AP: Becerra Confirmed To Shepherd Biden's Ambitious Health Plans
The Senate on Thursday confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as President Joe Biden’s health secretary, filling a key position in the administration’s coronavirus response and its ambitious push to lower drug costs, expand insurance coverage, and eliminate racial disparities in medical care. ... The $1.4 trillion agency encompasses health insurance programs, drug safety and approvals, advanced medical research, substance abuse treatment, and the welfare of children, including hundreds of Central American migrants arriving daily at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/18)

The Washington Post: Becerra Squeaks Through Confirmation Vote To Become HHS Secretary 
Xavier Becerra narrowly won confirmation Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency pivotal to President Biden’s urgent goal of defeating the coronavirus pandemic and expanding access to health care. Becerra, a congressman from Los Angeles for two dozen years and then California attorney general, squeaked by on a vote of 50 to 49, the closest margin for any of the Biden Cabinet members the Senate has confirmed so far. (Goldstein, 3/18)

Politico: Senate Narrowly Confirms Becerra As Health Secretary
Maine Republican Susan Collins joined all of the Democrats present in the 50-49 vote — the tightest tally for any of Biden's Cabinet picks to date and an unusually narrow margin for an HHS secretary. Becerra, who served in the House for more than two decades before becoming California’s Attorney General, will become the first Latino to head the sprawling federal health department. Thursday’s vote came nearly four months after Becerra emerged as the nominee following a turbulent process to fill the key health post amid a global pandemic. The nomination was then stalled for weeks by a stalemate over how Democrats and Republicans would share power in a 50-50 Senate. (Ollstein, 3/18)

The Hill: Senate Confirms Becerra In Tight Vote With Just One GOP Defection 
Collins previously cited Becerra's commitment to rural health care, and a shared goal of lowering drug prices, among her reasons for supporting him. Becerra was attacked for his views on abortion and past support for Medicare for All, with conservatives accusing him of being a liberal extremist with no experience in health care. (Weixel, 3/18)

CNN: Senate Narrowly Confirms Xavier Becerra As Health And Human Services Secretary
During the confirmation process, Becerra stressed his upbringing, his father's recent passing and his efforts for expanding health care access as California's attorney general and a 24-year Congressman representing a Los Angeles-based district. The vast majority of Senate Republicans opposed Becerra's nomination over his support for abortion rights and his lack of a background as a health care professional. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Becerra's experience and blasted Republicans' arguments against him, saying they "almost verge on the ridiculous." (Rogers, 3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Confirms Xavier Becerra As Secretary Of Health And Human Services
The secretary has said he would work on a bipartisan basis to safeguard insurance-coverage protections for people with pre-existing conditions, reduce healthcare costs and sustain the ACA markets. He has also said he would work to fight the coronavirus pandemic and meet weekly with President Biden on vaccine distribution, availability of personal protective equipment and advocating that people wear masks. “He’s got to make sure he has the right career people on staff because a lot of people have left,” said Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, a healthcare advocacy group. He said Mr. Becerra, who repeatedly litigated Trump-era policies, may go after consolidation in the health industry and other factors that are behind rising healthcare costs. (Armour, 3/18)

Roll Call: Senate Confirms Becerra As Biden's Health Secretary
The Senate voted, 50-49, on Thursday to confirm Xavier Becerra as the first Latino secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra will take charge of a health department a year into a global pandemic that has reshaped how doctors provide care, highlighted racial and ethnic disparities in the health care system and threatened employer-sponsored health insurance for people who lost their jobs. (McIntire, 3/18)

NBC News: Biden Expected To Hit Goal Of 100 Million Vaccination Shots Friday
President Joe Biden said he was poised to meet his goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 vaccination shots in his first 100 days on Friday, more than 40 days ahead of schedule. "I am proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into my administration, we will have met our goal," Biden said Thursday afternoon in a speech at the White House. "That's weeks ahead of schedule, even with the setbacks we faced during the winter storms." Biden said that 100 million vaccines was "just the floor" and he would announce a new goal next week. (Egan, 3/18)

AP: Biden Says US To Hit 100 Million Virus Goal On Friday
The 100 million-dose goal was first announced on Dec. 8, days before the U.S. had even one authorized vaccine for COVID-19, let alone the three that have now received emergency authorization. Still, it was generally seen within reach, if optimistic. By the time Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the U.S. had already administered 20 million shots at a rate of about 1 million per day, bringing complaints at the time that Biden’s goal was not ambitious enough. He quickly revised it upward to 150 million doses in his first 100 days. (Miller, 3/19)

Fox News: US To Hit 100M COVID-19 Vaccines Administered Friday, Biden Says
Biden said current data reflects that 65% of people ages 65 and older in the U.S. have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 36% of this population are fully vaccinated. He said reaching this level is key as "this is the population that represents 80% of the well over 500,000 COVID-19 deaths in America." (Hein, 3/18)

Reuters: U.S. Plans To Send 4 Million Doses Of AstraZeneca Vaccine To Mexico, Canada -Official
The United States plans to send roughly 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine that it is not using to Mexico and Canada in loan deals with the two countries, an administration official told Reuters on Thursday. Mexico will receive 2.5 million doses of the vaccine and Canada will receive 1.5 million doses, the official said. “This virus has no borders,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “We only put the virus behind us if we’re helping our global partners.” (Mason, 3/18)

The Washington Post: Biden Will Send Mexico Surplus Vaccine, As U.S. Seeks Help On Immigration Enforcement
The decision to send Astra­Zeneca vaccine to Mexico as well as to Canada is expected to be announced Friday. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked President Biden to help them fill vaccine shortfalls in recent talks. Mexican and U.S. officials who described the agreement said it was not a quid pro quo conditioning the delivery of vaccine doses on an enforcement crackdown. Rather, the United States made clear it sought help from Mexico in managing a record influx of Central American teenagers and children. Mexico pledged to take back more Central American families “expelled” under a U.S. emergency health order, while also urging Biden to share the U.S. vaccine supply, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the conversations. (Miroff, DeYoung and Sieff, 3/18)

KHN: The Case For Donating US Covid Vaccines Overseas
A Senate committee grilled federal officials about the shortage of vaccines to protect Americans against a pandemic virus. Two months later, the U.S. public had lost interest in the virus, and millions of vaccines were sitting in warehouses — although poor countries still needed them. This happened during the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic. One official on the hot seat was Dr. Nicole Lurie, who was in charge of preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services. Today, she’s a senior adviser at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is helping to vaccinate the world against covid. And she’s worried about history repeating itself. (Allen, 3/19)

In other updates on the AstraZeneca rollout around the world —

AP: EU Agency: AstraZeneca Vaccine Safe, Will Add Clot Warning
The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t increase the overall incidence of blood clots and that the benefits of using it outweigh the possible risks, paving the way for European countries to resume dispensing the shots. France, Italy and Germany promptly announced they will start using the vaccine again on Friday. Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands said they will do so next week, though Spain said it might exclude certain groups to minimize any danger. (Cheng and Jordans, 3/18)

CNBC: European Nations Resume Using AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine After Regulator OK
The European Medicines Agency has ruled that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective, despite some concerns over possible side effects. The announcement Thursday comes after more than a dozen EU nations halted the use of the AstraZeneca shot, which was developed with the University of Oxford, after around 30 cases of blood clots. A few other countries stopped using individual batches of the vaccine. (Amaro, 3/18)

Also —

Stat: Vaccine Acceptance Expert Weighs In On AstraZeneca Saga 
Over the past week, we’ve seen a domino effect in Europe with country after country hitting pause on the administration of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. The concern stems from a small number of cases of serious blood clotting, which have not been definitively linked to the vaccine and don’t appear to be more frequent than what’s seen in the general population. (Garde and Feuerstein, 3/19)

Fox News: AstraZeneca, Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines Effective Against Variants, Oxford University Study Shows
A coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil poses less of a threat to vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer than researchers first worried, according to new findings announced Thursday by Oxford University. "The results suggest that P1 [the Brazil variant] might be less resistant to vaccine and convalescent immune responses than B1351, and similar to B117,"  Professor Gavin Screaton, lead scientist on the study, said in part in a release posted Thursday by Oxford University. (Rivas, 3/18)

CNN: Masks Are Not Theater, Fauci Tells Sen. Rand Paul In Hearing Exchange 
Dr. Anthony Fauci got into a contentious exchange with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) Thursday over whether people should wear masks if they have recovered from Covid-19 or been vaccinated against it. Paul, who says he has been infected with coronavirus and who pointedly refuses to wear a mask, attacked Fauci during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (Fox, 3/18)

CNBC: Covid: 'I Totally Disagree With You,' Fauci Tells GOP Senator In Fiery Exchange Over Masks
“Isn’t it just theater?” the Kentucky junior senator, an ophthalmologist, asked during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. “You’ve been vaccinated and you parade around in two masks for show. You can’t get it again,” Paul said. “There’s virtually 0% chance you’re going to get it and you’re telling people that have had the vaccine who have immunity — you’re defying everything we know about immunity by telling people to wear masks who have been vaccinated.” In response, Fauci said, “Here we go again with the theater.” ″Can I just state for the record that masks are not theater,” Fauci said. “I totally disagree with you.” (Lovelace Jr. and Feuer, 3/18)

The Washington Post: Anthony Fauci Rebukes Rand Paul For ‘Theater’ Claim
Fauci said that, despite the lack of reinfections thus far, we don’t have significant data in two very relevant areas: Whether people who get the vaccine or who have contracted the virus can still spread it, and whether variants of the coronavirus might override any existing immunity. He bristled at the idea that his personal use of masks was “theater.” “No it’s not,” Fauci said before suggesting, as he has previously, that the true theater was being promulgated by Paul. “Here we go again with the theater.” (Blake, 3/18)

In other covid news from Capitol Hill —

Axios: 126 Congressional Lawmakers Have Reported COVID Positivity Or Exposure 
There have been reports of 126 House and Senate members infected with or exposed to the coronavirus since last March — 70 Republicans and 56 Democrats, according to data collected by GovTrack. The data illustrates the infectiousness of the virus and its impact on some of the most powerful and connected people in the country. It does not include Republican Luke Letlow of Louisiana, who died of COVID-19 complications five days before he was to be sworn into Congress in January. (Kight, 3/18)

Roll Call: Sen. Tim Kaine Says He Is A COVID-19 Long-Hauler
Sen. Tim Kaine still feels lingering effects from his bout with COVID-19 nearly a year after he contracted the novel coronavirus. “Basically when I got COVID last March I started to have this nerve-tingling sensation where, I mean, every nerve ending in my body just is doing this 24/7,” he said, making a subtle motion. He said he also currently gets random warming sensations on his skin. “About five times a day it will feel like somebody put a heating pad on a part of my body,” he said. “And then it will go away, and in 15 minutes it will be somewhere else.” (Cioffi, 3/18)

In updates on the stimulus bill —

The Washington Post: Child Tax Credit May Be Delayed In New Stimulus 
A program authorized under the $1.9 trillion stimulus to combat child poverty is at risk of early delays, as the Internal Revenue Service grapples with its massive tax backlog and recent decision to extend the tax-filing deadline until May 17. The agency’s commissioner, Charles Rettig, raised the potential for hiccups at a hearing Thursday in front of the House Ways and Means Committee — though he pledged IRS officials would “do our best” to get the highly touted coronavirus aid effort up and running by July as Congress had intended. (Romm, 3/18)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: ACA Packs More Benefits — And More Confusion
The covid relief bill signed by President Joe Biden a week ago includes billions of dollars in new health benefits for consumers. But those benefits may be hard for people to take advantage of because of the interaction with the income tax system and the lack of experts to help them navigate the system. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is shedding some health-related cases, as the Biden administration begins to reverse some of the Trump administration’s actions. The justices have already canceled planned oral arguments on a case challenging the prior approval of work requirements for some adult Medicaid recipients and soon are expected to drop a case on rules that effectively bar Planned Parenthood from participation in the federal family planning program. (3/18)

KHN: Listen: Crooked Media And KHN Deliver Diagnosis On Pandemic Relief And ACA
On this week’s episode of “America Dissected,” podcast host Dr. Abdul El-Sayed spoke with KHN correspondent Emmarie Huetteman about the pandemic aid package designed to give millions of people relief from expensive health care premiums. Huetteman, who wrote about the plan, explained it could throw a lifeline to lower- and middle-income Americans who have fallen through the cracks of the government’s eligibility requirements for Affordable Care Act assistance. (3/19)

ABC News: Anti-Asian Hate Hearing Gets Emotional: 'We Will Not Let You Take Our Voice Away'
Prominent Asian American lawmakers, scholars and advocates, including actor and producer Daniel Dae Kim, testified Thursday on the rise in hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The hearing followed a string of hate crimes against Asian Americans, as well as three shootings at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday in which eight people were killed. Six of the victims were Asian women. (Robinson, 3/18)

Roll Call: Asian American Lawmakers Seek To Curb Rise In Violence
New York Democratic Rep. Grace Meng expressed the need for legislation she introduced along with Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie K. Hirono. That bill includes provisions to designate a point person at the Justice Department to expedite the review of violent hate crimes motivated by the actual or perceived relationship to the spread of COVID-19, and also seeks to ease reporting of such incidents. “Our community is bleeding. We are in pain, and for the last year we’ve been screaming out for help,” Meng testified. Previously, on the floor, Meng has said one-third of Americans witnessed someone blaming Asian Americans for the coronavirus and 8 of 10 Asian American-Pacific Islander youth reported bullying or harassment because of their race, and she cited attacks on elderly Asian Americans. (Ruger, 3/18)

NPR: The U.S. Has A History Of Linking Disease With Race And Ethnicity
The coronavirus is all over the headlines these days. Accompanying those headlines? Suspicion and harassment of Asians and Asian Americans. (3/19)

AP: Biden, Harris Offering Solace To Grieving Asian Americans
For Asian Americans, 2020 was a year of political success and newfound influence. But it was also a time of vulnerability to racist assaults. That painful dichotomy will be on display Friday when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first person of South Asian descent to hold national office, visit Atlanta just days after a white gunman killed eight people, most of them Asian American women, in three metro-area massage businesses. The killings come after a spike of anti-Asian violence nationally. (Barrow, Lemire and Amy, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Anti-Asian Hashtags Spiked After Trump First Tweeted ‘Chinese Virus,’ Study Finds
As the coronavirus spread across the globe last February, the World Health Organization urged people to avoid terms like the “Wuhan virus” or the “Chinese virus,” fearing it could spike a backlash against Asians. President Donald Trump didn’t take the advice. On March 16, 2020, he first tweeted the phrase “Chinese virus.” That single tweet, researchers later found, fueled exactly the kind of backlash the WHO had feared: It was followed by an avalanche of tweets using the hashtag #chinesevirus, among other anti-Asian phrases. (Salcedo, 3/19)

New York Post: 15 States See COVID Cases Rise As Experts Warn Of Potential Resurgence
Soaring numbers of COVID-19 cases have been recorded in more than a dozen states — as experts warn that the U.S. could see a resurgence if Americans let their guard down with more lax public health rules. Though the national case tally has fallen by 32.5% over the last month, there are 15 states that have seen their numbers increase by at least 10%, ABC News reported. Those states are:  Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia. (Salo, 3/18)

The Atlantic: Another Coronavirus Outbreak Is Unfolding
Throughout the fall and winter, we saw a clear pattern—cases would rise, then hospitalizations about a week later, and finally, two weeks after that, deaths would follow. Nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities reported particularly heavy death tolls. If Michigan were to continue that pattern, we would expect hospitalizations to keep rising, and then more deaths. But as a spring surge takes hold in Michigan, two new factors—variants of concern and rising vaccination levels—mean that we don’t yet know how this new rise in cases and hospitalizations will play out. (3/18)

CNN: Europe Has Missed Its Chance To Stop The Third Wave. The US Could Be Next 
Europe has missed its chance to stop the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic before it got out of control. Now it's paying a high price for it, with new lockdowns being imposed across the continent. On Thursday night, France announced new restrictions on 16 regions, including Paris and Nice, though President Emmanuel Macron has refused to reimpose a national lockdown as cases soar. (Kottasova and Di Donato, 3/19)

In related news about the spread of the coronavirus —

AP: Officials: 2 Cases Of COVID-19 Variant Found In Omaha
A variant of the coronavirus first found in Brazil has been found in Omaha, state health officials said. On Wednesday, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services confirmed two people in Douglas County had tested positive for the so-called Brazil P.1 variant, the Omaha World-Herald reported. That strain is believed to be responsible for a surge in hospitalizations in Brazil even though many people there had already developed COVID-19 and made antibodies against it. (3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Closed A Church For COVID Violations. It Held A Service Anyway, And Its Pastor Argued Against Masks. 
Despite receiving a closure notice Sunday from Baltimore City’s health department over COVID-19 violations, a high-profile evangelical church has continued to hold services for the public, even livestreaming them online. Greater Grace World Outreach Church in Northeast Baltimore’s Frankford neighborhood was ordered to close after a service Sunday because of a lack of social distancing and masking, health officials said, and is not yet permitted to reopen. (Condon, 3/18)

Carroll County Times: Citing Examples Of COVID-19 Spread At Events, Carroll County Officials Issue Reminder: ‘It Ain’t Over Yet’ 
A recent funeral in Carroll County where five mourners had to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, one of whom died. A youth wrestling tournament in nearby southern Pennsylvania a few weeks ago that turned into a superspreader event not because of the kids on the mat but because of the parents congregating close together in the stands. County Health Officer Ed Singer declined to get into specifics due to privacy issues, but he cited those two incidents while speaking during Thursday’s Board of Commissioners meeting to amplify Commissioner President Ed Rothstein’s earlier point about the COVID-19 pandemic: “It ain’t over yet.” (Blubaugh, 3/19)

Also —

CNN: US Coronavirus: Here's What Experts Say Is Needed For US To Return To Normal. But These Barriers Stand In The Way 
States are pushing ahead with expanding Covid-19 vaccine access and rolling back restrictions on businesses and large gatherings as America seeks a return to normalcy. But experts say two barriers stand in the way of reaching herd immunity and getting back to life as we knew it -- Covid-19 variants and vaccine hesitancy. (Caldwell, 3/19)

The Oregonian: When He Died Of COVID-19, Portland Father Knew He Had Done All He Could To Make His Children’s Lives Better
Joseph Journel Ostin arrived in Portland from Haiti in 1994, seeking a better life for his family. In so many ways it was an audacious dream, as he spoke no English and had no job and no place to live. He made it happen through sacrifice, enduring optimism and hard work, always thinking about others, not himself, his family says. Ostin died of COVID-19, at age 77, in late January. On his death bed that last day, he made sure everyone knew he had money set aside for his church to be used for members who might need help while struggling with the economic fallout from the pandemic. (Hallman Jr., 3/18)

USA Today: Low-Dose Aspirin May Help Avoid COVID's Worst Outcomes
A new study is adding to the growing body of evidence that low-dose aspirin helps lessen the harsher effects of contracting the coronavirus. The study, conducted by George Washington University researchers and published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia, examined the records of 412 patients admitted to U.S. hospitals with COVID-19 from March to July of last year. Of those, nearly 24% had taken aspirin seven days or less before of hospital admission or within 24 hours after admission. More than 40% of those patients had improved results in key areas compared to patients who did not take the cheap, widely available drug. (Bacon, Ortiz and Iyer, 3/18)

CIDRAP: Aspirin Linked To Less Serious COVID-19 Outcomes
A low-dose aspirin treatment is associated with a lower likelihood of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and in-hospital mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to a study published yesterday in Anesthesia & Analgesia. The retrospective observational study looked at 412 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the United States from March to July 2020, 98 of whom (23.7%) received aspirin. Of those who received aspirin, 75.5% were taking it before admission and 86.7% received it within 24 hours of hospital admission. (3/18)

In other covid research news —

WUSF Public Media: USF Chosen For Virus Research Headquarters 
The Global Virus Network has named the University of South Florida in Tampa as its new Southeast U.S. regional headquarters. Baltimore-based GVN is a system of researchers in 34 countries who study how viruses work and how they make people sick. (Rodriguez, 3/18)

The Oregonian: WHO Thinks It Knows Where COVID-19 Originated
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, the question has been, “Where did COVID-19 originate?” According to a report by NPR, a member of the World Health Organization investigative team says the most likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic are “wildlife farms in southern China.” (Hasco, 3/18)

AP: Zoos, Scientists Aim To Curb People Giving Virus To Animals
The coughing among the western lowland gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in January was the first warning sign. Soon the fears were confirmed: A troop of gorillas became the first apes known to test positive for the coronavirus. Around the world, many scientists and veterinarians are now racing to protect animals from the coronavirus, often using the same playbook for minimizing disease spread among people: That includes social distancing, health checks and, for some zoo animals, a vaccine. Karen, a 28-year-old orangutan, became the first ape in the world to get a coronavirus vaccine on Jan. 26 at the San Diego Zoo. (Larson and Watson, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: California Has Record-Breaking Week Of COVID Vaccinations
In a sign that the state’s uneven COVID-19 vaccine rollout is significantly ramping up, nearly 1 million Californians have gotten a shot in the past two days, data show. The last four days have seen the four highest single-day totals of vaccines administered to date, according to data compiled by The Times. That record-setting run includes 464,249 doses reported Tuesday — an all-time high — and 400,360 on Wednesday, the second-largest daily total. (Money and Shalby, 3/18)

Health News Florida: DeSantis: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Shipments On Hold 
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he doesn’t expect Florida to receive more shipments of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines anytime soon. “We have no more J&J coming for the foreseeable future. For the next two or three weeks, we’re not anticipating any new J & J and I don’t know what the issue with that is. Hopefully we’ll get more of that soon,” he said at a news conference in Palm Harbor. (3/18)

The Oregonian: Searching For A COVID Vaccination In Portland? Try Taking A Road Trip To Salem 
Southwest Portland resident Audrey Perino, 67, says she could barely sleep the three nights before March 1, the first day she and her husband were eligible to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments in Oregon. But instead of battling the ferocious competition in the Portland market, she tried booking at the state fairgrounds in Salem, based on a tip from a friend. (Green, 3/18)

AP: Arkansas Activates 20 Guard Members To Assist With Vaccines
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday activated 20 members of the Arkansas Air and Army National Guard to assist with coronavirus vaccinations. Hutchinson said the Guard members would administer vaccinations in four public health regions. Each of the four teams will include two medics and two personnel to handle logistics and documentation. “This deployment will accelerate our efforts to contain COVID-19 in Arkansas,” Hutchinson said in a statement. (3/18)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit's Ford Field Begins Conversion To Mass COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
Numbered, black-curtained cubicles line the concourse surrounding the field where the Detroit Lions play as state and federal leaders shift Ford Field from football stadium to the state's first federally operated mass COVID-19 vaccine clinic in the heart of Detroit. Inside those cubicles, hundreds of thousands of Michiganders will get COVID-19 vaccines over the next eight weeks in a massive effort to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible to tame the coronavirus pandemic.  (Shamus and Hall, 3/18)

In other vaccine news —

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Side Effects Mean Your COVID-19 Vaccine Is Working. But What If You Don’t Have A Reaction?
As millions now know from personal experience, the COVID-19 vaccines can cause temporary side effects. It’s a good sign, as it suggests your immune system is paying attention, preparing you in case of infection with the coronavirus. But if you don’t experience side effects, does that mean the vaccine did not work? Good news: The short answer is no, infectious-disease experts say. There is no evidence that a lack of side effects means the vaccinated person is unprotected against COVID-19. (Avril, 3/19)

The Oregonian: The J&J Vaccine Was Developed With Stem Cells. That’s Caused Confusion And Division Among Catholics. 
Questions about whether the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is morally acceptable to observant Catholics due to concerns over use of fetal stem cells in its development have brought the deep divisions within the Catholic Church into public view. On Feb. 26, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans released a statement saying that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing.” Four days later, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the national body of Catholic bishops, stated, “if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.” (3/18)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Rollout Leaves Behind The Blind, Paralyzed, Autistic
“One year into the pandemic, we’re just getting around to wonder how to make vaccine sign-up universal and accessible,” Bryan Bashin, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. About 1 in 4 adult Americans, or 61 million people, have a disability that can affect mobility, cognitive function, hearing and sight, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty years after the Americans With Disabilities Act fundamentally changed how public and private entities must treat them, the pandemic is demonstrating once again how the disabled can be forgotten, advocates say. (Young, 3/18)

North Carolina Health News: Disabled Worry They're Low Priority During Pandemic Surge 
As the coronavirus took hold in early 2020, New York City hospitals were overwhelmed. Patients gasping for breath filled gurneys in emergency departments while doctors, hospital executives and public health officials wondered if they would have enough ventilators to keep critically ill people alive. If things got worse, doctors in some of New York’s hardest hit hospitals would have to decide who would get a ventilator, and who wouldn’t. (Hoban, 3/19)

In updates on vaccine eligibility —

AP: Missouri To Open Vaccines To Everyone Beginning April 9
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday said the homeless, minorities, restaurant workers and other vulnerable communities will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines beginning March 29, and the vaccine will be opened up to everyone soon after. Any adult in Missouri who wants a COVID-19 vaccine will be eligible to get one beginning April 9, Parson said. (Ballentine, 3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland To Open COVID Vaccine Eligibility To Phase 2 In Waves Starting Tuesday, With All Adults Eligible By April 27 
Maryland will dramatically expand COVID-19 vaccination eligibility in a series of steps beginning Tuesday and continuing over the coming weeks, culminating with plans to offer the shot to all adult Marylanders before the end of April, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday. Hogan said the move came after the White House told governors to expect shipments of vaccine doses to jump sharply at the end of March, helping ease a supply crunch that’s held back vaccination efforts nationwide. (Mann and Stole, 3/18)

AP: Atlanta Hawks Get 14 Players Vaccinated For COVID-19
Fourteen Atlanta Hawks players received their first vaccinations for COVID-19 following Thursday night’s win over Oklahoma City. The team said in a statement after the game that 36 individuals with the basketball operations staff, including 14 players, took their first dose after meeting the state’s eligibility requirements. Three players were not vaccinated because they didn’t meet Georgia standards to qualify. (3/19)

In news about vaccine skepticism —

North Carolina Health News: Overcoming COVID Vaccine Skepticism At FEMA Clinic 
Juan Diggs scrolled through his phone while he was being monitored with a dozen or so others inside a former department store after getting a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The 47-year-old Greensboro resident was among the more than 3,000 people who booked and showed up for an appointment Monday at the federally supported mass vaccination clinic at Four Seasons Town Centre in Guilford County. (Blythe, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Many Health-Care Workers Have Not Gotten A Coronavirus Vaccine
Health-care workers were the first group in the United States to be offered coronavirus vaccinations. But three months into the effort, many remain unconvinced, unreached and unprotected. The lingering obstacles to vaccinating health-care workers foreshadows the challenge the United States will face as it expands the pool of people eligible and attempts to get the vast majority of the U.S. population vaccinated. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, barely half of front-line health-care workers (52 percent) said they had received at least their first vaccine dose at the time they were surveyed. More than 1 in 3 said they were not confident vaccines were sufficiently tested for safety and effectiveness. (Wan, Stead Sellers, Ahmed and Guskin, 3/19)

Reuters: The Ex-Pfizer Scientist Who Became An Anti-Vax Hero
Late last year, a semi-retired British scientist co-authored a petition to Europe’s medicines regulator. The petitioners made a bold demand: Halt COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Even bolder was their argument for doing so: They speculated, without providing evidence, that the vaccines could cause infertility in women. The document appeared on a German website on Dec.1. Scientists denounced the theory. Regulators weren’t swayed, either: Weeks later, the European Medicines Agency approved the European Union’s first COVID-19 shot, co-developed by Pfizer Inc. But damage was already done. (Stecklow and Macaskill, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Falling Short On Quality Goals
Hospitals are falling short of meeting national targets to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing despite efforts in recent years to bolster stewardship, according to new research. An evaluation of antibiotic use in hospitals conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 56% of antibiotic prescriptions were inappropriate in terms of the type of drug used, the duration they were prescribed, or the medical conditions for which they were given. (Ross Johnson, 3/18)

Stat: Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Is Improving, But New Goals Are Still Needed
Amid increasing concern over antibiotic resistance, a new analysis found that nearly 56% of the prescriptions written in hospitals in 2015 for these treatments were inappropriate, underscoring the need to provide added guidance to physicians and other health care providers. The mistakes varied, but included instances where the wrong antibiotic was prescribed, an antibiotic was prescribed for an unnecessarily long period of time, or there was a lack of evidence to indicate a patient had an infection, according to the analysis, which was published in JAMA Network Open and authored by dozens of public health officials around the U.S. (Silverman, 3/18)

In other health care industry news —

NBC News: Covid Package, Federal Program Offer Lifeline And Herald Change For Ambulances Services
During the height of the pandemic, a quiet financial crisis was brewing for ambulance companies. As hospitals became overwhelmed and patients begged not to be taken to crowded emergency rooms for fear of potential infection, paramedics and emergency medical technicians began treating patients where they met them — outside homes, alongside roadways, in parking lots. The trouble is that ambulance companies are only paid to transport people, not for treating them. (McCausland, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Two-Thirds Of Insurers In 32 States Now Have Copay Accumulators, Study Says
Most health plans across the country now include an opaque policy that prevents drug manufacturer coupons and copay assistance from counting against a plan's deductible or out-of-pocket limit, a trend patient advocates say is alarming and limits access to treatment. "The money that is covered by copay assistance is still money that is being paid out and kept by the insurer for the plan," said Stephanie Hengst, manager of policy and research at The AIDS Institute. (Tepper, 3/18)

Stat: How The Wave Of Telehealth SPACs Could Create A 'Perfect Storm'
In little more than a year, telehealth has gone from a backwater of American health care to a booming business. Billion-dollar valuations, once a rarity, are now common as companies seize on a dramatic increase in demand to raise money and enter the public markets during the coronavirus pandemic. But the overnight change in fortunes for the industry is also raising alarms of a bubble, especially as more telehealth providers merge with shell companies known as SPACs — special purpose acquisition corporations — that offer a faster and easier road to going public. (Ross, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: Competition Heats Up For Advanced Practice Practitioners
Competition for clinical staff is heating up as healthcare companies bolster their primary-care offerings, but industry observers expect the growing supply of nurse practitioners and physician assistants to meet the ballooning demand for advanced practice clinicians. Payers, providers, tech companies and private-equity backed ventures are building out primary-care oriented services, which rely on a steady supply of advanced practice practitioners. (Kacik, 3/18)

Stat: SEC Charges Co-Founders Of UBiome With $60 Million Fraud
Federal authorities on Thursday charged two co-founders of uBiome, a microbiome startup that rose to Silicon Valley prominence in 2018, with defrauding investors of $60 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission complaint alleges that Jessica Richman, uBiome’s former chief executive officer, and Zachary Apte, its former chief scientific officer, misled investors by peddling uBiome as a startup with a track record of success. (Brodwin, 3/18)

In obituaries —

The New York Times: Carola Eisenberg Dies At 103; Helped Start Physicians For Human Rights 
Dr. Carola Eisenberg, who broke gender barriers as a dean at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School and helped found Physicians for Human Rights, whose campaign against anti-personnel landmines led to a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, died on March 11 in Lincoln, Mass. She was 103. Her death, in a nursing home, was confirmed by her son Alan Guttmacher. (Roberts, 3/18)

Stat: Monkey Model Of Alzheimer's May Accelerate Search For Treatments 
Researchers reported Thursday that they have created a new model for studying treatments of Alzheimer’s disease — in rhesus macaque monkeys — that may speed the search for therapies that make an appreciable difference in the course of an illness that affects nearly 6 million Americans. Despite three decades of intensive research on Alzheimer’s, and billions of dollars in funding, researchers have yet to find a way to prevent or cure, or even to slow, the disease as it rampages through aging brains. Some blame the mice. (McFarling, 3/18)

Stat: Does A Drug's Name Affect Its Perception? The FDA Wants To Know
Drug makers may spend untold sums of money giving medicines zippy names. Now, regulators want to know the effect these nomenclatures have on perceptions held by consumers and doctors. So the Food and Drug Administration is launching what it says is the first such study to learn how names may affect perceptions of how effective a drug is or the given conditions it is approved to treat. The plan is to query 500 consumers and 500 health care providers about fictional “extreme and neutral” names for high cholesterol and acid reflux drugs: CuresFlux and Zerpexin. (Silverman, 3/18)

Stat: AmerisourceBergen Say-To-Pay Proposal Passes Narrowly Amid Criticism
In a rebuke to AmerisourceBergen (ABC), nearly half of its shareholders voted against a “say-on-pay” proposal after criticism erupted over the hefty compensation package given its chief executive officer and the role the company played in the opioid crisis. Specifically, 48% of the stockholders rejected the compensation given to CEO Steve Collis and his management team, an outcome that suggests the company misjudged investor sentiment about the pay packages. However, when excluding shares held by Walgreen Boots Alliance, which owns 27.7% of AmerisourceBergen stock, 72% of independent shareholders rejected executive pay. (Silverman, 3/18)

Fox News: CDC’s Walensky Pressed On School Distancing Guidance: ‘You Need To Do It Now’
The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Rochelle Walensky was pressed again on the agency’s potential plans to update school distancing guidance during a Senate committee hearing on Thursday as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, cited increases in mental health emergencies among the nation’s youth. Walensky, whose agency currently recommends 6 feet of distancing to safely reopen, faced similar questioning in a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. (Hein, 3/18)

In other updates about school reopenings —

The Oregonian: Portland School Board Approves Compromise With Teachers Union To Get Students Back For Part-Time Face-To-Face Teaching 
The Portland school board approved the district’s agreement with its teachers union on the conditions for resuming face-to-face teaching Thursday evening, paving the way for elementary schoolers to begin in-person classes after spring break. The agreement passed 6-1. The memorandum of understanding between Portland Public Schools and its teachers union requires students and educators to remain at least 6 feet apart whenever at school. (Campuzano, 3/18)

Nj.Com: ‘Now Is The Time’ For Schools To Reopen, Murphy Says As Pressure Mounts
Gov. Phil Murphy urged more New Jersey schools to return to in-person learning Wednesday, just days after rallying parents placed blame for lingering closures squarely at the governor’s feet. “Now is the time for all of our schools to meaningfully move forward with a return to in-person instruction, whether it be full-time or with a hybrid schedule,” Murphy said during his regular coronavirus briefing in Trenton. (Clark, 3/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Florida Schools Reopened Without Becoming Covid-19 Superspreaders 
As school districts around the U.S. continue to grapple with whether to reopen classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, data shows Florida started in-person learning without turning schools into superspreaders. The state was one of the earliest to resume in-person instruction in August, following an executive order by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran that directed districts to provide families the option of classroom learning five days a week or risk losing funding. The mandate triggered outcry among some teachers and parents who considered it risky, and drew unsuccessful lawsuits aimed at blocking it. (Campo-Flores, 3/17)

New York Post: NYC Parents Push Back On City Hall's 'Gold Standard' School Reopening
Angry New York parents have lashed out at Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying his so-called reopening of schools is a “farce” and a failure. Many complain that serious staffing shortages have created bizarre scenarios where kids sit at desks to watch a teacher broadcast the lessons to their laptops from a nearby room. Others say their kids are lucky if they attend school five days a month. “It’s a farce,” said Kate Cassidy, a mother of two kids in Manhattan’s District 2. (Algar, Brachfield and Hicks, 3/18)

Mother Jones: Why Black Parents Aren’t Joining The Push To Reopen Schools 
Amid the fierce debate, Black parents across the country have largely resisted the push to return to public schools. According to a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 62 percent of white parents strongly or somewhat agreed that school should reopen this fall, while less than half of Black parents agreed. In a Pew Research survey conducted in mid-February, Black adults were the most likely of all racial groups to worry about the health risks of reopening—80 percent of Black adults wanted kids to stay remote until teachers were vaccinated, for example, while only 51 percent of white adults felt the same. (Anderson, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Defying Union Leaders, Oakland Teachers Group Protests April Schools Reopening
A group of Oakland teachers protested a plan to bring students back to classrooms starting at the end of the month, calling an agreement between the district and their union “reckless and foolish” unless staff, students and families are vaccinated. The organizers of the Wednesday protest, which included the union reps from individual schools, rather than Oakland Education Association leadership, urged district teachers to vote against the deal, which would have the first students — in preschool through second grade — back in classrooms on March 30, with older elementary students and high-needs students across all grades phased in over the following two weeks. (Bobrowsky and Tucker, 3/18)

CalMatters: Desk Spacing Arguments Rage As Big School Districts Plan April Reopening
California’s rules for reopening, updated in late January, allow schools to physically reopen if they follow strict safety measures, which includes spacing desks no less than four feet while making a “good-faith effort” to maintain six feet of spacing. Recent studies have suggested schools can safely operate with three feet of distancing versus six feet. The Centers for Disease Control recommended six feet of distance in its latest February guidance, but doesn’t set a minimum standard. The CDC said this week that it would reconsider easing its spacing guidance. Now, health experts, parents and administrators want California to clarify its distancing requirements for reopening campuses.(Cano, 3/17)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Remote Schooling Strains Parents And Their Children, CDC Survey Suggests
Parents whose children received virtual instruction were more likely to report poorer well-being for themselves and their kids, a federal government survey found. The parents were more likely to report that they were emotionally distressed, concerned about job stability and struggling to balance work and child care if their children were learning virtually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Thursday. Some of the parents also reported the mental and emotional health of their children had worsened, while their physical activity had decreased. (Abbott, 3/18)

The Washington Post: These Children Had Covid-19. Now, They Have Long-Haul Symptoms.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, 13-year-old Madilyn “Maddie” Dayton played volleyball and basketball and ran track. She attended in-person school — and still had plenty of energy left over to race around her small town of Cokeville, Wyo., with friends. Today, more than six months after being infected with the virus, she’s struggling with lingering effects of her illness. While doctors recently cleared her for limited physical activity, Maddie estimates she can do only about half of what she used to do. Even Zoom school can be too much some days. “She’ll zonk out in front of her computer,” her mother, Marilyn Dayton, said, “and I’ll have to wake her.” (Cha, 3/18)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Real Water Pulled From Stores As More Nevadans Report Illnesses  
In the wake of a recent civil lawsuit against the Las Vegas-based company and an announcement of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation into Real Water after reported liver illness in children, more Nevadans have stepped forward with concerns about the product. Attorney Will Kemp, who filed suit Tuesday on behalf of one family, said Thursday that he was fielding dozens of calls and interviewing potential clients, including one who underwent a liver transplant. Late Thursday, his firm Kemp Jones, LLP filed a second lawsuit on behalf of a Nevada father of two who drank Real Water and suffered “acute liver failure and was informed that he was a candidate for an immediate liver transplant.” (Ferrara, 3/18)

In other public health news —

CBS News: Popular Flea Collar May Be Linked To Nearly 1,700 Pet Deaths 
Members of Congress are demanding one of the largest single product recalls in U.S. history after a top-selling flea and tick collar was linked to the deaths of nearly 1,700 pets and hundreds of injuries to humans. "When we put the collar on, everything changed and was like a switch just flipped," Alex Jaeger said. Alex Jaeger and his mother, Eleanor, say two months after they put a Seresto collar on their golden retriever Blake, he developed seizures. They say their veterinarian gave Blake epilepsy medication, but the dog has never been the same. (3/18)

USA Today: Germs Spread 10 Times Faster With High-Speed Hand Dryers, Study Finds
Hand-washing always has been important, and the pandemic further magnified its crucial role in helping stop the spread of germs. But a new study also suggests the method used for drying hands can be just as important to public health. The use of high-speed hand dryers can transfer germs to a person's clothing and lead to an increase in spreading those contaminants to other surfaces, according to the pilot study published Wednesday in "Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology." (Barnes, 3/17)

The Washington Post: Which Fruits And Vegetables Don’t Count Toward Your ‘5 A Day’? New Study Has Answers.
A new study backs up the long-standing nutritional guideline that consuming five daily servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables, from apples to zucchini, can help you live longer. But if you consider fruit juice or french fries among those servings, you may have to rethink your diet. “People who eat five servings of vegetables and fruit daily have 13 percent lower risk of all-cause death compared to people who eat two servings of fruit and vegetables per day,” says Dong Wang, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and one of the study’s researchers.  (Rosenbloom, 3/18)

Axios: The Pandemic's Unexpected Privacy Pitfalls
Americans' rush to move all aspects of their lives online during the pandemic — classes, meetings, legal proceedings, shopping and more — left many vulnerable to exposure, exploitation and fraud. The digital environment wasn't always ready to deal with newcomers' privacy and security needs. And the people responsible for managing these activities couldn't foresee all the pitfalls of moving online. (Gold, 3/19)

KHN: Doctors Found Jet Fuel In Veteran’s Lungs. He Can’t Get Full Benefits
The lungs Bill Thompson was born with told a gruesome, harrowing and unmistakable tale to Dr. Anthony Szema when he analyzed them and found the black spots, scarring, partially combusted jet fuel and metal inside. The retired Army staff sergeant had suffered catastrophic lung damage from breathing incinerated waste burned in massive open-air pits and probably other irritants during his tour of duty in Iraq. (McAuliff, 3/19)

Also —

The New York Times: Child Dies In Accident Involving Peloton Treadmill 
An accident involving a Peloton treadmill has left a child dead, the company’s chief executive announced on Thursday. In a letter posted on the company’s website, John Foley, Peloton’s C.E.O. and a co-founder, said that the company, known for its wildly popular interactive stationary bikes, had recently learned of the fatal accident and was aware of “a small handful of incidents” involving children hurt by its Tread+ treadmill. (Waller, 3/18)

AP: Michigan Ex-Governor Loses Challenge To Flint Water Charges 
A judge on Thursday rejected a request to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a former Michigan governor in the Flint water scandal. Lawyers for Rick Snyder said he worked in Ingham County, not Genesee County, so the indictment from a one-person grand jury was returned in the wrong place. But Judge William Crawford II said prosecutors have flexibility about where to pursue a case. (White, 3/18)

AP: NYC Strip Clubs Sue New York State Over COVID Shutdown 
A group of New York City exotic dancing clubs sued New York state Thursday, saying it’s not fair that they’re being kept closed when everything from axe-throwing venues to bars with live music and casinos can open up. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court claimed that thousands of employees are forced out of work by the state’s ban because of the coronavirus. Defendants included Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's liquor licensing authority. (Neumeister, 3/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: More COVID-19 Rental Assistance Is Coming To Tenants In Pennsylvania And New Jersey
Tenants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who are struggling to make rent and utility payments can apply for a new round of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal rental assistance. Tenants must meet income requirements, be experiencing a pandemic-related financial hardship, and show they risk housing instability or homelessness. Eligible tenants can receive up to 12 months of assistance and can use funds for past-due rent dating back to March 2020 and for future rent. Both tenants and landlords can apply. People who are homeless also can apply for funds in New Jersey. (Bond, 3/19)

AP: Colorado Lawmakers Unveil Public-Run Health Insurance Bill
Setting up one of the most contentious issues of Colorado’s 2021 legislative session, Democratic state lawmakers announced they are introducing a public health care option bill on Thursday that’s intended to drive down insurance costs for individuals and small businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Long one of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ top priorities, and abandoned last year because of the pandemic, the legislation would ask private insurance companies to reduce their premium rates for individual plans by 20% of what they are now by the end of 2024. If they don’t meet that target, a nonprofit state-administered plan that sets price limits would kick in. (Anderson, 3/18)

KHN: Covid-Inspired Montana Health Insurance Proposal Wouldn’t Kick In For 2 Years
For employees of small businesses in Montana suddenly laid off during the covid-19 pandemic, maintaining health insurance coverage could be a struggle. Employers with 20 or more workers offer a bridge insurance program made possible by a federal law known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA. The law allows people who have left a job voluntarily or involuntarily to keep their former employer’s health insurance plan for 18 months by paying the premium that the employer used to cover. (Reardon, 3/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Mom Gave Birth While In COVID Coma, Then Fought For Her Life
Kelsey Townsend delivered her fourth child while deep in a coma, her lungs scarred and inflamed from COVID-19, her body starved of oxygen. She’d been minutes from death, her obstetrician said. Seven weeks later on Christmas Eve, the 32-year-old office manager still clung to life at University Hospital in Madison, two machines delivering the oxygen her lungs no longer could. On that night, of all nights, the doctor had more bad news to deliver, and it appeared Kelsey would have to face it alone. Pandemic restrictions had put an end to regular hospital visits. (Johnson, 3/18)

Capital & Main: Does Newsom’s Color-By-Numbers Plan To Reopen California Risk Disaster?
As the health officer for Santa Clara County, Dr. Sara Cody routinely scrutinized the numbers and marked the trends. She understood that one of the real threats of COVID-19 was that officials might not fully realize the effects of their public safety decisions until weeks after they’d been made. And she had an ominous feeling about what California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, was doing. “The pace at which the state has made these modifications is concerning to me,” Cody told the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors during a May 2020 meeting. “The state has shifted away from the stay-at-home model and has made significant modifications with increasing frequency.” (Kreidler, 3/18)

In news from Florida —

Health News Florida: Florida Senate Seeks To Clarify Pelvic Exam Law 
A 2020 law that required doctors to obtain written consent before conducting pelvic exams caused confusion last summer among Florida physicians. The Senate Health Policy Committee on Wednesday took a step to clarify the law by unanimously passing a bill (SB 716) that says the requirement only applies to female patients and that pelvic exams include examinations of the internal reproductive system. (3/18)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Advocates On Why Time Is Right For Florida To Move On Medicaid Expansion 
Florida is one of a dozen states that has not accepted federal funding in order to expand who qualifies for Medicaid, the program that provides health insurance for low-income Americans. The $1.9 trillion relief package signed recently by President Joe Biden offers holdout states like Florida more money for Medicaid expansion. Now it’s up to lawmakers in Tallahassee to bring a bill to the floor for discussion and vote on it. (Zaragovia, 3/18)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Eye 'Personal Care Attendants' In Nursing Homes 
Florida nursing homes would be allowed to operate apprenticeship programs and use participants’ on-the-job training to meet state minimum staffing requirements, under a bill approved Wednesday by a Senate health committee. Sponsored by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, the measure (SB 1132) was approved by the Senate Health Policy Committee in an 8-1 vote. It was opposed by the state’s top advocate for long-term care residents and a lobbyist for the state's largest health-care union, both of whom warned that nursing homes would hire less-qualified workers and pay them less without running afoul of staffing requirements. (Sexton, 3/18)

The Washington Post: Gibraltar Has Vaccinated Its Entire Adult Population, British Health Official Says 
The small British territory of Gibraltar has finished administering coronavirus vaccines to all adults who want one, British health secretary Matt Hancock announced Thursday. Home to roughly 30,000 people, Gibraltar had two key advantages in the vaccine race: its minuscule size, covering less than three square miles of rock, and a steady stream of vaccine doses imported from Britain. That’s allowed the government to begin giving shots to thousands of workers who live in Spain but commute across the border to Gibraltar every day. (Farzan, 3/18)

AP: Mexico Seizes Fake Sputnik Vaccine Bound For Honduras
Mexican customs officials have seized purported vials of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine en route to Honduras that the Russian entity that bankrolled the vaccine’s development said Thursday were fake. The seizure came aboard a private plane in the Gulf coast state of Campeche, according to a statement from Mexico’s tax agency late Wednesday. Customs agents and soldiers found 1,155 vials containing more than 5,700 doses inside two coolers packed with ice and sodas. The crew and Honduran passengers were turned over to the Attorney General’s Office. (3/18)

Reuters: Paris Goes Into Lockdown As COVID-19 Variant Rampages 
France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course. (Overstraeten and Lough, 3/18)

CNN: Coronavirus Spread On Flight, In Hotel Corridor, New Zealand Study Finds 
The coronavirus spread on an international flight, in a hotel corridor and then to household contacts despite efforts to isolate and quarantine patients, New Zealand researchers reported Thursday. Careful genomic tracing confirmed the spread of the virus among nine patients and shows how people can infect one another despite careful efforts, the researchers reported in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. (Sealy and Fox, 3/18)

Also —

CBS News: "Moral Failure": More Than A Year Into The Pandemic, 1/3 Of The Globe Lacks Access To Safe Drinking Water Or Decent Toilets 
It's been more than a year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Many countries have started to recover as vaccines continue to become more readily available, but for much of the globe, one vital component to life remains inaccessible: Access to safe drinking water. At a United Nations meeting on Thursday to address water-related goals and targets as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir said that, at this point, the world has committed a "moral failure" in getting everyone access to safe drinking water. (Cohen, 3/18)

The New York Times: Why The Coronavirus Pandemic Is A Personal Health Wake-Up Call 
The pandemic has shed a blinding light on too many Americans’ failure to follow the well-established scientific principles of personal health and well-being. There are several reasons this country, one of the world’s richest and most highly developed, has suffered much higher rates of Covid-19 infections and deaths than many poorer and less well-equipped populations. Older Americans have been particularly hard hit by this novel coronavirus. When cases surged at the end of last year, Covid-19 became the nation’s leading cause of death, deadlier than heart disease and cancer. (Brody, 3/15)

The Washington Post: 17 Students — From Kindergartner To High School Senior — On What They Learned About School And Life During The Pandemic
Recently, we interviewed students from across the country about their educational experiences, and their lives, during the pandemic. Some of our questions were about school, but others were about what students have learned more broadly — about themselves, their families, their teachers and their country. The students we spoke to have struggled with virtual learning or socially distanced classrooms, but they’ve also learned to adapt — in some cases, better than the adults. And parents: As much as they’re driving you nuts, you’re making them crazy, too. (Cogan, 3/16)

The New York Times: When Your Covid-19 Test Comes Back Positive While Traveling 
Late last year, Jose Arellano, a U.S. Navy veteran, and his wife, Gloria, traveled 2,000 miles from home to the resort town of Oaxaca, Mexico, to use up about $400 in plane tickets they had purchased at the start of the pandemic. The couple used masks, face shields and disinfectant, but not even a week into the trip, Mr. Arellano, 56, who had asthma, and then Mrs. Arellano, 54, began to get headaches and run a fever. They had both contracted the coronavirus and were battling it in a place where they had no doctors or health insurance, and no nearby family or friends to offer support. (Schwartz, 3/17)

USA Today: COVID Treatments Have Improved, But More Rigorous Study, Trials Needed
Far fewer people are dying from COVID-19 today than in January, but more than 1,000 Americans die from the disease every day – alone at home or in hospitals, gasping for air, suffering heart attacks or slipping silently away. Though treatment for the sickest patients has improved since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic a year ago, roughly 20% of patients sick enough to be hospitalized still end up in intensive care – a figure that hasn't changed in the past year, said Kevin Tracey, a neurosurgeon and president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care provider. (Weintraub, 3/14)

The New York Times: 14 Lessons For The Next Pandemic 
One year. More than 500,000 dead. What did the United States do wrong in handling Covid-19? What needs to be rethought? We asked scientists, public health experts and health advocates to tell us about mistakes, missed chances and oversights — and how to prepare for the next pandemic. Responses are edited for length and clarity. (3/15)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Was Far Deadlier Than The 1957 And 1968 Flu Pandemics
Why the difference? Have we become too careful and fearful, or were people too insensitive to death back in that higher-mortality-rate era? Are we a bunch of sheeple being led to our doom by Bill Gates and the rest of the illuminati? Or is it that, especially in the case of that mass experiment in working and schooling from home, we have options that didn’t exist in the 1950s or 1960s that we chose to exercise out of legitimate fear that things could turn out much worse than they have? Those are complicated questions. Here’s one simple, if partial, answer: The “1957-1958 Pandemic” didn’t actually kill 116,000 Americans and the “1968 Pandemic” didn’t kill 100,000. (Fox, 3/11)

NBC News: Puerto Rico Enacted Strict Covid Measures. It Paid Off, And It's A Lesson For The Mainland.
Janny Rodriguez, 47, a community leader in the neighborhood of Barreal in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico, is an operations supervisor at an asphalt plant. During the height of the pandemic last March, he couldn't stop working, since he's one of a few workers tasked with maintaining the composite material liquid. The father of three was worried about potentially exposing his oldest son to the virus, since he suffers from a lung condition, or his elderly mother who lives next door to him. After all, the World Health Organization had just declared Covid-19 a pandemic. (Acevedo, 3/15)

Also —

The New York Times: Rosalind Cartwright, Psychologist And ‘Queen Of Dreams,’ Dies At 98 
In 1999, Rosalind D. Cartwright, a sleep expert, testified for the defense in the murder trial of a man who had arisen from his bed early one night, gathered up tools to fix his pool’s filter pump, stabbed his beloved wife to death, rolled her into the pool and gone back to bed. When he was awakened by the police, he said he had no memory of his actions. His lawyers argued that the man, who had no motive to kill his wife, had been sleepwalking, and therefore was in an unconscious state and not responsible for his behavior. Dr. Cartwright, a renowned sleep researcher who a decade earlier had successfully served as a witness for the defense in a similar case (she worked pro bono in both trials), agreed. (Green, 3/15)

The Washington Post: ‘Not What I Consented To’: When A Partner Tries To Control The Other’s Choice About Pregnancy 
Sometimes he could be abusive, but the man she lived with had always honored her wish to use birth control. One night, though, he didn’t. The Los Angeles woman, then 22, tried to get Plan B, “the morning-after pill,” but was refused at the clinic because she owed money to the state medical system. And she was pregnant. Considering abortion made her feel guilty. Her boyfriend made it worse: “What kind of human being are you?” he taunted. (Glicksman, 3/14)

Stat: Nazi Anatomical Drawings Are Donated In Effort To Address Ethical Quandary
The drawings in the anatomical atlas are seen as unparalleled in their detail of winding nerves and minute blood vessels, and are still used today in medical education and surgery. But the Pernkopf Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy, first published around 1940, comes with a tainted, gruesome history: Many of the drawings were based in part on the bodies of people executed by the Nazis, and the Viennese medical illustrators were Nazis themselves. (Sohn, 3/16)

Stat: Dialysis Clinics Should Be Able To Vaccine Their Patients On Site 
One year after Covid-19 was declared a national emergency in the United States, and with more than 525,000 Americans having lost their lives to it so far, the country is finally beginning to make progress toward getting a handle on this terrible pandemic, thanks to the distribution of several highly effective vaccines. The vaccine distribution system seems to be working, despite considerable obstacles. We see it in the way that long-term care residents and staff, who were particularly hard hit over the past year, are experiencing falling infection and mortality rates that dovetail with extensive vaccination efforts. The success within the nation’s long-term care community after a challenging start is largely due to a partnership among stakeholders and the federal government that ensured appropriate allocation of vaccines — and end-to-end support — to protect vulnerable Americans in these facilities. (Donna Christensen, LaVarne A. Burton, and Gary A. Puckrein, 3/19)

Boston Globe: Faster Vaccine Trials Could Save Lives Without Sacrificing Ethics 
A group of healthy young adults in the United Kingdom have just been infected with COVID-19. They didn’t catch the virus at a crowded pub or a college party. They were infected with it on purpose — in the name of science. This is known as a human challenge trial, and it’s the first such trial for COVID-19 approved anywhere in the world. Researchers hope that by exposing 90 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 to the virus, they’ll discover the smallest amount of exposure necessary to cause an infection and gauge how the immune system mounts its initial defense. Those are difficult questions to answer through conventional trials, in which researchers vaccinate people and then wait months for the subjects to be exposed to the virus as they go about their normal lives. (Bryan Schonfeld and Sam Winter-Levy, 3/18)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Skeptics Can Be Won Over By Listening. Herd Immunity From Covid Follows 
Ask on the street in Hong Kong if passersby will get the Covid-19 vaccine, and you may hear what I did: “Sometime.” “Maybe.” “No.” Combating this hesitancy here and elsewhere will take more than opprobrium and exhortation. It requires tuning in. A combination of deep-seated distrust in government, ignorance and lack of urgency — in a territory that has kept coronavirus cases low — means Hong Kong is now struggling to get enough residents inoculated. This week, when appointments opened for people over 30, tens of thousands of us rushed to book, picking between Chinese-made Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Many more, out of 5.5 million eligible in a population of 7.5 million, did not. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: Of Course We Had To Lock Down. And It Helped 
Friday marks exactly one year since California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an order shutting down large swaths of the economy and requiring people to stay home in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of a mysterious and deadly pandemic. It was the first state to take such sweeping action, and it had no historical precedent. Polls that spring found that most Californians — and most Americans — understood the necessity of such drastic measures to contain the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, even though they worried about the economic fallout. The urgency was driven home by the skyrocketing numbers of cases and deaths in New York City. But our understanding has waned over the last 12 months, as the state has endured various iterations of closures and new restrictions on personal movement, and now Californians may well wonder if all the financial hardship and isolation was worth it. (3/19)

CNN: Getting Vaccinated Is A Game Changer 
I am a 49-year-old man in fairly good shape (although I could always stand to lose a few pounds here and there.) My wife is 37, and in far better shape. Either way, according to federal and state guidelines, we are low risk for suffering complications stemming from Covid-19 and we would likely not have been vaccinated for several months based on our age and health profile; nonetheless, last week we were both able to get our shots by showing up at a vaccination center unannounced. (Arick Wierson, 3/18)

Kansas City Star: Mass Vaccination At Arrowhead Can’t Disguise The Continuing COVID-19 Mess In Missouri
Gov. Mike Parson is expected in Kansas City Friday to kick off a mass COVID-19 vaccination event. Roughly 8,000 people with appointments are expected to get the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Truman Sports Complex. It’s the first mass inoculation event in Kansas City south of the river, and it comes weeks after the region began begging for the same treatment as many rural communities. However successful the two-day event turns out to be, though, it can’t disguise the continuing failure of the state government, and Parson personally, to equitably and efficiently deliver essential COVID-19 protection. Missouri’s distribution effort remains a mess. (3/18)

The New York Times: Can Magic Mushrooms Heal Us? 
Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon announced the members of the state’s newly formed Psilocybin Advisory Board this week. Why does Oregon need an official board to offer advice about the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, you ask? Because Oregon is about to become the first state in the country to try to build a support infrastructure through which psychedelic mushrooms can be woven into everyday life. This framework is different from what we’ve seen before: not legalization, not medicalization, but therapeutic use, in licensed facilities, under the guidance of professionals trained to guide psychedelic experiences. Whoa. “Like many, I was initially skeptical when I first heard of Measure 109,” Brown said in a statement. “But if we can help people suffering from PTSD, depression, trauma and addiction — including veterans, cancer patients, and others — supervised psilocybin therapy is a treatment worthy of further consideration.” (Ezra Klein, 3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Medical Student ‘Match Day’ Takes On Deeper Meaning Amid Pandemic
There are few more memorable days in the life of a medical student than the third Friday in March, known as “Match Day.” It is the day when, precisely at noon, medical students open envelopes to reveal where they “matched” for their upcoming residency training at hospitals all around the U.S. In the 69-year history of the “Match,” this year feels different. Each year the process works as follows: Having chosen their specialty — pediatrician, surgeon, psychiatrist, internist for example — 4th year medical students visit potential residency programs. After these visits, both parties submit their rankings of each other, which is then entered into a computer program whose function is to match both sides with their top choice as mathematically optimal as possible. (Alan M. Langlieb, 3/18)

Stat: The Long, Exhausting Reach Of Dementia Care 
The Covid-19 pandemic is reinforcing a grim lesson we should have taken to heart but haven’t: Some diseases harm not only patients but also people close to them, reverberating throughout society. In the U.S., the tallies of patients and deaths is nearing 30 million and 540,000, respectively, as I write this. Millions more have suffered isolation, depression, anxiety, and declining health. More than 20 million have seen cuts to their pay or even unemployment. This toll reminds me of Alzheimer’s disease. (Jason Karlawish, 3/18)

Scientific American: What Florence Nightingale Can Teach Us About Architecture And Health 
In the late 19th century, Florence Nightingale revolutionized hospital design in what became known as Nightingale wards. The signature innovation of these wards was large windows that allowed cross-ventilation and abundant natural light. Nightingale believed that the light and air quality in a hospital's environment play an important role in speeding patient recovery. In the decades since, numerous studies have shown that Nightingale was right: daylight is a critical determinant of human health and wellness. Patients in rooms with daylight and views of the outdoors have quicker recovery times and need fewer painkillers. Natural light has been shown to decrease heart rate, lower blood pressure, and even treat depression faster than antidepressants. Importantly, just as Nightingale theorized, daylight can also decrease harmful bacteria and viruses. (Steven Lockley, 3/18)