CNN: Double Masking Can Block 92% Of Infectious Particles, CDC Says 
Double masking can significantly improve protection, new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Researchers found that layering a cloth mask over a medical procedural mask, such as a disposable blue surgical mask, can block 92.5% of potentially infectious particles from escaping by creating a tighter fit and eliminating leakage. (Enriquez, 2/10)

ABC News: What CDC Found About Wearing 2 Masks 
Fit matters when it comes to your mask protecting you against the virus that causes COVID-19, and layering a well-fitting cloth mask over a surgical mask is likely to prove beneficial, according to new findings released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Flaherty, 2/10)

The New York Times: Can’t Find An N95 Mask? This Company Has 30 Million That It Can’t Sell. 
A year into the pandemic, the disposable, virus-filtering N95 mask remains a coveted piece of protective gear. Continuing shortages have forced doctors and nurses to reuse their N95s, and ordinary Americans have scoured the internet — mostly in vain — to get them. But Luis Arguello Jr. has plenty of N95s for sale — 30 million of them, in fact, which his family-run business, DemeTech, manufactured in its factories in Miami. He simply can’t find buyers. (Jacobs, 2/10)

The Verge: The CDC Hopes Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, And Neo Can Actually Convince People To Wear Masks 
Wearing a mask is one of the easiest things individual people can do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with WarnerMedia in the hopes that fan-favorite characters like Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, the Joker, and Imperator Furiosa can convince people to mask up. (Gartenberg, 2/10)

And the government is investigating counterfeit N95 respirators —

AP: Government Investigating Massive Counterfeit N95 Mask Scam
Federal authorities are investigating a massive counterfeit N95 mask operation in which fake 3M masks were sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies. The foreign-made knockoffs are becoming increasingly difficult to spot and could put health care workers at grave risk for the coronavirus. These masks are giving first responders “a false sense of security,” said Steve Francis, assistant director for global trade investigations with the Homeland Security Department’s principal investigative arm. He added, “We’ve seen a lot of fraud and other illegal activity.” (Long, 2/10)

KHN: Health Workers And Hospitals Grapple With Millions Of Counterfeit N95 Masks 
Thousands of counterfeit 3M respirators have slipped past U.S. investigators in recent months, making it to the cheeks and chins of health care workers and perplexing experts who say their quality is not vastly inferior to the real thing. N95 masks are prized for their ability to filter out 95% of the minuscule particles that can carry covid-19. Yet the fakes pouring into the country have fooled health care leaders from coast to coast. As many as 1.9 million counterfeit 3M masks made their way to about 40 hospitals in Washington state, according to the state hospital association, spurring officials to alert staff members and pull them off the shelf. The elite Cleveland Clinic recently conceded that, since November, it had inadvertently distributed 3M counterfeits to hospital staffers. A Minnesota hospital made a similar admission. (Jewett, 2/11)

Los Angeles Times: South African Coronavirus Strain Found In California 
California’s first cases of infection caused by the South Africa coronavirus variant have been confirmed in the San Francisco Bay Area, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. Newsom said one case was found in Alameda County and the other in Santa Clara County. He did not share additional information on those who tested positive or how they might have contracted the viral variant, called B.1.351. Newsom said the cases involving the South Africa strain had been reported “as of a few hours ago.” (Money, 2/10)

Deadline: Feared South African Covid-19 Mutant Discovered In California As It Surpasses NY As State With Most Virus-Related Deaths In US
Shortly after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom spoke, California recorded 44,989 deaths due to the pandemic. That made it the US state with the highest number of Covid-related fatalities, surpassing New York which on Wednesday recorded a total of 44,683 deaths. ... California also has its own unique strains. Newsom announced that 1,203 instances of the so-called West Coast Variants had been identified in the state. That’s a 20% increase in less than a week. Many of them seem to be in Los Angeles. “At least 50% of our samples have shown the West Coast variant,” said Ferrer, before hedging that “more research needs to be done.” (Tapp, 2/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Surpasses New York For Most COVID Deaths
“It was bound to happen,” said George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at UC San Francisco, noting California’s size. But, he said, the raw numbers don’t tell the full story since California’s population is so much bigger. In terms of deaths per capita, California is still miles behind New York, which ranks second in the nation, according to the New York Times. The Golden State ranks 32nd. (Bobrowsky, 2/10)

In related news about the spread of covid and its variants —

Reuters: Britain's Coronavirus Variant A Concern, 'Likely To Sweep The World', Says Scientist
The coronavirus variant first found in the British region of Kent is a concern because it could undermine the protection given by vaccines against developing COVID-19, the head of the UK’s genetic surveillance programme said. She also said the variant was dominant in the country and was likely “to sweep the world, in all probability”. (Faulconbridge, 2/11)

CNN: Global Covid-19 Cases Declined 17% Worldwide Last Week, WHO Says 
The number of new Covid-19 cases reported across the globe has declined for a fourth week in a row, according to data from the World Health Organization, offering a glimmer of hope that the world is turning a corner in its efforts to contain the pandemic. The number of Covid-19 deaths reported worldwide decreased for the second week running, with 88,000 new deaths reported last week, a 10% drop compared to the previous week, according to WHO. (Diaz and Smith-Spark, 2/10)

Politico: Biden Admin Asks SCOTUS To Uphold Obamacare, Reversing Trump Support For Lawsuit 
The Biden administration is withdrawing the federal government's support for a challenge to Obamacare, telling the Supreme Court that the law should remain on the books. The move by the Justice Department follows speculation on whether Biden would try to withdraw from the high-profile red state lawsuit — fully supported by the Trump administration — to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act. (Luthi, 2/10)

NBC News: Justice Department Switches Sides, Urging Supreme Court To Uphold Obamacare
“Following the change in administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the government's position in these cases,” the department said in a letter to the court. Texas and 17 other Republican-dominated states urged the court in November to rule that Obamacare's requirement for nearly all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay an income tax penalty — known as the individual mandate — is unconstitutional. For that reason, they said, the entire law must be scrapped. (Williams, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Biden Administration Supports ACA At Supreme Court, Drops Trump-Era Challenge
During November oral arguments, the justices appeared unlikely to strike down the ACA in its entirety. All nine justices asked whether the GOP-led states or individuals they represented had standing to challenge the law, a pre-requisite for the court to eliminate either the individual mandate or all of Obamacare. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh also indicated they would likely favor severing the challenged individual mandate from the rest of the law. Roberts expressed skepticism at the GOP states' argument that legislative findings related to the ACA constituted an inseverability clause. (2/10)

Also —

The Hill: Health Care Industry Groups Back ObamaCare Reforms Proposed By Democrats 
Powerful interests in the health care industry united behind a set of proposals Wednesday they argued would achieve universal insurance coverage, an apparent endorsement of similar plans offered by congressional Democrats and President Biden to build on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). (Hellmann, 2/10)

The Daily Beast: Biden Team Fears No COVID-19 Herd Immunity Until Thanksgiving
Top members of President Joe Biden’s COVID response team are warning internally that the U.S. may not reach herd immunity until Thanksgiving or even the start of winter—months later than originally calculated—according to two senior administration officials. In an interview with CBS News this week, Biden hinted at some of these concerns, saying it would be “very difficult” to reach herd immunity—a population-wide resistance to the virus—“much before the end of the summer” with the current daily rate of approximately 1.3 million vaccine doses. Other top officials working on the federal government’s COVID-19 response say the are uneasy about vaccine supply long term and the impact on herd immunity, and have begun to explore ways to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity, potentially through new partnerships with outside pharmaceutical firms. (Banco, 2/9)

CNBC: Biden’s Next Fight: Anti-Vaxxers Jeopardize Plans To Protect U.S. Against Covid
As President Joe Biden works to ramp up the supply of Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, public health officials and infectious disease experts warn of another big challenge for the new administration: A significant portion of the U.S. population will likely refuse to get vaccinated. Even though clinical trial data shows Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are safe and highly effective, just under half of adults in the U.S. surveyed in December said they were very likely to get vaccinated, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 39.4% of adults surveyed in September but still below the 70% to 85% scientists say needs to be vaccinated to suppress the virus. (Lovelace Jr., 2/10)

NBC News: Biden Admin On Track To Meet Goal Of 100M Coronavirus Shots In First 100 Days
President Joe Biden is on track to meet his goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 shots in his first 100 days in office, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeffrey Zients said Wednesday. Biden had created some confusion around his vaccination goal after he said in his second week in office that he was eyeing a more ambitious goal of 1.5 million vaccine shots a day, forcing some members of his administration to walk back the number. (Egan, 2/10)

AP: 'Overwhelm The Problem': Inside Biden’s War On COVID-19
The meetings begin each day not long after dawn. Dozens of aides report in, coffee in hand, joining by Zoom from agency headquarters, their homes or even adjacent offices. The sessions start with the latest sobering statistics meant to focus the work and offer a reminder of what’s at stake: new coronavirus cases, people in hospitals, deaths. But they also include the latest signs of progress: COVID-19 tests administered, vaccine doses shipped, shots injected. (Miller, 2/11)

The Atlantic: What If We Never Reach Herd Immunity?
For COVID-19, the herd-immunity threshold is estimated to be between 60 and 90 percent. That’s the proportion of people who need to have immunity either from vaccination or from prior infection. In the U.S., the countdown to when enough people are vaccinated to reach herd immunity has already begun. But what if we still can’t get the logs wet enough? What if they are drying out faster than we can douse them? (Zhang, 2/9)

In updates on school reopenings —

CBS News: Biden School Reopening Guidance Expected To Focus On COVID Mitigation, Rather Than Teacher Vaccination 
The Biden administration's guidance on how schools can "safely open" will come from multiple federal agencies and departments, according to several people familiar with the plan.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to release an "operational strategy" advising that it would be safe for K-12 schools to reopen if they apply recommended "mitigation" practices, according to an email sent by an Education Department official soliciting feedback from education groups and obtained by CBS News. (Cook, 2/10)

USA Today: Schools Reopening: White House Clarifies Goals During COVID Pandemic
As President Joe Biden works to reopen most of the nation's public schools within his first 100 days, the White House clarified its benchmarks Tuesday, giving a less ambitious goal than some parents might want to hear. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Biden's goal is for more than 50% of schools to have "some teaching" in person "at least one day a week" – not necessarily fully reopened – by Day 100 of his presidency. "Hopefully, it's more," Psaki said. "And obviously, it is as much as is safe in each school and local district." (2/10)

Texas Tribune: FEMA Will Open 3 COVID-19 Vaccine Sites In Texas
Three federally-run mass vaccination sites aimed at underserved communities are expected to open before the end of the month in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday. The sites will be run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state emergency management officials, and are described as “pilot sites” in the national effort to speed up the nation's COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort. (Brooks Harper, 2/10)

CNBC: Biden Administration To Build Two Mass Covid Vaccination Sites In New York City, Gov. Cuomo Says
The Biden administration will partner with New York to build and staff two mass Covid-19 vaccination sites in the New York City area aimed at getting shots to minority communities hit hardest by the pandemic. The sites, which will open the week of Feb. 24, will be located at York College in the New York City borough of Queens and at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press briefing on Wednesday. Each site will be able to administer 3,000 shots a day, making them the state’s largest vaccination sites to date. (Higgins-Dunn, 2/10)

More on the federal covid response —

CNN: Biden Administration Is 'Not Where We Want To Be' On Genetic Sequencing Of Covid Variants 
With coronavirus variants posing a serious threat to President Joe Biden's efforts to contain the pandemic, a Biden official tells CNN that the administration is still simply "not where we want to be" on surveillance of mutations in the US -- and simultaneously worried that Americans will grow increasingly complacent about the virus. "We are not where we want to be in terms of genetic sequencing, although we are ramping up," the administration official said. "We are starting way behind on genetic sequencing." (Lee and Nedelman, 2/11)

The Hill: Biden Raises Hopes For New Course To Jumpstart Rapid COVID-19 Tests
President Biden is raising hopes that he will sharply scale up rapid at-home COVID-19 tests to help control the pandemic, but advocates say far more needs to be done beyond the administration’s early moves. A vocal group of health experts has been pushing for months to ramp up production of cheap and simple tests that people can use multiple times a week and get results in a matter of minutes, helping the country safely return to work and school until vaccines are widely available. (Sullivan, 2/11)

The Hill: Biden To Get Tested For Coronavirus Every Two Weeks After Receiving Vaccine 
President Biden will undergo coronavirus testing every two weeks as a precaution despite receiving his second dose of the vaccine earlier this year, the White House said Wednesday. "There is 95 percent protection from the vaccine, but it’s not 100 percent protection," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. "So the president’s doctor believes it is reasonable and prudent to randomly test the president every two weeks as surveillance." (Samuels, 2/10)

USA Today: Lancet Commission: Donald Trump Presidency Worsened US Health Care
About 40% of the nation’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented if the United States’ average death rate matched other industrialized nations, a new Lancet Commission report found. While the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump era faulted former President Donald Trump’s “inept and insufficient” response to COVID-19, its report said roots of the nation’s poor health outcomes are much deeper. (Alltucker, 2/11)

In other administration news —

Fox News: Biden Evades Question About Taking Action Against China Over COVID-19 
President Biden dodged a question Wednesday on whether his administration would punish China over the country's early handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden unveiled plans to review U.S. policy toward Beijing after meeting with Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and other top military officials at the Pentagon. (2/11)

CNN: A WHO Expert Snaps At Biden Over An Investigation Into Covid-19's Origins 
An expert from a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of Covid-19 on the ground in China has lashed out at US President Joe Biden for posturing against Beijing, and taken a shot at the credibility of US intelligence agencies after the State Department expressed uncertainty over the team's initial findings. In a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said repeatedly that the US would welcome the findings by the World Health Organization (WHO) team in a conclusive report but would ultimately rely on its intelligence agencies and information from allies to reach its own conclusions. (Dewan, 2/10)

Bloomberg Law: Obamacare Architect Is Top Pick To Lead Value-Based Care Office
Elizabeth Fowler, who led the drafting of the Affordable Care Act and then implemented the major health law, has emerged as the leading contender to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, according to people familiar with the matter. Fowler is likely to head the Department of Health and Human Services’ health innovation center and would be charged with carrying out multi-year efforts to send taxpayer dollars toward paying for patient outcomes rather than individual procedures. (Stein, 2/10)

CNN: Fully Vaccinated People Can Skip Covid Quarantines, CDC Says 
People who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus -- right now that means with two doses of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine -- can skip quarantine if they are exposed to someone infected with the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. That doesn't mean they should stop taking precautions, the CDC noted in updated guidance. It's just not necessary for them to quarantine. (Fox, 2/10)

CBS News: COVID Vaccine: Most People Are Getting Their Second Shots On Time, New CDC Data Shows 
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was obtained by CBS News, shows that 96% of Americans are receiving their second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine within four days of their scheduled dose. (Bayer, 2/10)

Fox News: California Man Tests Positive For COVID-19 Weeks After Second Jab: Report
A California man said he was diagnosed with COVID-19 three weeks after he received his second dose of the vaccine, reports said. CBS Los Angeles reported that Gary Micheal, who lives in Orange County’s Lake Forest, found out he had the virus after being tested for an unrelated health concern. His symptoms are relatively minor, the report said. He received the Pfizer vaccine, the report said. Patch.com reported that he got his first dose on Dec. 28 and his second jab on Jan. 18. (DeMarche, 2/11)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

The Washington Post: Senator Attempts To Block D.C. Bill Allowing Vaccines Without Parental Consent
A Republican senator from Utah is trying to block D.C. Council legislation that would allow children as young as 11 to receive vaccinations without the consent of their parents. Passed 12 to 1 in October, the bill lets doctors decide whether minors are capable of informed consent for government-recommended vaccinations. Minors in the city could exercise this privilege if their parents cited a religious exemption or opted them out of vaccination, including for the human papillomavirus, which is transmitted through sexual contact. (Brice-Saddler and Flynn, 2/10)

The New York Times: Houston Doctor Fired For Giving Away Doses Of Covid Vaccine
The Texas doctor had six hours. Now that a vial of Covid-19 vaccine had been opened on this late December night, he had to find 10 eligible people for its remaining doses before the precious medicine expired. In six hours. ... For his actions, Dr. Gokal was fired from his government job and then charged with stealing 10 vaccine doses worth a total of $135 — a shun-worthy misdemeanor that sent his name and mug shot rocketing around the globe. (Barry, 2/10)

NPR: COVID-19 Vaccination Delays: Health Records May Be A Culprit
Why has it been so hard to get a COVID-19 vaccination? One reason may be the software that almost all medical records in the U.S. are built on. It makes up the systems nurses and doctors type patients' vital signs and prescriptions into — whether they're getting a routine physical or going to the emergency room with a broken arm. And it's the same type of program used to log patient data when COVID-19 shots are given. But those electronic health records often aren't connected and don't share information easily. (Popperl, Weiner and King, 2/10)

Boston Globe: First Came The Vaccine, Then The Resentment
With rampant unhappiness with the bumpy vaccine rollout — and waiting harder now that the end is in sight — a monomania is setting in, even among mental health professionals. “I was consumed by vaccine envy,” confessed a Boston-area psychiatrist. That was in mid-January, when as a non-COVID-facing health provider she watched colleagues, some of whom were seeing COVID patients — but others who were working remotely — getting their shots. The doctor, who asked to remain anonymous to keep her life private from her patients, analyzed herself: “I think I was more stirred up with the randomness and inequity of the distribution, rather than my actual fear of contracting COVID,” she said. (Teitell, 2/10)

Stat: Vaccination Rates Follow The Money In States With Big Wealth Gaps 
The affluent town of Woodbridge, Conn., has less than half the population of neighboring Ansonia, and yet it’s home to more people who have received a Covid-19 vaccine. (Goldhill, 2/11)

In polling news —

ABC News: Americans' Willingness To Get COVID-19 Vaccines Reaches Record High
Americans may be more willing than ever to get their COVID-19 shot, according to a new survey from Gallup. Since Gallup first began polling Americans on their willingness in July 2020, there was an initial decline in willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine, reaching a low of 50% in September. Since then, there has been a steady climb to 65% willing in late December, and now, an all-time high of 71% who are willing to get vaccinated. (Nissen, 2/10)

The Hill: Over 30 Percent Of Americans Say They Won't Get COVID-19 Vaccine: Poll 
Nearly 1 in 3 people in the United States said that they definitely or probably will not get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new survey. The poll, released Wednesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 15 percent of survey respondents said they will “definitely” not get a coronavirus vaccine. Seventeen percent said that they will “probably not” get the inoculation. (Pitofsky, 2/10)

Fox News: Don’t Schedule Mammogram Near COVID-19 Vaccine, Doctors Warn
Women who recently received the COVID-19 vaccine may need to postpone their annual mammogram if they are due for one soon, say doctors in Utah. Some women who receive the coronavirus vaccine may experience axillary adenopathy, also known as swollen lymph nodes, following vaccination. A doctor in Ohio recently warned that this reaction could be confused for a sign of breast cancer, as many patients are finding swollen lymph nodes under the same arm that they received the jab. (Farber, 2/10)

CBS News: Employers Give Workers Paid Time Off To Get COVID-19 Vaccination 
With a nationwide effort underway to immunize people against a virus that's killed nearly 470,000 Americans, Target on Wednesday became the latest major employer to offer its massive workforce incentives to get the COVID-19 vaccine. (Gibson, 2/10)

KHN: Tech Companies Mobilize To Schedule Vaccine Appointments, But Often Fall Short 
On Jan. 14 at 8:43 p.m., Patrick McKenzie tweeted a plea for tech engineers to help him set up a website to track covid-19 vaccine availability in California. McKenzie, who heads a Bay Area financial services tech company, issued the call to “anyone in California [who] wants to do a civtech project which matters.” The response was swift and resounding. In less than an hour, someone had set up a chat group for brainstorming the effort. By 12:24 a.m. the next day, 70 people had joined. By noon, the tracker was live. Now, just over two weeks later, the site, called VaccinateCA, involves about 300 volunteers. They operate what is essentially a call bank, dialing pharmacies and hospitals for updates about covid vaccine supplies and posting the results on the site. (Green, 2/11)

In updates on vaccine eligibility —

Boston Globe: Mass. To Allow Vaccinations For Younger Companions Who Accompany Older Residents To Appointments
Massachusetts officials on Wednesday relaxed vaccine eligibility rules to let younger people who accompany older residents to mass vaccination sites get shots themselves. The new policy set off a rush by younger spouses, relatives, friends, neighbors, and caregivers of seniors 75 and over to book “companion appointments,” which start Thursday at sites ranging from Fenway Park to Gillette Stadium to the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. “We are trying to do everything we can to help people 75 and over,” said Marylou Sudders, the state’s health and human services secretary. (Weisman, 2/10)

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Will Give Teachers Priority For 'Leftover' COVID-19 Vaccines
Teachers and school staff currently on Harris County Public Health's waiting list for COVID-19 vaccines now will be prioritized if there are any "leftover" doses at the end of each day. Dr. Maria Rivera, who is co-leading the Harris County Health Department’s school advisory group during the pandemic, told ABC 13 that educators will be called if others do not show up for their scheduled appointments. The teachers still will need to qualify for vaccines under phases 1A and 1B of Texas' vaccine allocation plan, which include those over the age of 65 and those with preexisting conditions that could make them more likely to suffer more severe cases of COVID-19. (Webb, 2/10)

Anchorage Daily News: State Widens COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility, Bumping Up All Teachers And Others Including At-Risk Alaskans Over 50
Alaska health officials on Wednesday announced a dramatic shift in groups eligible for scarce COVID-19 vaccine after interest from seniors waned, leaving hundreds of appointments for February still open statewide. Teachers and child care staff of all ages will become eligible for the vaccine beginning Thursday, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Also eligible: Alaskans 50 and older with at least one high-risk medical condition; certain front-line essential workers 50 and older who work near others; people living or working in shelters, prisons, and other congregate settings; and ‘pandemic response staff’ who may come into contact with the coronavirus through their work. (Berman, Krakow and Hollander, 2/10)

AP: Alaska Expands Eligibility For COVID-19 Vaccinations
The state is expanding eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations in Alaska to include individuals 50 and older with high-risk medical conditions, pre-kindergarten through grade 12 teachers and childcare workers, and those 50 and older in jobs considered essential who work in close proximity to others. The state health department announced the expansion Wednesday. It said people in those groups can start making appointments Thursday. (2/10)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium To Tighten Requirements Around Vaccine Distribution
Citing the need to get the COVID-19 vaccine to the communities hardest hit by the virus, the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium will enforce stricter rules at their clinics, the group’s founder, physician Ala Stanford, said Wednesday. People who are not at increased risk of serious illness or death — including some who don’t even live in the communities where the clinics are opening — have been coming to her clinics, she said, which means less vaccine is going to those who need it most. “It’s just the wrong thing to do, to come to communities and take it away from folks [in communities] where one in two people have known someone with severe disease, or someone who died from COVID,” Stanford told reporters at a news conference called to announce the changes. “So please, stop doing this. And if you can’t stop, we’re going to help you, because we’re going to be much more stringent.” (Whelan, 2/10)

The New York Times: Primary Care Doctors Feel Left Out Of Vaccine Rollout 
Primary care doctors have grown increasingly frustrated with their exclusion from the nation’s vaccine rollout, unable to find reliable supplies for even their eldest patients and lacking basic information about distribution planning for the shots. “The centerpiece should be primary care,” said Dr. Wayne Altman, the chairman of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine who also sees patients in Arlington, Mass. State officials there are using Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium as mass vaccination sites, rather than ensuring practices like his can inoculate patients who are at high risk from the coronavirus. (Abelson, 2/10)

In updates on where to get the vaccine —

Oklahoman: Walmart, Sam's Club To Offer COVID-19 Vaccines In Oklahoma
More than 40 Walmart and Sam's Club stores in Oklahoma will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines starting Friday, Feb. 12. State health leaders announced last week that some doses would start to be allocated to local pharmacies in an attempt to vaccinate more Oklahomans. Keith Reed, Oklahoma's deputy commissioner of health, praised the companies for stepping up to help administer vaccines. “In Oklahoma, partnerships like this will be crucial to the continued success of our vaccine rollout," he said in a news release. "This public-private partnership helps the Oklahoma State Department of Health continue to meet a core tenet of our vaccine plan: to ensure equitable distribution of the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine. (Forman, 2/10)

LA Daily News: Garcetti: Dodger Stadium Vaccine Site To Close For 2 Days, As ‘First-Dose’ Moderna Vaccine Runs Low 
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday, Feb. 10, that the massive Dodger Stadium clinic will be closed for at least two days this week, with the city’s current supply of first-dose Moderna vaccines expected to run out. “This is an enormous hurdle in our race to vaccinate Angelenos,” Garcetti said during his evening briefing on Wednesday. “And unfortunately, it means that we will have to temporarily close Dodger Stadium and the other four non-mobile vaccination sites for two days, on Friday and Saturday.” (Chou, 2/10)

AP: WHO Expert Group Recommends Use Of AstraZeneca Vaccine
Independent experts advising the World Health Organization about immunization on Wednesday recommended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine even in countries that turned up worrying coronavirus variants in their populations. The WHO experts’ advice is used by health care officials worldwide, but doesn’t amount to a green light for the United Nations and its partners to ship the vaccine to countries that have signed up to receive the shots through a global initiative. That approval could come after separate WHO group meetings on Friday and Monday to assess whether an emergency-use listing for the AstraZeneca vaccine is warranted. (Keaten, 2/10)

Fox News: WHO Says AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine OK To Use Despite Variant Concerns
The guidance follows news of South Africa halting rollout of AstraZeneca’s vaccine because early findings showed a marked reduction in protection against mild-to-moderate illness amid a variant strain. "Even if there is a reduction in the possibility of this vaccine having a full impact in its protection capacity, especially against severe disease, there is no reason not to recommend its use, even in countries that have the circulation of the variant," Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, chair of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), a panel of experts advising the WHO, said during a briefing.   (Rivas, 2/10)

AP: AstraZeneca Working To Adapt Vaccine To New Strains
AstraZeneca said Thursday it’s working with the University of Oxford to adapt its COVID-19 vaccine to protect against new strains of the virus as public health officials raise concerns about mutations that may make the virus more resistant to existing vaccines. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker worked with Oxford to develop one of the first COVID-19 vaccines authorized for widespread use. AstraZeneca said it hopes to cut the time needed to produce large amounts of any new vaccine to between six and nine months. (2/11)

In news from Merck —

Reuters: Merck In Talks With Governments, Other Drugmakers To Produce COVID-19 Shots
Merck & Co Inc said on Wednesday it was in talks with governments and companies to potentially help with manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines that have been already authorized. “Beyond our own candidates, we are actively involved in discussions with governments, public health agencies, and other industry colleagues to identify the areas of pandemic response where we can play a role, including potential support for production of authorized vaccines,” a company spokesman said. (2/10)

The New York Times: How Merck's Vaccine Lost The Covid Race 
From Ebola to H.I.V. to river blindness, the American pharmaceutical giant Merck has been on the front lines of the biggest public health emergencies in recent history. So when the company announced last May that it was a late entrant in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Merck was a popular pick to win. Even if the company wasn’t first, proponents argued, its expertise as the world’s second-largest vaccine maker gave it a good shot at developing the best product — and manufacturing it quickly. (Thomas, 2/10)

In news from Johnson & Johnson —

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson CEO: Vaccine Doses May Be Needed Annually For Several Years 
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said people may be getting COVID-19 vaccines annually for the next several years. Gorsky made the comment at a CNBC event on Tuesday after he was asked if he felt that post-pandemic vaccines would be needed, specifically if people would require updated COVID-19 vaccines every year, similar to the flu. (Williams, 2/10)

CBS News: The Factory That's Racing To Make Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine 
U.S. drug maker Emergent BioSolutions began speeding up its acquisition of drug supplies beginning early last year, as the coronavirus outbreak was erupting in China. In addition to producing drugs like the opioid overdose-reversing Narcan nasal spray, the firm develops vaccines and antibody therapeutics and had scored lucrative contracts for key biodefense medicines over the decades. (Tin, 2/10)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Aerosol Load Associated With Infection, Age, Obesity
The number of COVID-19 aerosol droplets a person exhales is positively associated with infection, age, and obesity, finds an observational study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers looked at 194 healthy people to measure general aerosol rates as well as 8 COVID-infected nonhuman primates (NHPs) to look at how infection progression affected aerosol quantity and size. Human participants were asked to spend up to 30 minutes per session breathing into a mouthpiece connected to a particle detector. (2/10)

CIDRAP: Fluid Dynamics Highlight Role Of Air Conditioning In Indoor COVID Spread
Computational fluid dynamics can help assess transmission risk of airborne COVID-19 particles, according to a study published yesterday in Physics of Fluids. The researchers, from the University of Minnesota, found that their modeling of a January 2020 COVID outbreak in a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, supports the idea that air conditioning contributed to disease transmission. After mapping out the general layout of the restaurant, its ventilation systems, and its occupants, the researchers discerned that the cyclical flow of air from the four heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units along the wall was disrupted by factors including hemispherical hot regions above each table due to food heat, the restaurant's occupants, and the presence of a fifth, floor-level HVAC unit on the adjacent wall. (2/10)

The Washington Post: The Coronavirus Is Airborne. Here’s How To Know If You’re Breathing Other People’s Breath.
With its five wall-length windows, Nick Crandall’s restaurant, Railroad Pub & Pizza, can bring in a lot of outside air. In late December, though, Washington state regulators said the restaurant could not qualify as “outdoor” dining, and would have to close because of heightened coronavirus restrictions. So Crandall went to Facebook to protest, giving a video tour of the Burlington, Wash., pub and its vast, garage-door-style windows. “I’m just kind of curious on what the science is for outdoor dining, how much airflow you need to do,” he said. He took aim at the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, suggesting he use “common sense.” The video was viewed over 73,000 times. (Mooney, 2/10)

Roll Call: EPA Says Surfaces With Copper Alloys Can Fight COVID-19 
Special copper doorknobs and handrails can help fight the coronavirus, according to the EPA. The agency announced a move Wednesday that allows products with antimicrobial copper alloys to be marketed with that virus-killing claim — the first product to be registered with such residual properties for nationwide use. (Morton, 2/10)

In related science and research news —

CIDRAP: COVID Associated With More Hospitalizations, ICU Care, Mortality Than Flu
Hospitalized adults with COVID-19 are 3.5 times more likely to die than adults with the flu, reports a study today in CMAJ. The study also found that those with COVID were 1.5 times more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and have 1.5 times longer hospital stays. The researchers collected data from seven hospitals in Toronto and Mississauga in Canada and found that, from November 2019 through June 2020, 763 patients were admitted 783 times with the flu and 972 patients were admitted 1,027 times with COVID-19—the latter making up 23.5% of all hospitalizations during the study's duration. (2/10)

CIDRAP: COVID Deaths 3 Times Higher In Nursing Homes With More Non-White Residents 
Residents of US nursing homes with more than 40% non-white residents died of COVID-19 at 3.3 times the rate of those of those with higher proportions of white residents, a study today in JAMA Network Open shows. Using the Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, University of Chicago researchers found that nursing homes with the lowest shares of white residents reported a mean of 5.6 deaths, compared with 1.7 in those with the highest proportions, as of Sep 13, 2020. (Van Beusekom, 2/10)

The New York Times: ‘A Game Changer’: Drug Brings Weight Loss in Patients With Obesity
For the first time, a drug has been shown so effective against obesity that patients may dodge many of its worst consequences, including diabetes, researchers reported on Wednesday. The drug, semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk, already is marketed as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. In a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago tested semaglutide at a much higher dose as an anti-obesity medication. (Kolata, 2/10)

CNN: Diabetes Drug Can Aid Weight Loss, Study Finds
A once-a-week injected diabetes drug helped overweight and obese people lose an average of 15% of their body weight over 16 months, researchers reported Wednesday. The maker of the drug, called semaglutide, has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to approve it for chronic weight management. If approved, it would be only the fifth prescription weight loss drug on the US market. Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, or GLP-1 agonist -- a drug that increases the production of insulin. But it also appears to suppress appetite. (Fox, 2/10)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: Equip, Startup Offering Virtual Care For Eating Disorders, Raises $13 Million
A vanguard of virtual behavioral health startups are attracting investor interest. The latest: Equip, which provides online treatment for eating disorders, announced Wednesday it has raised a $13 million Series A round. (Aguilar, 2/10)

Stat: Gilead’s Galapagos Deal Falls Apart, A Black Mark For CEO O’Day 
The $5 billion deal that Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day presented as his signature move shortly after his arrival at the company two years ago has gone up in flames. Gilead announced Wednesday that it and partner Galapagos NV stopped the Phase 3 studies of a drug called zirataxestat, for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, because an independent data monitoring committee said the drug’s potential benefits were unlikely to outweigh its risks. (Herper, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Trinity Health's Mercy Hospital Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday as the Chicago-area community continues to fight to keep the safety-net hospital open. Mercy Hospital has been largely operating in the red for years. Mercy's parent company, Trinity Health, has tried to find suitable merger partners for the hospital and either downsize or completely wind down its inpatient operations. But Bronzeville residents have fought to keep the 400-bed hospital that predominately serves Medicaid beneficiaries fully operational. (Kacik, 2/10)

Bloomberg: Chicago’s Mercy Hospital Files Bankruptcy Amid Plans To Shut
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing comes weeks after Illinois state health officials rejected plans by Mercy’s owner, Trinity Health Corp., to close the 258-bed medical center and open an outpatient center in Chicago’s South Side. “The quality of care at Mercy is an increasing concern as physicians and other colleagues have left Mercy and operating losses have accelerated to $7 million per month,” Trinity’s board of directors said in a resolution dated Feb. 5 that authorized the Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. (Harrington and Coleman-Lochner, 2/11)

In other health care industry news —

Albuquerque Journal: UNMH Gains Status As State’s First Comprehensive Stroke Center
University of New Mexico Hospital is touting its new status as the state’s first Comprehensive Stroke Center, a designation that could make a big difference for stroke patients who have a narrow window to get help before suffering permanent damage. That’s the highest designation from the Joint Commission, “the primary accrediting body that partners with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association to certify centers in cardiac and stroke care,” UNMH neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Carlson said on Wednesday. The certification indicates that UNMH has the 24-7 capability to perform surgical procedures to repair aneurysms in the brain, or endovascular procedures inside blood vessels to remove blood clots. (Nathanson, 2/11)

The New York Times: College Student’s Simple Invention Helps Nurses Work And Patients Rest 
During his day shift at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Anthony Scarpone-Lambert steps into a patient’s room. The lights are off, but he knows he has to change the IV without disturbing the patient. He has two choices: turn on the overhead lights or attempt to use some sort of hand-held light to navigate in the darkness. It’s this dilemma that he sought to fix by inventing what he and his co-founder call the uNight Light, a wearable light-emitting diode, or LED, that allows nurses to illuminate their work space without interrupting a patient’s sleep. (Waller, 2/10)

CBS News: Millions Of U.S. Subway Riders And Workers At Risk For Severe Side Effects From Air Pollution, Study Warns 
Millions of people in the northeast U.S. ride or work on subway systems every day. But while they're doing so, they are breathing in dangerously high levels of particles that may cause heart attacks, aggravate asthma or even lead to premature death, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. (Cohen, 2/10)

In other public health news —

CBS News: A Year Into The Coronavirus Pandemic, Many U.S. Workers Are Anxious Or Depressed 
Nearly a year since COVID-19 crippled the U.S. economy, Americans are not alright. Almost half of full-time workers say they are experiencing mental health issues, including a majority of millennials and Gen Z employees, a recent survey shows. (Picchi, 2/10)

North Carolina Health News: The COVID-19 Learning Gap
Every day when Oscar Barrett picked up his three young children from his mother’s house, his first question was “how was school today?” Most times he received shrugs or non-committal and disinterested responses like “fine” and “OK.” Anything beyond that came from 10-year-old Hallie, who had excelled at school since pre-K and tested into the gifted classes. (Newsome, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Facebook And YouTube Ban 'Planet Lockdown' Video Filled With False Coronavirus Claims
While thousands of families grieved the loss of loved ones and the United States’ coronavirus death toll surpassed 350,000 in early January and continued to rise, a film parroting false claims about the pandemic began to spread to millions of social media users. The video, called “Planet Lockdown,” racked up more than 20 million views and engagements, according to the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, in late December and January. It went largely unnoticed by the social media platforms playing host to the misinformation until the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America published a detailed accounting of the film’s spread on Monday. (Shepherd, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Instagram Bans Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation 
Instagram removed the account of prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the highest-profile steps in parent company Facebook Inc.’s intensifying effort to combat false and misleading information about Covid-19. ... Mr. Kennedy, the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, is a longtime environmental activist who has criticized vaccines for years, including raising doubts about thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines. (Herrera, 2/11)

Also —

Stat: Drop In Cancer Screening May Aid Research On Overdiagnosis 
It’s counterintuitive, but catching cancer early isn’t always for the best. And the coronavirus pandemic might leave lessons for future cancer screening in its wake. (Cooney, 2/11)

Stat: Will Breast Cancer AI Worsen Disparities? Spotty FDA Filings Raise Questions
The great hope of artificial intelligence in breast cancer is that it can distinguish harmless lesions from those likely to become malignant. By scanning millions of pixels, AI promises to help physicians find an answer for every patient far sooner, offering them freedom from anxiety or a better chance against a deadly disease. (Ross, 2/11)

KHN: Flurry Of Bills Aim To Set Limits On Transgender Kids – And Their Doctors
Sam Edelman felt like a girl for as long as he could remember, his dad said. As Sam’s 18th birthday approached, and after years of researching hormone treatments, the high school senior scheduled an appointment with a doctor who treats transgender people. It was a big step for Sam, a musician, a runner, a snowboarder and a taekwondo black belt who still identified as a boy at that point and had shared his secret only with his family and closest confidants. (Loose, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Removing A Condom Without Consent Would Be Illegal If This California Bill Passes 
The act of removing a condom during sex without consent — also known as “stealthing” — could become illegal in the state of California. A bill introduced this week by California Assembly member Cristina Garcia (D) would classify nonconsensual condom removal as sexual battery and would allow a victim to pursue a claim for damages under the state’s civil code. If passed, experts say, the measure would be the first such law in any state to explicitly address nonconsensual condom removal. (Firozi, 2/10)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Senate Committee Votes To Ban Nearly All Abortions
A Senate committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance a proposal to ban nearly all abortions in Arkansas. The legislation, Senate Bill 6, would prohibit any abortion except those performed to protect the health or life of the mother. Its sponsor, state Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, said the intent of the bill is to create a law that will force the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its precedents upholding the right of a woman to receive an abortion. (Moritz, 2/10)

AP: Evers Renewing Call For Medicaid Expansion Opposed By GOP
Gov. Tony Evers will try again to expand Medicaid coverage in Wisconsin, announcing Wednesday that his state budget proposal will also have more than $150 million in other health initiatives, including bolstering student mental health support, addressing the opioid crisis and increasing telehealth accessibility. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only further exacerbated the need for and underscored the urgency of making sure we have affordable, accessible services available to folks when they need it most, and that’s why it’s a top priority in our budget,” Evers said in a statement. (Bauer, 2/10)

The Boston Globe: The Mashpee Wampanoag Had Long Held COVID At Bay. Then, Tragedy Struck 
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has gained national praise for its early, decisive efforts to prevent and contain COVID-19, held up by the federal government as a model for Native Americans across the country. ... But after nearly a year of holding the virus at bay, the tribe is grappling with an outbreak that followed a heart-rending tragedy. More than 10 positive cases were reported last week, the most the tribe has recorded in any week since the pandemic began, following a funeral and gatherings held to grieve a 4-year-old boy who died in a traffic accident. (MacQuarrie, 2/10)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore To Restart COVID Relief Program, Distributing Debit Cards To 15,000 Households 
After a failed start under a previous administration, Baltimore is again kicking off a $6 million program to distribute debit cards to city residents affected economically by COVID-19. (Opilo, 2/10)

AP: Bill Would Make Mental Health Studies Mandatory
Lawmakers in North Dakota are considering a proposal to make mental health and wellness studies mandatory for middle and high school students. According to health officials, North Dakota’s rate of teen suicide is well above the national average. While some schools have elements of mental wellness in the classroom, a proposed bill would have mandated resources to help them and schools would be given standards on how to handle students who need help. (2/10)

In updates on the Minnesota health clinic shooting —

AP: Documents Show Several Red Flags For Clinic Shooting Suspect
The suspect in the fatal shooting at a Minnesota medical clinic was able to enter the building despite threatening violence there two years earlier, posting a sign near his home about a doctor he disliked and frightening a nurse at a nearby hospital so much that a colleague hit a panic button for help. Despite these red flags, Gregory Paul Ulrich entered an Allina medical clinic northwest of Minneapolis on Tuesday and opened fire, killing one staff member and injuring four others before he was arrested, authorities said. Authorities also found a suspicious device at the clinic and other devices at a hotel where Ulrich, 67, had been staying. (Forliti and Ibrahim, 2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Possible Early Covid-19 Cases In China Emerge During WHO Mission 
About 90 people were hospitalized with Covid-19-like symptoms in central China in the two months before the disease was first identified in Wuhan in late 2019, according to World Health Organization investigators, who said they pressed Beijing to allow further testing to determine whether the new virus was spreading earlier than previously known. Chinese authorities performed antibody tests on about two-thirds of those patients in the past few months, according to the investigators, and said they found no trace of infection by the virus. But members of the WHO team probing the pandemic’s origins said any antibodies could have subsided to undetectable levels during the delay. (Hinshaw, Page and McKay, 2/10)

NPR: Short On Syringes, Japan May Waste Millions Of Pfizer Vaccine Doses
Japan may have several million fewer coronavirus vaccine doses than originally planned because the country does not have the appropriate syringes, in another setback to one of the slower vaccination rollouts among developed economies. The Pfizer vaccine normally contains five doses per vial. But a special syringe, known as a low dead space syringe, which expels more medicine from the space between a syringe's needle and plunger, can eke out six doses per vial. (Kuhn, 2/11)

Bloomberg: Nebulizer That Vaporized Virus Starts New Australia Outbreak
A cluster of the virulent U.K. strain of coronavirus in Australia rose to 11 on Thursday, with authorities saying it started in a Melbourne quarantine hotel by a person who used a nebulizer to treat a health condition. The medical device, which vaporizes medication or liquid, also worked to spread the virus through mist “suspended in the air with very, very fine aerosolized particles,” said Victoria state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. This was how the virus was carried out of the hotel room into the corridor, where staff walking the halls were exposed, he said. (Scott, 2/11)

In news about Ebola —

The Washington Post: Ebola In Semen Likely Links New Case In Congo To Previous Outbreak 
A woman who died of the Ebola virus in eastern Congo on Feb. 3 was "almost certainly" infected by her husband, who survived an outbreak that ended in June, according to the World Health Organization's emergency response coordinator in Africa. The country’s health ministry is expected to release test results by the weekend confirming the link. If proved, the case would be further evidence that Ebola, which is transmitted via bodily fluids, can live in semen for many months, if not years, while remaining deadly. (Bearak, 2/10)

CIDRAP: Resistance To 3 Or More Antibiotics In 13% Of Serious Urinary Infections
One in eight US patients hospitalized with a complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI) have a pathogen with resistance to three or more routinely used antibiotic classes, researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases. To assess the prevalence of overlapping resistance to antibiotics commonly used to treat cUTIs and its impact on patient outcomes, the researchers conducted a retrospective study of patients hospitalized with a culture-positive carbapenem-susceptible cUTI using data from approximately 180 US institutions that submitted microbiology data from 2013 through 2018. (2/9)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Breastmilk Poses Little Risk Of Mom-To-Baby COVID-19 Transfer
A study today in mBio offers support to continue breastfeeding infants even when mothers have mild to moderate COVID-19 infections. The study showed breastmilk samples did not contain SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) RNA, but the authors suggest risk of transmission via breast skin to baby should be evaluated.The study used multiple breastmilk samples (37) from 14 women following a positive COVID-19 test. None of the 37 samples had detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA, but two of the infants tested positive for COVID-19. No illnesses were severe. (2/9)

New England Journal of Medicine: A Population-Based Study Of Genes Previously Implicated In Breast Cancer
This study provides estimates of the prevalence and risk of breast cancer associated with pathogenic variants in known breast cancer–predisposition genes in the U.S. population. These estimates can inform cancer testing and screening and improve clinical management strategies for women in the general population with inherited pathogenic variants in these genes. (Hu et al, 2/4)

The Journal Of Nutrition: Walking Initiated 20 Minutes Before The Time Of Individual Postprandial Glucose Peak Reduces The Glucose Response In Young Men With Overweight Or Obesity: A Randomized Crossover Study
This study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise timing using an individualized approach on PPG in overweight or obese young men. (Zhang et al, 2/9)

Politico: Reopening Schools Has Become A Bipartisan Issue. Why Isn’t Biden Pushing Harder?
Barely a day goes by when another expert who’s looked at the evidence or a parent who has lived with the stresses of kids at home doesn’t call for the return of in-person instruction. In intellectual and moral terms, the debate over reopening schools has been won, but political progress has been slow, mainly because powerful teachers unions are standing in the way, especially in big cities. If Biden wanted to add a touch of unity to his governing agenda, he’d call out the teachers unions for being an obstacle to educational and economic progress at a challenging time for the country. Of course, their status as a political pillar of the Democratic coalition makes this impossible. (Rich Lowry, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: The Teachers Unions Roll Over Biden
President Biden made an early pandemic show by promising that a majority of American schools would reopen in his first 100 days in office. But on Tuesday we learned that this depends on the meaning of the word “reopen.” His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools, so more than 50 percent, open by day 100 of his presidency and that means some teaching in classrooms,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. “So at least one day a week.” One day out of five? We doubt that’s how working parents define open. (2/10)

Boston Globe: Trump’s Environmental And Occupational Policies Are The Other Public Health Disasters
When history looks back at Donald Trump’s administration, the COVID-19 pandemic — which has so far killed about 470,000 Americans — will be seen as the biggest public health disaster of his term. But there is another, quieter health crisis for which Trump also bears full responsibility: a wide-scale rollback of environmental and occupational safeguards that resulted in more than 22,000 deaths during his term alone. From relaxing air pollution standards at coal-fired power plants and weakening fuel-economy rules for cars to allowing new uses of asbestos and weakening safety rules for underground miners, the damage done by Trump to Americans’ health has been profound. ( Philip J. Landrigan and Samantha Fisher, 2/11)

Newsweek: Biden And The Promise Of The People's Vaccine
President Joe Biden has made good on his pledge of re-joining the World Health Organization and committing to multilateralism in the U.S. COVID response by joining the international purchase and distribution platform COVAX. But he can do much more to ensure everyone, everywhere gets the COVID vaccine quickly. The world is watching as the three promising vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna/U.S. National Institute of Health and AstraZeneca/Oxford University are rolled-out in rich countries. Yet we're bracing ourselves for yet another major failure in the global COVID response: U.S. vaccine stocks are already running dry and AstraZeneca has failed to make good on its contracts to supply the European Union. (Mariana Mazzucato and Rebeca Grynspan, 2/11)

Stat: A Public Option For Health Insurance Could Be Costly In Times Of Crisis 
In a step to help more Americans get health insurance, President Biden signed an executive order creating an additional opportunity for Americans to sign up for subsidized coverage on the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. But Biden has his eyes set on something bigger to fulfill his goals of expanding health coverage: creating a public option to compete with private insurance. (Lanhee J. Chen, Tom Church and Daniel L. Heil, 2/11)

The Hill: Full COVID Recovery Requires Raising The Minimum Wage 
The coronavirus crisis recovery has been labeled “k-shaped” because of the way it has magnified existing inequalities. For most highly paid workers, the last year has brought challenges like working from home and lost childcare, but little job loss. But the labor market for lower-wage workers has been devastated, with massive job loss and unemployment. Those essential and front-line workers who still have jobs have had to risk their health and the health of their families for little pay. (Jesse Rothstein and Heidi Shierholz, 2/10)

The New York Times: How Germany Lost Control Of The Coronavirus
BERLIN — “We have lost control of this thing.” Those were the words of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, surveying the country’s situation in late January at a confidential meeting. She spoke with typical precision. In Germany, which on Wednesday prolonged its current lockdown until at least March 7, things are bad: Since October, cases have soared — they are only now starting to come down — and over 50,000 people have died. An atmosphere of grim resignation prevails. (Anna Sauerbrey, 2/11)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Passports: Why Should Baby Boomers Get Priority Treatment?
As vaccination campaigns proceed at different speeds around the world, all governments face the same ethical dilemma: how to deal with those who’ve completed their immunization program. The pressure to give back their full personal and social liberties, and to let them contribute in full to the economic recovery will be strong. But states would be unwise to create different classes of citizens. The vaccines approved so far need two doses to be effective. At least 19 million citizens globally have received both jabs: More than half of them are in the U.S., 5.3 million in the EU and 2.2 million in Israel. The world’s population is slightly less than 8 billion, so the proportion is tiny. However, as the number of different vaccines increases, and drug companies boost production, this number will grow quickly. The debate over what to do with this lucky minority is becoming louder. (Ferdinando Giugliano, 2/11)

New England Journal of Medicine: Does Vaccination Mean The End Of Masking And Social Distancing?
The continuing spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of Covid-19 is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal. In this audio interview conducted on February 10, 2021, the editors discuss whether Covid-19 vaccination changes our views on masking, testing, and social distancing. (Eric J. Rubin, Lindsey R. Baden, and Stephen Morrissey, 2/11)

New York Post: Greenwald Blasts Facebook For Censoring COVID Vaccine Opinions
Journalist Glenn Greenwald is blasting Facebook for its decision to crackdown on users posting comments about the coronavirus vaccine that undermine official information being provided by “authorities.” Greenwald, a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter, said social media giants like Facebook are under immense pressure from mainstream media outlets to censor dissenting opinion. “I think it’s so important to recognize that Silicon Valley companies are not the ones who want to do this​.​ ​T​hey would rather stay as far away from censoring​,​ and arbitrating​,​ and intervening​,​ and keeping people off their platforms, not because they’re noble and nice​,​ but because it’s in their business self-interest not to do it​.​ ​They’re being pressured to do it​,” he told Fox News’ Tucker. (Mark Moore, 2/10)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Expands COVID Distribution. A Good Step, But Don’t Stop There
Getting COVID-19 shots into arms needs to be an all hands on deck affair. The new, more infectious variants of the virus spreading through the state only underscore the importance of moving as quickly as possible. It would be great to somehow open the precise number of sites needed to satisfy the demand for vaccinations, no more and no fewer, like businesses selling coffee or burgers. But that is a luxury we do not have. We must flood the zone with ways to get vaccinated and then make any needed tweaks to the distribution system later. That’s why it was so good to see that a federal program will send vaccine vials directly to nearly 500 Walmart, Publix Winn-Dixie, Harveys and Fresco y Mas pharmacies across 52 Florida counties. (2/10)

JAMA: Involving Pregnant Individuals In Clinical Research On COVID-19 Vaccines
The continued global escalation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases is of particular concern for pregnant and lactating individuals. While many cases of COVID-19 are asymptomatic or relatively mild, recent evidence suggests that pregnant people are at increased risk of hospitalization and have a 3-fold adjusted relative risk of needing intensive care (10.5 vs 3.9/1000 cases) and mechanical ventilation (2.9 vs 1.1/1000 cases) compared with age-matched nonpregnant individuals. ... With the development of COVID-19 vaccines, there is the potential for prevention of this illness; however, the evidence for the utility, safety, and effectiveness of the available vaccines in pregnancy is unknown. (Diana W. Bianchi, Lisa Kaeser, and Alison N. Cernich, 2/10)