First Edition: July 16, 2021

KHN: Hospital ‘Trauma Centers’ Charge Enormous Fees To Treat Minor Injuries And Send People Home 
The care was ordinary. A hospital in Modesto, California, treated a 30-year-old man for shoulder and back pain after a car accident. He went home in less than three hours. The bill was extraordinary. Sutter Health Memorial Medical Center charged $44,914 including an $8,928 “trauma alert” fee, billed for summoning the hospital’s top surgical specialists and usually associated with the most severely injured patients. The case, buried in the records of a 2017 trial, is a rare example of a courtroom challenge to something billing consultants say is increasingly common at U.S. hospitals. (Hancock, 7/16)

KHN: Fútbol, Flags And Fun: Getting Creative To Reach Unvaccinated Latinos In Colorado 
Horns blared and drums pounded a constant beat as fans of the Mexican national soccer team gathered recently at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver for a high-profile international tournament. But the sounds were muted inside a mobile medical RV parked near the stadium, and the tone was professional. During halftime of Mexico’s game against the U.S., soccer fan Oscar Felipe Sanchez rolled up his sleeve to receive the one-dose covid-19 vaccine. (Daley, 7/16)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Here Comes Reconciliation
The expansion of health benefits is a major piece of the tentative budget deal reached this week by Democrats in Congress. They plan to press ahead — without Republican support — on a bill that could expand Medicare, extend the generous premium subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and provide options for people with low incomes who have been shut out of coverage in states that didn’t expand Medicaid. It could be paid for, at least in part, by changes aimed at reducing prescription drug prices. But that assumes Democrats can reach an agreement on the details, because the bill cannot pass without every Democrat in the Senate and nearly every Democrat in the House. (7/15)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Will Require Masks Indoors Amid COVID-19 Surge
Starting Saturday night, residents will again be required to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status. The latest order not only puts the county further at odds with both the California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — both of which continue to maintain that vaccinated people need not cover their faces indoors — but puts officials in the precarious position of asking the inoculated to forfeit one of the benefits recently enjoyed. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, the county’s health officer. (Money, Lin II and Hernandez, 7/15)

Los Angeles Daily News: Pandemic-Weary LA County Crestfallen Over News Of Masks’ Return, Mere Weeks After Restrictions Eased
Disappointment. It was in the air on Thursday; July 15, as medical leaders lamented the the reluctance of so many Los Angeles County residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, stalling the onset of the much-coveted herd immunity. It was on the lips of business owners– just starting to see the fruits of returning foot traffic after the human and economic toll of the pandemic — worried what renewed mask-wearing indoors would mean to their clientele. (Carter, 7/15)

Los Angeles Times: Be Wary Of Travel To Nevada, Florida Amid COVID Surge, L.A. County Health Officer Says
The Los Angeles County health officer has suggested that residents reconsider travel to states with the nation’s worst rates of coronavirus transmission, including Nevada and Florida. “I do want to recommend — especially if you’re unvaccinated — reconsider traveling to places where the seven-day COVID-19 case rates are increasingly high, like Nevada, our neighbor, or Missouri, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana and others,” Dr. Muntu Davis said in his briefing to the county Board of Supervisors this week. (Lin II and Money, 7/15)

AP: Chicago Restarts COVID Travel Rules With Cases Up In States
Rising COVID-19 infections in other states have prompted Chicago to restart a travel order after several weeks without travel restrictions, city officials announced Tuesday. The Chicago Department of Public Health said starting Friday unvaccinated travelers from Missouri and Arkansas have to either quarantine for 10 days or have a negative COVID-19 test. (7/16)

AP: Hawaii Keeps Indoor Mask Requirement Amid COVID-19 Surge
Hawaii Gov. David Ige said Thursday he will maintain a requirement that people wear masks indoors as the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant fuels a spike in cases. Ige told a news conference the number of new cases in Hawaii has exceeded 100 during three of the last five days. That contrasts to the past couple of months when the seven-day average of new hovered around 50. (7/16)

Reuters: White House Slams Facebook As Conduit For COVID-19 Misinformation 
Facebook is not doing enough to stop the spread of false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday, part of a new administration pushback on misinformation in the United States. Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, needs to work harder to remove inaccurate vaccine information from its platform, Psaki said. (7/15)

The Washington Examiner: Surgeon General Calls On Tech Platforms To Counter COVID-19 Misinformation
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on Thursday about health misinformation focused heavily on misinformation regarding the coronavirus pandemic. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, health misinformation has led people to resist wearing masks in high-risk settings. It's led them to turn down proven treatments and to choose not to get vaccinated. This has led to avoidable illnesses and deaths," Murthy told reporters Thursday. (Hogberg, 7/15)

The Washington Post: Four Pinocchios For Ron Johnson’s Campaign Of Vaccine Misinformation 
Johnson has emerged as the leading vaccine skeptic in Congress this year. For months, the senator has been peddling misinformation about coronavirus vaccines, undeterred by fact checkers, federal health agencies, medical experts and a growing body of scientific research. More cases and research studies have accumulated since our fact checks were published, but Johnson’s statements remain unsupported by science. (7/15)

The Washington Post: Vaccine Hesitancy Becomes Vaccine Hostility As Opposition To Shots Hardens 
What began as “vaccine hesitancy” has morphed into outright vaccine hostility, as conservatives increasingly attack the White House’s coronavirus message, mischaracterize its vaccination campaign and, more and more, vow to skip the shots altogether. (Diamond, Knowles and Pager, 7/15)

CBS News: More Than 600,000 White Flags Will Be Placed On The National Mall To Honor Americans Who Died From COVID-19 
More than 600,000 white flags will cover the National Mall in Washington, D.C., honoring each person who has died from COVID-19 in the United States. There have been 33,948,497 COVID-19 cases and 608,141 deaths in the U.S. The art installation, "In America: Remember," was created by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, who first placed white flags outside of the capital's RFK Stadium in October 2020. (O'Kane, 7/15)

Modern Healthcare: Key House Committee Approves $120 Billion Health Spending Bill
A spending bill that would give a 24% funding boost to HHS healthcare research, public health preparedness and workforce training programs cleared the House Appropriations Committee Thursday. HHS would get $120 billion in the bill, a significant increase compared to the the budgets approved during President Donald Trump's administration. The funding measure still must pass the House and Senate. (Hellmann, 7/15)

The Hill: Biden Hails 'Transformative' Child Tax Credit Payments
President Biden on Thursday hailed the expanded child tax credit as a “transformative” achievement that would offer needed relief for families and made the case for Congress to further extend the payments in forthcoming legislation. In remarks from the White House, Biden said the payments would spur the largest one-year decrease in child poverty in the United States and outlined how eligible families can expect to receive payments or sign up to receive them. Experts say that the tax credit could slash child poverty in half. (Chalfant, 7/15)

CBS News: Jobless Claims Dip, With 360,000 Americans Applying For Unemployment Benefits
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits reached a new pandemic low last week, demonstrating the job market's continued recovery. Some 360,000 people applied for regular jobless aid in the week ended July 10, according to the Labor Department. That's down 26,000 from the previous week and the lowest level of claims since March 14, 2020. (Ivanova, 7/15)

The Hill: CDC Advisory Panel To Consider Third COVID-19 Shot For Immunocompromised
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory panel will consider a third COVID-19 shot for immunocompromised individuals. The panel will meet on July 22 to discuss “clinical considerations for additional doses in immunocompromised individuals,” the meeting’s agenda states.  (Williams, 7/15)

CNBC: Some Portion Of The U.S. Population Will Get Booster Shots, Dr. Scott Gottlieb Says
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Thursday that Covid booster shots may become a reality for certain swaths of the population. Gottlieb made the prediction on the heels of news that a panel of expert advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to consider booster shots for immunocompromised patients. “I think the bottom line is that we’re going to be boosting some portion of the population,” Gottlieb told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.” “I think considering boosters, especially in the older, more vulnerable population, is something that we are going to have to do.” (DeCiccio, 7/15)

CNBC: Not Prudent To Deploy Vaccine Boosters At This Point: Ex-FDA Director
There isn’t enough evidence right now to show that booster shots for Covid vaccines are needed, according to a former FDA director. “Being prepared to make boosters is a good thing, but we really don’t have … evidence, at least in the United States, where we’re seeing vaccine failures or we’re seeing waning in immunity, such that it’s time to deploy a booster,” said Norman Baylor, who was previously with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s office of vaccines research and review. (Ng, 7/15)

The New York Times: After A Steep Plunge In Virus Cases, Every State Is Seeing An Uptick
The number of new coronavirus cases is increasing in every state, setting off a growing sense of concern from health officials who are warning that the pandemic in the United States is far from over, even though the national outlook is far better than during previous upticks. The 160 million people across the country who are fully vaccinated are largely protected from the virus, including the highly contagious Delta variant, scientists say. In the Upper Midwest, the Northeast and on the West Coast — including in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco — coronavirus infections remain relatively low. (Smith and Bosman, 7/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Officials Sound Alarm On Rising Cases In Black, Latino Communities As Delta Variant Spreads
As the more contagious delta variant continues driving up COVID-19 infections among the unvaccinated, San Francisco officials Thursday pleaded anew for residents to get their shots — particularly Black and Latino residents who officials said are more than twice as likely to contract COVID compared to the citywide population. The highly infectious delta variant of the virus will lead to at least 250 more deaths, with most being African American and Latino, Mayor London Breed said at a news conference in the Bayview neighborhood. (Ho, 7/15)

The Washington Post: Covid Cases Are On The Rise In The D.C. Region. Experts Say Several Factors Are To Blame. 
New coronavirus cases are slowly increasing in Virginia, Maryland and the District, and public health experts say the rise is being fueled by three factors: relaxed restrictions on gatherings and mask mandates, persistent pockets of unvaccinated people and a rise in the highly contagious delta variant. Experts say it is too soon to tell if the increase represents a temporary blip from July Fourth parties and vacations, or the start of a lasting trend as the pandemic stretches into its 17th month. (Portnoy, Wiggins and Fadulu, 7/15)

CNN: New York Yankees: Game Vs Red Sox Postponed After 6 Players Have Tested Positive For Covid-19, GM Says 
Six players on the New York Yankees have tested positive for Covid-19, general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Thursday, in the second instance this year of breakthrough cases occurring among some members of the baseball team. "We have three positives, and we have three pending that we've had rapid tests on," Cashman said, saying the three positive rapid tests are being confirmed with additional lab work. (Martin and Caldwell, 7/16)

The New York Times: Yankees’ Shutdown Emphasizes Staying Power of the Coronavirus
The Yankees have reached the 85 percent vaccination rate M.L.B. requires to operate under relaxed Covid protocols, but General Manager Brian Cashman said the team had again experienced breakthrough cases, two months after an outbreak of nine cases, mostly within the coaching staff. ... The Red Sox are one of seven M.L.B. teams that have not reached the 85 percent vaccination threshold. Another one of those teams, the Philadelphia Phillies, put four players on the Covid-19 injured list before Sunday’s game in Boston, but that game was played. This one was postponed, the league said, to allow for continued testing and contact tracing. (Kepner, 7/15)

AP: AP Source: 4 NFL Teams Remain Under 50% Vaccinated
Four NFL teams remain under 50% vaccinated less than two weeks from the start of training camp, a person familiar with the vaccination rates told The Associated Press. Washington, Indianapolis, Arizona and the Los Angeles Chargers had the four lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the league as of Thursday, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, because the league hasn’t released the numbers. (Maaddi, 7/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Zoo Plans To Vaccinate At-Risk Animals Against COVID-19
Gorillas, otters, aye-ayes, and more will soon be joining the ranks of those vaccinated against COVID-19. The Philadelphia Zoo is gearing up to vaccinate its highest-risk animals with an experimental vaccine developed by Zoetis, a former subsidiary of Pfizer that develops drugs for animals. While animals are not a major concern for spreading the virus to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they may still get infected. Cases have been reported in some big cats and gorillas at zoos, household pets, and farmed minks, motivating zoos nationwide to help their animals build up immune defenses. (Nathan, 7/16)

AP: Maine To Try To Drive Up Vaccine Rate With Airport Clinic
Maine health officials are hopeful a new COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the largest airport in the state will help drive up immunization rates. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is working with Portland International Jetport on the new clinic, which will be open to travelers and residents. The clinic, which does not require appointments, began on Tuesday and is operating seven days per week. (7/16)

AP: Pharmacist Gave Out Vaccine Cards But No Shots, Order Says
A Utah pharmacist has been stripped of his license and fined after acknowledging he gave people COVID-19 vaccination cards without administering the vaccine. The pharmacist said he was giving six reluctant patients “a choice,” the Salt Lake Tribune reported from a stipulation order. (7/15)

AP: Fired Tennessee Vaccine Official Received Dog Muzzle In Mail 
Tennessee's former top vaccination official received a dog muzzle in the mail a few days before she was fired this week in what she has said was an attempt to use her as a scapegoat to appease lawmakers, a newspaper reported. “Someone wanted to send a message to tell her to stop talking,” said Brad Fiscus, the husband of Dr. Michelle Fiscus, told The Tennessean. “They thought it would be a threat to her.” (7/15)

AP: Records Reveal Tennessee's Claims For Firing Vaccine Leader
As controversy raged on over the firing of Tennessee’s vaccination leader after state lawmakers complained about efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccination among teenagers, state officials released documents Thursday that for the first time offer other reasons for her dismissal. Tennessee’s chief medical officer reasoned that the state’s now-fired vaccination leader should be removed partly due to complaints about her leadership approach and how she handled a letter about vaccination rights of minors that incensed some Republican lawmakers, state records show. (Mattise, 7/16)

ABC News: Tennessee Hospital Latest Employer To Announce COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements 
A major children's hospital in Tennessee is the latest to announce a requirement that all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19, which comes at a time when workplace mandates have sparked showdowns and lawsuits. In a memo to staff sent Wednesday afternoon, employees of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and its fundraising offshoot ALSAC, were informed of the requirement and given a Sept. 9 deadline to get vaccinated. (Thorbecke, 7/15)

The Atlantic: COVID-19’s Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought
The U.S. fell short of its goal of giving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4, but not by much. About two-thirds of everyone above the age of 18 had gotten a shot when the holiday arrived, with coverage among seniors surpassing even that benchmark. That leaves kids—mostly unvaccinated—as the Americans most exposed to the pandemic this summer, while the Delta variant spreads. It’s said that COVID-19 may soon be a disease of the young. If that’s what’s coming, then its effects on children must be better understood. (Khamsi, 7/15)

Scientific American: Kids Get 'Long COVID' Too 
As COVID-19 has ripped through communities, children have often been spared the worst of the disease’s impacts. But the spectre of long COVID developing in children is forcing researchers to reconsider the cost of the pandemic for younger people. The question is particularly relevant as the proportion of infections that are in young people rises in countries where many adults are now vaccinated—and as debates about the benefits of vaccinating children intensify. (Lewis, 7/15)

CBS News: Cases Of Respiratory Virus Surge In Young Children Amid Rare Summer Outbreak 
For 10 days, a machine at Cook Children's Medical Center in Forth Worth, Texas, has helped a 9-month-old baby breathe. At first, Kate Crowell thought her son, Bridger, was coming down with a cold. "He would have coughing bouts where he was choking," Crowell said. Bridger is among the children battling a rare summer outbreak of a virus that attacks the lungs. Parents around the country are being warned about Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, a disease that infects the lungs and breathing passages and usually occurs in the winter. (Villarreal, 7/15)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Remdesivir Study Finds Long Hospital Stay, But Context Matters 
Remdesivir, the only antiviral fully approved for COVID-19 treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was associated with a longer hospital stay yet no improvement in survival rates, according to a real-world observational study of military veterans today in JAMA Network Open. The researchers suggest that the prescribed regimen (5 or 10 days) may have led to longer hospitalizations as patients finished the treatment course, and a related commentary agrees. (McLernon, 7/15)

Scientific American: There Are Few Good COVID Antivirals, But That Could Be Changing 
In an interview with Scientific American, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he was cautiously optimistic that the new Antiviral Program for Pandemics (APP) would save lives and prevent surging hospitalizations. “It’s an ambitious program,” he said. “But if we can block the virus early on, then we can avoid the progression to advanced stages of the disease, which are so devastating to so many.” (Schmidt, 7/15)

Bloomberg: Half Of Covid Hospital Patients Develop Complication, Study Says
One in two people hospitalized with Covid-19 develop another health complication, a U.K. study showed, in the broadest look yet at what happens to those sick enough to need inpatient treatment. Though complications were most common in those over the age of 50, the study found a significant risk for younger people as well. Among 19- to 29-year-olds hospitalized with Covid, 27% experienced a further injury or attack in an organ system in the body, while 37% of 30- to 39-year-olds experienced a similar complication, the researchers said in The Lancet on Thursday. (Kresge, 7/15)

CIDRAP: Learning Disabilities Tied To Higher Risk Of COVID-19 Hospitalization, Death
Adults with learning disabilities who were diagnosed as having COVID-19 were five times more likely to be hospitalized and eight times more likely to die during England's first COVID wave, according to a study in BMJ. The researchers noted that data from the second wave (September 2020 to early February 2021) showed similar results. (7/15)

The New York Times: Covid Is Especially Risky For People With H.I.V., Large Study Finds
People living with H.I.V. are more likely to become severely ill with Covid-19 and more likely to die if hospitalized than others infected with the coronavirus, according to a large new study. Nearly half of H.I.V.-infected men older than 65 who are hospitalized for Covid-19 may die, the study found. The results, released ahead of an AIDS conference in Berlin, suggest that people with H.I.V. should be first in line for vaccines, along with older adults and others with weak immune systems, scientists said. (Mandavilli, 7/15)

Stat: Panel Votes Unanimously That Alzheimer's Drug Doesn't Offer Benefits
A prominent panel of medical experts unanimously voted that there is no evidence to suggest the recently approved Alzheimer’s drug offers patients any health benefits beyond the usual care. The meeting, which was convened to review both clinical and cost effectiveness of the new drug, is the latest blow to Biogen (BIIB) and its efforts to win acceptance amid a firestorm of controversy over study data and its dealings with the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 7/15)

AP: Pfizer, Subsidiaries Agree To Pay $345M In EpiPen Settlement
Pfizer Inc. and two of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $345 million under a proposed settlement to resolve lawsuits over EpiPen price hikes. In documents filed Thursday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, the New York-based Pfizer and its subsidiaries — Maryland-based Meridian Medical Technologies Inc. and Tennessee-based King Pharmaceuticals — asked the court to grant preliminary approval to the settlement, Kansas City’s NPR station KCUR-FM reported. (7/15)

Stat: Expert Panel Votes Down Fibrogen's Anemia Pill Due To Safety Risks
A panel of outside experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration concluded Thursday that the risks of blood clots and other safety concerns tied to Fibrogen’s anemia pill were too high to support the drug’s approval for patients with chronic kidney disease. The FDA is not required to abide by the panel’s recommendations, but the lopsided votes against the Fibrogen drug called roxadustat — backed by strong concerns about its safety in vulnerable patients — makes it all but certain the drug will not reach the market without more data from additional clinical trials. (Feuerstein, 7/15)

FiercePharma: Sprout's Female Libido Drug Addyi Back In FDA's Crosshairs Years After Controversial Approval 
Sprout Pharmaceuticals' female libido drug Addyi has traveled a winding path through FDA gatekeepers, multiple M&A deals, marketing restrictions and more. With a possible new safety flag, the controversial medicine could be set for even more scrutiny. In a rundown of potential new safety concerns on approved products, the FDA flagged the Addyi for possible risks of drug hypersensitivity. The FDA said it is "evaluating the need for regulatory action." The latest chapter in Addyi's history comes after several relatively quiet years for the drug. (Sagonowsky, 7/14)

Fierce Healthcare: Cook County Health's Workers, Nurses Return To Work Touting Contract Wins
Cook County Health staff and nurses are back to work following dual strikes at the Chicago public health system and other county facilities. The first, backed by SEIU Local 73, saw roughly 2,000 members walk off the job due to contract demands for greater pay and cheaper benefits. Many of these members were directly employed by the health system in roles such as care coordinators, medical assistants, medical technologists and food services workers. (Muoio, 7/15)

AP: 21 WVa Hospitals Receiving $258K Apiece For COVID Work
Hospitals throughout West Virginia will receive a total of $5.4 million from the federal government for COVID-19 testing and mitigation efforts. Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin announced the funds Thursday, saying each of the 21 rural hospitals will receive $258,376. The funds are distributed through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program. (7/16)

Stat: How A 3D-Printed Graft Could Speed Healing Ruptured Eardrums
In the weeks that followed the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, doctors saw a flood of patients with a common injury: a ruptured eardrum. Ruptured eardrums aren’t rare — patients with chronic ear infections or some traumatic injury often develop them. But the influx of cases made it clear to otolaryngologist Aaron Remenschneider, at the time a resident at specialty hospital Massachusetts Eye and Ear, that the standard surgical technique of using a graft to patch up the injury could use an upgrade. (Lin, 7/16)

Fox News: Coronavirus-Related Stress Likely A Factor In Record Overdose Deaths, Experts Say
Overdose deaths hit a record 93,000 amid coronavirus last year due to pandemic-driven instabilities and loss of support systems, inaccess to medical care and the increasing presence of deadly synthetic opioids, top experts in addiction suspect. "It’s a horrifically tragic loss of life, particularly considering where we have been going as a country, as a world, with so many people dying," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH told Fox News. "We have all been affected by COVID in so many ways." The provisional data released by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reflects a 29.4% increase in drug overdose deaths by December 2020, or a marked increase over the approximate 72,000 deaths recorded the year prior. (Rivas, 7/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Bruno Police Say They Arrested Woman Who Had Enough Fentanyl To Kill 65,000 People
San Bruno police arrested a Northern California woman on suspicion of possessing narcotics for sale and seized roughly 65,000 potentially fatal doses of fentanyl, a deadly opioid, police said. Police said they contacted the Anderson (Shasta County) woman — whose name was not released — shortly after 9:30 p.m. Monday in the area of El Camino Real and Kains Avenue in San Bruno. Police said they found her with more than 4.5 ounces of fentanyl, which authorities said equates to roughly 65,000 potentially lethal doses of the drug. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal. (Hernandez, 7/15)

AP: For Pregnant Women, Pandemic Made Hunt For Drug Rehab Harder
After using drugs on and off for years, Megan Sims wanted to get clean again. But she couldn’t bring herself to stop during the coronavirus pandemic, even when she discovered she was going to have a baby. She had been to rehab before but couldn’t fathom how to do it while pregnant. Sims, a 28-year-old from North Carolina, was forced to confront her heroin addiction like never before when her drug use was reported to child protective services last summer. “None of my relapses had had a consequence until this last one,” she said. (Ho and Fassett, 7/15)

USA Today: FDA Ban On Electric Shock Treatment At Massachusetts School Overturned
A Massachusetts school can continue using electric shock devices on its students with intellectual disabilities after the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on the controversial practice last week. The judges ruled 2-1 in favor of the practice that is still being used at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center in Canton, Massachusetts, and said that "the FDA lacks the statutory authority to ban a medical device for a particular use." (Vargas, 7/16)

NBC News: Western Wildfires Rage Across 12 States, U.S. At Highest Alert Level
Emblematic of the difficulties firefighters are facing across the American West, crews scrambled Thursday to quell a rapidly growing blaze in Northern California, just 10 miles from the town of Paradise, where the collective trauma of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history remains palpable nearly three years later. Since it began Wednesday morning, the Dixie Fire in Butte County has scorched more than 2,250 acres of brush and timber near the steep terrain of the Feather River Canyon, and was zero percent contained 24 hours later, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. (Ortiz and Murray, 7/15)

Reuters: Oregon Wildfire Displaces 2,000 Residents As Blazes Flare Across U.S. West
Hand crews backed by water-dropping helicopters struggled on Thursday to suppress a huge wildfire that displaced roughly 2,000 residents in southern Oregon, the largest among dozens of blazes raging across the drought-stricken western United States. The Bootleg fire has charred more than 227,000 acres (91,860 hectares) of desiccated timber and brush in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest since erupting on July 6 about 250 miles (400 km) south of Portland. (Bloom, 7/15)

The New York Times: Work Injuries Tied To Heat Are Vastly Undercounted, Study Finds 
Extreme heat causes many times more workplace injuries than official records capture, and those injuries are concentrated among the poorest workers, new research suggests, the latest evidence of how climate change worsens inequality. Hotter days don’t just mean more cases of heat stroke, but also injuries from falling, being struck by vehicles or mishandling machinery, the data show, leading to an additional 20,000 workplace injuries each year in California alone. The data suggest that heat increases workplace injuries by making it harder to concentrate. (Flavelle, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal: CVS Pulls Two Sun-Care Products After Neutrogena Sunscreen Recall 
CVS Health Corp. said Thursday it has halted sales of two sun-care products in connection with a Johnson & Johnson recall of spray-sunscreens due to the detection of a potentially cancer-causing chemical in some samples of spray-sunscreens. J&J said Wednesday it would recall most of its Neutrogena and Aveeno spray sunscreens from U.S. stores. The move came after Valisure LLC, an online pharmacy, said in May that it found high levels of benzene in 24 sunscreens and other suncare products and recommended pulling them from shelves.

The Hill: Minnesota Governor Signs Executive Order Restricting Conversion Therapy
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Thursday signed an executive order restricting conversion therapy for minors, adding it to the growing number of states taking similar action. The order says the state will not fund the practice, and it will investigate any discriminatory actions by health care providers regarding the therapy. (Scully, 7/15)

CBS News: Canada Likely To Reopen Border To Vaccinated Americans In August 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday Canada could start allowing Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus into Canada as of mid-August for non-essential travel. He said the country should be in a position to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September. (7/16)

AP: UK's Top Medic Warns Of 'Scary' COVID Numbers In Hospital
The British government’s top medical adviser has warned that the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus could reach “quite scary” levels within weeks as cases soar as a result of the more contagious delta variant and the lifting of lockdown restrictions. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty told a webinar hosted by London’s Science Museum late Thursday that the U.K. is “not out of the woods yet.” (Pylas, 7/16)

CBS News: Russia Sees COVID Cases Skyrocket As Many Refuse Vaccine, Or Lie About Getting It 
Russia is battling a deadly third wave of coronavirus infections. For days, the country has reported record numbers of daily deaths, and hospitalizations are skyrocketing thanks in part to the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant. On Thursday, Russia reported 25,293 new infections, and it set a grim new record for daily deaths with 791 confirmed fatalities. Overall, Russia has officially identified more than 5.8 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. (Ilyushina, 7/15)

AP: EU Likely To Decide On Moderna COVID Shot For Kids Next Week
A top official at the European Medicines Agency said a decision on whether to recommend that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine be authorized for children is expected late next week. If approved, it would be the first such license for the shot’s use in children globally. At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr. Marco Cavaleri, the EU drug regulator’s head of vaccines strategy, said its expert committee was currently evaluating Moderna’s application to extend the use of its coronavirus vaccine for children 12 to 17 years old. (7/15)

CBS News: Olympic Athlete And Five Other Personnel Test Positive For COVID-19
An unnamed Olympic athlete and five other personnel for the Tokyo Olympics have tested positive for COVID-19, organizers announced Thursday. The announcement comes as more athletes are arriving in Japan, and amid growing concern over the potential spread of the virus at the games — which begin in just eight days. Officials said the athlete, who is not a resident of Japan, has been placed under a 14-day quarantine period. Four local contractors and one "Games-connected personnel" also tested positive. (Powell, 7/15)