First Edition: Jan. 8, 2021

KHN: Biden’s First Order Of Business May Be To Undo Trump’s Policies, But It Won’t Be Easy 
The party split in Congress is so slim that, even with Democrats technically in the majority, passing major health care legislation will be extremely difficult. So speculation about President-elect Joe Biden’s health agenda has focused on the things he can accomplish using executive authority. Although there is a long list of things he could do, even longer is the list of things he is being urged to undo — actions taken by President Donald Trump. While Trump was not able to make good on his highest-profile health-related promises from his 2016 campaign — including repealing the Affordable Care Act and broadly lowering prescription drug prices — his administration did make substantial changes to the nation’s health care system using executive branch authority. And many of those changes are anathema to Democrats, particularly those aimed at hobbling the ACA. (Rovner, 1/8)

KHN: Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing Is A ‘Last Resort’ In Communities Besieged By Covid
The contact tracers of Washtenaw County in Michigan have been deluged with work and, to cope, the overburdened health department has a new tactic: It is asking residents who test positive for covid-19 to do their own contact tracing. Washtenaw is a county of nearly 350,000 residents who live in and around the city of Ann Arbor, about 45 minutes from Detroit. Until mid-October, a county team of 15 contact tracers was managing the workload. But by Thanksgiving, more than 1,000 residents were testing positive for the coronavirus every week, and the tracers could not keep pace. (Dahlberg, 1/8)

KHN: As The Vulnerable Wait, Some Political Leaders’ Spouses Get Covid Vaccines
With supplies of covid-19 vaccines scarce, a federal advisory panel recommends first putting shots into the arms of health care workers, who keep the nation’s medical system running, and long-term care residents most likely to die from the coronavirus. Nowhere on the list of prioritized recipients are public officials’ spouses. (Ungar, 1/8)

KHN: KHN On The Air This Week
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal discussed issues with the U.S. rollout of the covid-19 vaccines with NPR’s “Weekend Edition” and MSNBC’s “The Week With Joshua Johnson” on Jan. 3. KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed covid’s impact on current politics with WAMU’s “1A” on Dec. 31, and more. (1/8)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Georgia Turns The Senate Blue 
Surprise Democratic victories in Georgia’s two runoff elections this week will give Democrats control of the Senate, which means they will be in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2010. Although the narrow majorities in the House and Senate will likely not allow Democrats to pass major expansions to health programs, it will make it easier to do things such as pass fixes for the Affordable Care Act. (1/7)

CNN: US Sees Five Deadliest Days Since Covid-19 Pandemic's Start In Last Two Weeks
In just less than two weeks, the US recorded its five deadliest days since the Covid-19 pandemic's start -- with more than 4,000 virus-related deaths reported Thursday. The nation's total Covid-19 death toll has now climbed to more than 365,300, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And another nearly 115,000 people could lose their life over the next four weeks, according to projections from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (Maxouris, 1/8)

AP: US Registering Highest Deaths Yet From The Coronavirus
The virus is surging in several states, with California hit particularly hard, reporting on Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths. ... Meanwhile, the number of Americans who have gotten their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine climbed to at least 5.9 million Thursday, a one-day gain of about 600,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Johnson and Pane, 1/8)

The Washington Post: U.S. Reports More Than 4,000 Deaths In Deadliest Day Of Pandemic 
The United States on Thursday shattered records for the number of coronavirus-related deaths on a single day, topping 4,000 fatalities for the first time. Experts worry that the new, more contagious strain of the virus that has already been detected in eight states could make matters worse. “We are in a race against time,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Washington Post. “We need to increase our speed in which we act so that we don’t allow this virus to spread further and allow this variant to become the dominant one in circulation. The clock is ticking.” (Noori Farzan, 1/8)

CNN: Los Angeles County Covid-19 Deaths In A Day Equal City's Homicide Deaths In A Year, Mayor Says 
The number of people dying of Covid-19 in Los Angeles County in a day is now equivalent to the number of homicide deaths the city saw in an entire year, Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a Thursday news conference. "Yesterday we had 259 deaths, that's one more than all the homicides in 2019 in L.A. city combined," he said. "In a single day, equal to a year of homicides." (Moon and Maxouris, 1/8)

AP: With Nearly 20,000 New Cases, Florida Breaks One-Day Record
Florida broke its record for the highest single-day number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, tallying 19,816 new cases on Thursday, while the state’s death toll reached 22,400. Statistics from the Florida Department of Health on Thursday showed the totals surpassed the previous single-day record, which was 17,783 cases on Wednesday. Since the pandemic started in March, about 1.4 million people in Florida have contracted COVID. As of 3 p.m. Thursday, 7,331 people in the state were hospitalized with the virus. (Farrington and Lush, 1/7)

The New York Times: ‘Things Will Get Worse,’ Fauci Warns, As U.S. Hits A New Daily Death Record 
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, predicted on Thursday that the daily death toll from the coronavirus would continue to rise for weeks to come, and counseled patience with the vaccination program gearing up across the nation. In an interview with NPR, Dr. Fauci said the high toll was likely to continue, and was probably a reflection of increased travel and gatherings over the holidays. “We believe things will get worse as we get into January,” he said. He stressed that it was still possible to “blunt that acceleration” by strictly adhering to public health measures like social distancing and mask wearing. (1/8)

The New York Times: A Riot Amid A Pandemic: Did The Virus, Too, Storm The Capitol? 
The mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday did not just threaten the heart of American democracy. To scientists who watched dismayed as the scenes unfolded on television, the throngs of unmasked intruders who wandered through hallways and into private offices may also have transformed the riot into a super-spreader event. ... “It has all the elements of what we warn people about,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “People yelling and screaming, chanting, exerting themselves — all of those things provide opportunity for the virus to spread, and this virus takes those opportunities.” (Mandavilli, 1/7)

The Washington Post: People Without Symptoms Spread Virus In More Than Half Of Cases, CDC Model Finds 
People with no symptoms transmit more than half of all cases of the novel coronavirus, according to a model developed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their findings reinforce the importance of following the agency’s guidelines: Regardless of whether you feel ill, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay socially distant and get a coronavirus test. That advice has been a constant refrain in a pandemic responsible for more than 350,000 deaths in the United States. (Guarino, 1/7)

The Washington Post: U.S. Sets Covid-19 Death Record As Researchers Point To Asymptomatic Cases 
As the United States marked another grim milestone Thursday with more than 4,000 covid-19 deaths reported in a single day, federal disease trackers said research suggests that people without symptoms transmit more than half of all cases of the novel coronavirus. The findings, which came from a model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demonstrate the importance of following the agency’s guidelines about wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, officials said. The emergence of a more contagious variant of the virus, first detected in the United Kingdom and discovered in eight U.S. states by Thursday, places the federal agency’s conclusion about how the virus is spreading in even starker relief. (Shammas and Guarino, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Counties Where Colleges Held In-Person Classes Saw Dramatic Rise In Infections, CDC Finds
Over the summer, debates over whether to resume in-person classes during the fall semester raged at colleges and universities across the country. Now, new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the decision to bring students back to classrooms at large universities was correlated with a sharp increase in coronavirus infections in the surrounding county, while caseloads declined when administrators opted for remote learning. The study, published Friday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report, has some limitations, most notably that it focuses exclusively on the country’s largest institutions of higher learning. (Noori Farzan, 1/8)

CIDRAP: In-Person Classes, Greek Life Tied To College COVID Outbreaks 
Two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report track COVID-19 spread on US college campuses, one showing that 101 counties with large universities offering in-person instruction saw a 56% jump in coronavirus cases after classes began, the other finding that 91% of gatherings at an Arkansas university were tied to fraternity and sorority activities. ... In contrast, counties with institutions that featured in-person instruction observed a 56.2% increase, while those without large colleges or universities witnessed a 5.9% decline in new cases. (Van Beusekom, 1/7)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: CDC Study: COVID-19 Leapt In Counties Where Colleges Held In-Person Classes
Residents of university towns including Athens have been wary of claims that campuses can bring thousands of students back for in-person classes without escalating the spread of COVID-19 in the surrounding area. Turns out that skepticism may be justified. A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released today found counties with large universities experienced a 56% increase in COVID-19 when the campuses opened with in-person instruction. Conversely, counties with major universities that opened with remote learning showed a 17.9% decrease in incidences of COVID-19. (Downey, 1/7)

Wisconsin Public Radio: CDC: UW Antigen Tests Missed Nearly 59 Percent Of COVID-19 Cases Among Asymptomatic Individuals 
Rapid COVID-19 tests used at nearly all University of Wisconsin System campuses missed 20 percent of positive cases among those showing symptoms, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For asymptomatic individuals, the tests missed nearly 59 percent of positives. In August, a month before the start of the 2020 fall semester, UW System Interim President Tommy Thompson announced the purchase of 350,000 COVID-19 antigen testing kits that would be used to screen students living in dormitories at all campuses except UW-Madison every other week. Quidel's antigen test, called the Sofia, wasn't designed for surveillance. Documentation provided by the company states they're intended to test people "within the first five days of the onset of symptoms." (Kremer, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Post-Infection Coronavirus Immunity Usually Robust After 8 Months, Study Shows 
The human body typically retains a robust immune response to the coronavirus for at least eight months after an infection, and potentially much longer, researchers said in a study published in the journal Science. About 90 percent of the patients studied showed lingering, stable immunity, the study found. ... The review of blood samples from nearly 200 patients also saw that multiple elements of the immune system — not just antibodies — continued to be effective at recognizing and responding to the virus. The human body appears to retain a memory of the invader and is poised to generate a coordinated counterattack of antibodies and killer T cells quickly if exposed again. (Achenbach, 1/7)

New York Post: COVID-19 Patients Still Immune Eight Months After Infection: Study
COVID-19 patients who have recovered still have significant immunity up to eight months after infection — a promising sign that there is lasting protection from the deadly illness, according to a new study. The paper, published Wednesday in the journal Science, analyzed blood samples from 188 patients mostly from San Diego who had contracted the virus. “There was a lot of concern originally that this virus might not induce much memory. Instead, the immune memory looks quite good,” co-author Shane Crotty, a researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, told MIT Technology Review. (Salo, 1/7)

FierceHealthcare: AHA Presses For Changes To COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout And For HHS To Take Larger Role
The American Hospital Association is imploring the Trump administration to make several moves aimed at improving the disparate rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which in some cases has overwhelmed facilities. The association sent a letter Thursday to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar calling for more transparency and support for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine doses. The letter comes as frustrations are boiling over in hospitals that are shouldering both the rollout and massive surges of the virus. (King, 1/7)

Politico: 8 Democratic Governors Demand HHS Release More Vaccine Doses 
The Democratic governors of eight states — including California, New York and Michigan — are demanding that federal health officials release doses of Covid-19 vaccines currently being held back to ensure people who got their first dose can get their second. The federal government has held back doses equal to the amount it has shipped out, to ensure that everyone who is vaccinated completes the recommended two-shot sequence. But with a new, likely more transmissible coronavirus strain now circulating, public health experts have urged state and federal authorities to pick up the pace of vaccination. (Lim, 1/7)

CNN: Feds Overpromised And Underdelivered On Coronavirus Vaccines, State Health Officials Say 
The federal government "overpromised and underdelivered" on coronavirus vaccine expectations, leaving states understaffed and without enough money to immunize their residents quickly, state health officials said Thursday. (Thomas and Langmaid, 1/7)

Axios: Why Some Experts Want To Relax Vaccine Prioritization 
Some political leaders and public health experts are rethinking strict prioritization for coronavirus vaccines, suggesting that it might make more sense to simply try to administer as many doses as possible as quickly as possible. Why it matters: Especially while supplies are still limited, there's an inherent tension between trying to focus first on the people most at risk from the virus — including those most likely to spread it — and getting shots into arms at maximum speed. (Owens, 1/8)

NPR: Fauci: U.S. Needs More Time To 'Catch Up' On Vaccine Rollout
Dr. Anthony Fauci — head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, who will be President-elect Joe Biden's chief medical adviser — said Thursday that the initial rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has been slow because it came during the holiday period. "I think it would be fair to just observe what happens in the next couple of weeks. If we don't catch up on what the original goal was, then we really need to make some changes about what we're doing," he said in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition. (King, 1/7)

NPR: Why West Virginia's Push To Vaccinate Against COVID-19 Is Ahead Of Other States
Nearly two weeks before most states started vaccinating anyone, pharmacist Gretchen Garofoli went to a long-term care facility in Morgantown, W.Va., on Dec. 15 and administered one of the first COVID-19 vaccinations in the state. "Psychologically, yes, it was a beacon of hope," she says. So far, West Virginia is outpacing the rest of the country. Having delivered vaccine to health workers and completed a first round of shots at all its long-term care facilities, the state is now administering second doses and moving on to other populations, including people age 80 and over, and teachers who are 50 and older. (Noguchi, 1/7)

AP: Pfizer Study Suggests Vaccine Works Against Virus Variant
Most of the vaccines being rolled out around the world train the body to recognize that spike protein and fight it. Pfizer teamed with researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for laboratory tests to see if the mutation affected its vaccine’s ability to do so. They used blood samples from 20 people who received the vaccine, made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, during a large study of the shots. Antibodies from those vaccine recipients successfully fended off the virus in lab dishes, according to the study posted late Thursday on an online site for researchers. (Neergaard, 1/8)

Reuters: Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Appears Effective Against Mutation In New Coronavirus Variants -Study 
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus discovered in the UK and South Africa, according to a laboratory study conducted by the U.S. drugmaker. The not-yet peer reviewed study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch indicated the vaccine was effective in neutralizing virus with the so-called N501Y mutation of the spike protein. (Erman, 1/7)

Axios: Fauci Says COVID Variants Threaten Some Treatments More Than Vaccines
The COVID-19 variants first detected in the U.K. and South Africa and now circulating globally aren't a current threat to the effectiveness of the first vaccines, but mutations will be closely monitored because "they could be an issue," NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios. (Drage O'Reilly, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Treatments: Arthritis Drugs Reduced Deaths, ICU Time In Study
The U.K. will start using a Roche Holding AG arthritis drug to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients after a study showed that it reduced mortality and shortened recovery times in intensive care. Some 27% of critically ill patients who got the Roche arthritis drug Actemra or a similar treatment from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. died in the hospital, compared with about 36% of those who didn’t get them, an Imperial College London research team said. Those treated with the medicines were able to be released from the hospital an average of a week earlier, the study found. (Kresge, 1/7)

The Guardian: Arthritis Drugs Could Help Save Lives Of Covid Patients, Research Finds
Two drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis could help to save the lives of one in 12 intensive care patients with severe Covid, researchers have found. The NHS will begin using tocilizumab to treat coronavirus patients from Friday, health officials said after results from about 800 patients confirmed the drug brings benefits, potentially cutting the relative risk of death by 24%. Another arthritis drug, sarilumab, appears to do the same, not only saving lives but cutting the length of time patients spent in intensive care. (Davis, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Brigham President Stepping Down After Moderna Controversy
The president of Brigham Health will step down March 1 after more than a decade in the role following criticism over a perceived conflict of interest with Moderna. Dr. Elizabeth "Betsy" Nabel resigned from the drugmaker's board in July shortly after Brigham announced its flagship Brigham and Women's Hospital was a clinical research site in the phase 3 trial for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. Nabel didn't cite the kerfuffle in an email to colleagues explaining her upcoming departure. Instead, she wrote that she had only intended to occupy the role for a decade—which she hit in January 2020—and later extended that to the end of calendar 2020. (Bannow, 1/7)

The New York Times: The Events Of The Last Two Days Have Changed Biden’s Presidency In Profound And Unpredictable Ways.
The events of the last 48 hours — Tuesday’s Democratic takeover of the Senate and Wednesday’s mob violence at the Capitol by President Trump supporters — fundamentally altered the trajectory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency two weeks before his hand touches the bible. ... What does this mean in the short term? For starters, it is likely to diminish (but not eliminate) opposition to Mr. Biden’s cabinet picks, although big fights loom. (Thrush, 1/8)

FierceHealthcare: The Dems Just Flipped The Senate. Here Are 3 Health Policies Biden Could Now Get Passed—And One He Won't
While Democrats will have a majority, it would be a narrow 50-50 majority with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking any ties, leaving the margin of error very slim. However, Democrats could use a parliamentary procedure called reconciliation that lets them bypass a legislative filibuster for budgetary bills and pass certain pieces of legislation via a simple majority. Here are three health policy areas where Democrats could have legislative success—as well as one in which experts say that is unlikely. (King, 1/6)

Roll Call: Democrats Aim To Move Health Care Agenda Despite Slim Majorities
The outlook for Democrats’ health care priorities was boosted by the party’s two final Senate victories in Georgia this week, yet exactly what the party may accomplish remains to be seen. President-elect Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday that “the bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill passed in December was just a down payment,” signaling that another pandemic response bill is on tap. (McIntire and Clason, 1/7)

The New York Times: With Democrats In Control, Biden Moves To Advance Agenda 
The president-elect and his team are setting higher expectations for a legislative agenda now that his party controls Congress. Efforts like expansion of the Affordable Care Act and an ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws are more likely than they were with the Senate in Republican control. Several immigration advocacy groups issued statements urging Mr. Biden to quickly put the Democratic gains to use. ... The first big test of Mr. Biden’s congressional efforts is likely to be another coronavirus relief bill that provides more stimulus for the economy, additional aid to individuals and businesses, and extra funding for vaccine distribution and other pandemic responses. (Tankersley and Shear, 1/7)

FierceHealthcare: ACA's Coverage Gains Decreased Income Inequality: Study
Coverage gains made and subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act reduced income inequality by more than 10% in 2019, according to a new study from the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank. The study, backed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and published in Health Affairs, found that for a typical person in the bottom 10th percentile of income, those who enrolled in a plan under the ACA saw their incomes increase by an average of 18.8%. (Minemyer, 1/7)

FierceHealthcare: How COVID-19 Is Changing The Way HR Professionals Think About Employee Benefits 
COVID-19 is changing the way human resources professionals view employee benefits, a new survey shows. Artemis Health, a data analytics company, polled 300 benefits leaders at firms with more than 5,000 employees and found that 78% reported employee health and well-being became a significantly higher priority over the course of 2020. (Minemyer, 1/7)

The New York Times: Unemployment Claims Show Continuing Pressure On Job Market 
New claims for unemployment benefits remained high last week, the government reported on Thursday, the latest evidence that the pandemic-racked economy still has a lot of lost ground to make up in the new year. The labor market has improved since the coronavirus pandemic first pummeled the economy. But of the more than 22 million jobs that disappeared in the spring, 10 million remain lost. (Cohen, 1/7)

CNBC: Millions Of Stimulus Debit Cards Will Be Mailed Out Starting This Week
The Treasury Department announced Thursday that approximately 8 million second stimulus payments will be mailed out starting this week in the form of prepaid debit cards. The debit cards, called Economic Impact Payment (EIP) cards, are issued by MetaBank, N.A., and will arrive in a white envelope that “prominently displays the U.S. Department of the Treasury seal.” (Adamczyk, 1/7)

Politico: HHS Working To Replace Potentially Faulty Covid Tests Used By Congress 
The federal health department is working to provide alternative Covid testing for Congress after the Food and Drug Administration warned the test lawmakers have relied on is prone to false results, HHS testing czar Brett Giroir said Thursday. Accurate coronavirus testing for the House and Senate took on even greater importance Wednesday after waves of maskless pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol building and forced lawmakers, staff and reporters to shelter in close quarters for hours. Several Democrats have said that some GOP members did not adequately adhere to mask wearing. (Lim, 1/7)

AP: California Bypasses Tough Nurse Care Rules Amid COVID Surge
Overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in the nation’s most populous state, nurses already stretched thin are now caring for more patients than typically allowed under state law after the state began issuing waivers that allow hospitals to temporarily bypass a strict nurse-to-patient ratios law — a move they say is pushing them to the brink of burnout and affecting patient care. California is the only state in the country to require by law specific number of nurses to patients in every hospital unit. It requires hospitals to provide one nurse for every two patients in intensive care and one nurse for every four patients in emergency rooms, for example. Those ratios, nurses say, have helped reduce errors and protect the safety of patients and nurses. (Rodriguez, 1/8)

CIDRAP: Study: Mental Health Of Minorities Especially Affected During Pandemic
The results of a UK mental health survey conducted before and after the start of the pandemic found that British minorities were more impacted by the pandemic, but all citizens reported an increase in mental distress, according to a study yesterday in PLOS One. The study was based on answers to the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and authors compared responses from participants between 2017 and 2019 to responses from the same participants in April 2020, during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom. Participants were asked to rate their mental distress on a scale from 0 to 36. (1/7)

AP: Identical Twins Aren't Perfect Clones, Research Shows
If you’re an identical twin who’s always resisted being called a clone of your sibling, scientists say you have a point. Identical twins are not exactly genetically the same, new research shows. Scientists in Iceland sequenced DNA from 387 pairs of identical twins — those derived from a single fertilized egg — as well as from their parents, children and spouses. That allowed them to find “early mutations that separate identical twins,” said Kari Stefansson, a geneticist at the University of Iceland and the company deCODE genetics, and co-author of the paper published Thursday in the journal Nature Genetics. (Larson, 1/7)

CIDRAP: Study Links Fluoroquinolones To Higher Risk Of Aneurysm 
The results of a large observational study suggest fluoroquinolone antibiotics are associated with an increased short-term risk of aortic aneurysm. The study, published yesterday in JAMA Surgery, found that aortic aneurysm incidence within 90 days of filling a fluoroquinolone prescription was 20% higher in adults 35 and over compared with other antibiotics. In particular, there was a 31% higher incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm and a 61% higher incidence of iliac artery aneurysm after fluoroquinolone use. (Dall, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Expansion Has Saved Hospitals $6.4M, Study Shows
Hospitals in Medicaid expansion states have saved an average of $6.4 million on uncompensated care since the policies took effect, with safety-net hospitals pocketing even more savings, according to a new study published in Health Affairs. Researchers from the Urban Institute on Tuesday reported that uncompensated care comprised 6% of total expenses for hospitals located in non-expansion states in 2017, double the amount for those located in states that had expanded the program. (Tepper, 1/7)

Stat: Sarepta Gene Therapy For Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Stumbles
Sarepta Therapeutics on Thursday announced mixed results from the first randomized clinical trial of its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, raising questions about the path forward for the one-time, potentially curative treatment. A single infusion of the treatment, called SRP-9001, produced large increases in a crucial muscle protein typically missing in children born with Duchenne. But the increases failed to coincide with statistically significant improvements in muscle function for all patients after one year. (Feuerstein, 1/7)

FierceHealthcare: CVS Taps Veteran Marketing Exec To Serve As First Chief Customer Officer 
CVS Health has created a new role in its C-suite: chief customer officer. The healthcare giant has tapped Michelle Peluso, a seasoned marketing and sales executive, to serve in the position. As chief customer officer, Peluso will be spearheading the company's plans to "transform" its customer experience and its push for more digital health solutions. (Minemyer, 1/6)

FierceHealthcare: Northwell Health Researchers Using Facebook Data And AI To Spot Early Stages Of Severe Psychiatric Illness
Feinstein Institutes and IBM researchers studied archives of people in an early treatment program to extract meaning from the data to gain an understanding of how people with mental illness use social media. ... The study analyzed Facebook data for the 18 months prior to help predict a patient’s diagnosis or hospitalization a year in advance. (Horowitz, 1/6)

Stat: Serial Biotech Entrepreneur John Hood Targets Deadly Lung Disease
John Hood is at it again. In 2016, Hood started a company, Impact BioMedicines, around a medicine that had been abandoned by the drug giant Sanofi. Impact raised $22 million in October 2017, and then was purchased in January 2018 by Celgene for more than $2 billion. (Herper, 1/7)

Boston Globe: With Biotech Funding At ‘All-Time High,’ Scorpion Scoops Up $162 Million
Just over two months after announcing its debut with $108 million in funding, Boston startup Scorpion Therapeutics said Thursday it has raised an even larger amount of venture capital. Scorpion, which focuses on “precision medicine” for cancer, said it has completed a $162 million funding round, bringing the biotech’s total venture haul to about $270 million. (Anissa Gardizy, 1/7)

FierceHealthcare: There Were Plenty Of Red Flags That Spelled The Demise Of Amazon, JPMorgan Healthcare Venture, Experts Say
Haven’s problem may have been internal issues and execution gaps, complicated by the competing interests of its major shareholders, according to Paddy Padmanabhan, founder and CEO of advisory firm Damo Consulting. "It isn’t easy to simply ‘disrupt’ healthcare by throwing tech and dollars at the problem. I believe a combination of market-driven change and policy action at the federal government level will transform healthcare eventually. This is already happening, as we have seen with the rapid rise in telehealth adoption during the pandemic," he said. (Landi, 1/6)

The Guardian: Covid Billionaires Should Help Starving People, Says Charity Boss
Billionaires whose wealth has soared during the coronavirus pandemic should stump up to provide emergency aid to the record numbers of people facing starvation, the head of a US charity supporting the World Food Programme has said. The pandemic and ensuing economic crisis have contributed to a sharp rise in the number of people on the brink of starvation around the world. The WFP, the UN agency that provides emergency relief, was needed by 138 million people last year, up from about 100 million in 2019. (Harvey, 1/8)

The Washington Post: Home-Fitness Gear Surges During Pandemic 
Health and fitness equipment revenue more than doubled, to $2.3 billion, from March to October, according to NPD retail data. Sales of treadmills soared 135 percent while those of stationary bikes nearly tripled, depleting inventories. (Shaban, 1/7)

The Guardian: Europe At Tipping Point With Covid Running Rampant, Says WHO 
Europe is at a tipping point in the course of the pandemic, the World Health Organization has said, warning that the coronavirus is spreading very fast across the continent and the arrival of a new variant has created an “alarming situation”. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s Europe director, said that while the arrival of vaccines offered “new tools” to fight the virus, almost half the 53 countries in the region were reporting a seven-day incidence rate of more than 150 new cases per 100,000 people, while a quarter had recorded a more than 10% surge in cases over the past week. (Henley, 1/7)

The Hill: Brazilian Health Officials: Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Is 78 Percent Effective 
A COVID-19 vaccine developed by a Chinese company is effective, Brazilian officials said Thursday, announcing results of a large clinical trial. Brazil’s Butantan Institute tested the vaccine in more than 12,000 health workers in phase three trials and found it was 78 percent effective at preventing illness. The vaccine prevented all workers from developing mild or serious illness from COVID-19. (Hellmann, 1/7)

CNBC: Israel’s Covid Vaccine Rollout Is The Fastest In The World — Here Are Some Lessons For The Rest Of Us
While the U.S., U.K. and Europe attempt to ramp up their own Covid vaccination drives, one country is outpacing them all: Israel. ... It has raced ahead of other countries that have also started their vaccination rollouts. To date, and with a new lockdown in place amid a surge in coronavirus cases, around 1.59 million people in Israel (of a population of 8.6 million) have received their first vaccine shot, according to Our World in Data. (Ellyatt, 1/8)

AP: Kenya Says 1st AstraZeneca Vaccine Doses To Come Next Month
Kenya’s health minister says the country is expected to start receiving 24 million doses next month of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, as countries in sub-Saharan Africa begin to announce progress in obtaining the desperately needed vaccines. (Odula, 1/7)

The New York Times: One 18-Hour Flight, Four Coronavirus Infections 
After an 18-hour flight from Dubai landed in Auckland, New Zealand, in September, local health authorities discovered evidence of an outbreak that most likely occurred during the trip. Using seat maps and genetic analysis, the new study determined that one passenger initiated a chain of infection that spread to four others en route. (Carey, 1/7)

Reuters: South Korea Unveils Inflatable Isolation Ward For COVID-19 Patients 
South Korean researchers say they have designed an inflatable “negative pressure” ward for isolating and treating patients with infectious diseases like COVID-19, after the pandemic exposed shortages of such beds around the world. The rooms use a ventilation system that creates negative pressure to allow air to flow into the isolation room and be channeled out safely, helping prevent the spread of airborne pathogens. (Cha, 1/8)