NPR: Roe V. Wade's Future Is In Doubt After Historic Arguments At Supreme Court
The right to an abortion in the United States appeared to be on shaky ground as a divided Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the fate of Roe v. Wade, the court's 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States. At issue in Wednesday's case — Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — was a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Until now, all the court's abortion decisions have upheld Roe's central framework — that women have a constitutional right to an abortion in the first two trimesters of pregnancy when a fetus is unable to survive outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks. But Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to reverse all its prior abortion decisions and return the abortion question to the states. (Totenberg, 12/1)

KHN: Conservative Justices Seem Poised To Overturn Roe’s Abortion Rights
A newly conservative Supreme Court on Wednesday heard the most serious legal challenge in a generation to a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. And judging from the questions asked by the justices, it appeared possible — even likely — that a majority of them could vote to turn the thorny question of whether to allow abortion and under what circumstances back to individual states. The law under review in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, passed by Mississippi in 2018, would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That is a direct contravention of Supreme Court precedents set in 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which say states cannot ban abortion until fetal “viability” — generally considered to occur at about 22 to 24 weeks. (Julie Rovner, 12/2)

Politico: 5 Takeaways From The Supreme Court Showdown Over Abortion
At least five justices expressed a willingness to significantly pare down, if not overturn, Roe v. Wade, during Wednesday’s argument over a Mississippi law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. The nearly two hours of oral arguments revealed a court divided not only on the merits of the particular state law, but also on whether compromise is possible on abortion rights, the future of the court‘s standing with the American public, the bar for overturning longstanding precedent and what other dominoes might fall should a majority decide to overturn Roe. (Gerstein and Miranda Ollstein, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Roe's Sudden Precariousness Shakes Up Political Landsape
Democrats immediately signaled they would aim to make abortion rights a central focus in next year’s midterm elections, where their prospects have been viewed as dim, while many Republicans sought to keep the focus on inflation and other problems facing President Biden. “This is an attack on women to make their own health-care decisions. Their families, it’s up to them,” said Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), a former chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “To have politicians decide to me is just frightening, and I expect a lot of voters will react to that.” (Sullivan and Min Kim, 12/1)

CNN: John Roberts Has A Plan That Would Gut -- Yet Save -- Roe V. Wade. Can It Work? 
Chief Justice John Roberts came to Wednesday's abortion arguments with an idea, an idea that no other Supreme Court justice would likely want but one that a slim majority might eventually accept. By his questions during the intense session that ran nearly two hours, Roberts suggested the high court reverse a significant part of Roe v. Wade but preserve some constitutional right to abortion. Roberts would end the existing protection for a woman's abortion decision before viability -- that is when the fetus can survive outside the womb -- at about 23 weeks. He suggested he would let states ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy, as Mississippi has done in the case before the justices, but that he would not go further to completely ban abortion. (Biskupic, 12/2)

NBC News: Abortion Rights Advocates In Mississippi Strategize For A Post-Roe World
As the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday about reversing a nearly 50-year precedent on abortion rights, a young woman wearing a “Bans off my body” T-shirt walked up to a white poster in a downtown Jackson hotel ballroom. Several members and supporters of the Mississippi Abortion Access Coalition had jotted down messages on an array of pink, blue and orange sticky notes — what they would want to say to the justices. (Harris, 12/2)

In news from Texas —

Roll Call: Texas To Implement Second Major Abortion Law 
Texas is expected to implement a second major abortion law on Thursday as the Supreme Court weighs arguments that could change the future of how states can restrict abortion. The new Texas law would limit medication abortions, a nonsurgical procedure where a patient takes two pills known as mifepristone and misoprostol that induce an abortion. Medication abortions — not to be confused with the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, that prevents pregnancy — are commonly used during the earliest stages of pregnancy. (Raman, 12/1)

ABC News: Texas Law Restricting Access To Abortion Pills Goes Into Effect: What To Know
As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to weigh whether to leave Texas's unprecedented six-week abortion ban, SB8, in place, a new law that also restricts abortion access is going into effect in the state. Starting Thursday, people in Texas will have a narrower window in which they can receive abortion-inducing medication, including the two most commonly used medications, mifepristone and misoprostol. (Kindelan, 12/2)

NBC News: First U.S. Case Of Omicron Variant Is Found In California
The omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. The CDC said in a statement that the California Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Department of Public Health confirmed the case in a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 — three days before scientists in that country announced they'd detected the new variant. (Edwards and Elisha Fieldstadt, 12/1)

AP: 1st US Case Of COVID Omicron Variant Confirmed In California
Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters the person was a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive on Nov. 29. Fauci said the person was vaccinated but had not received a booster shot and was experiencing “mild symptoms.” The Biden administration moved late last month to restrict travel from Southern Africa where the variant was first identified and had been widespread. Clusters of cases have also been identified in about two dozen other nations. “We knew that it was just a matter of time before the first case of omicron would be detected in the United States,” Fauci said. (Balsamo and Miller, 12/1)

Los Angeles Times: What We Know About The First U.S. Omicron Variant Case
The infected individual returned home from South Africa on Nov. 22, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The person developed symptoms around Nov. 25 — Thanksgiving — and got tested Sunday. On Monday, the result came back positive, and the virus specimen was subsequently analyzed and revealed to be the latest named coronavirus strain. Citing privacy, health officials released few details about the individual. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the person was between 18 and 49 years old. (Money, Dolan and Lin II, 12/1)

On the impact of the first U.S. case —

Politico: CDC Looks For More Omicron Cases After Variant Is Detected In California
The new Omicron Covid-19 variant has been detected in California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The individual who contracted the variant is a resident of San Francisco, was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms after traveling to South Africa and returning home Nov. 22, the CDC said in a press statement. The individual tested positive Nov. 29. Health authorities in California have reached out to all close contacts of the individual in question, who is in self-quarantine, and all of them have tested negative. (Banco, Lim and Cancryn, 12/1)

The New York Times: California Reassures Residents The State Is Prepared For Omicron
“This was predictable,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in the Central Valley, where he encouraged residents to get vaccinated and get booster shots. “And it was not surprising that the state of California detected it.” State health officials said the discovery of the Omicron variant would prompt increased Covid-19 testing at California airports, focusing on arrivals from countries identified by the C.D.C. as potential sources of the variant. (Hubler and Cowan, 12/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Gov. Hogan Says State Readying For Omicron Coronavirus Variant 
As the latest troubling coronavirus variant, known as omicron, was detected in the United States for the first time Wednesday, Gov. Larry Hogan said health officials are taking steps to prepare for its likely arrival in Maryland. The state is expanding its efforts to sequence samples from positive coronavirus cases to detect for omicron and other variants by buying more reagents for the state public health lab and extending sequencing contracts with the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University. (Wood and Mann, 12/1)

Reuters: First Omicron Case In U.S. Fuels Global Alarm Over Virus Variant
Fears over the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus rose on Thursday after the first case was reported in the United States and the Japanese central bank warned of economic pain as countries respond with tighter containment measures. The first known U.S. case was a fully vaccinated person in California who returned to the United States from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive seven days later. (12/2)

Stat: Some Experts Believe Omicron Variant May Have Evolved In An Animal Host
When Covid-19 variants arise, the accepted wisdom is that the constellation of mutations they contain developed in an immunocompromised person who contracted the virus and couldn’t shake the infection. But some scientists have an alternative theory for where the latest variant of concern, Omicron, may have acquired the unusual mutations that stud its spike protein. They speculate the virus could have evolved in another animal species. (Branswell, 12/2)

Axios: America Probably Won't Lead The Effort To Understand The Omicron Coronavirus Variant
The race to figure out just how dangerous the Omicron variant is will likely be a global effort, but some experts are skeptical that the U.S. will play a dominant role. The CDC has repeatedly come under fire for inadequate data collection throughout the pandemic — and figuring out how to respond to Omicron requires a lot of data that doesn't currently exist. (Owens, 12/2)

CNN: How South African Scientists Discovered The Omicron Variant And Set Off A Global Chain Reaction
In the early days of November, laboratory technicians at Lancet Laboratories in Pretoria, South Africa, found unusual features in samples they were testing for the coronavirus. Essentially, a gene was missing in what would be a normal genome profile of the virus. PCR tests weren't detecting one of their expected targets, a signal that something about the virus had changed. Just a few days later, the same phenomenon was reported at Lancet's Molecular Pathology Department in Johannesburg. Dr. Allison Glass, a pathologist with Lancet, said the discovery coincided with an increase in positive cases of Covid-19 in parts of South Africa. (Lister and McKenzie, 12/2)

In news on omicron's spread around the world —

CNBC: Omicron To Dominate And Overwhelm The World In 3-6 Months, Doctor Says
The new Covid variant omicron will likely “overwhelm the whole world” in the coming months, according to a Singapore-based infectious disease doctor. While vaccines against the strain can be developed quickly, they need to be tested over three to six months to prove that they can provide immunity against the variant, Dr. Leong Hoe Nam of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said Wednesday. “But frankly, omicron will dominate and overwhelm the whole world in three to six months,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.” (Ng, 12/2)

The New York Times: Most New Cases In South Africa Are Now The Omicron Variant
The Omicron variant has become by far the most prevalent version of the coronavirus spreading in South Africa, replacing the fading Delta variant, health officials said on Wednesday. Nearly three-quarters of the 249 positive test samples that were checked genetically in South Africa in November were found to involve the Omicron variant, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced. (Chutel and Engelbrecht, 12/1)

Bloomberg: Omicron Covid Variant May Be Less Lethal In India: Epidemiologist
The newly-emerged omicron variant is likely to be less lethal in India than the delta-led virus wave that overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums earlier this year, according to a prominent epidemiologist. Given the widespread exposure of Indians to Covid-19 virus and a reasonably-high vaccination rate, India will likely be less affected by the new strain, Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. That may change if omicron is effective at getting past all immune defenses, he said. (Pradhan, 12/2)

The New York Times: An Israeli Doctor With Omicron Met Dozens Of People. Just One Tested Positive
Elad Maor initially feared that he might have exposed hundreds of people to the virus when he became the first Israeli to test positive for the new Omicron variant on Saturday morning. In the three days before his positive results, Dr. Maor, a cardiologist, had attended a large staff meeting at his hospital east of Tel Aviv. He had inserted stents into the arteries of 10 patients. And he had driven to a cardiology conference north of Tel Aviv, sharing the 90-minute car journey with a 70-year-old colleague, and lunched there with five others in a crowded canteen. (Kingsley, 12/1)

AP: Biden Launching Winter COVID-19 Booster, Testing Campaign
President Joe Biden is set to kick off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get COVID-19 booster shots Thursday as he unveils his winter plans for combating the coronavirus and its omicron variant with enhanced availability of shots and vaccines but without major new restrictions. The plan includes a requirement for private insurers to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests and a tightening of testing requirements for people entering the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status. But as some other nations close their borders or reimpose lockdowns, officials said Biden was not moving to impose additional restrictions beyond his recommendation that Americans wear masks indoors in public settings. (Miller, 12/2)

Stat: Biden's New Covid Plan: More Boosters, Free Home Testing, And 'Monoclonal Antibody Strike Teams' 
President Joe Biden will announce a new plan this afternoon for combating the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The plan includes a new campaign to increase uptake of booster shots, new policies meant to provide Americans with free at-home coronavirus tests, and more stringent policies on international travel. Public health officials still don’t know much about the Omicron variant, including whether it causes milder symptoms than other forms of the coronavirus, or whether it is more transmissible than other variants. The first case of the Omicron variant detected in the United States was announced by U.S. health officials on Wednesday Dec. 1. (Florko, 12/2)

The New York Times: Omicron Prompts Swift Reconsideration Of Boosters Among Scientists
As recently as last week, many public health experts were fiercely opposed to the Biden administration’s campaign to roll out booster shots of the coronavirus vaccines to all American adults. There was little scientific evidence to support extra doses for most people, the researchers said. The Omicron variant has changed all that. Scientists do not yet know with any certainty whether the virus is easier to spread or less vulnerable to the body’s immune response. But with dozens of new mutations, the variant seems likely to evade the protection from vaccines to some significant degree. (Mandavilli, 12/1)

CNBC: Biden Asks Businesses To Proceed With Vaccine Mandate After Omicron Variant Arrives In U.S.
President Joe Biden on Thursday asked businesses to voluntarily move forward with the administration’s Covid-19 vaccine and testing requirements, even as the rule is challenged in court, after U.S. officials confirmed the first case of the omicron variant in the U.S. “We’re asking businesses to step forward and do what’s right to protect our workers and to protect our communities, which is to put in place some sort of vaccination requirement or testing requirements for the workplace,” a senior administration official said. (Kimball, 12/2)

AP: Tennessee Halts Exemptions To COVID Law After Court Rulings
Tennessee on Wednesday halted dozens of exemptions that allowed businesses and public entities to require people to take COVID-19 preventive measures in spite of a state law severely limiting them, citing court rulings that blocked some of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates. State Comptroller Jason Mumpower’s announcement — at least for now — strips away protections for some private organizations to continue requiring proof of vaccination, and for some government entities to keep vaccination requirements or mask mandates. One of the two recent court rulings applied to federal contractors, and the other applied to certain Medicaid and Medicare health care providers. (Matisse, 12/1)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Sponsor Of Ohio Senate Anti-Vaccine Mandate Bill Claims That Passing Legislation Would Strengthen Workforce 
The sponsor of a bill that would prohibit Ohio employers and schools from mandating vaccines not fully approved by the federal government described the measure Tuesday afternoon as the way to entice people back to the workforce. “Simply put, this piece of legislation is a bill to address the crisis that our country is facing, and specifically here in the state of Ohio,” sponsor Rep. Al Cutrona, a Youngstown-area Republican, testified before the Senate General Government Budget Committee. “That crisis is that the workforce is struggling. We are seeing shortages…Every legislator across the board always says they’re going to bring back jobs to their district, right?” (Hancock, 11/30)

Reuters: Bristol Myers Is Sued For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Exemptions
Bristol Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) was sued on Wednesday by four employees who said the drugmaker refused to grant them religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and threatened to fire them on Dec. 6 for remaining unvaccinated. The plaintiffs in the proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court accused Bristol Myers of violating a federal civil rights law known as Title VII by "systematically manufacturing" reasons to refuse religious accommodations. (Stempel, 12/2)

In news on mask mandates —

AP: Appeals Court Reinstates Texas Mask Mandate Ban In Schools
An appeals court on Wednesday halted a federal judge’s order that had stopped Texas from enforcing its ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools, allowing the prohibition to remain in effect. In a 15-page ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted a request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stay the ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel. The appeals court on Nov. 24 had already granted an administrative stay while it issued a formal ruling on Paxton’s request. (Lozano, 12/2)

The Washington Post: Maryland Could Let School Systems Set Mask Rules
Maryland’s 24 school systems could soon be relieved of the state’s mask mandate and left to decide for themselves whether to require face coverings in schools. State leaders took the first step toward local control of masking at schools during a meeting Tuesday of the Maryland State Board of Education, where members voted 12 to 2 for a measure that would start to move in that direction. (St. George, 12/1)

And on the latest covid outbreaks and hospitalizations —

AP: Nearly All Nebraska COVID Hospital Patients Are Unvaccinated
Nebraska health officials said Wednesday that the vast majority of the COVID-19 patients who are filling the state’s hospitals are unvaccinated and many are younger adults. The number of people hospitalized in Nebraska with the virus continues to climb and reached 555 on Tuesday, which was the highest it had been since last winter. The state said 14% of the hospitalized patients were between the ages of 20 and 44, and doctors at several of Nebraska’s biggest hospitals said younger patients have been showing up in intensive care units more often. (Funk, 12/1)

WJCT News: Jacksonville Doctors Say A Winter COVID Surge Is Possible As An Omicron Threat Looms 
Jacksonville doctors say they've been anticipating a surge in COVID cases this winter that could be exacerbated by the new omicron variant. As of Tuesday, no omicron cases have been identified in the U.S. yet, but Jacksonville residents should remain vigilant with mask wearing and social distancing, said Dr. Chirag Patel, assistant chief medical officer at UF Health Jacksonville. The emergence of omicron comes at a time when many Floridians have shed their masks in public as the threat of the delta variant fades. But now is not the time to grow lackadaisical, Patel said. The World Health Organization says the new variant poses a very high risk based on early research. (Heddles, 12/1)

Dallas Morning News: A COVID-19 Outbreak Has Hit The Dallas Cowboys; Here’s How Team Sports Carry Coronavirus Risks
A COVID-19 outbreak has hit the Dallas Cowboys hard, illuminating just how risky team sports can be when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus, public health experts say. The outbreak has put several Cowboys players and coaches, including head coach Mike McCarthy, in lockdown as the team prepares for Thursday night’s game against the New Orleans Saints. (Wolf, 12/1)

Meanwhile, kids have a lot of questions about covid —

The Baltimore Sun: Kids Still Have A Lot Of Questions About COVID-19. Here Are Experts’ Responses To Some Of Them. 
Nearly two years after the coronavirus first surfaced, kids continue to wrestle with what the pandemic means for them. Their questions range in tone and urgency, with some seeking more clarity about the vaccines and others wondering why such precautions as mask wearing and social distancing are still necessary even with the proliferation of COVID-19 immunizations. Here are some of the questions that students asked during sessions with Johns Hopkins Health Education and Training Corps volunteers and staff, with responses from several Maryland-based physicians and public health experts. (Miller, 12/1)

Reuters: Real-World Data Shows Moderna Vaccine Highly Effective
Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is proving effective in the real world, according to doctors at Kaiser Permanente in California who have been tracking nearly 706,000 adults, half of whom had received the vaccine. Five months after the second dose, the vaccine was still 87% effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection, 96% effective against COVID-19 hospitalization, and 98% effective against COVID-19 death, researchers reported in The Lancet Regional Health - Americas. Despite a wide range of chronic diseases among those in the study, the vaccine's effectiveness against infection ranged from 83% to 92% across age, sex, racial, and ethnic subgroups, researchers said. (Lapid, 12/1)

Reuters: Moderna Could Be Sued Over Vaccines As Court Upholds Arbutus Patents 
Moderna Inc could face a patent infringement lawsuit over its COVID-19 vaccine after a federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected its challenge to patents belonging to Arbutus Biopharma Corp. ... The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand an administrative panel's findings that Arbutus' patents - which may cover technology used in the vaccines - are valid, as the science involved was not previously known. (Pierson, 12/1)

Axios: Moderna Loses Patent Battles To Arbutus Over Its COVID Vaccine 
A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed two patent challenges from Moderna over key components involved in making its COVID-19 vaccine. The court's decision to side with Arbutus Biopharma means Arbutus could potentially sue Moderna for patent infringement and demand royalties from Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to generate up to $18 billion of revenue this year. (Herman, 12/1)

Reuters: Moderna Exec Says Company Could Have Omicron Booster Ready In March
Moderna Inc could have a COVID-19 booster shot targeting the Omicron variant tested and ready to file for U.S. authorization as soon as March, the company's president said on Wednesday. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said he believes booster shots carrying genes specifically targeting mutations in the newly-discovered Omicron variant would be the quickest way to address any anticipated reductions in vaccine efficacy it may cause. "We've already started that program," he told Reuters. (Erman and Steenhuysen, 12/1)

Meanwhile, a future vaccine tech is in the news —

NPR: A Different Kind of COVID Vaccine Is About Ready to Roll
A new kind of COVID-19 vaccine is about to roll out around the world. Although it won't replace the highly successful vaccines currently available, it could make a difference in the course of the pandemic, especially in lower resourced countries. These new vaccines are what's called protein subunit vaccines. They work by injecting people with a tiny portion of the virus. In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, that tiny portion is the so-called spike protein critical for the virus to enter cells. (Palca, 12/1)

The New York Times: Biden Is Said To Be Extending Mask Mandates For Travel Through March
President Biden will extend until mid-March a requirement that travelers wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and transit stations, a person familiar with the decision said Wednesday night. The move to extend the mandate, which was set to expire on Jan. 18, is part of a much broader winter strategy for combating Covid-19 that Mr. Biden is to announce on Thursday, during a visit to the National Institutes of Health. The strategy will also include a new requirement that international travelers be tested for Covid-19 one day before departing for the United States, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mask mandate extension was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday. (Gay Stolberg, 12/1)

The Hill: Fauci Says He 'Felt Really Badly' About 'Difficult Choice' On Travel Bans
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday he “felt really badly” about the Biden administration’s “difficult choice” to institute travel bans on South Africa in particular after its authorities reported the omicron variant. Biden’s chief medical officer said at a CNN town hall that there’s “some merit” to criticisms that restricting travel from South Africa and Botswana after the nations alerted the world about the omicron strain could discourage other countries from reporting future variants. (Coleman, 12/1)

The New York Times: Fauci Uses Omicron As A Reason To Press Vaccines
“Get boosted now,” Dr. Fauci said. “We may not need a variant-specific boost.” Asked if Americans should feel free to attend holiday parties and drink holiday beverages unmasked, he said it depended on the size of the gathering. “In a situation with the holiday season, indoor-type settings with family that you know is vaccinated, people that you know, you could feel safe with not wearing a mask and having a dinner, having a reception,” he said. But in larger public settings where it is unclear if everyone is vaccinated, he said, people should wear masks except to eat or drink. (Tankersley, 12/1)

On HIV/AIDS —

AP: Biden Says HIV/AIDS Strategy Needs To Confront Inequity
President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled his new HIV/AIDS strategy to end the more than 40-year-old epidemic, calling for a renewed focus on vulnerable Americans — including gay and bisexual Black and Latino men, who his administration says are too often stigmatized even as they are disproportionately affected. The new strategy, which declares racism a “public health threat,” was released on the annual commemoration of World AIDS Day. It is meant to serve as a framework for how the administration shapes its policies, research, programs and planning over the next three years. (Madhani, 12/1)

AP: Biden HIV/AIDS Strategy Calls Racism ‘Public Health Threat’
The Biden administration in its new HIV/AIDS strategy calls racism “a public health threat” that must be fully recognized as the world looks to end the epidemic. The strategy released Wednesday on the annual commemoration of World AIDS Day is meant to serve as a framework for how the administration intends to shape its policies, research, programs and planning over the next three years. (12/1)

AP: Fauci Says COVID-19 Diverted Resources From Fight Against AIDS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Tuesday the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted scientific and financial resources from the fight against AIDS, seriously impeding global efforts to achieve the U.N. goal of ending AIDS by 2030. Fauci told the U.N. General Assembly that tackling COVID-19 has also disrupted supply chains and increased the risk for people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, of being infected with another deadly virus. (12/1)

In news on health insurance —

Axios: Biden Administration Moves To Make Insurance Cover At-Home COVID Tests 
The federal government will issue guidance to allow people with private health insurance seek reimbursement for the cost of at-home COVID tests, President Biden will announce Thursday. The move — which comes amid growing concern about the Omicron variant and as part of the administration's larger strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID this winter — will expand access to at-home testing for over 150 million people. (Chen, 12/2)

CBS News: Americans With Private Health Insurance To Be Reimbursed For At-Home COVID-19 Tests
Americans with private health insurance will be reimbursed for at-home tests, President Biden is announcing Thursday, and international travelers will now be required to undergo stricter COVID-19 testing, according to a phone briefing by a senior administration official Wednesday. The new measures the president is expected to describe in remarks at the National Institutes of Health are part of a new administration strategy to curb the virus this winter, as the new Omicron coronavirus variant prompts concerns about how easily it may spread, how severe its symptoms are and whether existing vaccines are effective against it. (12/2)

Also —

The Washington Post: Trump Tested Positive For Coronavirus Before First Debate With Biden, Three Former Officials Say
President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus days before he shared the debate stage with then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in late September 2020, according to his former chief of staff and two others familiar with the former president’s test — a stunning revelation that illustrates the dismissive approach to the dangers posed by the virus in Trump’s inner circle. Trump’s positive test for the virus was Sept. 26, 2020, according to an account by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in a new book obtained by the Guardian newspaper. The Meadows account of the positive result was confirmed Wednesday by two former aides who requested anonymity to discuss their knowledge of the former president’s health. (Parker, Dawsey, Linksey and Diamond, 12/1)

The New York Times: Democrats’ Bill Would Go Far Toward ‘Patching The Holes’ In Health Coverage
An estimated 3.4 million Americans would gain health insurance as a result of the legislation, which passed the House last month but faces a tough road in the 50-50 Senate. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said Tuesday that his goal is to have it pass before Christmas. The bill would expand health care access for children, make insurance more affordable for working-age adults and improve Medicare benefits for the disabled and older Americans. Separately, its health provisions are a “piecemeal of incremental changes,” said Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president for health care at NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization. But taken together, these policies represent the biggest step toward universal coverage since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. (Abelson, Kliff, Sanger-Katz and Gay Stolberg, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Shutdown Odds Grow As Conservatives Push GOP Leaders Over Vaccine And Testing Mandates
The U.S. government on Wednesday moved one step closer to a potential shutdown, as some Republicans seized on a fast-approaching fiscal deadline to mount fresh opposition to President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine and testing mandates. The emerging conservative campaign quickly divided GOP lawmakers, enraged congressional Democrats and threatened to unravel days of delicate bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill. The current federal spending agreement is set to expire Friday at midnight. “We’re opposed to the mandate,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “We don’t want the federal government to be able to fund them in any way shape or form.” (Romm, DeBonis and Min Kim, 12/1)

Roll Call: House Won't Take Up Stopgap Funds Wednesday As Disputes Linger
The House wrapped up votes for the day Wednesday without taking up a temporary spending bill that's needed by Friday at midnight in order to avert a partial government shutdown. Top lawmakers and others familiar with the talks nonetheless expressed confidence a shutdown would be averted, despite calls from some GOP conservatives to force a funding lapse if Democrats won't add language to the continuing resolution that would bar funds for the Biden administration's private sector vaccine and testing requirement. (Krawzak and Lerman, 12/1)

Roll Call: Advocacy Blitz Targets Medicare Coverage Of Obesity Treatment 
A coalition of patient advocates, medical groups and pharmaceutical companies is ramping up pressure on Congress to add coverage of obesity drugs and weight-related behavioral therapy under Medicare. The push centers on securing regulatory changes or including a long-standing bill in must-pass legislation. The bill would remove Medicare’s ban on coverage of weight loss drugs and expand behavioral therapy coverage. (Clason, 12/1)

In Massachusetts —

The Boston Globe: Lawmakers’ Spending Plan Spreads COVID Money Far And Wide
House and Senate negotiators on Beacon Hill filed a $4 billion state spending plan Wednesday night that would set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for various causes ranging from housing to healthcare to workforce training, in a broad effort to help Massachusetts recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, the outcome of months of public hearings and private negotiations, would draw roughly $1.5 billion from surplus money left over from the last fiscal year, along with roughly $2.5 billion from the federal stimulus legislation known as the American Rescue Plan Act, according to Senate Ways and Means chairman Michael Rodrigues. This would leave nearly another $2.5 billion in ARPA funds for the Legislature to deploy at a later date. (Chesto, 12/1)

Axios: Meta Removes Over 600 Accounts Linked To COVID Disinformation Effort By China 
Meta announced Wednesday it has removed over 600 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to a Chinese influence operation that claimed the U.S. was pressuring the World Health Organization (WHO) to blame COVID on China. Though Meta said the network was unsuccessful, it marks yet another COVID disinformation campaign instigated by China in an effort to discredit the U.S. (Chen, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Facebook Takes Down Disinformation Networks Globally
Facebook on Wednesday said it took down disinformation networks tied to a broad swath of political actors and events around the world, including militant group Hamas, Chinese state groups and the immigration crisis along the Belarus-Poland border. The company also removed accounts run by anti-vaccine groups that were using evolving tactics to attack doctors in Europe. Together, the cat-and-mouse game described in the company’s latest threat report continues to demonstrate how social media is an active battlefield where governments and motivated parties attempt to manipulate public opinion. It also shows the might of the global platform, which has recently come under renewed fire for its role in spreading societal harms. (Dwoskin, 12/1)

NBC News: China-Based Covid Disinformation Operation Pushed Fake Swiss Scientist, Facebook Says
China-based propagandists created an elaborate online disinformation campaign this year centered on an internet persona claiming to be a Swiss biologist to mislead the public about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook researchers said Wednesday. Going by the name Dr. Wilson Edwards, the persona wrote on Facebook that the U.S. was putting undue political pressure on the World Health Organization to blame China for the coronavirus. But Edwards isn’t a real person, which Switzerland's embassy in Beijing made clear in August. (Collier, 12/1)

On the spread of misinformation —

The Baltimore Sun: COVID Misinformation Has Reached Young Minds. A Johns Hopkins Program Seeks To Reverse The Damage.
The eighth graders at Baltimore Design School have just one more class period separating them from a holiday weekend, the excitement palpable as the doctor attempts to get their attention. Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos grew up not far from the school, he tells them, a son of Greek immigrants who dreamed of serving the city that took them in. “Tostitos!” one child called out as Galiatsatos patiently explained how to say his name. “You can call me Dr. G,” he says. “It’s also my DJ name, if you ever want to go to the club with me.” This intrigues the students, some of who believe that all scientists somehow work for the government and have an agenda, according to their health teacher, Erin Nutsugah. (Miller, 12/1)

Fox News: More American Adults Living Alone, Census Bureau Reports
More American adults are living alone, according to newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's annual America's Families and Living Arrangement table package. In a news release, the bureau said the percentage of adults living with a spouse decreased from 52% to 50% over the past decade. Living alone became more common and 37 million adults age 18 and over lived alone in early 2021, up from 33 million in 2011. In 1960, single-person households represented only 13% of all households. (Musto, 12/1)

The New York Times: Trust In Science And Scientists Increased Globally, Poll Finds
As the coronavirus pandemic put a spotlight on scientific research, people around the world gained trust in both science and scientists, according to a new survey released on Monday. Results from the public opinion poll, in a report published by the Wellcome Trust, a foundation focused on health research in London, showed that about 80 percent of people from 113 countries said they trusted science either “a lot” or “some.” About three-fourths of the 119,000 surveyed said they trusted scientists, either “a lot” or “some.” (Imbler, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Says Hack Breached About 400,000 Patients’ Information
A hacker gained access to the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Planned Parenthood patients in October, the reproductive health-care group’s Los Angeles branch said Wednesday. The breach is limited to the Los Angeles affiliate, and spokesperson John Erickson said there is no indication at this point that the information was “used for fraudulent purposes.” (Schaffer, Marks and Knowles, 12/1)

Stateline: Telehealth May Be Here To Stay
The use of remote health services soared during the pandemic, opening the eyes of many medical providers and patients to telehealth’s convenience, efficiency and relative low cost. But its future depends largely on whether state lawmakers extend emergency measures that made telehealth a viable alternative for patients and providers wary of in-person contact. The most important changes most states made were to expand Medicaid coverage to different types of virtual appointments and to enact telehealth coverage requirements for private insurers. (Ollove, 12/1)

On mental health —

WUFT: A Look Into The Mental Health Of Student-Athletes 
Matthew Seitz was introduced into the sports world at a young age. He grew up with a father who played Division 1 basketball and an uncle who was an athletic director. In high school, Seitz was on the swim, golf, basketball and baseball teams. He never played sports in college. “I was a four-sport high school athlete, a jack of all trades, a master of none,” the now licensed psychologist said. In 2019, Seitz started a private practice in Gainesville where he now works with athletes ranging from the high school to Olympic levels. (Hyde, 12/1)

KHN: As Climate Worsens, Environmentalists Grapple With The Mental Toll Of Activism
While growing up in the ’90s in Johnson County, Kansas, in a suburb of Kansas City, I had a friend, Kevin Aaron, who was a dedicated environmentalist. To strangers, Kevin appeared to be a laid-back punk-rock music fan with a dry and slightly mischievous sense of humor, but those of us who knew him best saw his passion for sustainability blossom during high school. In his barbecue-obsessed part of the country, he became the rare vegetarian, driven by witnessing large-scale meat production’s damage to the environment. As he grew into a young man, he eagerly researched and then adopted alternative practices — like driving a hybrid car — that he thought might reduce carbon emissions, if only by tiny measures. (Alex Smith, 12/2)

The Hill: Scientists Say They Might Have Discovered The Cause Of Alzheimer's
Researchers at the University of California- Riverside (UCR) recently published results from a study that looked at a protein called tau. By studying the different forms tau proteins take, researchers discovered the difference between people who developed dementia and those who didn’t. The tau protein was critical for researchers because they wanted to understand what the protein could reveal about the mechanism behind plaques and tangles, two critical indicators doctors look for when diagnosing people with Alzheimer’s. (Ali, 12/1)

Stat: Vertex Drug Successfully Targets Cause Of A Genetic Kidney Disease
An experimental pill from Vertex Pharmaceuticals reduced levels of a damaging urine protein by nearly half in a small clinical trial — encouraging evidence that a novel medicine can arrest the underlying genetic cause of a chronic kidney disease that progresses rapidly to kidney failure. Vertex called the mid-stage study results “unprecedented” and said it was working quickly to advance the drug, called VX-147, into a pivotal clinical trial, pending discussions with regulators. (Feuerstein, 12/1)

Stat: Liquid Biopsies Could Screen For Countless Cancers. Who Should Get Them?
By the time cancer is discovered, it’s often too late to change its course. Close to half of cancers will already have spread, making death — whether within months, five years, or ten years —  a near certainty. Mammograms, colonoscopies, and other cancer screenings may have caught some. But medicine doesn’t screen for many cancers — though in the future, it’s likely we will be able to with a simple blood draw.  Biotech companies are working to develop what are known as liquid biopsies, tests designed to detect dozens of different cancers. Studies suggest some of these tests can even find aggressive cancers when they’re still constrained and likely curable, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. (Chen, 12/2)

Stat: AI Is Making A Pitch To Transform Radiology. Will It Pay Off For Hospitals?
For radiologists working today, the specter of artificial intelligence is inescapable. In the past year, venture capitalists have continued to invest significantly in startups developing AI for medical image analysis and support, with some groups projecting a $20 billion market by 2031. But despite the proliferation of research and investment, AI products are still a hard sell for many radiology practices — even those at academic centers leading clinical research into deep learning. The tools are still in the middle of the hype cycle for any new technology: Inflated expectations are giving way to skepticism and barriers to adoption. (Palmer, 12/2)

CIDRAP: Study Suggests Contact Precautions For MRSA, VRE Can Be Safely Removed
A study conducted in 15 hospitals found that discontinuing contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) did not result in increased healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates, researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. To determine the impact of removing contact precautions for MRSA and VRE, which are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce transmission but are controversial because of associations with patient harms, the researchers performed a retrospective, quasi-observational study at 15 acute care hospitals in a Pennsylvania healthcare system. Twelve of the hospitals (the intervention hospitals) had removed MRSA and VRE contact precautions after a policy change recommended doing so, and 3 (non-intervention hospitals) continued them. (12/1)

Fox News: Survivors Of Severe COVID-19 May Have An Increased Risk Of Dying Over The Next 12 Months, Study Suggests
Patients who had severe COVID-19 may be twice at risk of dying over the following year, compared to patients who had a mild or moderate case, or individuals not infected by the novel coronavirus, according to a new study. The alarming findings suggested the increased risk of dying was greater for patients under the age of 65, according to the report published in Frontiers in Medicine. Researchers from the University of Florida stated, "The risk of 12-month mortality among adults under 65 who are hospitalized with COVID-19 is increased by 233% over those who are COVID-19 negative." (McGorry, 12/1)

Reuters: Brain Problems Found In 1% Of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
Roughly one in every 100 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 will likely have central nervous system complications, researchers reported on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Among nearly 38,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States and Europe, symptoms led doctors to suspect brain complications in about 11%. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) exams confirmed central nervous system abnormalities that were most likely associated with the virus in 10% of those patients, for an overall incidence of 1.2%. The most common finding was stroke due to clogged arteries, but the researchers also saw bleeding in the brain, inflammation of the brain, and other potentially fatal complications. (Lapid, 12/1)

CIDRAP: Data Suggest Third COVID Vaccine Dose Reduces Infection, Hospitalization
A third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine appears to counteract waning vaccine protection in the short term, according to a preliminary case-control analysis of more than 500,000 coronavirus tests in Israel. In the retrospective study, published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine, a team led by Maccabi Healthcare Services researchers found a 1.8% SARS-CoV-2 infection rate after a booster dose, compared with 6.6% after two vaccine doses. Participants receiving the booster also seemed to be at lower risk for hospitalization. (12/1)

CIDRAP: Children With Poorly Controlled Asthma At Higher Risk Of Severe COVID-19
A study yesterday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine of Scottish children shows that 5- to 17-year-olds with poorly controlled asthma are three to six times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with those without asthma. The authors of the study said children with asthma should consider vaccination against COVID-19 as soon as possible. The study was based on health records from more than 750,000 children. Among those, 63,463 had asthma, and among that group, there were 4,339 confirmed cases of COVID-19 from Mar 1, 2020, to Jul 27, 2021. Sixty-seven of those children required hospitalization. (12/1)

Stat: Amgen Joins Other Drug Makers In Cutting Discounts To Safety-Net Hospitals
Amid a closely watched legal battle, Amgen has joined the growing ranks of major drug makers curtailing the discounts offered through a federal program for safety-net hospitals and clinics. As of Jan. 3, 2022, the company will no longer offer discounts to contract pharmacies used by hospitals and clinics that serve low-income populations and purchase medicines under the 340B Drug Discount Program, according to a letter sent by Amgen. The program requires drug makers to offer discounts that are typically estimated to be 25% to 50% — but could be much higher — on all outpatient drugs. (Silverman, 12/1)

CBS News: Texas Resident Gets Over $4,000 In Bills After Getting Tested For COVID: "I Felt Deceived"
When Jaden Janak learned he had been exposed to COVID-19 shortly after his 75-year-old grandmother died from the virus last year, he knew what he had to do. He went to the hospital for a rapid test that he thought would be free.He was wrong. Several months later, the Texas resident received two bills totaling over $4,000. (12/1)

Modern Healthcare: UMich, Duke, Mayo, Put Out Call For Health System Software AI Best Practices
Artificial intelligence has been touted for years as the next big thing in improving patient outcomes. But health systems haven't quite seen that promise materialize. While there are thousands of research papers either introducing potential new AI models or validating products already on the market, there's a dearth of literature on how hospitals can actually put these tools into long-term use, and system leaders are mostly left to figure it out piecemeal and hope for the best. (Gillespie, 12/01)

Stat: How Many Barriers Do Health Insurers Create To Fair Access To Medicines?
Do large health insurers in the U.S. provide “fair access” to prescription medicines? The answer to that question is nettlesome and elusive, at least according to a new analysis. At first blush, it appears that 15 of the biggest commercial health insurers do, indeed, make medications available fairly based on a few key criteria: prescriber restrictions, eligibility based on clinical data, and step therapy, which requires patients to try other medicines before approving a prescription. But practices are spotty when it comes to cost-sharing, the portion of expenses paid by insured individuals. (Silverman, 12/1)

Modern Healthcare: CMMI Drops Program On Improving Care For The Seriously Ill
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation pulled a program intended to improve care coordination for seriously ill Medicare patients, saying it wouldn't be able to enroll enough beneficiaries in the model to adequately test it. The component was part of the Primary Care First model, a voluntary payment model meant to encourage primary care practices to deliver additional care, like around-the-clock access to a clinical call line, integrate behavioral healthcare and better engage with patients and caregivers. (Goldman, 12/01)

Modern Healthcare: Orlando Health Launches Behavioral Health Joint Venture With Acadia Healthcare
Orlando Health announced Tuesday another partnership with a for-profit company to provide outpatient services, this time around behavioral health. The not-for-profit health system said it has formed a venture with Acadia Healthcare, a publicly-traded company and the country's largest standalone behavioral health provider, to expand behavioral health services in Central Florida. Orlando Health will own 30% of the new for-profit enterprise. (Bannow, 12/01)

The Boston Globe: Harvard’s Public Health School Forms Partnership With Chinese University To Tackle Global Threats
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has teamed up with a Chinese university in a collaboration intended to strengthen the response to global health threats — which, as the coronavirus pandemic has shown, do not respect national borders. The partnership, announced Thursday, pairs Harvard’s estimable public health school with the newly founded Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University in Beijing, led by the former director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan. (Freyer, 12/1)

Health News Florida: HCA Announces Plans To Build Three Hospitals In Florida 
HCA Healthcare, which operates 47 hospitals in Florida, said Tuesday it will build additional hospitals in Gainesville, The Villages area and Fort Myers. “Florida continues to experience rapid population growth, and the addition of these new hospitals will help HCA Florida Healthcare meet the increasing need for acute care services in these areas,” Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare, said in a prepared statement. “We are excited to expand our presence in the state and enhance our ability to care for patients.” (12/1)

Modern Healthcare: 5 Things To Know About SSM And Medica's New Joint Venture
SSM Health and Medica have finalized a partnership they announced in August. SSM Health's Dean Health Plan is now a joint venture between the two not-for-profit organizations, with Medica serving as managing partner and St. Louis-based SSM Health retaining a "significant ownership stake," per a news release. An SSM Health spokesperson wouldn't divulge what proportion of the joint venture the health system owns. (Bannow, 12/01)

Stat: Socially Responsible Investor Coalitions Push Greater Access To Medicines In Shareholder Proposals 
Amid controversy over equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, a large coalition of socially minded investor groups has filed shareholder proposals urging large drug makers to take various steps that could ultimately widen access to their medicines in the U.S. and elsewhere. The effort reflects ongoing frustration with the pharmaceutical industry over business practices that have often made it difficult for patients to obtain treatments, according to Meg Jones-Monteiro, program director for health equity at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a 300-member organization with combined assets of over $4 trillion. (Silverman, 12/1)

Modern Healthcare: Fresenius Shifts Management Structure For New Global Care Strategy
Fresenius Medical Care is reorganizing its global and leadership roles, the dialysis provider announced Wednesday. The for-profit company is consolidating its international service areas and creating a global care delivery segment that will launch in 2023. In the meantime, Fresenius Medical Care is reshuffling executives as it prepares to implement the new corporate structure. (Devereaux, 12/01)

AP: Union Workers Ratify Contract, End Strike At WVa Hospital
Union maintenance and service workers at a West Virginia hospital ratified a contract Wednesday to end a month-old strike, the hospital announced. Members of the Service Employees International Union District 119 ratified the three-year contract covering more than 900 workers at Cabell Huntington Hospital. The hospital said in a statement that employees could likely begin returning to work as soon as Friday. (12/2)

In news on ivermectin —

KHN: Hospitals Refused To Give Patients Ivermectin. Lockdowns And Political Pressure Followed
One Montana hospital went into lockdown and called police after a woman threatened violence because her relative was denied her request to be treated with ivermectin. Officials of another Montana hospital accused public officials of threatening and harassing their health care workers for refusing to treat a politically connected covid-19 patient with that antiparasitic drug or hydroxychloroquine, another drug unauthorized by the Food and Drug Administration to treat covid. (Matt Volz, 12/2)

The Hill: New Report Says Staggering 1,500 People Died On Streets Of LA During Pandemic
A total of 1,493 people experiencing homelessness died on the streets of Los Angeles during the pandemic, according to a new report. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, along with a coalition of researchers focused on homelessness, studied data from the LA county coroner’s records and found that nearly 1,500 people died on the city’s streets between March 2020 and July of this year. (O'Connell-Domenech, 12/1)

AP: California Water Districts To Get 0% Of Requested Supplies
Water agencies in drought-stricken California that serve 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland won’t get any of the water they've requested from the state heading into 2022 other than what's needed for critical health and safety, state officials announced Wednesday. It's the earliest date the Department of Water Resources has issued a 0% water allocation, a milestone that reflects the dire conditions in California as drought continues to grip the nation’s most populous state and reservoirs sit at historically low levels. State water officials said mandatory water restrictions could be coming and major water districts urged consumers to conserve. (Ronayne, 12/1)

The Washington Post: California Moves Toward Ranking And Categorizing Heat Waves
The narrative is becoming all too familiar: A severe heat wave builds and, days later, people die. Now, legislators, scientists and a think tank are convening to better adapt to the most lethal weather phenomenon — by categorizing and naming it in major U.S. cities. In January, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and other delegates will formally introduce legislation to rate and name heat waves in Los Angeles — potentially establishing the nation’s first ranking system for such occurrences. The categorization would help communities take measures to reduce the number of heat-related fatalities. (Patel, 12/1)

Elsewhere around the country —

Georgia Health News: Abrams’ Entry Into 2022 Race Sets Up Health Care As A Pivotal Issue 
Democrat Stacey Abrams’ entry Wednesday into the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial race almost guarantees that health care will be a leading issue in the campaign. Abrams, who narrowly lost to Brian Kemp in the 2018 race, pushed Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act as a top priority in that campaign. As governor, Kemp has taken a much narrower path toward increasing the Medicaid rolls, and has opposed expanding the program in the standard ACA fashion, as most states have done. (Miller, 12/1)

AP: New NY Health Commissioner Takes Over From Embattled Zucker
New York’s new state health commissioner stepped into the role Wednesday, at a time when COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in the state. Mary Bassett, a former New York City health commissioner, spent 17 years developing AIDS prevention programs in Zimbabwe. She’s currently director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and a professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Villeneuve, 12/2)

North Carolina Health News: A Nationwide Problem, Worse In North Carolina 
Early in the morning on July 28, 2017 Amber DelVechio’s phone rang. She missed the call, but it woke her up. She rolled out of bed, and began getting ready for her job as an executive assistant at a manufacturing company in Newton, in Catawba County. Her phone buzzed again. It was the same number: “Are you Madison’s mom?” DelVechio typed back, “Yes. Why?” Call me back, the stranger responded. (DeRoven, 12/2)

AP: Law Results In Donation Of Thousands Of Menstrual Products
A brand of menstrual hygiene products is donating 100,000 of the products to Maine schools in the wake of a new law that makes the donations easier. A bill signed into law earlier this year provided immunity from civil and criminal liability for donations of such products. U by Kotex made the donation through the Alliance for Period Supplies with distribution help from Michael Klahr Jewish Family Services, said Democrats who supported the creation of the law on Wednesday. Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth introduced the bill to make the donations easier earlier this year. She and other supporters said one in five teenagers have had difficulty affording the products. (12/2)

AP: Colorado Panel Issues Guidelines For Injecting Ketamine
Colorado’s health department announced Wednesday that emergency workers should not use a condition involving erratic behavior by people as a reason to inject them with the drug ketamine. The announcement came two years after the fatal arrest of a Black man in suburban Denver who had been injected with the drug. Most states and agencies allow ketamine to be administered when people exhibit “excited delirium,” or agitation typically associated with chronic drug abuse, mental illness or both. The drug is used as a sedative and is supposed to be fast-acting with limited side affects. (Nieberg, 12/1)

Health News Florida: State Rep. Jenne Says Florida Has 'Concrete Shoes' When Responding To Public Health Emergencies 
Florida House Minority Co-Leader Evan Jenne says the state is at a disadvantage when it comes to public health. He says that's due to new laws passed last month during a special legislative session. One law is meant to take down vaccine mandates that provide no exemptions for private-sector workers or government employees. Another reinforces the Parents' Bill of Rights to stop school districts from enacting student mask and vaccination requirements with no exemptions. Jenne says laws like these give Florida "concrete shoes" when responding to public health emergencies. (Gaffney, 12/1)

Health News Florida: Blood-Donation Study In Orlando Continues To Seek Participants With Push On World AIDS Day 
Wednesday is World AIDS Day and a local study aimed at making it easier for some LGBTQ people to donate blood is still looking for participants. The study in Orlando and seven other cities around the country could change the Food and Drug Administration’s rules requiring gay and bisexual men to wait three months between sex and blood donation. Those rules have been in place since the height of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. But OneBlood’s Susan Forbes says the Orlando portion of the study housed in the LGBT+ Center still needs about 120 gay and bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 39 to enroll. (Prieur, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Iran Doubles Down On Abortion And Contraception Restrictions
The law, enacted by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi last month, adds more red tape to existing abortion restrictions, bars public health-care providers from offering free contraception, prohibits voluntary sterilization and offers more benefits to childbearing families, among other measures. The law also expands the role of security agencies in surveilling who accesses what services — adding to the ways the Iranian state can control the private lives of citizens. (Berger, 12/1)

Covid news from around the world —

CIDRAP: Delta Surge Remains Strong As World Sizes Up Omicron Threat
As the world responds to newly emerged Omicron variant, the battle against Delta (B1617.2)-driven surges continues, with activity showing signs of a plateau last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in its weekly snapshot of the pandemic. With the Omicron variant adding a new wrinkle to a pandemic about to enter its third year, the World Health Assembly (WHA)—meeting in a special session for only the second time in its 73-year-old history—today agreed to begin drafting and negotiating an international agreement to boost pandemic preparedness and response. (Schnirring, 12/1)

AP: Vaccine Champions Spain, Portugal Focus On The Reluctant Few
Long lines for getting vaccines have returned to Portugal and Spain, two neighboring European Union nations that, despite having inoculation figures that are the envy of the world, are stepping up efforts to close the gap on the few residents still unvaccinated. Both nations have reported cases of the omicron variant. The Iberian neighbors were rocked by the first waves of the pandemic that left tens of thousands dead. Since then, the two have become models for international health experts, who have applauded their populations’ trust in COVID-19 vaccines. (Parra, Alves and Wilson, 12/1)

The Hill: EU Leader Calls For Debate On Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccines
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said member nations should consider making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for citizens, the Associated Press reported. “It is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now - how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union,” Von der Leyen, who leads the European Union's executive arm, told reporters. (Oshin, 12/1)

Reuters: Britain Approves GSK-Vir Antibody-Based COVID-19 Treatment
Britain's drug regulator on Thursday approved GSK (GSK.L) and Vir Biotechnology's (VIR.O) antibody based COVID-19 treatment, Xevudy, for people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of developing severe disease. The approval comes as GSK separately announced the treatment has shown to work against the Omicron variant. (Aripaka, 12/2)

AP: South Africa's New COVID Cases Double In 1 Day Amid Omicron
South Africa’s new cases of COVID-19 nearly doubled in a day, authorities reported Wednesday, signaling a dramatic surge in the country where scientists detected the omicron variant last week. New confirmed cases rose to 8,561 Wednesday from 4,373 a day earlier, according to official statistics. Scientists in South Africa said they are bracing for a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases following the discovery of the new omicron variant. (Meldrum, 12/1)

The Hill: South African Music Festival Halted After Dozens Of Positive On-Site COVID-19 Tests
A South African music festival was halted after dozens of COVID-19 tests conducted on-site came back positive, The Toronto Sun reported. The Ballito Rage music festival began on Tuesday in the town of Ballito, which is located on South Africa’s eastern coast. Within the first eight hours of the festival, 940 people in attendance took COVID-19 tests and 32 festival-goers and four staffers tested positive, according to the Sun. (Oshin, 12/1)

AP: South Korea Breaks Daily Virus Record For 2nd Straight Day
South Korea broke its daily record for coronavirus infections for a second straight day on Thursday with more than 5,200 new cases, as pressure mounted on a health care system grappling with rising hospitalizations and deaths. The rapid delta-driven spread comes amid the emergence of the new omicron variant, which is seen as potentially more contagious than previous strains of the virus, and has fueled concerns about prolonged pandemic suffering. South Korea confirmed its first five omicron cases Wednesday night linked to arrivals from Nigeria, prompting the government to tighten its border controls. (Tong-Hyung, 12/2)

Axios: Countries Increasingly Turn To Travel Bans In The Face Of Omicron 
The travel bans and border closures prompted by the Omicron variant likely won't fully prevent its spread, but that won't stop countries from leaning on the measures. The rapid speed at which countries turned to travel bans with the emergence of Omicron indicates border controls will increasingly become a weapon against infectious disease — whether or not public health experts agree they are effective. (Walsh, 12/1)

Stat: Clinicians Often Fail To Acknowledge The Pain Caused By Long Covid
After his second hospitalization for acute Covid-19, Tony Marks expected to get better. Then pain invaded the 54-year-old software executive’s arms and legs. At first, he felt like he was covered by deep bruises, although nothing was visible on his skin. These days, he told me, he feels like he’s being beaten repeatedly with a baseball bat. Pain is increasingly being recognized as a key feature of what is commonly called long Covid, in which symptoms persist after the acute phase of the viral infection ends. (Kate M. Nicholson, 12/2)

Bloomberg: Merck’s New Covid Drug Molnupiravir Gets FDA Approval In Time For Omicron 
If vaccines are the bazookas in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, antiviral drugs could be the artillery that helps save lives, especially among those who have a higher risk of developing serious illness. Now that they’ve arrived, health authorities have to decide how best to deploy them. (Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli, 12/1)

Scientific American: Why COVID Deaths Have Surpassed AIDS Deaths In The U.S. 
In late October, the United States passed a grim milestone: more people in the United States had died of COVID-19 in less than two years than the approximately 700,000 who have died in the U.S. in the four decades of the AIDS pandemic. By World AIDS Day, this gap has grown. Nearly 800,000 people are known to have died of COVID-19. If current trends continue—and they don’t have to—hundreds of thousands of people could die of COVID in the U.S. in 2022, while perhaps 15,000 people living with HIV may die next year of any cause. (Stephen W. Thrasher, Ph.D., 12/1)

USA Today: COVID Variant Omicron: America Must Lead In Vaccinating The World
What was feared in the absence of widespread COVID-19 vaccination is precisely what's happened. The emergence of a new variant known as omicron is not only a cause of great concern, but also a clarion call to dramatically step up efforts to vaccinate the world.It's a responsibility that cries out for American leadership. (12/2)

The New York Times: Omicron Is Here. Will We Use Our New Covid Drugs Wisely?
The new coronavirus variant, Omicron, has renewed uncertainty over the future of the pandemic. The variant seems to be spreading quickly, but the degree to which it can evade or blunt the protection of vaccines remains unknown. While getting vaccines to everyone who needs them remains a top priority, the world has never effectively fought an infectious disease with just one set of tools. The treatment options for Covid-19 will be greatly expanded by new oral antiviral pills. These drugs have the potential to lessen the impact of Covid-19 worldwide if the people who need them can get them. (Rachel Cohen, 12/1)

Stat: The Fifth Circuit Got The Science Wrong On OSHA's Vaccination Mandate
In mid-November, a federal judicial panel assigned the Cincinnati-based United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit the immense task of overseeing legal challenges to the workplace vaccination mandate instituted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, now pending in 12 of the 13 circuits. Before the Sixth Circuit was randomly chosen for this task, the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit preemptively put a hold on the mandate, issuing an opinion that bitingly characterized OSHA’s emergency temporary standard as “staggeringly overbroad.” But the Fifth Circuit’s opinion got the underlying science completely wrong. (Jeffrey E. Harris, 12/2)

Newsweek: Safe Injection Sites Like New York's Are A Huge Mistake 
A few weeks ago, America received the horrifying news that over 100,000 people died from overdoses in 2020. To combat this crisis, New York City announced today that it is preparing to open its first safe injection site in an effort to curb the massive amount of overdoses. Social justice organizations are celebrating this as a big win, but as a recovering addict who has lost too many friends to overdoses to count, I have to disagree. Safe injection sites are not how we address this crisis; they're no better than putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. (Chris Boutee, 11/30)

Stat: Resident-To-Resident Incidents: A Hidden Source Of Harm In Nursing Homes
Dwayne E. Walls was a Korean War Veteran and an investigative reporter at the Charlotte Observer. Throughout his distinguished career, he wrote stories on social justice issues from the inner circles of the Ku Klux Klan and the homes of poor Black farmers; about voter fraud and the dysfunctions of the coroner system. His best stories were about vulnerable populations. Little did he know he would one day become part of one. Walls developed Alzheimer’s disease. When he declined and his wife, Judy Hand, could no longer care for him at home, she moved him to a nursing home in South Carolina. (Eilon Caspi, 11/29)

NBC News: Supreme Court Justices Could Overturn Roe V. Wade Over One Word
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the first frontal, explicit challenge to Roe v. Wade in almost 30 years. Roe is the 1973 decision holding that women have a constitutional right to decide to have an abortion before viability, usually around 24 weeks. The last time the court was asked to overrule Roe, in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, it reaffirmed women’s right to decide when and whether they have children. (Leah Litman, 12/1)

The Atlantic: The End Of 'Roe V. Wade' 
Anyone listening to today’s oral argument on abortion could not miss that something historic was happening. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, involves a Mississippi law that bans abortion at 15 weeks. Such a ban is clearly unconstitutional under current law—Roe v. Wade and its successor case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, recognize a right to choose abortion until fetal viability, which is at roughly 24 weeks. To uphold Mississippi’s law, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices have two options: They can ditch the viability line or get rid of Roe altogether. (Mary Ziegler, 12/1)

Newsweek: Abortion Rights Are Effectively Moot For Millions Of Americans 
Abortion is a common, safe health care procedure. One in four women in the U.S. will have one by the age of 45 according to current projections. But abortion opponents have been chipping away at abortion rights since Roe, enacting over 1,300 abortion restrictions at the state and federal levels. One of the most severe is Texas' recent SB 8 abortion ban. It outlaws abortion at as early as the sixth week of pregnancy, rendering abortion rights under Roe effectively meaningless. One out of 10 women of reproductive age in the U.S. live in Texas and have had their abortion rights effectively suspended by this law. (Bridget Kelly, 12/1)

Kansas City Star: Kansas City Needs A New Approach To Equity In Health Care 
Every week, I read articles about the eviction crisis in our region. Growing housing insecurity is not isolated to our region; nationwide it is the tip of the iceberg for economic inequity. Yet having a safe, stable roof over your head is inarguably essential for health. Recent data shows that eviction-led housing insecurity exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 in our communities: People living in non-affluent areas were at twice-greater risk for COVID-19 when eviction bans were allowed to expire. (Qiana Thomason, 12/1)

Stat: Fairness And Inclusivity: Key Ingredients In Equitable Health AI
What are the most important ethical considerations for artificial intelligence (AI) in health care? The World Health Organization tried to answer this question in its recent report “Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health.” It offers recommendations on how to design safe, transparent, and equitable AI products and applications that can help providers make informed medical decisions and help patients achieve positive outcomes. (Ben Glocker, 11/30)