Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Michigan Pivots On Pandemic Response
Detroit Free Press: Michigan Shifts COVID-19 Response: Stopping Every Case Not 'Feasible'
Michigan is pivoting when it comes to the way it handles the coronavirus pandemic, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, an epidemiologist, infectious disease doctor and the state's chief medical officer. "We have to realize that the metrics that we have been following since the beginning of the pandemic don't necessarily mean the same thing that they did a year ago or two years ago," Bagdasarian told the Free Press in an interview earlier this week. (Shamus, 2/23)
Courier Journal: Outdoor Preschools In Kentucky Gain Popularity Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
On a sunny February afternoon at the top of a hillside covered in mud, a boy wearing a Spiderman hat and a dirty red snow jacket decided that rolling his body down the slick slope would be easier than walking to the bottom. And you know what — he was right. It's this type of problem-solving that young kids enrolled in forest preschools around the Louisville area are learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, often while their pint-sized friends, in traditional preschools and daycares, may have been stuck in the house behind computers screens. (Adams, 2/23)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: People’s Convoy Protesting COVID-19 Measures Kicks Off In California
A slate of speakers rallied a crowd of about 500 in the California desert Wednesday morning to send a group of truckers on a cross-country convoy in protest of pandemic-related mandates and emergency measures. “The last two years have been really, really rough,” said attorney Leigh Dundas, a prominent anti-vaccine activist, speaking from a makeshift stage fashioned out of a trailer. “A lot of people have died from COVID and many more have died from that policies that were put in place to handle COVID.” (Apgar, 2/23)
In news on recreational pharmaceuticals and medical cannabis —
AP: South Dakota Senate Passes Bill To Legalize Recreational Pot
The South Dakota Senate on Wednesday passed a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, as Republicans reasoned they should jump ahead of a campaign to legalize it on the November ballot. The bill passed by a single vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, showing just how divided lawmakers are on pot legalization. The proposal will next head to the House, where Republicans have pushed tighter restrictions on medical marijuana. (Groves, 2/24)
Albuquerque Journal: NM Supreme Court Clears Way For Medical Cannabis Producers To Claim Tax Refunds
New Mexico’s tax agency could be on the hook for more than $24 million in reimbursement payments to medical cannabis producers, after the state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal of a lower court ruling. At issue in the long-running case is whether medical cannabis producers can claim a state gross receipts tax deduction for prescription medication. (Boyd, 2/23)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Lawmakers Abandon Legalizing Kratom
Assembly lawmakers on Wednesday abandoned a scheduled vote on a bill that would legalize an herbal supplement after objections from law enforcement officials and medical doctors. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who supports the legislation, said Wednesday he didn't agree with their concerns but acknowledged it was in limbo and may not have enough votes to pass before taking it off the calendar permanently. (Beck, 2/23)
On environmental health developments —
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Natural Resources Board Advances Some PFAS Water Standards
A sometimes tense session Wednesday to advance standards for "forever chemicals" in Wisconsin water produced mixed results, with a state policy-setting board adopting some standards, weakening others and leaving a broad category — groundwater sources — unregulated. The compounds have been found in more than 50 sites around the state, the latest being the City of Wausau, which discovered levels above the proposed standards in all its drinking water wells. (Schulte, 2/23)
The Hill: California Adopts First-In-Nation Microplastics Reduction Policy
Far from “only a marine pollution problem,” microplastics have also been found in human placenta, stool samples and lung tissue, entering the food web through seafood consumption and exposing humans to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the state strategy explained. The strategy provides a multiyear roadmap that incorporates a two-track approach toward managing California’s microplastic pollution. The first of the two tracks contains 22 immediate steps that include both “no regrets” actions and multi-benefit solutions for microplastic reduction and management. (Udasin, 2/23)
Also —
Bloomberg: LA Paying $600,000 Apiece For Units To House Homeless People
Rising costs are hindering a solution for one of Los Angeles’s biggest problems: housing the homeless. Five years after LA voters approved a $1.2 billion bond for tackling homelessness, only 14% of the 10,000 planned income-restricted supportive housing units have been built, according to a report by Controller Ron Galperin. Such projects combine subsidized housing with physical- and mental-health services, drug treatment and job training. (Chua, 2/23)
KHN: Covid Aid To Protect Montana Prisons And Jails Sits Unused
Last summer, Montana created a list of more than a dozen upgrades for its state prison facilities to protect inmates and staffers from covid-19 infections, all of which would be paid for with nearly $2.5 million in federal covid relief money. But the money, part of $700 million in aid to states to detect and mitigate covid’s spread in prisons, jails, and other confinement facilities, sat untouched as of mid-February. Not a single project has begun despite the omicron surge that led to a new outbreak of covid cases among Montana State Prison inmates in January. That delay has left weak points within Montana’s secure facilities. (Houghton, 2/24)
The CT Mirror: Public Testifies On Aid-In-Dying Legislation
Tessa Marquis has been advocating for legislation that would allow terminally ill people to receive legal access to life-ending medication since 2014, but this year her testimony was different, her anger at legislative inaction more personal. Her mother died five weeks ago. “She had to starve herself to death,” said Marquis. “Unfortunately, those are the options people have in the state of Connecticut, currently,” said Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport and co-chair of the Public Health Committee, which heard testimony from more than 120 people on Wednesday about whether people with terminal illnesses should receive legal access to medications that would end their lives. (Lyons, 2/23)
