Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Missouri Governor Signs Bill Creating Drug Database To Fight Opioid Abuse
AP: Missouri To Become Final State To Adopt Medication Database
Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill Monday to make Missouri the final state to adopt a prescription drug monitoring database aimed at flagging possible opioid misuse. Missouri for years has been the only state without such a program because of pushback from primarily Republican lawmakers concerned about patient privacy. The measure finally made it to the governor’s desk in May. (Ballentine, 6/7)
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Is In The Midst Of A Statewide Surge In Heroin-Related Overdoses
Alaska is in the midst of a significant surge in heroin overdoses that began in March and has remained high through the beginning of June. State health officials say the surge is unusual and a cause for concern. On Monday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services issued a public health alert about the increase in overdoses, measured by emergency department visitation data. It shows that the average number of overdoses per week since March is almost three times as high as the weekly average for 2019 and 2020. (Berman, 6/7)
The New York Times: Women’s Prison Plagued By Sexual Violence Will Close, Governor Says
Just over a year ago, the Justice Department offered a scathing indictment of New Jersey’s only prison for women, describing a culture of sexual violence by guards so entrenched that it violated prisoners’ constitutional protections from cruel and unusual punishment. ... On Monday, in a stunning declaration that the problems were beyond repair, Gov. Philip D. Murphy announced that the prison, Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, would be permanently closed. (Tully, 6/7)
North Carolina Health News: What’s The State Of Abortion In North Carolina?
With the presence of six more conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, many court observers anticipate that laws aimed at restricting access to abortion passed at the state level will eventually wend their ways through the court system to be heard before the high court as a challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which made the procedure more widely available. In North Carolina, in the biennial legislative session that started in January, lawmakers have filed eight bills that would impact abortion access in North Carolina this legislative session. (Critchfield, 6/8)
The Wall Street Journal: Central Park Concert To Celebrate New York’s Covid-19 Recovery
New York will celebrate its rebound from the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic with an all-star concert at Central Park’s Great Lawn this summer, city officials said Monday. The concert will be set for Aug. 21, according to Clive Davis, the record producer who has been tapped by Mayor Bill de Blasio to organize the event. ... The concert will be largely free to the public, but will be capped at 60,000 attendees, Mr. Davis said. (Passy and Honan, 6/7)
AP: Pastor Seeks Revival Of Suit Challenging Virus Restrictions
About 100 supporters of a Louisiana minister gathered outside a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday to show support as his lawyers asked to revive a lawsuit he filed last year challenging the state's coronavirus restrictions. Tony Spell repeatedly flouted the public health restrictions at his Life Tabernacle Church in the Baton Rouge suburb of Central, and faces six state criminal counts as a result. (McGill, 6/7)
Fox News: Michigan Confirms First Human Hantavirus Case
Michigan health officials on Monday reported the state’s first confirmed human case of the deadly hantavirus. The rat-borne illness, which U.S. health officials say cannot be transmitted from person-to-person, is typically passed to patients when they breathe in air contaminated with the virus through rodent droppings. The confirmed case under investigation by county and state health officials involved a woman in Washtenaw County, "recently hospitalized with a serious pulmonary illness from Sin Nombre hantavirus," according to a release from the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services. "The individual was likely exposed when cleaning an unoccupied dwelling that contained signs of an active rodent infestation." (Rivas, 6/7)
