NBC News: Covid Was Third Leading Cause Of Death In U.S. Again In 2021
For the second year in a row, Covid was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday. Covid was the underlying cause of more than 415,000 deaths in 2021, or 13 percent of the national total, the report found. That's an increase from 10 percent in 2020. Per capita, Covid death rates increased among every age group in 2021 except those 85 and older. (Bendix, 4/22)

CNBC: Covid Was The Third Leading Cause Of Death In The U.S. Last Year, With Only Heart Disease And Cancer Killing More
Only heart disease and cancer killed more people than Covid in 2021, taking the lives of about 693,000 and 604,000 people, respectively. Unintentional injuries were the fourth leading cause of death, killing more than 219,000 people. Though the U.S. began rolling out the vaccines in early 2021, many people did not and still have not gotten their shots. The delta variant also swept the nation in 2021, causing more severe illness than other Covid variants, according to the CDC. (Kimball, 4/22)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Third Leading Cause Of Death In US In 2021
Approximately 60,000 more people died from COVID-19 in 2021 than the first year of the pandemic. In both years, the death rates from COVID-19 were highest in Americans ages 85 and older. Overall death rates were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic Black or African American people, the CDC said in a statement. (Soucheray, 4/22)

Bloomberg: NYC Covid Latest Trends Show Decline In Cases In Glimmer Of Hope For U.S.
The recent resurgence of Covid-19 in New York City may be relatively muted compared with the huge spike earlier this year, if recent patterns hold. The largest U.S. city is seeing a downturn in Covid-19 cases for the first time since early March, local government data show, in what could be a positive sign for the rest of the country. In Manhattan, where case counts have been the highest recently, the seven-day average of cases dropped for four days in a row through April 19. In Philadelphia, local health officials ended a mask mandate this week, citing data showing cases leveling off. (Muller, 4/23)

In covid updates from California —

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Positive Test Rate In S.F. Tops ‘Too High’ Level Of 5% Amid Statewide Rise
The coronavirus test positivity rate in San Francisco hit 5% on Friday, according to new city data. The percentage of tests that are coming back positive — a key indicator of pandemic trends — is rising sharply and has passed a level that public health officials consider worrisome. A rule of thumb among infectious disease experts is that 5% is considered “too high,” according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. (Vaziri, 4/22)

Bay Area News Group: COVID-19 Outbreak Hits Another Bay Area Cruise Ship Voyage
Scores of passengers aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship became sick with COVID-19 on a San Francisco to Hawaii voyage that ended last week and followed a trip to Panama in which dozens of passengers also were stricken with the virus on the same ship. The San Francisco Department of Public Health said 143 passengers aboard the Ruby Princess’ San Francisco to Hawaii round trip that ended April 11 tested positive for the virus, nearly twice as many as the 73 reported sick with COVID-19 after the ship’s March 27 return to San Francisco from Panama. (Woolfolk, 4/23)

KHN: Despite Losing Federal Money, California Is Still Testing Uninsured Residents For Covid — For Now
California is still offering free covid testing to uninsured residents even though the federal government ran out of money to pay for it. While Congress debates whether to put more money into free testing, California is leaning on programs it already had in place: special state-based coverage for uninsured Californians, school testing, and free tests offered by clinics, counties, and other groups. Absent free options, people without health insurance could pay as much as several hundred dollars out-of-pocket depending on where they get tested. (Bluth, 4/25)

And in covid research —

CIDRAP: Study Reveals COVID-19 Death Rate 3 Times Higher Than For Flu In Adults
Adults hospitalized early in the pandemic with COVID-19 were at more than triple the risk of death than those with influenza, despite the flu patients being older and having more chronic illnesses, according to new data from Spain to be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which starts tomorrow. (4/22)

USA Today: More Children Were Hospitalized For COVID During Omicron, CDC Study Finds. Most Were Unvaccinated
Children may be less likely than adults to be hospitalized with COVID-19, but a recent study found those who are still unvaccinated are suffering the worst consequences of the disease compared with their vaccinated peers.  Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at hospitalizations in 14 states among children aged 5 to 11 throughout the pandemic. They found COVID-19-related hospitalization rates were about twice as high among unvaccinated children as those who were vaccinated during the omicron wave from December to February, according to the report published last week in the agency’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report. (Rodriguez, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Pandemic Border Policy Could Complicate Covid Relief, Ukraine Bills
When Congress returns this week, a pandemic-era immigration policy could complicate efforts to pass further coronavirus relief legislation and possibly another Ukraine aid measure if centrist Democrats side with Republicans in opposing the Biden administration’s repeal of the border rules. Earlier this month, the Biden administration said that in May it will end its use of Title 42, a controversial policy dating to the Trump administration that allows Border Patrol agents to quickly turn away migrants at the southern border. (Collins and Hackman, 4/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Sues To Block Biden Administration From Lifting Title 42 
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Friday to halt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from lifting Title 42, a pandemic-era health order used by federal immigration officials to expel migrants, including asylum-seekers, at the U.S.-Mexico border. Title 42, which was enacted in March 2020 by the Trump administration, has been used 1.7 million times to expel migrants. Many of them have been removed multiple times after making repeated attempts to enter the U.S. (Garcia, 4/22)

In other pandemic news from the Biden administration —

Stat: White House Offered Covid Spending Details, But Peeking Was A Process
It was a striking visual for the television cameras. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki took to the lectern, waving a thick, 385-page binder as evidence that contrary to Republicans’ accusations, President Biden had been transparent with Republicans about how his administration had spent billions of dollars to fight Covid-19.“You can have access to this for a prop if you would like it as well,” Psaki offered to reporters. “We’ll make copies for you.” But when STAT took the White House up on the offer, officials refused to make copies of the binder. In fact, it wouldn’t even let STAT take photographs of the contents. Instead, the administration gave this reporter one hour to look through the nearly 400 pages of budget tables and congressional correspondence. White House officials offered the review in a small conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, under the supervision of a budget office employee. (Cohrs, 4/25)

The Hill: White House Official: US Must Respond To Rising COVID-19 Cases ‘With Care And Caution, But Not Overreacting’ 
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday said the U.S. should respond to the rising number of coronavirus cases “with care and caution, but not overreacting. ”The number of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has been on the rise, hitting roughly 66,000 infections on Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asked by co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” about the rise, Jha said the nation should react to the increasing infections differently now compared to one year ago because the U.S. now has vaccines, booster shots and therapeutics. (Schnell, 4/24)

PolitiFact: Fact Check: COVID-19 Is Snake Venom, Claims Anti-Vax Documentary
A new anti-vaccine documentary ridiculously claims that the coronavirus is not a virus, but a synthetic version of snake venom that evil forces are spreading through remdesivir, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and drinking water to "make you a hybrid of Satan." The 48-minute film, released April 11, is the latest in an expanding genre of mega-viral, conspiracy-laden videos made in the mold of the "Plandemic" video from May 2020. Its title, "Watch the Water," is a nod to a favorite refrain of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which is centered around the belief that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global sex-trafficking ring. (McCarthy, 4/22)

NPR: How COVID's Deadly Conspiracy Theories Cost One Woman Her Life
One thing everyone agrees on is that Stephanie didn't have to die. Even months after it happened, her family is struggling to figure out why. "There is no perfect puzzle piece," says Stephanie's daughter Laurie. "I literally go through this all the time." Stephanie was 75 when she succumbed to COVID-19 this past December. But Laurie says it wasn't just COVID that killed her mother. In the years leading up to her death, Stephanie had become embroiled in conspiracy theories. Her belief in those far-out ideas caused her to avoid vaccination and led her to delay and even refuse some of the most effective treatments after she got sick. "I don't believe she was supposed to die," Laurie says. "I blame the misinformation." (Brumfiel, 4/24)

In news about vaccine mandates —

AP: New Mississippi Law Bans COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates 
Mississippi is enacting a new law that says state and local government agencies cannot withhold services or refuse jobs to people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The ban applies to state agencies, city and county governments and schools, community colleges and universities. COVID-19 vaccination mandates have not been widespread in Mississippi, but some lawmakers said they were acting against the possibility of government overreach. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that he had signed House Bill 1509, and it became law immediately. (Pettus, 4/23)

Cincinnati Enquirer: COVID-19: Here's How UC Students, Staff Avoided Vaccine Mandate
On Nov. 1, two months after the University of Cincinnati announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all students, staff and faculty, a student wrote to the school quoting 1 Corinthians 6:19 from the Bible. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. That God is in you. That he is our healer.” The student, whose name was redacted from one of 72 exemption request forms obtained by The Enquirer through Ohio's Public Records Act, wrote they have “sincere and genuine beliefs” that “forbid” them from getting vaccinated against COVID-19. “I have decided to place my trust in God,” the student wrote.  (Mitchell, 4/25)

Bloomberg: NYC Suspends School Staff For Allegedly Using Fake Vaccine IDs
The New York City Department of Education suspended about 70 employees for allegedly using fake vaccination cards, the teachers’ union said. The department placed the employees on unpaid leave with benefits, effective April 25, and the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District and law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident. (Querolo, 4/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Truck Convoy Protests Outside The Home Of East Bay Legislator Proposing Vaccine Mandate, Abortion Bills
A group of people who oppose vaccine mandates drove their trucks and vans in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood and protested outside the home of an East Bay state legislator while she was reportedly inside. The protest, captured in online videos, involved a convoy of about 20 vehicles, according to the California Highway Patrol. Protesters gathered, apparently, in opposition to a pair of bills written by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, that would, separately, require California businesses to mandate COVID vaccinations among their employees and end a state requirement that coroners investigate stillbirths. Wicks already announced in late March that the vaccination bill was being put on hold. (Cano, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: How Many California Lives Were Saved By COVID-19 Vaccines?
The arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020 marked the start of a new, safer phase of the pandemic. For all that we know of life in the vaccine era — the inequities, the breakthrough infections, the partisan battles over mandates — it’s been hard to know what life would have been like without the shots. A new project from researchers at UC San Francisco in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health draws the clearest picture to date on what the state might have looked like had the vaccines never materialized. (Purtill, 4/22)

On mask mandates —

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland To Consider Mask Mandate For Indoor Events Of 1,000 People
An Oakland City Council member will introduce an ordinance next month that requires people to wear masks at large indoor gatherings of 1,000 people or more. The ordinance will drop the city’s current requirement that people must show proof of vaccine to enter into bars, restaurants, gyms and other businesses. People will still have to show proof of vaccine when entering into senior centers and assisted care facilities. (Ravani, 4/22)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Fulton County Parents Drop Mask Lawsuit Against School District
Parents who sued the Fulton County school board over the district’s former mask mandate recently dropped their case after a new state law made the legal battle moot. Atlanta attorney Ray S. Smith III, who represents the 11 families who sued the district, filed a motion last week in the Georgia Court of Appeals to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit. He cited legislation signed by Gov. Brian Kemp last month that gives parents the ability to opt their children out of school mask mandates for the next five years. (McCray, 4/25)

Bloomberg: Pfizer Paxlovid Covid Pill Will Soon Be Available Across The U.S.
The U.S. government is finishing plans to make Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 pill available at any pharmacy across the country, with supply increasing as the BA.2 sub-variant drives an uptick in cases and hospitalizations. The administration will outline a plan next week aimed at getting the pill, Paxlovid, to additional people who’d otherwise face a more serious case of Covid-19, an administration official said Friday. The official asked not to be identified ahead of an announcement. Use of oral antiviral pills in the U.S. jumped 103% between March 27 and April 10, the official said. The White House wants to drive that number higher, and signal to health providers to err on the side of prescribing the pills, rather than worrying about scarcity. (Wingrove and Rutherford, 4/22)

Bloomberg: Why Nasal Sprays Are Poised to Be the Next Weapon for Fighting Covid
“Covid isn’t just a sprint, it’s a marathon,” says [Marty] Moore, the relentlessly upbeat founder of Meissa Vaccines Inc. Today’s vaccines have largely won the sprint of preventing serious disease, “and thank goodness for that,” he says. “But now we need something else to gain control of the virus.” Moore is among a growing cohort of virologists proposing we spray vaccines up people’s noses rather than inject them into arms. The advantage of that approach, they argue, is it can trigger the body to develop infection-blocking defenses in the sinuses and throat and allow it to start fighting illness much faster than an injected vaccine can. (Loh, 4/25)

In vaccine news —

AP: COVID Shots Still Work But Researchers Hunt New Improvements
Moderna and Pfizer are testing 2-in-1 COVID-19 protection that they hope to offer this fall. Each “bivalent” shot would mix the original, proven vaccine with an omicron-targeted version. Moderna has a hint the approach could work. It tested a combo shot that targeted the original version of the virus and an earlier variant named beta — and found vaccine recipients developed modest levels of antibodies capable of fighting not just beta but also newer mutants like omicron. Moderna now is testing its omicron-targeted bivalent candidate. (Neergaard, 4/24)

CIDRAP: Longer COVID Vaccine Dose Interval Tied To Higher Antibody Levels
An interval of over 10 weeks between COVID-19 vaccine doses was associated with SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels up to 11 times higher than with an interval of 2 to 4 weeks in never-infected participants, according to a preprint paper to be presented at the upcoming annual congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). (Van Beusekom, 4/22)

CIDRAP: Studies Suggest Current Vaccines Boost Immune Response Against Omicron
Despite being developed to fight the original COVID-19 strain, a third dose of mRNA vaccine boosts the immune system substantially to better fight infections caused by the Omicron variant relative to the standard 2-dose primary series, according to two new studies in Nature and JAMA Network Open. (Soucheray, 4/22)

Also —

USA Today: Research Into COVID Loss Of Taste And Smell Sheds New Light On Problem
For Elizabeth Byland, 35, the story isn't over. An improv professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Byland lost her sense of smell when she was infected in July 2020, and it's still not fully back to normal. Her dogs now have the scent of orange slices. Carrots taste like soap, her favorite body wash smells "putrid" and her beloved pizza is inedible. Her husband and nearly everything else has a background scent like a subway system. "The sad part is, it's become my normal," Byland said. "I don't think about it as much as I used to." (Weintraub, 4/24)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposes 5 Medicare Special Enrollment Periods
Medicare beneficiaries experiencing specific illnesses or circumstances could soon get Part B coverage outside the normal open enrollment periods under a proposed rule released Friday. Individuals who are impacted by an emergency or disaster, formerly incarcerated people and those subject to a health plan or employer error that prevented them from enrolling in Medicare on time could get coverage during special enrollment periods under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposal. (Goldman, 4/22)

In Medicaid news from Texas, Alaska, Ohio, New York, and Alabama —

The Texas Tribune: Biden Administration Drops Fight Over Texas’ Medicaid Waiver 
A federal health care program that Texas uses to help pay for health care for uninsured Texans — worth billions of dollars annually — is safe for another decade after the federal government said Friday that it would stop fighting the Trump-era agreement to extend the program beyond its expiration date later this year. “It is not the best use of the federal government’s limited resources to continue to litigate this matter,” reads a letter sent Friday to state health officials from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “This should resolve the issue without the need for further litigation and will create no disruption to the people who rely on Texas’ Medicaid program.” (Harper, 4/22)

Anchorage Daily News: Thousands Of Alaskans Could Lose Medicaid Benefits When Federal Health Emergency Ends
Thousands of Alaskans could lose Medicaid benefits as soon as July, when the federal government’s COVID-19 health emergency is expected to end. Alaska’s state health officials face the daunting task of combing through pandemic-swollen Medicaid rolls to establish who will no longer be eligible for benefits when the emergency ends. Health officials, who say they have been preparing for the shift for months, are concerned many of those Alaskans could soon find themselves without health insurance — particularly people who don’t know what steps to take to keep their coverage, don’t have up-to-date contact information on file, or who don’t act in time. (Berman, 4/24)

News 5 Cleveland: As Pandemic Ebbs, Fears Grow That Ohioans Will Be Improperly Forced Off Of Medicaid
Ohioans are no doubt greatly relieved that the coronavirus pandemic appears to be winding down — and taking with it the sickness, death and inconvenience of the past two years. But as it does, thousands of Ohioans will be hustled off of Medicaid, the health program for the poor and disabled. And it’s unclear what remedies they’ll have if they’re taken off the program improperly. (Schladen, 4/25)

Buffalonews.com: CAO Overbilled Medicaid $18.16 At A Time; Files $1M Lawsuit For Being 'Lulled Into Complacency' 
An $18.16 mistake – made over and over again – has put the Community Action Organization of Western New York in a half-million dollar bind. The organization mistakenly added a weekly charge of $18.16 when billing Medicaid for many of those in its outpatient chemical dependence services program, according to an audit by the New York State Office of Medicaid Inspector General. (Lakamp, 4/24)

AL.com: Robert Bentley Urges Ivey, Legislature To Expand Medicaid: ‘Healthcare Simply Must Be Prioritized’ 
After not expanding Medicaid while he was in office, former Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday urged his successor and the Alabama Legislature to do just that, imploring them to “look beyond politics to the needs of our rural communities.” Bentley, who did not expand Medicaid even as the task force he convened to study the issue suggested he and the Legislature get it done, contended in a letter published Thursday by Alabama Political Reporter that he was not being inconsistent by calling on Gov. Kay Ivey to expand coverage of the insurance program. (Koplowitz, 4/23)

Bay Area News Group: Stanford Nurses Announce Strike
A union representing nurses at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital announced that it will begin a strike Monday, in advance of a formal bargaining session on Tuesday with hospital representatives. According to a statement Sunday evening, about 93 percent of eligible nurses authorized the strike, which the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) will use to set up a picket line and hold a 9 a.m. Monday press conference outside Stanford Hospital along Welch Road at Pasteur Drive. (Kelly, 4/24)

Stat: Travel Nurses Remain Pricey, And It’s Weighing On Hospital Profits
An underwhelming first quarter at the country’s biggest hospital chain shows the pandemic’s stranglehold on labor costs is proving to be more stubborn than many had expected. Investor-owned HCA Healthcare knocked down its full-year revenue and profit expectations on Friday, a move that sent shares tumbling and triggered a flurry of questions from analysts about its travel nurse spending. The Nashville-based hospital chain is a stock market darling that tends to dwarf its peers profit-wise, so its results don’t bode well for the rest of the sector. (Bannow, 4/22)

The Boston Globe: Hospitals Seek To Solve Their Own Staffing Shortages
At Newton-Wellesley Hospital, there has long been a shortage of surgical technologists, the people responsible for setting up operating rooms and equipment. The pandemic only made it more difficult to recruit for those positions. Now, the hospital has begun a program with Newton’s Lasell University to offer free training and a job for people interested in becoming surgical technologists. “If you create a culture of investing in your staff, [people] feel valued and invested in and choose to stay,” said Errol Norwitz, the hospital’s president. “That’s the kind of culture I’m trying to create here.” (Bartlett, 4/22)

In other news about health care workers —

Stateline: With Implicit Bias Hurting Patients, Some States Train Doctors
In a groundbreaking study, Dr. Lisa Cooper, a leading researcher on racial health disparities at Johns Hopkins University, found that nearly all 40 participating Baltimore-area primary care doctors said they regarded their White and their Black patients the same. But that’s not what her testing on their unconscious attitudes revealed. Those tests, conducted a decade ago, showed that two-thirds of the physicians preferred White patients over Black. About the same percentage perceived White patients as more cooperative, while they perceived Black patients as more mistrustful and reluctant to comply with medical guidance. (Ollove, 4/21)

The Boston Globe: A ‘Scary Man,’ Or Someone Like Your Uncle? Mass. Requires Doctors To Undergo Implicit Bias Training In An Effort To Address Health Care Inequities
Not long ago Dr. Khama Ennis was chatting with an emergency-medicine colleague about incidents in the ER. The colleague recounted his struggle managing an aggressive patient. He described the person as “a big huge Black guy.” “The hairs on the back of my neck stood up,” Ennis, who is Black, recalled in an interview. She wondered how the patient’s skin color could be relevant to his violent behavior, although it had clearly contributed to her colleague’s fear. Ennis, an emergency doctor and president of the medical staff at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, described this incident in a presentation to the Massachusetts Medical Society on combating racism in medicine. To her surprise and delight, a videotape of her hourlong presentation is now among the courses that doctors can take to fulfill a new requirement to receive or renew their medical licenses. (Freyer, 4/22)

KHN: Physicians Are Uneasy As Colorado Collects Providers’ Diversity Data 
Shaunti Meyer, a certified nurse-midwife and medical director at STRIDE Community Health Center in Colorado, doesn’t usually disclose her sexual orientation to patients. But at times it feels appropriate. After telling a transgender patient that she is a lesbian, Meyer learned the woman had recently taken four other trans women, all estranged from their birth families, under her wing. They were living together as a family, and, one by one, each came to see Meyer at the Aurora clinic where she practices. Some were at the beginning of their journeys as transgender women, she said, and they felt comfortable with her as a provider, believing she understood their needs and could communicate well with them. (Hawryluk, 4/25)

Also —

KHN: Journalists Cover The Gamut, From Rising Insulin Costs To Delays In Autism Care For Children
KHN Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith shared a firsthand perspective on ballooning insulin costs on “Tradeoffs” on April 21. ... KHN’s Colleen DeGuzman profiled the last abortion clinic in the Rio Grande Valley on KUT and “Texas Standard” on April 21. (4/23)

AP: Plan To Ban Menthol Cigarettes Prompts Late Lobbying Blitz
As federal officials finalize a long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes, dozens of interest groups have met with White House staffers to try to influence the process, which has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives while wiping out billions in tobacco sales. Biden administration officials have heard from tobacco lobbyists, anti-smoking advocates, civil rights groups, small business owners and conservative think tanks. The lobbying push underscores the far-reaching impacts of banning menthol, which accounts for over one-third of the U.S. cigarette market. (Perrone, 4/22)

Los Angeles Times: Big Tobacco Stokes Fear Of Menthol Ban In Black Communities
Retired Deputy Police Chief Wayne Harris stood in front of Black lawmakers and clicked to a slide of George Floyd, pinned down on the pavement with Police Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck. “I chose this picture intentionally because I want to set the tone,” he said. But Harris hadn’t come to the luncheon to discuss police reform or Floyd’s murder. He was there at the invitation of tobacco maker Reynolds American to urge representatives not to ban menthol cigarettes, the flavor of choice for the vast majority of Black smokers. Using the specter of Floyd’s tragic death and the social justice protests it inspired, Harris suggested that prohibiting menthol cigarettes would increase policing in Black communities and create a new layer of racism in America. (Baumgaertner, Stockton and Lindsay, 4/25)

In news about the flu, ADHD, and mental health —

CIDRAP: Flu Rise Continues, With Bigger Impact In Certain Regions
Flu activity in the United States, as measured by outpatient visits for flulike illness, continues a steady rise that began in the middle of February, with activity highest in the northeast, south central, and mountain regions of the country, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest update today. (4/22)

Stat: There's A New Crop Of Treatments For ADHD In Kids. Are They Any Better?
Parents and doctors now have more tools than ever before to help kids manage symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But experts say there’s a looming question about the next generation of treatments: Are these new drugs and devices any better than what’s come before? At least four new treatments — two drugs, a nerve stimulation device, and a prescription video game — have come to market in recent years to manage or treat symptoms of ADHD. The condition, which is marked by an inability to focus, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, has historically been treated with stimulants. But with new drug formulations and entirely novel approaches, experts say it’s proven difficult to grasp how different options stack up to one another, because there are rarely any studies that compare ADHD treatments head to head. (Farah, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Exercise May Help Prevent Depression 
Already known to help ease depression, regular exercise may also help prevent it, with people who exercised just half the recommended weekly amount lowering their risk for depression by 18 percent, according to research published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. However, those who were more active, meeting at least the minimum recommended physical activity level, reduced their risk for depression by 25 percent, compared with inactive people. (Searing, 4/24)

The Boston Globe: Continued Student Struggles Are Weighing On Teachers In The Third Year Of The Pandemic
With full-time in-person learning back and the coronavirus seemingly on the wane, 2021-2022 was supposed to be a return to normal at public schools. But if anything, this school year has been even harder than the previous, as teachers and counselors say a cascade of problems and issues are testing the limits of their endurance and resolve. Already conditioned to multitasking, teachers say the issues they are juggling have multiplied in number and, as important, in severity. More students are struggling academically and emotionally. Schools are dealing with abnormal amounts of disruptive behavior and widespread lack of motivation, while staff are spending time teaching social-emotional skills students should have learned earlier. (Huffaker, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: Overdoses Drive 56% Increase In L.A. County Homeless Deaths
Deaths of homeless people in Los Angeles County soared by 56% in the year after the start of the pandemic, driven primarily by an increase in overdoses, according to a study published this month. Between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, 1,988 deaths of people experiencing homelessness were reported, up from 1,271 in the 12 months prior, pre-pandemic, according to the Department of Public Health study. (Martinez and Lin II, 4/22)

In other news about the unhoused —

The New York Times: Mayor Proposes 1,400 Shelter Beds To Move Homeless People Off Streets 
Putting additional funding behind his efforts to move homeless people off New York City streets, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he would propose a $171 million investment in homeless services that would include funding for 1,400 specialized shelter beds. The spending comes as the city carries out an aggressive plan to remove homeless people from encampments and the subway system. (Ashford, 4/24)

And more health news from across the U.S. —

AP: SC Bill Allowing Birth Control Without Prescription Advances 
Supporters of a bill to allow women to get birth control pills at South Carolina pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription are trying to get it passed before this year’s session ends. A House subcommittee on Wednesday approved the bill, sending it to the chamber’s full medical committee. The bill has already passed the Senate, but there are just nine regular legislative days left in the General Assembly’s 2022 session. (4/23)

Columbus Dispatch: Work Underway After Gun Violence Declared Health Crisis In Columbus
As the number of people falling ill to the then-novel COVID-19 virus ticked up, sodid the number of people becoming victims to gun violence in cities big and small across the United States. The spike in shootings both fatal and not was inextricably intertwined with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, affirming what many criminologists have long said: The scourge of gun violence is just as contagious as any virus. In Columbus, gun violence raged in 2020 and 2021, culminating in two consecutive years of record homicide figures in the city and leaving city leaders searching for solutions to stem the tide. By mid-February, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther took the unprecedented step of declaring gun violence a public health crisis in Columbus. (Lagatta, 4/25)

Houston Chronicle: Eliminating The Tampon Tax: Texas Groups Team Up
A coalition of menstrual health organizations is appealing a decision by the Texas Comptroller’s Office to deny its protest against the state sales tax, which they say unfairly and unconstitutionally does not exempt tampons, pads and other hygienic products. If the dispute isn’t resolved on the administrative level, Meghan McElvy, partner at the Houston-based international law firm Baker Botts, said she plans to take the case all the way to the Texas Supreme Court if necessary. The law firm is taking up the case pro bono on behalf of the Texas Menstrual Equity Coalition. “It’s just kind of a no-brainer issue to me,” McElvy said. “(Male) libido enhancers are tax-exempt, but medically necessary products for women are not.” (Goldenstein, 4/23)

Bangor Daily News: One Of Maine's 2 Marijuana Programs Has A Lot More Regulation Even Though Both Sell Similar Products
Cannabis Cured in Bangor has one entrance if you’re a patient in Maine’s medical marijuana program, and another if you’re simply a recreational customer. You’ll find essentially the same products whether you’re on the store’s medical or recreational side. But you’ll find different employees and different prices on each side. The two sides are separated by a wall that was required to completely divide the businesses. “There isn’t really a huge difference between our products,” said Brooke McLaughlin, Cannabis Cured’s Bangor regional manager. But there’s a significant difference in the rules that apply on either side of the wall. On the recreational side, employees have to be fingerprinted and pass background checks under state regulations, and a certain number of employees must be in the store at any given time, McLaughlin said. All of the recreational products have to be tracked in a state data system and tested for contaminants to ensure that customers are buying untainted marijuana. (Loftus, 4/25)

Des Moines Register: Polk County Launches RapidSOS Profiles To Assist 911 In Emergencies
Polk County's Joint 911 Board has selected a new emergency health profile system to aid dispatchers and first responders. The board voted to replace SMART911 and begin the use of the RapidSOS service. The new profile system can share real-time personal health and location information during emergencies. Information from the profile allows emergency personnel to see details such as name, date of birth, address, pre-existing conditions, allergies, medical notes, COVID-19 symptoms and emergency contacts. Profiles can be created at emergencyprofile.org. iPhone and Android smartphone users can also enable the health profiles on their devices to be shared during 911 calls. (Waheed, 4/24)

Salt Lake Tribune: Salt Lake City Air Quality Has Slightly Improved — And One Utah City Ranks Among The Best In U.S.
A new report by the American Lung Association found that while pollution in Salt Lake City and Logan has slightly improved, St. George ranks among the nation’s cleanest cities. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area this year reached its “lowest ever” measurement for short-term particle pollution, the report states. But it still ranks within the top 25 worst cities for such pollution nationally, claiming the 20th-worst rank, better than the 17th-worst rank it held in last year’s report. Two years ago, the metropolitan area ranked seventh. In the report released this week, the short-term particle pollution category was calculated using 24-hour average pollution concentration rates from 2018-2020. (Miller, 4/22)

AP: WHO: 1 Child Has Died In Mystery Liver Disease Outbreak 
The World Health Organization says at least one death has been reported in connection with a mysterious liver disease outbreak affecting children in Europe and the United States. ... WHO didn’t say in which country the death occurred. (4/24)

Stat: WHO Says 12 Countries Have Reported Unusual Cases Of Hepatitis In Kids
The World Health Organization said Saturday that 12 countries have reported at least 169 unusual cases of hepatitis in children, with 17 of the children having undergone liver transplants as a consequence. At least one child has died. The WHO’s European division, which is taking the lead on the investigation into the mysterious outbreak, urged countries to look for, investigate, and report similar cases. (Branswell, 4/23)

In global covid news —

CIDRAP: Effect Of Nations' COVID Restrictions On Mental Health Varied By Type, Group 
Two studies published yesterday in The Lancet Public Health detail how COVID-19 restrictions moderately affected adults' mental health in 15 nations, with one finding that the type of lockdowns were linked to the level of distress and opinion of the government, and the other suggesting that mental health declined slightly but significantly under lockdown—especially among women. (Van Beusekom, 4/22)

The Washington Post: As World Reopens, North Korea Is One Of Two Countries Without Vaccines
As mask mandates and social distancing requirements lift around the world, North Korea remains one of two countries that have not administered any coronavirus vaccines, with no sign of how it can ever begin to reopen despite a brewing humanitarian crisis for its people. The vaccines that were allocated for North Korea through a United Nations-backed global vaccination effort are no longer available, officials said this month, after Pyongyang repeatedly rejected the initiative’s offers of millions of doses. ... North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines. (Lee and Kim, 4/24)

The New York Times: The Drive To Vaccinate The World Against Covid Is Losing Steam
In the middle of last year, the World Health Organization began promoting an ambitious goal, one it said was essential for ending the pandemic: fully vaccinate 70 percent of the population in every country against Covid-19 by June 2022. Now, it is clear that the world will fall far short of that target by the deadline. And there is a growing sense of resignation among public health experts that high Covid vaccination coverage may never be achieved in most lower-income countries, as badly needed funding from the United States dries up and both governments and donors turn to other priorities. (Robbins and Nolen, 4/23)

In news on Ebola —

AP: Ebola Case Confirmed In Congo's West Equateur Province 
A new Ebola case has been confirmed in Congo’s northwest Equateur Province in the city of Mbandaka, Congo health authorities said Saturday, declaring an outbreak nearly four months after the last one ended in the central African nation. The one case was confirmed in a 31-year-old man who began experiencing symptoms on April 5 and sought treatment at a health facility after more than a week of being taken care of at home, the World Health Organization said. He was admitted to an Ebola treatment center Thursday for intensive care but died the same day. (Maliro and Petesch, 4/23)

The Star Tribune: Don't Wait To Seek COVID Meds 
"Widely available." That's how Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota's respected state epidemiologist, sums up the current supply of antiviral treatments — in other words, pills or outpatient therapies prescribed soon after a positive test for those at risk for severe COVID. Good news has too often been a rare commodity during this long, exhausting pandemic. But one medication in particular — dubbed Paxlovid — delivers a welcome double shot of that. It's plentiful and potent, being close to 90% effective against hospitalization and death when taken during a limited window of time. (4/24)

Bloomberg: As At-Home Rapid Tests Replace PCRs, We Need Better Guidance
Rapid antigen tests have been among the tools many public health experts and politicians have to ease into “living with Covid.” But many people are still skeptical about the tests’ reliability. The bigger problem may be with the advice people are getting on how to use them. It’s never been clear to the public precisely when to test or how to act on the results if you’ve been exposed or feel sick, or whether a negative test can shorten an isolation period for someone who’s been infected. And what counts as an exposure — what if you were with a friend who got a cold but never got tested? (Faye Flam, 4/22)

Bloomberg: Shanghai's Covid Experience May Affect How The Rest Of China Sees The Pandemic 
In late March, just before Shanghai locked down its western half, I called my mom who lives in the city and told her to stock up. I warned her that the standstill the government was going to impose could last longer than the scheduled four days. She’s a minimalist and brushed me aside, saying there was just so much room in the fridge. (Shuli Ren, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: Don't Pretend We're 'Back To Normal.' Fight For Cleaner Air To Prevent COVID 
Right now, we are at a manageable point in the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of new U.S. cases has significantly slowed since the first Omicron surge. Although Omicron’s BA.2 variants have increased cases, particularly in the Northeast, hospitalizations and deaths have declined or leveled off. Vaccination and prior infection by the earlier Omicron surge seem to be protecting most Americans against severe illness. As a result, some public health pundits are urging Americans to go back to “normal.” But in fact, we should focus broadly on prevention against future variants and airborne illness. Not battling hospital surges right now gives us space to think long-term. This approach is all the more urgent because we cannot rely on individuals to test or isolate constantly and masking is decreasingly enforced, especially since federal officials are battling over the travel mask mandate. (Abraar Karan, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna and Ranu Dhillon, 4/24)

The New York Times: Will The End Of The Mask Mandate Hobble Our Response To The Next Pandemic? 
Should the federal government have the power to address broad public health emergencies? Last week, a federal judge effectively answered no. The judge, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who serves on a Federal District Court in Florida and was appointed by former President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction blocking the government’s mask mandate for planes, trains, buses and other forms of public transportation. (Lawrence Gostin and Duncan Hosie, 4/25)

USA Today: Airport Mask Mandates: Consider Wearing A Mask For The Vulnerable
A federal judge 1,200 miles away from me just decided that my first flight since the pandemic started would be a risk to me. I have multiple sclerosis and am on treatment for it, so I’m one of the 3% of Americans who are immunocompromised. Even before the pandemic, I used to wear a mask on planes because if I caught a cold, it would last for several weeks. But now, studies show that immunocompromised people don’t respond well to the vaccines, we have a higher risk for hospitalization and death, and our isolation period if we get COVID-19 is longer – making us at risk for mental health complications, job loss and spread to our families and to our communities. (Ada Fenick, 4/23)