First Edition: July 26, 2021

KHN: The Pandemic Made Telemedicine An Instant Hit. Patients And Providers Feel The Growing Pains. 
Crystal Joseph pays for two telemedicine video services to ensure that her small therapy practice in Silver Spring, Maryland, can always connect with its clients. She’s been burned before. During one hours-long service outage of SimplePractice in late May, PsycYourMind, which offers mental health counseling and group sessions for Black patients, lost about $600 because of missed appointments. Livid, Joseph requested a small credit from the telemedicine service, which costs $432 monthly for her team of clinicians and trainees. SimplePractice refused, she said. (Norman, 7/26)

KHN: Watch: More Long Covid Cases Seen In Kids
The vast majority of the pandemic’s 4.1 million covid infections in children have been mild. However, doctors are concerned about a growing number of long-haul covid cases and a rare but dangerous inflammatory disease, particularly among Black and Latino children. KHN correspondent Sarah Varney, in collaboration with PBS NewsHour, reports on the phenomena. This story aired on July 23, 2021. (Varney, 7/26)

KHN: As Holdout Missouri Joins Nation In Monitoring Opioid Prescriptions, Experts Worry 
Kathi Arbini said she felt elated when Missouri finally caught up to the other 49 states and approved a statewide prescription drug monitoring program this June in an attempt to curb opioid addiction. The hairstylist turned activist estimated she made 75 two-hour trips in the past decade from her home in Fenton, a St. Louis suburb, to the state capital, Jefferson City, to convince Republican lawmakers that monitoring how doctors and pharmacists prescribe and dispense controlled substances could help save people like her son, Kevin Mullane. (Berger, 7/26)

KHN: Journalists Dig In On Delta Variant Risks And Opioid Overdose Deaths 
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber discussed outbreaks caused by the covid-19 delta variant in Missouri and elsewhere on Newsy on Thursday. ... KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed opioids and the rise in overdose deaths on Newsy’s “Morning Rush” on July 16. (7/24)

CNN: Fauci: 'We're Going In The Wrong Direction' On Covid-19 Cases 
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the US is "going in the wrong direction" as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise, particularly among unvaccinated Americans. "If you look at the inflection of the curve of new cases and, as you said in the run-in to this interview, that it is among the unvaccinated. And since we have 50% of the country is not fully vaccinated, that's a problem," Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" when asked about a model projecting a worst case scenario of 4,000 deaths a day in the US from Covid-19, if vaccination rates do not improve. (Duster, 7/25)

Fox News: Fauci Says Virus Has 'Peaked' For The Vaccinated: 'We Have Two Kinds Of America'
Dr. Anthony Fauci said there seem to be "two kinds of America" as some people remain skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines even in the face of the more severe delta variant. The delta variant has ripped through the unvaccinated population in America, with Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky claiming the variant is "spreading with incredible efficiency and now represents more than 83% of the virus circulating the United States."  (Aitken, 7/25)

USA Today: CDC Considering Revising Mask Guidance As COVID Cases Rise In US
Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are weighing revising their COVID-19 guidelines to recommend that even fully vaccinated individuals wear masks in public. Fauci, the nation’s top government infectious disease official, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he’s taken part in conversations about altering the guidelines, something he described as being “under active consideration. ”In the last two weeks, COVID-19 cases have increased 171% nationally, fueled by the delta variant. The death rate is up 19% over the week before. (Aspegren, 7/26)

The Washington Post: Why Some Experts Recommend Upgrading To N95 Masks To Help Fight The Delta Variant
The debate over masks is heating up again, with increasing calls for all Americans, regardless of coronavirus vaccination status, to return to wearing face coverings in indoor public places to help thwart the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. But some experts say the recommendations should specify the kind of masks people should be using. “Delta is so contagious that when we talk about masks, I don’t think we should just talk about masks,” Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said during a recent appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I think we should be talking about high-quality masks,” such as N95 respirators. (Chiu, 7/24)

CNN: If You Are Not Vaccinated Against Covid-19, You Shouldn't Go Into A Bar Or Restaurant, Expert Says 
Less than half of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19 -- and with cases on the rise, experts are urging a return to precautions reminiscent of the earlier days of the pandemic. "What I would say bluntly is: If you are not vaccinated right now in the United States, you should not go into a bar, you should probably not eat at a restaurant. You are at great risk of becoming infected," CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. (Holcombe, 7/26)

The New York Times: Fauci Wants To Make Vaccines For The Next Pandemic Before It Hits 
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is promoting an ambitious and expensive plan to prepare for such nightmare scenarios. It would cost “a few billion dollars” a year, take five years for the first crop of results and engage a huge cadre of scientists, he said. The idea is to make “prototype” vaccines to protect against viruses from about 20 families that might spark a new pandemic. Using research tools that proved successful for Covid-19, researchers would uncover the molecular structure of each virus, learn where antibodies must strike it, and how to prod the body into making exactly those antibodies. (Kolata, 7/25)

Politico: Leaders In Under-Vaccinated Areas Should 'Speak Out' Amid Virus Surge, Fauci Says
Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, on Sunday said more leaders in areas that are lagging in vaccination against the coronavirus should "speak out" to persuade people to get inoculated as the Delta variant surges. Fauci's comments, made in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," came after Alabama's Republican governor, Kay Ivey, publicly blamed unvaccinated people for the disease's spread. (O'Brien, 7/25)

The Hill: House Republican Calls Second Bout Of COVID-19 'Far More Challenging'
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) announced on Facebook Sunday evening that he and his wife had contracted COVID-19 for the second time, calling it "far more challenging." “I have COVID, Becca has COVID, my son has COVID. Becca and I had COVID before, early on, in January 2020, before the world really knew what it was. So, this is our second experience with the CCP biological attack weaponized virus… and this episode is far more challenging. It has required all of my devoted energy,” he wrote, referring to a conspiracy that the virus was engineered to be a biological weapon. (Vakil, 7/25)

Roll Call: GOP Pro-Vaccine Message Clouded By Emphasis On Choice And Privacy 
The tone of some Republican leaders on COVID-19 vaccines has shifted in response to the highly infectious delta variant, but a continued emphasis on values like personal liberty and privacy could muddle the message. The delta variant is proliferating, comprising 83 percent of cases in the United States and an even higher percentage in places with lower vaccination rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with repercussions for the country's most vulnerable people as well as the economy’s fragile recovery. (Kopp, 7/23)

The New York Times: The Delta Variant Is The Symptom Of A Bigger Threat: Vaccine Refusal 
After an all too brief respite, the United States is again at a crossroads in the pandemic. The number of infections has ticked up — slowly at first, then swiftly — to 51,000 cases per day, on average, more than four times the rate a month ago. The country may again see overflowing hospitals, exhausted health care workers and thousands of needless deaths. The more contagious Delta variant may be getting the blame, but fueling its rise is an older, more familiar foe: vaccine hesitancy and refusal, long pervasive in the United States. Were a wider swath of the population vaccinated, there would be no resurgence — of the Delta variant, or Alpha variant, or any other version of the coronavirus. (Mandavilli, 7/25)

Politico: Arkansas Governor Blames 'Myths' For 'Hardened' Vaccine Resistance
The Republican governor of Arkansas on Sunday said resistance to the coronavirus vaccine "has hardened" in some areas of the state, blaming the hesitancy on "false information" and "myths." "I don't know if I underestimated it, but, certainly, the resistance has hardened in certain elements, and is simply false information," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." (O'Brien, 7/25)

The Hill: Huckabee Sanders Writes Op-Ed On Why She Got Vaccinated
Former White House press secretary and Republican Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced in an op-ed that she has been vaccinated against the coronavirus and urged others to do the same. "Like many of you, I have had a lot of misinformation thrown at me by politicians and the media during the pandemic. And, like many of you, I spent a lot of time sorting through it all, trying to make the best decision I could for myself and my family," Sanders wrote in the entry published over the weekend in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "Based on the advice of my doctor, I determined that the benefits of getting vaccinated outweighed any potential risks." The fact that former President Trump and his family had been vaccinated, Sanders said, helped her make her decision. (Mastrangelo, 7/25)

AP: New Arkansas COVID-19 Cases Top 2,000, 1st Time In 5 Months
COVID-19 continues to rage through Arkansas as new day-over-day cases topped 2,000 for the first time since February. State health officials reported 2,015 new cases Saturday as the highly contagious delta variant swept across the state, prompting the state to resume weekend daily updates. Another 1,022 were reported Sunday. (7/25)

Houston Chronicle: COVID Hospitalizations In Texas Hit 4,000 For First Time Since March
The number of lab-confirmed COVID hospitalizations in Texas broke 4,000 on Friday for the first time since March, a worrying sign of the pandemic’s quick resurgence since the Delta variant was discovered in the state. The milestone comes amid rising COVID cases and hospitalizations across the country, especially in states with below-average vaccination rates. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that unvaccinated Americans were driving infection numbers “in the wrong direction.” (Gill and Schuetz, 7/25)

USA Today: COVID-19 Surge Could Go On For Months, Projection Says
New projections released by a COVID-19 research consortium forecast the current surge of cases lasting through the fall and peaking in mid-October, accelerated in part by the rapid spread of the delta variant. Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist from the University of North Carolina who helps run the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, told NPR in the most likely scenario, of the four scenarios included in the ensemble projection, only 70% of eligible U.S. residents get vaccinated and the delta variant becomes 60% more transmissible. Lessler said this trajectory would climax with approximately 60,000 COVID-19 cases and 850 deaths each day in mid-October. (Santucci and Segarra, 7/24)

Stat: A New Way To Visualize The Surge In Covid-19 Cases In The U.S. 
The month of July has seen Covid-19 cases in the United States increase at the fastest pace since last winter, marking the start of the latest wave of infections to afflict the nation. A new STAT analysis of Covid-19 case data reveals this new wave is already outpacing the spring and summer waves of 2020. There are many metrics that governments, scientists, and media outlets have used to try and reckon with the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the most popular ways of visualizing Covid data has been to track the weekly average of new cases. This is pictured below. (Parker, 7/26)

ABC News: Provincetown Implements Indoor Mask Mandate After COVID-19 Cluster Grows To 551 Cases 
Officials in Provincetown, Massachusetts, voted unanimously during an emergency town meeting Sunday night to reimplement the town’s indoor mask mandate, amidst rapidly rising COVID-19 infections and community spread. Since data was last updated last week, the cluster has grown to a cumulative total of at least 551 confirmed cases following a busy July Fourth weekend. Of these cases, 394 individuals are Massachusetts residents, 171 of whom reside in Provincetown, while the remaining individuals who tested positive reside in other states or jurisdictions. (Mitropoulos, 7/25)

The New York Times: 17 People Were Infected After Attending A Michigan Music Festival.
At least 17 people were infected with the coronavirus after they attended a country music festival in Michigan, health officials have said. The event, called the Faster Horses Festival, held July 16 to 18 in Brooklyn, Mich., was the state’s first major music festival since the pandemic began. Some of the people were at the festival while they were infectious, a statement from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said. (Delkic and Median, 7/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: An Unvaccinated Person Became Marin County's 1st COVID Fatality Since May
An unvaccinated Marin County resident who had been hospitalized with respiratory problems died on Wednesday, becoming the county’s first COVID-19 fatality in more than two months. Public health officials announced the death on Friday to underscore the virulent threat of the Delta variant and the importance of containing it through the one medical tool available. “This latest death has two lessons for us,” Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County public health officer, said in a statement. “The first is how good the Delta variant is at finding unvaccinated people, and the second is that unvaccinated people lack protection against severe illness and death.” (Hosseini, 7/24)

Des Moines Register: Iowa May Have To Throw Out Tens Of Thousands Of Expiring COVID Shots
Iowa might have to throw out tens of thousands of doses of coronavirus vaccine over the next six weeks unless public demand for the shots rebounds. The Iowa Department of Public Health told the Des Moines Register Friday that 38,730 of the state's doses are set to expire by the end of July, and another 178,651 could expire by the end of August. Sarah Ekstrand, a spokesperson for the health department, said clinics and county health departments are trying to limit the number of doses that would have to be thrown out. (Leys, 7/23)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Latino Philadelphians Are Getting Vaccinated More Quickly Than Any Other Group. It Hasn’t Been Easy
When the needle entered just below the left eye of the wolf tattooed on his left arm earlier this month, Fernando Rodriguez became one of the last in his family to get vaccinated against COVID-19. A few family members caught COVID-19, but recovered, the 32-year-old from Guatemala said in Spanish while visiting a health clinic for the Latino community at Garces Laboratories in Old City on July 17. Rodriguez, a butcher, never got sick, and didn’t feel much urgency to get vaccinated. (Laughlin, 7/24)

NBC News: Not Swayed By Experts — Or Dolly: Tennessee Vaccination Rates Stall As Delta Spreads
Best friends Emma Short and Rachel Nelson, both 18, disagree about the Covid vaccines. "I'm vaccinated. She's not," Short said, standing next to Nelson as they enjoyed a day at the Dollywood theme park. Both women, who are recent high school graduates, are heading to college in their hometown at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville this fall, where students won't be required to get vaccinated. (Kesslen, 7/24)

The New York Times: After Covid Diagnosis, A Conservative Radio Host Sends A New Message
Phil Valentine, who once wrote that he was not going to get the vaccine because his chances of dying from the virus were “way less than one percent,” is now hospitalized, attached to a ventilator at night, and to an oxygen mask during the day, so he can breathe. (Masters and Heyward, 7/25)

AP: Sununu Signs 'Medical Freedom' Immunization Bill
New Hampshire residents can’t be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access public facilities, benefits or services under a bill signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu. Supporters say the bill signed this week establishes “medical freedom” by specifying that all residents have the “natural, essential and inherent right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion by government to accept an immunization.” (7/25)

AP: Over 100 People Protest Vaccine Mandates At Iowa Capitol
More than 100 people gathered outside the Iowa state Capitol Saturday to rally against mandates requiring people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, such as the ones some Iowa hospitals have issued. One of the speakers at the rally, Republican state Rep. Jeff Shipley, called vaccine mandates “a crime against humanity.” People in the crowd held signs that said “stop vax bullying” and “mandates belong in socialist countries.” (7/25)

Newsweek: Pastor Greg Locke Vows To Remove Anyone Wearing Mask In Church, Blasts 'Godless Democrats'
Right-wing pastor Greg Locke used his Sunday morning sermon to ridicule any attempt by the government to vaccinate Americans or to enforce a "round two" of pandemic lockdown. He also declared he'll kick anyone out who wears a mask. The Tennessee-based Baptist pastor offered his latest tirade against "godless Democrats" and the Biden administration, claiming the federal government only wants "compliance," and not improved public health, among Americans. (Fearnow, 7/25)

The Washington Post: As Coronavirus Surges, GOP Lawmakers Are Moving To Limit Public Health Powers 
Across the country, GOP lawmakers are rallying around the cause of individual freedom to counter community-based disease mitigation methods, moves experts say leave the country ill-equipped to counter the resurgent coronavirus and a future, unknown outbreak. In some states, anger at perceived overreach by health officials has prompted legislative attempts to limit their authority, including new state laws that prevent the closure of businesses or allow lawmakers to rescind mask mandates. Some state courts have reined in the emergency and regulatory powers governors have wielded against the virus. And in its recent rulings and analysis, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its willingness to limit disease mitigation in the name of religious freedom. (Sellers and Stanley-Becker, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Catholic Health Association Supports COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
The Catholic Health Association on Friday joined the growing chorus of prominent healthcare associations and health systems supporting or implementing employee COVID-19 vaccination mandates. CHA said it "strongly supports" member health systems as they take necessary steps toward ensuring as many healthcare workers get vaccinated as possible. The organization's announcement comes after dozens of providers and several associations have backed vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. (Bannow, 7/23)

AP: Man Who Made Fun Of Vaccination Efforts On Social Media Dies Of Covid
A man who mocked Covid-19 vaccinations died this week at a Los Angeles-area hospital after contracting the virus.Stephen Harmon was 34.Harmon died on Wednesday at Corona Regional Medical Center, about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles. Stephen Harmon posted photos of himself in his hospital bed, wrote that he had pneumonia and critically low oxygen levels and was going to be intubated. In a tweet Wednesday, Harmon wrote: “Don’t know when I’ll wake up, please pray,” KCBS-TV reported. Three days before his death, Harmon tweeted: “If you don’t have faith that God can heal me over your stupid ventilator then keep the Hell out of my ICU room, there’s no room in here for fear or lack of faith!” (7/24)

The Washington Post: Alabama Mother Who Lost Son Curt Carpenter To Covid-19 Says Not Getting Vaccine Is Her Biggest Regret 
These days, Christy Carpenter finds strength in her family and faith. But on some days, one question keeps ringing in her head: “Why?” After weeks of battling through oxygen treatments, her 28-year-old son died in the hospital two months after being diagnosed with covid-19. ... “It took watching my son die and me suffering the effects of covid for us to realize we need the vaccine,” the mother said. “We did not get vaccinated when we had the opportunity and regret that so much now.” (Paul, 7/25)

NPR: Doctors Worry That Memory Problems After COVID-19 May Set Stage For Alzheimer's
What scientists have found so far is concerning. For example, PET scans taken before and after a person develops COVID-19 suggest that the infection can cause changes that overlap those seen in Alzheimer's. And genetic studies are finding that some of the same genes that increase a person's risk for getting severe COVID-19 also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's diagnoses also appear to be more common in patients in their 60s and 70s who've had severe COVID-19, says Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a professor of neurology at UT Health San Antonio. "It's downright scary," he says. (Hamilton, 7/26)

CIDRAP: Side Effects After Pfizer COVID Vaccine More Common After COVID-19
Patients with a history of COVID-19 were more likely to have side effects after their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine than those who were never infected, according to a Vaccine study yesterday. The researchers conducted a prospective observational study consisting of 311 healthcare workers from a university tertiary care hospital in France. From Jan 27 to Feb 5, they self-reported demographics and symptoms 21 to 28 days after their first vaccination and before their second. 7/23)

CIDRAP: Malnutrition Linked To Worse COVID-19 Outcomes
Adults and children with COVID-19 and a history of malnutrition may be more likely to die of their infections or need mechanical ventilation, according to a study yesterday in Scientific Reports. The researchers looked at 8,604 children (mean age, 6 years) and 94,495 adults (mean age, 53 years) hospitalized with COVID-19 across 56 US hospitals from March to June 2020 and compared those with a malnutrition history from 2015 to 2019 with those without. Twenty-one children and 4,706 adults died. (7/23)

AP: Unvaccinated Snow Leopard At San Diego Zoo Catches Covid-19
An unvaccinated snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has contracted Covid-19.Caretakers noticed that Ramil, a 9-year-old male snow leopard, had a cough and runny nose on Thursday. Later, two separate tests of his stool confirmed the presence of the coronavirus, the zoo said in a statement Friday. (7/24)

Modern Healthcare: The High Cost Of Temporary Nurses Forces Providers To Get Creative
Healthcare providers are finding new ways to adequately staff facilities in response to escalating costs for travel nurses and rising COVID-19 cases. The high demand for nurses has created a competitive market for temporary staffing, leading some healthcare companies to leverage internal resources and change up existing staff structures to meet patients' needs. The resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the Delta variant, especially in states with low vaccination rates, is burdening providers whose staffing shortages have worsened just as demand spikes. States including Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas are enduring significant increases in daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths, triggering an urgent need for healthcare professionals. (Devereaux, 7/23)

Modern Healthcare: $25,000 Signing Bonuses To Hospital Workers? Whatever It Takes
Rachel Norton has been a critical care nurse for 14 years. She's worked as a staff nurse at a hospital, as a flight nurse and, currently on an as-needed basis for a system in Denver. And every so often, she takes on travel nursing assignments, sometimes spending a month at a new hospital when there's a need. Norton's flexible nursing career is one that's become more common in the past year as staff nurses have taken lucrative travel nursing contracts, reduced their hours or left the workforce altogether from burnout or for early retirement. And nurses aren't alone. (Christ, 7/23)

CNBC: Large Shareholder Group Calls For A Board Overhaul At Pharma Company CytoDyn
CytoDyn is a late-stage biotechnology company. The company focuses on developing treatments for multiple therapeutic indications based on leronlimab, a novel humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the CCR5 receptor. Its leronlimab is in a class of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies designed to address unmet medical needs in the areas of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer, immunology, and novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). It has completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial with leronlimab in combination with antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients, as well as completed a Phase 3 investigative trial with leronlimab as a once-weekly monotherapy for HIV-infected patients. (Squire, 7/24)

Bloomberg: Big Pharma's Little Secret: Drug Cross-Contamination Is Rampant
Brady Ellison, a three-time U.S. Olympic medalist in archery, is going for gold in Tokyo, though he was almost disqualified. Pills he takes for a thyroid condition contained traces of a drug banned by anti-doping authorities. “I had absolutely no clue,” says Ellison, 32. While few have access to Olympics substance testing, many would find themselves in a similar situation if they did. The trillion-dollar prescription-drug industry has a problem it doesn’t like to talk about and doesn’t fully understand. Manufacturers stamp out pills for one condition on the same machines they use to stamp out pills for a different one, and while they’re supposed to clean between production rounds, trace contamination is common and, some argue, inevitable. (Edney, 7/26)

Fox News: Colorado Reports Plague-Infected Fleas And Animals, Blames Disease For 10-Year-Old’s Death
Colorado health officials are investigating plague activity across a handful of counties, with plague-related causes behind the death of a child. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment noted lab-confirmed reports of plague-infected fleas and animals in areas including La Plata County, where the 10-year-old died. Plague, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, can spread to humans and pets through bites of infected fleas or contact with infected animals, according to a release issued Thursday. Colorado health officials expect to see fleas test positive for the plague during the summer. (Rivas, 7/24)

USA Today: Carrot Recall: Grimmway Farms Baby Carrots Pulled For Salmonella Risk
Grimmway Farms is voluntarily recalling select carrot products for possible salmonella contamination. According to the recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website, six products are part of the recall under the brand names of Bunny Luv, Cal-Organic, O Organics and Grimmway Farms. The company, which is based in Bakersfield, California, said no illnesses have been linked to the recall to date. (Tyko, 7/23)

AP: North Carolina Woman To Become Rare 2-Time Organ Donor
A North Carolina woman is set to join the elite ranks of two-time living organ donors. On Tuesday, surgeons in New York will take part of 54-year-old Stephanie Allen’s liver and transplant it into her brother, Eric Allen, The Wilson Times reported. Stephanie Allen, a delivery driver and mother of four, previously donated a kidney to her sister in 2006.“Right now, she is the sunshine in my world,” said Eric Allen, whose liver was failing after two years of battling primary sclerosing cholangitis and Crohn’s disease. (7/25)

AP: Georgia Board Picks 6 Companies To Sell Medical Marijuana
A Georgia board tasked with overseeing the state’s efforts to get patients access to medical marijuana has approved the six companies that will be allowed to sell the drug, a major step to finally getting patients legal access to the medication. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission voted Saturday to pick six companies from 69 that had applied for licenses. Specifically they’ll be able to sell medical marijuana oil that contains no more than 5% of the THC compound that is found in marijuana and which makes users high. (7/25)

AP: 47 Nebraska School Districts Object To Sex Ed Standards
Nearly 50 Nebraska school boards have objected to proposed state health education standards that include lessons for young children on gender identity and gender expression. State Sen. Joni Albrecht said 47 school boards across the state have either adopted resolutions or sent letters opposing the first draft of the standards that the Nebraska Department of Education is considering. Albrecht was part of a group of 30 state senators who signed a statement urging school districts to object to the standards. (7/25)

NPR: Marlboro Maker CEO Says The Company Plans To Stop Selling Smokes In The U.K.
The top executive for tobacco giant Philip Morris International told The Daily Mail Sunday that the company will stop selling cigarettes in the United Kingdom in the next 10 years. The company's CEO Jacek Olczak said the company's iconic Marlboro brand of cigarettes will be taken off the shelves in the U.K. within the next decade. "It will disappear. The first choice for consumers is they should quit smoking," he told the outlet. "But if they don't, the second best choice is to let them switch to the better alternatives." (Diaz, 7/26)

The New York Times: No Longer ‘Hidden Victims,’ Children Are Dying as Virus Surges in Indonesia
Hundreds of children in Indonesia have died from the coronavirus in recent weeks, many of them under age 5, a mortality rate greater than that of any other country and one that challenges the idea that children face minimal risk from Covid-19, doctors say. The deaths, more than 100 a week this month, have come as Indonesia confronts its biggest surge yet in coronavirus cases over all — and as its leaders face mounting criticism that they have been unprepared and slow to act. (Paddock and Suhartono, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Tokyo Olympics Has 16 More Virus Cases, Including Three Athletes
Japanese Olympics organizers reported sixteen more coronavirus cases, including three infections among athletes, as the spectator-free Tokyo games continued under tight restrictions. Those who tested positive included contractors and employees of Tokyo 2020, according to a statement on the organizer’s website, as well as eight others connected to the Games whose exact roles weren’t made clear. Six of the total are residents of Japan, though the statement didn’t identify the nationalities of the athletes or the events they were scheduled to compete in. (Reynolds, 7/26)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Cases In Tokyo Continue To Pull Athletes Out Of Competition.
Tokyo Olympic organizers on Monday announced 16 new positive coronavirus tests among people connected to the Games. At least 153 people with Olympic credentials, including 19 athletes, have tested positive. Some athletes who tested positive have not been publicly identified. (Maalouf, 7/26)

Axios: Golf's Bryson DeChambeau Tests Positive For COVID 
Bryson DeChambeau has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the Tokyo Olympic Games, USA Golf announced late Saturday. "I am deeply disappointed not to be able to compete in the Olympics for Team USA," DeChambeau said in a statement. "Patrick Reed will replace DeChambeau and is undergoing the requisite testing protocol" Sunday and Monday before his expected departure for Japan, per a USA Golf statement. (Falconer, 7/25)

AP: The Faces Of Olympic Victory, Now Without Masks
The faces of victory will be a bit more visible for the rest of the Tokyo Olympics. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee relaxed its health rules and said medalists can remove their masks on the podium for photos — for 30 seconds. This, says the IOC, acknowledges “a unique moment in their sporting career.” (7/26)

AP: Gymnastics Team, Tired Of 'Sexualization,' Wears Unitards
The team’s outfits looked similar to the others in the room as the arena lights gleamed off crystals crisscrossing their chests and down their crimson and white sleeves. But the German gymnastics team’s new Olympic suits didn’t stop at their hips. For decades, female gymnasts have worn bikini-cut leotards. In qualifying on Sunday, however, the German team instead wore unitards that stretched to their ankles, intending to push back against sexualization of women in gymnastics. (Galofaro, 7/26)

The Washington Post: Lee Kiefer, An American Medical Student, Wins Historic Gold Medal In Fencing
For Lee Kiefer, who became the first U.S. man or woman to win a gold medal in individual foil Sunday in the Tokyo Olympics, fencing and medicine run deep. The daughter of two doctors, Kiefer, 27, is a medical student herself, studying at the University of Kentucky. She is married to Gerek Meinhardt, a 30-year-old fellow Kentucky medical student who is her partner in life, medicine and fencing. In Tokyo, he is competing in his fourth Olympics, having won a team bronze in foil in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Boren, 7/25)