AP: 'Scum Of The Earth': Drug Victims Face Purdue Pharma Owners
Angry, defiant and sometimes tearful, more than two dozen Americans whose lives were upended by the opioid crisis finally had their long-awaited chance Thursday to confront in court some members of the family they blame for fueling it. They were unsparing as they unleashed decades of frustration and sorrow on members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over the course of a three-hour virtual hearing. One woman played a recording from when she called 911 to get help for her overdosing son, then called one of the Sacklers the “scum of the earth.” Several displayed pictures of loved ones who died too soon because of their addictions. Many spoke about forgiveness, with some trying to find it — and others definitely not. (Mulvihill and Peltz, 3/11)

NPR: Victims Of The Opioid Crisis Formally Confront The Sackler Family
For the first time during the long legal reckoning over the opioid crisis, members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma heard directly from people who say their company's main product, Oxycontin, wrecked their lives. David Sackler, Richard Sackler and Theresa Sackler listened and watched during the roughly two-hour long hearing as people described surviving addiction and spoke of losing loved ones to the epidemic. The Sacklers spoke briefly to confirm their presence, but did not respond to the testimony. (Mann, 3/10)

The Washington Post: Opioid Victims Confront Purdue Pharma’s Sackler Family: ‘It Will Never End For Me’
For 4,804 days, Kristy Nelson’s mind replays the 911 call she made when she discovered her only son’s lifeless body in his bed, recalling the excruciating detail of the aftermath of his overdose. On Thursday, she played audio of the chilling call for members of a family she holds responsible for her son’s death. Nelson said: “4,804. That is how many days have gone by since I made that horrifying phone call — a call that I never ever dreamed of making,” adding, “A call that I would not have had to make if it weren’t for your unlawful behavior and obsessive greed.” (Kornfield, 3/10)

Bloomberg: ‘I Do Not Forgive You:’ Opioid Victims Address Sacklers Directly
“When you created OxyContin you caused so much loss to so many people,” said Kay Scarpone, a New Hampshire resident whose son died of an overdose in 2015. Her son was a military veteran who became addicted to opioids after a deployment in Afghanistan. “We will grieve every day for the rest of our lives.” (Hill, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Opioid Victims Confront Purdue Pharma’s Sacklers In Bankruptcy Court
Dede Yoder said that her son, Chris, died in 2017 of an overdose at the age of 21 after spending most of her retirement savings on addiction treatment and rehab, which mostly wasn’t covered by health insurance. Doctors first prescribed her son OxyContin when he was 14 years old following two knee surgeries, Ms. Yoder said. “I thought since the doctor prescribed it, it must be OK,” Ms. Yoder said. “I wish I would have questioned the prescription and said no, but I didn’t. I didn’t know how addictive it was. Nobody knew, except for Purdue.” (Randles, 3/10)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

The Washington Post: Federal Government Approves Experiment To Pay Drug, Alcohol Users To Stay Clean 
A new legal opinion from the Biden administration appears to clear the way for wider use of an underutilized harm reduction technique: paying people addicted to drugs for staying clean. Known as “contingency management,” the idea is supported by decades of research that shows providing repeated small payments for meeting goals in the recovery process has an outsize impact in helping people remain sober. The technique also has been used to help people quit smoking, lose weight and change other unwanted behaviors. (Bernstein, 3/10)

Stat: Veterinary Tranquilizer Xylazine Spreading Through The U.S. Drug Supply
It was in the mid-2010s, the researchers heard, when “tranq dope” took off in Philadelphia. They knew that “tranq dope” — opioids that contained the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine — was already a fixture in the drug supply in Puerto Rico and had sporadically turned up in overdose reports in Philadelphia as far back as 2006. But now, people who used drugs and sold drugs told the researchers that xylazine had become a sought-after substance, and it had become a much more prevalent element of the local drug supply. (Joseph, 3/11)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Free Narcan Is Available In The Florida Keys As Fentanyl Reaches Island Chain 
Maureen Dunleavy is with the Guidance Care Center. They provide behavioral health services throughout the island chain. And now they're also providing free naloxone, in the nasal spray version called Narcan. "While law enforcement and police officers and firefighters have been carrying Narcan for while, we've made it available to the regular community," Dunleavy said. Dunleavy said the dangerous synthetic opioids showed up first in mainland Florida cities, but have started to reach the island chain. "I think sometimes it takes longer to get to the Keys. However, we also have less resources because we're somewhat isolated," she said. (Klingener, 3/10)

NBC News: This Season's Flu Vaccine Was A Poor Match For The Virus, CDC Reports
This season's flu vaccine offers meager protection against mild cases of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Against the most common flu strain circulating this season, the flu shot reduced a person's chance of getting a mild case by 16 percent, which is "considered not statistically significant," the CDC authors wrote, though the shots should offer some protection against more severe illness. (Lovelace Jr., 3/10)

Bloomberg: Even With a Flu Shot, You Still Might Get a Mild Case This Year
Vaccination is still recommended for people older than 6 months as long as the virus is circulating, the CDC said. The shots can still prevent serious cases, hospitalizations, intensive-care admissions and death, and may work against other strains arising later in the season, the authors said. ... Widespread focus on the pandemic and public concerns about shots to prevent Covid may have also had an impact on vaccination rates. Doses distributed this season as of the third week in February fell 10% compared with a year ago, according to the CDC’s website. (Adegbesan and Muller, 3/10)

Also —

CIDRAP: Global Flu Activity Continues To Decline
A new global flu update from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows declining activity in most world regions but increased H3N2 activity was reported in parts of South America. Of respiratory samples that tested positive at national flu labs in the middle 2 weeks of February, 68.6% were influenza A. Of subtyped influenza A viruses, 88.9% were H3N2. Of the type B viruses for which lineage was determined, 100% belonged to the B-Victoria lineage. (3/10)

Politico: Covid Aid Faces Uncertain Path On Capitol Hill As White House Warns Of Severe Consequences 
White House officials on Thursday warned that key pandemic programs could soon run out of money if Congress fails to quickly authorize $15.6 billion in new Covid-19 funding.“ We will have to stop a number of components of our program that are essential,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday. “If we had that money to move around we would be moving it. Our assessment is that we need this additional funding in order to meet the needs of the American public.” (Ollstein, 3/10)

Roll Call: Senate Clears $1.5 Trillion Fiscal 2022 Omnibus Spending Bill
A massive spending bill for the fiscal year that began over five months ago is headed to President Joe Biden's desk after the Senate cleared it for his signature late Thursday, putting an end to a frenzied stretch of negotiations in both chambers this week. On a 68-31 vote, the Senate passed the 2,700-page, $1.5 trillion omnibus containing all 12 fiscal 2022 spending bills, $13.6 billion in supplemental appropriations to address the crisis in Ukraine and a lengthy list of unrelated measures fortunate enough to ride on the must-pass vehicle.  ... Leaders in both parties spent hours Thursday negotiating with GOP senators, trying to reach an agreement on amendments they were seeking that would allow for a unanimous consent agreement to proceed to the bill quickly. (McPherson, Weiss and Lerman, 3/10)

PBS NewsHour: Millions Of U.S. Children Could Face Hunger As Omnibus Bill Moves Without School Meal Waivers
School nutrition and child development experts say millions of children in the United States could go hungry as soon as this summer, because the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill moving through Congress this week failed to include waivers that gives schools flexibility in preparing and distributing food to students. That’s even as a growing number of students are expected to need remedial help to overcome learning loss driven by remote classes and quarantine.During the COVID pandemic, Congress authorized the federal Department of Agriculture to grant waivers that covered rising food prices caused by supply chain issues. Those waivers reimbursed schools at higher rates for the cost of school meals and allowed schools to prepare food that families could either pick up or have delivered at or near their homes. (Santhanham, 3/10)

Modern Healthcare: Critical-Access Hospitals Left Out Of Congress' Telehealth Extension
Critical-access hospitals warn that they will no longer be able to bill Medicare for telehealth services when the public health emergency ends after they were excluded from the government spending bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed Wednesday. The $1.5 trillion package would extend Medicare coverage of telehealth for five months after the end of the public health emergency for several types of providers, but not for critical-access hospitals, which primarily serve rural areas. It is not yet clear why CAHs weren't included, but advocates say they are going to fight to ensure the issue is fixed before the PHE ends, which could be as soon as July. (Hellmann, 3/10)

KHN: ‘What The Health?’ Podcast: Congress Shelves Covid Funding For Now 
Congress is moving toward completion of its annual spending bills for the fiscal year that started last October, but a last-minute snag jettisoned from the bill the Biden administration’s requested funding for covid prevention and treatment. Meanwhile, a federal court has ruled that the administration overstepped in the dispute-resolution portion of its measure to bar “surprise” medical bills, after doctors and hospitals charged that the formula would favor health insurers in billing disagreements. (3/10)

Where have covid relief funds gone so far? —

The New York Times: Where $5 Trillion In Pandemic Stimulus Money Went
Stimulus bills approved by Congress beginning in 2020 unleashed the largest flood of federal money into the United States economy in recorded history. Roughly $5 trillion went to households, mom-and-pop shops, restaurants, airlines, hospitals, local governments, schools and other institutions around the country grappling with the blow inflicted by Covid-19. Economists largely credit these financial jolts with helping the U.S. economy recover more quickly than it otherwise would have from the largest downturn since the Great Depression: The pandemic recession was the shortest on record, lasting only three months. (Parlapiano, Solomon, Ngo and Cowley, 3/11)

And 2020 Census undercounts could affect political clout for decades —

The New York Times: 2020 Census Undercounted Hispanic, Black And Native American Residents
The estimates released on Thursday covered the count of 323.2 million people who were living in households on April 1, 2020, the official census date. Counts of others, such as prison inmates and students in college dormitories, pushed the total population count to 331.45 million. ... Although the bureau did not say how many people it missed entirely, they were mostly people of color, disproportionately young ones. The census missed counting 4.99 of every 100 Hispanics, 5.64 of every 100 Native Americans and 3.3 of every 100 African Americans. In contrast, for every 100 residents counted, the census wrongly added 1.64 non-Hispanic whites and 2.62 ethnic Asians. (Wines and Cramer, 3/10)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Eyes 'Full-Court Sprint' To Nursing Home Staffing Minimums Rule
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to establish minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes within a year, agency officials told industry representatives Thursday. There's no timeline yet for all of the more than 20 other initiatives President Joe Biden proposed during the State of the Union address last week, the officials said during a conference call. "We are on a full-court sprint toward new regulations, new safety guidance and new systems," said Jonathan Blum, CMS principal deputy administrator and chief operating officer. (Christ, 3/10)

In more nursing home news —

USA Today: Nursing Home Ratings: How Facilities Fared During COVID Surge, 2020-21
More than 140,000 people have died in U.S. nursing homes from COVID-19. Major outbreaks have been chronicled across the nation. But, until now, comparing nursing home outcomes was a nearly impossible challenge for consumers. USA TODAY compiled data filed by more than 15,000 homes and, for the first time, published indicators of how each performed in a five-month surge of COVID infections and deaths starting October 2020. This tool also shows ratings that correspond to federal recommended staffing. (Fraser and staff, 3/10)

USA Today: This Nursing Home Chain Stood Out For Nationally High Death Rates As Pandemic Peaked
Residents at Trilogy’s 115 campuses died of COVID-19 last winter at twice the national average for nursing homes, USA TODAY found, based on figures facilities must file weekly with the federal government. Presented with USA TODAY’s findings, the company said it had mistakenly reported hundreds of deaths during the surge. (Stein, Fraser, Penzenstadler and Lowenstein, 3/10)

Nj.Com: Why Is This N.J. Nursing Home Ranked So Poorly? Look At The Troubling Numbers.
Woodland Behavioral Health and Nursing Center at Andover, still under threat of losing its state license as well as the federal funding it needs to keep running, has been named as one of the worst nursing homes in New Jersey. Administrators at the nursing home in Sussex County have said little about the ongoing crisis at one of the largest long-term care facilities in the state. But data collected by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows many of the problems of Woodland Behavioral stem from a lack of enough people to care for its more than 450 residents. (Sherman, 3/10)

The CT Mirror: Bill Requiring Nursing Homes To Spend More On Direct Care Won't Advance
A bill that would require the state’s nursing homes to use 90% of their Medicaid funding on direct care for residents won’t advance out of the legislature’s Aging Committee this session, but proponents vowed to revive the measure next year. The controversial proposal drew support from advocates who want greater transparency from the industry and a guarantee that most of the funding is being spent on resident care. Nursing home executives testified against the bill, saying the mandate would put difficult constraints on spending. (Carlesso, 3/11)

In more Medicaid and Medicare news —

North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Hear Unvarnished Support For Medicaid Expansion 
Lawmakers from a bipartisan committee formed to consider the possibility of Medicaid expansion had a lesson in numbers a week ago when they met for their second meeting. Big numbers, too. Millions and billions of state and federal dollars that could be saved or put to other uses by extending the benefit to some 500,000 North Carolinians who could qualify for the health care coverage if North Carolina took the same action 38 other states have. North Carolina is one of only 12 states that has not taken advantage of Medicaid expansion, something that became possible as a result of the Affordable Care Act. (Hoban, 3/11)

CIDRAP: Non-COVID Post-Hospital Deaths Highlight Pandemic Consequences
While Medicare beneficiary hospitalizations for non–COVID-19 diagnoses fell sharply in March and April 2020 and stayed low through September 2021, death rates after hospitalization rose substantially—particularly for Black and Hispanic patients, finds a study yesterday in JAMA Network Open. University of Texas and Johns Hopkins researchers analyzed claims data from 8,448,758 Medicare admissions to 4,626 US hospitals for non-COVID indications from January 2019 through September 2021. Average patient age was 73.7 years. (3/10)

Bloomberg: Covid Study Finds 18 Million Deaths, Three Times Official Tally
The pandemic’s death toll may be three times higher than official Covid-19 records suggest, according to a study that found stark differences across countries and regions. As many as 18.2 million people probably died from Covid in the first two years of the pandemic, researchers found in the first peer-reviewed global estimate of excess deaths. They pointed to a lack of testing and unreliable mortality data to explain the discrepancy with official estimates of roughly 5.9 million deaths. (Gale, 3/10)

USA Today: 'Very Sobering': Global Deaths From COVID May Be More Than 3 Times Higher Than Official Toll, Study Says
As the U.S. approaches the grim milestone of one million COVID-19 deaths, a team of researchers published the first peer-reviewed study looking at excess death estimates on a global scale. The results are alarming, health experts say. Excess deaths is the difference between the number of recorded deaths from all causes and the number of expected deaths based on past trends. Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation found an estimated 18.2 million people may have died by the end of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than three times the official toll of 5.9 million, according to the study published Thursday in The Lancet. (Rodriguez, 3/10)

In more news about covid cases —

Detroit Free Press: Michigan COVID-19 Death Rates By County: Education, Age, Trump Factors
Who died of COVID-19 in Michigan during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic was heavily influenced by demographics like age, education level, the county where they lived, vaccination rates — and even who got their vote in the 2020 presidential election. As Michigan marked the grim two-year anniversary Thursday of the day when the first cases were identified, a Free Press analysis of state and federal data shows a higher death rate in counties where a larger share of people voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. "I would expect to see significant correlation," said Peter Jacobson, professor emeritus of health law and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. (Jordan Shamus and Tanner, 3/11)

The Boston Globe: Number Of COVID-19 Deaths In Mass. Will Drop Under State’s New Counting Method
The official count of COVID-19 deaths in Massachusetts will decline by about 3,700 under a new surveillance system that state health leaders say more accurately captures the true toll from the virus. “We think this is an absolutely critical step in improving our understanding of who COVID has impacted most significantly during the pandemic,” Dr. Catherine Brown, the state’s epidemiologist, said at a media briefing Thursday. Currently, the state’s reported confirmed and probable deaths total about 23,700. Under the new method, that could drop to about 20,000. But Brown said a team at the state’s health department is still crunching the numbers and would release them Monday. (Lazar, 3/10)

AP: Nevada Shifting To Weekly COVID Stats As Cases Keep Falling 
State health officials are moving from daily to weekly reporting of COVID-19 statistics as the public health emergency fades and new infections and hospitalizations continue to fall to their lowest levels in Nevada since last June. Beginning next week, they’ll also be changing the way they track the spread and response to the coronavirus, including dropping regular reporting of positivity rates that are increasingly skewed due to widespread use of home-testing results. (Sonner, 3/10)

Crain's New York Business: NYC Says It Is Ready To Take On ‘Test To Treat' Initiative
Despite modest stockpiles of oral COVID treatments, New York City says it is ready to carry out the new federal initiative to treat patients who test positive on the spot. The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday outlined details for the "Test to Treat'' initiative, introduced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address last week. The program allows individuals who receive a positive COVID test result to receive treatment with antiviral pills on the spot. It kicked off Monday, and participating pharmacy-based clinics, federally qualified health centers and long-term-care facilities are eligible to receive direct distributions of molnupiravir and Paxlovid from HHS. Molnupiravir was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Paxlovid comes from Pfizer. (Sim, 3/10)

USA Today: A New COVID Variant Called Deltacron? Here's What We Know
A potential new COVID-19 variant, a combination of the delta and omicron variants – you can call it "deltacron" – has been identified. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the new COVID-19 combination has been detected in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. It's also been found in the U.S., according to a new report soon to be published on research site MedRxiv, and viewed by USA TODAY. The San Mateo, California-headquartered lab Helix, which works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track COVID-19, sequenced 29,719 positive COVID-19 samples collected Nov. 22 to Feb. 13 from across the U.S., according to the research team, which included the University of Washington Medical Center and testing company Thermo Fisher Scientific. (Snider, 3/10)

Deseret News: Should You Worry About The New ‘Deltacron’ Variant?
Society has had a run-in with a “deltacron” variant before. In January, scientists in Cyprus said they had discovered a COVID-19 variant that mixed the omicron and delta variants, per Bloomberg News. However, the medical community — including biologist Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Translational Institute — disputed the science behind “deltacron.” Experts called it a “scariant” of COVID-19 that wouldn’t pose much of a threat, but made for a scary headline in the news. (Scribner, 3/10)

The Atlantic: So ... What Will The Next Variant Look Like?
Let’s start with the worst-case scenario, because it’s also probably the least likely. A new variant checks each of the Big Three boxes: more transmissible, more deadly, and much more evasive of the defenses that vaccines and other SARS-CoV-2 flavors have laid down. In this version of events, even immunized people could suffer high rates of severe disease; additional boosters might not mount a sufficient blockade. The chasm in protection between the vaccinated and unvaccinated would start to close—perhaps rapidly, if the new variant collides with us when many people aren’t up-to-date on their shots and population immunity is low. (Wu, 3/9)

In other pandemic news —

Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: Media Habits Defined The COVID Culture War
The key factor determining how Americans have handled COVID-19 — more than race, education or even political affiliation — is where they get their news, according to an analysis of two years of data from our Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. Partisan divisions weaken U.S. leaders' ability to deal with such existential crises — and the modern media landscape feeds that cycle. In March 2020, when everything changed, roughly nine in 10 Americans, regardless of their preferred media outlet, said they trusted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Within weeks, though, that trust was plunging among Americans who mostly watch Fox News or other conservative outlets, as well as those who cited no source. (Talev, Bettelheim and Alberti, 3/11)

The 19th: Moving In With Other Adults Has Become A Lifeline For Single Moms Hit ‘Tenfold’ By The Pandemic
As a single parent, Gabriela Villagomez-Morales faces one question with uncomfortable regularity: What are you willing to do for your kids? It’s the question Villagomez-Morales’ own mother asked her when, at the start of the pandemic, her job at a child care facility ended indefinitely. Other workers could tap into coronavirus relief, including enhanced unemployment payments, to keep the lights on and a roof over their heads. But despite being a taxpayer who contributes to that system, Villagomez-Morales and other undocumented immigrants couldn’t access those programs. Without those payments, she had no way to make rent in the home she shared with her four children, ages 20, 18, 10 and 9. So when her mom posed the question, they both knew the answer. (Carrazana and Mithani, 3/10)

And in news about covid vaccines and treatments —

USA Today: Lawmakers Push Legislation To Protect Doctors Who Prescribe Ivermectin For COVID-19. Can They Do That?
Dozens of state lawmakers push bills that would make it easier for doctors to prescribe ivermectin for COVID-19, even though the anti-parasitic has not been proved effective at preventing or treating the disease. As of Thursday, at least 26 states have proposed or passed legislation that would increase patient access to the drug, according to a database created by the Federation of State Medical Boards. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, said the bills "drive (him) nuts." (Rodriguez, 3/10)

CIDRAP: Study: Third COVID MRNA Vaccine Dose Needed Against Omicron
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing adult hospitalizations from the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants, but three doses are needed to reach the same efficacy against Omicron as two doses offer against the first two strains, suggests an observational test-negative study yesterday in BMJ.A team led by University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers prospectively estimated the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against COVID-19 hospitalization among 5,728 adult COVID-19 patients and 5,962 uninfected controls at 21 US hospitals. (Van Beusekom, 3/10)

The Boston Globe: Scientists Say We Need Universal Coronavirus Vaccines, But Will They Arrive In Time?
Over the last several months, the COVID pandemic has become an exercise of vaccination whack-a-mole. A variant arises, and the vaccine manufacturers figure out how to tweak their product to address it — but not quickly enough. New variants keep arising, making the variant-specific shots outdated before we even get a chance to use them. But what if scientists could develop one universal vaccine that could address all variants? That work is underway at academic labs and biotech firms, including several in Boston, and in recent months, progress has picked up speed. (Cross, 3/10)

The Atlantic: Vaccinating Kids Has Never Been Easy
In September 1957—two years after church bells rang in celebration of the new polio vaccine, two years after people rejoiced in the streets, two years after Americans began lining up for their shots—the proportion of children fully vaccinated against polio remained at about 50 percent. Supply was not the problem. Nor were doubts about the vaccine’s safety or efficacy, concluded a report from around that time by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes, which had funded research into the vaccine. But the “initial excitement” had nevertheless “faded,” and vaccine proponents found themselves in an incremental slog to reach the remaining unvaccinated Americans. Well into the 1960s, doctors held “Sabin Oral Sundays,” dispensing sugar cubes dosed with a drop of the oral vaccine invented by Albert Sabin. It would ultimately take more than two decades to go from ringing church bells to polio eradication in the U.S. (Zhang, 3/10)

FiercePharma: Novavax, Eyeing The COVID 'Vaccine Hesitant' And Kids, Unveils New Education Campaigns As Nuvaxovid Nears US Finish Line 
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson were quickest off the mark in getting COVID vaccines into American arms, but Novavax is hoping to add another pandemic vaccine to the U.S. mix soon—and it's pushing new campaigns to get the word out. The biopharma, which has approvals and authorizations in Europe and around the world, is now on the cusp of a potential green light in the U.S. And with a market comes the need for marketing. (Adams, 3/10)

In related news —

FiercePharma: Moderna CEO’s Pay Jumps 41% To $18.2M As COVID Vaccine Giant Expands Globally
Moderna’s business took flight in 2021 thanks to authorizations for its COVID-19 vaccine, and so did its CEO’s pay. Moderna is hiking CEO Stephane Bancel’s 2021 pay by 41% to $18.2 million, citing “unprecedented growth” at the mRNA specialist, a securities filing (PDF) shows. The CEO pay bump comes as the Massachusetts biotech generated $18.5 billion in revenues last year, a massive increase over the prior year when it recorded $803 million. (Liu, 3/10)

Roll Call: Airline, Transit Mask Mandates Extended Through April 18 
The White House on Thursday announced it would extend the current federal mask mandate for passengers on airplanes and public transit for another month — the third extension of the mandate since it was imposed in January 2021. The requirement, which had been set to expire March 18, will now extend through April 18, according to a Biden administration official, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending the next month examining how best to proceed. (Wehrman, 3/10)

In other updates on covid mandates —

The Washington Post: Sen. Cruz Rides With ‘People’s Convoy’ Truck To D.C. As Beltway Protest Enters Fourth Day 
A group of truckers and others opposed to pandemic-related mandates looped the Capital Beltway for a fourth day Thursday, this time with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who rode shotgun in the lead truck. Cruz visited the “People’s Convoy” at the Hagerstown Speedway, telling crowds their voice was being heard. He then boarded a truck and detoured just pass noon to head into Washington, where he and convoy organizers called for an end to such mandates. (Silverman, Elwood, Hedgpeth and Lazo, 3/10)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Schools Vaccine Mandate Challenged In Court By Workers
Six Chicago Public Schools teachers are once again challenging the district’s rules requiring employees receive the COVID-19 vaccination or undergo weekly testing. The six women are “suffering continuing harm in that each is being subjected to an unlawful vaccination or testing policy without being provided their statutorily protected rights of due process of law,” according to paperwork downstate attorney Tom DeVore filed Thursday in Sangamon County court. DeVore is seeking a temporary restraining order against the Chicago Board of Education. A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, he said. (Swartz, 3/10)

AP: Proposed Idaho Law Would Protect Coronavirus Unvaccinated
Legislation preventing most private and public entities in Idaho from discriminating against people who haven’t received the coronavirus vaccine cleared a Senate panel on Thursday. The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee approved the measure that prevents employers from requiring employees get the vaccine or entities requiring visitors or attendees be vaccinated. (Ridler, 3/10)

AP: House OKs Bill Protecting Disclosure Of COVID Shot Status 
The Kentucky House voted Thursday to prevent state and local governments and public colleges from requiring employees or students to disclose their COVID-19 immunization status. The measure also would allow parents to opt out of a coronavirus vaccine for their school-aged children on the basis of “conscientiously held beliefs.” The proposal won 71-22 House passage and moves on to the Senate. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers. (Schreiner, 3/10)

Indianapolis Star: Anthem To Change Name To Elevance Health To Reflect Bump In Offerings
Following in the footsteps of Alphabet and Meta , who are the parent companies of Google and Facebook, Indianapolis-based Anthem, Inc. officials said Thursday they have a name change in the works as well. Pending stockholder approval, the health insurance company currently known as Anthem plans to become Elevance Health. The names of the health plans at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will not change; however, the company said in a news release it will “streamline the number of other brands in the market to reduce complexities and improve consumer experiences.” (Rudavsky, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Blue Cross Blue Shield Owner Anthem Seeks To Change Name To Elevance Health
Anthem Inc. plans to change its name to Elevance Health Inc., aiming to recast itself as a company with a broader portfolio and focus than its traditional business of health insurance. Anthem, which owns Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, will need shareholder approval to make the change. The vote is scheduled to occur May 18. (Mathews, 3/10)

And more from the health insurance industry —

Modern Healthcare: Insurtechs' Big Losses Overshadow 2021 Revenue Growth
Oscar Health, Clover Health, Bright Health Group and Alignment Healthcare, the "insurtechs" that are supposed to transform the health insurance industry, just keep losing money. These companies accumulated $2.5 billion in losses since they went public last year and they continue to lose money on every member they insure. Their valuations have fallen $22.9 billion during the same period. While significant enrollment growth generated high revenues for Oscar Health, Clover Health and Bright Health Group, their new members' medical costs led to net losses that crested more than half billion dollars for each company. Clover Health notched the biggest per-member loses among the trio at more than $4,500 apiece for its 130,000 Medicare Advantage and Direct Contracting customers. (Tepper, 3/10)

Modern Healthcare: Increasing Liability Premiums Could Push Independent Physicians To Consolidate
The percentage of medical liability insurance premiums with year-to-year increases has surged for the third year in a row, a trend that could negatively affect independent providers who have experienced relatively low rates and a soft market for roughly the past 20 years. While the proportion of medical liability premiums with annual increases was somewhat stable between 2010 and 2018, in 2019 around 27% of premiums saw increases—nearly twice the rate from the previous year, according to a recent analysis by the American Medical Association. In both 2020 and 2021, roughly 30% of premiums increased, with a number of states reporting double-digit increases. (Devereaux, 3/10)

In other health care industry news —

WUSF Public Media: Florida's Hospital Systems Remained Profitable In 2020 Despite Pandemic, Report Says 
A recent report shows that Florida’s hospitals remained profitable in 2020 despite enormous pressures created by the coronavirus pandemic. In the Tampa-St. Petersburg region hospitals improved their profit margins from 8.8 percent in 2018 to 10 percent in 2020, according to the report. Hospitals in South Florida reported a net income of $1.59 billion, or 9.6% of net patient revenues in 2020, compared to 11.7% in 2019, the report said. During this time, hospital systems faced higher expenses due to the pandemic and reduced revenues because they had to suspend lucrative elective surgeries for part of 2020. But many hospitals received federal funding and found other ways to overcome their revenue losses, said Allen Baumgarten, author of the Florida Health Market Review, which publishes revenue data on hospitals. (Bruner, 3/10)

Crain's Chicago Business: Pipeline Health To Sell Remaining Chicago-Area Hospitals, West Suburban And Weiss Memorial
The owner of Chicago-area facilities West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown is looking to sell the facilities after a contentious ownership tenure that early on resulted in the controversial closing of Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park. Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health has signed a letter of intent to sell the two remaining acute-care hospitals and their campus properties to the newly formed healthcare firm Resilience Healthcare for $92 million. The two entities are working to file an application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which has to approve the sale. (Davis, 3/10)

Crain's Detroit Business: Henry Ford Health Joins Newly Formed Alliance To Improve Workforce
Henry Ford Health System announced Thursday that it has joined a new alliance with five other hospitals across the U.S. to improve staffing needs. The alliance, called Evolve Health Alliance, will share human resources best practices on the well-being of employees, workforce data, implementation of diversity and inclusion programs, reciprocal agreements to help staffing and other functions. Its members include AdventHealth in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Atrium Health in Charlotte, N.C., Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio, and HFHS. (Walsh, 3/10)

The Baltimore Sun: Same White Doctor’s Coat, But Less Pay In The Pockets For Women, Black Doctors In Maryland 
Salaries for female doctors in Maryland are significantly below those of their male counterparts. Asian doctors’ income is more than white doctors’ income, which is more than Black doctors earn. And all the state’s doctors average incomes below their peers nationwide. This is according to a new report commissioned by MedChi, a state medical society, which found similar disparities two years earlier. Officials could not explain why the gaps persist, though the U.S. Department of Labor reports unequal paychecks can be found in every state. That includes Maryland, though the state has relatively smaller earnings disparities. (Cohn, 3/11)

The Hill: DOJ Finds More Than $8 Billion In COVID Aid Fraud
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has uncovered a vast array of alleged fraudulent and criminal activities tied to more than $8 billion in federal COVID-19 aid, the agency announced Thursday. In response, the agency said it was immediately appointing a new director tasked specifically with coronavirus fraud enforcement. Kevin Chambers, who joined the agency as an associate deputy attorney general, "plans to focus on large-scale criminal enterprises and foreign actors who sought to profit at the expense of the American people," the DOJ said. (Weixel, 3/10)

AP: Two Years Into COVID, Was $800B Payroll Aid Plan Worth It? 
President Donald Trump rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program to catapult the U.S. economy into a quick recovery from the coronavirus pandemic by helping small businesses stay open and their employees working. President Joe Biden tweaked it to try to direct more of the money to poorer communities and minority-owned companies. Now, almost two years after the program made its debut, the question is what taxpayers got for the $800 billion. (Boak, 3/10)

Bloomberg: U.S. Covid Aid Boosted Pay Of 740,000 Frontline Workers
The Biden administration’s $350 billion state and local aid package provided hazard pay or bonuses for more than 740,000 workers on the front lines of the pandemic. First responders, teachers and other government employees “deserve to be compensated for keeping society running during the pandemic,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during an online press briefing Wednesday, at which federal and local officials gave new details on programs financed by last year’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. (Moran and Albright, 3/9)

Also —

Bloomberg: One In Five U.S. Adults Quit Their Job Last Year, Pew Survey Finds
About one in five non-retired U.S. adults said they quit a job last year, with the majority citing low pay, no opportunity for advancement and feeling disrespected at work as reasons why they left, according to a new Pew Research Center report Wednesday. The share jumped to 37% among those younger than 30, more than double the proportion of those ages 30 to 49 who did the same, the survey conducted Feb. 7-13 showed. A majority of those who quit a job last year -- and are not retired -- say they are now re-employed. (Pickert, 3/9)

Fox News: WHO Says Global Anxiety And Depression Increased 25% Due To COVID-19 Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific brief released by the United Nations (UN) agency said one explanation for the increase is unprecedented stress caused by the social isolation resulting from the pandemic. Loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and loved ones, grief following bereavement, and financial worries were all cited as factors leading to anxiety and depression. (Musto, 3/10)

In related news about mental health care —

Stat: For Patients Who Screen Positive For Depression, Follow-Up Care Falls Short
In a routine checkup, a primary care physician like Lucinda Leung asks all the patients she sees about symptoms of depression. To her, it’s as important as measuring blood pressure or listening to a patient’s lungs. New research, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, provides a unique, bird’s-eye view of what happens after a patient screens positive for depression. Leung and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 600,000 patients in Veterans Affairs clinics in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Tracing the path of care from screening onward, the researchers found that the majority of patients who screened positive for depression did not get timely follow-up care. The study also found that 23% of patients did not receive even minimal treatment for depression. (Delamerced, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: After Soccer Star Katie Meyer's Death, Stanford Vows To Bolster Mental Health Services 
A week after Stanford soccer captain Katie Meyer died by suicide, university officials have vowed to bring on additional mental health services. The March 1 death of Meyer, 22, sent shockwaves through the community, as did the tragic deaths of three other students during the past year: Dylan Simmons, Jacob Meisel and Rose Wong. Meisel and Wong died by suicide, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “Over the last year, the Stanford community has grieved the unimaginable loss of multiple members of our student family, and the past few weeks have been especially challenging and heartbreaking,” the university said in a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday. (Seidman, 3/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State OL Harry Miller Retires, Describes Mental Health Battles
Ohio State offensive lineman Harry Miller has decided to retire from football in an announcement on Twitter in which he said he contemplated suicide. “Prior to the season last year, I told Coach Day of my intention to kill myself,” Miller wrote. “He immediately had me in touch with Dr. Candice (Williams) and Dr. (Josh) Norman, and I received the support I needed. After a few weeks, I tried my luck at football once again, with scars on my wrists and throat.“ …There was a dead man on the television set, but nobody knew it. (Rabinowitz, 3/10)

KHN: More Black Americans Are Buying Guns. Is It Driving Up Black Suicide Rates? 
When Russell and Sharis Lewis want to unwind, they pack up their guns and drive from their home in a suburb north of St. Louis to an indoor range called the SharpShooter on the city’s south side. Russell dons big protective headphones, carefully lays out his firearms, and selects a Panzer Arms M4 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun. He takes aim at paper targets, including one labeled “snowflakes,” and squeezes the trigger. “It’s just something about the power and being able to release that and let it go downrange,” he said. “It relaxes me.” (Smith, 3/11)

In other public health news —

Kansas City Star: Feel Sleepy, Cranky? Some Daylight Saving Time Sleep Tips 
For years, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, experts on all things sleep, has called for daylight saving time to be abolished. In the days leading up to this weekend’s time change, their cause was debated in yet another congressional hearing. But for now, we’re stuck with, well, Cranky Monday. “Basically what is going to happen Monday morning is that you will have jet lag without traveling,” said Dr. Abid Bhat, medical director for the University Health Sleep Center, formerly Truman Medical Centers. (Gutierrez, 3/11)

NPR: Therapy Dogs Can Help Relieve Pain In The Emergency Room
Therapy dogs have long visited nursing homes and schools — even disaster sites — offering comfort to humans. A new study shows that a 10-minute visit from a therapy dog can help relieve patients' pain in the emergency room. The research from the University of Saskatchewan, published in the journal PLOS on Wednesday, found that ER patients who were visited by a therapy dog reported less pain than those who weren't. "Therapy dogs themselves ... they're just really friendly, family pets that are so excited to visit with people and in places where you don't typically have a pet," Dr. Colleen Dell, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the study authors, told NPR. "And just going into the emergency department was a natural." (Torchinsky, 3/10)

USA Today: Trader Joe's Recall: Crunchy Slaw Recalled Because May Contain Plastic
A salad sold at Trader Joe's has been recalled because the salad dressing may contain hard plastic. The grocer announced the recall on its website and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert Thursday for the "Crunchy Slaw with Chicken, Crispy Noodles & Peanut Dressing." The 12-ounce salads were shipped to Trader Joe's stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. They bear establishment number “P-6247” inside the USDA mark of inspection and have "use by" dates ranging from March 9 through 12. (Tyko, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Block On Blood-Plasma Donors From Mexico Threatens Supplies
Pharmaceutical companies and U.S. officials are fighting over whether to allow people to cross the border from Mexico to be paid for giving blood plasma, a critical ingredient in treatments for some neurological and autoimmune diseases. Up to 10% of plasma collected in the U.S. usually comes from Mexican nationals who enter on visitor visas and are paid about $50 to donate, according to legal filings from pharmaceutical companies. Last June, U.S. border officials indicated they would stop the roughly 30-year practice because they viewed it as labor for hire, which isn’t allowed under a visitor visa. (Cherney, Onque and Hernandez, 3/9)

In other pharmaceutical and biotech news —

CIDRAP: Study: Young Kids With Simple Pneumonia Fare Well Without Antibiotics
A study of children 3 years old or younger who were hospitalized for uncomplicated community-associated pneumonia (CAP) found that a significant proportion did well without a full course of antibiotics, researchers reported yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. In the retrospective observational study, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed data on previously healthy children ages 3 to 36 months who were treated at Children's of Alabama for uncomplicated CAP from September 2011 through December 2019. They compared outcomes in children treated with antibiotics—defined as treated for more than 2 days with an antibiotic or discharged home with an antibiotic prescription—versus those who received 2 days of antibiotics or less or were discharged home with no antibiotics. (3/10)

CIDRAP: Trial Supports Antibiotic Alternative For Recurrent Urinary Infections
The results of a randomized clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom suggest a non-antibiotic antiseptic treatment may be as good as antibiotics for preventing recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI), researchers reported yesterday in The BMJ. The drug, methenamine hippurate, has previously been evaluated in systematic reviews for the prevention of recurrent UTI, which occurs in roughly one in four women who have a UTI episode, but the results of those reviews have been inconclusive. This is the largest randomized trial yet to assess its efficacy compared with antibiotics—the current standard treatment. (Dall, 3/10)

Crain's Cleveland Business: Cleveland Clinic Enters Five-Year Collaboration Agreement With Boston Artificial Intelligence Company 
Cleveland Clinic and PathAI, a Boston-based artificial intelligence company, are teaming up to build what they call a "digital pathology infrastructure" and advance the use of AI-powered pathology algorithms in research and clinical care. The health system and the company on Thursday, March 10, announced a five-year strategic collaboration that they said "will focus on leveraging PathAI's quantitative pathology algorithms both to conduct new translational research and for use as clinical diagnostics in multiple disease areas." They said the effort "combines PathAI's AI-based platforms with Cleveland Clinic's clinical expertise and multi-modal data to unlock a broad implementation of next-generation pathology diagnostics." (Suttell, 3/10)

KHN: Pandemic Medical Innovations Leave Behind People With Disabilities 
Divya Goel, a 35-year-old deaf-blind woman in Orlando, Florida, has had two telemedicine doctors’ appointments during the pandemic. Each time, she was denied an interpreter. Her doctors told her she would have to get insurance to pay for an interpreter, which is incorrect: Under federal law, it is the physician’s responsibility to provide one. (Weber, 3/11)

FiercePharma: Gilead To Boost West Coast Production Muscle After Revealing New Jersey Layoffs 
As Gilead Sciences slims down on the East Coast, the company is plotting manufacturing moves out West. The biotech has closed a deal for 27 acres of undeveloped land near its existing facility in Oceanside, California, which it will use to stand up additional manufacturing in the area, Joydeep Ganguly, Gilead’s senior vice president of corporate operations, said in a statement. The company’s current Oceanside outfit supports clinical manufacturing and process development for Gilead and Kite Pharma, the exec said. (Kansteiner, 3/10)

AP: Texas Judge Hears Case On State's Gender Care Investigations 
A Texas judge is hearing a case Friday on whether to prevent state officials from investigating reports of transgender youth receiving gender confirming care as child abuse. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum will hear from attorneys for the state and the parents of a 16-year-old girl who were being investigated by the Department of Family and Protective Services over such care. (3/11)

And more news on transgender health care in Texas —

Dallas Morning News: Does The State Think Transgender Care Is Abuse? Ken Paxton’s Comments Contradict Texas’ Legal Stance
Fighting to keep his job in a heated GOP primary this year, Attorney General Ken Paxton repeatedly insisted that certain medical treatments for transgender youth abusive and illegal. But in the relative calm of a court hearing, the state’s lawyers have said something quite different: Gender-affirming care for minors is not abuse in all cases, and the state won’t go after parents just because their trans child is receiving these treatments. “Despite the frankly breathless media coverage of these important issues, there has been no call to investigate all trans youth or all youth undergoing these gender affirming procedures or therapies. That’s not the case,” Assistant Attorney General Ryan Kercher said in court last week in the first legal test for the state’s policy of investigating certain care for trans minors as abuse. (McGaughy, 3/10)

The Texas Tribune: Analysis: Texas Officials Bully Transgender Kids For Political Points 
Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton are turning the law-and-order Republican Party into a gang of bullies, targeting transgender kids — and the parents who support them — with their decision to treat gender-affirming health care as child abuse. That health care is legal under Texas law, but this is election season. Cynics who think politicians will say anything to get reelected have a new, sparkling piece of evidence. Other people caught doing what the governor and attorney general are doing — Texas public school students, for instance — risk breaking the law. Check out the definition of illegal bullying in the Texas Education Code: “Bullying means a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power and involves engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct …” (Ramsey, 3/11)

Houston Chronicle: 65 U.S. Companies Blast Abbott’s Push To Investigate Therapy For Transgender Kids As Child Abuse
Sixty-five major U.S. companies who do business in Texas are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse his order requiring the state's child welfare agency to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender youth as a form of child abuse by their parents. The companies, including Apple, Dow, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Meta and PayPal, in conjunction with the LGBT advocacy nonprofit Human Rights Campaign took out full-page print and digital advertisements in the Dallas Morning News that state in all capital, bold letters: “Discrimination is bad for business.” (Goldenstein, 3/10)

In related news from Arizona and Florida —

San Francisco Chronicle: Arizona Shouldn’t Be Forced To Pay For Transgender Teen’s Chest Surgery, Appeals Court Rules
A federal appeals court refused Thursday to order Arizona to pay for a transgender teenage boy's chest-reconstruction surgery and said youngsters may not be capable of making such decisions for themselves. But the youth's lawyer said the ruling was a partial victory because the court classified anti-transgender bias as sex discrimination. In a 3-0 ruling, a conservative panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge’s refusal to require Arizona’s Medicaid program to fund surgery sought by a youth identified as John Doe, who was 15 when he appealed the state’s denial and is now 17. (Egelko, 3/10)

Fox News: DeSantis Slams 'Woke' Disney After CEO Condemns Parents' Rights Bill
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed the Walt Disney Company as "woke" on Thursday after the company came out against a Republican-led parental rights bill in the state that progressives have claimed is anti-LGBTQ. Speaking to supporters in Boca Raton, DeSantis said there is "zero" chance he's going to reverse his position on disallowing the instruction of "transgenderism in kindergarten classrooms." (Chasmar and Laco, 3/11)

Los Angeles Times: Disney Employees 'Angry' Over Response To Florida LGBTQ Bill
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Chapek on Wednesday tried to soothe outrage at the company’s muted response to Florida’s controversial bill restricting classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity. But his belated statement opposing the legislation, and outreach to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, did not satisfy critics, including queer Disney employees outraged by reports that the company had donated to politicians who backed the bill. The company is a huge Florida employer, with tens of thousands of workers at Walt Disney World Resort. (Faughnder, 3/10)

AP: 'Abortion Reversal' Bill Moves Forward In S Carolina House 
A bill that would require doctors to inform patients receiving drug-induced abortions about a controversial method to possibly halt the abortion process is moving forward in the South Carolina House. The House Judiciary Committee could consider the legislation after a panel of lawmakers voted to advance the measure Thursday. (3/10)

Louisville Courier Journal: Bill To Ban Abortions In Kentucky After 15 Weeks Advances
Abortions would be banned in Kentucky after 15 weeks, according to a bill that passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday amid objections from opponents who said it duplicates laws already on the books. "Senate Bill 321 doesn't do anything that our state hasn't done already," said Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. "This is nothing more than political theater designed to score points in an election year." (Yetter, 3/10)

Kansas City Star: Key Abortion Bills To Watch In The Missouri General Assembly 
A proposal to allow lawsuits against out-of-state individuals who help Missouri women obtain abortions has grabbed attention in the General Assembly in recent days. But lawmakers are pursuing an aggressive agenda of measures intended to restrict access to the procedure. As the annual session reaches its midpoint, the House and Senate have yet to pass much abortion-related legislation, though lawmakers approved a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. (Shorman, 3/11)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

AP: Woman Whose Rape DNA Led To Her Arrest To Sue San Francisco 
The woman whose DNA from a sexual assault case was used by San Francisco police to arrest her in an unrelated property crime plans to sue the city, her attorney said Thursday. The woman has filed notice of a possible federal lawsuit because she feels betrayed by police officers who broke her trust and violated her rights, said her attorney, Adante Pointer. (3/11)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Cities Opt Out Of Mississippi's Medical Marijuana, Face Pushback
A handful of cities and towns have voted that for now, they are opting out of participating in Mississippi’s nascent medical marijuana program that was signed into law just over a month ago. Under the law, any town, city, or county governing board has up to 90 days, or until the first week of May, to vote against allowing dispensaries, cultivators, or production facilities from operating within those jurisdictions. These localities have the option to opt back in at a later date. So far, only a small number of cities and towns have chosen not to participate including the cities of Brandon, Ridgeland, Pass Christian, and Gluckstadt. But advocates fear this could signal that more communities will follow suit, ultimately creating access issues for patients and limiting the number of businesses able to operate successfully in the burgeoning industry. (Clark, 3/11)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska House Votes To Prohibit Marriage For Children 15 And Younger
The Alaska House of Representatives unexpectedly amended a proposed marriage-reform bill Wednesday to prohibit children ages 15 and younger from being married in the state. Current state law allows children to be married as young as 14 with the approval of a judge. During debate on legislation to change the number of witnesses required for a marriage, Rep. Sara Rasmussen, R-Anchorage, proposed an amendment to raise the minimum marriage age to 16, Alaska’s age of consent. Parental approval would be required for marriages involving children between 16 and 18. The House approved Rasmussen’s amendment, 33-3. It does not become law unless the House and Senate approve the underlying bill and it’s signed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. (Brooks, 3/10)

AP: Battle Heating Up Over Smoking In Atlantic City Casinos 
The battle over whether smoking should be prohibited in Atlantic City’s casinos heated up Thursday, with a major business group opposing a ban, and a public health agency resigning from the business group in protest. The Greater Atlantic City Chamber said efforts to ban smoking in the casinos should be dropped, warning it would cost jobs and hurt local businesses. (Parry, 3/10)

AP: Ducey To Mull Letting Dentists Give Cosmetic Botox Shots
The next time you sit in the dental chair for a filling, your dentist may also be able to offer to handle those pesky wrinkles around your eyes by injecting some Botox. All that’s standing in the way is a signature from Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on legislation that passed the House and Senate. (3/11)

Columbus Dispatch: Drug Co-Pays: Ohio Bill To Aid Patients Stalled At Statehouse For Year
Sara Sharpe, 34, has a pretty basic wish: She doesn't want to suffer a potentially fatal allergic reaction "because of insurance company paperwork" foul-ups. She is one of millions nationwide caught up in a money-saving move by health insurance companies with the unwieldy name of "co-pay accumulators." People in this diverse group, many suffering from rare diseases, are casualties of the ongoing battle over prescription drug prices among multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical manufacturers, health insurers and the obscure middlemen in the drug-supply chain, pharmacy benefit managers. (Rowland, 3/10)

The Texas Tribune: Child Victims Of Sexual Trafficking Were Abused In Texas Shelter 
Employees of a Texas-contracted facility meant to care for female foster children who are victims of sex trafficking were discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge. Seven children, ages 11 to 17, were victimized by nine alleged perpetrators, according to discussions held during an emergency court hearing called by U.S. District Judge Janis Jack on Thursday. The children remained in the facility for over a month after the abuse was first reported before they were removed. (Oxner, 3/10)

The CT Mirror: Immigration Activists Rally In Support Of Child Health Care Expansion
Rosario Tepoz arrived in Connecticut from Mexico 10 years ago with a 2-year-old son. Six years later, Tepoz had a daughter, born in Connecticut and, as a result, born into citizenship in the United States. Today, her children face completely different realities when it comes to accessing medical care. “I have two children. One has health insurance, and one does not have health insurance, and this hurts me in my soul. They themselves have lived and understand what this means,” testified Tepoz in a public hearing on Thursday. (Golvala, 3/10)

Fox News: US Doctors Provide Free Telehealth For Ukrainian Soldiers, Civilians, Refugees
U.S. doctors are providing free telehealth services for Ukrainian soldiers, civilians, and refugees amid Russia's invasion through an app connected to the Starlink internet that Tesla set up in the embattled eastern European country. According to a news release provided exclusively to Fox News Digital, VSee developed Aimee, a telehealth app that "brings together more than 2,000 U.S.-based physicians to provide free on-demand doctor visits covering all medical specialties, including Emergency Room and trauma." VSee is a video telehealth platform with a 14-year history supporting health efforts in North America, the Middle East, Africa, conflict zones, the International Space Station, and refugee camps. (O'Neill, 3/11)

And more on Russia's invasion of Ukraine —

Reuters: Exclusive: WHO Says It Advised Ukraine To Destroy Pathogens In Health Labs To Prevent Disease Spread 
The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country's public health laboratories to prevent "any potential spills" that would spread disease among the population, the agency told Reuters on Thursday. Biosecurity experts say Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and bombardment of its cities have raised the risk of an escape of disease-causing pathogens, should any of those facilities be damaged. (Rigby and Landay, 3/10)

Bloomberg: Ukraine Covid Pill Development Project Disrupted By Russian Invasion
The night before Russia invaded Ukraine, chemist Tetiana Matviyuk worked late into the night at her Kyiv office. By 10:30 p.m., she had wrapped up after a Zoom meeting with a global team of scientists working on a new, experimental Covid-19 treatment. The day before, she had shipped crucial compounds to colleagues in the U.K. Her team was closing in on the project’s finish line and their moment of Champagne celebration. But instead of euphoria, Matviyuk was filled with dread. She called her husband on her drive home. (Kresge, 3/10)

Bloomberg: U.S. Criticizes China And Russia For Pushing Preposterous Lab Theory
Washington criticized China and Russia for promoting a conspiracy theory that the U.S. military runs biolabs in Ukraine, escalating a dispute over attempts at misleading the public over the war in Europe.“ We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday. “We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.” (3/10)

CNBC: Covid Declared A Pandemic Two Years Ago. Health Experts Warn It's Still Not Over
With war raging between Russia and Ukraine, the world’s battle against the coronavirus has been largely sidelined and the second anniversary of Covid-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization could easily pass us by. Covid was, and still is, a seismic event that has affected the lives of millions of people, causing heartache for those that lost loved ones and anxiety for millions of people who lost livelihoods as the pandemic caused widespread lockdowns and a massive hit to businesses both big and small. Of course, the long-lasting impact on many individuals’ mental and physical health is yet to be fully measured or appreciated, with the effects of the virus — whether it be the malingering Covid symptoms or “long Covid” many people are experiencing, or its impact on the brain and body — still being investigated by scientists. (Ellyatt, 3/11)

The New York Times: Two Years After Declaring A Pandemic, The W.H.O.’s Watchword Is Still Caution
The World Health Organization, often criticized for being too slow to declare in 2020 that a pandemic was underway, now says — two years to the day after making that declaration — that many countries are being too quick to declare it over and let down their guard. By the time Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency’s director general, officially declared the spread of the coronavirus to be a pandemic in the early evening of March 11, 2020, the virus was already known to have infected more than 120,000 people in 114 countries, killing about 4,300. (Hassan, 3/11)

And more covid developments from around the world —

CIDRAP: Pangolins In Vietnam Found To Have SARS-CoV-2–Related Coronavirus
A study today in Frontiers in Public Health confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam harbored coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2, something previously detected only in China. The study offers further evidence that the wildlife trade can add to coronavirus transmission. (3/9)

Bloomberg: Paxlovid Covid Pill To Be Supplied To Africa By Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. has agreed to supply Africa with its Covid-19 pill, bringing a key virus-fighting tool to the continent. A document outlining the agreement between the drugmaker and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is with the African Union’s legal office, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC said at a briefing on Thursday. (Hoije and Kew, 3/10)

In other global news —

AP: Guatemala President Threatens Veto Of Abortion Legislation 
Two days after Guatemala’s congress passed a bill increasing sentences for women who terminate their pregnancies, prohibiting same-sex marriage and banning discussion of sexual diversity in schools, President Alejandro Giammattei asked the congress to pull it back or face his veto. It was a surprising reversal for the president. Late Tuesday — International Women’s Day — Guatemala’s Congress passed the “Protection of Life and Family” law by a wide margin. (Perez D., 3/11)

The Washington Post: Hoarding Disorders Have Increased During The Pandemic. Here’s How To Help A Loved One Who Hoards.
Hoarding is not a new issue, nor is our fascination with it. Reality television shows have been chronicling extreme cases of hoarding for years: “Clean House” debuted in 2003, for example, and “Hoarders” in 2009. But, according to a study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research in November 2021, hoarding disorder symptoms have “significantly worsened” during the pandemic, perhaps because of heightened stress or extra time at home — in some cases, alone. (Haupt, 3/7)

Scientific American: Tons Of COVID Medical Garbage Threaten Health 
The COVID pandemic is not just a public health crisis. It is also an environmental one. After more than 430 million reported cases of the disease around the world, the pandemic has generated huge amounts of medical garbage in the form of test kits, gloves, masks, syringes and other products that people at clinics and hospitals use once and then toss away. A recent report by the World Health Organization found the problem was global, but extreme in poorer countries where much of the refuse is simply burned in open pits and decrepit incinerators that lack pollution controls. (Schmidt, 3/7)

The New York Times: Why American Mask Makers Are Going Out Of Business 
Mike Bowen has spent much of the pandemic saying, “I told you so,” and you can hardly blame him. Back in 2005, just as low-cost Chinese manufacturers were taking over the personal protective equipment industry, Bowen joined a friend who had started a small surgical mask company called Prestige Ameritech. The plan was to market his company’s masks to American hospitals and distributors as a way to provide resilience — a means of ensuring domestic supply if the supply chain ever broke down. “Every company had left America,” he recalled recently. “The entire U.S. mask supply was under foreign control.” He remembers warning customers, “If there’s a pandemic, we’re going to be in trouble.” (Nocera, 3/5)

The Washington Post: Black Funeral Home Directors Face Daunting Amount Of Coronavirus Deaths
There were so many bodies in Hari Close’s funeral home one day last month that he arrived to begin embalming them at 2 a.m. It was his 61st birthday, but he had to get to work. Later that day, the Baltimore funeral director counseled the family of a 13-year-old who had died of covid-19, after weeks on a ventilator. He tried to help them navigate their grief even as he struggled with his own, thinking of his grandchildren around the same age. Close phoned a friend to vent. Then he headed back to the embalming room, where his work would stretch into the evening. (Chason, 3/8)

Also —

The New York Times: What Is ‘Bigorexia’? 
Like many high school athletes, Bobby, 16, a junior from Long Island, has spent years whipping his body into shape through protein diets and workouts. Between rounds of Fortnite and homework, Bobby goes online to study bodybuilders like Greg Doucette, a 46-year-old fitness personality who has more than 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. Bobby also hits his local gym as frequently as six days a week. (Hawgood, 3/5)

The Washington Post: Is My Memory Going Or Is It Just Normal Aging?
Think back to the last time you walked into the living room and forgot what you came for, or tugged on the car door handle only to realize your keys were on the kitchen counter. Each week, patients in my memory clinic recount similar stories and ask me: Is this normal? Surveys show that half of middle-aged adults worry about getting dementia. People who feel isolated, get less sleep or have taken care of someone with memory loss tend to be particularly concerned. Fear of cognitive maladies is widespread; scientists have found that people are more scared of dementia than of other top causes of death, such as heart disease and strokes. (Peskin, 3/5)

Los Angeles Times: Pioneering Doctor Fears 'Unsafe Abortions And Women Dying' If Roe Falls 
Dr. Warren Hern doesn’t have to imagine what could befall many women in America if the Supreme Court strikes down Roe vs. Wade. In 1963, he was a resident working nights at Colorado General Hospital in Denver. Women would arrive in septic shock, some probably hours from death. “Nobody talked about why they were there,” Hern recalled. He soon discovered they were suffering complications from illegal abortions. In one case, a woman shot herself in the belly and drove to the emergency room. (Hennessey-Fiske, 3/10)

The Washington Post: Redlining Means 45 Million Americans Are Breathing Dirtier Air, 50 Years After It Ended
Decades of federal housing discrimination did not only depress home values, lower job opportunities and spur poverty in communities deemed undesirable because of race. It’s why 45 million Americans are breathing dirtier air today, according to a landmark study released Wednesday. The practice known as redlining was outlawed more than a half-century ago, but it continues to impact people who live in neighborhoods that government mortgage officers shunned for 30 years because people of color and immigrants lived in them. (Fears, 3/9)

The Washington Post: Demand For Meat Is Destroying The Amazon. Smarter Choices At The Dinner Table Can Go A Long Way To Help.
Deforestation in the Amazon can seem like a remote problem over which we have no control — but forest advocates say that’s not true. They argue that smarter choices at the dinner table would go a long way toward safeguarding the world’s largest rainforest. (Schiffman, 3/9)

Los Angeles Times: Missouri Bill Attempts To Criminalize Out-Of-State Abortions 
The assault on women’s reproductive rights in state legislatures across the country has ramped up since the Supreme Court signaled in December that it might uphold a Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks of gestation and dismantle the landmark ruling in Roe vs. Wade that protects a woman’s right to an abortion. (3/11)

Bloomberg: Here’s One Good Way To Lower The Cost Of Insulin 
Insulin has been making life better for people with diabetes since it first saved the life of a Canadian teenager in 1922. As the ensuing century passed, however, the drug also became a poster child for the dysfunctionality of America’s drug-pricing system. More than 10 million Americans rely on insulin to control their blood sugar, and the out-of-pocket cost of newer versions ranges from free (for some insured patients) to many hundreds of dollars a month (for insured and uninsured alike). (Lisa Jarvis, 3/10)

CNN: What Conversion Therapy Cost Me 
When I attended conversion therapy in 2004, the cost was $1,500 for a two-week session. My parents saved up for the so-called counseling, having heard through a network of Baptist preachers that, in many cases, clients required months, sometimes years, of "treatment." By the time I realized conversion therapy didn't work, it had not only taken our money but also caused our family deep emotional and psychological harm. (Garrard Conley, 3/10)

Stat: ‘Gender Dysphoria’ Diagnosis Shouldn't Be Required For Gender-Affirming Care
As people around the world come to acknowledge that gender is something defined along a spectrum rather than a binary concept, the necessity of a “gender dysphoria” diagnosis needs to be revisited. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which is used by mental health practitioners around the world, defines gender dysphoria as psychological distress that results from an incongruence between the gender an individual was assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. As an advocate, provider, and CEO at a gender-affirming health care center, I have a problem with that term, as do a growing number of people in the transgender and gender-diverse communities, especially those who have early access to affirming support structures and care. (Dallas Ducar, 3/11)

Stat: Another Way To Empower Nurses: Listen To Them 
Five days before my mother died of septic shock, a nurse tried to alert me that something might be wrong. I wish I had listened. After surgery for colon cancer, my mother spent two weeks in the hospital. The medical team began discharge planning. One afternoon, what we thought of as her “going home” presents — a walker and a toilet adapter — arrived at her bedside. But the next morning, my mother was tired and out of sorts. She sat in a chair and listlessly pushed a bit of egg around the plate, then leaned back and closed her eyes. (Ann MacDonald, 3/11)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut’s Paid Leave Program Can Help Address Health Disparities
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare many of the inequities that already existed in our state. People of color were more likely to die from the virus, and more likely to face financial hardships. As our state moves toward recovering from the pandemic, we must embrace policies that will assure everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This includes being able to take the time to recover from an illness or care for a sick loved one without facing severe financial consequences. By many measures, Connecticut is one of the nation’s healthiest and wealthiest states. Yet a closer look at health data reveals major disparities in health by race and ethnicity. (Tiffany Donelson, 3/11)

Bloomberg: Can Covid Cause Brain Damage, Hurt Mental Health? It's Not Out Of Mind Yet
Many of us have put Covid largely out of our minds. But one of the most intriguing and important areas of study is exactly what Covid does to the mind. The answer to that question is still far from clear. And yet it affects how we treat Covid as well as how we manage future pandemics and viruses. (Therese Raphael, 3/10)

The Washington Post: This Is What ‘Living With Covid’ Might Look Like 
In a report released Monday and titled “Getting to and Sustaining the Next Normal: A Roadmap for Living with Covid,” the experts caution that the United States is still in the grip of the pandemic. With 330 million people, they say the U.S. transition to the “next normal” will be when direct mortality from major respiratory illnesses is 165 deaths per day and 1,150 per week; the death toll from covid-19 going into this month was 10 times higher. And they caution that a new, concerning variant could emerge. At the same time, they suggest that the death toll will decline sharply from the disaster of the past two years, thanks to vaccine and natural immunity. (3/10)

Newsweek: Protecting The Vulnerable—It's Time To Move Beyond The Rhetoric 
Since the start of the pandemic, medical and public health professionals have highlighted the need to protect the immunocompromised. People who are pregnant, those who have had organ transplants, chemotherapy, immunosuppressive medications and those with chronic health conditions such as diabetes are at great risk of severe complications or death following COVID-19 infection. Many of these people are also unable to mount sufficient antibodies to the vaccine, leaving them at extreme risk. New CDC guidance allows the majority of the population to enjoy pre-pandemic privileges, such as going mask-free in public spaces, while providing disclaimers that vulnerable people must still take precautions. (Marney A. White, 3/10)

The New York Times: The Covid-19 Pandemic Didn’t Have To Be This Way 
We cannot step into the same river twice, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is said to have observed. We’ve changed, the river has changed. That’s very true, but it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from seeing what other course the river could have flowed. As the pandemic enters its third year, we must consider those moments when the river branched, and nations made choices that affected thousands, millions, of lives. (Zeynep Tufecki, 3/11)

Bloomberg: What Comes After Omicron? No One Knows 
We are now in Covid limbo. Cases are down and still falling, yet scientists aren’t willing to declare the pandemic over — or, conversely, to predict when the next wave might come. But perhaps it’s a good thing that public health officials are displaying a little less confidence. Researchers still don’t really know why pandemic waves rise or fall, so it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise. And less posturing by public health officials would be a welcome change. (Faye Flam, 3/10)

Chicago Tribune: COVID-19 Infiltrated Health Care With Resentment 
Over the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the defining moments of our generation, causing more than 950,000 deaths in the U.S. and disrupting every corner of American life. As a family medicine physician, I am especially aware of how COVID-19 upended health care, not only overrunning hospital ICUs but also damaging trust in the medical community. (Sabina Wong, 3/10)