First Edition: March 11, 2022

KHN: Pandemic Medical Innovations Leave Behind People With Disabilities 
Divya Goel, a 35-year-old deaf-blind woman in Orlando, Florida, has had two telemedicine doctors’ appointments during the pandemic. Each time, she was denied an interpreter. Her doctors told her she would have to get insurance to pay for an interpreter, which is incorrect: Under federal law, it is the physician’s responsibility to provide one. (Weber, 3/11)

KHN: More Black Americans Are Buying Guns. Is It Driving Up Black Suicide Rates? 
When Russell and Sharis Lewis want to unwind, they pack up their guns and drive from their home in a suburb north of St. Louis to an indoor range called the SharpShooter on the city’s south side. Russell dons big protective headphones, carefully lays out his firearms, and selects a Panzer Arms M4 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun. He takes aim at paper targets, including one labeled “snowflakes,” and squeezes the trigger. “It’s just something about the power and being able to release that and let it go downrange,” he said. “It relaxes me.” (Smith, 3/11)

KHN: ‘What The Health?’ Podcast: Congress Shelves Covid Funding For Now 
Congress is moving toward completion of its annual spending bills for the fiscal year that started last October, but a last-minute snag jettisoned from the bill the Biden administration’s requested funding for covid prevention and treatment. Meanwhile, a federal court has ruled that the administration overstepped in the dispute-resolution portion of its measure to bar “surprise” medical bills, after doctors and hospitals charged that the formula would favor health insurers in billing disagreements. (3/10)

NBC News: This Season's Flu Vaccine Was A Poor Match For The Virus, CDC Reports
This season's flu vaccine offers meager protection against mild cases of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Against the most common flu strain circulating this season, the flu shot reduced a person's chance of getting a mild case by 16 percent, which is "considered not statistically significant," the CDC authors wrote, though the shots should offer some protection against more severe illness. (Lovelace Jr., 3/10)

The New York Times: Flu Vaccine Was Not Very Effective This Season, The C.D.C. Says
This season’s flu vaccine has offered little to no protection against getting a mild or moderate case of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. In a study of more than 3,600 Americans in seven states, the C.D.C. said in a report that the vaccine was only around 16 percent effective, a rate that it said was “not statistically significant.” (Lukpat, 3/10)

CIDRAP: Global Flu Activity Continues To Decline
A new global flu update from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows declining activity in most world regions but increased H3N2 activity was reported in parts of South America. Of respiratory samples that tested positive at national flu labs in the middle 2 weeks of February, 68.6% were influenza A. Of subtyped influenza A viruses, 88.9% were H3N2. Of the type B viruses for which lineage was determined, 100% belonged to the B-Victoria lineage. (3/10)

AP: 'Scum Of The Earth': Drug Victims Face Purdue Pharma Owners
Angry, defiant and sometimes tearful, more than two dozen Americans whose lives were upended by the opioid crisis finally had their long-awaited chance Thursday to confront in court some members of the family they blame for fueling it. They were unsparing as they unleashed decades of frustration and sorrow on members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over the course of a three-hour virtual hearing. One woman played a recording from when she called 911 to get help for her overdosing son, then called one of the Sacklers the “scum of the earth.” Several displayed pictures of loved ones who died too soon because of their addictions. Many spoke about forgiveness, with some trying to find it — and others definitely not. (Mulvihill and Peltz, 3/11)

NPR: Victims Of The Opioid Crisis Formally Confront The Sackler Family
For the first time during the long legal reckoning over the opioid crisis, members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma heard directly from people who say their company's main product, Oxycontin, wrecked their lives. David Sackler, Richard Sackler and Theresa Sackler listened and watched during the roughly two-hour long hearing as people described surviving addiction and spoke of losing loved ones to the epidemic. The Sacklers spoke briefly to confirm their presence, but did not respond to the testimony. (Mann, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Opioid Victims Confront Purdue Pharma’s Sacklers In Bankruptcy Court
Dede Yoder said that her son, Chris, died in 2017 of an overdose at the age of 21 after spending most of her retirement savings on addiction treatment and rehab, which mostly wasn’t covered by health insurance. Doctors first prescribed her son OxyContin when he was 14 years old following two knee surgeries, Ms. Yoder said. “I thought since the doctor prescribed it, it must be OK,” Ms. Yoder said. “I wish I would have questioned the prescription and said no, but I didn’t. I didn’t know how addictive it was. Nobody knew, except for Purdue.” (Randles, 3/10)

The Washington Post: Opioid Victims Confront Purdue Pharma’s Sackler Family: ‘It Will Never End For Me’
For 4,804 days, Kristy Nelson’s mind replays the 911 call she made when she discovered her only son’s lifeless body in his bed, recalling the excruciating detail of the aftermath of his overdose. On Thursday, she played audio of the chilling call for members of a family she holds responsible for her son’s death. Nelson said: “4,804. That is how many days have gone by since I made that horrifying phone call — a call that I never ever dreamed of making,” adding, “A call that I would not have had to make if it weren’t for your unlawful behavior and obsessive greed.” (Kornfield, 3/10)

The Washington Post: Federal Government Approves Experiment To Pay Drug, Alcohol Users To Stay Clean 
A new legal opinion from the Biden administration appears to clear the way for wider use of an underutilized harm reduction technique: paying people addicted to drugs for staying clean. Known as “contingency management,” the idea is supported by decades of research that shows providing repeated small payments for meeting goals in the recovery process has an outsize impact in helping people remain sober. The technique also has been used to help people quit smoking, lose weight and change other unwanted behaviors. (Bernstein, 3/10)

Politico: Covid Aid Faces Uncertain Path On Capitol Hill As White House Warns Of Severe Consequences 
White House officials on Thursday warned that key pandemic programs could soon run out of money if Congress fails to quickly authorize $15.6 billion in new Covid-19 funding.“ We will have to stop a number of components of our program that are essential,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday. “If we had that money to move around we would be moving it. Our assessment is that we need this additional funding in order to meet the needs of the American public.” (Ollstein, 3/10)

PBS NewsHour: Millions Of U.S. Children Could Face Hunger As Omnibus Bill Moves Without School Meal Waivers
School nutrition and child development experts say millions of children in the United States could go hungry as soon as this summer, because the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill moving through Congress this week failed to include waivers that gives schools flexibility in preparing and distributing food to students. That’s even as a growing number of students are expected to need remedial help to overcome learning loss driven by remote classes and quarantine.During the COVID pandemic, Congress authorized the federal Department of Agriculture to grant waivers that covered rising food prices caused by supply chain issues. Those waivers reimbursed schools at higher rates for the cost of school meals and allowed schools to prepare food that families could either pick up or have delivered at or near their homes. (Santhanham, 3/10)

Modern Healthcare: Critical-Access Hospitals Left Out Of Congress' Telehealth Extension
Critical-access hospitals warn that they will no longer be able to bill Medicare for telehealth services when the public health emergency ends after they were excluded from the government spending bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed Wednesday. The $1.5 trillion package would extend Medicare coverage of telehealth for five months after the end of the public health emergency for several types of providers, but not for critical-access hospitals, which primarily serve rural areas. It is not yet clear why CAHs weren't included, but advocates say they are going to fight to ensure the issue is fixed before the PHE ends, which could be as soon as July. (Hellmann, 3/10)

Politico: Census Undercounted Black People, Hispanics And Native Americans In 2020 
The 2020 census undercounted Black people, Hispanics and Native Americans while overcounting white and Asian people, according to a report released by the Census Bureau Thursday. The findings continued the bureau’s longstanding struggles in counting underrepresented groups while overcounting non-Hispanic white people, a mistake that can have severe repercussions on voting districts, congressional representation and the allocation of federal funds. (Benson, 3/10)

NPR: The 2020 Census Undercounted Black People, Latinos And Native Americans 
Disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and interference by former President Donald Trump's administration raised alarms about the increased risk of the once-a-decade tally missing swaths of the country's population. COVID-19 also caused multiple delays to the bureau's Post-Enumeration Survey that's used to determine how accurate the census results are and inform planning for the next national count in 2030. (Wang, 3/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Blue Cross Blue Shield Owner Anthem Seeks To Change Name To Elevance Health
Anthem Inc. plans to change its name to Elevance Health Inc., aiming to recast itself as a company with a broader portfolio and focus than its traditional business of health insurance. Anthem, which owns Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, will need shareholder approval to make the change. The vote is scheduled to occur May 18. (Mathews, 3/10)

Indianapolis Star: Anthem To Change Name To Elevance Health To Reflect Bump In Offerings
Following in the footsteps of Alphabet and Meta , who are the parent companies of Google and Facebook, Indianapolis-based Anthem, Inc. officials said Thursday they have a name change in the works as well. Pending stockholder approval, the health insurance company currently known as Anthem plans to become Elevance Health. The names of the health plans at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will not change; however, the company said in a news release it will “streamline the number of other brands in the market to reduce complexities and improve consumer experiences.” (Rudavsky, 3/10)

Bloomberg: Covid Study Finds 18 Million Deaths, Three Times Official Tally
The pandemic’s death toll may be three times higher than official Covid-19 records suggest, according to a study that found stark differences across countries and regions. As many as 18.2 million people probably died from Covid in the first two years of the pandemic, researchers found in the first peer-reviewed global estimate of excess deaths. They pointed to a lack of testing and unreliable mortality data to explain the discrepancy with official estimates of roughly 5.9 million deaths. (Gale, 3/10)

USA Today: A New COVID Variant Called Deltacron? Here's What We Know
A potential new COVID-19 variant, a combination of the delta and omicron variants – you can call it "deltacron" – has been identified. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the new COVID-19 combination has been detected in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. It's also been found in the U.S., according to a new report soon to be published on research site MedRxiv, and viewed by USA TODAY. The San Mateo, California-headquartered lab Helix, which works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track COVID-19, sequenced 29,719 positive COVID-19 samples collected Nov. 22 to Feb. 13 from across the U.S., according to the research team, which included the University of Washington Medical Center and testing company Thermo Fisher Scientific. (Snider, 3/10)

Roll Call: Airline, Transit Mask Mandates Extended Through April 18 
The White House on Thursday announced it would extend the current federal mask mandate for passengers on airplanes and public transit for another month — the third extension of the mandate since it was imposed in January 2021. The requirement, which had been set to expire March 18, will now extend through April 18, according to a Biden administration official, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending the next month examining how best to proceed. (Wehrman, 3/10)

AP: Nevada Shifting To Weekly COVID Stats As Cases Keep Falling 
State health officials are moving from daily to weekly reporting of COVID-19 statistics as the public health emergency fades and new infections and hospitalizations continue to fall to their lowest levels in Nevada since last June. Beginning next week, they’ll also be changing the way they track the spread and response to the coronavirus, including dropping regular reporting of positivity rates that are increasingly skewed due to widespread use of home-testing results. (Sonner, 3/10)

The Boston Globe: Number Of COVID-19 Deaths In Mass. Will Drop Under State’s New Counting Method
The official count of COVID-19 deaths in Massachusetts will decline by about 3,700 under a new surveillance system that state health leaders say more accurately captures the true toll from the virus. “We think this is an absolutely critical step in improving our understanding of who COVID has impacted most significantly during the pandemic,” Dr. Catherine Brown, the state’s epidemiologist, said at a media briefing Thursday. Currently, the state’s reported confirmed and probable deaths total about 23,700. Under the new method, that could drop to about 20,000. But Brown said a team at the state’s health department is still crunching the numbers and would release them Monday. (Lazar, 3/10)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan COVID-19 Death Rates By County: Education, Age, Trump Factors
Who died of COVID-19 in Michigan during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic was heavily influenced by demographics like age, education level, the county where they lived, vaccination rates — and even who got their vote in the 2020 presidential election. As Michigan marked the grim two-year anniversary Thursday of the day when the first cases were identified, a Free Press analysis of state and federal data shows a higher death rate in counties where a larger share of people voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. "I would expect to see significant correlation," said Peter Jacobson, professor emeritus of health law and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. (Jordan Shamus and Tanner, 3/11)

Crain's New York Business: NYC Says It Is Ready To Take On ‘Test To Treat' Initiative
Despite modest stockpiles of oral COVID treatments, New York City says it is ready to carry out the new federal initiative to treat patients who test positive on the spot. The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday outlined details for the "Test to Treat'' initiative, introduced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address last week. The program allows individuals who receive a positive COVID test result to receive treatment with antiviral pills on the spot. It kicked off Monday, and participating pharmacy-based clinics, federally qualified health centers and long-term-care facilities are eligible to receive direct distributions of molnupiravir and Paxlovid from HHS. Molnupiravir was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Paxlovid comes from Pfizer. (Sim, 3/10)

USA Today: Lawmakers Push Legislation To Protect Doctors Who Prescribe Ivermectin For COVID-19. Can They Do That?
Dozens of state lawmakers push bills that would make it easier for doctors to prescribe ivermectin for COVID-19, even though the anti-parasitic has not been proved effective at preventing or treating the disease. As of Thursday, at least 26 states have proposed or passed legislation that would increase patient access to the drug, according to a database created by the Federation of State Medical Boards. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, said the bills "drive (him) nuts." (Rodriguez, 3/10)

AP: House OKs Bill Protecting Disclosure Of COVID Shot Status 
The Kentucky House voted Thursday to prevent state and local governments and public colleges from requiring employees or students to disclose their COVID-19 immunization status. The measure also would allow parents to opt out of a coronavirus vaccine for their school-aged children on the basis of “conscientiously held beliefs.” The proposal won 71-22 House passage and moves on to the Senate. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers. (Schreiner, 3/10)

AP: Proposed Idaho Law Would Protect Coronavirus Unvaccinated
Legislation preventing most private and public entities in Idaho from discriminating against people who haven’t received the coronavirus vaccine cleared a Senate panel on Thursday. The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee approved the measure that prevents employers from requiring employees get the vaccine or entities requiring visitors or attendees be vaccinated. (Ridler, 3/10)

The Washington Post: Sen. Cruz Rides With ‘People’s Convoy’ Truck To D.C. As Beltway Protest Enters Fourth Day 
A group of truckers and others opposed to pandemic-related mandates looped the Capital Beltway for a fourth day Thursday, this time with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who rode shotgun in the lead truck. Cruz visited the “People’s Convoy” at the Hagerstown Speedway, telling crowds their voice was being heard. He then boarded a truck and detoured just pass noon to head into Washington, where he and convoy organizers called for an end to such mandates. (Silverman, Elwood, Hedgpeth and Lazo, 3/10)

The Hill: DOJ Finds More Than $8 Billion In COVID Aid Fraud
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has uncovered a vast array of alleged fraudulent and criminal activities tied to more than $8 billion in federal COVID-19 aid, the agency announced Thursday. In response, the agency said it was immediately appointing a new director tasked specifically with coronavirus fraud enforcement. Kevin Chambers, who joined the agency as an associate deputy attorney general, "plans to focus on large-scale criminal enterprises and foreign actors who sought to profit at the expense of the American people," the DOJ said. (Weixel, 3/10)

AP: Texas Judge Hears Case On State's Gender Care Investigations 
A Texas judge is hearing a case Friday on whether to prevent state officials from investigating reports of transgender youth receiving gender confirming care as child abuse. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum will hear from attorneys for the state and the parents of a 16-year-old girl who were being investigated by the Department of Family and Protective Services over such care. (3/11)

Houston Chronicle: 65 U.S. Companies Blast Abbott’s Push To Investigate Therapy For Transgender Kids As Child Abuse
Sixty-five major U.S. companies who do business in Texas are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse his order requiring the state's child welfare agency to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender youth as a form of child abuse by their parents. The companies, including Apple, Dow, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Meta and PayPal, in conjunction with the LGBT advocacy nonprofit Human Rights Campaign took out full-page print and digital advertisements in the Dallas Morning News that state in all capital, bold letters: “Discrimination is bad for business.” (Goldenstein, 3/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Arizona Shouldn’t Be Forced To Pay For Transgender Teen’s Chest Surgery, Appeals Court Rules
A federal appeals court refused Thursday to order Arizona to pay for a transgender teenage boy's chest-reconstruction surgery and said youngsters may not be capable of making such decisions for themselves. But the youth's lawyer said the ruling was a partial victory because the court classified anti-transgender bias as sex discrimination. In a 3-0 ruling, a conservative panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge’s refusal to require Arizona’s Medicaid program to fund surgery sought by a youth identified as John Doe, who was 15 when he appealed the state’s denial and is now 17. (Egelko, 3/10)

Fox News: DeSantis Slams 'Woke' Disney After CEO Condemns Parents' Rights Bill
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed the Walt Disney Company as "woke" on Thursday after the company came out against a Republican-led parental rights bill in the state that progressives have claimed is anti-LGBTQ. Speaking to supporters in Boca Raton, DeSantis said there is "zero" chance he's going to reverse his position on disallowing the instruction of "transgenderism in kindergarten classrooms." (Chasmar and Laco, 3/11)

AP: Woman Whose Rape DNA Led To Her Arrest To Sue San Francisco 
The woman whose DNA from a sexual assault case was used by San Francisco police to arrest her in an unrelated property crime plans to sue the city, her attorney said Thursday. The woman has filed notice of a possible federal lawsuit because she feels betrayed by police officers who broke her trust and violated her rights, said her attorney, Adante Pointer. (3/11)

AP: 'Abortion Reversal' Bill Moves Forward In S Carolina House 
A bill that would require doctors to inform patients receiving drug-induced abortions about a controversial method to possibly halt the abortion process is moving forward in the South Carolina House. The House Judiciary Committee could consider the legislation after a panel of lawmakers voted to advance the measure Thursday. (3/10)

AP: GOP Lawmakers In Kentucky Advance 15-Week Abortion Ban 
Republican lawmakers on Thursday advanced a proposed abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, part of the latest push to place restrictions on the procedure in Kentucky. The measure is modeled after a Mississippi law under review by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could dramatically limit abortion rights in the United States. (Schreiner, 3/10)

AP: Ducey To Mull Letting Dentists Give Cosmetic Botox Shots
The next time you sit in the dental chair for a filling, your dentist may also be able to offer to handle those pesky wrinkles around your eyes by injecting some Botox. All that’s standing in the way is a signature from Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on legislation that passed the House and Senate. (3/11)

AP: Battle Heating Up Over Smoking In Atlantic City Casinos 
The battle over whether smoking should be prohibited in Atlantic City’s casinos heated up Thursday, with a major business group opposing a ban, and a public health agency resigning from the business group in protest. The Greater Atlantic City Chamber said efforts to ban smoking in the casinos should be dropped, warning it would cost jobs and hurt local businesses. (Parry, 3/10)

NPR: Therapy Dogs Can Help Relieve Pain In The Emergency Room
Therapy dogs have long visited nursing homes and schools — even disaster sites — offering comfort to humans. A new study shows that a 10-minute visit from a therapy dog can help relieve patients' pain in the emergency room. The research from the University of Saskatchewan, published in the journal PLOS on Wednesday, found that ER patients who were visited by a therapy dog reported less pain than those who weren't. "Therapy dogs themselves ... they're just really friendly, family pets that are so excited to visit with people and in places where you don't typically have a pet," Dr. Colleen Dell, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the study authors, told NPR. "And just going into the emergency department was a natural." (Torchinsky, 3/10)

USA Today: Trader Joe's Recall: Crunchy Slaw Recalled Because May Contain Plastic
A salad sold at Trader Joe's has been recalled because the salad dressing may contain hard plastic. The grocer announced the recall on its website and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert Thursday for the "Crunchy Slaw with Chicken, Crispy Noodles & Peanut Dressing." The 12-ounce salads were shipped to Trader Joe's stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. They bear establishment number “P-6247” inside the USDA mark of inspection and have "use by" dates ranging from March 9 through 12. (Tyko, 3/10)

The New York Times: Two Years After Declaring A Pandemic, The W.H.O.’s Watchword Is Still Caution
The World Health Organization, often criticized for being too slow to declare in 2020 that a pandemic was underway, now says — two years to the day after making that declaration — that many countries are being too quick to declare it over and let down their guard. By the time Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency’s director general, officially declared the spread of the coronavirus to be a pandemic in the early evening of March 11, 2020, the virus was already known to have infected more than 120,000 people in 114 countries, killing about 4,300. (Hassan, 3/11)

CIDRAP: Pangolins In Vietnam Found To Have SARS-CoV-2–Related Coronavirus
A study today in Frontiers in Public Health confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam harbored coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2, something previously detected only in China. The study offers further evidence that the wildlife trade can add to coronavirus transmission. (3/9)

Bloomberg: Paxlovid Covid Pill To Be Supplied To Africa By Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. has agreed to supply Africa with its Covid-19 pill, bringing a key virus-fighting tool to the continent. A document outlining the agreement between the drugmaker and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is with the African Union’s legal office, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC said at a briefing on Thursday. (Hoije and Kew, 3/10)

Bloomberg: Ukraine Covid Pill Development Project Disrupted By Russian Invasion
The night before Russia invaded Ukraine, chemist Tetiana Matviyuk worked late into the night at her Kyiv office. By 10:30 p.m., she had wrapped up after a Zoom meeting with a global team of scientists working on a new, experimental Covid-19 treatment. The day before, she had shipped crucial compounds to colleagues in the U.K. Her team was closing in on the project’s finish line and their moment of Champagne celebration. But instead of euphoria, Matviyuk was filled with dread. She called her husband on her drive home. (Kresge, 3/10)

Reuters: Exclusive: WHO Says It Advised Ukraine To Destroy Pathogens In Health Labs To Prevent Disease Spread 
The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country's public health laboratories to prevent "any potential spills" that would spread disease among the population, the agency told Reuters on Thursday. Biosecurity experts say Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and bombardment of its cities have raised the risk of an escape of disease-causing pathogens, should any of those facilities be damaged. (Rigby and Landay, 3/10)

Fox News: US Doctors Provide Free Telehealth For Ukrainian Soldiers, Civilians, Refugees
U.S. doctors are providing free telehealth services for Ukrainian soldiers, civilians, and refugees amid Russia's invasion through an app connected to the Starlink internet that Tesla set up in the embattled eastern European country. According to a news release provided exclusively to Fox News Digital, VSee developed Aimee, a telehealth app that "brings together more than 2,000 U.S.-based physicians to provide free on-demand doctor visits covering all medical specialties, including Emergency Room and trauma." VSee is a video telehealth platform with a 14-year history supporting health efforts in North America, the Middle East, Africa, conflict zones, the International Space Station, and refugee camps. (O'Neill, 3/11)

Bloomberg: U.S. Criticizes China And Russia For Pushing Preposterous Lab Theory
Washington criticized China and Russia for promoting a conspiracy theory that the U.S. military runs biolabs in Ukraine, escalating a dispute over attempts at misleading the public over the war in Europe.“ We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday. “We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.” (3/10)