first booster and reduce their risk of symptomatic and severe disease, the people said. The Food and Drug Administration, however, has begun reviewing data so it can make a decision, the people said. (Armour and Hopkins, 2/19)

The Hill: FDA Considering Second COVID-19 Booster In Coming Months
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are "very carefully" considering second booster doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, according to The Wall Street Journal. FDA spokesperson Alison Hunt confirmed to CNN that the FDA "is indeed continually looking at the emerging data on the pandemic and variants in the United States and overseas in order to evaluate the potential utility and composition of booster doses." (Breslin, 2/19)

The New York Times: Got A Covid Booster? You Probably Won’t Need Another For A Long Time
As people across the world grapple with the prospect of living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, one question looms large: How soon before they need yet another shot? Not for many months, and perhaps not for years, according to a flurry of new studies. Three doses of a Covid vaccine — or even just two — are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time, the studies suggest. “We’re starting to see now diminishing returns on the number of additional doses,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. Although people over 65 or at high risk of illness may benefit from a fourth vaccine dose, it may be unnecessary for most people, he added. (Mandavilli, 2/21)

AP: US Virus Cases, Hospitalizations Continue Steady Decline
Average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the U.S., an indicator that the omicron variant’s hold is weakening across the country. Total confirmed cases reported Saturday barely exceeded 100,000, a sharp downturn from around 800,850 five weeks ago on Jan. 16, according to Johns Hopkins University data. In New York, the number of cases went down by more than 50% over the last two weeks. “I think what’s influencing the decline, of course, is that omicron is starting to run out of people to infect,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and infectious disease chief at the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. (Willingham and Mattise, 2/20)

AP: Nebraska Virus Cases And Hospitalizations Continue Falling
The number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continues falling across Nebraska in the wake of last month’s spike in cases. The state said 387 people were hospitalized with the virus Sunday, which is up slightly over the past couple days, but generally that number has been falling since peaking at 767 on Jan. 28. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska fell over the past two weeks from 1,490.71 new cases per day on Feb. 5 to 277.14 new cases per day on Saturday. From mid January until Jan. 26, that number was regularly above 4,000 during the peak of the surge of the omicron variant of the virus. (2/21)

Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel: Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 In Wisconsin Drop Below 700
It's been 40 days since the Wisconsin Hospital Association reported a record high 2,278 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state. Since then, hospitalization totals have been falling fast as the pandemic recedes. On Monday, the WHA reported that for the first time since last summer, the number of patients hospitalized with the virus in the state dropped below 700 patients. In addition, the WHA reported another decline in intensive care patients. (2/21)

Politico: Nowhere Is Safe: Record Number Of Patients Contracted Covid In The Hospital In January
More than 3,000 hospitalized patients each week in January had caught Covid sometime during their stay, more than any point of the pandemic, according to U.S. government data analyzed by POLITICO. The record surge demonstrates the virulence of the Omicron variant and how even hospitals, where infection control is paramount, provided little refuge. “Any level of hospital transmission is concerning,” said Aaron Milstone, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who focuses on the prevention of hospital-acquired infections. “The data suggests that hospitals should review their practices and make sure they are doing everything they can to protect patients.” (Levy and James Vestal, 2/19)

The Hill: New York Won't Enforce COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Mandate For Health Care Workers
New York on Friday announced it would not enforce the state’s COVID-19 vaccine booster mandate for health care workers amid concerns over possible staffing issues. Last month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced that the state would require all health care workers to get a COVID-19 booster as the state faced a surge of infections. That mandate was set to go into effect on Monday. (Vakil, 2/18)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Joins States Delaying Booster Mandate For Healthcare Workers
New York officials said they would try to increase booster uptake among healthcare workers over the next three months and then assess if additional steps, such as requiring the additional shot as a condition of employment, are still needed. “The reality is that not enough healthcare workers will be boosted by next week’s requirement in order to avoid substantial staffing issues in our already overstressed healthcare system,” Dr. Bassett said in a statement. (Vielkind, 2/19)

Stat: State Legislatures Renew The Push To Roll Back Covid Public Health Measures
State legislators are mobilizing anew to roll back public health measures meant to contain the spread of Covid-19. They are introducing bills in both liberal and conservative states that target measures like vaccine and mask requirements, which have become political lightning rods throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Several state lawmakers are also pushing legislation that would prevent hospitals and nursing homes from restricting visitors during outbreaks. (Florko, 2/22)

The New York Times: As Mask Mandates Across The U.S. Ease, Hawaii And Puerto Rico Remain Holdouts
Indoor mask mandates in every state but Hawaii have expired, or are scheduled to be lifted, as the United States nears its third year of the pandemic. Puerto Rico, the largest U.S. territory, also has no plans to lift its mask mandate. Several states announced in quick succession this month they would end their mask mandates as the Omicron wave recedes; many expire before the end of the month. Hawaii, which has had among the country’s fewest cases per capita over the course of the pandemic, has seen its daily average of new cases plummet about 70 percent over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations are down about 50 percent over the same time period, and deaths have decreased around 10 percent. (Hassan, 2/21)

The New York Times: Uproar Over ‘Crack Pipes’ Puts Biden Drug Strategy At Risk
Lawmakers of both parties introduced legislation last week to bar federal funding for “drug paraphernalia” in response to a story in The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, asserting that federally funded addiction treatment programs would distribute pipes for smoking crack cocaine as part of “safe smoking kits.” In response, White House officials said tax dollars would not be spent on pipes. But with the Beacon story ricocheting around the conservative ecosystem — amplified by Republican including Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas — Congress is pursuing plans not only to bar federal funding for “crack pipes,” but to impose restrictions on a new program that would have, for the first time, allowed federal funds to be spent on sterile needles for “syringe services” programs. (Gay Stolberg, 2/21)

Politico: Dems, GOP At Odds Over Biden's Proposed Science Agency
Biden recently announced that former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins would serve as a temporary science adviser, filling one of Lander’s key roles to help shepherd some of the White House’s most ambitious health priorities. But installing Collins may actually complicate efforts to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health because he, like Lander, is a strong proponent of housing the agency in NIH — and an increasing number of lawmakers are against that idea. “Every American agrees we must lead the world in scientific research,” a Republican leadership aide, who is close to ARPA-H discussions, said. “But based on member conversations I’ve witnessed, the majority of Republicans in the House worry ARPA-H will become another slush fund for Fauci-minded scientists — unchecked scientists who will use more government money just to curate their public image rather than get results.” (Owermohle, 2/22)

The New York Times: A Key To Returning To Normal Is Paid Sick Leave, Democrats Say
The Omicron wave hammered the American work force, sending more people home sick than at any other point in the pandemic. Yet unlike in 2020, there is no federally required paid sick leave for workers — and none at all for the one-fifth of workers who don’t receive it from their employers. Now, as Omicron recedes and many restrictions are being lifted, and as more of the country begins to treat Covid as an unavoidable part of life, some Democratic lawmakers and others are trying to revive paid leave for Covid-related reasons. (Cain Miller, 2/21)

The Hill: Sackler Family Offers Up More Money For Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement
The Sackler family is offering more money to settle the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case, the mediator of the settlement reported on Friday. The mediator filed a third interim report on Friday in which the Sackler families proposed paying between $5.5 million and $6 million for the settlement. The original bankruptcy settlement was listed at $4.3 million. The mediator, former Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, asked that the parties of the settlement receive more time to work on the settlement proposal. (Vakil, 2/18)

The Washington Post: ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Linked To 11 Percent Rise In U.S. Firearm Homicides, Study Says
“Stand your ground” laws may have led to hundreds of additional homicides every year in the United States, according to a new study that could boost criticisms that they encourage unnecessary violence. Fiercely debated and increasingly common in the United States, stand-your-ground laws remove the duty to retreat from an attacker when possible before responding with potentially deadly force. They became a flash point in national disputes over gun violence, self-defense and racial profiling, particularly after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, in 2012. (Knowles, 2/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccines Were Deadly In Rare Cases. Governments Are Now Weighing Compensation
Faced with the gravest health crisis in memory, governments deployed newly developed vaccines in record time. Many countries indemnified pharmaceutical companies that made the shots, with some governments promising to consider compensation for suspected Covid-19 vaccine-related injuries. Now governments, including the U.S. and U.K., are trying to live up to that pledge. They are in the very early stages of applying existing vaccine-injury programs to hundreds of claims of injury alleged from Covid-19 shots. (Strasburg, 2/19)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Poison Centers in U.S., Ohio Sound Alarm on Chemical in Some COVID-19 At-Home Tests
Be aware: That COVID-19 test kit in your home could contain a toxic substance that may be harmful to your children and you. The substance is sodium azide, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Drug and Poison Information Center has seen a surge in calls about exposures to the chemical since more people started self-testing for COVID-19 at home. (Demio, 2/21)

The Hill: Study Shows Political Affiliation Drove Use Of Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine
The use of two unproven COVID-19 treatments was higher in counties with a larger share of Republican voters in late 2020, according to a study released Friday, suggesting stark political differences in medical decisionmaking. Hydroxychloroquine prescribing volume from June through December 2020 was roughly double what it had been the previous year, and prescriptions were 150 percent higher in the most Republican counties than in the least, according to the study published Friday in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal. (Weixel, 2/18)

Bloomberg: Dr. Oz, David McCormick Spend Millions To Woo Trump Voters For PA Senate Primary
Former Bridgewater Associates CEO David McCormick and celebrity physician Mehmet Oz have already shattered spending records in their Republican primary battle for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania that is pivotal to party efforts to retake control of Congress. McCormick and Oz have flooded Keystone State airwaves with television and radio ads at a clip typically reserved for the closing stretch of an election, especially courting supporters of former President Donald Trump whose votes could spell the difference in the May 17 primary. (Niquette, 2/21)

Bloomberg: New York City To Send Clinicians To Subways, Ban Sleeping In Stations
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday announced a plan to remove New Yorkers without homes and those suffering from mental illness from transit stations, sending response teams into the subways to help them. The teams will connect people in need with housing and other support and take them to drop-in centers. The city will add NYPD officers, who Adams said “will enforce transit rules” prohibiting smoking, open drug use, fare evasion and sleeping on trains. Officials will also launch a marketing campaign that directs everyday riders to text or Whatsapp the MTA to report people in need. (Nahmias, 2/18)

Detroit Free Press: From Stumbling In Snow, Homeless Now Have Refuge Saving Lives, Dollars
It was after several winters of sheltering the homeless men at night and learning they were increasingly stumbling around in the snow by day — sometimes sleeping out in it — that the plight of Jim and Gary came dramatically to Elizabeth Kelly’s attention. As their conditions deteriorated, Jim and Gary had been in and out of Pontiac’s main hospital, at that time called POH Medical Center. They first had their frozen toes thawed, next amputated one by one, followed by amputations of entire feet, and then ultimately came their pitiful deaths. (Laitner, 2/21)

Los Angeles Times: Greater L.A. Homeless Count Resumes After Pandemic Hiatus
After a yearlong hiatus during the pandemic, thousands of volunteers will fan out across Los Angeles County this week to conduct the annual count of the region’s homeless population. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority canceled the event last year and then delayed it last month because of COVID-19 surges spawned by the Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus. (Vives, 2/21)

The New York Times: More Teenage Girls With Eating Disorders Wound Up In The E.R. During The Pandemic
During the pandemic, emergency rooms across the country reported an increase in visits from teenage girls dealing with eating and other disorders, including anxiety, depression and stress, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report provides new detail about the kinds of mental health issues affecting a generation of adolescents. Mental health experts hypothesize that the pandemic prompted some youth to feel isolated, lonely and out-of-control. Some coped by seeking to have control over their own behavior, said Emily Pluhar, a pediatric psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School. (Richtel, 2/18)

AP: Avian Influenza Discovered For 1st Time In Maine
A highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected for the first time in Maine, federal officials said Sunday. State officials quarantined the property in Knox County and the backyard flock will be eliminated to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The virus is often spread to domestic poultry by infected wild birds. U.S. surveillance efforts have identified the virus in wild birds in a number of states including New Hampshire, where it was detected this month in 20 wild ducks. (2/20)

The New York Times: Paul Farmer, Pioneer Of Global Health, Dies At 62
Dr. Farmer attracted public renown with “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World,” a 2003 book by Tracy Kidder that described the extraordinary efforts he would make to care for patients, sometimes walking hours to their homes to ensure they were taking their medication. He was a practitioner of “social medicine,” arguing there was no point in treating patients for diseases only to send them back into the desperate circumstances that contributed to them in the first place. Illness, he said, has social roots and must be addressed through social structures.(Barry and Traub, 2/21)

The Washington Post: AI Outdoes Radiologists When It Comes To Identifying Hip Fractures, Study Shows
When it comes to hip fractures, time is of the essence. Delays in surgery are associated with the risk of death and pressure sores, and patients with broken hips should ideally get surgery within 48 hours. But radiologists are in short supply, and the national shortage is exacerbated by a spiking demand for radiology services. And rushed radiologists and human error can lead to the improper identification and classification of hip fractures. Artificial Intelligence could help, suggests a recent study. When researchers pitted machine learning against human radiologists, the computer won, classifying hip fractures 19 percent more accurately than human experts. (Blakemore, 2/20)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Boosts Oncology Credentials With Breast Cancer Trial Success
AstraZeneca (AZN.L) said its Enhertu cancer drug has been shown to significantly help women suffering from a type of breast cancer that leaves them with poor treatment options, opening the door to a much larger potential patient group. AstraZeneca, which is working on the drug with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T), said on Monday that Enhertu prolonged survival and slowed the progression of metastatic breast cancer with low levels of a protein known as HER2. The improvement was "clinically meaningful" when compared with standard chemotherapy, it said, adding that detailed results of the late-stage trial would be presented at an as-yet undisclosed medical conference. (Burger, 2/21)

Bloomberg: AstraZeneca Reports Positive Data On Breast Cancer Drug Enhertu
AstraZeneca Plc reported data from a late-stage trial showing its drug Enhertu helps patients with a type of breast cancer live longer, potentially expanding treatment options for the disease. Enhertu boosted survival rates in patients with HER2-low unresectable and metastatic breast cancer, the U.K. drugmaker said Monday. It’s the first time such a therapy has shown a benefit in patients with that form of breast cancer, AstraZeneca said. (Mulier and Paton, 2/21)

Press Association: Eating Vegetables May Not Protect Against Heart Disease, Study Suggests
Packing your diet full of vegetables does not protect against heart disease, a new study suggests. The findings challenge previous research that suggests eating more vegetables is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) – which can lead to stroke, heart attacks, and death. Researchers say past studies may not have taken into account lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and meat intake – and socioeconomic factors such as a person’s education, income and wealth. They add that evidence from previous studies has been inconsistent. (2/21)

The Washington Post: Loneliness Can Increase Risk Of Heart Disease By 27 Percent For Older Women
For older women, being lonely and socially isolated can increase the chance of developing heart disease by as much as 27 percent, according to research published in the journal JAMA Network Open. The finding adds heart disease to a list of potential health effects of loneliness and isolation that include dementia and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. (Searing, 2/20)

CNN: Sexual Harassment And Assault Linked To High Blood Pressure In Women, Study Says 
Women who experience sexual violence, workplace sexual harassment or both have a higher long-term risk of developing high blood pressure than women with no such trauma, according to new research. Hypertension is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the top killer of women, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year, the American Heart Association reports. (LaMotte, 2/22)

CNN: Infertility Treatments Raise Risk Of Heart And Pregnancy Complications, Study Says 
If you are one of the millions of women who plan to use infertility treatments to have a baby, be aware that new research found women may be at increased risk for vascular and pregnancy-related complications, especially if they are 35 or older. "Advancing maternal age -- specifically being age 35 and older -- increases the risk of having or developing conditions, such as chronic high blood pressure, that increase the risk of pregnancy complications," said study author Dr. Pensée Wu, senior lecturer and honorary consultant obstetrician and subspecialist in maternal fetal medicine at Keele University School of Medicine in Staffordshire, UK, in a statement. (LaMotte, 2/22)

CIDRAP: Family Members Suffer PTSD After COVID-19 ICU Stay, Study Reveals
A new study from French researchers shows that family members of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), as compared with other causes of ARDS, were at a significantly increased risk of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 90 days after ICU discharge. The study was published in JAMA late last week. The prospective study included patients seen in 23 ICUs in France from January of 2020 to June of 2020, with final follow-up ending in October of that year. (2/21)

CIDRAP: Fewer Kids' ED Visits Amid COVID, But More Mental Healthcare In Teen Girls
Lower percentages of US children visited an emergency department (ED) for any indication amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while adolescent girls accounted for the largest hikes in visits for mental illness, according to two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies published late last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). For both studies, the researchers mined pediatric ED visit data in the National Syndromic Surveillance Program for three periods: Mar 15, 2020, to Jan 2, 2021; Jan 3, 2021, to Jan 1, 2022; and Jan 2 to 29, 2022, compared with the same periods in 2019. (2/21)

The Wall Street Journal: The Science Behind Why Children Fare Better With Covid-19
Children’s seeming imperviousness to Covid-19’s worst effects has been one of the biggest mysteries—and reliefs—of the pandemic. Now the reasons are coming into focus, scientists say: Children mobilize a first line of defense known as the innate immune system more effectively than adults. Although some children do fall seriously ill after coming down with Covid-19, the most have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Unlike other respiratory viruses such as the flu or respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t hit children nearly as hard as it does adults or the elderly. (Toy, 2/21)

CIDRAP: Ivermectin Futile For Mild To Moderate COVID-19, Study Finds
Early treatment with the antiparasitic drug ivermectin does not lower the risk of severe disease when given to patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, according to a study today in JAMA Internal Medicine. And a related study in the same journal finds connections between prescribing patterns for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine by political-party vote share in 2020. Doctors at 20 Malaysian government hospitals and a COVID-19 quarantine center conducted an open-label, randomized clinical trial on the use of ivermectin in the first week of COVID-19 symptom onset in hospitalized adults 50 years and older with mild or moderate illness and underlying medical conditions. The study took place from May 31 to Oct 25, 2021. (Van Beusekom, 2/18)

Bloomberg: Karex Sees Rising Demand For Condoms As Covid Restrictions Ease
The world’s largest producer of condoms said it expects the demand for its products to increase as the widening vaccine coverage prompt governments to ease social-distancing rules. “As vaccination rates ramp up around the world, more economies continue to relax restrictions and societies begin to adapt to post-pandemic life,” Malaysia’s Karex Bhd. said in a note accompanying its earnings on Monday. (Ngui, 2/21)

Billings Gazette: Jury Awards $36.5 Million Verdict Against Insurance Company In Bellwether Libby Asbestos Case
For more than two decades, the asbestos victims of Libby have waited. During that time, they watched The W.R. Grace Co., longtime owners of the mine that poisoned many workers and their families and spewed so much toxic dust into the air that the entire town of Libby was endangered, declare bankruptcy. (Cumber, 2/21)

AP: UNMC Receives $2.2M Grant To Address Nursing Burnout
The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing has received a $2.2 million federal grant to address burnout among the state’s nurses as the coronavirus pandemic stretches into a third year. The three-year grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services, the Omaha World-Herald reported. It’s part of an estimated $103 million in coronavirus relief funding to reduce burnout and promote mental health among the nation’s health care workforce. (2/21)

Albuquerque Journal: Nursing 911: Shortage Of Workers Requires Expanded Training Capacity
Intensive care units throughout New Mexico are operating beyond capacity. Hundred-day hospital stays are almost commonplace now but were unheard of before 2020. Nurses, aging along with our U.S. population, are retiring. As demand for health care services mounts, the shortage of registered nurses worsens. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the nursing shortage by increasing the number of patients entering the health care system and skewing the patient-to-nurse ratio toward dicey territory. (Lee, 2/21)

Politico: Rural Hospitals Stave Off Mass Exodus Of Workers To Vaccine Mandate
Rural hospital officials who expected Covid vaccine mandates to cause a staffing crisis are facing a pleasant surprise: Religious exemptions and education efforts for the hesitant are keeping almost all health care workers on the job. Nearly two dozen rural hospital officials and state hospital association leaders told POLITICO they have lost just a fraction of their staff to the federal immunization requirement, which mandated that health care workers in every state except Texas received at least one shot of the vaccine by last week. (Messerly, 2/22)

Politico: Colorado Governor: Anti-LGBTQ Laws Are 'Un-American'
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man to be elected governor, criticized the push for anti-LGBTQ laws in Republican-led states. “Look, words matter. Laws matter. When a group of people, LGBTQ youth, feel targeted by the words and laws that some politicians espouse, of course, it can increase anxiety, depression,” he said during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Just six weeks into 2022, more than 150 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across the country, according to USA Today. States such as Florida are going as far as prohibiting classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity and requiring teachers to inform parents of their child’s sexuality if they identify as LGBTQ. (Kim, 2/20)

Billings Gazette: Pair Of Bills Targeting Pregnant Drug Users Advance In Wyoming Legislature
In 2005, a Fremont County prosecutor charged a woman with felony child endangerment after finding her newborn baby tested positive for methamphetamine. She was the first person in Wyoming to be charged for endangering an unborn child with drugs. The woman also tested positive for meth at the hospital after giving birth. The next day, she said, police took her child. (Gerst Casper, 2/21)

CIDRAP: California Reports H1N2v Flu Case
California has reported a variant H1N2 (H1N2v) flu case in an adult who had direct contact with pigs, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly FluView report. The patient wasn't hospitalized and has recovered. Some respiratory illnesses were reported in some of the patient's contacts, but the CDC said the events occurred during a period of high respiratory illness activity, and no specimens were collected for testing. No ongoing human-to-human transmission of H1N2v has been linked to the case. So far, three novel influenza A cases have been reported to the CDC this flu season. Earlier reports involved an H3N2v case in Ohio and an H1v (neuraminidase not determined) case in Oklahoma. (2/18)

Los Angeles Times: Another Sewage Spill Closes Beach Swimming In Orange County
Orange County officials have closed a portion of the ocean near the west end of Newport Bay from 8th Street following yet another sewage spill. The Orange County Health Care Agency said Monday that a blocked sewer line at a restaurant in Newport Bay leaked about 35,000 to 50,000 gallons of untreated sewage into nearby waters. This spill comes less than two months after a 48-inch sewage main in Carson failed, spewing millions of gallons of waste into the Los Angeles Harbor and fouling beaches in Long Beach and elsewhere in L.A. and Orange counties. (Ramsey, 2/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two UWM Students Died in their Dorm Rooms Because of Fentanyl. Now, Their Mothers Are Turning Agony Into Action.
In a poem Logan Rachwal wrote as a high school junior, he thought back to simpler times, with late nights on the baseball diamond, building forts with his brother, the warmth of his family home and "easier days ... peaceful days." The poem — and the childhood memories it describes — are among the things his family cherishes today, not the years when their relationship was more strained than peaceful. (Shastri, 2/17)

The Hill: Amendment To 'Don't Say Gay' Bill In Florida Requires Schools To Out Students To Their Parents Within Six Weeks
A new amendment to Florida’s “Don't Say Gay” bill would require schools to inform parents of their children’s sexual orientation within six weeks of learning the student isn't straight, NBC affiliate WFLA reported on Monday. The amendment was filed Friday by the bill’s co-sponsor, state Rep. Joe Harding (R). The bill, which has gained national attention and pushback, bars educators in Florida from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary schools. Parents would be able to take legal action against school districts they believe have violated the measure. (Oshin, 2/21)

AP: Project To Assess Needs Of Long-Isolated Arizona Community
A small, remote northern Arizona town where a polygamist group used to be dominant makes few headlines these days. But that doesn’t mean it’s been entirely forgotten. Mohave County officials have decided to support a project to assess and address the long-isolated community’s health needs, Today’s News-Herald reported. (2/21)

AP: Bill To Consider Churches Essential In Emergencies Advances
A bill that would assure churches can meet in person in South Carolina during a pandemic or other emergency as long as other essential businesses can stay open is advancing in the state Senate. A Senate subcommittee unanimously approved the bill last week, sending it to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill passed the House last March. Supporters of the bill said they know the state never closed any churches when other businesses were closed in spring 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic started. (2/20)

AP: S Carolina Senate Panel Revives COVID-19 Vaccine Ban Bill
The Republican leader in the South Carolina Senate is reviving a bill to prevent public employers from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine and adding a proposal to fine private companies requiring the shot $7,500 for each person fired because of that mandate. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey presented his proposal Thursday to a Senate Finance subcommittee considering an anti-mandate bill passed by the House in December. One big change proposed by Massey is to add a fine to the unemployment insurance taxes paid by a private company requiring the vaccine. (2/21)

AP: Colombia's Highest Court Legalizes Abortion Up To 24 Weeks
Colombia became the latest country in Latin America to expand access to abortion Monday as the nation’s Constitutional Court voted to legalize the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy. The decision by the tribunal of nine judges fell short of the expectations of pro-choice groups that had been pushing for abortion to be completely decriminalized in Colombia. But it was nevertheless described as a historic event by women’s rights groups, which estimate 400,000 women get clandestine abortions in the country each year. Before the ruling, Colombia allowed abortions only when a woman’s life was in danger, a fetus had malformations or a pregnancy resulted from rape. (Rueda, 2/22)

AP: Iran Returns Donated Vaccines Because They Were Made In US
Iran has returned 820,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines donated by Poland because they were manufactured in the United States, state TV reported Monday. TV quoted Mohammad Hashemi, an official in the country’s Health Ministry, as saying that Poland donated about a million doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran. “But when the vaccines arrived in Iran, we found out that 820,000 doses of them which were imported from Poland were from the United States,” he said. (2/21)

The New York Times: England Lifts Rules As Queen Elizabeth Battles Infection
After almost two years of restrictions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Monday said it was time to live with the coronavirus, announcing an end to England’s remaining legal curbs and most free testing, and making his country an outlier in its handling of the pandemic. Although careful not to declare the country’s health crisis officially over, Mr. Johnson sought to put the country firmly on the path to normalcy, albeit just a day after an announcement that Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for the virus. (Castle, 2/22)