First Edition: May 5, 2021

KHN: Trouble Managing Money May Be An Early Sign Of Dementia 
After Maria Turner’s minivan was totaled in an accident a dozen years ago, she grew impatient waiting for the insurance company to process the claim. One night, she saw a red pickup truck on eBay for $20,000. She thought it was just what she needed. She clicked “buy it now” and went to bed. The next morning, she got an email about arranging delivery. Only then did she remember what she’d done. Making such a big purchase with no forethought and then forgetting about it was completely out of character for Turner, then a critical care nurse in Greenville, South Carolina. Although she was able to back out of the deal without financial consequences, the experience scared her. “I made a joke out of it, but it really disturbed me,” Turner said. (Andrews, 5/5)

KHN: Covid Shot In The Arm Not Enough To Keep Pharmacies In Business
Tobin’s pharmacy and department store had already stocked its shelves with Easter and Mother’s Day items last spring, and the staff had just placed the Christmas orders. The shop in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, had been operating on a razor’s edge as retail sales moved online and mail-order pharmacies siphoned off its patients. It was losing money on 1 out of 4 pill bottles filled, so the front of the store, where it sold clothing, cosmetics and jewelry, had been compensating for pharmacy losses for years. “And then covid hit,” said Dave Schultz, who co-owned the store with his brother. “And that was the final straw.”(Hawryluk, 5/5)

KHN: Hit By Higher Prices For Gear, Doctors And Dentists Want Insurers To Pay 
Treating patients has become more expensive during the pandemic, and doctors and dentists don’t want to be on the hook for all the new costs. For instance, the box of 100 gloves that cost $2.39 in February 2020 costs $30 now, said Dr. Judee Tippett-Whyte, president of the California Dental Association, who has a private dental practice in Stockton. (Bluth, 5/5)

KHN: A Primary Care Physician For Every American, Science Panel Urges
The federal government must aggressively bolster primary care and connect more Americans with a dedicated source of care, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine warn in a major report that sounds the alarm about an endangered foundation of the U.S. health system. The urgently worded report, which comes as internists, family doctors and pediatricians nationwide struggle with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, calls for a broad recognition that primary care is a “common good” akin to public education. (Levey, 5/4)

The New York Times: Pfizer To Seek Clearance In September For Vaccinating Children As Young As 2 
Pfizer expects to apply to the Food and Drug Administration in September for emergency authorization to administer its coronavirus vaccine to children between the ages of 2 and 11, the company told Wall Street analysts and reporters on Tuesday during its quarterly earnings call. The company said it also plans to apply this month for full approval of the vaccine for use in people from ages 16 to 85. And it said it expected to have clinical trial data on the safety of its vaccine in pregnant women by early August. (Anthes, 5/5)

Fox News: Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine Study Now Includes Kids, Company Says
Vaccine development company Novavax on Monday announced it has expanded its Phase 3 clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 12 and 17. The company said it's testing its COVID-19 vaccine —  NVX-CoV2373 — on some 3,000 pediatric patients across 75 U.S. locations. The company is testing two doses of its vaccine candidate spaced 21 days apart. "Two-thirds of volunteers will receive intramuscular injections of the vaccine and one-third will receive placebo. A blinded crossover is planned to take place six months after the initial set of vaccinations to ensure that all trial participants receive active vaccine," the company said in a news release. "Participants will be monitored for safety for up to two years following the final dose." (Farber, 5/4)

AP: US Parents Excited Over Prospect Of Virus Shots For Children
After more than a year of fretting over her 13-year son with a rare liver disease, Heather Ousley broke into tears when she learned that he and millions of other youngsters could soon be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. “This day is the best day in the history of days!!! I love this day!!!” she texted, joining other parents and educators in welcoming the news that the Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer’s vaccine by next week for children ages 12 to 15. (Hollingsworth and Richmond, 5/5)

Roll Call: Vaccinating Kids For COVID-19 Poses Additional Challenges For Officials
Public health advocates who expect COVID-19 vaccines to become available for younger teens soon are concerned that a government-led distribution effort that may rely in large part on pediatricians could create glaring inequalities among children. With only three months before the next school year starts in some areas, advocates are calling on the Biden administration to develop a more detailed outreach strategy, encourage schools to offer shots and provide more funding to get kids vaccinated. (Cohen, 5/4)

Stat: Biden’s New Goal: At Least One Vaccine Dose For 70% Of Adults By July 4
To reach that goal, Biden’s team said he will expand walk-up vaccinations at pharmacies and vaccination sites, open additional mobile vaccination units, and accelerate a public-relations campaign aimed at boosting vaccine confidence. The announcement comes as the pace of the U.S. vaccination effort has nosedived. As of mid-April, the country was administering just under 3.4 million vaccine doses each day. As of Tuesday, the rate had dropped to just under 2.3 million. (Facher, 5/4)

NPR: Biden Sets New Goal: At Least 70% Of Adults Given 1 Vaccine Dose By July 4
President Biden on Tuesday announced a new goal to administer at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 70% of American adults by the Fourth of July. The administration also aims to have 160 million adults fully vaccinated by then, a push to improve the level of immunity in the country to the point where the coronavirus has less of an opportunity to spread and so that more public health restrictions can be lifted, administration officials told reporters. (Wise, 5/4)

The Hill: Biden Acknowledges Difficulty Of Next Stage Of Vaccine Effort
President Biden acknowledged Tuesday that the next phase of the U.S. vaccination effort will be more difficult, as it will mostly be out of his control. "In one sense, it's easier because I don't have to put together this massive logistical effort, but in the other sense, it's harder because it's beyond my personal control," Biden said in response to a question after his prepared remarks. (Weixel, 5/4)

NBC News: Biden Extends Ban On Fentanyl-Like Substances
President Joe Biden signed legislation Tuesday extending a ban on addictive fentanyl-like substances into October, which comes two days before the previous ban was set to expire. Under the extension of the order, these fentanyl analogues are classified by the federal government as a schedule I drug and are subject to the strictest controls like heroin. (Shabad, 5/4)

CIDRAP: Bipartisan Group Of Lawmakers Urges More Funding For AMR Response
A bipartisan group of congressional representatives called on House appropriators last week to increase funding for the federal response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In a letter signed by more than 60 lawmakers from both parties, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said Congress must fully support the funding necessary to significantly reduce the burden of AMR. ... "Drug-resistant infections sicken at least 2.8 million and kill at least 35,000 people annually in the U.S.," the lawmakers wrote to the House Appropriations Committee. (5/4)

Stat: Pharma Showers Menendez With Rare, Off-Cycle Burst Of Campaign Cash 
Sen. Bob Menendez doesn’t face reelection until 2024, but pharmaceutical executives are already flooding his campaign with cash — a sign of the central role he will play in deciding whether Democrats are able to pass substantial drug pricing reforms this year. Since March, the New Jersey Democrat has received at least $1,000 from each of the CEOs of eight different drug companies: Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, UCB, Otsuka, and Sage Therapeutics, according to federal election disclosures. The Pfizer and Merck executives both personally gave Menendez $5,000 and $5,800, respectfully. Top executives from Amgen and Lundbeck also wrote Menendez personal checks totaling $1,000 and $1,500. (Florko, 5/5)

Roll Call: Congress, White House Plan Action On Maternal Health Policies 
The White House and lawmakers are seeking to build momentum on what they view as a more comprehensive policy solution to address the nation’s rising rates of maternal mortality and morbidity. Advocates and lawmakers are working on comprehensive legislation to curb maternal deaths, which has emerged as a bipartisan priority in recent years. Maternal mortality, or death during or up to a year after childbirth, is a growing problem in the United States. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed nation. (Raman, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Births In U.S. Drop To Levels Not Seen Since 1979 
The number of babies born in America last year was the lowest in more than four decades, according to federal figures released Wednesday that show a continuing U.S. fertility slump. U.S. women had about 3.61 million babies in 2020, down 4% from the prior year, provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows. The total fertility rate—a snapshot of the average number of babies a woman would have over her lifetime—fell to 1.64. That was the lowest rate on record since the government began tracking it in the 1930s, and likely before that when families were larger, said report co-author Brady Hamilton. Total births were the lowest since 1979. (Adamy, 5/4)

AP: US Birth Rate Falls To Lowest Point In More Than A Century
The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wednesday. The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago. Births have been declining in younger women for years, as many postponed motherhood and had smaller families. Birth rates for women in their late 30s and in their 40s have been inching up. But not last year. (Stobbe, 5/5)

The Hill: BioNTech Founders Predict Pandemic Will Spread For At Least Another Year 
The founders of BioNTech, the German biotechnology company that developed a prominent coronavirus vaccine with Pfizer, are predicting that the pandemic likely will continue into 2022 as new waves of the infection surge in countries with limited vaccine supplies. During The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Tuesday, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin warned that COVID-19 will continue to spread unless countries do more to ramp up vaccine distribution in countries such as India, which on Tuesday became the second country to record 20 million coronavirus infections. (Castronuovo, 5/4)

Fox News: Fauci Says US Is In 'Bottom Of The Sixth' In COVID-19 Timeline
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the county’s top disease expert, said in an interview Tuesday that he believes the U.S. is in "the bottom of the sixth" when it comes to the likely COVID-19 timeline. Fauci told CNN that he is under the impression the President Biden’s goal of administering 100 million jabs over the next 60 days is achievable. Biden on Tuesday set a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one shot to 70% of adult Americans by July Fourth.  Fauci's comments were first reported by Mediaite. (DeMarche, 5/5)

AP: Michigan Lifts Outdoor Mask Requirement For Crowds Under 100
Michigan late Tuesday lifted an outdoor mask requirement except in gatherings of at least 100 people and in organized contact sports, and said teen athletes no longer must undergo regular COVID-19 testing if they are fully vaccinated. Under a revised pandemic order that takes effect Thursday, the state also eased caps on outdoor event sizes and said vaccinated people are not required to be masked at indoor residential gatherings even if others are unvaccinated. (Eggert, 5/5)

Axios: Poll: Mask Use Drops After CDC Relaxes Guidelines 
Vaccinated Americans are easing up on wearing masks — but so are unvaccinated Americans, according to a new Ipsos poll. The latest findings are an early snapshot of how people are modifying their behavior since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks outside. (Nather, 5/5)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pennsylvania Will Fully Reopen On Memorial Day, Lifting COVID-19 Rules. Philadelphia Won’t Follow Suit — Yet
Pennsylvania will lift its coronavirus mitigation measures on Memorial Day, state officials announced Tuesday, marking a milestone in the pandemic recovery and freeing businesses and patrons to prepare to fill restaurants, bars, and stores for the first time in more than a year. Philadelphia, however, was not yet set to follow suit: The city will said it will review the state’s policy but retain its own restrictions. Officials are working on the city’s reopening plans. (McCarthy and McDaniel, 5/5)

The New York Times: Sudden Decision To Reopen Leaves New Yorkers Dizzy And Divided
The news longed for by so many for so long landed like a jolting boom: New York City is reopening — not someday, not hopefully soon, but in two weeks. Last year’s erasure of the city’s nightlife, culture, dining and shopping — the things that make New York New York — would be suddenly undone. By Tuesday, a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s announcement, New Yorkers were responding with a mix of joy, did-I-hear-that-right double-takes and doubt. The idea of having so much come back so soon — on May 19, a seemingly random Wednesday around the corner — was, for many, dizzying. (Wilson, 5/4)

Fox News: DeSantis Emergency Order Does Not Convince Publix, Florida Public Schools To Ditch Masks
Many Florida schools and the state’s largest grocery store chain will continue to require masks for the time being, despite Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive action this week to suspend local COVID-19 emergency orders, according to multiple reports. DeSantis’ executive order does not block businesses within the state from requiring mask or social distancing. During a press conference earlier in the week, the governor noted that establishments such as supermarkets or Disney theme parks could still implement mask mandates on-site. Grocery giant Publix told FOX 13 that it will still require customers to wear masks while shopping at its stores. The chain has mandated masks on-site throughout the pandemic. (Barrabi, 5/4)

Bloomberg: White House To Reallocate Covid Vaccine Doses Based On State Demand
President Joe Biden’s administration told governors Tuesday that it would begin reallocating vaccines that go unclaimed by states -- essentially clawing back unwanted doses from places where the pace of shots is lagging in order to steer them elsewhere, three people familiar with the call said. The White House told governors about the switch during a weekly call with the state leaders. Biden is due to speak Tuesday afternoon at the White House about the Covid response. (Merelman and LaVito, 5/4)

Bloomberg: Is U.S. Vaccination Slowing Down? In Most States, Yes
In some places, the decline is the mark of a successful campaign: 10 states have started vaccinations for more than half their residents. But in places that have struggled, the slide has been going on for weeks. In some of those states, the number of new recipients has turned into a trickle. “The rate of vaccination has slowed down nationwide,” said Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara M. Anton. As of April 27, first-time shots in the state fell by 54% from an April 11 peak, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.  “Everyone who was eager to get vaccinated has gotten their shot.” (Armstrong and Rutherford, 5/4)

CBS News: Target Offers $5 Coupons To Those Who Get Vaccinated In Its Stores 
Adults who get vaccinated against COVID-19 at CVS pharmacies inside Target stores nationwide will also get a $5 coupon, starting this week, the discount retailer announced on Tuesday. Target offers immunization shots at nearly all of the 600-plus CVS pharmacies inside its stores. The extra incentive for the general public and its employees comes as part of its support of public vaccination efforts, the company stated. (Gibson, 5/4)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Drive-Thru Vaccine Site At Convention Center Hums On First Day
With demand for COVID-19 vaccinations dwindling, public health authorities in the Las Vegas Valley are trying something new here: drive-thru inoculation sites. Clark County and Southern Nevada Health District officials debuted on Tuesday the valley’s first large-scale, drive-thru site at the Las Vegas Convention Center, a development only announced Monday. Another drive-thru site will open at Texas Station in North Las Vegas on May 11. “We’re trying to find out what works and what our community needs, so that we can get to the magic 60 percent,” said the health district’s Jonathan Wiercinski, referring to the county’s COVID-19 mitigation plan. (Hynes, 5/4)

Detroit Free Press: Should Kids Get COVID-19 Vaccines? Michigan Doctors Say Yes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to comment Tuesday on how soon the agency could amend the emergency use authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to include children ages 12-15, telling the Free Press only that its review "is ongoing." "We can assure the public that we are working to review this request as quickly and transparently as possible," an FDA spokesperson said. In remarks about the nation's COVID-19 response Tuesday, President Joe Biden said that "the FDA and the FDA alone will make that decision." (Jordan Shamus and Hall, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: HHS To Ensure Providers Get Paid For Vaccinating Underinsured Patients
HHS will pay providers to administer COVID-19 vaccines to underinsured patients, the agency said Monday. The new COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund should ensure that providers get fully reimbursed for vaccinating patients with health plans that don't cover vaccination fees or require patient cost-sharing. Under the program, HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration will reimburse providers for such services at national Medicare rates. (Brady, 5/4)

Des Moines Register: COVID In Iowa: 'India Variant' In State, Joining U.K. And Brazil
The "India variant" of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Iowa, although state health officials said they don't believe it's as much of a threat as the "U.K. variant," which has predominated here lately. The new strain of the virus, formally known as the B.1.617 variant, was reported Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Lab tests found it in samples from two unidentified adults in Jefferson County, the department said in a news release. Two other variants of the coronavirus were confirmed in Iowa earlier this spring. (Leys, 5/4)

Bloomberg: LA, San Francisco Move To Lowest Tier For Covid Restrictions
Los Angeles and San Francisco entered California’s least-restrictive tier for economic reopenings, increasing capacity for a wide range of businesses and private gatherings as the state tamps down new Covid-19 cases. Restaurants, gyms and movie theaters can expand to 50% of their regular occupancy. Bars will be able to open at 25% capacity indoors. Stadiums and other outdoor events may expand to as much as 67% of capacity. The new health orders will go into effect Thursday. (Palmeri and Baker, 5/4)

Bloomberg: Two Pandemics Clash As Doctors Find That Covid Spurs Diabetes
When Ziyad Al-Aly’s research team told him how often diabetes appeared to strike Covid-19 survivors, he thought the data must be wrong, so he asked his five colleagues to crunch the numbers again. Weeks later, they returned the same findings after sifting through millions of patient records. By then Al-Aly had also gone digging into the scientific literature and was starting to come to terms with an alarming reality: Covid-19 isn’t just deadlier for people with diabetes, it’s also triggering the metabolic disease in many who didn’t previously have it. (Gale, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Helen Murray Free, Chemist Who Revolutionized Diabetes Testing, Dies At 98 
When Helen Murray Free entered college in 1941, young women enjoyed few professional opportunities upon their graduation. For the most part, she said, they could hope to become “secretaries, nurses or teachers.” In keeping with the limitations of her time, Mrs. Free had enrolled at the College of Wooster in Ohio planning to become an English and Latin teacher. But when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, precipitating the U.S. entry into World War II, her horizons shifted. As young men emptied out of college campuses to join the armed forces, their seats in university science courses were suddenly vacant, although the country still needed scientists. (Langer, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine Revenue Projected To Hit $26 Billion In 2021 With Production Surge
Pfizer on Tuesday said it expects global sales of its coronavirus vaccine to reach $26 billion in 2021, a milestone that would make it the biggest-selling pharmaceutical product in the world and helps illustrate why Pfizer is planning to expand use of mRNA technology for other vaccines and therapies. Sales of its mRNA vaccine are likely to eclipse Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis drug made by AbbVie, with annual revenue around $20 billion, currently the world’s top seller. Pfizer had $3.5 billion in coronavirus vaccine sales in the first quarter. (Rowland, 5/4)

Axios: Pfizer Posts Crazy Good Quarter With Major Assist From COVID Vaccines 
Pfizer reported a super strong first quarter, saying it now expects about $26 billion in sales for its COVID-19 vaccine this year. That's up from an earlier projection of about $15 billion. That anticipated windfall comes as the Biden administration announced more ambitious U.S. vaccine goals and the world scrambles to get access to shots. (Reed, 5/5)

ABC News: Pfizer's Posts $4.9B 1Q Profit As Vaccine Strategy Pays Off 
Selling vaccines during a pandemic has boosted Pfizer’s bottom line and proven that a strategy it embarked upon over a decade ago is now paying off handsomely. The New York-based pharmaceutical giant reported Tuesday that it earned $4.9 billion in the first three months of the year and it dramatically raised its profit forecast for all of 2021 thanks to strong demand for its COVID-19 vaccine. The company, along with its German partner BioNTech, anticipate strong revenue from the vaccine and booster shots for the next three years. (Johnson, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: Unnecessary Tests And Procedures Widespread In Much Of U.S.
Many hospital doctors continue to perform unnecessary medical procedures and surgeries every year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan healthcare think tank Lown Institute. The second annual Hospitals Index found that in the U.S., for-profit, non-teaching and Southern hospitals were associated with the highest rates of overuse. Hospitals like Houston Methodist Sugarland Hospital, CHI St. Luke's Health Memorial Livingston in Tennessee and Adventist Healthcare Fort Washington Medical Center in Maryland all scored in the bottom 50 hospitals as having the most Medicare claims for 12 unnecessary tests, procedures and surgeries. (Gillespie, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Organ Collection Agencies Told To Improve Performance Or Face Tighter Rules 
Lawmakers on Tuesday grilled leaders of the groups that collect organs for transplant, warning that they might seek tighter regulations if the organizations do not increase the number of kidneys, hearts, lungs and other organs they procure and reduce racial disparities among donors and recipients. Before a congressional hearing on the industry even began, six of the 57 groups — known as organ procurement organizations, or OPOs — announced that they were withdrawing from their own trade group, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations. In a news release, they cited AOPO’s “lobbying against lifesaving reforms” being implemented by the federal government, and said they wanted to provide clearer information on waste and mismanagement in their ranks. (Bernstein, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Leaders Make Pledge To Improve Healthcare Worker Safety
CEOs from 10 hospital systems are working together to create a new safety standard for healthcare workers as the pandemic has highlighted the risks and inequities in the industry. The group, formed early this year and known as the CEO Coalition, shared their signed declaration on Tuesday and said they hope to kick off a national movement to protect workers' psychological, emotional and physical safety as well as promote health justice. (Christ, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Shareholders Reject Two Union-Backed Proposals At Annual Meeting
HCA Healthcare's shareholders shot down two union-backed proposals at the investor-owned company's recent annual meeting, one that would have made quality a bigger factor in executive pay and another to oust a director. The owners of 9.2% of Nashville-based HCA's common stock—representing just shy of 28.5 million shares out of 308.3 million total shares—voted in favor of a bid to study the feasibility of increasing the impact of quality performance on executive compensation. The measure would have needed 'yes' votes from owners of more than 50% of shares to pass. (Bannow, 5/4)

Stat: The Editor Of Digital Health’s New Journal Wants To Democratize Data
As an ICU physician, Leo Anthony Celi knows the immense power health data can hold. If it’s harnessed thoughtfully, it could speed diagnoses and drive better care. And if it isn’t wielded carefully, it can make matters worse. That’s why he’s become a prominent advocate for open data sharing as a way to make medical research not only more democratic, but also more robust. (Palmer, 5/5)

Boston Globe: Affinia Therapeutics Raises $110 Million For Gene Therapy Treatments
Affinia Therapeutics, a Waltham-based biotech working on gene therapies to treat diseases using technology developed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, said Monday it has raised $110 million in a new venture capital round. The company, which was founded in 2019 based on work pioneered by Luk Vandenberghe, an associate professor at Mass. Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, plans to use the money to advance its gene therapy technology and move experimental drug programs into clinical trials. (Jonathan Saltzman, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes Makes First Courtroom Appearance In Over A Year 
Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes appeared in a federal courtroom in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday for the first time in more than a year, attending arguments between her lawyers and prosecutors over what evidence jurors can hear at her approaching criminal fraud trial. (Randazzo, 5/4)

AP: Pharma Company To Pay $12.6M To Settle Kickback Allegations 
A Delaware pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $12.6 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act by paying kickbacks. Department of Justice officials said in a news release Tuesday that the settlement resolves allegations that Incyte Corp. improperly used an independent foundation to cover the copays of certain people taking the company’s cancer drug Jakafi from November 2011 to December 2014. Jakafi is approved to treat a bone marrow cancer called myleofibrosis. (Chase, 5/4)

Bloomberg: Opioid Distributors Sold ‘Mountain Of Pills,’ Lawyer Tells Judge
The biggest drug distributors in the U.S. were accused of swamping a West Virginia county with millions of doses of painkillers as testimony is set to begin in the first trial over the companies’ role in the opioid crisis. McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. wrongfully “sold a mountain of opioid pills into our community, fueling the opioid epidemic,” Paul Farrell, a lawyer for Cabell County, told a judge Monday in his opening statement. The county and the city of Huntington want distributors to pay $2.6 billion to beef up treatment and policing budgets strained by years of opioid overdoses and addictions. (Feeley, 5/4)

ABC News: Some Black Parents Say Remote Learning Gives Racism Reprieve 
Before schools shuttered during the pandemic, Ayaana Johnson worried every time she dropped her daughters off at school. Johnson, a Black woman, says racism is rampant in her predominantly white Georgia town. At her daughters’ school, a student once used racial slurs and told another child he doesn’t play with “brown people.” She says teachers are quick to punish or reprimand Black children and Ku Klux Klan flyers can be found in mailboxes. (Fernando, 5/4)

The Hill: North Carolina Advances Bill Banning Abortions Based On Race Or Down Syndrome 
A bill that would outlaw abortion on the basis of race or Down syndrome advanced in North Carolina on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. North Carolina’s House Health Committee approved the bill, which would fine doctors who performed abortions despite knowing the motivation behind the procedure aligned with either of those two factors. The legislation is now being sent to the Judiciary Committee, where it's slated to be evaluated Wednesday. (Polus, 5/4)

The Washington Post: What To Know About The Surge In Antiabortion Bills At The State Level 
In Oklahoma and Idaho, state lawmakers just banned most abortions at the first sign of a fetal heartbeat. In Arizona, a new law bars patients from seeking an abortion for genetic abnormalities. In Montana, providers can no longer perform abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while abortion pills, available via mail in other states, must be taken with a doctor present. (Branigin, 5/4)

The Hill: Indiana Governor Vetoes Legislation Curbing Local Health Orders
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would limit the authority of local health departments to issue orders during an emergency. Holcomb wrote in a letter announcing his veto that having local health departments respond to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a key part of the effort to combat the disease in the state. (Oshin, 5/4)

AP: Montana Governor Ends Extra Unemployment Payments, Citing Worker Shortage
Montana is ending its participation in the federal unemployment program that gives people extra weekly unemployment benefit payments as the state struggles with a worker shortage, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Tuesday. Beginning June 27, unemployed workers in the state will no longer receive $300 in weekly extra benefits funded by the federal government through Sept. 6. (5/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Looks To Dramatically Reduce Number Of Sheriff's Deputies Guarding Hospitals, Clinics
The number of sheriff’s deputies who guard public hospitals and clinics in San Francisco would be dramatically reduced under a plan proposed Tuesday by San Francisco health officials who want to hire more psychiatric nurses and non-sworn staff to respond to crises. The Department of Public Health presented a plan to the Health Commission at its Tuesday meeting to drop the number of deputies from 29 to about 18 at San Francisco General and replace around seven more at Laguna Honda Hospital and four community clinics. (Moench, 5/4)

The Boston Globe: DCF To Visit Every Child It Supervises In Person By Month’s End, State Officials Tell Lawmakers
For the first time since COVID-19 scrambled daily life last year, social workers within Massachusetts’ child welfare agency will resume in-person visits for all of the 40,000-plus children they oversee, state officials said Tuesday, adding that they expect to see each child by month’s end. Linda Spears, the commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, announced the policy change, which took effect last week, in response to questions during a wide-ranging legislative oversight hearing into the death of David Almond. The intellectually disabled Fall River teen died in October, and was starved and abused by his father and his father’s girlfriend while under the watch of DCF, investigators said. (Stout, 5/4)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WMC Asks State Supreme Court To Hear Case On COVID Data
The state's largest business lobby asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday to weigh in on a lawsuit over the release of state data on coronavirus outbreaks at businesses. The case concerns records requested by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel nearly a year ago from the state Department of Health Services, after meatpacking workers and nursing home residents told the newspaper they were left in the dark about outbreaks at their facilities. The records in question contain the names of roughly 1,000 businesses that are public-facing or employ at least 25 people that saw two or more employees test positive or identify as close contacts. (Chen, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County To Spend $500,000 On Push For Global Pandemic Center
An ambitious push to create a “Global Pandemic Center” in suburban Maryland got a $500,000 boost Tuesday from the Montgomery County Council, which said the project could help drive the county’s post-pandemic economic recovery and foster resilience against the next major health crisis. Spearheaded by the regional nonprofit Connected DMV, the center would involve scientists and policymakers from across the globe but operate primarily from the D.C. region, with a likely headquarters in Montgomery. (Tan, 5/4)

Reuters: 'Human Catastrophe' As India's COVID-19 Surge Spreads To Nepal 
Nepal is being overwhelmed by a COVID-19 surge as India's outbreak spreads across South Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Wednesday. ... Nepal is now recording 57 times as many cases as a month ago, with 44% of tests now coming back positive, the statement said. Nepalese towns near the Indian border could not cope with the growing number of people needing treatment, while only 1% of the country's population was fully vaccinated. (5/5)

Reuters: In COVID-Hit India, A 26-Year-Old Doctor Decides Who Lives And Who Dies 
Rohan Aggarwal is 26 years old. He doesn't even complete his medical training until next year. And yet, at one of the best hospitals in India, he is the doctor who must decide who will live and who will die when patients come to him gasping for breath, their family members begging for mercy. As India's healthcare system teeters on the verge of collapse during a brutal second wave of the novel coronavirus, Aggarwal makes those decisions during a 27-hour workday that includes a grim overnight shift in charge of the emergency room at his New Delhi hospital. (Pal, 5/5)

CNN: Companies Scramble To Protect Their Workers From India's Covid Surge 
Big banks and accounting firms do most of their business in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. But they wouldn't be able to function without their back offices, many of which are located in Covid-stricken India. Financial services firms have outsourced a huge number of information technology and operations jobs to India in recent decades, attracted by an educated workforce and cheaper labor costs. Almost 4.4 million people in the country are employed in IT and business process management, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies, a trade body. (Ziady and Tappe, 5/5)

Reuters: COVID Scare At G7 Meeting After Indian Delegates Test Positive 
India’s entire delegation to the Group of Seven summit in London is self-isolating after two of its members tested positive for COVID-19, the British government said on Wednesday. "Two delegates tested positive so the entire delegation is now self isolating," a British official said. "The meeting had been enabled by a strict set of COVID protocols, including daily testing of all delegates," the British official said. (James and Bruce, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Club Of Rich Countries To Address Unequal Global Vaccine Rollout
The foreign ministers of some of the world’s richest and most powerful countries are meeting in London Wednesday where they are expected to address the unequal global rollout of vaccines. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed on Tuesday that “the global roll out of vaccines will be key in defeating the pandemic” and they highlighted the role the Group of Seven nations “to increase international manufacturing capability” for vaccines. (Schemm, 5/5)