First Edition: Sept. 14, 2021

KHN: ICUs Are Filled With Covid — And Regret 
It’s a struggle for Joe Gammon to talk. Lying in his bed in the intensive care unit at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, he described himself as “naive.”  “If I would have known six months ago that this could be possible, this would have been a no-brainer,” said the 45-year-old father of six, who has been in critical condition with covid-19 for weeks. He paused to use a suction tube to dislodge some phlegm from his throat. “But I honestly didn’t think I was at any risk.” (Farmer, 9/14)

KHN: Under Pressure, Montana Hospital Considers Adding Psych Beds Amid A Shortage 
Gary Popiel had to drive more than 200 miles round trip to visit his adult daughters in separate behavioral health facilities as they received psychiatric and medical treatment.  It was 2000, and the family’s only options for inpatient psychiatric beds were in Helena and Missoula — far from their Bozeman, Montana, home and from each other. Fast-forward 21 years, and Montana’s fourth-largest city still lacks a hospital behavioral health unit. (Houghton, 9/14)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Urged To Reject Mississippi’s Attack On Roe V. Wade
Abortion providers in Mississippi urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reaffirm Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. The filing came in the most important abortion case in decades, in which officials in Mississippi have asked the court’s newly expanded conservative majority to overrule Roe and to sustain a state law that largely bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Liptak, 9/13)

The Hill: Abortion Providers Warn Of 'Chaos' If Supreme Court Overrules Roe V Wade 
Abortion rights advocates on Monday warned that “chaos would ensue” if the Supreme Court were to overrule long-standing precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion. The assertion came in a court filing by abortion providers in Mississippi who are challenging the state’s ban on virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Kruzel, 9/13)

The Washington Post: Mississippi Abortion Law Would Invite Widespread Bans, Providers Tell Supreme Court 
Abortion providers told the Supreme Court on Monday that approving a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks would “scuttle a half-­century of precedent and invite states to ban abortion entirely.” They said in their brief that Mississippi’s request that the court overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was based on the state’s hope that a “changed composition” of the court would reject years of legal precedent. (Barnes, 9/13)

CNBC: Covid Booster: Data Shows Third Shots 'Not Appropriate' At This Time, Scientists Say
An expert review of scientific evidence to date has concluded that Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are not needed at this time for the general public, a group of leading U.S. and international scientists said Monday in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet. The conclusion by scientists, including two senior Food and Drug Administration officials and the World Health Organization, came as studies continue to show the authorized Covid vaccines in the U.S. remain highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization caused by the fast-spreading delta variant. (Lovelace Jr., 9/13)

The New York Times: In Review, Top F.D.A. Scientists Question Imminent Need For Booster Shots 
Two departing Food and Drug Administration regulators argued in a review published Monday that none of the data on coronavirus vaccines so far provided credible evidence in support of booster shots for the general population. Their assertion revealed significant disagreement between career scientists at the agency and top Biden health officials, who have already started planning a broad booster campaign for this fall. The review, published in The Lancet, was written by an international group of vaccine experts including Dr. Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, longtime F.D.A. scientists who recently announced that they would leave the agency. It comes days before an advisory committee is to publicly discuss and vote on whether the F.D.A. should approve additional doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for people 16 and up. (Weiland and Mandavilli, 9/13)

USA Today: COVID Vaccine Booster Shots: Who Can Get Them When Is Still Uncertain
In just a week, COVID-19 vaccine boosters could begin to be available to all fully vaccinated Americans. But exactly who will be eligible and when won't be decided until two key scientific advisory committees meet days before the Biden administration's Sept. 20 start date. That leaves little reaction time for health care system administrators like Dr. Tammy Lundstrom, chief medical officer for Michigan-based Trinity Health, which operates 91 hospitals and 120 continuing care facilities in 22 states. "We have our data team poised, ready to hit the button to help us identify all our patients who are ready for a booster," Lundstrom said. "We're anxiously waiting for guidance, as is everybody." (Weise, 9/13)

Politico: Biden’s Workplace Vaccine Mandate Faces Headwinds
President Joe Biden’s surprise order for the Labor Department to issue mandatory vaccine rules for large companies is already facing headwinds from businesses, conservative governors and even his union allies. Management-side attorneys say they are fielding frenzied calls from companies with questions over what the rules requiring them to verify that their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19 will actually entail and whether the business or unvaccinated employees will have to pay for the testing. (Rainey, 9/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaccine Mandates Are Coming To Offices, But The Honor System Now Rules 
The Biden administration’s announcement that it will mandate vaccines for workers or require weekly testing could help standardize protocols in workplaces. For now, many workplaces operate on the honor system—one in which health information is often given voluntarily, and employees have few ways to be sure their co-workers are following the rules. For workers, living with honor-system-based Covid-19 rules has meant confusion in some cases and, among certain vaccinated employees, fresh anxieties. (Smith, 9/13)

The Washington Post: GOP Condemnation Of Biden Coronavirus Mandate Fuels Concern Other Vaccine Requirements Could Be Targeted 
Republicans’ sweeping denunciations of President Biden’s plan to force more people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus are raising concerns among public health experts that this heated criticism could help fuel a broader rejection of other vaccine requirements, including those put in place by schools and the military, as the issue of inoculations becomes increasingly political. (Sonmez, Stotomayor and Alfaro, 9/13)

AP: About 1,000 Protest President Joe Biden's Visit To Idaho
More than 1,000 protesters gathered Monday in Boise during a visit by President Joe Biden to rail against his plan to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control, last year’s presidential election and a host of other issues. Biden visited Boise as part of a swing through three Western states to promote his administration’s use of a wartime law to aid in wildfire preparedness, survey wildfire damage and push his economic agenda. He arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise late Monday morning to meet with fire officials and Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican. (Ridler and Boone, 9/13)

Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: 60% Voters Back Biden COVID Vaccine Mandates 
A majority of Americans — including suburban voters — support vaccine mandates for federal workers as well as private companies, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. The findings, on the heels of President Biden's mandates announcement last week, suggest that while his move was divisive, it may be politically safer than his opponents hope. (Talev, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Biden Wants 70 Percent Of The World To Get Vaccinated. It’s Not Even Close
President Biden plans to call on global leaders to make new commitments to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including fully vaccinating 70 percent of the world’s population by next September, according to a list of targets obtained by The Washington Post. While many rich countries have reached or will soon reach that target, the rest of the world is very far behind. Roughly one-third of people globally are fully vaccinated, according to Our World In Data. Covax, the World Health Organization’s campaign to distribute vaccines to the world, said last week that "only 20% of people in low- and lower-middle-income countries have received a first dose of vaccine compared to 80% in high- and upper-middle income countries.” (Pietsch and Timsit, 9/14)

Politico: Biden Starts Clemency Process For Inmates Released Due To Covid Conditions 
The Biden administration has begun asking former inmates confined at home because of the pandemic to formally submit commutation applications, criminal justice reform advocates and one inmate herself tell POLITICO. Those who have been asked for the applications fall into a specific category: drug offenders released to home under the pandemic relief bill known as the CARES Act with four years or less on their sentences. Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice clarified how many individuals have been asked for commutation applications or whether it would be expanding the universe of those it reached out to beyond that subset. But it did confirm that the president was beginning to take action. (Stein, 9/13)

The Wall Street Journal: After Covid-19 Data Is Deleted, NIH Reviews How Its Gene Archive Is Handled 
The National Institutes of Health said it was reviewing the removal of genetic data about the Covid-19 virus from an agency-run archive after a scientist raised concerns about the episode earlier this summer. The data—a series of gene sequences from coronavirus samples obtained from Covid-19 patients in Wuhan in January and February 2020—could hold clues about the origin of the pandemic. The sequences were deleted from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) last year at the request of one of the Wuhan University researchers who had originally provided them—a move that three Republican U.S. senators questioned in June in a sternly worded letter to NIH Director Francis Collins. (Marcus and Hinshaw, 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: Biden To Toss Medicare Coverage For "Breakthrough" Technology
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants to repeal a Trump-era rule allowing Medicare to cover medical devices designated as "breakthrough" technology by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a proposed rule on Monday. Former President Donald Trump's administration had said the original rule was necessary because the existing Medicare coverage determination process is too slow and could delay beneficiaries' access to the latest medical technology. Medical device companies lauded the plan when CMS first announced it last year. But patient-safety groups like ECRI worried it could threaten the safety of Medicare patients. Other experts agreed, and now CMS does too. (Brady, 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: House Democrats Propose Permanent Expansion Of ACA Subsidies
House Democrats are proposing a permanent extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits to middle-income earners that would mark the largest expansion of the healthcare law's benefits since its passage in 2010. Under the House Ways and Means Committee's portion of a $3.5 trillion domestic policy bill Democrats are advancing, people with incomes at or above 400% of the federal poverty level—about $52,000 for an individual—would be eligible for subsidies to buy insurance on the ACA marketplaces. The bill would also make ACA subsidies more generous for people making between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level. (Hellmann, 9/13)

NBC News: California Recall Election Day: Will Voters Kick Gov. Gavin Newsom Out Of Office?
Californians are heading to the polls Tuesday to decide whether or not to remove Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, or at least those voters who haven’t already cast a ballot by mail. California's unusual recall election, triggered when anti-Newsom organizers collected the roughly 1.5 million signatures needed to put him on the ballot again, will ask voters to decide if Newsom should be fired and, if so, to pick a replacement governor from a list of 46 hopefuls alternatives, with firebrand conservative radio host Larry Elder leading in polls. (Seitz-Wald, 9/14)

AP: Biden: Results Of California Recall Will Be Felt Nationally
President Joe Biden put Democrats’ approach to the coronavirus pandemic on the line Monday, casting the California recall that could remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office as an opportunity for voters to show the nation that “leadership matters, science matters.” “The eyes of the nation are on California because the decision you’re going to make isn’t just going to have a huge impact on California, it’s going to reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly, not a joke, around the world,” the Democratic president said at a rally in the Southern California city of Long Beach. (Ronayne and Blood, 9/14)

CNN: How The Newsom Recall Could Strengthen The Push For Covid Mandates 
The closely watched California gubernatorial recall election on Tuesday is poised to send precisely the opposite political message that its proponents initially intended. It was a strong gust of discontent in the state's most conservative regions last year over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's stringent measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic that allowed the recall to qualify for the ballot at all. But now a swell of support in the broader statewide electorate for the more recent steps Newsom has taken to combat the Delta variant outbreak -- particularly the vaccine mandates he's imposed for educators, health care workers and state employees -- has positioned him for a potentially resounding victory, according to the latest polls. (Brownstein, 9/14)

CIDRAP: COVID Cases Drop A Bit In US As Country Torn Over Vaccines, Masks 
The summer surge of COVID-19 cases, which began shortly after the Fourth of July and was instigated by the highly transmissible Delta (B1617.2) variant, is showing signs of waning. Yesterday, the nation reported 33,807 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and 279 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker. (Soucheray, 9/13)

CNN: Child Covid-19 Cases Increased Nearly 240% Since July, Pediatricians' Group Says 
Covid-19 infections have risen "exponentially" among children in the US since July, according to data published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The group reported 243,373 new cases among kids over the past week. While this is a decline from last week, when 251,781 cases were reported, it's about a 240% increase since early July, when kids accounted for 71,726 cases. "After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially with nearly 500,000 cases in the past two weeks," AAP said in a statement. (Christensen and Vera, 9/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: More Than 243,000 Children Were Infected With COVID-19 Last Week
Bay Area school districts aren’t following L.A.’s lead on requiring coronavirus vaccinations and testing for students and staff. More Bay Area restaurants are closing for mental health breaks. And with rapid at-home COVID tests hard to find in the Bay Area, here’s what to look for, and where. Resources on COVID-19 and California’s reopening: For detailed maps and new city-by-city Bay Area data, check out The Chronicle’s Coronavirus Tracker. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. (Vaziri, Buchmann, Beamish and Fracassa, 9/13)

Philadelphia Inquirer: COVID-19 Cases Among Pa. School-Age Children Are 10 Times Higher Than They Were Last Year
Coronavirus cases among school-age children in Pennsylvania were nearly 10 times greater last week than during the same period in 2020, state health officials said Monday, with local officials saying the rise could be due to a variety of factors, including the highly transmissible delta variant, the return of in-person school, and an increase in testing. Between Sept. 2 and Sept. 8, nearly 5,400 Pennsylvania children between ages 5 and 18 had confirmed infections, according to the state Department of Health, compared to 574 children who were infected during the same week in 2020, when most children were in virtual school and delta was not circulating. (McCarthy and McDaniel, 9/13)

Axios: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Iowa's Ban On School Mask Mandates 
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking Iowa from enforcing a recent law that bars schools from requiring masks. The move, effective immediately, allows school districts to enforce mask mandates as kids are returning to the classroom. The lawsuit represents the interest of students who are ineligible for COVID-19 vaccines or are at risk of severe complications from the virus. (Garfinkel, 9/13)

Politico: DeSantis Threatens $5K Fine Against Florida Cities With Vaccine Mandates
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday opened up another front in his ongoing battle against Covid-19 related mandates, threatening to fine cities and counties thousands of dollars if they impose vaccine requirements on their employees. The latest move from the governor comes after his weekslong fight with Florida schools over student mask mandates and after President Joe Biden last week said he will impose vaccine mandates on federal employees and health care providers that rely on federal funding, as well as employers with 100 or more workers. (Fineout, 9/13)

AP: Governor Urges School Boards To Continue Mask Requirements
School-age children are contracting COVID-19 at a higher rate than any other age group in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday while exhorting newly empowered school districts to maintain mask requirements in schools. The statewide vaccination rate among youngsters ages 12 to 17 is the lowest of any group, with 45% having received at least one dose. That combination had the governor using his bully pulpit to plead with local school boards and superintendents to continue mandating mask-wearing in schools. (Schreiner and Blackburn, 9/13)

Stateline: Lawmakers Rethink Mask Policies As More Kids Quarantine
Months after conservative politicians across the country instituted bans on school mask mandates, the surging delta variant has school districts and even some state lawmakers and governors rethinking policies. Over the past month or so, the governors of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island imposed new school mask mandates; lawmakers and governors in at least three states, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia, are reconsidering their bans. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require everyone to wear masks in K-12 schools. Six states prohibit any such requirement, and 24 states leave the decision up to local school districts. Two states have had mask mandate bans overturned, and Florida had an overturned ban reinstated. (Wright, 9/13)

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Schools Reopen With Joy And Anxiety On ‘Game Changer’ First Day 
New York City’s schools reopened on Monday to scenes of joy, relief and anxiety, as roughly a million children returned to their classrooms, most of them for the first time since the country’s largest school system closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic. The day, always chaotic even in normal times, began with many families and educators nervous about the next few months, as the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has complicated the city’s push to fully reopen schools. (Shapiro, 9/13)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Hospitals Brace For Tropical Storm Nicholas Amid The City's Largest COVID Surge
Local hospitals and clinics, many of which are close to capacity largely due to unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, [braced] for Tropical Storm Nicholas as it [neared] Houston Monday. Texas Children’s Hospital is no stranger to inclement weather, said Dr. Brent Kaziny, the medical director of emergency management for Texas Children's Hospital. However, the hospital faces a new set of challenges as the storm rolls in during the highest levels of pediatric COVID cases since he pandemic’s beginning. (Carballo and Gill, 9/13)

The Washington Post: Southern California Parents Die Of Covid-19, Leaving Behind Five Children — Including A Newborn 
Davy Macias, 37, was intubated and dying of complications from covid-19 when doctors helped her give birth to her daughter. She would never see her baby. Her husband, Daniel Macias, 39, would only get a brief glimpse of their child because he, too, was hospitalized after contracting the virus. According to Davy’s sister-in-law, Terri Serey, Daniel waited to name the baby girl because he believed he and his wife would walk out of the hospital alive to introduce the newborn to their four other children, the eldest age 7 and the youngest, 2.But about a week after the baby was born, Davy died. Two weeks later, so did Daniel. (Mark, 9/13)

The Washington Post: He Lost One-Third Of His Life To A Wrongful Conviction. Then He Died Of Covid-19
A death row exoneree who lost more than a third of his life in prison because of a wrongful conviction has died of covid-19 just weeks shy of his nine-year exoneration anniversary. Damon Thibodeaux, the 142nd person to be freed from death row in the United States, died Aug. 31, according to an obituary in his hometown newspaper, the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. Although Thibodeaux was the rare prisoner to be exonerated, his death places him among more than 660,000 individuals in the United States who have died of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. (Bellware, 9/13)

NBC News: Jeff Bridges Says He Got Covid While In Chemo And It Made 'cancer Look Like A Piece Of Cake'
Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges said Monday that his lymphoma is in remission, and he is feeling better after battling Covid-19, which he said made "cancer look like a piece of cake." "My cancer is in remission — the 9x12 mass has shrunk down to the size of a marble," Bridges, probably best known for playing The Dude in 1998's "The Big Lebowski," wrote on his website. Bridges, 71, announced in October of last year that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. He said at the time that his prognosis was "good" and he was starting treatment. (Fieldstadt, 9/13)

Crain's Detroit Business: Shortage Of Workers Causes Henry Ford Health To Eliminate 120 Patient Beds
Henry Ford Health System has reduced the number of patient beds due to a shortage of workers. The system cut about 7 percent, or 120 patient beds, from its five hospitals. The bulk of those lost beds are in Detroit and Jackson, Adnan Munkarah, the system's chief clinical officer, said Monday in a call with reporters. The loss of beds is a blow to the system as its hospitalization rate continues to rise while the nation battles the dangerous delta variant of COVID-19. (9/13)

AP: Kentucky National Guard Sending 300 Members To Hospitals
The Kentucky National Guard is expanding its role in assisting hospitals during a surge of COVID-19 cases that has stressed the state’s health care infrastructure. The guard is activating 310 additional members in logistical roles to 21 hospitals across the state, the guard said in a media release. The effort began on Monday. (9/14)

AP: Washington Hospital Execs: Little Capacity To Help Idaho
Washington is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help neighboring Idaho deal with an overwhelming surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people, state hospital executives and doctors said Monday. Taya Briley, executive vice president of the Washington State Hospital Association, called the situation “very sobering” during a media briefing, saying Washington faces its worst COVID wave since the pandemic began — even before big recent events like fall fairs and a return to school. (Johnson, 9/13)

NPR: COVID Misinformation Pushed By Some Doctors Without Penalty
Last month, Dr. Simone Gold stood before a crowd at a conservative church in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and delivered a talk riddled with misinformation. She told people to avoid vaccination against the coronavirus. As an alternative, she pushed drugs that have not been proven effective at treating COVID-19 — drugs that she also offered to prescribe to the audience in exchange for $90 telehealth appointments. "Don't text me when you've gotten a positive test, I don't want to hear it," she said to the gathering. "I've told you ahead of time to get the medicines. It can take a week because we're so swamped." (Brumfiel, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Trump And His Allies Really Really Really Want To Blame Black Americans And Democrats For Vaccine Hesitancy 
A good sign that the political right recognizes that the shaky state of the coronavirus pandemic is a function of the unvaccinated is that it is energetically trying to cast that group as largely composed of members of the political left. Former president Donald Trump, for example, told Fox News Digital on Monday that it was President Biden and Democrats who were the problem. “If you remember, when I was president, there were literally lines of people wanting to take it,” he said. “Now, you have a different situation, and it’s very bad.” (Bump, 9/13)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC’s Covid-19 Vaccination Proof Mandate For Restaurants And Dining: What To Know 
Starting this week, a Covid-19 vaccination may determine where you can go out to eat. New York City on Monday began enforcing its vaccination requirements for restaurant patrons and employees. While other cities such as San Francisco are also requiring shots to eat indoors, some states, including Florida and Texas, are banning vaccine passports. Some restaurateurs say the vaccination proof issue creates new challenges as the industry works to move beyond the pandemic. (Haddon, 9/13)

CNBC: Gates Foundation Annual Report Says 31 Million Pushed Into Dire Poverty, Child Vaccine Rates Fell
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has pushed an additional 31 million people worldwide into dire poverty, reversing global progress on eliminating poverty by four years, according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s fifth-annual Goalkeeper report published Monday. The report — which examines global progress on vaccine access, reducing poverty and other health issues — also found the pandemic led to a major backsliding in routine childhood vaccination rates, widened the education gap between poor and rich nations and increased health inequities. (Lovelace Jr., 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination Against LGBTQ Patients
Aetna's coverage rules for infertility treatment are biased against LGBTQ patients, who are required to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket even though heterosexual people face no cost sharing for the same care, the National Women's Law Center alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Monday. The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, arises from a series of coverage denials faced by Emma Goidel, a 31-year-old woman covered under a Columbia University student plan administered by Aetna, which is owned by CVS Health. (Tepper, 9/13)

AP: Legionella Bacteria Resurfaces At West Virginia Hospital
Tests show bacteria that causes the severe form of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease has resurfaced at a West Virginia-run hospital, health officials said. Routine screening found Legionella bacteria at the Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington. The hospital is operated by the state Department of Health and Human Resources. The building where the bacteria was detected did not house patients. (9/14)

Fox News: Multiple States Warn On West Nile Virus Risk Amid Peak Period
At least eight state health departments have cautioned residents over West Nile virus risk in the last week amid a seasonal peak and cases reported in humans and animals, on the rare occasion resulting in death. State health officials from Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Utah, North Dakota, Louisiana, Delaware and New Hampshire released preventive guidance on West Nile virus, the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus is often spread through the bite of an infected mosquito, with cases typically occurring from summer through fall. There are no medications or vaccines for West Nile virus and officials say the best way to avoid infection is by preventing mosquito bites. (Rivas, 9/13)

CBS News: Heavy Rain And Heat Bring Out Billions Of Mosquitoes In U.S.: "A Lot Of Biting Going On" 
Sizzling temperatures and devastating storms in parts of the U.S. created a breeding ground for billions of pesky mosquitoes this summer. "When temperatures are in the 90s and we have standing water, we're going to have … billions of mosquitoes breeding," Michael Raupp, an entomologist and a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, said on "CBSN AM" on Monday. "There's going to be a lot of biting going on." (Sundby, 9/13)

The Washington Post: Marijuana Use Rises For College Students, Who Are Drinking Less 
The coronavirus pandemic that’s killed more than 658,000 people in the United States and infected 41 million, upended economies and moved classes to bedrooms may have added another change for college students: less booze and more weed. A newly released study found that nearly half of the country’s college-age students said they consumed marijuana last year, leading researchers to wonder whether the pandemic may have spurred the record in cannabis consumption. One says the trend underpins the changing practices during — and struggles to adapt to — the global health crisis. (Paul, 9/13)

ABC News: Young People Experiencing 'Widespread' Psychological Distress Over Government Handling Of Looming Climate Crisis, Researchers Say 
Children and young people around the world are experiencing increasing anxiety over the fate of the planet -- specifically climate change and how lawmakers are handling the looming crisis, according to new research. Scientists who surveyed 10,000 young people, ages 16 to 25, across 10 countries, found "widespread psychological distress" among them, and, for the first time, discovered that the anxiety was significantly related to perceived government inaction, according to a study published Tuesday in Lancet Planetary Health. (Jacobo, 9/14)

Fox News: Exercise Reduces Long-Term Risk Of Anxiety Disorders In Men And Women, Study Finds
A physically active lifestyle was associated with a 62% lower risk of anxiety disorder diagnoses among men and women in a study with the largest population size to date, researchers said. While exercise is known to lower disease risk, boost aerobic fitness and improve sleep, cognition and mental health, among other benefits, per the CDC, researchers at hand said the impact of exercise intensity, dose and fitness level on the development of anxiety disorders was otherwise unknown. Findings published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry journal on Sept. 10 drew from 197,685 skiers participating in a long-distance cross-country ski race, Vasaloppet, compared to matched non-skiers. (Rivas, 9/13)

The Providence Journal: RI Closes South Kingstown Pond To Shellfishing After Seven People Sickened
A South Kingstown pond has been closed to shellfishing after seven people got sick from eating raw shellfish. Potters Pond will be closed until further notice, the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said Saturday. The Health Department has contacted all commercial shellfishermen who harvested from the pond to ensure that shellfish harvested from the area isn’t sold at restaurants and markets. (Perry, 9/13)

Houston Chronicle: Cleanup On Hazardous San Jacinto Waste Pits Could Finally Start Next Year
A plan is moving ahead for cleaning up the toxic waste buried on a peninsula in the San Jacinto River, marking a step forward in one of the most closely watched federal hazardous waste cleanup efforts in the region. Decades ago, a paper mill dumped its waste along the river east of Houston. Then land sank and the path of the river moved. Some of the waste is now under water, on the north side of the Interstate 10 bridge. Another portion is south of the bridge and still buried on dry land. The material under water is of particular concern because of the potential threats it poses. The waste contains dioxins, which can cause cancer, and furans. It’s covered by a temporary cap, but that cap could be damaged and potentially release the toxic waste into the river. (Foxhall, 9/13)

Bloomberg: U.K.’s Johnson To Give Green Light To Covid Booster Shots
Boris Johnson will confirm Tuesday that booster vaccinations against coronavirus will be rolled out to the most vulnerable people this fall, as he sets out the U.K.’s new approach to tackling the virus. The British prime minister will hold a press conference outlining who will be eligible for the booster shot, soon after Health Secretary Sajid Javid gives a statement on the issue to the House of Commons. More details are also expected on which vaccines will be used for the booster program. The government said Monday that 12- to 15-year-olds in England would be offered a single shot of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine in schools from next week, in a bid to reduce transmission and keep pupils in classrooms. (Ashton, 9/13)

Bloomberg: U.K. Will Offer Covid Vaccines To Children Aged 12 And Up
The U.K. will offer Covid vaccines to all children as young as 12 starting next week as the government seeks to reduce disruption in schools and follows countries such as the U.S. The decision follows a recommendation Monday from the U.K.’s chief medical officers to give a first dose of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine to children ages 12 to 15. They called for the committee that advises the government to recommend whether and how to give second doses once more data is available. That wouldn’t happen before the spring term, they said. (Paton, 9/13)

Fox News: Putin To Self-Isolate After COVID-19 Cases Detected In Entourage: Report
Russian President Vladimir Putin will self-isolate after cases of COVID-19 were detected in his entourage, according to a report. The Kremlin on Tuesday said that Putin will not travel to Tajikistan this week for planned regional security meetings, Reuters reported. Putin called Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon and told him he could not travel because he was self-isolating and would instead take part in meetings via a video link. (Aaro, 9/14)

The Washington Post: India Under Pressure To Resume Coronavirus Vaccine Exports With Cases Down
India is facing growing pressure to lift its ban on exporting coronavirus vaccines, months after curbs were imposed to tackle a massive domestic outbreak that has since relented. The world’s second most populous country — and also one of its biggest vaccine manufacturers — imposed the ban this spring as India raced to raise its immunization rate. Now officials in the United States and with Covax, the United Nations-backed vaccine distribution initiative that had counted on India to supply around a billion shots this year, hope a more stable health situation will persuade the country to resume exports. (Jeong, 9/14)

The New York Times: A Million Afghan Children Could Die In ‘Most Perilous Hour,’ U.N. Warns
Millions of Afghans could run out of food before the arrival of winter and one million children are at risk of starvation and death if their immediate needs are not met, top United Nations officials warned on Monday, putting the country’s plight into stark relief. Secretary General António Guterres, speaking at a high-level U.N. conference in Geneva convened to address the crisis, said that since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan last month, the nation’s poverty rate has soared and basic public services have neared collapse and, in the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless after being forced to flee fighting. (Santora, Cumming-Bruce and Goldbaum, 9/13)

Politico: Measles Concerns May Delay Afghan Resettlement By Weeks 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending Afghan evacuees housed at U.S. military bases overseas be tested and vaccinated for measles — a process that could delay efforts to resettle as many as 12,000 by several weeks, according to three senior administration officials. The Biden administration announced Sept. 10 that it would halt flights for Afghan evacuees at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after four individuals tested positive following their arrival in the U.S. last week. (Banco, 9/13)