NPR: All California Adults Can Receive A COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot
All fully vaccinated adults in California seeking a COVID-19 booster shot should be eligible to get one, California Department of Public Health officials say. In a letter Thursday, officials directed health care providers not to deny booster shots to adult patients. The announcement opened up booster shot eligibility to millions of residents across the state. (Franklin, 11/11)

Los Angeles Times: No Eligible Californian Should Be Denied Booster, Officials Say
No fully vaccinated adult should be denied a COVID-19 booster shot, the California Department of Public Health says. The move comes as health authorities are trying to increase the number of Californians getting the booster shots, fearing that slow early demand could increase the chances of another winter coronavirus wave. “Do not turn a patient away who is requesting a booster,” Dr. Tómas Aragón, the state health officer and public health director, wrote in a letter. Booster patients must be adults, and at least two months must have passed since receiving a Johnson & Johnson vaccine or six months since getting the second dose of the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccination series. (Lin II and Money, 11/11)

Denver Post: All Adults In Colorado Eligible For Booster Shots, Gov. Jared Polis Declares
Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order Thursday declaring all of Colorado to be at high risk from COVID-19, thereby making all adults eligible to receive vaccine booster shots. This comes ahead of approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of Pfizer and Moderna boosters for all fully vaccinated adults, following a six-month wait time. State public health officials have argued they’re in line with the agency’s guidance, which allows third shots for people living or working in high-risk settings. The order is meant to help protect public health, reduce virus transmission, preserve hospital capacity and alleviate the stress on health care workers from the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado, the governor’s office said in a news release. (Shapiro, 11/11)

The Biden administration also addresses booster shots —

The Washington Post: Top Biden Health Officials Push To Make Coronavirus Booster Shots Available To All Adults 
Anxious about a surge of coronavirus infections enveloping Europe as cases tick up in the United States, senior health officials in the Biden administration are pressing urgently to offer vaccine booster shots to all adults. But support for the renewed push is not unanimous. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has expressed caution about making extra shots so broadly available now, according to several officials familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. As a result, tension is rising among officials over how quickly to proceed and who should get the shots. (McGinley, Sun and Pager, 11/11)

And where booster shots are most popular is revealed —

The Washington Post: Booster Shots Are Most Popular In Poorly Vaccinated States Where Coronavirus Rages
Several northern, mostly rural states that are battling coronavirus surges with few mask mandates and low vaccine rates are now leading the nation on another preventive front: booster shots. The rate at which fully vaccinated residents are getting the shots is highest in the states that also have high rates of new coronavirus cases, including Alaska, North Dakota and Montana, according to a review of state data by The Washington Post. In swaths of the country where health officials will not impose mask and vaccine mandates to curb the virus’s spread, or have had their powers stripped away by Republican state lawmakers or governors, boosters are one of the few shields left for those worried about contracting and spreading the virus. (Keating, Nirappil and Shepherd, 11/11)

Bloomberg: Moderna Defends Covid Shot As Questions On Heart Risks Mount
Moderna Inc. held a brief conference call to defend the safety of its Covid-19 shot from a barrage of questions about associated heart risks in young people. Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton acknowledged on the call that the company’s vaccine does appear linked to increased chances of an inflammatory heart condition known as myocarditis in young men. Moderna maintains that the shot’s benefits continue to outweigh the extremely rare risk of myocarditis, he said Thursday. (Griffin, 11/11)

CNBC: Moderna Says Covid Vaccine Has Fewer Breakthrough Cases Than Pfizer's
Moderna defended the use of its covid-19 vaccine Thursday, saying the protection it offers against severe disease, hospitalization and death outweighs the risk of myocarditis, a rare heart condition seen in a small number of young men who received the shot. The company announced last week that the Food and Drug Administration needed more time to decide whether to authorize its two-dose vaccine for use in children ages 12 to 17 as the agency looks into reports of myocarditis, or the inflammation of the heart muscle. (Lovelace Jr., 11/11)

Stat: BioNTech's CEO Wants To Widen Covid-19 Vaccine Access On His Terms
Two years ago, Ugur Sahin was an under-the-radar but extremely determined scientist running a company called BioNTech, which was trying to generate interest in using mRNA technology to combat different illnesses. Since then, he partnered with Pfizer to develop a Covid-19 vaccine that this year is forecast to generate about $19 billion in revenue for the company, assuming 2.5 billion doses are shipped. The vaccine is an historic success story — scientifically, medically, and financially — for both companies. But there are also questions about the extent to which booster doses will — or should be — needed as well as criticism about ensuring global access to vaccines in order to eradicate the pandemic. We spoke this week with Sahin over coffee about these issues. (Silverman, 11/11)

The Wall Street Journal: AstraZeneca Plans To Start Selling Covid-19 Vaccines At Profit
AstraZeneca AZN -0.35% PLC said it would start pricing its Covid-19 vaccine to make it profitable, ending a period in which it had pledged to roll out the shots at cost during the pandemic. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant said it would shift away from a nonprofit approach to the vaccine starting in 2022, signing new contracts that will allow it to make money off the shot. The company expects some earnings contribution from new orders in the fourth quarter of this year. The company said the shot generated $1.05 billion in revenue in the third quarter. (Butini, 11/12)

An at-home covid test recalled —

CBS News: FDA Recalls 2.2 Million Ellume COVID-19 Home Tests Due To False Positives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the recall of 2.2 million home COVID-19 tests made by Ellume, the first company to get FDA approval for over-the-counter COVID tests, due to "higher-than-acceptable false positive test results." The recall is an expansion of last month's recall of 200,000 kits for the same issue. About 35 false positives through the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test were reported to the FDA, with no deaths reported, the agency said. But false positives could lead to negative outcomes such as getting unneeded COVID-19 treatment from a health care provider or a delayed diagnosis for the person's actual illness, the FDA added. (Picchi, 11/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Ellume Recalls More Than 2 Million At-Home Covid-19 Tests Over False Positives
The Food and Drug Administration said more than 2 million at-home Covid-19 tests from Australia-based Ellume USA LLC have been recalled because of a number of false-positive results. The federal agency categorized the recall as a Class I, its most serious classification. It said false-positive test results could lead to serious health issues including unnecessary treatments and isolation, delayed treatments of the actual illness and spread of Covid-19 if those who received false-positive results are clustered with those who accurately tested positive. (Calfas, 11/11)

On antivirals and other covid drugs —

AP: EU Authorizes 2 Medicines For People At Risk Of Severe COVID
The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of two new medicines against the coronavirus for people at risk of severe disease. In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said it had concluded that the monoclonal antibody treatments — a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab, and the drug regdanvimab — have both been proven to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in patients vulnerable to serious COVID-19. The EMA described the safety profile of both medicines as “favorable,” and said that despite a small number of side effects, “the medicines’ benefits are greater than their risks.” (11/11)

NBC News: How Covid Antiviral Pills Work and What That Could Mean for the Pandemic
Covid-19 may soon be treatable with a pill. In the past six weeks, two drugmakers have announced promising clinical trial results for their experimental oral antiviral pills and will soon have their data evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. (Hickok, 11/12)

On India's vaccine —

Bloomberg: India’s Covaxin Found 77.8% Effective In Lancet Covid Study
Covaxin, a vaccine developed by India’s medical research agency and Bharat Biotech International Ltd., was 77.8% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in an interim analysis of a long-awaited study. Covaxin, which uses traditional, inactivated-virus technology, induced a robust antibody response two weeks after the second dose was given, the investigators concluded. No severe adverse events or vaccine-related deaths occurred during the randomized trial involving 24,419 adults. The research, conducted between November 2020 and May 2021 in India, was published in The Lancet. (Kay, 11/11)

Meanwhile —

CBS News: Why Aren't More Pregnant Women Of Color Getting Vaccinated Against COVID-19? Doctors Point To Distrust And Poor Outreach.
Maria del Carmen Garcia didn't have to look far for medical advice as she considered whether to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The 39-year-old teacher from Fort Hood, Texas, who at the time was trying to have another baby, consulted her sisters who work in health care and her husband who is a former pharmacy technician. "We do a lot of research in this house," she said. "Sometimes people look at us, they say, 'You guys read too much' — but we'd rather be overly informed than not." (Bayer, 11/11)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Republican State Sen. Bob Hall Says People Should Avoid The COVID-19 Vaccine
Republican state Sen. Bob Hall on Wednesday continued his broadsides against COVID-19 vaccines in a Facebook video viewed by more than 2,000 in which he told viewers to avoid the vaccine and echoed inaccurate claims that the vaccine is doing more harm than good. Hall has been careful to state that he is not against people getting the vaccine, but began his video with the unfounded and inaccurate “punchline” that COVID-19 vaccines are “killing more people than they are saving.” (Janowski, 11/11)

Bloomberg: Covid Surge In Arizona, New Mexico, Western US States Packs ICUs, Hospitals
Hospitals in some parts of the U.S. are already starting to see the impact of an autumn wave of Covid-19 infections, the latest sign that the health-care system still faces serious pressure from the virus, even in places that have achieved relatively high vaccination rates. Intensive-care unit beds occupied by Covid-19 patients are climbing in 12 states from two weeks earlier, with most of them in a contiguous strip running from Arizona and New Mexico, through the Great Plains and into Minnesota. In several Western states, many doctors and nurses haven’t caught their breath from the last round of infections. (Levin and Del Giudice, 11/11)

ABC News: Albuquerque Hospitals Enact Crisis Standards Of Care During 'Unprecedented' Time
The two largest hospital systems in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have activated crisis standards of care due to an "unprecedented level" of activity during the pandemic, hospital officials announced Thursday. University of New Mexico Health System and Presbyterian Healthcare Services leaders said in a joint press briefing that they have transitioned to crisis standards of care at their Albuquerque metro hospitals. The move comes as the hospitals are being stretched to the limit in terms of space and staffing due to increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations and a high volume of patients with acute conditions, officials said. (Deliso, 11/11)

AP: New Mexico Hospitals Seek Relief Amid Wave Of Patients
Two of New Mexico's largest hospitals on Thursday announced that they would be focusing on patients who need care the most, meaning non-medically necessary procedures will likely have to be delayed. While most patients are not dealing with coronavirus infections, officials at Presbyterian Healthcare Services and University of New Mexico Health say the ability to grow the capacity that was built over the last year due to the pandemic is now limited by space and the availability of healthcare workers. (11/11)

The Boston Globe: ‘The Pandemic Is Not Over’: In A Worrisome Trend, COVID-19 Cases Are Rising Again In Mass.
Massachusetts coronavirus case numbers have lurched upward in recent days, in a worrisome development that experts say underlines the need for people to get vaccinated and to take precautions such as wearing masks in indoor public spaces. Case numbers began rising from rock-bottom levels in early July, hit a peak in mid-September, and then declined until early this month. But in the past week or so, they began to rise again. The seven-day average of reported cases was 1,182 on Nov. 3. A week later, as of Nov. 10, it had jumped to 1,481. (Finucane and Huddle, 11/11)

In worries about what hotspots say about winter surges, America's covid future —

AP: COVID-19 Hot Spots Offer Sign Of What Could Be Ahead For US
The contagious delta variant is driving up COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Mountain West and fueling disruptive outbreaks in the North, a worrisome sign of what could be ahead this winter in the U.S. While trends are improving in Florida, Texas and other Southern states that bore the worst of the summer surge, it’s clear that delta isn’t done with the United States. COVID-19 is moving north and west for the winter as people head indoors, close their windows and breathe stagnant air. “We’re going to see a lot of outbreaks in unvaccinated people that will result in serious illness, and it will be tragic,” said Dr. Donald Milton of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. (Johnson, 11/11)

Axios: America’s COVID Future Has Arrived 
The U.S. and COVID-19 are settling into a long, but hopefully manageable future together. The worst of the pandemic is likely behind us, but the virus is here to stay. We’re entering a new phase — one in which the country’s overall experience with this virus will be less like having a heart attack, and more like managing a lifelong chronic condition. Experts have been saying for a long time that there’s almost no chance COVID-19 would disappear. Rather, they’ve been expecting it to become endemic — meaning it will stick around, possibly forever, but at more predictable, manageable levels. (Baker and Beheraj, 11/11)

As covid affects more than just humans —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Eight Big Cats At St. Louis Zoo Test Positive For Coronavirus
Eight of the big cats at the St. Louis Zoo are being monitored closely after testing positive recently for the coronavirus. A full recovery is expected for the infected animals, which include two African lions, two snow leopards, two jaguars, an Amur tiger and a puma, zoo officials said Thursday. The outbreak has been limited to Big Cat Country, and no other animals are showing any signs of infection at the zoo, which is home to more than 12,000 animals. All of the cats have received two doses of an animal-specific version of the coronavirus vaccine. The two doses were administered during a roughly three-week period that began Sept. 30, but the cats were likely exposed between doses, zoo officials said. (Harris, 11/11)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Ordered 90,000 Child Vaccine Doses. Texas Ordered 1 Million.
Florida health officials say they preordered approximately 90,000 child-size doses of the Pfizer vaccine. That’s enough to fully vaccinate 3 percent of Florida’s approximately 1.7 million children ages 5 to 11. Texas, another Republican-led state, preordered 1 million doses — enough to fully vaccinate over 17 percent of the state’s children in the same age group. California preordered 860,000 doses, enough to fully vaccinate 13 percent of kids there. (Hodgson and Wilson, 11/11)

CBS News: Once-Healthy Kids Struggling With Symptoms Months After COVID-19 Infection
Madison Foor, a 14-year-old competitive dancer, was healthy before she contracted COVID-19 in January. Ten months later, she uses an inhaler every day. "It feels a little scary, like I can't breathe," she said. (Oliver, 11/11)

Axios: Lasting Changes Ahead For "Generation COVID" 
The generation of kids and young adults who are coming of age in the midst of the pandemic will likely be shaped by COVID for the rest of their lives — and researchers are starting to offer a glimpse at how. Massive news events — most recently the Great Recession and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for older millennials — can be drivers for changing how generations generally view the world, spend money and form relationships. While there's no way to really know what will happen, behavioralists are trying to understand which changes might ultimately stick for Gen Z, as well as younger kids which some have started calling "Generation C." (Fernandez, 11/12)

On a vaccination mistake in Virginia —

CNBC: Virginia Pharmacy Incorrectly Administers Covid Vaccine To 112 Kids, Officials Pull Remaining Doses
A pharmacy in Virginia incorrectly administered Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 shots to 112 children last week, according to the state Department of Health. “The pharmacy attempted to provide a proper dose,” Loudoun County Health Department director Dr. David Goodfriend told CNBC on Thursday. He said it appears the pharmacy did administer about a third of the adult dose, which should be the correct amount. However, “a lower dose is possible if not all of the 0.1 ml was administered into muscle,” he said. (Towey, 11/11)

The Washington Post: Ted Pharmacy In Loudoun County Gave Wrong Coronavirus Vaccine Dose To More Than 100 Children Ages 5 To 11, Officials Say
A Loudoun County pharmacy has been ordered to stop administering coronavirus vaccine shots after it incorrectly gave 5-to-11-year-olds formulations designed for older kids and adults, the Virginia Department of Health said this week. Ted Pharmacy in Aldie administered the shots to 112 children on Nov. 3 and 4, officials said, giving them vaccine formulas designed for older children or adults but in smaller amounts. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only one so far authorized in the U.S. for children under 12, is supposed be given to them at one-third of the dosage given to adolescents, teenagers and adults. (Thompson, 11/11)

Also —

AP: Last 3 Florida School Districts Drop Student Mask Mandates
The last three school districts in Florida that required at least some students to wear masks are dropping their mandates for student facial coverings. Starting Friday, grade school students in Miami-Dade schools can opt out of wearing a mask if they have their parents’ permission. Masks already had been optional for high school and some middle school students. In neighboring Broward County, all students can go without masks starting the week after next. No opt-out form from parents is required, though the school district is strongly encouraging students to wear facial coverings, according to the Miami Herald. Masks already were optional for high school and technical college students. (11/11)

Kansas City Star: KC Doctors Try To Calm Concern Over Children’s COVID Vaccine 
When her oldest child turned 12 in August and became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Laura Mulcahy hesitated. Michael, like everyone else in the family, already had COVID, so she figured he had natural immunity. “I thought, ‘Do I really need to get him vaccinated, because obviously his body was able to fight off COVID,’” said Mulcahy, who lives in the Northland. “So I wasn’t entirely sure that it was necessary.” Last week, when children ages 5 through 11 became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, parents jumped to fill the first appointments around Kansas City. (Gutierrez, 11/12)

The Hill: White House Expanding Health Care For Veterans Exposed To Burn Pits
The White House on Thursday marked Veterans Day by announcing expanded health care resources for individuals exposed to burn pits and other environmental hazards during their time in the military. Assistance for those exposed to burn pits has been a personal issue for President Biden, who has on multiple occasions spoken about how he believes his son Beau Biden's exposure to them may have been linked to the brain cancer that killed him in 2015. (Samuels, 11/11)

Roll Call: Some Troops Are Driven To Suicide By Hunger, Experts Say
One of the biggest problems among U.S. troops and veterans, rising suicides, is made worse by another growing scourge in the ranks: hunger. That was the conclusion experts delivered to a House Agriculture subcommittee in a hearing Wednesday on the eve of Veterans Day. “Veterans dealing with very low food security have an almost four-fold increase in odds of suicidal ideation,” Nipa Kamdar, a health sciences specialist, told the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations. (Donnelly, 11/11)

Modern Healthcare: Cerner's Scheduling System For The VA Runs Into New Issues
A government watchdog has flagged issues with the Veterans Affairs Department's new scheduling platform, which is part of a multibillion dollar effort to modernize the agency's electronic health records system. The new system, built by Cerner as part of a $10 billion contract, was launched at two facilities in Washington state and Ohio last year despite knowledge at the VA of "significant" system and process limitations, the VA Office of Inspector General stated in a report released Thursday. (Hellman, 11/11)

Politico: Report Shines Light On Veterans Affairs’ Digital Health Overhaul
The Department of Veterans Affairs deployed a digital scheduling system despite knowing about significant problems, like giving veterans misleading information about their appointments, according to a new watchdog report, POLITICO’s Darius Tahir writes. The finding is more fodder for observers of the troubled digital health overhaul at the VA. A scandal over falsified wait times at a VA facility in Phoenix helped prompt the development of the scheduling system — which was later folded into a broader electronic health record modernization that’s been delayed as part of a “strategic review” initiated by VA Secretary Denis McDonough. (Owermohle and Cancryn, 11/11)

The New York Times: Veterans Have Become Unlikely Lobbyists In Push To Legalize Psychedelic Drugs
Jose Martinez, a former Army gunner whose right arm and both legs were blown off by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, has a new calling: He’s become one of the most effective lobbyists in a campaign to legalize the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs across the country. On a Zoom call this spring with Connie Leyva, a Democratic legislator in California who has long opposed relaxing drug laws, Mr. Martinez told her how psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in “magic” mushrooms, had helped to finally quell the physical pain and suicidal thoughts that had tormented him.Ms. Leyva says she changed her mind even before the call ended, and she later voted yes on the bill, which is expected to become law early next year. (Jacobs, 11/11)

And on Medicare Advantage —

KHN: Readers And Tweeters Find Disadvantages In Medicare Advantage
With Medicare Advantage open enrollment open until Dec. 7, millions of seniors will consider costs, benefits and networks when selecting a new plan (“Medicare Plans’ ‘Free’ Dental, Vision, Hearing Benefits Come at a Cost,” Oct. 27). Many consumers may not be aware that some health plans have frustrating restrictions buried deep within that limit access to critical procedures. For example, Aetna recently began requiring prior authorization for cataract surgeries across all its health plans — including Medicare Advantage. Tens of thousands of Americans covered by Aetna have had their sight-restoring surgeries delayed or canceled, while insurance company representatives decide who gets to see better — and who must wait for their cataract to get worse before insurance will cover cataract surgery. (11/12)

AP: Johnson & Johnson To Split Into Two Companies
Johnson & Johnson is splitting into two companies, separating the division that sells Band-Aids and Listerine, from its medical device and prescription drug business. The company said Friday the move will help improve the focus and speed of each company to address trends in their different industries. The company selling prescription drugs and medical devices will keep Johnson & Johnson as its name, the company said Friday. That company will include treatments such as Darzalex, Erleada, Imbruvica, Stelara and Tremfya as well as medical device solutions across interventional solutions, orthopaedics, surgery and vision. (Chapman, 11/12)

CNBC: J&J Plans To Split Into Two Companies, Separating Consumer Products And Pharmaceutical Businesses
The company said it hopes to complete the transaction in 18 to 24 months. The pharmaceutical and medical device division, which includes advanced technologies like robotics and AI, would retain the name Johnson & Johnson and have J&J’s incoming CEO Joaquin Duato at its helm. ... Its yet-to-be-named consumer products company will also inherit litigation stemming from lawsuits over claims that its Johnson’s Baby Powder causes cancer, allegations the company has vehemently denied. (Pound and Kopecki, 11/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson Plans To Split Into Two Public Companies 
The separation will kick off the biggest change in direction in J&J’s 135-year history. Disposable diapers, indigestion tablets and cough remedies powered J&J during its early history, then provided the diversification that helped the company ride out the ups and downs of its riskier but higher-reward pharmaceuticals and medical-devices businesses. (Rockoff and Loftus, 11/12)

Also —

CBS News: CVS Withdraws Supreme Court Case On Disability Rights, Announces New Partnership
The CVS pharmacy chain has reached an agreement with a coalition of disability rights organizations and dropped a legal case that had made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court was scheduled to hear arguments in the dispute next month, and the ruling could have had far-reaching effects on disability rights. (Roppolo, 11/11)

ProPublica: St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many Of Its Families Drain Their Savings
St. Jude makes a unique promise as part of its fundraising: “Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.” But for many families, treatment at St. Jude does not relieve all the financial burdens they incur in getting care for their children, including housing, travel and food costs that fall outside the hospital’s strict limits, a ProPublica investigation has found. While families may not receive a bill from St. Jude, the hospital doesn’t cover what’s usually the biggest source of financial stress associated with childhood cancer: the loss of income as parents quit or take leave from jobs to be with their child during treatment. For many families, the consequence is missed payments for cars, utilities and cellphones. Others face eviction or foreclosure because they can’t keep up with rent and mortgage payments. (Armstrong and Gabrielson, 11/12)

Modern Healthcare: Domestic Policy Bill Gains Could Offset Losses for Hospitals in Medicaid Gap States
States without Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act may benefit from proposed funding to close coverage gaps, in spite of other planned cuts to the public insurance program, according to researchers. The current draft of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act includes provisions to increase healthcare subsidies and extend coverage, particularly for the 12 states in the Medicaid expansion gap and residents with incomes below the federal poverty level. (Devereaux, 11/11)

KHN: How Low Can They Go? Rural Hospitals Weigh Keeping Obstetric Units When Births Decline
As rural hospitals struggle to stay financially stable, their leaders watch other small facilities close obstetrics units to cut costs. They face a no-win dilemma: Can we continue operating delivery units safely if there are few births? But if we close, do we risk the health and lives of babies and mothers? The other question this debate hangs on: How few is too few births? Consider the 11-bed Providence Valdez Medical Center, which brings 40 to 60 newborns into the world each year, according to Dr. John Cullen, one of several family physicians who deliver babies at the Valdez, Alaska, hospital. The next nearest obstetrics unit is a six- to seven-hour drive away, if ice and snow don’t make the roads treacherous, he said. (Huff, 11/12)

Also —

AP: Health Care Coverage Axed For Striking WVa Hospital Workers
Health care coverage has been stopped for striking maintenance and service workers at a West Virginia hospital, a union said. About 1,000 members of the the Service Employees International Union District 1999 went on strike last week at Cabell Huntington Hospital after their contract expired. Union organizing director Sherri McKinney said in a statement that the coverage was cut off without notification to striking employees and union retirees, The Herald-Dispatch reported. (11/11)

Modern Healthcare: Tenet's Outpatient Push Comes As CMS Moves The Other Way
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may be slowing payment reforms designed to transition some procedures from inpatient to outpatient settings, but that isn't dimming confidence about Tenet Healthcare's investments in ambulatory surgical centers. Tenet's latest move, announced Monday, is its $1.2 billion acquisition of SurgCenter Development and that company's ownership stakes in 92 ambulatory surgical centers. (Bannow, 11/11)

Roll Call: McGovern Nudges Medical Schools To Invest In Nutrition Education 
Medical schools should beef up curriculums to include robust nutrition education to give physicians the tools to combat diet-related conditions that cost the federal government billions of dollars each year to treat, according to House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern. The Massachusetts Democrat predicted during an online news conference Wednesday that the House will overwhelmingly adopt a sense of the Congress resolution that calls on medical schools, graduate medical programs and health professional training programs to expand nutrition education. (Ferguson, 11/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Plaintiffs Want Teligent Price-Fixing Lawsuit To Continue Despite Bankruptcy
Drug buyers are seeking court permission to continue a price-fixing lawsuit against Teligent Inc. despite the halt on litigation that kicked in when the drugmaker filed for bankruptcy. A group of drug-buying cooperatives, employee welfare benefit funds, retail pharmacies and national health insurers asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday to allow a federal lawsuit to continue against Teligent, a generic drugmaker that sought chapter 11 protection last month. (Yerak, 11/11)

On insurance and the price of healthcare —

CBS News: One Way Americans Feel Inflation's Pain: Health Insurance Premiums
As experts debate whether inflation gripping everything from winter heat to holiday gifts to American Thanksgiving tables is temporary or likely to endure, Americans are facing another relentlessly rising cost: health insurance premiums. Getting health insurance through work now costs more than $22,000 a year for families, who pick up roughly $6,000 of that tab, the Kaiser Family Foundation found in its annual benefits survey, with employers picking up the rest. (Layne, 11/11)

Reuters: Aegon, Other Insurers Hit By U.S. COVID-19 Deaths In Third Quarter
Dutch insurer Aegon NV (AEGN.AS)reported a 16% fall in third- quarter operating profit on Thursday due to higher COVID-19 related mortality claims in the Americas, the latest European insurer to suffer from new waves of the pandemic. Aegon, which does two-thirds of its business in the United States, said "unfavourable mortality claims" in the Americas in the third quarter were $111 million, up from $31 million a year earlier. (Sterling, 11/11)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Why Health Care Is So Expensive, Chapter $22K
Congress appears to be making progress on its huge social spending bill, but even if it passes the House as planned the week of Nov. 15, it’s unlikely it can get through the Senate before the Thanksgiving deadline that Democrats set for themselves. Meanwhile, the cost of employer-provided health insurance continues to rise, even with so many people forgoing care during the pandemic. The annual KFF survey of employers reported that the average cost of a job-based family plan has risen to more than $22,000. To provide what their workers most need, however, this year many employers added additional coverage of mental health care and telehealth. (11/11)

NPR: New Clues To The Biology Of Long COVID Are Starting To Emerge
Kelly LaDue thought she was done with COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 after being tormented by the virus for a miserable couple of weeks. "And then I started with really bad heart-racing with any exertion. It was weird," says LaDue, 54, of Ontario, N.Y. "Walking up the stairs, I'd have to sit down and rest. And I was short of breath. I had to rest after everything I did." (Stein, 11/12)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Cancer Patients Can Safely Receive COVID-19 Vaccines
A study yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows COVID-19 vaccines are safe in people undergoing treatment for cancer and produce modestly impaired immune responses. Booster vaccine doses, however, enhance immunity. The study was based on 762 active oncology patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, who were compared to 1,638 healthy controls. The patients were currently receiving cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, corticosteroids, and radiation. All three vaccines currently used in the United States were included in the study. (11/11)

Also —

CIDRAP: Tests Reveal Much Higher COVID Rate In Unvaccinated Nursing Home Staff
Positive COVID-19 test results were more than 10 times more common among unvaccinated, asymptomatic healthcare professionals (HCP) in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) long-term care facilities than among their fully vaccinated counterparts, according to a research letter yesterday in JAMA Network Open. Researchers at the VA Boston Healthcare System tracked mandatory weekly COVID-19 test results among 1,269 HCP and twice-weekly antigen testing among 704 more from Jan 15 to Jun 8, 2021. (11/11)

On how diabetes complicates covid risks —

Reuters: Diabetes Problem Makes Africa More Vulnerable To COVID-19 Death, Says WHO
Death rates from COVID-19 infections are much higher in patients with diabetes in Africa, where the number of people with diabetes is growing rapidly, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. A WHO analysis of data from 13 African countries found a 10.2% case fatality rate in COVID-19 patients with diabetes, compared with 2.5% for COVID-19 patients overall. (Obulutsa, 11/11)

Reuters: Biogen Says Aduhelm Lowers Levels Of Second Protein Associated With Alzheimer's
Biogen Inc's (BIIB.O) Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm, approved by U.S. regulators last year for its ability to reduce amyloid brain plaques, also lowers levels of a second protein that accumulates in the brains of people with the disease, according to new data released by the company on Thursday. Biogen said its Phase III studies found that Aduhelm significantly lowered blood levels of an abnormal form of the protein tau - another target of experimental Alzheimer's drugs - that forms toxic tangles of nerve fibers associated with the mind-wasting disease. (Beasley, 11/11)

Stat: Cortexyme Bets On A Lower Dose Of Its Once-Failed Alzheimer’s Drug 
Cortexyme, pressing forward after its novel approach to Alzheimer’s disease failed in a mid-stage trial, believes a lower dose of the medicine might safely treat a subset of patients. But detailed data, presented at a medical conference Thursday, suggest the path ahead could be difficult. In the roughly 650-patient study, Cortexyme’s drug proved no better than placebo at slowing patients’ decline, as measured by tests of cognition and ability to complete basic activities. However, the failed trial taught the company how to succeed next time, said Michael Detke, Cortexyme’s chief medical officer, at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease meeting in Boston. (Garde, 11/11)

In other research, innovation news —

The New York Times: Bariatric Surgery May Lower Risk For Severe Liver Disease, New Study Finds
One in four American adults has fatty liver disease caused by obesity, not drinking, and there is no medical treatment for it. Doctors say the only way to keep it in check is to lose weight and eat a healthier diet. Now a new study reports that bariatric surgery, in addition to helping with weight loss, can protect the liver. The findings were striking: Of a group of more than 1,100 patients who had an aggressive form of fatty liver disease, those who had weight-loss surgery cut their risk of advanced liver disease, liver cancer or related death by almost 90 percent over the next decade. (Caryn Rabin, 11/11)

CIDRAP: Beta-Lactam Plus Doxycycline Tied To Better Pneumonia Outcomes In Elderly
A retrospective study of elderly pneumonia patients treated at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals found that use of doxycycline as part of guideline-concordant therapy was associated with lower mortality than regimens without doxycycline, researchers reported this week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Of the 70,533 patients 65 and older who were hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) at VA hospitals from 2002 through 2012, 5,282 (7.5%) received empiric therapy with a beta-lactam antibiotic plus doxycycline. That combination is an alternative regimen recommended for CAP under 2019 American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines, but prior to this study, there was limited evidence supporting its use. (11/11)

CIDRAP: Multivalent Ebola Vaccine Enters Clinical Trial
Oxford University today announced the launch of a multivalent (multi-strain) Ebola virus vaccine, which targets the two species likely to infect humans. The small phase 1 trial is enrolling 26 healthy UK adults ages 18 to 55 with the goal of assessing immune response and safety, the university said in a statement. The vaccine targets the Zaire and Sudan strains and uses the same adenovirus vector as the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine. (11/11)

Stat: 5 Health Tech Startups Targeting The Medicaid Population To Watch
When it comes to new opportunities, health tech companies tend to follow the money. That means that for years, Medicaid — the public insurance program serving nearly one in five U.S. residents — has been largely left behind in the race to use tech to provide more convenient, better care. That’s changing though, amid increased calls for equity and inclusion in health care and as a growing cadre of private and public payers begin to align themselves with value-based care models that reward clinicians for the quality of care they provide, rather than the quantity of services given. There’s a crop of pioneering startups beginning to court the roughly 73 million people covered by Medicaid. (Brodwin, 11/12)

Stat: Rectify Is Hoping It Can Mend Broken ABC Transporters, Starting In The Liver
A former Vertex scientist is setting his sights on an entire family of transporter proteins that can cause scores of rare inherited conditions. His startup, Rectify Pharmaceuticals, recently completed a Series A to solve the problems created when so-called ABC transporters break — but the path ahead isn’t as easy as 1, 2, 3. There are 48 distinct ABC transporter proteins found in humans, and they each perform essential functions for organs. Some help cells pump out natural and artificial antibiotics; others move lipids; and still more pass peptides through the cell membrane. But when ABC transporters aren’t formed correctly, they give rise to huge problems. (Bender, 11/12)

Stat: Optogenetics Tools Pinpoint Location, Timing Of Memory Formation 
A mouse finds itself in a box it’s seen before; inside, its white walls are bright and clean. Then, a door opens. On the other side, a dark chamber awaits. The mouse should be afraid. Stepping into the shadows means certain shock — 50 hertz to the paws, a zap the animal was unfortunate enough to have experienced just the day before. But when the door slides open this time, there is no freezing, no added caution. The mouse walks right in. ZAP. The memory of this place, of this shock, of these bad feelings had been erased overnight by a team of neuroscientists at four leading research institutions in Japan using lasers, a virus, and a fluorescent protein normally produced in the body of sea anemones. (Molteni, 11/11)

Axios: Air Pollution Overlooked As Cause Of Heart Disease 
Doctors should incorporate air pollution to their list of risk factors for heart disease when treating patients, a study out Thursday from the New England Journal of Medicine urges. Air pollution is still overlooked as a cause of heart disease, as outdoor air quality worsens in some parts of the globe. Pairing reduction strategies with cardiovascular disease prevention "could save millions of lives," the authors write. (Fernandez, 11/12)

On drone medicine deliveries in Utah —

Bloomberg: Zipline Drone Startup To Start Medicine Deliveries In Utah
California drone startup Zipline plans to begin delivering medicine and other supplies to homes in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company, whose fixed-wing drones have been transporting medical supplies to rural clinics in Rwanda and Ghana since 2016, has signed a service agreement with Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare to make deliveries to its patients in the city. Zipline said it expects to make its first deliveries in the spring of 2022 and to reach hundreds per day within four years of launching the service. (Boudway, 11/11)

AP: Maine To Expand Mental Health Help For Farmers
Maine is using a federal grant to try to help the state’s farmers deal with stress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has given the state $500,000 toward the effort. Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner Amanda Beal said Wednesday the grant would support the Maine Farmer and Rancher Stress Assistance Network. Farmers in Maine and beyond have had to contend with the coronavirus pandemic, droughts and supply chain difficulties in recent months and years, Beal said. She said the stress assistance network will provide direct service for farmers as well as referrals for farmers anticipating stress and conflict. (11/12)

AP: With US Aid Money, Schools Put Bigger Focus On Mental Health
In Kansas City, Kansas, educators are opening an after-school mental health clinic staffed with school counselors and social workers. Schools in Paterson, New Jersey, have set up social emotional learning teams to identify students dealing with crises. Chicago is staffing up “care teams” with the mission of helping struggling students on its 500-plus campuses. With a windfall of federal coronavirus relief money at hand, schools across the U.S. are using portions to quickly expand their capacity to address students’ struggles with mental health. (Thompson, Hollingsworth and Belsha, 11/11)

On Texas' abortion law and undocumented immigrants —

The Texas Tribune: How Texas’ Abortion Restrictions Impact Undocumented Immigrants
Laura Molinar sounds very calm for someone expecting to be sued. Her San Antonio-based organization, Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas, offers reproductive health education and assistance to asylum-seeking and undocumented women — including information and assistance for those seeking abortion. Under Senate Bill 8, Texas’ new abortion law, if that education or assistance is perceived as “aiding and abetting” a person in obtaining an abortion, private citizens can sue them for up to $10,000. (McNeel, 11/12)

LGBTQ matters are also in the news —

The Hill: Republican Oklahoma Governor Orders Halt To Nonbinary Birth Certificates
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed an executive order on Monday halting the state from issuing nonbinary birth certificates. The order mandates the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) to “cease amending birth certificates” in any way that is inconsistent with state law, and to “remove from its website any reference to amending birth certificates” that doesn’t align with state law. Stitt further urged the Oklahoma state legislature to “immediately pass legislation that will clarify, to the extent necessary, that changes in sex or gender on a birth certificate, or a designation of non-binary is contrary to Oklahoma law.” (Williams, 11/11)

Georgia Health news: Georgia’s Uninsured Could Get Coverage Under Biden Proposal
At least 2.2 million low-income adults — nearly all in Texas and the Southeast — would be eligible for government-funded health insurance under the Democrats’ $1.75 trillion social spending and climate change plan. That’s the number of people who are eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act but have been left uninsured because they live in one of the dozen states that have not expanded coverage under the 2010 law. They are in the coverage gap — with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but below the $12,880 annual federal income minimum for an individual to qualify for subsidized coverage in the insurance marketplaces created by the ACA. (Galewitz and Miller, 11/11)

North Carolina Health News: NC Residents Die Of A TBI More Than National Average 
North Carolinians die of traumatic brain injuries at a rate higher than the national average, according to a recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, published in the CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report in October, analyzed death statistics collected between 2016 and 2019. It found that Southern states and states where a high proportion of residents live in rural areas see higher death rates from TBIs than other parts of the country. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 11/12)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Officials Hoping To Address Shortage Of ‘Wet Lab’ Space To Retain More Innovators 
The seed of a potentially good business opportunity lies in much of the biomedical research going on at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Both schools have developed technology transfer protocols, incubators and lab space in research parks to help professors, students and would-be entrepreneurs cultivate those seeds into startups. But as those life science, pharmaceutical, medical technology and biotechnology firms grow, they’re finding that Baltimore doesn’t have enough of the kind of real estate they need. (Miller, 11/12)

The Hill: Bloomberg Vows To Spend $120M To Fight Fatal Drug Overdoses
0 seconds of 15 secondsVolume 90% Michael Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that his eponymous philanthropy is making a $120 million investment to help fight fatal drug overdoses. Bloomberg Philanthropies will invest $120 million over five-years in Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and Wisconsin to help address the opioid overdose crisis, according to a statement from the group. The organization said those five states represent areas that have been “hard hit” by the opioid epidemic. They will each receive $10 million over the next five years. (Schnell, 11/11)

AP: West Virginia Opening First Medical Cannabis Dispensary
West Virginia’s first medical cannabis dispensary is opening more than four years after state lawmakers allowed a regulatory system for those products to be established. Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is set to debut a retail location in Morgantown on Friday with a second shop opening in Weston next Monday. “We’re thrilled to be first to market in West Virginia and to continue building the foundation for the West Virginia’s emerging medical cannabis market,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a statement. (11/12)

AP: Leaders Stress Need For More Veterans Centers In Minnesota
Four Minnesota political leaders toured a veterans center in St. Paul on Thursday to pay tribute to those who served in the military and call for better access to mental health care and readjustment services for veterans. Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Reps. Angie Craig and Dean Phillips made the visit on Veterans Day to highlight the value of centers like the three in Minnesota for helping veterans get the support they need. Among other things, the centers provide counseling, employment assistance and referrals for other services. (Karnowski, 11/11)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Getting Influx Of Federal Money To Keep Using Hotels To House Homeless People
Throughout the pandemic, the city and county of Los Angeles have rented thousands of hotel rooms for homeless people at risk of contracting coronavirus. This massive effort was partially made possible by the federal government’s willingness to reimburse local governments for each dollar they spent renting the rooms and repurposing hotels into temporary housing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s reimbursement of costs associated with sheltering people in individual rooms was slated to run through the end of the year. (Oreskes, 11/11)

CBS News: LAPD Chief Ready To Fire Officers Who Defy Vaccine Mandate
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said he is ready to fire any of the department's 12,000 employees who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested twice a week for the disease. The LAPD's goal of having a fully vaccinated workforce is to ensure the safety and welfare of the department's officers, civilian workforce, their families and the public, Moore told CBS MoneyWatch. That means enforcing the city's stringent vaccine mandate, which requires that unvaccinated employees get immunized by December 18; meantime, unvaccinated workers must get tested twice weekly on their own time and dime. Those who receive medical or religious exemptions will be reimbursed for the cost of testing. (Gibson, 11/11)

Meanwhile, in Texas —

GMA: Abortion Law In Texas Causing 'Total Disruption' At Clinics Across America
The impact of Texas's near-total ban on abortions is being felt in states as far away as California and Maryland, according to new research. In the weeks since SB8, which outlaws most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect, Texas residents have undergone abortions in more than one dozen states and Washington, D.C., according to research from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization. (Kindelan, 11/11)

The New York Times: Europe Had Over Half Of The World’s Covid Deaths Early This Month, The W.H.O. Says
Coronavirus deaths in Europe rose 10 percent in the first week of this month and made up over half of the 48,000 coronavirus deaths reported globally in that time, even as new cases and deaths dropped or remained stable in the rest of the world, according to World Health Organization figures released this week. The highest number of deaths were recorded in Russia, which has reported record Covid tolls in recent weeks, followed by Ukraine and Romania. The numbers of new infections were highest in Russia, Britain and Turkey, according to the W.H.O. figures. (Kwai, 11/11)

CNBC: UK Covid Cases Rocketed But Are Now Coming Down Sharply
The U.K. has had the unenviable title of having one of the worst Covid-19 rates in the world, with cases soaring in recent months. But its fortunes appear to be changing. Less than a month ago, the U.K. was recording between 40,000 to 50,000 new cases every day, prompting dire warnings from experts and officials over mounting pressure on hospitals and excess deaths. (Ellyatt, 11/12)

AP: Dutch Government Expected To Announce Partial Lockdown
The Dutch government is widely expected to announce a partial lockdown Friday amid soaring COVID-19 cases that are putting the country's health care sector under renewed strain. The move comes amid a surge in coronavirus infections across Europe in recent weeks. (11/12)

NBC News: Many Latin American Travelers Shut Out From Visiting U.S. By New Vaccine Policy
As soon as Covid-19 vaccines became available for her age group in Guatemala, Ilse Samoyoa lined up with hundreds of other people for nine hours to get her shot. Samoyoa, 56, never imagined that the Sputnik vaccine she got in June would eventually bar her from traveling to the U.S. (Sesin, 11/11)

AP: 2 Athletes COVID-19 Positive In Beijing Games Warmup Events
Organizers of February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing said Friday that two foreign athletes had tested positive for COVID-19 in ongoing test events for the Games. They also expressed sympathy for a Polish luge competitor who fractured his leg at the Olympics sliding center this week in a crash that has been blamed on human error. The two who tested positive are among 1,500 competitors and staff who have come into the country since the test events began in early October, said Huang Chun, the deputy director general of the pandemic prevention office for the Games. (11/12)

Reuters: Japan Prepares Beds, Booster Shots In COVID-19 Lull Before Winter
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida outlined on Friday an urgent plan to increase hospital beds and medical resources in preparation for a possible resurgence of COVID-19 infections this winter. After a deadly fifth wave of infections almost overwhelmed the medical system during the summer, infections and deaths have fallen dramatically as vaccinations have increased to cover more than 70% of the population. (Swift, 11/12)

Bloomberg: Drones Ferry Pfizer’s Precious, Deep-Frozen Vaccine To Africa’s Remote Villages
Over the dense forests and cocoa farms of Ghana’s Ashanti region, a fleet of drones hummed en route to the African country’s central Bosomtwe District. Upon reaching their destination Sunday, the red-and-white aircraft parachuted thermal packages containing cargo that’s long been awaited by the local Kokodei community: vials of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine. In the coming days, these drones will shuttle tens of thousands of the shots developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE to some of Ghana’s most rugged, remote countryside as part of an effort to provide more equitable access to doses. Every four minutes, from dawn until dusk, drones operated by Zipline Inc. will depart from its distribution centers bearing the immunizations.  It's been tasked with bringing doses to 40% of Ghana's population. (Griffin, 11/11)

On the unvaccinated —

Axios: World Gets Tough On The Unvaccinated 
Public officials around the world are imposing new restrictions on the unvaccinated as many nations struggle to raise their COVID vaccination rates. Unvaccinated people are five times more likely than vaccinated people to get infected and 10 times more likely to die from COVID, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many health care systems are buckling under new waves in cases among the unvaccinated. (Chen, 11/11)

Bloomberg: Singapore’s Unvaccinated May Face Medical Bills Over $18,000
Covid patients in Singapore who choose not to get vaccinated could face high medical bills, as one of the most immunized societies in the world ramps up the pressure to get more shots in arms. The government has so far shielded residents and citizens in the city-state from the cost of treatment for Covid-19 throughout the pandemic by fully covering everyone. But no longer. Amid the worst virus outbreak in the country, officials have opted to start charging Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice beginning Dec. 8. (De Wei and Koh, 11/12)

The New York Times: Germany’s Fourth Covid Wave: ‘A Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated’ 
The University Hospital of Giessen, one of Germany’s foremost clinics for pulmonary disease, is at capacity. The number of Covid-19 patients has tripled in recent weeks. Nearly half of them are on ventilators. And every single one is unvaccinated. “I ask every patient: Why didn’t you get vaccinated?” said Dr. Susanne Herold, head of infectious diseases, after her daily round on the ward on Thursday. “It’s a mix of people who distrust the vaccine, distrust the state and are often difficult to reach by public information campaigns.” (Bennhold, 11/11)

In non-covid news —

Reuters: Brazil Plays Down 'Mad Cow' Risk In Suspect Rio Cases
Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said that two cases reported on Thursday of a neurodegenerative disorder in patients in Rio de Janeiro state were not related to beef consumption, tamping down fears of possible "mad cow" disease causing human illness. Federal biomedical institute Fiocruz, which is investigating the possibility of Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis - the official name for mad cow disease - said the two patients are suspected of having the "sporadic" form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease not related to beef consumption. (Figueiredo and Viga Gaier, 11/11)

The Washington Post: Employers Forbidden To Contact Remote Workers After Hours In Portugal
A set of laws passed in Portugal on Friday prohibits employers from contacting remote workers after hours — except under extenuating circumstances — in an effort to promote work-life balance in an era of burgeoning remote work set off by the coronavirus pandemic, and to attract “digital nomads” from around the world. The new rules, which impose fines on violators, apply to companies with more than 10 employees. They also mandate that employers pay staff for work-related expenses incurred while working at home, such as electricity or Internet costs, and that employees and superiors meet in person every two months to avoid isolation, the Associated Press reported. The laws also establish that in jobs where remote work is possible, parents can choose to work remotely, without making prior arrangements, up until their child is 8. (Fernández Simon, 11/11)

Bloomberg: After A Year With Vaccines, Do We Always Need Masks? 
One thing that hasn’t changed since last year is the fact that we’re still wearing masks everywhere at all times, a policy Faye Flam says is now unnecessary. We’ve come a long way from the days of Lysoling the fruits and veggies we got at the supermarket. It made sense to wear masks early on in the pandemic when Covid-19 was getting more action than Pete Davidson, but by now we have plenty of tools at our disposal: vaccines, rapid testing, Covid-19 pills and antivirals. (Jessica Karl, 11/9)

Kansas City Star: Insane Kansas Unemployment, Religious Objection To Vaccine
Should we pay the unvaccinated to stay home because the COVID-19 vaccine frightens them? It’s a completely absurd, even dangerous idea, but one that Kansas Republicans are barreling toward putting into law during a special session later this month. One bill they’re pushing would actually provide unemployment benefits to workers who lose their jobs for refusing to get the COVID vaccine. Another would create a no-questions-asked, crater-sized religious exemption from the vaccine. So, let’s get this straight: After complaining the past year that too many people were being paid too much money to stay at home so they could stay safe, Republicans now want to pay the unvaccinated to stay home and remain unsafe to others. (11/12)

The Washington Post: Why Vaccinating Kids For Covid-19 Makes Sense — Just Like It Did For Polio 
Seventy years ago, a virus terrorized Americans. Parents kept children indoors rather than risk exposure, and U.S. cities where cases were detected imposed severe curfews. What terrified Americans — especially parents — was that the disease could paralyze its victims. Many of these children could be kept alive only through immense artificial respirators known as “iron lungs.” (Ashish K. Jha, 11/11)

Stat: Covid-19 Highlights The Unfairness Of Global Health Partnerships
Patients gasping for air in hospital hallways, trailers serving as makeshift morgues, emergency medical tents erected in New York’s Central Park: In March 2020, what we watched happening in high-income settings in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world seemed to us in Uganda like scenes from a science fiction movie. As physician-researchers who are acutely aware of our country’s deficits of Covid-19 diagnostics, personal protective equipment, and intensive care beds with medical oxygen, we grew increasingly worried about the devastation this new virus could bring to Uganda and our medical practices. (Stephen Asiimwe, Edith Nakku-Joloba and Aggrey Semeere, 11/12)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Our Veterans Deserve Better Mental Health Treatment
The dramatic and sudden end to the war in Afghanistan added to the pain and mental vulnerability of many veterans. The images from Kabul and Kandahar coinciding with the 20th anniversary of 9/11 may have exacerbated already overwhelming symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental health conditions for those who have served, as well as current military personnel. (Tim Ryan, 11/11)

Los Angeles Times: Abortion Restrictions Widely Punish Military Women 
As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of an abortion ban and challenge to Roe vs. Wade, restrictions enacted in Texas and proposed elsewhere uniquely oppress military women. Active-duty servicewomen experience higher rates of unintended pregnancy than the general population for various reasons. Military members’ medical care during training is often lacking, and their frequent change of providers interrupts their continuity of care. Military healthcare providers often fail to educate servicewomen on different available contraceptives and processes to obtain them, both of which can vary among clinics. (Erika King, 11/12)

The Tennessean: National Survivors Of Suicide Loss Day Time For Healing, Support
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, and tragically, takes the lives of more than 48,000 people every year — and 800,000 worldwide — according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Each day, 130 Americans die by suicide, with white males representing 70% of all U.S. suicides. (Dava Guerin, 11/12)

Tampa Bay Times: Recent Rule Changes For Florida’s Special Needs Students Must Be Reevaluated
The State Board of Education spent all of six minutes at its meeting in June changing the rules for how special needs students are taught and tested in Florida. Now students, parents and schools are struggling with the fallout of that hasty decision. The rule impacts students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, reports the Tampa Bay Times’ Jeffrey S. Solochek. Years ago, acknowledging the state’s general education standards and tests are not developmentally appropriate for certain children, Florida created alternate tests, thereby pushing these students to excel to the best of their ability. But state officials say Florida has more students eligible for these tests than a federal cap allows, prompting the state Department of Education to address how many children participate in alternative testing. (11/12)

Kansas City Star: Alzheimer’s Affects Everyone Differently. Be An Advocate 
It was a sad day when Kansan Dennis Moore, an attorney and politician, passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer. Dennis’ son, Andy Moore, wrote a beautiful commentary for The Star last week, and many of the things he said brought back memories to me. Years ago, at the beginning of his political career, Dennis was in our neighborhood, going house to house, introducing himself before an upcoming election. My husband Len, also a lawyer, answered the door. Although the encounter was brief, Len came back into the house smiling, saying that he and Dennis were like-minded and his new acquaintance would go far in the political arena. (Jan Johnson, 11/12)

Stat: Broadband Access: Health Care's Newest Challenge
The past two years have underscored the long-standing but always disturbing reality that millions of Americans lack sufficient health care access. While the consequences have been particularly deadly during the pandemic, the challenges to overcoming this problem are nothing new. Health outcomes are closely tied to race, income level, educational quality, location of residence, and more, as well as individuals’ genetics. Dozens of studies show that the higher a person’s wealth and income, for example, the lower their likelihood of illness and premature death, largely because wealthier people can afford resources that lead to improved health. (Gary Shapiro, 11/12)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland State Senator: Would Hopkins-Affiliated Insurer Reconsider Dropping Baltimore Coverage? 
Recently my email inbox and phone line have been overwhelmed with concerns from neighbors in their senior years, some of whom have given 20 or 30 years of their lives and loyalty to Johns Hopkins institutions, and now have been cut from the Hopkins Medicare Advantage program. They have not only given their time to Hopkins, but to our communities, strengthening health care and education for people who come from all over the world. So, I have been pondering this question: Would the leadership of this powerful institution and the largest employer in the State of Maryland please consider rescinding this decision? (Cory V. McCray, 11/11)