First Edition: July 8, 2021

KHN: Delta Variant Surges In Colorado As The Bands Play On
Dr. Rachel LaCount grasped a metal hoop at a playground and spun in circles with her 7-year-old son, turning the distant mesas of the Colorado National Monument into a red-tinged blur. LaCount has lived in this western Colorado city of 64,000 nearly her whole life. As a hospital pathologist, she knows better than most that her hometown has become one of the nation’s top breeding grounds for the delta variant of covid-19. “The delta variant’s super scary,” LaCount said. (Bichell, 7/8)

KHN: Most Inmates Have Had Their Covid Shots — But Their Guards Likely Haven’t 
When the number of covid-19 cases among inmates in Pennsylvania state prisons last fall topped 1,000 and staff cases hovered in the hundreds, the union representing 11,000 corrections officers began lobbying to get prison staffers to the front of the line for vaccinations. John Eckenrode, president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, pressed state officials for months to give prison workers the same status as hospital staff members, first responders and teachers. (Worden, 7/8)

KHN: A Family Wellness Check: California Invests In Treating Parents And Children Together
When a parent takes an infant to the Children’s Health Center in San Francisco for a routine checkup, a pediatrician will check the baby’s vitals and ask how the child is doing at home. Then Janelle Bercun, a licensed clinical social worker, who is also in the room, will look at Mom or Dad and pipe up: What is this like for you? Your frustrations? Joys? Challenges? And she stays to work with the parent long after the pediatrician has left. (Young, 7/8)

USA Today: Global Death Toll Surpasses 4 Million
The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and highly contagious variants. The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. The toll is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the globe every year. It is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia. It is equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong or close to 50% of New York City. (Segarra, Hauck and Aspegren, 7/7)

AP: Global COVID-19 Deaths Hit 4 Million Amid Rush To Vaccinate
The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant. The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world’s wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. (Goodman, 7/8)

The Washington Post: WHO Sounds The Alarm As Global Coronavirus Deaths Top 4 Million
The World Health Organization on Wednesday warned nations against reopening prematurely as global deaths from the coronavirus topped 4 million and the more virulent delta variant was spotted in more than 100 countries, including those with high vaccination rates. “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic. We have just passed the tragic milestone of 4 million recorded covid-19 deaths, which likely underestimates the overall toll,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing. (Cunningham, 7/8)

CIDRAP: WHO: World At Perilous Point In Pandemic
With the Delta (B1617.2) variant outpacing COVID-19 vaccination in many countries, the world is at a perilous point in the pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. The warning comes a day after the WHO reported that cases have risen for the second week in a row, with nearly all regions reporting illness spikes. (Schnirring, 7/7)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Surges At US Hospitals May Have Led To 6,000 Deaths 
COVID-19 case surges at the most overwhelmed US hospitals in spring and summer 2020 may have contributed to nearly one in four adult inpatient deaths, according to a study yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Led by researchers from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the study involved patient- and hospital-level analyses of the Premier Healthcare Database, creation of a weighted COVID-19 caseload-to-bed capacity surge index, and hierarchical modeling. The authors calculated risk-adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for death from Mar 1 to Aug 31, 2020, or release to hospice at 558 hospitals through Oct 31. (Van Beusekom, 7/7)

USA Today: Vaccination Rollout Prevented More Than 250K COVID Deaths In The US
The U.S. has the world's highest reported death toll, at over 600,000, or nearly 1 in 7 deaths, followed by Brazil at more than 520,000. But vaccines, 3 trillion doses of which have been administered, have led to the plummeting of cases and deaths throughout the world. And the numbers are startling: the United States' vaccination program has prevented approximately 279,000 additional deaths and up to 1.25 million additional hospitalizations, according to a new study released by Yale University and the Commonwealth Fund. Nearly 50% of all Americans have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. (Aspegren, 7/8)

ABC News: Gates Foundation Sets 2-Year, Post-Divorce Power Share Trial
If French Gates resigns, Gates would essentially buy her out of the foundation, one of the world's largest private charitable organizations, and she would receive resources from him to do her own philanthropic work. The resources received would be separate from the foundation's endowment, according to the announcement. (Hadero, 7/7)

CNN: Bill Gates Could Oust Melinda French Gates From Their Foundation In 2023
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates are giving themselves a two-year trial period to see if they can co-parent the massive charitable foundation that they have treated as another one of their children. When the couple announced their divorce two months ago, they said they would both stay on as co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But on Wednesday, the foundation's CEO announced a contingency plan "to ensure the continuity of the foundation's work." (Morrow, 7/7)

Stat: Report: Death Rates Are Declining For Many Common Cancers In U.S.
Death rates are declining for more than half of the most common forms of cancer in the U.S., according to a sweeping annual analysis released Thursday. The new report — released by the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other collaborators — found that between 2014 and 2018, death rates dropped for 11 out of 19 of the most common cancers among men and 14 of the 20 most prevalent cancers among women. (Gaffney, 7/8)

Axios: Cancer Mortality In U.S. Declines Overall As Some Disease Persists 
Death rates for lung cancer and melanoma continued to drop for men and women in the U.S. between 2014 and 2018, according to an annual report with the National Cancer Institute. Yes, but: For several other major cancers, however, like colorectal, breast and prostate, death rates increased — or saw previous improvements stall. State of play: American deaths from cancer — the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. — have been on the decline for years. But it's not the same across the board, particularly when it comes to cancers related to obesity. (Fernandez, 7/8)

CNN: With Delta Variant Spreading, Experts Split On Whether To Test Vaccinated People For Covid-19 
The spread of the Delta coronavirus variant in the United States has some experts questioning whether it should be time to start testing even vaccinated people for the virus. Although health officials have said evidence shows vaccinated people are unlikely to spread the virus to others, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says it may be important to watch to make sure the more transmissible Delta variant does not evade the effects of vaccines. (Howard and Enriquez, 7/8)

AP: Arkansas Reports Biggest 1-Day Virus Spike In 5 Months
Arkansas on Wednesday reported 1,000 coronavirus cases, its biggest one-day spike in nearly five months. The Department of Health reported the state’s virus cases now total 353,095 and its hospitalizations increased by 16 to 432. The state’s COVID-19 deaths rose by seven to 5,933. Wednesday marked the biggest one-day jump in cases for Arkansas since the state reported 1,103 on Feb. 10. (7/7)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: State Adds 1,000 New Covid Cases For First Time In Almost 5 Months
Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Wednesday by exactly 1,000, the largest single-day increase since February. The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by double-digits for the second consecutive day. After rising by 55 on Tuesday, the number of coronavirus patients in Arkansas hospitals rose Wednesday by 16 to 432, its highest level since March 1. (Davis, 7/7)

Houston Chronicle: 'Not On My Watch': Texas Republicans Buck Biden's Door-To-Door Vaccine Drive
Some Texas Republicans are pushing back against President Joe Biden’s push for greater outreach to get more Americans to receive COVID-19 shots, as vaccination drives in states like Texas have stagnated. “Not on my watch!” Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted in response to the president’s comments on Tuesday that “we need to go community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oft times door-to-door, literally knocking on doors.” (Wermund, 7/7)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Methodist Sees COVID Delta Variant Infections Double In The Last Week
More than 40 percent of new COVID-19 hospitalizations at Houston Methodist are the Delta variant, researchers said Wednesday, a number expected to rise as travel returns but vaccination rates stagnate nationwide. “The number of Delta variant COVID-19 cases at Houston Methodist has nearly doubled over the last week and is sixfold higher than in May,” said Houston Methodist spokesperson Lisa Merkl. Delta variant cases made up just 20 percent of hospitalizations at the hospital system the week prior. (Wu, 7/7)

Des Moines Register: Iowa COVID-19 Hospitalizations Creep Upward, 14 More Iowans Dead During Week Ending July 7
The number of Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19 is ticking up, though the raw numbers are close to what they were at the start of pandemic last year. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported that 85 people were hospitalized in Iowa with the disease on Wednesday, July 7, after briefly briefly falling 50 two weeks prior. The 46 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on June 24 was the lowest reported since March 27, 2020. The number of new reported cases has remained relatively steady, at just over 500, compared to the prior 7-day period starting at the end June. (Coltrain, 7/7)

AP: Connecticut To Stop Daily Reporting Of COVID-19 Deaths
Connecticut health officials say they will no longer provide daily updates on the number of people who have died in the state from COVID-19-related causes. In releasing its daily report on Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said the death reports will now come once a week, on Thursdays, with information provided by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (7/7)

AP: As New York Salutes Health Workers, Missouri Fights A Surge
New York held a ticker-tape parade Wednesday for the health care workers and others who helped the city pull through the darkest days of COVID-19, while authorities in Missouri struggled to beat back a surge blamed on the fast-spreading delta variant and deep resistance to getting vaccinated. The split-screen images could be a glimpse of what public health experts say may lie ahead for the U.S. even as life gets back to something close to normal: outbreaks in corners of the country with low vaccination rates. (Hollinsworth and Hajela, 7/7)

The New York Times: The Real Toll From Prison Covid Cases May Be Higher Than Reported
Richard Williamson, 86, was rushed from a Florida jail to a hospital last July. Within two weeks, he had died of Covid-19. Hours after Cameron Melius, 26, was released from a Virginia jail in October, he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died. The coronavirus, the authorities said, was a contributing factor. And in New York City, Juan Cruz, 57, who fell ill with Covid-19 while in jail, was moved from a hospital’s jail ward into its regular unit before dying. None of these deaths have been included in official Covid-19 mortality tolls of the jails where the men had been detained. And these cases are not unique. The New York Times identified dozens of people around the country who died under similar circumstances but were not included in official counts. (Turcotte, Sherman, Griesbach and Klein, 7/7)

AP: Michigan Auditor To Review Accuracy Of Nursing Home Deaths
State auditors will review the accuracy of the number of coronavirus deaths linked to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in Michigan. Auditor General Doug Ringler agreed last week to conduct a comprehensive study at the request of House Oversight Committee Chairman Steven Johnson of Wayland. Johnson is among Republican lawmakers who have questioned if there is an undercount and who have criticized Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allowing hospitalized COVID-19 patients no longer needing acute care, but still in quarantine, to return to designated units in nursing homes as some hospitals faced surging cases. (Eggert, 7/7)

The New York Times: Fitbits Detect Lasting Changes After Covid-19
In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers studying Fitbit data reported that people who tested positive for Covid-19 displayed behavioral and physiological changes, including an elevated heart rate, that could last for weeks or months. These symptoms lasted longer in people with Covid than in those with other respiratory illnesses, the scientists found. (Anthes, 7/7)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Concentrations In Sewage Near Peak Level, Researchers Say
Concentrations of the coronavirus in wastewater in parts of the Las Vegas Valley are approaching levels last seen during the winter peak of the disease in Nevada, even though key COVID-19 metrics like new cases and hospitalizations remain far lower, researchers say. Two of the seven valley locations where wastewater samples are being regularly tested for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are showing virus concentrations close to the peak of the winter surge, according to Daniel Gerrity, principal research microbiologist for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. (Apgar, 7/7)

AP: Colorado Mom Of 4 Is Final $1 Million Vaccine Lottery Winner
A Colorado mother of four has been chosen as the final $1 million vaccine lottery winner, Gov. Jared Polis announced Wednesday. Heidi Russell, a stay-at-home mother expressed her gratitude and shock after finding out about her win. “This prize will be so helpful in raising four kids,” Russell said. “When I told my daughter yesterday, her first comment was ’Yes, my college is paid for.” (7/7)

AP: WVa Gov Hands Out Third $1M Prize In Vaccine Giveaway
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice handed out the third $1 million prize for residents who have received coronavirus vaccines. The Republican governor presented Heather Coburn of Princeton with a ceremonial check on Wednesday. Coburn happens to work at a Bluefield car dealership owned by Bill Cole. Cole is a former Republican state Senate president who lost to Justice in the 2016 gubernatorial race. Justice won the race as a Democrat before switching to the GOP a year later. (7/7)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Lottery: Trial Volunteers Can't Enter
People who volunteered for clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines and got their first dose before Dec. 1 are out of luck when it comes to the state's new MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes. That's because the rules of the contest say only Michigan residents who got the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 1, 2020, or later are eligible for a chance to win cash prizes and scholarships totaling about $5 million. "Unfortunately, anyone who received their dose prior to Dec. 1 is not eligible for the sweepstakes, which could include those in clinical trials," Mike Nowlin, a spokesperson for the Protect Michigan Commission, told the Free Press in an email message. (Jordan Shamus, 7/7)

Albuquerque Journal: NM Health Officials Don’t Plan To Require Vaccine For Schoolchildren
New Mexico does not plan to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for school attendance when it becomes available, likely later this year, a top state health official said Wednesday. Health Secretary Tracie Collins told members of a legislative panel she’s hopeful federal approval for different COVID-19 vaccinations for children under age 12 will be issued by December – if not sooner. Currently, only those 12 and older are eligible to receive the vaccine and slightly more than 30% of children between ages 12 and 15 had gotten at least one shot as of this week, according to Department of Health data. (Boyd, 7/7)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Study Finds Plasma Effective For Patients With COVID, Blood Cancer
Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, one of the first effective therapies to emerge against the pandemic, significantly reduces deaths among people unfortunate enough to suffer from both the new coronavirus and a blood cancer, according to a recent study. From early in the pandemic, patients whose immune systems had been weakened by a blood cancer such as lymphoma or multiple myeloma, were considered one of the groups at highest risk for severe illness from COVID-19. (Johnson, 7/7)

CIDRAP: Low Testosterone In Men Tied To Severe COVID-19
New data presented at the European Association of Urology congress this week show that men with low testosterone who were hospitalized for severe COVID-19 during the first wave of infections in Milan, Italy, were more likely to need intensive care and mechanical ventilation, and they had a sixfold increased risk of death. The findings come from San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan, where researchers compared 286 male COVID-19 patients who presented for emergency care, with 305 healthy controls who donated blood at the hospital from February to May 2020. Both groups had hormone testing, and low testosterone was defined as 9.2 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L). (7/7)

AP: More States Agree To Settlement Plan For Opioid-Maker Purdue
More than a dozen states have dropped their longstanding objections to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s reorganization plan, edging the company closer to resolving its bankruptcy case and transforming itself into a new entity that helps combat the U.S. opioid epidemic through its own profits. The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed late Wednesday night in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan. (Mulvihill, 7/8)

NPR: 15 States Drop Opposition To Controversial Purdue Pharma Oxycontin Bankruptcy
Fifteen states that led the effort to block a controversial bankruptcy plan for Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma have abandoned the fight. That's according to court documents filed by a mediator late Wednesday night as part of a federal bankruptcy proceeding in White Plains NY. Among the states that have agreed to sign on to the bankruptcy deal are Massachusetts and New York, whose attorneys general had mounted fierce legal opposition to the deal. (Mann, 7/8)

NPR: Overdoses Involving Cocaine And Fentanyl Are On The Rise
On a recent Thursday evening, three dozen people gathered in the backyard at Nowadays, a trendy club in Queens, N.Y., to learn how to use naloxone, a nasal spray that reverses overdoses from opioids. The training was organized by a group of nightlife and health care professionals called Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. Some in attendance showed up because they had seen posts on social media saying that fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that's about 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, was being cut into cocaine, putting unsuspecting party goers at risk. (Lewis, 7/7)

Axios: Pfizer's Rare Heart Disease Drug Vyndaqel Is Becoming A Blockbuster 
Heart medications Vyndaqel and Vyndamax generated $1.3 billion of global revenue last year for Pfizer and already brought in $453 million in the first quarter of this year. Why it matters: The blockbuster drugs could grow significantly more if Pfizer wins its pending lawsuit and is allowed to pay the out-of-pocket expenses of Medicare patients who are prescribed the $225,000-a-year treatment. (Herman, 7/8)

CIDRAP: FDA Went Flexible To Mitigate Shortages During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to flex regulations and priorities to prevent drug shortages, expediting more than 100 original abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) and 150 ANDA supplements for COVID-related products, according to the FDA's "Drug Shortages for Calendar Year 2020" report, released late last month. The agency reported 43 new shortages but prevented 199, compared with 2019's 51 new shortages and 154 prevented shortages. On the other hand, 2020 had 86 ongoing shortages, compared with 76 in 2019. (McLernon, 7/7)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Tulane School Of Medicine Put On Probation By Accrediting Agency After Bias Complaints
The Tulane University School of Medicine graduate medical program, which trains newly-minted doctors during their residencies at hospitals across New Orleans, was put on probation by a national oversight panel last week. The panel did not state the reason for probation. But the rare step was taken after allegations of racial and gender discrimination erupted within the institution earlier this year. Tulane drew national attention after the dismissal of Dr. Princess Dennar, a Black female doctor, four months after she filed a discrimination lawsuit against the school. (Woodruff, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Cleveland Clinic To Pay $21 Million False Claims Settlement
Cleveland Clinic has agreed to pay $21.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its Akron General Health System improperly paid physician groups for patient referrals and submitted false claims to Medicare, according to the Justice Department. Akron General's former director of internal audit Beverly Brouse acted as the whistleblower, suing the health system under the False Claims Act in 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. DOJ and Cleveland Clinic reached the settlement in May. (Christ, 7/7)

AP: Pharmacy Exec Resentenced To 14 Years In Meningitis Outbreak
A founder of a now-defunct Massachusetts pharmaceutical facility responsible for a deadly meningitis outbreak will spend 14 and a half years behind bars, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, lengthening his initial punishment of nine years that was tossed out by an appeals court. Barry Cadden, who was president and co-owner of the now-closed New England Compounding Center, showed little emotion as he was sentenced for a second time after being convicted of fraud and other crimes in the 2012 outbreak that killed 100 people and sickened hundreds of others. (Richer, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Renews Fight To Constrain Prosecutors 
Lawyers for Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes asked a federal judge to place new restrictions on the scope of evidence that prosecutors can present at her coming criminal-fraud trial, arguing her defense is hampered by the loss of a database with millions of blood-test results. (Randazzo, 7/7)

AP: Scholarship Programs To Assist Health, Science Students
Tennessee State University and two other historically Black colleges and universities will benefit from scholarship and grant programs being started by a medical products company. Baxter International Inc. is giving $1.2 million to support Black students pursuing health and science degrees, Tennessee State said. (7/8)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth's Limits On Out-Of-Network Care Reacts To Surprise Billing Ban
UnitedHealth Group's decision to end some out-of-network coverage caught providers by surprise, with many speculating the move is part of a broader set of policies by the nation's largest insurer aimed at controlling costs and lowering provider reimbursement. Starting July 1, UnitedHealthcare no longer pays out-of-network claims when fully insured customers seek non-emergency care outside of their local coverage area. Patients seeking treatment from "step down" facilities away from where they live, including skilled nursing homes, residential treatment facilities, inpatient rehabilitation programs and more, are subject to the new rule. Coverage areas typically include the entire state and surrounding states where patients reside. (Tepper, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna Enacts Cataract Surgery Pre-Authorization Rule
Aetna now requires all patients to receive pre-approval for cataract surgery. The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer said it had spent the past few months reaching out to opthamologists in its networks to inform them of the policy change, which took effect July 1. "We also reached out to the American Ophthalmological Society and American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to explain the rationale for and discuss this new policy, ensuring them that we'd work collaboratively to make sure that their patients and our members would have timely access to appropriate, necessary care, with special attention during the first few weeks of this new policy," a spokesperson said in a statement. (Tepper, 7/7)

The New York Times: Climate Change Influenced Western Heat Wave, Analysis Finds
The extraordinary heat wave that scorched the Pacific Northwest last week would almost certainly not have occurred without global warming, an international team of climate researchers said Wednesday. Temperatures were so extreme — including readings of 116 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland, Ore., and a Canadian record of 121 in British Columbia — that the researchers had difficulty saying just how rare the heat wave was. But they estimated that in any given year there was only a 0.1 percent chance of such an intense heat wave occurring. (Fountain, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Pacific Northwest Heat Wave Was ‘Virtually Impossible’ Without Human Influence
By all estimates, last week’s heat wave in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia was essentially unprecedented. Seattle hit 108 degrees, Portland spiked to 116 and Canada broke its national temperature record three days in a row, hitting 121 degrees on June 29. Hundreds of excess deaths were blamed on the brutal heat, which established records by margins of 10 degrees or more in spots. This was not “just another heat wave,” Christopher Burt, an expert on world weather extremes, wrote in a Facebook message, but rather “the most anomalous extreme heat event ever observed on Earth since records began two centuries ago.” (Cappucci, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Another Intense Heat Wave To Roast Western U.S., Southwest Canada
Last week, Lytton, a small town in British Columbia, Canada, broke its nation’s all-time temperature reading three days in a row as temperatures soared as high as 121 degrees. Days later, the village largely burned to the ground as extreme wildfires spewed smoke and ash 55,000 feet into the sky. Now, southwest Canada and much of the western United States are bracing for another bout of exceptional heat amid a pattern that could once again place records in jeopardy. Death Valley, Calif., might spike to 130 degrees. (Cappuci, 7/6)

ABC News: Oregon's Heat Wave Death Toll Reaches 107 In 'Mass Casualty' Event 
Oregon's record-breaking heat wave reached a death toll of 107 on Tuesday, according to officials. The victims range in age from 37 to 97, according to the Oregon State Medical Examiner, as the state has been reeling from scorching triple-digit temperatures from June 25 to June 30. ... Some of the dead were found inside their homes without air conditioning or fans, according to local ABC affiliate KATU. Portland recorded a high of 116 on Monday, June 28. (Lenthang, 7/7)

CBS News: American Airlines Flight Disrupted By Teens Who Refused To Wear Masks
Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight to the Bahamas spent an unexpected night in Charlotte, North Carolina, after unruly passengers refused to comply with a federal mask mandate. ... The disruptive group of about 30 high school students from Boston was catching a connecting flight in Charlotte to Nassau, according to local media outlet WSOC-TV. The flight was originally scheduled to leave Charlotte about 9:30 a.m. on Monday, but was delayed due to a mechanical problem and switched to another plane, WSOC-TV reported. (Gibson, 7/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Capitol Reinstates Mask Mandate After COVID Outbreak
California has reinstated a mask mandate for all lawmakers and employees at the state Capitol, regardless of vaccination status, following an outbreak of nine coronavirus cases there. All nine people who contracted the coronavirus are legislative staffers, four of whom were fully vaccinated. Effective immediately, people are required to wear a mask at all times while in the Capitol, Legislative Office Building and district offices, Secretary of the Senate Erika Contreras and Assembly Chief Administrative Officer Debra Gravert wrote in memos Tuesday. (Vaziri, 7/7)

AP: Japan To Declare Virus Emergency Lasting Through Olympics
The Games already will take place without foreign spectators, but the planned six-week state of emergency likely ends chances of a local audience. A decision about fans is expected later Thursday when local organizers meet with the International Olympic Committee and other representatives. Tokyo is currently under less-stringent measures that focus on shortened hours for bars and restaurants but have proven less effective at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. (Yamaguchi, 7/8)

The New York Times: Fans At Tokyo Olympics Likely To Be Barred Amid Covid Emergency 
The Japanese government declared a new state of emergency in Tokyo on Thursday after a sudden spike in coronavirus cases, wreaking fresh havoc on preparations for an Olympic Games that organizers have insisted can be held safely amid a pandemic. The decision could force officials to abandon plans announced late last month to allow domestic spectators at Olympic events, a move that had been met with public opposition over concerns that the Games would become a petri dish for new variants of the virus. (Dooley, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Tokyo Olympics To Be Held Under Covid-19 State Of Emergency 
Japan declared a new state of emergency due to Covid-19 that will continue through the Summer Olympics, making it likely the organizers will drop plans to allow some spectators at the Games. Japan and some other countries in Asia that have been slow to roll out vaccinations are experiencing new waves of infection, exacerbated by the more contagious Delta variant. On Thursday, Tokyo reported 896 new cases, up 27% from a week earlier. (Gale, 7/8)

Bloomberg: As Olympics Near, Japan Races To Sort Vaccine Bottlenecks
Several of Japan’s biggest municipalities, including parts of Tokyo and Osaka, have stopped taking new reservations for Covid-19 vaccinations in the latest hiccup for the country’s effort to vaccinate its people, with the Tokyo Olympics just over two weeks away. The bottlenecks in distribution are sowing confusion among vaccine seekers, complicating a vaccination campaign that has sped up rapidly in recent weeks after criticism over a slow start. (Mizuta and Du, 7/8)

AP: Official Dropped From Fiji Olympic Team After Positive Test
An official due to travel to Tokyo with the Fiji Olympic team has been withdrawn after testing positive for COVID-19. The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee confirmed the positive test Thursday but did not say what role the official held. (7/7)

Reuters: Lead Sinovac Vaccine Scientist In Indonesia Dies Of Suspected COVID-19, Media Say 
The lead scientist on China's Sinovac vaccine trials in Indonesia died of suspected COVID-19 on Wednesday, Indonesian media said. The death of Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar comes as fatalities from the coronavirus reach record highs in Indonesia, one of the countries where the Sinovac vaccine has been most widely used. (Widianot, Christina, 7/7)

Bloomberg: Sinovac’s CoronaVac Inferior To Pfizer Covid Vaccine In Chile Study
Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine was less potent than Pfizer Inc.’s shot at stopping Covid-19 in Chile where the two shots were used simultaneously, the first real-world analysis comparing a China-made inoculation against an mRNA has found. Researchers found CoronaVac was 66% effective in preventing Covid-19 among fully vaccinated adults, versus 93% for the jab made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE. (Gale, 7/8)

Reuters: Two Weeks Into Lockdown, Sydney Has Its Worst Day For Virus Cases This Year
Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Thursday reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 this year as officials struggle to stamp out a growing cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant. The spike in cases after two weeks of a hard lockdown in Sydney, Australia's largest city, raised the prospect of a further extension in restrictions, with officials blaming illegal family visits for a continuing rise in infections. (Jose, 7/8)

Reuters: UK PM Johnson's New COVID Gamble Worries Some Scientists
Anne Cori, an Imperial College epidemiologist behind one of the models that informed Johnson's initial decision to delay "freedom day", said it was premature to declare that the country can live with rising cases. Another delay to removing restrictions would be beneficial, she told Reuters. "I think delaying buys time, and we have interventions in the pipeline that may help reduce transmissibility," Cori said, referring to booster shots and the possible vaccination of children, a step Britain has yet to decide to take. (Smout, 7/8)

CIDRAP: WHO: Few Global Flu Detections, Mainly Influenza B
Global flu activity in the middle 2 weeks of June remained below expected levels in both hemispheres, with little activity except for a slight increase in influenza B, especially in China, the WHO said in its latest global update. Sporadic detections were reported in western and eastern Africa, as well as in India. (7/7)