First Edition: June 2, 2021

KHN: The ‘Grief Pandemic’ Will Torment Americans For Years 
Cassandra Rollins’ daughter was still conscious when the ambulance took her away. Shalondra Rollins, 38, was struggling to breathe as covid overwhelmed her lungs. But before the doors closed, she asked for her cellphone, so she could call her family from the hospital. It was April 7, 2020 — the last time Rollins would see her daughter or hear her voice. (Szabo, 6/2)

KHN: From Racial Justice To Dirty Air, California’s New AG Plots A Progressive Health Care Agenda
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a longtime Democratic state lawmaker, comes to his new role well known for pursuing an unabashedly progressive agenda on criminal justice issues. He has pushed for legislation to eliminate cash bail and to ban for-profit prisons and detention centers. But Bonta also has a distinctive record on health care, successfully advancing legislation to protect consumers from so-called surprise medical bills when they inadvertently get treatment from out-of-network providers and framing environmental hazards like pollution as issues of social justice. (Hart, 6/2)

KHN: Doctors Tell How To Make The Most Of Your Telehealth Visits
When the pandemic sidelined in-office visits at his practice, Dr. Dael Waxman “wasn’t exactly thrilled with being at home.” But he quickly shifted gears to video and telephone appointments. Now, he finds, there are good reasons to keep these options open even as in-office visits have resumed and many parts of the country have sharply loosened coronavirus restrictions. (Appleby, 6/2)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters React To Racism, Inequities In Health Care
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (6/2)

The New York Times: Moderna Applies To F.D.A. For Full Vaccine Authorization 
Moderna on Tuesday became the latest pharmaceutical company to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval for its Covid-19 vaccine for use in people 18 and older. F.D.A. approval would allow the company to market the shot directly to consumers, and could also help raise public confidence in the vaccine. Full approval could also make it easier for schools, employers, government agencies and the U.S. military, which has encountered resistance to coronavirus vaccines, to mandate vaccinations. (Slotnik and Hoffman, 6/1)

Politico: Moderna Seeks Full FDA Approval Of Its Covid-19 Vaccine 
Moderna has asked the Food and Drug Administration for full approval of its coronavirus vaccine in people 18 and older. The company is the second vaccine maker to seek full approval from U.S. regulators, which would allow it to market the shot directly to consumers. Full approval also makes it easier for schools, employers and the military to require inoculation against Covid-19. (Morello, 6/1)

Politico: Moderna To Double EU Vaccine Manufacturing With New Dutch Site 
Moderna will start producing a retooled version of its coronavirus vaccine in the Netherlands, doubling the company's expected EU production, the company announced today. The new contract, inked with the subcontractor Lonza, will allow Moderna to make approximately 300 million doses a year starting at the end of 2021. The Dutch site, in addition to a drug-substance site run by Rovi in Spain, will allow Moderna to make 600 million doses a year in the EU. (Deutsch, 6/2)

Fox News: US Launches Study Mixing COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Regimens
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has initiated an early-stage study testing mixed COVID-19 booster vaccine schedules among fully vaccinated adults. The goal is to understand safety and immune responses following mixed boosted regimens, should booster vaccines become necessary. The NIAID-funded study involves some 150 people who already received one of the authorized COVID-19 vaccine regimens developed by Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. (Rivas, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Mixing And Matching Covid-19 Shots In Fully Vaccinated People Is Subject Of New Study 
Federal health officials have started a new study exploring whether mixing different Covid-19 vaccines can prolong immunity and better protect people from concerning variants of the coronavirus. The new study will enroll adult volunteers who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and give them booster doses of different vaccines, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. (Loftus, 6/1)

CBS News: Biden Speaks To "Fill The Silence" About Tulsa Race Massacre 
President Biden on Tuesday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, becoming the first president to honor the victims in Tulsa of the two-day rampage by a White mob. "For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness," Mr. Biden told the audience in his speech. "But just because history is silent, it doesn't mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. It erases nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they can't be buried, no matter how hard people try." (Watson, 6/1)

Politico: Biden In Tulsa: ‘Great Nations … Come To Terms With Their Dark Sides’ 
The administration on Tuesday announced new measures to address the wealth gap between Black and white Americans, with plans to expand home ownership and small-business ownership in communities of color and disadvantaged communities. The White House said the administration would also address racial discrimination in the housing market, where Black-owned homes are appraised less than comparable homes owned by white people. It will also issue new federal rules to combat housing discrimination. (Ward, 6/1)

The Washington Post: Blinken Says U.S. Will Soon Distribute Coronavirus Vaccines In First Visit To Latin America, But Details Are Slim
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States would soon distribute millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines around the world, including in Latin America, which is struggling to obtain them for its citizens amid rising hospitalization rates. But the question on the minds of many — which countries will receive doses first and how quickly will they be delivered — remained unanswered as Blinken began his first official visit to the region. (Hudson, 6/1)

AP: Who Benefits? US Debates Fairest Way To Share Spare Vaccine
In April, the Biden administration announced plans to share millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world by the end of June. Five weeks later, nations around the globe are still waiting — with growing impatience — to learn where the vaccines will go and how they will be distributed. To President Joe Biden, the doses represent a modern-day “arsenal of democracy,” serving as the ultimate carrot for America’s partners abroad, but also as a necessary tool for global health, capable of saving millions of lives and returning a semblance of normalcy to friends and foes alike. The central question for Biden: What share of doses should be provided to those who need it most, and how many should be reserved for U.S. partners? (Miller, 5/31)

CNBC: Big Pharma Launches Campaign Against Biden Over Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver
The lobbying group that represents several top pharmaceutical companies last month quietly launched a campaign against President Joe Biden and his decision to back waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, is a political advocacy group that represents more than 30 pharmaceutical firms, including Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Late last month it started running a digital ad campaign on Facebook and Google targeting Biden’s decision, a CNBC search of the companies’ ad archives revealed. (Schwartz, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaccine Makers Face Challenge In Sustaining Winning Streak 
Covid-19 vaccine-makers’ shares have soared since the beginning of 2020. Moderna Inc. is up about 850%, BioNTech SE has risen 510% and Novavax Inc. is up nearly 3,620%. Each of these companies has produced vaccines that have won regulatory authorization or are expected to win that backing. Some of the vaccine makers are racking up huge revenues. Their valuations assume more big gains, which depend on the next stages of the pandemic and whether the companies’ vaccine technology can be used to treat other diseases. (Zuckerman, 6/1)

The Washington Post: Anthony Fauci’s Pandemic Emails: ‘All Is Well Despite Some Crazy People In This World’
The correspondence from March and April 2020 opens a window to Fauci’s world during some of the most frantic days of the crisis, when the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was struggling to bring coherence to the Trump administration’s chaotic response to the virus and President Donald Trump was seeking to minimize its severity. (Paletta and Abutaleb, 6/1)

Bloomberg: Senators Push to Expand Mental-Health Crisis Funding to Cities
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators are pushing for legislation to support local governments that expand their ability to deal with mental health-care emergencies, seeking to shift the responsibility away from the police. The bill, introduced by Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Texas Republican John Cornyn, would provide funding to expand mental-health services, including to the uninsured. It would also create a nationwide set of standards for running crisis hotlines, urgent care facilities, residential centers and mobile units that respond to behavioral crises. (Akinnibi, 6/1)

Roll Call: Staff Training Key To Shifting Attitudes On Accessibility For Disability Community 
Many staffers are heading back to Capitol Hill, and official visitors aren’t far behind, but the return to offices is prompting questions about gaps in physical and digital accessibility in Congress for staff, lobbyists, constituents and lawmakers with disabilities. With historic buildings and slow adoption of technology, Congress still has a long way to go to make itself accessible not just in the physical space but also online, where so much business has been conducted in the past year. (Tully-McManus, 6/2)

Politico: State To Gather Diplomats’ Health Details In Response To Havana Syndrome 
The State Department is rolling out a voluntary new program to gather diplomats’ baseline health information before they head to overseas posts, according to a State Department cable reviewed by POLITICO. It’s part of the department’s response to a wave of mysterious injuries that have harmed scores of U.S. officials in recent years — known as “Havana syndrome.” A group of American diplomats wrote last week to Brian McKeon, the State Department’s chief operating officer, saying the department has not taken their ailments seriously, NBC News reported. (Swan, 6/1)

Stateline: Obamacare Prices Continue To Fall
In addition to the decrease in premiums since costs spiked in 2018, more insurance carriers are now participating in the marketplaces, according to a report published by the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. The authors examined policies offering similar benefits in the 15 states that run their own marketplaces and the 36 states that rely at least in part on the federal marketplace. Premiums fell by an average of 1.2% from 2018 to 2019, 3.2% from 2019 to 2018 and 1.7% from 2020 to 2021, they found. That contrasts with a huge increase from 2017 to 2018 of nearly 32%, which the authors attributed largely to policies of the Trump administration intended to undercut the Affordable Care Act. (Ollove, 6/1)

AP: New Mexico Offers Largest Single Vaccination Prize In US 
New Mexico bet big Tuesday that cash can persuade people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, offering the largest single cash prize among the growing number of states staging lotteries to promote inoculations. Vaccinated residents who register on New Mexico's “Vax 2 the Max” portal can win prizes from a pool totaling $10 million that includes a $5 million grand prize, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced. (Attanasio, 6/1)

AP: Alaska Launches COVID-19 Airport Vaccination Program
Alaska has begun offering COVID-19 vaccines at airports, a move that was anticipated for the start of the summer travel season. The state health department said effective Tuesday, vaccine eligibility was expanded to include anyone in Alaska who is at least 12 years old, including visitors from other states or countries. Prior eligibility was for those who live or work in Alaska. (6/1)

NPR: Vaccine Data On Race Varies Widely Among States, Making Outreach Difficult
Throughout the COVID-19 vaccination effort, public health officials and politicians have insisted that providing shots equitably across racial and ethnic groups is a top priority. But it's been left up to states to decide how to do that and to collect racial and ethnic data on vaccinated individuals, so they can track how well they're doing reaching all groups. The gaps and inconsistencies in the data have made it difficult to understand who's actually getting shots. Just as an uneven approach to containing the coronavirus led to a greater toll for Black and Latino communities, the inconsistent data guiding vaccination efforts may be leaving the same groups out on vaccines, says Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. (Smith, 6/1)

Bloomberg: Transplants Force Patients To Amass Vaccinations To Beat Covid
For Jennifer Woda, two doses of the Moderna Inc. vaccine were not enough protection against the Covid-19 virus. Over a month later, she got a third and fourth dose, this time with the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine. An opera singer who teaches music to kids, Woda received a kidney transplant in September 2019, one of about 160,000 transplants that have occurred in the U.S. since 2017. Emerging research is now showing that these patients, who suppress their immune system with drugs so their bodies don’t reject donated organs, are dramatically less likely to develop protective antibodies using the authorized vaccine dosage. (Chen, 6/1)

The New York Times: Will The Excelsior Pass, New York’s Vaccine Passport, Catch On? 
On the Upper East Side in Manhattan, a well-heeled crowd flashed it to get into a socially distanced dance performance at the Park Avenue Armory. In Chelsea, people showed it to attend a John Mulaney stand-up set at City Winery. And in Troy, N.Y., patrons are using it to enter an intimate, speakeasy-style bar that only admits vaccinated guests. This magic ticket is New York State’s Excelsior Pass, which was introduced in March as the first and only government-issued vaccine passport in the country, accessible, for now, only to people who have been vaccinated in the state. (Otterman, 6/1)

CIDRAP: Cancer Patients Show Good COVID Immune Response To Vaccine, Infection 
Two new studies were published late last week in JAMA Oncology on COVID-19 and cancer patients, one from Israel showing good immune response to the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and one from Japan finding that cancer patients were as likely as healthcare workers (HCWs) to have serum SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. (Van Beusekom, 6/1)

AP: Despite Vaccines, Nursing Homes Still Struggle With Covid Outbreaks, Deaths
Jeannie Wells had hoped that regular visits would resume at her elderly mother’s New York nursing home once all the residents were fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Around Easter, her wish finally came true, and she was able to hold the 93-year-old’s hand more than a year after bringing her mother to the facility for rehabilitation for a fractured hip and knee. But that reunion was short-lived. Visits were quickly stopped for about six weeks after an employee tested positive for Covid-19, and Wells said visits are still far from normal even when there haven’t been outbreaks. (6/1)

Bloomberg: Israel Finds Pfizer Covid Shot-Myocarditis Heart Inflammation Probable Link
Israel health officials have found a probable link between Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s coronavirus vaccine and dozens of cases of heart inflammation in young men following the second dose of the vaccine, the Health Ministry said late Tuesday. The vaccine has been administered to more than 5 million people in the country. The Health Ministry is currently discussing whether to expand the inoculation drive to 12-15 year olds, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized its use for the age group. (Odenheimer, 6/2)

PBS NewsHour: Why You Shouldn’t Get A COVID Antibody Test After A Vaccine
Many Americans are basking in the warm light of what appears to be the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people are vaccinated, and restrictions that had prevented further spread of COVID-19 are loosening. People are planning summer travel and long-delayed reunions with loved ones. That optimism, however, is tinged with uncertainty — about the effectiveness of vaccines, the possibility of getting or transmitting the virus even after vaccination, and the rise of variants that may spread more easily or evade vaccines altogether. Some people are thinking about antibody tests as a way to check how effective their vaccines are. (Santhanam, 6/1)

CIDRAP: Previous COVID-19 Linked To Risk Of Adverse Events Post-Vaccination
An increased risk of adverse events after the first Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-vaccine dose was associated with previous COVID-19 infection, according to a letter to the editor late last week in the Journal of Infection. ... Female sex and younger age were associated with increased risk of COVID-19 vaccination adverse events, but data also showed that those with previous COVID infections were associated with more vaccine symptoms (1.61 vs 0.89) and vaccine symptom severity (2.7 vs 1.5 symptom-days) after adjustments were made for age and sex. (6/1)

Modern Healthcare: COVID Unlikely To Be Passed Through Blood Donations
People who previously had COVID can donate blood without transmitting the virus, according to a National Institute of Health study released Tuesday. The findings show donors have a less than 1% chance of transmitting the virus as long as any COVID-related symptoms and infections cleared up 14 days prior to donating blood, per U.S Food and Drug Administration guidelines. (Gellman, 6/1)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Reinfections Probably Rare, According To Italian Study
COVID-19 infection was 94% less likely in people previously infected than in those never infected, according to a research letter late last week in JAMA Internal Medicine. However, the researchers note, their study concluded before COVID-19 variants became dominant. (6/1)

Modern Healthcare: Yale New Haven Children's To Address 'Long COVID' In Kids
Yale New Haven Children's Hospital is the latest provider to specifically focus on treating long-term health complications from COVID-19. The hospital opened a new comprehensive care program within its Pediatric Specialty Center to provide a patient-centered approach for children experiencing lingering COVID-19 symptoms. The program is set to create a clinical specialist network in one setting to give children easier access to treatment, according to Rebecca Ciaburri, associate director of quality, safety and program development for Yale New Haven Children's. (Ross Johnson, 6/1)

PBS NewsHour: Scientists Hope They’re Closing In On A Cure For COVID-19
The last time the world needed an antiviral medicine as quickly as possible, Daria Hazuda, vice president of infectious disease and vaccine discovery research at Merck, answered the call. Around 150,000 Americans were infected with HIV each year when rates peaked in the mid-1980s, and by the year 2000 nearly 500,000 people had died of AIDS in the U.S. Hazuda’s research at the time focused on HIV’s ability to insert its genetic material into the human genome. Her lab developed a novel way to target that process with a drug called raltegravir, which was approved for use in 2007 and is still used today. Now, she hopes to develop a drug for COVID-19 — at a substantially faster pace. (Meador, 6/1)

Stat: Global Agencies Call For $50 Billion Investment To Combat Covid-19
In a plea to halt the Covid-19 pandemic, four global agencies are calling for investments of up to $50 billion – mostly from wealthy nations — to boost manufacturing capacity and supplies and ease trade rules to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines and other medical products. The “call to action” comes as the pandemic reaches a “perilous point,” but such an investment could reduce infections and the loss of lives, while accelerating an economic recovery, according to a statement from the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund. (Silverman, 6/1)

Stat: Flu Virus Became Less Diverse, Simplifying Task Of Making Flu Shots 
In the eight years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the subtypes of influenza A viruses started acting bizarrely. Flu viruses continuously evolve, to evade the immune defenses humans develop to fend them off. But after 2012, H3N2 started to behave differently. It was almost as if there was a falling out within a family. The viruses formed into factions — clades, in virologists’ language — drifting further and further apart with each passing year and making the process of choosing the version of H3N2 to include in flu shots an increasingly challenging task. (Branswell, 6/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Prevention Measures Are Keeping Childhood Diseases Like Chickenpox At Bay 
The disinfecting and hand-washing that became common during the Covid-19 pandemic have also served as powerful tools against a host of childhood ailments such as chickenpox, stomach viruses and strep throat, recent data suggest. Doctors say that as countries with widespread Covid-19 vaccination, including the U.S., get back to normal, people would be well-advised to keep up some of the practices they have adopted—even if pandemic weariness makes them less than eager to take that advice. (Landers and Inada, 6/1)

Modern Healthcare: JAMA's Bauchner Resigns Over Controversial Podcast On Racism
The top editor at one of the country's most prominent medical journals has resigned after his publication hosted a February podcast that ignited tremendous backlash by minimizing structural racism in medicine. The American Medical Association announced Tuesday that Dr. Howard Bauchner will voluntarily step down as editor in chief of JAMA and JAMA Network effective June 30. He had been on administrative leave since March while the AMA investigated the origins of a podcast and related tweet that said no physicians are racist. (Bannow, 6/1)

The New York Times: Editor Of JAMA Leaves After Outcry Over Colleague’s Remarks On Racism 
Following an outcry over comments about racism made by an editor at JAMA, the influential medical journal, the top editor, Dr. Howard Bauchner, will step down from his post effective June 30. The move was announced on Tuesday by the American Medical Association, which oversees the journal. Dr. Bauchner, who had led JAMA since 2011, had been on administrative leave since March because of an ongoing investigation into comments made on the journal’s podcast. (Mandavilli, 6/1)

AP: Nurses Walk Off Job, Others Filling Shifts In Montana City
Hundreds of nurses at Logan Health in Kalispell, Montana began a three-day strike Tuesday over demands for better wages and working conditions. More than 100 nurses who were scheduled to work during the strike said they would still work their shifts, the Daily Inter Lake reported. (6/1)

Modern Healthcare: AHIP Rebrand Reflects Shifting Insurance Business
What's in a name? A more diversified membership, America's Health Insurance Plans hopes. After nearly two decades, the Washington D.C.-based powerhouse has rebranded and will simply be known as AHIP, with the revamp coming at a time when the traditional health insurance business has transformed from simply taking on individuals' health risk to directly providing care, social services, technology products and much more. (Tepper, 6/1)

Modern Healthcare: Quorum Health Sells Consulting Division To Private Equity Firm
Almost a year after emerging from bankruptcy, Quorum Health announced it has sold its consulting division to a private equity firm. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based rural and mid-sized market hospital operator sold a majority stake in its advisory and outsourced services subsidiary, QHR Health, to Grant Avenue Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm in a deal that took effect May 28. Quorum CEO Dan Slipkovich said in a statement that the sale will allow the company to focus on its primary goal of building out the hospital system, both by capturing market share in existing locations and through strategic acquisitions. (Bannow, 6/1)

Stat: How CVS Is Tapping Into Its Consumer Expertise In A New Venture Fund
CVS Health recently expanded its investing efforts with the launch of the CVS Venture Fund, a $100 million vehicle to provide promising upstarts with access to CVS’ wealth of financial and strategic expertise and generous physical footprint. While the retail and pharmacy giant had previously backed more than 20 upstarts through a partnership between CVS Pharmacy and Aetna Ventures, it was spurred to create the new fund after seeing how the pandemic changed in health care delivery, including the rise of digital pharmacies and increasing interest in at-home testing and treatment, Josh Flum, CVS’ executive vice president of enterprise strategy and digital, told STAT. (Brodwin, 6/2)

Genomeweb: Amazon Web Services Doubles Down On Genomics
Amazon Web Services has been expanding its reach into genomics and continues to grow in areas like molecular diagnostics through new initiatives. As might be expected of one of the world's three largest commercial cloud platforms, AWS counts some well-known names in the genomics and bioinformatics world among its customers. "Over the past 15 years, AWS has helped remove the undifferentiated heavy lifting so that customers are able to figure out what's the differentiating value for them," Wilson To, AWS global head of healthcare, life sciences, and genomics, said this week during AWS's Healthcare & Life Sciences Virtual Symposium. "Genomics" is a recent addition to his title, indicating the field's increased importance to the company. (Versel, 6/1)

Stat: A Bootcamp For Digital Health Execs Seeks To Demystify The Drug Industry
Naomi Fried has watched the same plot unfold over and over again: A digital health startup pitches software to accelerate drug discovery, track medication use, or identify patients for clinical trials. But initial interest from pharma executives quickly fades. They stop returning emails, often with no explanation. But if the reasons are mysterious to startups, they are not to Fried, who has spent her career driving technology innovation at Biogen, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente. She said the startups are simply misunderstanding their audience and the business concerns that drive decision-making. (Ross, 6/1)

Stat: Machine Learning Is Booming In Medicine. It's Also Facing A Credibility Crisis
The mad dash accelerated as quickly as the pandemic. Researchers sprinted to see whether artificial intelligence could unravel Covid-19’s many secrets — and for good reason. There was a shortage of tests and treatments for a skyrocketing number of patients. Maybe AI could detect the illness earlier on lung images, and predict which patients were most likely to become severely ill. (Ross, 6/2)

CNBC: Supreme Court Rejects Johnson & Johnson's Appeal Of $2 Billion Baby Powder Penalty
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from Johnson & Johnson seeking to undo a $2.1 billion award against it over allegations that asbestos in its talc powder products, including baby powder, caused women to develop ovarian cancer. The top court announced in an order with no noted dissents that it will not hear the case. Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh recused themselves from consideration of the case, according to the order. (Higgins, 6/1)

Fox News: Study Unpacks How LSD Lowers Brain’s Barriers
Many summers of love later and the experiences had with the drug, along with the word that describes them, But it’s only recently that scientists have begun to grapple with what exactly LSD does to the brain, and they've found evidence that it really does blow open your mind. According to new research, psychedelic drugs put the brain into a state where it can flow more freely, unconstrained by prior beliefs of how the world is supposed to work. The findings also have implications for treating anxiety and depression, the researchers said. (Turner, 6/1)

USA Today: Naomi Osaka's Withdrawal From French Open Fuels Mental Health Debate
For all the story's complexities, and for all the public still does not know about Osaka's health and the communication between her and tennis officials, psychologists say Osaka should be lauded for speaking openly about her mental health in a culture still skeptical of wounds it cannot see, for asserting boundaries to keep herself safe even at cost to her career, and for challenging her sport, the media and the public to rethink what we demand of athletes. "So much of the world has been set up that this is the way we do it, and this is the way we've always done it, and it's going to work this way," said Lynn Bufka, a senior director at the American Psychological Association. (Dastagir, 6/1)

Fox News: Earlier Sleep Cycles Linked To Lower Depression Risk: Study
A one-hour shift to an earlier sleep schedule could drop risk of major depression by 23%, according to a study. A team of researchers from University of Colorado Boulder and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard published findings in JAMA Psychiatry last week, drawing on deidentified genetic data from 840,000 people in the U.K. Biobank and 23andMe, including some 85,000 people who wore sleep trackers for a week, and 250,000 respondents to sleep-preference questionnaires. Results offer "some of the strongest evidence yet that chronotype—a person’s propensity to sleep at a certain time —influences depression risk," per a CU Boulder news release. (Rivas, 6/1)

AP: Disney Cruise Line To Set Sail On 2-Night COVID Test Cruise
After a catastrophic coronavirus cruise season, Disney Cruise Line will finally set sail later this month, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the cruise line’s request to conduct a two night simulation cruise on June 29 on the Disney Dream departing from Port Canaveral. (6/2)

Fox News: Accidental Drownings A Concern As Pandemic Postponed Swimming Lessons For Some
In June 2020 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released a report that found child drownings to be the leading cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 4 years old. Now, with an increase in at-home pool installations and the pandemic-related cancellation or delay of youth swimming lessons, some are concerned that the number of drownings could increase even further. "This summer, we’re going to see a surge in accidental drownings," Rowdy Gaines, a three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer who partnered with the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) said in a statement. "As excited as we are about getting back in the water, it’s important that we stay focused on safe pool behaviors. Parents have to keep a close eye on their children 100% of the time, even when lifeguards are nearby." (Hein, 6/1)

AP: Patient Influx From Other States Increases Kansas Abortions
The number of abortions performed in Kansas increased by 9.1% last year as far more women traveled from Oklahoma and Texas to terminate pregnancies than in 2019 and the state reported that out-of-state patients outnumbered Kansas patients for the first time in almost 50 years. The state Department of Health and Environment says 7,542 abortions were performed in 2020, an increase of 626 from 6,916 in 2019.Advocates on both side of the issue said Tuesday that much of that increase likely occurred because Republican governors in Oklahoma and Texas sought to ban most abortions last spring, prompting women from those states to travel to Kansas for the procedure. (Hanna, 6/2)

NPR: Indiana Needle Exchange That Helped Contain Historic HIV Outbreak May Close
In 2015, rural Scott County, Indiana, found itself in the national spotlight when intravenous drug use and sharing needles led to an outbreak of HIV. Mike Pence, who was Indiana's governor at the time, approved the state's first syringe exchange program in the small manufacturing community 30 minutes north of Louisville, as part of an emergency measure. "I will tell you that I do not support needle exchange as anti-drug policy," he said during a 2015 visit to the county. "But this is a public health emergency." (Legan, 6/1)

CBS News: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Transgender Athlete Bill Into Law On First Day Of Pride Month 
On Tuesday, the first day of Pride Month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that bans transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams at the high school and college level. DeSantis appeared at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville to sign the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," which was introduced by Republican State Senator Travis Hutson in February. The law states that women and girls must play on the sport teams of the "biological sex" on their birth certificate. Therefore, a transgender girl whose birth certificate denotes her "biological sex" as male, cannot play on a girls' sports team. (O'Kane, 6/1)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Governor Will Sign Public Option Health Care Bill
Nevada looks set to become the second state in the nation to enact a “public option” health insurance plan after Gov. Steve Sisolak said he intends to put his signature to state Democrats’ signature health care legislation. “I’m going to sign the public option (bill),” Sisolak said in a wide-ranging, post-Legislature interview Tuesday with reporters. The first-term Democrat also explained his reasoning for not supporting the failed death penalty ban, where his signature “innovation zones” concept goes from here and more. While billed as a “public option” by supporters, Nevadans who purchase plans via the system created by Senate Bill 420 won’t be buying their insurance directly from the state. (Lochhead, 6/1)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Judge Signs Order To Stop Real Water Production
A federal judge signed an order on Tuesday that could effectively put Las Vegas-based Real Water permanently out of business in response to a deadly outbreak of liver disease tied to the product. Should the company ever intend to resume operations, it must follow a long list of requirements that include a sanitation plan, a bottling plan, a food safety plan and an employee training program, according to the permanent injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey. (Ferrara, 6/1)

AP: Michigan Finalizes Bias Training Rule For All Health Workers
Michigan on Tuesday finalized a requirement that all 440,000 licensed or registered health workers in the state undergo annual hidden bias training to help address disparities in how patients are treated. The rule, which was initially ordered by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last July, will take effect on June 1, 2022.Health workers renewing their license or registration will have to complete at least one hour of training each year. (Eggert, 6/2)

USA Today: UK Reports Zero Coronavirus Deaths For First Time In Nearly A Year
The British government reported no new coronavirus deaths Tuesday for the first time since July 2020, an announcement that comes with some qualifications but is much welcome nonetheless. There's concern about the increasing cases in the U.K. of the coronavirus variant first identified in India, and uncertainty about whether authorities will press ahead with the final stages of easing social restrictions later this month. Reported death numbers are typically lower on weekends, and this past one was extended by Monday's Spring Bank Holiday, raising some questions about Tuesday's tally. In addition, the official count only considers fatalities within 28 days of testing positive for the virus. (Bacon and Ortiz, 6/1)

AP: Japan's Vaccine Push Ahead Of Olympics Looks To Be Too Late
It may be too little, too late.That’s the realization sinking in as Japan scrambles to catch up on a frustratingly slow vaccination drive less than two months before the Summer Olympics, delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, are scheduled to start. The Olympics risk becoming an incubator for “a Tokyo variant,” as 15,000 foreign athletes and tens of thousands officials, sponsors and journalists from about 200 countries descend on — and potentially mix with — a largely unvaccinated Japanese population, said Dr. Naoto Ueyama, a physician, head of the Japan Doctors Union. (Yamaguchi, 6/1)