First Edition: Jan. 10, 2022

KHN: Black-Owned Hospice Seeks To Bring Greater Ease In Dying To Black Families
This time, it didn’t take much persuading for Mary Murphy to embrace home hospice. When her mother was dying from Alzheimer’s disease in 2020, she had been reluctant until she saw what a help it was. So when her husband, Willie, neared the end of his life, she embraced hospice again. The Murphys’ house in a leafy Nashville neighborhood is their happy place — full of their treasures. “He’s good to me — buys me anything I want,” she said, as she pulled a milky glass vase out of a floor-to-ceiling cabinet with mirrored shelves. (Farmer, 1/10)

KHN: Supreme Court Weighs Biden’s Workplace Vaccine Requirements 
Notably, Friday’s arguments were held in a Supreme Court chamber with even stricter anti-covid rules than those at issue. The court is closed to most members of the public, masks are required for everyone other than the justices, and lawyers and journalists must maintain physical distance and have negative tests. As the omicron variant surges in Washington, D.C., Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has diabetes, opted to participate remotely from her chambers at the court. Also participating remotely were two of the six lawyers, including Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers, who tested positive for covid after having a mild case over the holidays. (Rovner, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court May Let Healthcare COVID-19 Shot Mandate Move Forward
The majority of Supreme Court justices on Friday seemed willing to let the federal government’s healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine mandate go into effect while appeals continue in lower courts. But justices seemed more skeptical of the Labor Department’s ability to require a broad requirement for staff at primarily non-healthcare businesses to be vaccinated or get tested weekly, with Chief Justice John Roberts questioning if the federal government is trying to work around state and congressional powers through the requirement. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is set to begin enforcement of its own non-healthcare-specific rule on Monday, though employees won’t be required to get vaccines or weekly tests until Feb. 9. The tight deadline means the Supreme Court could issue rulings as soon as Friday evening. (Goldman, 1/7)

The Hill: Federal Agencies Prepare To Act Against Unvaccinated Employees
Federal government agencies are preparing to take increasingly harsh steps against unvaccinated employees in order to implement President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers.  Some agencies plan to send letters warning of possible suspensions to employees who have not complied with the mandate. Many are also prepared to fire employees who don’t follow the rule, though such moves would be further down the road. (Gangitano and Chalfant, 1/9)

Bloomberg: Citi Confronts Vaccine Holdouts in No Jab, No Job Mandate
Citigroup Inc. was the first major Wall Street bank to impose a strict Covid-19 vaccine mandate: Get a shot or face termination. With its deadline fast approaching, the company is preparing for action. Office workers who don’t comply by Jan. 14 will be placed on unpaid leave, and their last day of employment will come at the end of the month, according to a message to staff seen by Bloomberg. While some of the employees will be eligible for certain year-end bonus payments, they’ll have to sign an agreement that states they won’t pursue legal action against the company to receive the funds, according to the message. (Surane, 1/7)

Axios: Arkansas Governor: Big Businesses Shouldn't Comply With Vaccine Mandate 
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said large businesses should not comply with the Biden administration's "oppressive" mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations or testing that's due to take effect Monday. Hutchinson told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday the requirement "needs to be struck down" and urged Arkansas businesses with 100 or more employees affected by it to wait for the Supreme Court ruling on the matter. (Falconer, 1/9)

NPR: CDC Criticized For Failing To Communicate, Promises To Do Better
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a telebriefing.Director Rochelle Walensky presided, along with two career scientists. The substance was notable — updated COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools. But even more notable was the fact that the briefing was happening at all. It was the first such briefing in months, despite the ongoing pandemic crisis. That lack of regular communication has spurred criticism of the agency. In recent days, public health experts have called out CDC for confusing isolation and quarantine guidance, and asked the agency to communicate more often and more clearly. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/7)

Axios: Biden Administration Faces COVID Credibility Crisis 
A series of messaging missteps is threatening the credibility of federal health agencies, and critics say the White House isn’t doing enough to manage the fallout. While much of the unvaccinated population is unlikely to be persuaded by any messenger, large swaths of the public are still receptive to expert guidance, but federal health agencies, particularly the CDC, may be squandering their credibility with this population. (Owens, 1/10)

The New York Times: Disruption, Dismay, Dissent: Americans Grapple With Omicron 
With infection rates mounting, the Omicron variant has ushered in a new and disorienting phase of the pandemic, leaving Americans frustrated and dismayed that the basic elements they thought they understood about the coronavirus are shifting faster than ever. (Bosman, 1/9)

USA Today: United States Is Now Averaging More Than 700K New COVID Cases Per Day
The U.S. is now averaging more than 700,000 new coronavirus cases per day, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. The country reported about 4.91 million cases in the week ending Saturday. That's more cases in seven days than in April, May, June and July 2021 combined. At the latest pace, eight Americans are testing positive every second. Each of the last five days ranks in the top five of the entire pandemic for highest case counts. "I would not be surprised at all if we go over a million cases per day," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, told News 4 New York in an interview Saturday. For perspective, at one point in June the U.S. average daily caseload over a week was just above 11,000. (Bacon and Thornton, 1/9)

The New York Times: Early Data Hints At Omicron’s Potential Toll Across America
The extremely transmissible Omicron variant is spreading quickly across the United States, making up a vast majority of U.S. cases after becoming dominant in the week before Christmas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that it is still too soon to predict the full impact Omicron could have on deaths and illness across the country. But data in some of the earliest-hit cities is beginning to show what the future could hold. (Leatherby and Lutz, 1/9)

USA Today: COVID Hospitalizations Of Kids Under 4 Increasing: Omicron Updates
Hospitalization rates among the youngest children are reaching their highest levels yet as the omicron variant spreads and babies and toddlers remain ineligible to be vaccinated, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday. Although hospitalization rates among the youngest children remain lower compared to many older Americans, data from the CDC indicate 4.3 per 100,000 children 4 years old and younger were hospitalized in the week ending Jan. 1. Children ages 5 to 17 had a hospitalization rate of 1.1, while adults ages 18 to 49 had a rate of 4.2. The rate among people 65 and older was 14.7 per 100,000, according to the CDC data. (Tebor, Thornton, Weintraub and Miller, 1/7)

Texas Tribune: Omicron Is On Track To Shatter Texas' COVID-19 Hospitalization Records
Pandemic forecasters in Texas say the state’s current surge of omicron infections and hospitalizations is likely to get much worse before it gets better, with hospitalizations expected to continue climbing for at least three weeks if social behaviors don’t change and slow the trend. Across the nation, hospitalizations are already on the verge of breaking new pandemic records. In Texas on Thursday, according to state data, about 9,200 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 — far short of the record 14,218 hospitalizations from Jan. 11, 2021. (Brooks Harper and Astudillo, 1/9)

The Boston Globe: As Mass. COVID Hospitalization Numbers Surge Over Last Winter’s, Health Care Leaders Urge Public To Get Vaccinated, Boosted
With Massachusetts hospitalization rates now climbing higher than last winter, four leaders of hospitals and health systems say their workers have done their part — and now it’s time for the public to do its part by getting vaccinated, boosted, and wearing masks. “We are here for you and your families, whether you have been vaccinated or not. We will do our part; we ask that you do yours,” they said in a Globe op-ed. The state reported Thursday that 2,524 patients with COVID-19 were in the hospital. That exceeds the peak during last winter’s deadly surge of 2,428 on Jan. 4, 2021. (Fatima, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Sets New Daily Record With 45,000 Coronavirus Cases
Los Angeles County reached another daily record of coronavirus cases as health officials on Sunday reported more than 45,000 new infections. The county recorded 45,584 new cases amid the surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to figures released by the county’s Department of Public Health. The department also reported 13 new deaths, bringing the county’s total number of deaths to 27,785 since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Vega, 1/9)

Fox News: Almost Half Of Reported NY COVID-19 Hospitalizations Are Not Due To COVID-19
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released data Friday breaking down COVID-19 hospitalizations by those who were admitted due to the virus and those who were admitted for other reasons but were found to have the illness. Included in the data was a chart showing "how many hospitalized individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 were admitted for COVID-19/COVID-19 complications and how many were admitted for non-COVID-19 conditions." According to the provided statistics, in approximately 43% of hospital admissions "COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission." (Nerozzi, 1/7)

AP: Kansas Hospital Runs Out Of Ventilators As Virus Cases Soar
A hospital in eastern Kansas ran out of ventilators Friday as the state continued to report a surge in COVID-19 cases. The Lyons County Board declared a local emergency Friday after the Newman Regional Health hospital in Emporia ran short of ventilators. The Kansas City Star reports that the emergency declaration will help the hospital receive two additional ventilators from the state’s Emergency Operations Center. (1/9)

The Atlantic: Omicron Isn't Mild For Hospitals
When a health-care system crumbles, this is what it looks like. Much of what’s wrong happens invisibly. At first, there’s just a lot of waiting. Emergency rooms get so full that “you’ll wait hours and hours, and you may not be able to get surgery when you need it,” Megan Ranney, an emergency physician in Rhode Island, told me. When patients are seen, they might not get the tests they need, because technicians or necessary chemicals are in short supply. Then delay becomes absence. The little acts of compassion that make hospital stays tolerable disappear. Next go the acts of necessity that make stays survivable. Nurses might be so swamped that they can’t check whether a patient has their pain medications or if a ventilator is working correctly. People who would’ve been fine will get sicker. Eventually, people who would have lived will die. This is not conjecture; it is happening now, across the United States. “It’s not a dramatic Armageddon; it happens inch by inch,” Anand Swaminathan, an emergency physician in New Jersey, told me. (Wong, 1/7)

CBS News: COVID-19 Symptoms And The Omicron Variant: What The Latest Studies Show
Doctors studying Omicron's spread around the world have found new clues to the pattern of symptoms caused by the highly-mutated COVID-19 variant, which a growing number of reports suggest might show up differently and faster compared to the Delta variant it is now displacing. ... A sore throat ranked among the most common early Omicron symptoms, as well as congestion, a dry cough and lower back pain. The incubation period — the time from infection to symptoms appearing — was as short as three days. That's several days faster than previous strains of the virus. (Tin, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: More COVID-19 Boosters Would Significantly Cut Hospitalizations, Deaths, Study Shows
Increasing access to COVID-19 booster shots would make a big dent in hospitalizations and unnecessary deaths, new research shows. Tripling the pace of booster vaccination from 770,000 doses per day to 2.3 million could reduce the expected number of COVID-19 hospitalizations by more than 35% and deaths by nearly 30% through April, according to new data from the Commonwealth Fund. While hospital admissions are expected to peak at approximately 30,000 per day near the end of January, tripling booster vaccination would reduce the peak to 21,000 and significantly reduce the duration of the surge, the study found. (Kacik, 1/7)

CIDRAP: Severe Outcomes Rare After Two COVID Vaccine Doses
Two COVID-19 vaccine studies published today respectively identify risk factors for severe outcomes among adults given two doses and describe cancer patients' antibody response to two or three doses. Severe COVID-19 was defined as hospitalization for acute respiratory failure, the need for noninvasive ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission (including those needing invasive mechanical ventilation), or death (including release to hospice). (Van Beusekom, 1/7)

Stateline: Most States Are Wary Of Mandating COVID Shots For Kids
Every state requires children to receive an array of vaccinations before they enroll in school. Typically, those inoculations are for protection against polio, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, rubella, mumps, tetanus, meningitis and chickenpox. Even though COVID-19 has claimed around 830,000 lives in the United States, including fewer than 700 children, only two states—California and Louisiana—have added COVID-19 vaccines to the list of immunizations mandated for schoolchildren. Both requirements would be enforced next school year, and then only if the vaccines receive full authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has granted emergency authorization and asserted that the vaccines are safe and effective for children. (Ollove, 1/7)

The Washington Post: U.S. Sends States Monoclonal Antibodies That May Not Work Against Omicron 
The federal government has resumed shipping all three monoclonal antibody treatments authorized for early-stage covid-19 to states despite evidence that two might be ineffective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus that is sweeping the country. The move has drawn mixed reactions from physicians and experts. Some are concerned many of the costly infusions will be useless, causing confusion among patients who have heard glowing reports about the treatments. (Bernstein, McGinley and Shepherd, 1/9)

Stat: A Tiny Florida Company Got More Of A Scarce Covid Therapy Than Some Big Hospitals, Raising Equity Questions 
The Covid-19 treatments came as a surprise, care of the Florida Department of Health: six big, mysterious boxes that showed up at Nicholas Suite’s iCare Mobile Medicine clinic near Miami on the morning of Dec. 24. “We were wondering, what’s this? Who sent us presents? Did Santa land on the roof?” he said. “Then we opened it up and thought, ‘This is Evusheld! My goodness!'” To some infectious disease doctors, that shipment has worrisome implications. When they looked at a government database, they saw that Suite’s tiny private company had gotten more of the federal supply of this scarce therapy than some of Florida’s major hospitals. In fact, iCare Mobile received enough for 264 courses — the most the health department sent to any of the state’s providers in its first shipment of Evusheld. (Boodman, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Proposes $2.7 Billion To Expand COVID Response Efforts
California would spend $2.7 billion on new efforts to respond to the surge in COVID-19 cases, including additional testing capacity and assistance to hospitals, under a budget proposal Gov. Gavin Newsom will send to state lawmakers next week. Newsom will also ask legislators to help craft new COVID sick pay rules for Californians, modeled after the policy that expired last fall, requiring businesses with 26 or more workers to offer up to two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave for employees to care for themselves or a family member. (Myers, 1/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Officials Warn Against Price Gouging Of Home Coronavirus Test Kits
With coronavirus tests nearly impossible to find in the Bay Area — and San Francisco health officials saying they will limit testing early this week because of “challenges beyond our control” — California officials are now warning against price gouging for at-home test kits. California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a consumer alert Saturday about sellers charging exorbitant prices for over-the-counter rapid tests, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order over the weekend limiting sellers’ markups. Unauthorized test sites also are becoming a concern, San Francisco health officials warned. (Flores, 1/9)

Politico: DeSantis Defends Allowing Stockpiled Covid Tests To Expire
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday defended his administration’s decision to allow up to one million Covid-19 rapid test kits to expire, a move that comes as he is facing increasing criticism from Democrats over his handling of the Omicron surge. Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie admitted during a Thursday press conference that the tests expired, and DeSantis on Friday sought to explain why the state didn’t distribute them. DeSantis has argued that the stockpile resulted from a lack of demand in the later part of 2021 and blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for not granting extensions to keep the tests eligible — something it did in September for three months. (Dixon, 1/7)

ABC News: The Government Is Sending Free Rapid Tests, But Don’t Expect Them All Before Omicron's Peak
The Biden administration's plan to send 500 million at-home tests to Americans for free is an historic undertaking, but one that will take weeks or months to fully execute, recently released contracts and interviews with seven test manufacturers suggest. Contracts for the first two batches of tests were announced on Friday, one for 13.3 million kits from a health technology company and another for an undisclosed amount from a distribution company in Virginia that had extras on hand -- all to be distributed in an effort to reduce the massive testing shortage in the U.S. (Haslett and Abdelmalek, 1/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Labs Limit Covid-19 Test Access As Demand Soars
Escalating demand for Covid-19 tests is prompting some laboratories to ration access, giving priority to people with symptoms or other health concerns as the Omicron variant quickly spreads. Triaging who is eligible for Covid-19 tests can help ensure that patients who need a test the most get results fast enough to isolate or get treatment, pathologists and public-health experts say. The strategy, however, risks perpetuating the virus’s spread if some people get turned away from testing altogether. (Abbott, 1/9)

The Washington Post: Rapid Tests Are Crucial Despite Reduced Sensitivity To Omicron, Experts Say
At-home rapid coronavirus tests remain the “bedrock of our long-term strategy for managing this virus,” said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health — even in the face of new research that suggests they may be less effective at identifying illness caused by the omicron variant. The antigen tests, commonly referred to as rapid or at-home tests, “remain a very, very effective tool,” Jha said on ABC’s “This Week.” He noted that “in the first day of symptoms” with omicron, “it does look like the test is a little less sensitive,” but beyond that, “these antigen tests continue to work really effectively.” (Pietsch and Hassan, 1/10)

The Wall Street Journal: How Reliable Are Covid-19 Rapid Tests For Detecting Omicron? 
The good news: Rapid antigen tests can definitely detect Omicron. The bad news: Some research indicates that rapid tests may be less sensitive to Omicron than they are to other variants. That means the tests might be yielding more false negatives, especially in the early days of infection. And preliminary data from one small study suggests that people could be contagious before they get a positive result on a rapid test. (Reddy, 1/9)

USA Today: COVID At-Home Tests Are Meant For Nasal Passages, Not Throat: Experts
Early data suggests virus particles from COVID variants – including omicron – may appear in the throat before reaching nasal passages where test swabs are done. And federal regulators warn the rapid tests in general may not be as effective detecting the new variant. To make sure they don't miss an infection, some have opted to add a swab to the back of their throat as well as their nose. But federal agencies and health experts urge that at-home tests be used as directed and to not add a throat swab – for now. Throat swabbing may be called for in the future, experts say, but the tests currently authorized in the U.S. weren’t manufactured to detect virus in a person’s throat and could deliver false results. (Rodriguez, 1/8)

AP: NY Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Recovering After Positive COVID Test 
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19 and “is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” her office said in a statement Sunday evening. The Democratic congresswoman’s office said Ocasio-Cortez received a booster shot last fall, adding that she “encourages everyone to get their booster” and follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1/10)

The Hill: Rep. Jim Cooper Becomes Latest Lawmaker To Test COVID-19 Positive
Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper (D) announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19, making him at least the third lawmaker of the weekend to announce a breakthrough case of the virus. "This morning I tested positive for COVID-19," Cooper, 67, said in a tweet on Saturday. "Thankfully I only have mild symptoms because I have been vaccinated and received my booster. Everyone should be vaccinated and boosted as soon as they’re able. It’s the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones." (Choi, 1/9)

AP: US Rep Casten Of Illinois Tests Positive For COVID-19 
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois has tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19, according to his office. The suburban Chicago Democrat’s office released a statement Saturday saying Casten was fully vaccinated and had received a booster vaccine dose. He described his symptoms as “mild” and said was in isolation. (1/9)

Politico: Lightfoot Says Teachers Union 'Abandoned Their Posts,' Remains 'Hopeful' Deal Can Be Reached 
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued her bruising attacks against the city's teachers union, but said she remains "hopeful" a deal can be reached on Sunday to get children back into their classrooms. The teachers union for the nation's third-largest school district voted last week to shutter classes in a Covid-related labor dispute. (Wolan, 1/9)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County To Keep 11 Schools Virtual This Week; Will Give All Students KN95 Masks 
Montgomery County Public Schools announced Sunday that 11 schools with a spike in coronavirus cases will remain virtual this week and return to in-person classes Jan. 18. They also say they will give all students in the county KN95 masks in an effort to limit coronavirus transmission in schools. (Klein and St. George, 1/9)

AP: Stay Home Or Work Sick? Omicron Poses A Conundrum 
As the raging omicron variant of COVID-19 infects workers across the nation, millions of those whose jobs don’t provide paid sick days are having to choose between their health and their paycheck. While many companies instituted more robust sick leave policies at the beginning of the pandemic, some of those have since been scaled back with the rollout of the vaccines, even though omicron has managed to evade the shots. Meanwhile, the current labor shortage is adding to the pressure of workers having to decide whether to show up to their job sick if they can’t afford to stay home. (D'Innocenzio and Durbin, 1/9)

AP: Arizona Provider OKs Virus-Positive Hospital Workers 
A major health care provider in Arizona will allow employees who are experiencing mild COVID-19 symptoms or are asymptomatic to keep working at its hospitals and facilities. Because of the omicron variant’s rapid spread in Maricopa County and in anticipation of a continued increase, Dignity Health officials said they have enacted the “third tier” of the federal guidelines for health care workers with the coronavirus. (1/9)

Bay Area News Group: Pharmacists Face Pandemic Burnout, Too
“Most pharmacists who’ve been in the field for a while, have been telling students ‘just stop, don’t go to pharmacy school, do something else, anything else,’” one clinical pharmacist in Boston said. “I’m hoping that the people who are going into pharmacy school are doing it because they truly have a passion for it and will fight for it and want to do nothing else with their lives.” This pharmacist, who asked to remain anonymous for job security, said she’s faced challenges unique to the COVID era, including staffing shortages due to COVID outages and people leaving the industry. She’s even been asked to come into work while caring for her COVID-positive child, she said. (Sokolow, 1/9)

The Wall Street Journal: When You’re Burned Out At Your Job, But It’s Also Your Calling 
Erine Cressell worked as a hospital nurse for 15 years, with dreams of finishing an advanced degree and treating patients with addiction issues in her corner of Appalachia. That was before the pandemic. Beginning in 2020, she spent most of her days diverted to her hospital’s emergency room, tending to people who would have been admitted to the floors above, if only there was enough staff there to care for them. After her 12-hour shifts, she sometimes would sit on a curb in the hospital parking lot and cry. Then she would drive 45 minutes to her home in Glen Lyn, Va., and do her second job—which was supposed to be her only job—compiling data for the hospital’s quality department. Sneak in a little sleep, and repeat. (Feintzeig, 1/10)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Clinicians To Strike For Paid Holiday
Psychologists, social workers and therapists employed at Kaiser Permanente's Oakland and Richmond, California, clinics will go on strike for a day to protest Martin Luther King Jr. Day not being a paid holiday. The strike is set to take place Monday, Jan. 17, outside Kaiser Permanente's Oakland Medical Center and corporate headquarters in downtown Oakland. Around 200 workers plan to march alongside allies and elected officials. The strike is the latest move by Kaiser Permanente employees to address issues of structural racism within the organization, said Ixayanne Baez, a marriage and family therapist at Kaiser Permanente's Oakland clinic. (Devereaux, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Maryland Health Workers, Lawmakers Want Answers As Problems Persist A Month After Cyberattack
State health workers still often can’t use computers, access shared drives and get to important data a month after a cyberattack crippled Maryland’s health department, the head of a union representing agency employees said Friday. They’ve received little information about what’s going on and are preparing for the possibility that their systems could remain impaired for some time. (Thompson, Wiggins and Cox, 1/8)

Stat: CMS Decision On Aduhelm Could Shock State Medicaid Programs
Shortly after the controversial Biogen drug for Alzheimer’s was approved in the U.S. last year, a pair of state Medicaid directors tried to ring alarm bells. In a terse letter, they implored the Biden administration to ensure Medicare covers the medicine, despite limited effectiveness and a $56,000 price tag. Their reasoning was simple: If Medicare reacted to the highly questionable approval by withholding or restricting coverage, Medicaid would be left holding the proverbial bag, because by law it must cover drugs endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration. And if that happened, they warned, Medicaid would have a big money problem. (Silverman, 1/10)

Stat: For Digital Diabetes Care, Is More Data Always Better? 
Digital behavioral health programs are making a bold pitch to payers, employers, and patients themselves: Shell out upfront for our virtual coaching and remote monitoring, and we’ll save you money by avoiding costly complications from diabetes and other diseases in the long run. For diabetes, which nearly tops the list of chronic health conditions by cost, many virtual programs are promoting continuous glucose monitoring as part of that promise. “We just started to see that with CGMs, it’s a foregone conclusion that they’re going to be the dominant solution,” said Sean Duffy, co-founder and CEO of digital care company Omada Health. The devices, which stream users’ blood glucose data throughout the day, are most commonly used by people who need multiple daily doses of insulin to manage their diabetes, but “this isn’t just for people who inject insulin,” said Duffy. “We decided that it was going to be table stakes and Omada needed to power CGM and coaching in a really deep way.” (Palmer, 1/10)

The Washington Post: ADA Knowledge Lacking Among Many Physicians 
The Americans With Disabilities Act has been in force for more than three decades. But do doctors understand their legal obligations under the law — and are they doing all they can to accommodate patients with disabilities? In a word: No. That’s the message of a study in Health Affairs that points to significant knowledge gaps among the providers — and suggests that nearly three-quarters of outpatient physicians don’t understand how to accommodate their patients’ disabilities. (Blakemore, 1/9)

CNN: South Dakota Places Further Restrictions On Medication Abortions 
Women in South Dakota who are seeking a medication abortion will face additional restrictions later this month after state lawmakers approved a new rule from the state's health department. Current state law allows for the medical abortion process to begin 72 hours "after the physician physically and personally meets with the pregnant mother," except in medical emergencies, and usually only required one more visit to a licensed facility to receive the necessary drugs for the process. But on Thursday, state lawmakers on a rules review committee approved the South Dakota Department of Health's rule requiring that women receive both drugs used in a medication abortion -- mifepristone and misoprostol -- in person at a licensed abortion facility. (Stracqualursi, 1/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: With Sexually Transmitted Infections Soaring, California Pushes At-Home Tests
California has become the first state to require health insurance plans to cover at-home tests for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, chlamydia and syphilis — which could help quell the STI epidemic that has raged nearly unchecked as public health departments have focused on COVID-19. The rule, part of a broader law addressing the STI epidemic, took effect Jan. 1 for people with state-regulated private insurance plans and will kick in sometime later for the millions of low-income Californians enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. (Bluth, 1/9)

The Washington Post: People Who Have Cataracts Removed Are 30 Percent Less Likely To Develop Dementia 
Older people who have cataracts removed may be gaining more than better vision. Research published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that they are nearly 30 percent less likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, than are people with cataracts who do not have the surgery. (Searing, 1/9)

CNN: Exercise Boosts Protein That Protects The Brain Against Dementia, Study Finds 
Exercise is good for you. Breaking a sweat has been shown to improve nearly every organ in the body, fight nearly every disease doctors diagnose and improve nearly every health condition that you might live with on a daily basis. It gets even better. A new study finds exercise boosts levels of a protein known to strengthen communication between brain cells via synapses, which may be a key factor in keeping dementia at bay. (LaMotte, 1/10)

Fox News: Omicron, Delta Have Fused Into New 'Deltacron' Strain, Cyprus Professor Finds
A new strain of the coronavirus appears to be a genetic fusion of currently known omicron and delta variants, a researcher claims. The so-called "deltacron" strain pairs omicron genetic signatures with delta variant genomes, says Leondios Kostrikis, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, according to CNBC. While 25 cases of the uniquely recognizable strain have been found, Kostrikis predicted it will not last against the globally dominant omicron variant. (Richard, 1/8)

Bloomberg: U.S. Agrees To Restrict Troops To Base After Japan Outbreaks
The U.S. agreed to limit military personnel’s movements off base in Japan, after regional governors blamed American troops for helping to introduce the omicron variant of Covid. For two weeks starting Monday, U.S. Forces Japan personnel will only be allowed outside military facilities for activities deemed essential, the two sides announced in a statement late Sunday. The U.S. said it had also required mask-wearing for all personnel when outside of their homes and would maintain pre-departure and post-arrival testing requirements. (Reynolds, 1/9)

The Washington Post: Threat Of Omicron Keeps China Walled Off, As Scientists Search For More-Effective Coronavirus Vaccines
A year ago, Chinese health experts had hoped the country could safely reopen to the world by now, as it attained herd immunity against the coronavirus. China achieved last month the herculean goal of vaccinating more than 80 percent of its 1.4 billion people with two doses. But far from reopening, the country has returned to its harshest controls in two years, as it seeks to contain the highly contagious omicron variant. (Dou and Li, 1/10)

The New York Times: Novak Djokovic Can Remain In Australia, Judge Rules 
Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis star, moved one step closer to competing for his record 21st Grand Slam title after an Australian judge ordered his release from immigration detention on Monday, ending a five-day saga over his refusal to be vaccinated for Covid-19. (Cave and Futterman, 1/9)

AP: U.K. Gov't Advisers Recommend Against 4th Vaccine Dose
U.K. government advisers have recommended against giving a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and people over 80 because data shows that a third shot offers lasting protection against admission to the hospital. For people over 65, protection against hospitalization remains at about 90% three months after the third dose, according to data compiled by the U.K. Health Security Agency. (Kirka, 1/8)

Bloomberg: Singapore Data Show Moderna, Pfizer Vaccines Have Lowest Covid Deaths
Singapore saw the fewest deaths among those administered with a Moderna Inc. shot and the most among those who received Sinovac Biontech Ltd.’s vaccine, as the city-state’s highly inoculated population provides a glimpse into how different immunizations are holding up in the real world. Of the 802 people who died from Covid-19 last year in the city-state, 555 or about 70% weren’t fully vaccinated, health minister Ong Ye Kung told the parliament Monday, showing the life-saving impact of inoculation. Singapore found 11 deaths per 100,000 among people who received Sinovac shots and 7.8 deaths among those with Sinopharm. This number fell to 6.2 deaths for those with mRNA shots from Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and 1 fatality in those who were administered the vaccines from Moderna. (De Wei, 1/10)

The Washington Post: Colombian Woman Dies By Euthanasia After Historic Legal Fight
A 51-year-old Colombian woman died by euthanasia on Saturday after a historic legal battle to exercise the right in this majority-Catholic country. The case of Martha Sepúlveda drew international attention last year when she planned to become the first person in Colombia without a terminal prognosis to die by legally authorized euthanasia. But less than two days before she planned to die in October, a medical committee determined she no longer met the conditions and canceled the procedure. A judge eventually cleared the way for Sepúlveda to move forward. (Schmidt and Duran, 1/8)

Stat: Pharma Donations To Patient Groups In Canada Are Shrouded In Mystery
Donation data reported on websites by drug makers and patient advocacy groups in Canada that receive industry funding is “haphazard, inconsistent and incomplete,” underscoring the difficulties in deciphering the influence these companies may have on patient interests, a new analysis finds. Specifically, information about the value of donations made by drug companies, the years in which contributions were given, and the percent of income the money represented for patient groups was limited. Consequently, donations made and received often could not be matched, according to the analysis in the International Journal of Health Policy and Management. (Silverman, 1/7)