First Edition: Jan. 12, 2022

KHN: Ask KHN-PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough? The 2022 Edition
The highly transmissible omicron variant is sweeping the U.S., causing a huge spike in covid-19 cases and overwhelming many hospital systems. Besides urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted, public health officials are recommending that people upgrade from their cloth masks to higher-quality medical-grade masks. But what does this even mean? (Knight, 1/12)

KHN: Left Behind: Medicaid Patients Say Rides To Doctors Don’t Always Come 
Tranisha Rockmore and her daughter Karisma waited at an Atlanta children’s hospital in July for their ride home. Karisma had been at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to have her gastrostomy tube fixed, Rockmore said. The 4-year-old, who has several severe medical conditions, has insurance coverage from Medicaid, which provides transportation to and from nonemergency medical appointments through private vendors. After being told that a ride would not be available for hours, Rockmore said, she finally gave up and called her sister to drive them home to the South Georgia town of Ashburn, more than 160 miles away. (Grapevine and Miller, 1/12)

Stat: Medicare Plans To Restrict Access To Controversial, Pricey Alzheimer’s Drug
Medicare plans to cover the controversial, pricey Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, but only for certain patients enrolled in clinical trials, the agency announced on Tuesday. The proposed move would likely mean some patients will not be able to access the Biogen drug, which is the first Alzheimer’s treatment approved in nearly two decades. Since it got the green light this summer, doctors and scientists have raised questions about whether it actually works, government watchdogs have begun investigating whether the Food and Drug Administration followed proper procedure to approve it, and policy experts have questioned whether it is effective enough to justify its hefty price tag. (Cohrs, 1/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Limits Aduhelm Coverage To Clinical Trials
"This is unusual... but we believe it is appropriate for the Medicare population to issue this proposed decision," Tamara Syrek Jensen, director of the coverage and analysis group at the CMS Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, said in response to a reporter question on a Tuesday press call. Medicare beneficiaries participating in trials must have a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's and evidence of amyloid pathology consistent with Alzheimer's. Beneficiaries can't have other conditions that would contribute significantly to cognitive decline, medical conditions likely to increase significant adverse side effects or be expected to die during the study. (Goldman, 1/11)

Bloomberg: Cannabis Compounds Prevented Covid Infection In Laboratory Study
Cannabis compounds prevented the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells, according to a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nature Products. The two compounds commonly found in hemp -- called cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, or CBDA -- were identified during a chemical screening effort as having potential to combat coronavirus, researchers from Oregon State University said. In the study, they bound to spike proteins found on the virus and blocked a step the pathogen uses to infect people. (Matsuyama, 1/12)

The Washington Post: FDA Head Says 'Most People Are Going To Get Covid' At Hearing With Fauci 
“I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now,” said Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, “which is most people are going to get covid. ”Woodcock pitched this as being a necessary acknowledgment when it comes to charting the path forward — recognizing that the focus now needs to be on averting the worst that widespread infections could bring in the near term. (Blake, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Omicron Will Infect ‘Just About Everybody,' Fauci Says
The omicron coronavirus variant will infect “just about everybody” regardless of vaccination status, top U.S. infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci said Tuesday. But those who have been vaccinated will “very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well,” and avoid hospitalization and death, said Fauci, speaking at a virtual “fireside chat” with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Fauci also said in a Senate hearing the same day that the unvaccinated are 20 times likelier to die, 17 times likelier to be hospitalized and 10 times likelier to be infected than the vaccinated. (Jeong and Francis, 1/12)

NBC News: Fauci Says Sen. Paul's Attacks 'Kindle The Crazies' Who Have Threatened His Life
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, sparred with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at a hearing Tuesday after Paul attacked him for appearing to disagree with scientists who said the coronavirus originated in a lab in China. "What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children, with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me," Fauci said at the Senate hearing. (Finn, 1/11)

The New York Times: U.S. Officials Defend Omicron Response At Senate Hearing 
Top federal health officials on Tuesday defended the Biden administration’s efforts to protect Americans from the highly contagious Omicron variant, facing withering accusations from senators about the scarcity of coronavirus tests and confusing guidance on how soon people who test positive for the virus can return to normal life. In a nearly four-hour hearing, lawmakers charged that the administration remained woefully unable to meet the demand for at-home tests, noting that the White House would fulfill its pledge to send 500 million of them to American households for free only after the current surge had peaked. (Weiland and LaFraniere, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Omicron Surge Spreads Epidemic Of Confusion 
As Americans push into a third winter of viral discontent, this season has delivered something different: Amid the deep polarization about masks and vaccines, amid the discord over whether and how to return to pre-pandemic life, a strange unity of confusion is emerging, a common inability to decipher conflicting advice and clashing guidelines coming from government, science, health, media and other institutions. (Fisher, Spolar and Blumberg, 1/11)

NPR: U.S. COVID Hospitalizations Hit Record High
The omicron-driven surge has sent COVID-19 hospitalizations skyrocketing across the U.S., reaching a new pandemic high this week with 145,982 patients hospitalized. This exceeds the previous high recorded in January last year, according to data tracked by the Department of Health and Human Services, from more than 5,400 hospitals in the country. Patients with COVID now fill about 30% of ICU beds in the nation and pediatric COVID hospitalizations are also at the highest rate of the pandemic. (Stone and Feibel, 1/11)

AP: Omicron May Be Headed For A Rapid Drop In US And Britain 
Scientists are seeing signals that COVID-19′s alarming omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the U.S., at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically. The reason: The variant has proved so wildly contagious that it may already be running out of people to infect, just a month and a half after it was first detected in South Africa. “It’s going to come down as fast as it went up,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. (Cheng and Johnson, 1/11)

Bloomberg: NYC Covid Rates Are ‘Plateauing,’ N.Y. Governor Hochul Says
The omicron-fueled Covid surge in New York appears to be “cresting over that peak” as the rate of increase slows, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday. She said the percentage of New Yorkers that tested positive has dropped to 18.6%, from more than 22% in recent days. In New York City, Covid rates are “plateauing,” while upstate figures are tracking behind the city by a couple of weeks, Hochul said in a virus briefing. (Clukey, 1/11)

AP: Omicron Wave Prompts Media To Rethink Which Data To Report
For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic’s march across the world. But the omicron wave is making a mess of the usual statistics, forcing news organizations to rethink the way they report such figures. “It’s just a data disaster,” said Katherine Wu, staff writer who covers COVID-19 for The Atlantic magazine. (Bauder, 1/12)

AP: Idaho Officials: COVID Climbing Too Fast To Timely Track 
Idaho’s coronavirus cases are increasing faster than the state can track them, causing a lag in case counts that some public health leaders fear could lull residences into a false sense of security. Deputy state epidemiologist said during a briefing Tuesday that the backlog is happening because public health agencies can’t keep up with the flood of positive COVID-19 tests. (Boone, 1/12)

AP: Local COVID Contact Tracing Now Optional In New York 
New York will no longer require local health departments to conduct contact tracing for people who test positive for COVID-19, state health officials said Tuesday. The shift will help public health staff across New York focus on testing and vaccination, Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said. (Villeneuve, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Federal Agencies Must Test Unvaccinated Workers Weekly Starting In February, Biden Administration Says 
Federal agencies must start testing unvaccinated employees at least weekly for the coronavirus by Feb. 15, the Biden administration said in new guidance issued Tuesday. The testing, which mainly affects those exempted from President Biden’s vaccination mandate for federal workers, would be required during any week in which those employees “work onsite or interact in person with members of the public as part of their job duties,” the guidance says. (Yoder, 1/11)

AP: Arizona's Largest Lab Bolstering COVID-19 Test Operation
After a record-breaking day last week of COVID-19 tests, officials at Sonora Quest Laboratories said Tuesday that Arizona’s largest diagnostic testing lab will expand its operation and be able to take on thousands more samples. Sonora Quest went through almost 30,000 COVID-19 PCR tests on Jan. 4, the most since the pandemic began. It receives specimens from patient service centers and dozens of collection sites like drive-thru test lines, along with Banner Health facilities in six states. (Tang, 1/11)

Louisville Courier Journal: People Seeking Routine COVID Tests Clog Kentucky Emergency Rooms
Faced with rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and increasingly crowded conditions, Kentucky hospitals are asking the public to stop using emergency rooms for routine tests for the virus. "We are running into a lot of problems with patients coming into the emergency department simply for testing," Dr. Mark Spanier, medical director of the emergency department of Baptist Health Lexington, said on a press call Tuesday. "If you show up for routine testing, you'll be delaying care of other patients," he said. (Yetter, 1/11)

Miami Herald: Florida Gets OK To Use 1 Million COVID Tests That Expired 
At the Florida Capitol on Tuesday, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie ran into Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. He had news for her. The federal government has agreed to give Florida another three-month extension to use the nearly one million rapid COVID-19 test kits that expired in a state warehouse at the end of December, Guthrie said. (Wilson, 1/11)

CNN: Biden Administration Will Provide K-12 Schools With Additional 10 Million Covid-19 Tests Per Month 
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new initiatives to provide an additional 10 million Covid-19 tests per month to schools and students in an effort to keep classrooms open. The administration will distribute 5 million free rapid tests and 5 million free PCR tests to schools each month, according to an administration fact sheet. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will set up "surge" testing sites in communities with high transmission. And the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will work with the US Education Department to help connect school districts with testing providers that their states have already contracted with to set up Covid-19 testing in schools. (LeBlanc and Fossum, 1/12)

The New York Times: Why Coronavirus Testing Is Falling Short In Many Schools Across The U.S. 
In California, storms over the winter break destroyed a million coronavirus test kits that were meant to help schools screen returning students. In Seattle schools, children waited for hours for virus testing, some in a driving rain. In Florida this month, an attempt to supply tests to teachers in Broward County turned up expired kits. And in Chicago, a labor dispute, partly over testing, kept students out of school for a week. (Hubler, 1/11)

AP: Bus Driver Shortage Forces Vancouver Schools To Go Remote 
A shortage of bus drivers caused by a surge of the highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant has forced Vancouver Public Schools in southwest Washington to switch to a rotating schedule of remote instruction in its middle and high schools, making it the latest Pacific Northwest school district to suffer impacts from the pandemic’s spread. Three groups of schools will take turns doing online instruction for one week each in a rotation that starts Tuesday and goes until Jan. 27, The Columbian reported. (1/12)

AP: Short-Staffed Vegas-Area Schools 'Pause' Classes For 5 Days 
Las Vegas-area school administrators cited “extreme staffing shortages” Tuesday in an announcement telling parents there will be no school for students on Friday and Jan. 18. Clark County School District administrators said they hoped a five-day “pause” on classes through the weekend including the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday would help stop the spread of the virus “in order to continue face-to-face instruction.” (1/12)

AP: Virus Rocking New Mexico Schools Again, Santa Fe Goes Remote 
The coronavirus is catching up with New Mexico’s largest school districts once again. On Tuesday, Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Larry Chavez announced the district will return to remote, online attendance for the four-day holiday week starting on Jan. 18. (Attanasio and Lee, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Oakland Students Threaten To Strike If School District Doesn’t Meet Covid Demands 
Students from the Oakland Unified School District have threatened to strike and not attend in-person classes unless the district reverts to remote learning or complies with a list of health and testing demands that include KN95 masks for each student, more testing and expanded outdoor space for lunchtime. (Bellware, 1/11)

Politico: Chicago Mayor Tests Positive For Covid A Day After Announcing School Reopening Deal 
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday that she tested positive for Covid-19, less than 24 hours after announcing a deal to bring teachers and students back to classrooms this week during an Omicron surge. “I am experiencing cold-like symptoms but otherwise feel fine which I credit to being vaccinated and boosted,” Lightfoot said in a statement. “I will continue to work from home while following the CDC guidelines for isolation. This is an urgent reminder for folks to get vaccinated and boosted as it's the only way to beat this pandemic.” (Kapos and Perez Jr., 1/11)

AP: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice Tests Positive For COVID-19 
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, his office announced. Justice said in a statement he woke up with a cough and congestion, then developed a headache and high fever. The 70-year-old governor said he initially took a rapid test for the coronavirus, which came back negative. (Raby, 1/12)

The Washington Post: D.C. Mayor Reinstates Public Health Emergency To Aid Hospitals As Coronavirus Cases Surge 
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Tuesday imposed a public health emergency in the District until late January, an action that allows hospitals to address staffing needs and other concerns as hospitalizations rise throughout the region. (Brice-Saddler, 1/11)

Philadelphia Inquirer: N.J. Gov. Murphy Again Declares Public-Health Emergency To Prevent Measures To Combat Pandemic From Lapsing
“This step does not mean any new restrictions,” Murphy said on Twitter. “It simply allows state government to continue to respond to the ongoing threat that COVID-19 poses to our daily lives,” Murphy said. Murphy declared a public-health emergency in March 2020 and continued to renew the declarations through executive orders until June 2021, when he cited progress against the pandemic and allowed the emergency to end. Murphy and the state legislature worked out a deal for some measures to stay in place until today, when they were set to expire. (Moran, 1/11)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate Ahead Of Carnival
New Orleans officials will again require masks in stores, offices, restaurants and other indoor spaces, a move aimed at combating a record surge in COVID-19 cases as city officials prepare for the height of Carnival season next month. The mandate begins at 6 a.m. Wednesday. It requires face coverings in all indoor public spaces, and is likely to remain in place until Mardi Gras, according to New Orleans Health Department Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno, who announced the return to a widespread masking rule at a news conference Tuesday. (Myers, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Urges Residents To Postpone Nonessential Gatherings
As an unprecedented wave of coronavirus infections washes over the region, Los Angeles County health officials are urging residents to postpone nonessential gatherings and avoid some activities — especially those with people who are unmasked, unvaccinated or at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness. The ask comes just ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend. The Lunar New Year is also right around the corner on Feb. 1, and the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood is a month away. (Money and Lin II, 1/11)

Bay Area News Group: Hospitals Push Santa Clara County To Allow Exceptions To COVID Booster Mandate
Santa Clara County is backing off from its no-exceptions stance in requiring health care workers and others in high-risk settings to get booster shots after hospitals complained such a mandate would further strain staffs already under immense pressure because of the rampant omicron variant. The county decided Monday to set up a waiver process to allow unvaccinated or non-boosted workers in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, jails and other congregate places to remain in their current positions. The county announced on Dec. 28 it was not going to allow any religious or medical exemptions for the 150,000 people affected by the order. The unvaccinated among them who refused to get shots be reassigned to lower-risk settings after Jan. 24 under the older. (Greschler, 1/11)

Becker's Hospital Review: Texas Hospital Offering $20K Sign-On Bonus
Corpus Christi (Texas)-based Christus Spohn Health System is offering up to $20,000 sign-on bonuses at a nurse recruiting event Jan. 12. The event will be held at its Shoreline Hospital. The hospital is seeking dozens of nurses, ranging from new graduates to experienced nurses. The sign-on bonus amount will vary based on experience, the system said. (Carbajal, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: Bomb Threat Shuts Down Drew Medical School In South L.A.
Charles R. Drew University closed its campus Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat, officials said. The medical campus of the historically Black college and university in Willowbrook received a bomb threat early Sunday that led to the campus’ closure. The Times obtained a copy of the threat sent from an individual who identified as a white, male, neo-Nazi fascist who alleges to have planted three titanium nitrite sulfuric bombs around the eastern and northern parts of campus. The bombs were allegedly going to detonate around 1 p.m. Sunday. (Evans, 1/11)

USA Today: United Flight Cuts: CEO Says 3,000 Employees Have COVID
United Airlines and other airlines continue to grapple with employee sick calls due to the latest COVID-19 surge and that means one thing for travelers: more flight cancellations. United CEO Scott Kirby told employees in a memo Tuesday that the airline is reducing an unspecified number of flights in the near term to "make sure we have the staffing and resources to take care of our customers." JetBlue and Alaska have already announced proactive flight cuts due to an unprecedented number of sick calls. (Gilbertson, 1/11)

NBC News: Law Enforcement Fatalities Spiked In 2021. Covid-19 Was The Leading Cause Of Death
The number of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty across the U.S. last year totaled 458, a 55 percent increase from 2020, the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund said in a report released Tuesday.Covid-19 was the leading cause of death, having killed 301 federal, state, tribal and local officers, the report said. (Stelloh, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Pfizer Plans To Produce Omicron-Specific Coronavirus Vaccine, Up To 100 Million Doses As Early As March
Pfizer is racing ahead with plans to manufacture 50 million to 100 million doses of a new omicron-specific version of its coronavirus vaccine, a reflection of rising concerns that current vaccine formulations may need to be tweaked for the new threat. Pfizer also is testing hybrid combinations of vaccine to target multiple coronavirus forms, as well as larger doses. (Rowland, 1/11)

AP: Universal Health Care Bill Advances In California Assembly 
California Democrats on Tuesday took their first step toward abolishing the private health insurance market in the nation’s most populous state and replacing it with a government-run plan that they promised would never deny anyone the care they need. But the proposal that cleared a legislative committee in the state Assembly is still a long way from becoming law. It faces strong opposition from powerful business interests who say it would cost too much. And even if it does become law, voters would have to approve a massive income tax increase to pay for it — a vote that might not happen until 2024. (Beam, 1/12)

CBS News: U.S. Navy Promises To Fix The Hawaii Water Contamination Crisis
House lawmakers on Tuesday criticized the Navy for its initial response to the fuel leak in Hawaii that has contaminated the tap water for thousands of families. "The Navy caused this problem, we own it, and we are going to fix it," Rear Admiral Brendan Converse, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in his opening statement at a virtual hearing in front of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. The Navy started receiving reports of discolored water that smelled like diesel fuel and of families with symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, headaches, and eye and skin irritation. A fuel leak from the Navy's Red Hill underground fuel storage facility is suspected to have spread to a water well serving thousands. (Watson, 1/11)

AP: EPA Moves To Crack Down On Dangerous Coal Ash Storage Ponds 
The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. Plants in four states will have to close the coal ash ponds months or years ahead of schedule, the EPA said Tuesday, citing deficiencies with groundwater monitoring, cleanup or other problems. (Daly, 1/12)

The Washington Post: New York And Philadelphia Fires Underscore Safety Challenge Posed By Aging Buildings 
When Chris Jelenewicz learned that at least 17 people had been killed in a fire at a high-rise apartment building in the Bronx on Sunday, his reaction was one of angry disbelief. Jelenewicz is the chief engineer at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. “It’s inconceivable to me that it’s 2022 already and we have a building” where so many can perish in such a fire, he said. (Slater, 1/11)

AP: Year Later, Flint Water Criminal Cases Move Slowly In Court
A year after unprecedented charges against a former Michigan governor, the Flint water prosecution of Rick Snyder and eight others is moving slowly, bogged down by disputes over millions of documents and even whether some cases were filed in the proper court. Snyder, a Republican, is charged with willful neglect of duty arising from decisions to switch Flint’s water supply to the Flint River in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce the corrosive effect on aging urban pipes. Lead contaminated the system, a disastrous result in the majority Black community. (White, 1/12)

AP: Montana Psych Hospital Failed To Properly Investigate Death 
Employees at Montana’s state psychiatric hospital failed to properly investigate the death of a patient who was reportedly told to go back to her room “and stop being dramatic,” after she told staff she was having trouble catching her breath, a federal report said. Investigators with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs has inadequate staffing, resulting in a lack of patient supervision that led to 113 reported falls on one unit of the hospital from June 2021 through mid-September 2021. (1/11)

The Hill: Delaware AG Sues Town Over Ordinance Requiring Cremation Or Burial Of Fetal Remains
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings (D) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the city of Seaford over an ordinance scheduled to go into effect later this month that would require anyone who has an abortion or experiences a miscarriage to pay for the fetus to be interred or cremated. “It brings me no joy to sue one of our own cities,” Jennings said in a statement. (Choi, 1/11)

Beacon: Poll: Four In Five Mainers Are Worried About Affording Health Care 
A new survey finds that 63% of adult Mainers had difficulty affording health care in the last year and an even more, 80%, reported feeling “worried” or “very worried” about affording their health care in the future. The fear Mainers have about inadequate health coverage, amid the third winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrates that state and federal policymakers urgently need to act, the health care advocates who commissioned the poll said. ... The poll, released Monday, was commissioned by Altarum’s Healthcare Value Hub in partnership with Consumers for Affordable Health Care in Maine. (Neumann, 1/11)

Fox News: Autoimmune Disease Spike Blamed On Western Diet, Scientists Say
A rise in the prevalence of autoimmune diseases around the world can be blamed on Western-style diets, scientists say. In a Sunday interview, James Lee and Carola Vinuesa of London’s Francis Crick Institute said they are working to pinpoint the precise causes of autoimmune disease. "Numbers of autoimmune cases began to increase about 40 years ago in the west," Lee told the Guardian's Observer. "However, we are now seeing some emerge in countries that never had such diseases before." (Musto, 1/11)

USA Today: Olive Oil May Lower Death Risks Including From Alzheimer's Disease
The health benefits of olive oil have long been touted – olive oil is packed with healthy fats, nutrients and antioxidants – and it's a vital ingredient of the Mediterranean diet. This new research, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggests the potential of including olive oil in your diet. The study, led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, studied the health and diet of 60,582 women and 31,801 men in the U.S. from 1990 to 2018. During the 28 years studied, those who said they consumed more than a half tablespoon of olive oil daily had 19% lower risk of all causes of death, as well as 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to those who rarely or never had olive oil. (Snider, 1/11)

Bloomberg: Repeat Covid Booster Shots Risk Overloading Immune System, EU Regulators Warn
European Union regulators warned that frequent Covid-19 booster shots could adversely affect the immune system and may not be feasible.  Repeat booster doses every four months could eventually weaken the immune system and tire out people, according to the European Medicines Agency. Instead, countries should leave more time between booster programs and tie them to the onset of the cold season in each hemisphere, following the blueprint set out by influenza vaccination strategies, the agency said. (Anghel, 1/11)