Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit Over Covid-Era Nursing Home Policy In NY
New York Post: Supreme Court Lets Andrew Cuomo Off The Hook For ‘Wrongful Death’ Of COVID Nursing Home Patients
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a wrongful death lawsuit that had been rejected by the lower courts against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his controversial COVID-19 era nursing home policy. In its Monday order list, the high court denied certiorari, or appeal, of the lower court’s rulings in the lawsuit against Cuomo led by Daniel Arbeeny, of Brooklyn, who alleged that the former governor’s nursing home policy caused his father’s death in 2020. (King and Campanile, 4/20)
AP: John Gotti's Grandson Sentenced For $1.1M COVID-19 Loan Scam
Late mob boss John Gotti’s reality-TV-star grandson was sentenced Monday to 15 months in prison for pocketing $1.1 million in loans from a federal program meant to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carmine Agnello, whose gel-spiked hair was a mainstay of the mid-2000s A&E series “Growing Up Gotti,” must pay the money back and perform 100 hours of community service, Judge Nusrat Choudhury said in federal court on Long Island. (4/20)
Los Angeles Times: New COVID Subvariant 'Cicada' Is On The Rise In California
A highly mutated COVID-19 strain is circulating in California — raising concerns that disease activity could rise heading into the summer. The emergence of the BA.3.2 strain, nicknamed “Cicada,” comes amid broader uneasiness about COVID vaccination rates among seniors — who are especially susceptible to the virus — and whether complacency after back-to-back relatively quiet winters has left the elderly vulnerable. The “Cicada” nickname refers to this subvariant’s apparent dormancy before it reemerged in 2025, akin to some periodically active insects of the same name. (Lin II, 4/20)
On the spread of measles —
Bloomberg: Measles Outbreaks Push Some MAHA Parents Away From RFK JR To MMR Vaccine
Katie Jennings was scrolling on her phone last April when a headline stopped her cold. A second unvaccinated child had died of measles in her home state of Texas. It was a tipping point for the 40-year-old stay-at-home mom who had grown up in a staunchly anti-vaccine, fundamentalist Christian community. “What are we doing? Why are we doing this?” she remembers thinking. “I wanted to protect my kids.” She took all six of them to get the measles, mumps and rubella shot. Then she posted an emotional TikTok aimed at the anti-vax crowd she used to be a part of: “You can change your mind,” she said in the video that’s been watched more than 422,000 times. (Nix, 4/20)
The Boston Globe: Measles Case Confirmed In Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Health has reported the state’s first confirmed 2026 case of measles in a man from Providence County. The man, who is in his 40s, had recently traveled internationally and returned to Rhode Island April 13, the department said in a statement. The man went to Atmed Treatment Center April 15 and is recovering at home, officials said. (Gavin, 4/20)
The Baltimore Sun: Did You Share Space With Maryland's Latest Measles Patient?
A new case of measles reported in Maryland last week could become an outbreak if gone unnoticed in under-vaccinated, susceptible areas, doctors told The Baltimore Sun. As a highly contagious disease starting with less dramatic symptoms, measles can fly under the radar, complicating efforts to track its spread. (Parker, 4/20)
