Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Not Yet A Decade Since Pulse, Parkland Shootings, Florida OKs Open Gun Carry
The New York Times: Florida Says Ban On Openly Carrying Guns Is Invalid After Court Ruling
Members of law enforcement in Florida should no longer arrest or prosecute people for openly carrying firearms in public places, the state attorney general, James Uthmeier, said on Monday, citing a state appeals court ruling last week that found a decades-old ban to be unconstitutional. Mr. Uthmeier’s legal interpretation effectively allows open carry in Florida, which had been the last remaining Republican-led state to ban the practice. “Open carry is the law of the state,” Mr. Uthmeier, a Republican, wrote on X on Monday. (Mazzei, 9/15)
More health news from Florida and other states —
WUSF: Federal Authorities Charge 12 More In Florida Nursing Diploma Fraud
The arrests were part of a second phase of an investigation. In 2023, 25 people were charged in connection with a similar scheme involving three other Florida schools. Federal prosecutors in South Florida have charged 12 additional people in a scheme to sell fake nursing diplomas and transcripts to individuals seeking RN and LPN/VN licensure. (Mayer, 9/15)
North Carolina Health News: NC Turns To Mobile Clinics To Expand Substance Use Treatment
In 2024, more than 3,000 North Carolinians are estimated to have died from opioid overdose. Since 2000, more than 41,500 people have died from overdoses. Even as the overdose death rate slowed slightly in the past year, state health officials are still looking for ways to expand access to medications for opioid use disorder. (Crumpler, 9/16)
AP: New York's Ban On Addictive Social Media Feeds For Kids Takes Shape
New York’s attorney general on Monday proposed regulations for its crackdown on addictive social media feeds for children, including rules for verifying a user’s age. The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, passed last year, prohibits social media companies from showing feeds personalized by algorithms to users under 18 unless they have a parent’s consent. Instead, feeds on apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited to posts from accounts young users follow. (Thompson, 9/16)
AP: Abortion Advocates Raise Alarm About Social Platforms Removing Posts In Apparent Overreach
Clinics, advocacy groups and individuals who share abortion-related content online say they are seeing informational posts being taken down even if the posts don’t clearly violate the platforms’ policies. The groups, in Latin America and the United States, are denouncing what they see as censorship even in places where abortion is legal. Companies like Meta claim their policies have not changed, and experts attribute the takedowns to over-enforcement at a time when social media platforms are reducing spending on content moderation in favor of artificial intelligence systems that struggle with context, nuance and gray areas. (Ortutay, 9/15)
Health threats in Nebraska, Virginia, Missouri, and elsewhere —
CIDRAP: USDA Confirms First H5N1 Avian Flu Detection In Nebraska Dairy Cows
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced the first detection H5N1 avian flu in Nebraska dairy cattle, following an initial detection from pre-movement milk sampling. Genetic analysis reveals that the virus belongs to the 2.3.4.4b clade and the B3.13 genotype seen in other dairy herds. APHIS said it is working with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to conduct an additional on-farm investigation and gather more samples and data to more fully understand the detection and limit the spread of the virus. (Schnirring, 9/15)
Undark: In Tracking Avian Flu, Data Privacy Stymies Researchers
For years, veterinary researcher Maurice Pitesky has run up against a roadblock while tracking the rapid spread of avian flu: a lack of public data. He has attempted to obtain — but has repeatedly been denied — state and federal data revealing the location of avian flu outbreaks on U.S. farms. It’s data he says could help inform predictive modeling to warn farmers about a higher risk of avian flu transmission near their property, giving them enough time to tighten biosecurity measures and potentially ward off an outbreak. (Moran, 9/16)
AP: Congress Asks Whether Boar's Head Deli Meat Plant Tied To Deadly Outbreak Will Be Fit To Reopen
Democratic lawmakers are questioning whether a Boar’s Head deli meat plant at the center of last year’s deadly listeria outbreak will be fit to reopen. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut, sent a letter Monday asking company officials to appear before the Congressional Food Safety Caucus to discuss “a repeated pattern of food safety negligence that jeopardized Americans’ public health.” (Aleccia, 9/15)
CIDRAP: School Report: Pre-K Students, Staff Most Likely To Have Acute Respiratory Infections
A study in the North Kansas City, Missouri, pre-K–12 public school system finds that pre-K (pre-kindergarten) and elementary students had the highest rates of respiratory virus detections and that pre-K and staff were most likely to have acute respiratory infections (ARIs). (Van Beusekom, 9/15)
