First Edition: March 15, 2022

KHN: Medicare Advantage Plans Send Pals To Seniors’ Homes For Companionship — And Profits 
Widowed and usually living alone, Gloria Bailey walks with a cane after two knee replacement surgeries and needs help with housekeeping. So she was thrilled last summer when her Medicare Advantage plan, SummaCare, began sending a worker to her house in Akron, Ohio, to mop floors, clean dishes, and help with computer problems. Some days, they would spend the two-hour weekly visit just chatting at her kitchen table. “I love it,” she said of the free benefit. (Galewitz, 3/15)

KHN: Want Vulnerable Californians To Have Healthier Pregnancies? Doulas Say The State Must Pay Up
This was supposed to be the year that low-income Californians could hire a doula to guide them through pregnancy and advocate for them in the hospital. But the new benefit for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program, has been delayed twice as the state and doulas — nonmedical workers who help parents before, during, and after birth — haggle over how much they should get paid. (Bluth, 3/15)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Need An Expensive Drug? Here’s What You Need To Know 
Lillian Karabaic teaches personal finance to millennials through a podcast and community called Oh My Dollar! — and she needs an expensive drug to treat a chronic condition. That makes her an expert on one of the most complex arrangements in the American health care system: the copay accumulator. In short, it’s an invention by the insurance industry to make sure only your money counts toward your yearly deductible — not any assistance you might receive from a drug company. (Weissmann, 3/15)

AP: Lawmakers Send Texas-Styled Abortion Bill To Idaho Governor 
“This bill makes sure that the people of Idaho can stand up for our values and do everything in our power to prevent the wanton destruction of innocent human life,” Republican Rep. Steven Harris, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement after the vote. The measure has already passed the Senate and now heads to Republican Gov. Brad Little. Marissa Morrison, Little’s spokeswoman, said Monday the governor hadn’t seen the bill and doesn’t comment on pending legislation. (Ridler, 3/15)

Idaho Statesman: Last Month Of Abortion In Idaho? Texas-Inspired Bill Heads To Gov. Little’s Desk 
“They did a very clever thing,” said Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian, the Idaho bill’s House sponsor. “They allowed for a civil cause of action, meaning that you could be sued in civil court if someone performs an illegal abortion post-heartbeat.” The Idaho Family Policy Center helped craft the private enforcement legislation and lobbied the Legislature to prevent most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Around five or six weeks is generally when an ultrasound can pick up a so-called “fetal heartbeat,” though specialized physicians have said the sounds are more accurately described as electrical activity. (Suppe, 3/14)

NBC News: Idaho Passes Texas-Inspired Bill To Ban Abortion At 6 Weeks
There are some differences between the Idaho bill and the Texas statute. The Idaho measure is narrower; it would allow the potential father, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of a "preborn child" to sue an abortion provider for a minimum of $20,000 in damages within four years of an abortion. The Texas law allows any citizen to file a lawsuit, with the possibility of being awarded $10,000 by a court. (Gregorian, 3/14)

CNN: Abortion Rights Bill Passes Colorado House 
The Colorado House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation that seeks to codify the right to an abortion in the state. The Reproductive Health Equity Act -- which cleared the chamber 40-24 -- now heads to the state's Democratic-controlled Senate, where it's expected to pass. The legislation states that "every individual has a fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; every pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state." The bill also prohibits state and local entities from denying, restricting, interfering with or discriminating against a person's decision to either use contraception, give birth or have an abortion. (Simonson, 3/14)

USA Today: Veterans Affairs Could Close Three Hospitals, Open Other Facilities In System Overhaul
In a report released Monday, the VA said it would close medical centers in Massachusetts, New York and Ohio along with dozens of other facilities. At the same time, it wants to open hundreds of new points of care it said will improve access to primary care, mental health treatment and other specialty care for hundreds of thousands of veterans. (Brown and Rouan, 3/14)

AP: VA Proposal To Close Rural Health Clinics Spurs Opposition 
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, said the analysis done by the VA has flaws, including that it was based on data collected before the coronavirus pandemic put a strain on health care systems in New Mexico and elsewhere. He said many providers have disappeared over the last years, leaving a void. There are four clinics in New Mexico that are on the list, with three of them serving predominantly Native American and Hispanic populations in areas that are typically underserved. They are in Gallup, Las Vegas, Española and Raton. (Bryan, 3/14)

Stat: Three Years After The Senate Grilled Drug Makers … Nothing’s Changed
Back in 2019, when the Senate Finance Committee called seven drug industry executives to testify, it seemed like proof that Washington was within striking distance of actually reining in the industry’s high prices. “It’s past time to get beyond the excuses and make prescription drugs affordable,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the committee, told drug makers that day. Almost exactly three years later, Wyden will chair another hearing on prescription drug pricing. But this is not a victory lap, nor an opportunity to look at implementation of the sweeping changes Congress has made to this country’s drug pricing system. Far from it. (Florko, 3/15)

AP: UK To End All COVID-19 Travel Rules Ahead Of Easter Break
Britain’s government said Monday all remaining coronavirus measures for travelers, including passenger locator forms and the requirement that unvaccinated people be tested for COVID-19 before and after their arrivals, will end Friday to make going on holiday easier for the Easter school vacation. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes will mean people “can travel just like in the good old days.” The passenger locator forms require people to fill in travel details, their address in the U.K. and their vaccination status. (3/14)

Newsweek: Republican Lawmakers Sue CDC To End Airplane Mask Mandate
Republican lawmakers have sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to force an end to the requirement that face masks be worn on airplanes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, a group of 16 House members led by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and joined by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filed a lawsuit to end what they described as an "illegal mask mandate for individuals traveling on commercial airlines." (Slisco, 3/14)

The Washington Post: CDC Lowers Coronavirus Warnings For Cruise Travel, Popular Caribbean Islands 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday moved several popular beach destinations — as well as cruise ship travel — into categories at lower risk of spreading the coronavirus. The public health agency reassigned travel warnings for nine vacation destinations in the Caribbean and Atlantic from Level 4 — which means a “very high” level of covid-19 — to Level 3, which means the level of the virus is merely “high.” They include Cuba, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos. (Sampson, 3/14)

Axios: Moderna President: 4th Vaccine Dose Only Necessary For Certain Groups
A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will likely only be necessary for elderly and immunocompromised people but not for the general public, Moderna president Stephen Hoge told Business Insider on Monday. His words are in contrast to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's comments on Sunday, who said that fourth doses will be necessary in order to maintain manageable levels of hospitalizations and mild infections. (Saric, 3/14)

Bloomberg: Do I Need A 4th Covid Shot? Pfizer, Moderna Executives Split Over The Need
Top executives at two of the biggest Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers are split over how necessary a fourth dose is for most of the world’s population. Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a CBS interview on Sunday that protection from three shots will wane and a fourth dose is needed “right now”. Then, in an interview, Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge said a second booster is probably only necessary for older people or those who are immunocompromised, with the rest of the public able to be more selective about receiving the shot, Business Insider reported Monday. (Matsuyama, 3/15)

The New York Times: New York’s Vaccine Mandates Saved Lives, Departing Health Boss Says
Five months into the pandemic, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi took on the greatest challenge of his career: helping to guide New York City in its fight against the coronavirus as the new health commissioner. He quickly became the face of the city’s efforts, joining Mayor Bill de Blasio at his daily Covid-19 briefings and appearing in television ads encouraging New Yorkers to wear masks and get tested. (Fitzsimmons, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Three City Workers Sue To Block San Francisco’s Employee Vaccine Mandate
Three city employees sued San Francisco on Monday for requiring them and their coworkers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying it violates their religious freedom and does not protect workers' health. The suit, like those filed elsewhere, claims the vaccine was “derived from stem cells from aborted fetuses, in direct contradiction to (their) Christian beliefs.” All three said they applied for religious exemptions, which the city says are available for the vaccine mandate, but were turned down. (Egelko, 3/14)

The Washington Post: ‘People’s Convoy’ Drives Through D.C. After Permit For Organized Demonstration Downtown Partially Denied
Police blocked interstate exits into downtown Washington as hundreds of trucks, cars and SUVs protesting the government’s response to the pandemic rode into the nation’s capital to start a second week of demonstrations. Members of the “People’s Convoy” and thousands of other motorists encountered severe backups Monday afternoon, when highway traffic that already was heavy only worsened with the convoy’s arrival. The convoy entered the city via the 14th Street Bridge on Interstate 395 amid a near-standstill, then continued to Interstate 695 before crossing the Anacostia River and returning to the Beltway. (Silverman, Elwood and Duncan, 3/14)

Los Angeles Times: Schools Go Mask Optional In Most Of L.A. County
Monday marked the first day since most schools reopened in spring 2021 that students across Los Angeles County have the option to remove their masks in class — although the L.A. Unified School District is an exception. The option to remove masks took effect based on a revised county health order and clearance from state health officials. Yet county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer strongly urges that masking continue as a prudent and valuable measure, especially because student vaccination rates are lagging: 29% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated. (Blume and Money, 3/14)

Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: Americans Ditch COVID Masks, Gain Confidence
Americans' emotional and physical health is bouncing back, along with record confidence about life returning to "normal" as mask mandates are abandoned, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. Two years after the start of the pandemic, the nation is ready to move on, even as disinformation at home and a resurgence of cases in Europe driven by the B.A.2 variant point to challenges on the horizon. (Talev, 3/15)

The Washington Post: These Schools Did Less To Contain Covid. Their Students Flourished
As school systems around the country were battening down for their first remote start-of-school in the fall of 2020, the Lewis-Palmer district here was embarking on another kind of experiment: Elementary students would be in class full time, sitting maskless at communal tables. The band program would resume in-person classes, saxophonists and flutists playing a few feet apart. The high school football teams would practice and compete. While most of the nation kept students at home for part or all of the last academic year, these schools in the suburbs of Colorado Springs, like thousands of others around the country, opened with the overwhelming majority of students in their seats. Masks were optional in elementary school. Although middle- and high-schoolers began with hybrid learning, in November, high school-aged students with significant special education needs were back in-person five days a week. (Stein, 3/14)

USA Today: Costco To End Senior Hours, COVID Operating Hours For Healthcare Workers And First Responders
Costco will soon drop its senior hours after holding them for more than two years amid the coronavirus pandemic. The special operating hours will be in place until April 17 for members 60 and older, healthcare workers and first responders, the wholesale club said Monday in an update on its COVID updates webpage. The hours have also been for members with disabilities or those who are immunocompromised. "As of April 18, 2022, Costco will no longer be offering special shopping hours for members ages 60 or older, healthcare workers and first responders," Costco said in the update. (Tyko, 3/14)

AP: Nets Fined $50K For Letting Kyrie Irving Enter Locker Room 
The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $50,000 on Monday for letting Kyrie Irving into their locker room during a game in which he was unable to play because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Irving was a spectator at Barclays Center on Sunday, sitting across from the Nets bench for Brooklyn’s 110-107 victory over the New York Knicks. There is no longer a mandate that fans be vaccinated to enter the arena, but there is still one requiring it for someone who works there. (3/15)

AP: Louisiana Governor: COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Ending
A public health emergency declaration in effect since March of 2020 will end Wednesday in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards told state lawmakers in a wide-ranging speech on the first day of the 2022 regular legislative session. Opening day fell two years to the day after Louisiana recorded its first COVID-19 death. The Democratic governor’s mitigation efforts at times included mask mandates and strong limits on public gatherings that put him at odds with some Republican lawmakers and state officials. Although Edwards continually renewed the emergency status over two years, he largely eliminated the restrictions and mandates as the state’s coronavirus picture improved. (McGill, 3/14)

The Courier-Journal: Kentucky Ending COVID Emergency Early To Cost Millions In Federal Aid
The Kentucky General Assembly's recent decision to call an early end to the public health emergency over COVID-19 will come at a cost to more than a half-million of the state's residents. Kentuckians stands to lose $50 million a month in extra food stamp benefits starting in May. The legislature's decision means the average benefit of $243 a month will drop by about $100 for the 544,000 low-income Kentuckians who qualify for the federal program known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. (Yetter, 3/14)

The New York Times: A Florida Public Health Official, Suspended After Promoting Vaccination To His Staff, Has Been Reinstated.
The Florida Department of Health has allowed its top public health official in Orlando to return to work, two months after the official was placed on administrative leave for sending an email to employees urging them to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The official — Dr. Raul Pino, the health administrator for Orange County — was reinstated on March 11, after a review of “compliance issues with department policy,” Jeremy T. Redfern, a spokesman for the department, said in a statement on Monday. (Mazzei, 3/15)

AP: Senate OKs Bill Removing Health Background For Commissioner 
Oklahoma’s health commissioner would no longer need to be a medical doctor or have a background in health administration under legislation the state Senate passed Monday. The Senate approved the bill on a 31-15 vote, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The measure now heads to the House for consideration. (3/14)

AP: Detroit Archbishop Has COVID-19, Reports Mild Symptoms 
Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and reported “very mild” symptoms. The 73-tear-old spiritual leader of 1.2 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan said on Twitter he was “fully vaccinated and boosted.” (3/15)

Bloomberg: Are Covid Cases Going Back Up? Sewer Data Has Potential Warning 
A wastewater network that monitors for Covid-19 trends is warning that cases are once again rising in many parts of the U.S., according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by Bloomberg. More than a third of the CDC’s wastewater sample sites across the U.S. showed rising Covid-19 trends in the period ending March 1 to March 10, though reported cases have stayed near a recent low. The number of sites with rising signals of Covid-19 cases is nearly twice what it was during the Feb. 1 to Feb. 10 period, when the wave of omicron-variant cases was fading rapidly. (Armstrong and Tartar, 3/14)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 In US Prisoners, Staff At Triple The Community Rate
A study of COVID-19 rates among inmates and staff at 101 US federal prisons compared with surrounding counties from May 2020 through January 2021 finds three-times-higher infection rates in prisons. German and US researchers conducted the study, published late last week in BMC Public Health, using data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center from May 18, 2020, to Jan 31, 2021. (Van Beusekom, 3/14)

CIDRAP: 99.1% Of Close Contacts Of Omicron-Infected Patients Diagnosed By 10 Days
Late last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, South Korean researchers reported that average time from exposure to COVID-19 diagnosis was 3.7 days in quarantined close contacts of patients infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and that 99.1% of diagnoses occurred by day 10, supporting a 10-day quarantine. (3/14)

USA Today: COVID: Anxiety, Depression Lingers For Bedridden Patients, Study Finds
People who were bedridden for a week or more with COVID-19 remain at increased risk for anxiety and depression more than a year later, according to a new study. But those who had milder infections are actually at lower risk for mental health problems than the general public. "The good news is that the patient group as a whole is not at higher risk of developing long-term (mental health) symptoms," said Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Iceland, who helped lead the research. (Weintraub, 3/14)

NBC News: Lasting Depression And Anxiety Can Follow Severe Case Of Covid, Study Finds
Feelings of depression and anxiety can last nearly a year and a half after a serious bout of Covid-19, according to a study released Monday. The research, published in The Lancet Public Health, is among the first to analyze long-term mental health repercussions following severe cases of Covid, which researchers described as being unable to get out of bed for at least a week.  (Edwards, 3/14)

USA Today: Federal Funeral Benefits For COVID-19 Victims Available, But Obscure
Minnesota resident George Campbell handled the 2021 California funeral arrangements for his parents, who died the same day at age 96, after 75 years of marriage. Barred from traveling by COVID-19 restrictions, he did the work by computer and phone. Then came the hard part, complicated by difficulties with his parents' estate – obtaining the Federal Emergency Management Agency's $9,000 death benefit for coronavirus deaths. That took roughly three months. (McCoy, 3/15)

NPR: Stroke Rates Are Increasing Among Young People. Here's What You Need To Know
Over the weekend, the model Hailey Bieber told her Instagram followers that she experienced stroke-like symptoms while at breakfast with her husband Thursday morning. Doctors found a small clot in her brain, she said, which caused "a small lack of oxygen." Bieber said on Instagram that her body passed the clot on its own, and she recovered within a few hours. Though Bieber recovered in her case, blood clots in the brain can lead to ischemic strokes, which make up a majority of all strokes. And among young people, stroke rates are on the rise. Here's what you need to know.

Modern Healthcare: 'SPAC Frenzy' Has Cooled In Healthcare
The wave of shell company-led healthcare acquisitions has ebbed as valuations have dropped and financing has dried up. Special purpose acquisition companies experienced a meteoric rise in 2020, when more healthcare companies turned to these "blank check" companies as an alternative to executing their own initial public offerings. SPACs, which raise money through IPOs and use it to acquire other companies and take them public, were involved in 119 deals across all sectors in the third quarter of 2020 valued at a cumulative $40 billion, according to consulting firm RSM's analysis of Bloomberg data. (Kacik, 3/14)

Modern Healthcare: Providence’s Aaron Martin Confirms He’s Returning To Amazon
Providence chief digital officer Aaron Martin is returning to Amazon after spending nearly six years at the Catholic-based health system. Martin has led Providence Ventures, overseeing the health system’s $300 million health tech fund. Under Martin, Providence has spun out two digital health companies from its digital innovation group and invested in a number of other successful companies, including Omada Health and Lyra Health. (Perna, 3/14)

Modern Healthcare: ECRI's Top 10 Patient Safety List Highlights Staff Shortages
Staff shortages and workers' mental health are top patient safety concerns that health system executives must tackle, according to ECRI's annual Top Ten Patient Safety Concerns for 2022. The report usually focuses on clinical problems like diagnostic errors or cybersecurity attacks. While those issues still exist, the pandemic disrupted health system operations during the past two years. Hospitalizations are decreasing but many in healthcare expect COVID-19 will continue as a public health crisis. The not-for-profit patient safety organization reported that staff shortages actively threaten patient care by creating longer wait times for care. (Gillespie, 3/14)

The Washington Post: Drop Boxes Are Making It Easier To Get Rid Of Old Medication
If there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it’s that we have a lot of excess stuff in our homes — including bottles and bottles of expired or no-longer-needed medications. That’s a problem, according to Elizabeth Skoy, an associate professor at North Dakota State University’s School of Pharmacy. “In recent years, there’s been a spotlight on medication disposal, because of the opioid epidemic,” she said. “It’s important to get rid of any medication when you are done with it to prevent misuse or having it fall into the hands of others.” Plus, having old medications in the home increases the chances of accidental poisoning of children or pets. (Daily, 3/14)

The Washington Post: Mississippi Lawmakers Just Killed A Bill That Would Expand Postpartum Care
Laurie Bertram Roberts is relieved her postpartum complications happened when she lived in Indiana, a state with more expansive Medicaid options for pregnant women. If they had happened in Mississippi, where she lives now, she worries she might have died, she said. During her second pregnancy, in 1996, Roberts said the incision site for her Caesarean section got infected about six weeks after she gave birth — a problem that antibiotics could clear up, she added, but that might have been life-threatening without treatment. And during her fifth pregnancy in 2002, she went to her doctor for migraine treatment, she said, only to find out that the high blood pressure that had developed during her pregnancy lasted for months after giving birth. It was so high that her doctor warned her that if they hadn’t caught it, she could have had a stroke, Roberts said. (Higgins, 3/14)

AP: Report: Nursing Home Put Residents In Jeopardy During Storm 
A North Carolina nursing home put its residents in “immediate jeopardy” when it failed to enact an emergency plan, leaving just three people to take care of 98 residents during a January storm, according to a state report released Monday. The News & Observer account says the report from the state Department of Health and Human Services said police arrived at Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center on the night of Jan. 16 after receiving a 911 call from a resident who complained about not seeing staff members for a “long period of time.” Police found two residents dead and two others in critical condition inside the nursing home. (3/15)

PBS NewsHour: Arizona’s Privatized Prison Health Care Has Been Failing For Years. A New Court Case Could Change That 
When Timothy Pena was moved from a federal prison to a state prison in Arizona, he said the first thing the state prison authorities tried to do was take him off his HIV medication. After explaining to the medical staff that the federal prison provided him Genvoya, which was prescribed by his doctor, they switched Pena to a different drug that he said made him suicidal. “I spent the first four months in the Department of Correction trying to kill myself,” he told the PBS NewsHour. (Stabley, 3/14)

Oklahoman: Transgender Oklahomans Sue Over State's Birth Certificate Policies
Three transgender Oklahomans who are seeking to alter the gender designation on their birth certificates are suing Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state's health commissioner over an executive order that they say blocks such changes. Stitt in November signed an executive order that barred the Oklahoma Health Department from issuing nonbinary or gender-neutral birth certificates. As a result, the health department says it cannot amend a person's gender marker on a state-issued birth certificate, even if the person presents a court order, according to the lawsuit. The agency previously required a court order from an Oklahoma court to change the sex designation on a birth certificate. (Forman, 3/14)

The Mercury News: Why Families Facing Anti-Transgender Persecution Are Moving To Colorado
She isn’t sure when, but someday soon her family will get in the car and travel from Houston to northern Colorado, where they’ll start a new life. She’s a fourth-generation Texan and all her close relatives live near her. She’s only been to Colorado a few times, and her family has zero friends here. But her eldest child, a 17-year-old boy, is transgender, and in Texas that now makes her a child abuser in the eyes of her governor, whose recent dictate has led to at least nine investigations of parents like her. Lawyers have advised she keep her name out of the news, lest she tip-off authorities. (Burness, 3/14)

Idaho Statesman: Idaho Bill To Shield Lethal Injection Drug Suppliers In Executions Heads To Senate
Idaho lawmakers breathed new life into a contentious bill aimed at preserving the state’s death penalty, holding a disputed re-vote Monday in committee and advancing the proposed law to the Senate floor for a full vote. House Bill 658 would shield suppliers of lethal injection drugs and all execution participants from any public disclosure, including in a court of law. Proponents have framed the bill as vital to maintaining capital punishment in the state. (Fixler, 3/14)

Houston Chronicle: Deaths Tied To Fentanyl Skyrocket In Harris County, Where The Drug Kills More Than One Person Every Day
Houston and Texas are seeing a record number of deaths from the opioid epidemic, with fentanyl as the principal driver. All it takes is a dose of fentanyl the size of a pencil tip to kill a person. In Harris County alone, fentanyl kills more than one person every day. Fatal drug overdoses increased 52 percent from 2019 to 2021, according to Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences data. Deaths involving fentanyl skyrocketed by 341 percent in the same period, from 104 to 459. (Tallet, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl Test Strips Are In Demand At Bay Area Bars And Restaurants: ‘People Come In Just For The Strips’
On a Thursday afternoon, Alison Heller arrived at Rockridge Improvement Club in Oakland right when it opened at 4 p.m. But she wasn’t there just for fun — she was coming in to refill the bar’s supply of fentanyl test strips. “We just restocked yesterday, but I’m sure they need more,” Heller said, as she took the plastic lid off of the fishbowl in the bathroom. Sure enough, eight of the bowl’s 12 strips had already been taken. Heller promptly restuffed the bowl. (Echeverria, 3/14)

AP: Homelessness Jumps 35% In 2 Years In Biggest Arizona County
Authorities say an official count shows the number of homeless people in Arizona’s largest county surged 35% over two years amid a housing crisis and economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic. A report released by the Maricopa Association of Governments says that 5,029 people in the county, including 3,096 people in Phoenix, experienced homelessness in unsheltered situations the night of Jan. 25. (Snow, 3/15)

CNBC: Is Omicron Subvariant BA.2 To Blame For Rising Covid Cases?
Covid cases are rising in Europe, with an increasing number being attributed to the prevalence of a “stealth” subvariant of the omicron strain. Covid cases have risen dramatically in the U.K. in recent weeks, while Germany continues to mark record high daily infections with over 250,000 new cases a day. Elsewhere, France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands are also seeing Covid infections start to rise again, aided and abetted by the relaxation of Covid measures and the spread of a new subvariant of omicron, known as BA.2. Public health officials and scientists are closely monitoring BA.2, which has been described as a “stealth” variant because it has genetic mutations that could make it harder to distinguish from the delta variant using PCR tests, compared to the original omicron variant, BA.1. (Ellyatt, 3/15)

The New York Times: American Samoa, Which Had Largely Avoided The Coronavirus, Sees A Surge In Cases.
Until recently, American Samoa, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, was one of the world’s last holdouts from the coronavirus. But in recent weeks, infections have spread quickly. Weekly cases jumped from around two dozen in mid-February to more than a hundred by the end of the month, according to the World Health Organization. (May and Meheut, 3/15)

NPR: A Surge In COVID-19 Spurs New Lockdowns In China's Cities
The entire Chinese province of Jilin is under lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge across the country. Jilin's daily case counts topped 4,067 on Monday alone, leaving health officials scrambling to catch up to the highly transmissible omicron variant. China is combatting the highest level of COVID-19 cases ever, with more than 10,000 cases since scattered across 27 provinces and municipalities since the start of this month. (Feng and Cao, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Chernobyl Power Line Again Damaged By Russia, Ukraine’s Nuclear Agency Says 
A high-voltage power line at the former Chernobyl nuclear plant has once again been damaged by Russian forces, Ukraine’s nuclear agency said Monday, just one day after Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko announced that power had been restored following a Russian attack last week that disconnected the site from the electricity grid. (Hassan and Simon, 3/14)

Reuters: Suicides By Women Up In Japan For Second Year
The number of women who died by suicide in Japan rose for a second straight year in 2021 although the overall number of people who took their own lives in the country edged down, police said on Tuesday. Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way of avoiding shame or dishonour, and its suicide rate had long topped the Group of Seven nations, but a concerted national effort brought numbers down by roughly 40 percent over 15 years - although they rose in 2020 due to stresses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Ministry said. (3/15)