Newsweek: Joe Biden Outlines Timeline For COVID-19 Vaccinations In Children
Joe Biden has cautiously outlined a timeline for when he expects the COVID-19 vaccine to be offered to children under 12 in the U.S. Speaking at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati on Wednesday, President Biden said the decision would be led by scientific data, but added that he expected the rollout to begin between the end of August and October. (Cannon, 7/22)

CNN: Vaccines For Children: Biden Says He Believes Kids Under 12 Will Be Able To Get Covid-19 Vaccines 'Soon' 
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that children under the age of 12 could be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine "soon," predicting that the government could green light the rollout for young Americans in the next few months. "Soon, I believe," Biden said when asked by CNN's Don Lemon when most children under 12 would be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine. (Cole, 7/21)

The Guardian: Biden Says Children Under 12 Could Be Eligible For Covid Vaccines Within Months
Last week, an FDA official told NBC News that Covid-19 vaccine approval for younger children could come by midwinter. Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech both launched trials of their Covid-19 vaccines for kids under 12 in March, with results expected in the fall. “They’re not promising me any specific date, but my expectation, talking to the scientists,” Biden said at the town hall, “is that sometimes, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October, you’ll get a final approval” for vaccinating kids. But, he added, the ultimate decision lay with officials at the FDA and CDC. “I do not tell any scientists what they should do. I do not interfere,” Biden said. Meanwhile, he said, the CDC would probably recommend that “everyone under the age of 12 should probably be wearing masks in school”. (Singh, 7/21)

Tennessee clarifies parental consent for kids' vaccines —

ABC News: Lawmakers: Parental OK Needed For Minors To Get COVID Shot 
Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they received assurances that the state's health agency won't vaccinate minors for COVID-19 without parental consent, doubling back on a decades-old provision about children's vaccination rights that was a lightning rod in the firing of the state's top vaccine official. (Mattise, 7/21)

And in Maryland —

The Baltimore Sun: State Agencies Encourage Maryland School Systems To Set Up COVID-19 Testing In The Fall
Maryland’s health and education departments are encouraging schools to expand COVID-19 testing programs in the fall and offering to help pay — a total of $182 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The money would fund routine testing in public and private schools to catch coronavirus cases as early as possible. (Bowie and Cohn, 7/21)

Reuters: Biden Says CDC Will Advise Unvaccinated Kids To Mask Up In School This Fall 
U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday the Centers for Disease Control is likely to advise that kids who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 should wear masks when they return from summer holidays to school in the fall. The CDC is "going to say that what you should do is everyone under the age of 12 should probably be wearing masks in school. That's probably what's going to happen," Biden said at a town hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, in response to a question about school safety from a concerned parent. (7/21)

The Hill: Biden Says CDC Will Advise Unvaccinated Kids To Wear Masks In School
Biden suggested that enforcing the guidance would be difficult but that it would be a “community responsibility.” “It’s a matter of community responsibility and I think you’re going to see it work through,” Biden said. Biden made the comments in response to an audience member running for a local school board who expressed concerns about the safety of children as schools return in the fall. States across the country have rescinded mask orders as people have gotten vaccinated. (Chalfant, 7/21)

The Washington Post: Virginia Urges All Elementary-Schoolers, Some Middle- And High-Schoolers, To Wear Masks Indoors This Fall
Virginia is urging all elementary school students, staff and teachers to wear masks indoors this fall — even if they are vaccinated — and asking that students, staff and teachers in middle and high school wear masks indoors if they are not fully vaccinated. The state’s departments of health and education published the highly anticipated fall masking guidelines in a news release Wednesday afternoon. The guidance, although “strongly recommended,” is not binding, according to the release. Schools will have the freedom to “implement local mask policies” as determined by district health officials. (Natanson, 7/21)

On school buses —

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Didn't Spread Among School Bus Riders, Virginia Study Finds
A study yesterday in the Journal of School Health finds that while 39 elementary and high school students in a Virginia public school district rode school buses while infected with SARS-CoV-2, investigators found no evidence of viral transmission to other students or adults. A team led by Eastern Virginia Medical School researchers tested all 1,154 in-person students in grades 1 to 12 every 1 or 2 weeks in the first 7 months of the 2020-21 school year, during the period of highest community transmission. (7/21)

More on mask issues across the country —

The Washington Post: White House Officials Debate Masking Push As Covid Infections Spike
Top White House aides and Biden administration officials are debating whether they should urge vaccinated Americans to wear masks in more settings as the delta variant causes spikes in coronavirus infections across the country, according to six people familiar with the discussions. The talks are in a preliminary phase and their result could be as simple as new messaging from top White House officials. But some of the talks include officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who are separately examining whether to update their masking guidance, according to a Biden administration aide and a federal health official. (Linskey, Diamond, Pager and Sun, 7/21)

CNBC: Delta Covid Variant: Fauci Says Vaccinated People 'Might Want To Consider' Wearing Masks Indoors
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said fully vaccinated people might want to consider wearing masks indoors as a precaution against the rapidly spreading delta variant in the U.S. “If you want to go the extra mile of safety even though you’re vaccinated when you’re indoors, particularly in crowded places, you might want to consider wearing a mask,” Fauci said in an interview Wednesday with CNBC. (Mendez, 7/21)

CNBC: Covid: Local Officials Across U.S. Are Starting To Reimpose Mask Rules As Delta Variant Takes Hold
From Los Angeles to Massachusetts, local officials across the country are pleading with Americans to once again wear masks inside as the delta variant rips through the U.S. Several counties across California and Nevada are now advising all residents to wear masks in public indoor settings — whether they are vaccinated or not. Local leaders in at least three more states have reinstated mask mandates, issued facial covering recommendations or threatened the return of strict public health limits for all residents — in defiance of federal health guidelines that say vaccinated people don’t have to follow those protocols in most settings. (Towey, 7/21)

Axios: New Orleans Issues Indoor Mask Advisory Amid Surging COVID-19 Cases 
New Orleans officials issued a public health advisory on Wednesday "strongly recommending" that people wear face masks indoors, the Associated Press reports. COVID-19 cases, driven by the Delta variant, are once again surging across the country. Earlier this week CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cited Louisiana among a handful of states with low vaccination rates that are driving a plurality of new cases. (Saric, 7/21)

AP: Biden Says Getting Vaccinated 'Gigantically Important'
President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it’s “gigantically important” for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again. Biden, speaking Wednesday night at a televised town hall in Cincinnati, said the public health crisis has turned largely into a plight of the unvaccinated as the spread of the delta variant has led to a surge in infections around the country. “We have a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten the vaccination — it’s that basic, that simple,” he said on the CNN town hall. (Jaffe and Madhani, 7/22)

AP: AP FACT CHECK: Biden Goes Too Far In Assurances On Vaccines
President Joe Biden offered an absolute guarantee Wednesday that people who get their COVID-19 vaccines are completely protected from infection, sickness and death from the coronavirus. The reality is not that cut and dried. The vaccines are extremely effective but “breakthrough” infections do occur and the delta variant driving cases among the unvaccinated in the U.S. is not fully understood. Also Biden inflated the impact of his policies on U.S. jobs created in his first half-year in office, misleadingly stating his administration had done more than any other president. He neglects to mention he had population growth on his side in his comparison. (Woodward and Yen, 7/22)

Bloomberg: ‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine Myths Cripple U.S. Uptake As Delta Surges
The excuses range from the merely false to the absurd. The shots don’t work. They impair fertility. They’ll alter your DNA. They’ll magnetize you. They actually spread the virus. Unvaccinated Americans cite a litany of myths to explain their hesitance to get shots, confounding local health officials battling yet another surge of coronavirus cases fueled by the more transmissible delta variant. Inside the White House, the concern is so acute that President Joe Biden has publicly lashed out at Facebook Inc. for helping to spread disinformation. “Everything from Bill Gates putting a microchip in it — I’ve heard everything. It’s ridiculous,” said Tom Keller, chief executive officer of Ozarks Health Care in southern Missouri, a region with low vaccination rates that’s an epicenter of the U.S. delta outbreak. (Wingrove, Brown and Zuidijk, 7/22)

The Baltimore Sun: U.S. COVID Vaccination Rate Still Lags Because Of Disinformation Campaign, Hopkins Epidemiologist Warns 
U.S. COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to lag largely due to widespread disinformation and misinformation campaigns designed to suppress the science and sway people from getting immunized against the virus, a top epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said Wednesday. Less than 50% of the U.S. population and 60% of those older than 18 have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Slightly more than 56% of the population has received at least one dose. That’s well behind the goal President Joe Biden’s administration set for the nation in March, which aimed for 70% of adults to have at least one dose of vaccine by July 4. (Miller, 7/21)

CBS News: COVID Patient In Louisiana Says He'd Opt For Hospitalization Again Over Vaccine 
Roughly one in three Louisianans are fully vaccinated. This week, the state's health department reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since late February. Scott Roe is one of them.  "Here I am recovering, getting out of here finally tomorrow. Am I going to get a vaccine? No," Roe said. "Because there's too many issues with these vaccines." This father, former baseball coach, small business owner and hunter caught COVID and then developed pneumonia. (7/21)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

AP: More Trucks, Cash Given Away In WVa Vaccination Sweepstakes
Two women have won custom-outfitted trucks and a nurse won $1 million as the latest recipients of West Virginia’s vaccination sweepstakes prizes. Gov. Jim Justice surprised Shannon Cook of Glen Dale in Marshall County while she was shopping Wednesday by calling her name over the store’s loudspeaker. She came to the front desk and was told she was among the winners in the fifth prize drawing of the sweepstakes, the governor’s office said. (7/22)

Houston Chronicle: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Recipients Consider COVID-19 Booster Shots As Delta Variant Spreads
In one week, Baytown resident LaToya Washington will resume teaching in-person high school classes, and she’s worried her Johnson & Johnson vaccine from March will not be enough. As the delta variant spreads across the U.S., dominating new infections, people who received the one-dose immunization are considering a booster shot for extra protection. A pre-print study, which has not been peer-reviewed, released Tuesday from researchers at New York University found that people inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine formed fewer antibodies against the delta variant, and suggests people should consider a second vaccine dose. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not issued guidance on whether to consider an extra shot. (Wu, 7/22)

Axios: Saban Says "Close To 90%" Of Alabama Football Players Are Vaccinated 
Nearly 90% of the University of Alabama's football team has been vaccinated for COVID-19, head coach Nick Saban said at a press conference Wednesday. The high percentage of vaccinated players on the team stands in contrast to the overall low vaccination rates in Alabama, where only 42.4% of people over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated, according to the New York Times. (Reyes, 7/21)

KHN: Big Leagues Balk At Endorsing Vaccination 
Santa Clara County, where the San Francisco 49ers train and play their NFL home games, has one of the highest covid vaccination rates in California. As of July 11, more than 76% of its vaccine-eligible residents were fully vaccinated, partly because the county and the 49ers franchise turned Levi’s Stadium into a mass inoculation site where more than 350,000 doses were administered over four months. The 49ers themselves, however, are not so enthusiastic about the shots. In June, head coach Kyle Shanahan said only 53 of the 91 athletes on the team roster — 58% — were fully vaccinated. The team has issued no updates since. (Kreidler, 7/22)

The Hill: DeSantis Urges Public To Get Vaccinated: These Shots Are 'Saving Lives'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is urging Floridians to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying that the shots are “saving lives.” In a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis told reporters that 95% of the people being admitted to hospitals in the state due to COVID-19 complications haven’t been vaccinated at all, implying that “vaccines are saving lives,” especially with regard to nursing homes. “If you look at the people that are being admitted to hospitals …. over 95% of them are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all,” DeSantis said. “These vaccines are saving lives. They are reducing mortality.” (Oshin, 7/21)

New York Post: Mitch McConnell Warns Of Return To 2020 If COVID Vaccine Rates Don’t Increase
A fresh wave of deaths and hospitalizations like the ones that crippled the country last year loom on the horizon if people don’t wise up and get vaccinated against COVID-19, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned. “These shots need to get in everybody’s arms as rapidly as possible or we´re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for — that we went through last year,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a news conference Tuesday, adding, “This is not complicated.” (Marcus, 7/21)

Axios: Prominent Republicans Find New Enthusiasm For COVID-19 Vaccines 
Some GOP lawmakers and media figures have been making a point to be publicly supportive of coronavirus vaccines as the Delta variant rips through parts of the country with low vaccination rates. Vaccine resistance is much higher among Republicans than Democrats, and some party leaders have been openly hostile to the U.S. vaccination effort despite the effectiveness of the shots. (Owens, 7/22)

NBC News: As GOP Supporters Die Of Covid, The Party Remains Split In Its Vaccination Message
As the delta variant of the coronavirus courses through the American bloodstream, the Republican Party can't make up its mind about vaccines. Former President Donald Trump has said that people should get inoculated but also that he wants to respect their right to choose not to. For the most part, he's been as reluctant to urge vaccinations as his political base has been resistant — perhaps leery of crossing his own voters, even though deaths are higher in traditionally conservative regions. (Allen, 7/21)

In related news —

The Hill: Biden Pokes At Fox Hosts: They've Had 'Altar Call' On Vaccines 
President Biden said it is good that Fox News anchors are now urging viewers to get vaccinated while poking fun at hosts for changing their rhetoric Wednesday. "One of those other networks — they’re not a big fan of mine, one you talk about a lot — but if you notice, as they say in the southern part of my state, they’ve had an alter call, some of those guys,” Biden, invoking the religious act of stepping forward to make a spiritual commitment, said during a CNN town hall. (Gangitano, 7/21)

The Washington Post: Nation’s Largest Hospital Group Supports Mandatory Coronavirus Vaccines For Health Workers
The nation’s largest hospital association called Wednesday for all health workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as case numbers surge again. “To protect all patients, communities and personnel from the known and substantial risks of COVID-19, the American Hospital Association strongly urges the vaccination of all health care personnel,” the organization said in a policy statement. “The AHA also supports hospitals and health systems that adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies for health care personnel, with local factors and circumstances shaping whether and how these policies are implemented.” (Diamond, 7/21)

Modern Healthcare: American Hospital Association Supports COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
The American Hospital Association supports hospitals and health systems that require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the group announced Wednesday. AHA, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals and health systems, joins dozens of providers and several associations that have also backed vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. (Kacik, 7/21)

In related news about hospital mandates —

Fox News: NJ Hospital System Threatening To Fire Unvaccinated Employees Faces Backlash
Unvaccinated healthcare workers are sparking outrage after receiving an ultimatum from their employer. Hackensack Meridian Health, one of the largest hospital organizations in New Jersey, is making its employees choose: get vaccinated or be terminated. A letter sent out to staff by CEO Robert Garrett calls for all hospital staff to have at least one coronavirus vaccine dose by October 1, or face continued suspension and eventual termination. Amanda Heim is a licensed practical nurse for a Hackensack Meridian hospital and one of the employees facing termination for her decision to not be vaccinated, she told Fox News. "I feel awful," she said. "I feel like I have to choose between my values and a career, it's terrifying." (Coffey, 7/21)

Detroit Free Press: Henry Ford Health COO: Employee COVID-19 Vaccines Is 'Right Thing To Do'
Days after hundreds of people protested outside five Henry Ford Health System hospitals, the COO and president of health care operations said Wednesday that "we have never been more committed" to the system's decision to require COVID-19 vaccinations of its employees. The decision "is the right thing to do for the health and safety of our patients, our workforce and the communities we serve. If health care is not going to lead on this issue, who will?" COO Bob Riney said. "They depend on us and trust us to ensure a safe and healthy environment and we pledged to honor that promise." (Hall, 7/22)

AP: US Virus Cases Nearly Triple In 2 Weeks Amid Misinformation
COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. “Our staff, they are frustrated,” said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May. (Hollingsworth and Salter, 7/21)

Axios: COVID Cases Are Up 55% Across The U.S. 
Coronavirus infections are rising dramatically all over the U.S. as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads. Some “breakthrough” infections are happening to vaccinated people, but this rising tide of cases and hospitalizations is mainly a threat to those who aren’t vaccinated. And in some parts of the country, most people aren’t vaccinated — so the virus can still do serious damage. Nationwide, the average number of new cases per day was up 55% over the past week. (Baker, 7/22)

Stat: There Are Tools To Beat Back Covid Again. Does Anyone Want To Use Them?
Before Covid-19 vaccines, public health officials fought off the pandemic with the only tools they had: mask-wearing, social distancing, school closures, and limits on the size of gatherings. Now, with cases surging again in much of the United States due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, those tools could still make a measurable difference at a critical moment — but not if the public is unwilling to use them. (Branswell, 7/22)

Covid's wrath continues from coast to coast —

The Boston Globe: Provincetown COVID-19 Cluster Grows To 256 Confirmed Cases, Town Manager Says
A COVID-19 cluster in Provincetown that prompted officials there to issue an indoor mask-wearing advisory earlier this week has grown to 256 confirmed cases, a town official said. On Monday, town officials said from July 1 through July 16, 132 positive COVID-19 cases had been identified, a “vast majority” in fully vaccinated people. But as of Tuesday, the number of cases had nearly doubled, Town Manager Alex Morse wrote in a Facebook post. Officials are investigating the vaccination status of those who tested positive, he said. Of those who tested positive, 190 are Massachusetts residents, 109 of whom live in Barnstable County, Morse said. The rest live outside Massachusetts. Those who were fully vaccinated and tested positive are largely experiencing mild symptoms, officials said. (Kaufman, 7/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports More Than 200 COVID Cases For The First Time Since May, But With 30% Less Testing 
Maryland health officials reported more than 200 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide Wednesday for the first time since May 30. Testing levels are down about 30% since late May and are on a downward trend, according to state data. A total of 14,864 new tests were reported over the past 24 hours. Decreased testing limits the state’s surveillance of the spread of virus, including its more contagious delta variant. (Campbell, 7/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Average New COVID-19 Cases Increased For The 15th Consecutive Day
The average number of new COVID-19 cases and the average positivity rate both increased on Wednesday, according to Department of Health Services data. The seven-day average of daily cases increased to 221, up 27 cases from Tuesday. The seven-day average has increased for 15 consecutive days. The positivity rate increased to 2.8%. (Bentley, 7/21)

Des Moines Register: The Average Number Of New Daily COVID-19 Cases In Iowa Has More Than Doubled In The Past Two Weeks
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are back on the rise in Iowa, like in the U.S. in general, according to the weekly coronavirus data released by the Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, Iowa was averaging 76 new coronavirus cases per day. That rate has more than doubled since then, with an average of 199 new individuals testing positive each day over the past week. Public health experts are warning that infections are mounting, especially among unvaccinated people, because of the spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the virus. (Webber, 7/21)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Experts Concerned With COVID Surge As Start Of School Nears
Some Oklahoma health leaders are calling on the governor to reissue an emergency health declaration as the state’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge, especially as children are set to return to school next month. Fueled by the delta variant and low vaccination rates, COVID-related hospitalizations nearly tripled in the last two weeks in Oklahoma, said Aaron Wendelboe, an epidemiologist with the University of Oklahoma’s College of Public Health. “This situation is really looking grim, with a greater increase in cases and hospitalizations than I expected for mid-summer,” Wendelboe said. (Branham, 7/21)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Doctors Warn Of Another Summer Surge Of COVID-19 — As Daily Case Count Is The Highest In 5 Months
Utah is seeing a summer rerun of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Delta variant has helped drive new cases and hospitalizations to levels not seen for months, a leading doctor warned. “We are in a very similar place to where we were last summer,” said Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious diseases physician at Intermountain Healthcare, during a COVID-19 community briefing broadcast Wednesday on Facebook Live. University of Utah Health is postponing some elective surgeries “because COVID-19 is surging again,” said Dr. Kencee Graves, associate chief medical officer for inpatient services. (Intermountain so far has not delayed any elective surgeries, a company spokesman said.) (Means and Pierce, 7/21)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Sees Biggest 1-Day Increase In COVID-19 Deaths Since Feb. 20
Nevada on Wednesday reported 931 new coronavirus cases and 28 deaths over the preceding day — the latter a concerning number that reflected two days of delayed reporting. The fatalities reported by the Department of Health and Human Services — the highest single-day increase since Feb. 20 — raised the state death toll from the disease to 5,789 and doubled the 14-day moving average of daily deaths from two to four. The report came a day after the department reported no deaths, and a spokeswoman for the agency confirmed that the fatalities figure covered two days. (Dylan, 7/21)

Los Angeles Times: Alarming L.A. Spike In Coronavirus Cases: 2,551 In One Day
Los Angeles County reported its largest single-day total of new coronavirus cases in months as the region races to wrap its arms around what officials now say is a new surge of the virus. Public health officials reported 2,551 new infections Wednesday — the highest figure since early March, when the county was shaking off the last vestiges of the fall-and-winter wave. Wednesday’s report continues a troubling pattern of increased transmission that emerged after the state’s June 15 reopening and coincided with increased circulation of the hypercontagious Delta variant. (Money, 7/21)

Anchorage Daily News: Sitka Grapples With Spread Of COVID-19 As Alaska Sees Continued Rise In Cases
Sitka’s growing COVID-19 outbreak continued this week, with another 62 resident cases reported Tuesday and Wednesday as case counts statewide climbed by 472 total over the same two-day period. A Sitka resident died with the virus Monday, according to reports in the Daily Sitka Sentinel. Also Monday, a visitor leaving Sitka tested positive for the virus, then boarded an Alaska Airlines flight at 6 a.m. Tuesday with three others, according to a message from the local public health nurse. All four showed symptoms of COVID-19. (Hollander, 7/21)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Hawaiian County Warns Residents About COVID Risk In Las Vegas
A rural Hawaiian county is warning residents that recent Las Vegas visitors returned to its islands with coronavirus, according to daily briefings from the county. Kaua’i County, which covers the islands of Kauaʻi, Niʻihau, Lehua and Kaʻula, said many of their most recent COVID-19 cases were in residents who had recently traveled to Las Vegas. The county reported four new cases Wednesday, bringing the confirmed area total to 477. Hawaii has reported 3,425 confirmed cases as of Wednesday and 83 probable cases, according to state data. (Schnur, 7/21)

AP: Rare 'Breakthrough' COVID Cases Are Causing Alarm, Confusion
Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe illness and death. The best indicator: U.S. hospitalizations and deaths are nearly all among the unvaccinated, and real-world data from Britain and Israel support that protection against the worst cases remains strong. What scientists call “breakthrough” infections in people who are fully vaccinated make up a small fraction of cases. (Neergaard, 7/21)

The Hill: New Jersey Officials Say Nearly 50 Fully-Vaccinated Residents Have Died From COVID-19
New Jersey health officials say that almost 50 fully-vaccinated people have died from COVID-19 according to data through July 12, NJ Advance Media reported on Wednesday. Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, told the news outlet that all 49 people who died were over 50 years old. Thirty were over 80 years old, 13 people were between 65 and 79 years old, and six were between 50 and 64 years old. (Vakil, 7/21)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: As COVID Cases Surge In Louisiana, The Inevitable Is Happening: More Breakthrough Infections
As COVID-19 cases surge in Louisiana among unvaccinated people, the inevitable is occurring: some vaccinated people are also getting sick. This has raised concerns that the highly transmissible delta variant, which now accounts for 83% of cases in Louisiana and in neighboring states, is better at slipping past the vaccine’s defenses. But according to health experts closely tracking infections, the vaccines remain very effective at what they were created to do: prevent severe illness and death. (Woodruff, 7/21)

CNN: How Worried Should Vaccinated People Be About Covid-19 Breakthrough Infections?
Coronavirus infections are on the rise again in the United States. While more than 99% of deaths are among those unvaccinated, anecdotal reports abound of breakthrough infections, or cases of fully vaccinated people who still test positive for Covid-19 — including several New York Yankee baseball players. How worried should vaccinated people be of contracting Covid-19? If you're vaccinated, are you still able to transmit coronavirus to others, such as young children too young to get the vaccine themselves? Does the more transmissible Delta variant change the equation, and what precautions should vaccinated people still be taking? (Hetter, 7/22)

CNBC: Novartis CEO Says Covid-Related Doctor Visit Delays Likely Impacting Cancer Diagnosis Rates
The health-care system is still seeing lower rates of diagnoses for certain conditions after the coronavirus pandemic kept non-Covid patients away from the hospital early on, Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan told CNBC on Wednesday. “I think the signals that were sent that ultimately asked patients to stay away from the emergency room, stay away from hospitals, sent a very powerful message to patients not to get the care that they needed,” Narasimhan said on “Closing Bell.” “It may have been appropriate given the public health emergency, but over time what that does is it creates a significant need for better treatments for these patients.” (Singh, 7/21)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Test Providers Are 'Gouging' Insurers, AHIP Says
Out-of-network providers that charge more for COVID-19 tests are performing a greater share of them during this phase of the pandemic, leading to rising expenses among health insurance companies, the trade group AHIP maintains in a report published Tuesday. The number of out-of-network providers charging at least 50% more than the commercial average for COVID-19 tests has doubled since the start of the pandemic, with 36% of providers pricing tests at above the standard rates. The share of providers charging at least $185 for a coronavirus test rose to 54% in March, compared to 42% last April when the pandemic was new to the U.S., according to the Washington-based insurance industry trade association. (Tepper, 7/20)

Also —

PBS NewsHour: Traumatized Arkansas Hospital Workers Struggle As COVID Surges Among Unvaccinated
Casey Johnson has never let a COVID patient die alone. In her years as a bedside nurse at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Johnson has watched countless patients pass. But the pandemic — especially the state’s third surge in the final months of 2020 — brought a wave of death unlike any she’d ever seen. To those who die in her care, she is a stranger, she said. But she can still offer them comfort. She’s caressed patients’ hands, quietly played “Amazing Grace” from her iPhone, gently bathed tired limbs. She sharpened her sixth sense for when someone was about to die — their breathing more sporadic, their mood more restless before becoming solemn and withdrawn. Those who hadn’t been robbed of their voice by the virus would often tell her “‘Today’s the day,’” or “‘I want to go home.’” She’s never gotten used to the conversations with loved ones who have been left behind, she said, and each time, it “takes a little bit out of you.” (Santhanam, 7/21)

CNN: Young People Intubated With Covid-19 Should Be 'A Gigantic Wakeup Call,' Alabama Doctor Says 
With Covid-19 cases rising and vaccination rates on the decline, health experts say they are concerned about the next chapter in the pandemic -- especially for younger Americans, who they say are feeling the impacts. "We do know that in our ICUs, we are seeing younger people intubated who are very sick or who are on the floors and are very sick," Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said. "That should be a gigantic wake-up call." (Holcombe, 7/22)

NBC News: 'It's Too Late': Alabama Doctor Shares Final Moments Of Covid Patients, Urges Vaccination
A doctor in Alabama pleaded on Facebook this week for Covid-19 skeptics to get vaccinated — unlike some of her patients who paid the ultimate price. Dr. Brytney Cobia’s impassioned and sobering Facebook post from Sunday has been widely circulated on social media. The Birmingham physician said people are listening to her firsthand accounts of treating critical patients who regret never getting inoculated. “I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections. One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late," she wrote. (Planas, 7/21)

The Wall Street Journal: States Announce $26 Billion Settlement To Resolve Opioid Lawsuits 
States unveiled a historic $26 billion settlement with drug companies to resolve thousands of opioid-crisis lawsuits, paving the way for communities across the country to secure a jolt of funding to address an epidemic in painkiller addiction that hasn’t abated. The nation’s three largest drug distributors— McKesson Corp. , AmerisourceBergen Corp. , and Cardinal Health Inc. —and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson have been negotiating the deal for more than two years, but Wednesday’s announcement signifies an important milestone that could clear the way for money to be received by states as soon as early next year. (Randazzo, 7/21)

Stat: States Reach $26 Billion Deal With Wholesalers, J&J Over Opioid Lawsuits
As part of the settlement, the wholesalers – McKesson (MCK), AmerisourceBergen (ABC) and Cardinal Health (CAH) – will pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed to pay up to $5 billion over nine years and exit the opioid business. More than 40 states are expected to agree to the settlement, according to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Roughly 3,000 lawsuits filed by states, counties, cities, and tribes claimed the wholesalers failed to monitor suspicious shipments. Drug makers were accused of downplaying the risk of addiction to opioid painkillers while simultaneously encouraging doctors to overprescribe the medicines. (Silverman, 7/21)

The Washington Post: Opioid Companies Reach $26 Billion Settlement To Resolve Lawsuits
The companies have denied wrongdoing. In a joint statement, the distributors said that while they dispute the claims made in lawsuits, the settlement marks a step “toward achieving broad resolution of governmental opioid claims and delivering meaningful relief to communities across the United States.” “The companies remain deeply concerned about the impact the opioid epidemic is having on individuals, families, and communities across the nation and are committed to being part of the solution,” the statement said. (Kornfield and Bernstein, 7/21)

In related news from Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina —

AP: Indiana Expected To Get $507 Million From Opioid Settlement
Indiana will receive $507 million as part of a multi-state agreement to settle a lawsuit against opioid distributors designed to bring relief to people struggling with addiction to the drug, officials said Wednesday. Attorney General Todd Rokita said the settlement marks a step forward in efforts to end the opioid epidemic and provide justice to families affected by opioid addiction. (7/22)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Could Receive $460 Million From Opioid Litigation Settlement
Kentucky could receive up to $460 million through a proposed $26 billion settlement with three major drug distributors and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, who were sued by states in numerous lawsuits over their role in the country's opioid crisis. Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced at a press conference Wednesday his office had 30 days to review the settlement agreement, but expressed confidence it would be accepted. "Rest assured that we will be doing our due diligence to make sure the terms are right for the commonwealth, but we are very optimistic that the settlement will go forward," Cameron said. (Sonka, 7/21)

AP: AG Stein: NC's Share Of Opioid Settlement Could Be $750M
The state of North Carolina and scores of local governments could receive $750 million combined from a $26 billion proposed national settlement with several opioid producers, Attorney General Josh Stein’s office said. Stein, one of several attorneys general who negotiated the deal and laid out key details Wednesday, said the proposed agreement would go toward countering the opioid epidemic with direct assistance. (7/22)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

Stat: In Same Hospitals, Black Patients Receive Fewer Opioids Than White Patients
Inequities in health care are pervasive, from access to quality of care, and a new study finds that common opioids such as codeine and morphine are more often prescribed to white patients than to Black patients treated within the same health system. White patients received both more pills and stronger doses, according to the study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In about 90% of the 310 health systems studied, the opioid dose prescribed to white patients was higher than the one prescribed to Black patients. On average, white patients received 36% more pain medication by dosage than Black patients, even though both groups received prescriptions at similar rates. (Lloreda, 7/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Havana Syndrome Task Force To Be Led By Veteran Of Hunt For Bin Laden
CIA Director William Burns has tapped a veteran of the agency’s hunt for Osama bin Laden to head a task force aimed at finding the cause of unexplained health incidents suffered by U.S. spies and diplomats around the world, current and former officials familiar with the matter said. The choice of the Central Intelligence Agency officer—whose identity remains undercover—is part of what the officials described as a quickening effort to determine the source of the apparent attacks, which has proven elusive. They have affected scores of U.S. officials posted overseas over the last five years, and are sometimes known as “Havana Syndrome” because the symptoms were first reported in 2016 by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. (Strobel, 7/21)

The Washington Post: Havana Syndrome: CIA Officer Who Hunted Bin Laden Will Look For Cause Of Mysterious Illnesses 
CIA Director William J. Burns handpicked the officer, who is undercover and a veteran of counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations, these people said, speaking like others on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive assignment. They added that the officer’s work on the operation to find and kill bin Laden, which the CIA counts among its historic successes, underscored the emphasis and urgency Burns placed on attributing the cause of the illnesses, which have caused headaches, hearing loss and brain injuries and led to early retirements in some instances. (Harris, 7/21)

The Wall Street Journal: What Is Havana Syndrome? What We Know 
Havana Syndrome is a series of unexplained medical symptoms first experienced by U.S. State Department personnel stationed in Cuba beginning in late 2016. At the time, those diplomats had been dispatched to Cuba as part of the rapprochement between the two countries begun under President Barack Obama, after decades of severed diplomatic relations between the two countries. The emergence of the ailments on Cuban soil strained those developing ties. Since the initial cases, diplomats and intelligence officers stationed around the world have experienced similar symptoms. Those affected report a range of conditions including dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive difficulties and memory loss of varying severity. In some cases, diplomats and intelligence officers have left active service due to complications from the condition. (Tau, 7/21)

In case you missed it —

The New York Times: Spy Agencies Turn To Scientists As They Wrestle With Mysteries 
The nation’s intelligence agencies are looking for ways to increase their expertise in a range of scientific disciplines as they struggle to answer unexplained questions — about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, unidentified phenomenon observed by Navy pilots and mysterious health ailments affecting spies and diplomats around the world. Traditional spycraft has failed to make significant progress on those high-profile inquiries, and many officials have grown convinced that they require a better marriage of intelligence gathering and scientific examination. (Barnes, 7/8)

BuzzFeed News: US Intelligence Agencies Are Trying To Solve Scientific Mysteries And Failing Badly
In the absence of any real evidence, US intelligence reports — typically shrouded in secrecy — are fueling a flurry of speculation over today’s biggest scientific mysteries. Yet history has shown that intelligence agencies are not equipped to quickly solve scientific problems, and their findings look more likely to spark fear and confusion rather than crack any cases. Although they all boast technical expertise, intelligence agencies, at their heart, are not really focused on solving scientific mysteries, said Loch Johnson, a political scientist at the University of Georgia and senior editor of the academic journal Intelligence and National Security. They are good at analyzing political situations and spying, he said, “but when it comes to scientific matters, we really fall off.” (Vergano, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Leaders Urge Congress To Fund Anti-Gun Violence Programs
Leaders from more than a dozen large health systems are calling on Congressional leaders to support President Joe Biden's proposed $5 billion investment into community-based violence prevention programs. In a letter sent to leaders of both parties in the House and Senate on Wednesday, CEOs of the 18 systems along with more than 1,300 healthcare professionals urged lawmakers to keep the inclusion of the violence prevention provision within Biden's $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan. (Ross Johnson, 7/21)

Also —

CIDRAP: Study Ties Superbug Prevalence In The ED To Ambulance Rides
A study by Duke University scientists today reveals that patients arriving at their emergency department (ED) via ambulance were almost four times more likely to have methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) colonization or infection than those who didn't arrive by ambulance, though numbers of both were small. The single-center retrospective cohort study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, involved 11,324 patients from 2016 to 2019. About one third (3,903) were in the ambulance group, with the remainder in the unexposed group. (7/21)

North Carolina Health News: Blue Cross NC Expands Coverage For Trans Surgeries 
After what LGBTQ advocates say was a record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation, they are celebrating a small victory in North Carolina. Blue Cross NC, formerly known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, will now include coverage for gender-affirming facial surgery and voice therapy for transgender and gender-nonconforming people as medically necessary care. The move follows advocacy from the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), on behalf of Equality NC, the LGBTQ Center of Durham and two transgender women. (Thompson, 7/22)

KQED: California Court Rules Nursing Home Employees Can Deadname Transgender Seniors
LGBTQ rights advocates said Monday that they will seek to challenge an appeals court decision tossing out part of a California law designed to protect older LGBTQ residents in nursing homes. The 2017 law is intended to protect against discrimination or mistreatment based on residents' sexual orientation or gender identity. The Third District Court of Appeal overturned the part of the law barring employees of long-term care facilities from willfully and repeatedly using anything other than residents' preferred names and pronouns. In other words, it was illegal for employees to intentionally misgender trans residents by using the names and pronouns they were assigned at birth, a practice known as deadnaming. The ban on deadnaming violates employees' rights to free speech, the court ruled Friday. (7/20)

Fox News: Two Paramedics Suspended After Grandmother Alleges They Falsely Pronounced Teen's Death
Two Houston paramedics have been suspended for seven days following an investigation involving the resuscitation of a teenage boy that failed to meet "standards and expectations," authorities confirmed to Fox News. Stacy Williams dialed 911 on Jan. 26 in search of a catheter for her 14-year-old grandson Jacah, a survivor of shaken baby syndrome, who had been administered two doses of trazodone and was asleep for an extended time, as expected. Williams grew concerned after Jacah didn’t urinate all day. The boy’s lips were turning white and when Williams pressed on his nails, the color wasn’t returning, she told Fox News. She wasn’t alarmed because the child’s body temperature and heart rate typically run low. (Rivas, 7/21)

In corporate news —

Becker's Hospital Review: Oregon Health District Ousts Hospital CEO
The Southern Coos Health District Board has fired Eugene Suksi, CEO of Bandon, Ore.-based Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center. During a special meeting July 14 after an executive session, the board exercised the termination clause of Mr. Suksi's contract without cause, saying it had "lost confidence in his ability to effectively lead the hospital," according to a news release shared with Becker's July 20. (Gooch, 7/20)

Modern Healthcare: UPMC Agrees To Pay $2.7M To Settle 2014 Data Breach Lawsuit
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has agreed to pay up to $2.65 million to settle a proposed class-action related to a 2014 data breach, according to a preliminary approval motion filed last week and shared with Modern Healthcare. The settlement would end a lawsuit UPMC employees filed in a Pennsylvania state court in 2014, seeking to represent the workers who were employed by UPMC whose information was potentially compromised in the 2014 data breach, in which a hacker gained access to personal data on an estimated 66,000 current and former UPMC employees. (Kim Cohen, 7/21)

Los Angeles Times: Former San Diego Hospital Worker Accused Of Stealing Patient Data For Unemployment Claims
A former employee of Scripps Health in San Diego is accused of stealing the personal information of dozens of patients as part of a scheme to file fraudulent pandemic-related unemployment claims in their names, according to a federal complaint. Matthew Lombardo is one of seven people charged in two separate investigations surrounding the use of stolen identities to file for pandemic employment assistance under the CARES Act, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday. (Davis, 7/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health To Pay $5.5M Settlement In Nurse Class-Action Suit
A Washington healthcare system will pay $5.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which thousands of nurses claim they weren't properly paid for lunch and other breaks, reports The Kitsap Sun. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health — the byproduct of an official merger between Tacoma, Wash.-based CHI Franciscan and Seattle-based Virginia Mason — was accused of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Washington state law. The case, brought by Hana Etcheverry, RN, a nurse at the former Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Wash., alleged nurses who worked shifts of 12 hours or more, "experience significant amounts of pre- and post-shift off-the-clock work, including unpaid, on-duty time preparing for their days before clocking in as well as completing charting and patient paperwork after clocking out." (Masson, 7/20)

Stat: Happify To Launch Prescription App For Depression Under Loosened FDA Rules
Leveraging Food and Drug Administration regulations loosened during the pandemic, Happify Health, which is best known for its consumer wellness app, will launch new prescription-only software to treat depression. Happify, founded in 2012, recently announced it had raised $73 million to bolster its efforts in digital therapeutics, a space that is rapidly growing as well-funded companies make the case to regulators, insurers, and clinicians that software can be used to treat disease. (Aguilar, 7/22)

Stat: Therapy Chatbot Startup Woebot Raises $90 Million 
Woebot announced Wednesday that it raised a $90 million Series B investment to further the development of chatbots to treat a range of mental health conditions. The new funding, led by JAZZ Venture Partners and Temasek, comes as the 4-year-old company hopes to turn its bevy of research projects into products commonly used by patients. If it’s successful, its bots could help alleviate pressure on the strained mental health system that can’t reach everyone who needs help. (Aguilar, 7/21)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Paying Members To Use Biosimilars Draws Providers Ire
Cigna pays members to switch to biological drugs that it says are clinically equivalent and cheaper—a new policy provoking objections from providers, who maintain that it crosses the line between covering medical expenses and practicing medicine—and that it threatens patients' health. Cigna, a Bloomfield, Connecticut-based insurer with 14 million members, offers patients $500 prepaid debit cards when they switch to biosimilar versions of the biologic drugs Cosentyx, which is used to treat psoriasis and certain types of arthritis, and Remicade, which is used on patients with psoriasis, arthritis and gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's disease. Patients can choose between two biosimilar medications for each of the brand-name drugs. (Tepper, 7/21)

Axios: Anthem Still Determining What To Do With Aduhelm
Anthem is "going to continue to evaluate" the data around Aduhelm, the controversial Alzheimer's drug, before making final insurance coverage decisions, CEO Gail Boudreaux told investors Wednesday. Several other Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers have said they will not cover Aduhelm, but Anthem is still weighing the options like its competitor UnitedHealth, which also wants to wait and see what the federal government says. (Herman, 7/21)

In other biotech and research developments —

Stat: Pacific Biosciences To Buy Smaller DNA Sequencing Firm For Up To $800M
Pacific Biosciences of California, a maker of DNA sequencing equipment that has seen its stock rise dramatically in recent years, said Tuesday that it will purchase Omniome, a smaller rival, for up to $800 million. PacBio, as the firm is known, will offer $600 million, half in cash and half in stock, up front. It will pay another $200 million when and if  machines based on Omniome’s technology first ship to customers. In order to finance the deal, PacBio is selling $300 million in a private placement to existing investors. (Herper, 7/20)

Stat: Rapid Sequencing Saved A Mysteriously Ill Baby In Record Time
When the boy was brought to the San Diego emergency department one night last October, he was inconsolable. Within about half an hour, clinicians had a clue of what was wrong: A CT scan showed signs of disease in the 5-week-old’s brain. There was another clue, too, but also a portent: A decade earlier, the parents’ infant daughter had presented with some of the same symptoms at around the same age, but never received a diagnosis. She developed seizures and died at 11 months. All that pointed to a genetic condition. But those warning signs in the brain, called encephalopathy, could be caused by some 1,500 such diseases. (Joseph, 7/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: When No One Can Explain A Disease, New UW Clinic Will Seek The Answer
Twelve years after scientists in Wisconsin delved into all the genes of a young Madison-area boy, diagnosed a new disease and saved the child's life, a new clinic will try to do the same for scores of other people suffering from mysterious illnesses. The University of Wisconsin Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine opened a new clinic Friday that will use the latest genetic technology, and exploit connections to top scientists around the world in order to help patients who have been at the mercy of unknown diseases. (Johnson, 7/20)

Stat: Scientists Produce First Genetically Engineered Marsupials
When the pile of opossums arrived at John VandeBerg’s lab from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 1978, the geneticist had an ambitious plan for the soft-eyed, hamster-sized animals. He wanted to domesticate them to live in a lab anywhere on the planet. Mice were well and good, but imagine what biomedical insights might be lurking inside marsupials, he thought. Their young, rather than being encased inside a uterus, develop attached to a nipple in a pouch or on a belly where they’re much easier to observe. (Molteni, 7/21)

CNN: This Group Of Children Is Up To 10 Times More Likely To Drown Than Others, A Report Finds
Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 19 in the United States, but some children have a significantly higher chance of drowning than others. Teenage boys ages 15 to 19 are 10 times more likely to drown than girls, according to a July report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The report said it could be due to multiple factors, including boys overestimating their swimming abilities more than girls or greater alcohol use among boys compared to girls. (Marples, 7/21)

KSHB: Drowning Prevention Group Hopes To Build Momentum On Olympic Swimming
As the world watches swimmers compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, an American-based nonprofit is reminding viewers water safety is a year-round commitment. “Water never goes away,” said Jim Spiers, president of Stop Drowning Now. “The lakes are still there in the winter, and the rivers are still there in the winter, the ponds are still there, some pools don't get drained. Water never goes away. So water safety is a year round thing you should be focused on not just when the Olympics come around.” (Keegan, 7/22)

NPR: 7 Ways To Prevent Or Save A Child From Drowning As Summer Heats Up 
Unfortunately, research shows that in the majority of drowning cases, the child was being supervised by an adult when the accident happened. So, as our summer of post-vaccination reunions and vacations heats up, remember just how vulnerable kids are in water. The rate of admissions for nonfatal drownings at the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, for example, was already double in May what it was in the last three years at that same time. Among basic water supervision precautions, a few potentially life-saving details are often overlooked. Here are some essentials to help keep our young swimmers safe this summer. (Kendrick, 7/3)

ABC News: 14-Year-Old Girl Drowns At Ohio Water Park
A 14-year-old girl died Tuesday evening after she was pulled from the water at an Ohio theme park, officials said. Police were called to the Land of Illusion Aqua Adventure Park in Middletown after the teen went under water and did not surface, the Butler County Sheriff's Office said. ... In a statement released on its Facebook page, Land of Illusion's owners said it closed down the water park and is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened. (Pererira, 7/21)

The Boston Globe: 17-Year-Old Swimmer Drowns In Squannacook River In Groton
A 17-year-old boy drowned Wednesday in the Squannacook River near the Bertozzi Wildlife Management Area in Groton, officials said. According to a preliminary investigation, a group of five friends were jumping in and out of the river from a rope swing when the teen went underwater at 3:19 p.m. and did not resurface, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said. Fire Department personnel found the boy at 4:32 p.m. and he was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was not released. (Fox, 7/21)

CBS News: Children Increasingly Overdosing On Marijuana Edibles 
Last month, Elizabeth Perry felt helpless as it became clear something was very wrong with her 21-month-old son Oliver. "When I laid him down in his crib, he kind of went rigid and started shaking and crying," Perry said. Within an hour, he was in a Maryland hospital and doctors determined he had THC, the chemical in marijuana that gives users a high, in his system. Oliver had managed to open a tin containing edible cannabis gummies that Perry used to help her sleep. To Oliver, it looked like candy. "My first thought was, I did this to him, this is my fault," she said. (Pegues, 7/21)

CNN: Schizophrenia Linked To Marijuana Use Disorder Is On The Rise, Study Finds 
The proportion of schizophrenia cases linked with problematic use of marijuana has increased over the past 25 years, according to a new study from Denmark. In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. (Hunt, 7/22)

In other public health news —

CNN: Breastfeeding Linked To Lower Blood Pressure In Toddlers 
Toddlers who were breastfed for any amount of time had lower blood pressure than those who were not breastfed at all, according to a new study, suggesting once again that "breast is best" for health. The reduction in blood pressure found in the study "is of clinically important magnitude and surprising," Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter told CNN in an email. Feldman-Winter, who was not involved in the study, is the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding. (Molano, 7/21)

CBS News: Tens Of Thousands Of Children Cope With "Pandemic Grief" After Losing Parent Or Caregiver 
Alyssa Quarles is overwhelmed by guilt that she couldn't save her 48-year-old father, Theodis, after he got COVID. "As the days passed, he started to say, like, 'Help me. Please don't let me die,'" she told CBS News, crying. "Like I don't know what to say to him. Like I don't think he's gonna die, but he keeps saying it. It was hard." The Quarles girls are among at least 113,000 American children struggling with "pandemic grief" after losing a parent, or caregiver, to the virus, according to Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association. A quarter of them are younger than age 10, while 20% are Black. Minorities are disproportionately affected. (Villarreal, 7/21)

USA Today: Muffin Recall 2021: Walmart, 7-Eleven Sold Recalled Muffins
Give and Go Prepared Foods Corp. is voluntarily recalling select muffins for possible listeria contamination. The muffins were sold nationwide under various brand names, including Uncle Wally's, and store brands, including at Walmart, 7-Eleven and Stop & Shop, according to a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website. "Consumers who have these products should immediately dispose of the products and not eat them," the company said in the recall. (Tyko, 7/21)

AP: Hall Of Famer Bobby Bowden Has Terminal Medical Condition
Hall of Fame college football coach Bobby Bowden announced Wednesday he has been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. “I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come,” Bowden said in a statement released to news outlets, including The Associated Press. “My wife Ann and our family have been life’s greatest blessing. I am at peace.” The 91-year-old Bowden was hospitalized last October after he tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test came a few days after returning to his Tallahassee home from a lengthy hospital stay for an infection in his leg. He did not disclose his condition in his statement. (Reed, 7/22)

In environmental health news —

AP: As Wildlife Smoke Spreads, Who's At Risk?
Smoke from wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada is blanketing much of the continent, including thousands of miles away on the East Coast. And experts say the phenomenon is becoming more common as human-caused global warming stokes bigger and more intense blazes. Pollution from smoke reached unhealthy levels this week in communities from Washington state to Washington D.C. Get used to it, researchers say. (Brown, 7/22)

KHN: Wildfire Smoke Drives People In Low-Vaccinated Areas Indoors, Raising Outbreak Fears 
Missoula’s new downtown library was teeming with people who might typically spend a Saturday afternoon hiking, biking or otherwise making the most of Montana’s abundant outdoor recreation. One look at the soupy haze blanketing the city and it was clear why. “We’re definitely trying to stay out of the smoke,” Charlie Booher said as his kids picked out books from the stacks. (Bolton, 7/22)

The Washington Post: Heat Waves Are Dangerous. Isolation And Inequality Make Them Deadly.
Mandi Luke’s symptoms came on slowly: spots on her vision, fuzziness in her brain. Hunkered down in her tent beside a bike path in Portland’s Lents neighborhood, she sipped Gatorade and made sure a breeze flowed through an opening in the fabric. Her husband — a former Army medic — was helping treat sick people at another camp. When he texted to check on her, she tried to reassure him. Luke, 36, had been on and off the streets for years. She knew the dangers of heat, knew how to look after herself. And she knew that abandoning her home, her dog and her life’s possessions to seek out air conditioning was not an option. (Kaplan, 7/21)

KHN: A Chilling Cure: Facing Killer Heat, ERs Use Body Bags To Save Lives
As a deadly heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest last month, overwhelming hospital emergency rooms in a region unaccustomed to triple-digit temperatures, doctors resorted to a grim but practical tool to save lives: human body bags filled with ice and water. Officials at hospitals in Seattle and Renton, Washington, said that as more people arrived experiencing potentially fatal heatstroke, and with cooling catheters and even ice packs in short supply, they used the novel treatment to quickly immerse and cool several elderly people. (Aleccia, 7/22)

AP: Federal Judges Block Transgender Restrictions In 2 States
Federal judges on Wednesday temporarily blocked an Arkansas law banning gender confirming treatments for transgender youth and a West Virginia ban on trans athletes in women’s sports, two major victories for LGBTQ advocates against a wave of restrictions approved by Republican legislators. The ruling in Arkansas prevents the state from enforcing the law that made it the first state to forbid doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or sex reassignment surgery to anyone under 18 years old. The law, which was to take effect July 28, also banned doctors from referring the minors to other providers for such treatment. (DeMillo and Raby, 7/22)

AP: Mississippi To File Arguments In Landmark Abortion Case
The Mississippi attorney general’s office is expected to file briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to outline the state’s arguments in a case that could upend nearly 50 years of court rulings on abortion rights nationwide. A 6-3 conservative majority, with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, said in May that the court would consider arguments over a Mississippi law that would ban abortion at 15 weeks. Justices are likely to hear the case this fall and could rule on it in the spring. (Wagster Pettus, 7/22)

In updates from across the U.S. —

Stateline: States Braced For A Wave Of COVID Lawsuits It Never Arrived
In a legislative flurry, 30 states instituted liability protections in late 2020 and early 2021 designed to protect businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits, out of fear that companies would be sued for exposing workers, clients or vendors to the swiftly spreading, deadly disease. Those lawsuits haven’t materialized. Proponents of the new laws say that’s because the statutes have scared off potential litigation. But critics say the actions have created a solution in search of a problem, because most employees who sue do so under existing workplace safety regulations, such as those enforced by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or under union rules. (Povich, 7/21)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan House Repeals Emergency Powers Law Whitmer Used
A 76-year-old Michigan law crafted in the wake of Detroit race riots and used more recently to combat a generational health crisis is officially dead. The Republican-controlled state House on Wednesday voted 60-48 largely along party lines in support of initiative petition language that repeals the Emergency Powers Act of 1945. The vote came one week after the state Senate also approved the initiative. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used the law to issue sweeping health and safety restrictions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, moves that eventually garnered pushback from Republicans and other opponents. (Boucher, 7/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Police And Counselors Respond To Mental Health Calls In Milwaukee
"There's one." Milwaukee Police Officer Chandra Fuller pointed to a pending 911 call on her department laptop. A woman in her 50s told a dispatcher she was homeless and feeling suicidal. She had harmed herself in the past but not today. She had not been taking her medications. It was exactly the kind of call Fuller and her partner, Jordan Hoeft, a county mental health clinician, are trained to answer. (Luthern, 7/21)

And in news on health threats —

Fox News: Michigan Reports Uptick In Legionnaires' Disease
Michigan health officials are investigating a recent uptick in cases of Legionnaires' disease, or a severe form of pneumonia. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services noted 107 cases reported across 25 counties between July 1 and July 14, translating to a 569% surge over the same period in 2020 and a 161% increase over the same period in 2019. (Rivas, 7/21)

Fox News: Florida Town Hit By ‘Triple Threat’ Of Respiratory Illnesses
Tampa Bay, Florida, is battling a unique combination of three separate respiratory illnesses, causing mass hospitalizations. Area doctors are calling it a "triple threat". Red tide, COVID-19 and bronchitis are "waging war" on the area, doctors told WFLA. Red tide is a harmful algal bloom that can cause respiratory system issues in humans. Doctors say that the symptoms usually include a short-lived but intense cough that can sometimes be fatal. Experts said this year's bloom is the worst the area has seen since 1971. (Lewitas, 7/21)

Oklahoman: Norman Parks, Cleveland County Health Partner To Fight Mosquitoes
Those who have been trying to enjoy outdoor activities also probably [have] been faced with trying to swat away pesky mosquitoes. The city of Norman Parks and Recreation Department and Cleveland County Health Department have partnered to help curtail the city’s growing mosquito population and raise awareness of ways to prevent their spread within the community. After record rainfall in June, Norman has seen an increase in the mosquito population, including flood mosquitoes, a city news release stated. In response, Norman is activating its Vector (Mosquito) Monitoring program, which identifies 14 districts across Norman that will receive daily monitoring through the use of light-based mosquito traps. (7/21)

The Washington Post: USOPC Responds To Criticism Over Becca Meyers' Withdrawal From Tokyo Paralympics
Facing widespread outrage and political pressure over the withdrawal of swimmer Becca Meyers from the U.S. Paralympic team for the Tokyo Games out of concern for her own safety and well-being, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued a new statement Wednesday outlining and defending the support it is providing its athletes during these pandemic-altered Games. “The safety, well-being and positive experience of all Team USA athletes is our number one priority,” the USOPC statement said. “We take pride in being the best-prepared [national Olympic committee] and [national Paralympic committee] in the world, and that includes supporting all athletes as they navigate the excitement, and complexity, of the Olympic or Paralympic Games.” (Sheinin, 7/21)

ABC News: Disability Advocates Calling For Reform As US Paralympian Becca Meyers Drops Out Of Games Citing Lack Of Support 
Disability advocates and elected officials are calling on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee to rethink its policies after a Paralympic gold medalist swimmer was denied a request to have a care assistant travel with her to Tokyo due to COVID-19 restrictions. Becca Meyers' ordeal also speaks to the larger issue of disability inequities amplified by the pandemic, advocates say. (Pereira, 7/22)

In other news about the Olympics —

AP: 2 More Olympic Athletes Among 91 Total Tokyo Virus Cases
Two athletes were among four residents of the Olympic Village who were added to the tally Thursday of people accredited for the Tokyo Games who have tested positive for COVID-19 this month, bringing the number to 91. Skateboarder Candy Jacobs of the Netherlands and table tennis player Pavel Sirucek of the Czech Republic tested positive and had to leave the village to enter a quarantine hotel in cases announced Wednesday. (7/22)

NPR: Tokyo Reports Its Highest COVID-19 Numbers Since January As First Olympic Games Start
Two days before the Olympics' opening ceremony, Tokyo is reporting new COVID-19 cases at levels not seen since January — when Japan was enduring a record spike in coronavirus infections. The 1,832 new cases represent a sharp rise from last Wednesday, when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 1,149 cases. "There is a high risk of a resurgence of the virus," Tokyo's government said in a bulletin issued on Wednesday. It added that the caseload has put Tokyo's health system under pressure, in terms of providing non-COVID-related care. (Chappell, 7/21)

Politico: Tokyo Olympics Are The Ultimate Covid-19 Experiment 
At these Olympic Games, nothing is off the table, even the possibility of a last-minute cancellation. Every Olympic Games has its protest crowd, loudest in the days and weeks before the Opening Ceremonies: They argue the Games are an elite, expensive endeavor, diverting attention and money from better causes. But as the Games roll on, the protest noise tends to fade, replaced by tales and images of athletic heroism. (Heath, 7/21)

Newsweek: Team USA Chiropractor Backtracks After Comparing Olympic COVID Rules To Nazi Germany
A chiropractor working with Team USA's wrestling team apologized for comparing the coronavirus protocols in place at Tokyo 2020 to Nazi Germany. Her posts were flagged by two social media platforms for spreading misinformation and were swiftly removed after the Associated Press notified the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) of the nature of the comments. "We went from 'Flattening the curve in 14 days' to 'Going door-to-door to see your papers' ... Gotta admit, I did N-A-Z-I that one coming," Rosie Gallegos-Main posted on her Facebook and Instagram profiles last week. (Cancian, 7/22)

Bloomberg: U.K. Says ‘Long Covid’ Symptoms Hit 3.2 Million Adults
The U.K. said about 6.2% of its adult population, or 3.2 million people, are suffering lingering effects of the coronavirus that harm wellbeing and the ability to work. The Office for National Statistics said that six in 10 of those it surveyed who said they were affected by “long-Covid” said the disease hurt their general wellbeing, and half of those said to the condition made it difficult for them to do their job. (Akil Farhat, 7/21)

Newsweek: U.K. Reportedly To Stop Checking COVID Documentation For Visitors From Some Countries
Border officers from the United Kingdom will stop checking COVID documentation, such as proof of a negative test, for travelers from certain countries, according to leaked government documents reported on by British media Wednesday. The rule pertains to travelers entering the U.K. from green and amber list countries, which represent the two highest ranks in the government's three-tiered classification system for foreign travel, the Associated Press reported. The U.K. government recently eased quarantine protocols for amber list countries, which include most of Europe. The change triggered concerns that airport immigration lines would take hours for holiday travelers to get through, according to the AP. (Strozewski, 7/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Opening Its Economy As Delta Variant Surges, The U.K. Becomes A Covid-19 Test Case 
The battle between vaccines and the Delta variant of coronavirus is coming to a head in the U.K., closely watched by the rest of the world. At stake is whether advanced economies with high vaccination rates can enjoy something approaching pre-pandemic life in the face of fast transmitting versions of the virus. The experiment should give a strong signal of whether Covid-19 can be relegated to the status of a manageable, seasonal menace such as influenza and whether lockdowns and social distancing can be consigned to the past. (Douglas, 7/21)

AP: Death Rates Soar In Southeast Asia As Virus Wave Spreads
Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from COVID-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials. Images of bodies burning in open-air pyres during the peak of the pandemic in India horrified the world in May, but in the last two weeks the three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death rate as a new coronavirus wave, fueled by the virulent delta variant, tightens its grip on the region. (Rising and Ng, 7/22)

AP: Man With Coronavirus Disguises As Wife On Indonesian Flight
An Indonesian man with the coronavirus has boarded a domestic flight disguised as his wife, wearing a niqab covering his face and carrying fake IDs and a negative PCR test result. But the cover didn’t last long. Police say a flight attendant aboard a Citilink plane traveling from Jakarta to Ternate in North Maluku province on Sunday noticed the man change the clothes in the lavatory. (Basri, 7/22)

CNN: India Coronavirus: More Than Two Thirds Of The Population May Have Antibodies, New Survey Shows 
More than two thirds of India's population may have Covid-19 antibodies, according to a new serological survey released Tuesday, providing yet more evidence the virus may have spread far more widely than official figures suggest. About 67.6% of Indians surveyed above the age of 6 showed antibodies, according to the nationwide study, which was conducted between June and July by the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The survey covered 70 districts in 21 states, with 28,975 participants. (Jessie Yeung, Swati Gupta and Esha Mitra, 7/22)

AP: Thailand To Join COVAX, Acknowledging Low Vaccine Supply
The head of Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute apologized Wednesday for the country’s slow and inadequate rollout of coronavirus vaccines, promising it will join the U.N.-backed COVAX program to receive supplies from its pool of donated vaccines next year. Thailand is battling a punishing coronavirus surge that is pushing new cases and deaths to record highs nearly every day. There is fear that the numbers will get much worse because the government failed to secure significant vaccine supplies in advance of the onslaught. (Ekvittayavechnukul, 7/22)

AP: South African Firm To Make Pfizer Vaccine, First In Africa
A South African firm will begin producing the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the first time that the shot will be produced in Africa, Pfizer announced Wednesday. The Biovac Institute based in Cape Town will manufacture the vaccine for distribution across Africa, a move that should help address the continent’s desperate need for more vaccine doses amid a recent surge of cases. (Meldrum and Petesch, 7/21)

Reuters: Peru Arrests State Hospital Workers For Charging COVID-19 Patients $21,000 Per Bed
Peruvian police said on Wednesday they had dismantled an alleged criminal ring that had charged as much $21,000 per bed for seriously ill COVID-19 patients in a state-run hospital, aggravating care in a country hit by one of the world's deadliest outbreaks of the virus. Authorities arrested nine people in an early morning raid on Wednesday, including the administrators of Lima's Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen public hospital, according to prosecutor Reynaldo Abia. (7/21)

Axios: France Makes COVID-19 Pass Mandatory For Tourist Venues, Leisure Activities 
France announced Wednesday that visitors will need a COVID-19 pass to visit tourist venues such as the Eiffel Tower as cases in the country begin to rise, CBS News reports. The new requirement comes after cases are starting to soar in the country and the Delta variant accounts for 96% of new cases, France's Health Minister Olivier Véran said, per CBS News. (Frazier, 7/21)

On China and the WHO —

Newsweek: Chinese Official Denies Wuhan Institute Of Virology Workers Caught COVID
A Chinese government health official denied that workers at the Wuhan Insitute of Virology (WIV) were infected with COVID shortly before the disease first emerged. Zeng Yixin, deputy head of China's National Health Commission, made his comments in a press conference in Beijing on Thursday. He also announced that China wouldn't be participating in the next stage of the World Health Organization's COVID origins investigation, which highlights the possibility the virus could have come from a Chinese lab. (Browne, 7/22)

Axios: China Rejects WHO COVID Origins Plan 
A top Chinese health official said Thursday the government doesn't accept World Health Organization plans for a follow-up investigation into COVID-19's origins — labeling a theory that it started from a laboratory leak a "rumor," per AP. National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin's comments come days after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was "too early" to rule out the lab leak theory and proposed a second phase of study into the virus' origins. (Falconer, 7/22)

Also —

Bloomberg: Boy Dies Of Bird Flu In India’s First Case Of Human Death
India reported its first case of human death due to bird flu after a child succumbed to the disease. The 11-year-old who died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi was infected with avian influenza, the first human case of bird flu in the country, according to the health ministry. Local media including Hindustan Times reported that the boy was infected with the H5N1 strain. Avian influenza is an illness that occurs mainly in birds like chickens and turkeys. While the H5N1 virus does not infect humans easily, the consequences for public health could be very serious if it becomes easily transmissible from person to person. Infection in humans can cause severe disease and has a high mortality rate, according to the World Health Organization. (Pradhan and Prakash, 7/21)

Scientific American: 'Inflammation Clock' Can Reveal Body's Biological Age
A new type of age ‘clock’ can assess chronic inflammation to predict whether someone is at risk of developing age-related disorders such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease. The clock measures ‘biological age’, which takes health into consideration and can be higher or lower than a person’s chronological age. The inflammatory ageing clock (iAge), reported on 12 July in Nature Aging, is one of the first tools of its kind to use inflammation to assess health. Other age clocks have used epigenetic markers, chemical groups that tag a person’s DNA as they age and are passed along as cells divide. The researchers who developed iAge hope that, because inflammation is treatable, the tool could help doctors determine who would benefit from intervention—potentially extending the number of years a person lives in good health. (Kozlov, 7/14)

ScienceDaily: Revealing The Mystery Behind The Threat Of Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease
Researchers revealed how non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can develop into a life-threatening complication. Their discovery will accelerate the search for therapeutic solutions. (Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, 7/13)

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Trends And Factors Related To Blunt Use In Middle And High School Students, 2010–2020 
Blunt use is a popular mode of marijuana consumption among adolescents in the United States, but little is known about how its prevalence has changed over time or factors associated with its use. With this study, we assessed trends and correlates of past (ever used but not in the past 30 days) and current (used in past 30 days) blunt use among adolescents in Florida. (Kalan et al., 7/1)

In research about nursing homes —

CIDRAP: Nursing Home Intervention Tied To Fewer Antibiotics In Advanced Dementia
Antibiotic use, and misuse, in the nation's nursing homes has long been a concern for infectious disease professionals and antibiotic resistance experts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 70% of nursing home residents receive one or more courses of antibiotics a year. The primary reasons for such frequent antibiotic use in long-term care is that residents are often frail and have underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to bacterial infections, especially those involving the skin, urinary tract, and respiratory tract. (Dall, 7/16)

CIDRAP: Multidrug-Resistant Organisms Reduced In Nursing Home Residents' Rooms
A multicomponent intervention implemented at nursing homes in Michigan significantly reduced the prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in residents' rooms, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial reported today in JAMA Network Open. Using a cluster-randomized trial design, researchers from the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System compared the presence of MDROs in patients and their room environments at 3 nursing homes that implemented the intervention with the MDRO presence at 3 control nursing homes. The intervention included enhanced barrier precautions, chlorhexidine bathing, MDRO surveillance, environmental cleaning education and feedback, hand hygiene promotion, and healthcare workers' education and feedback. Control nursing homes continued standard care practices. (7/16)

And in covid research —

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Antibodies Linger 9 Months Post-Infection, Data Reveal
Out of 86 people who were most likely exposed to COVID-19 in February or March 2020, all but 1 were seropositive in November 2020 but results varied among tests, according to a study today in Nature Communication. This group was part of a larger population study in the 3,000-person city of Vo', Italy. Researchers from the University of Padua and Imperial College London analyzed polymerase chain reaction diagnoses in February and March 2020 or serologic assay data in May 2020 for more than 85% of the Vo' area population and determined that the area's seroprevalence was 3.5% by May 2020. In November, 86 of 101 participants who were seropositive in May were tested again, and 85 (98.8%) tested positive to at least one assay by Abbott, DiaSorin, or Roche, while 30.9% of 81 were positive to all three. (7/19)

CIDRAP: Real-World Study Shows Good COVID Results For Monoclonal Antibodies
A real-world Mayo Clinic study shows similarly low hospitalization rates among 3,596 high-risk US adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 treated with one of two monoclonal antibodies. The observational study, published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, used electronic health records to compare 28-day all-cause death rates and COVID-19–related hospital admissions in 2,747 patients who received an infusion of bamlanivimab and 849 given casirivimab-imdevimab from Nov 19, 2020, to Feb 11, 2021. The drugs were started within 10 days of symptom onset. (7/20)

CIDRAP: Study: Azithromycin Doesn't Prevent COVID-19 Symptoms In Outpatients 
A single dose of the broad-spectrum antibiotic azithromycin didn't change the proportion of US COVID-19 patients reporting symptoms by 14 days, finds a randomized, controlled trial published late last week in JAMA. ... In a UCSF news release, lead study author Catherine Oldenburg, ScD, MPH, said that the findings don't support the routine treatment of COVID-19 outpatients with azithromycin, an inexpensive antibiotic broadly used in coronavirus patients in the United States and abroad. "The hypothesis is that it has anti-inflammatory properties that may help prevent progression if treated early in the disease," she said. "We did not find this to be the case." (Beusekom, 7/19)

Stat: Proven Ways To Boost Covid-19 Vaccination: Mandates Plus Nudges 
The United States is approaching a plateau in vaccination rates at a perilous moment as the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the dominant strain. People are throwing away their masks and going to restaurants, movies, and traveling as they did in the time before the coronavirus pandemic emerged. New Covid-19 cases have doubled during the last three weeks, with the vast preponderance of hospitalizations and deaths among people who have not been vaccinated. Slightly more than 48% of the population is fully vaccinated, and nearly half of unvaccinated Americans say they won’t get the jab. (Lawrence O. Gostin and Scott C. Ratzan, 7/22)

CNN: My Uncle Died Of Covid-19 Before He Could Get A Vaccine In Kenya, And I Got Mine In A US Drugstore. This Is What Vaccine Inequality Looks Like 
Every time I see a call from home, my heart sinks. I always fear that they're ringing to say that my grandmother has died. She has been on a ventilator for four weeks and my anxiety is near breaking point. The dreaded call could come at any time: Covid-19. Again. (Larry Madowo, 7/21)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida's COVID Trajectory 
The pandemic has entered a troubling new stage, as lagging vaccination rates in states like Florida give rise to a surge of infections. Florida needs to be more proactive about engaging vaccine holdouts, and hesitant Floridians need to reach out to whomever they trust — their doctor, family or friends. While the risks largely fall to the unvaccinated, that still is a huge population, and winnowing that number is essential to getting the pandemic under control. (7/21)

CNN: Analysis: A Day Of Reckoning Shows America's Covid Pandemic Battle Is Sliding Backward
It's not over. Nowhere near it. If Joe Biden's July Fourth fireworks marked a moment to declare the darkest days of the pandemic over, Monday was the day when reality dawned that the nation's fight against Covid-19 is quickly sliding back in the wrong direction. A hybrid version of American life that will pass for normality for the foreseeable future is coming into view, in which most of the vaccinated live and many of those who refuse their shots get sick or die. (Stephen Collinson, 7/20)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Women Deserve Control Over Pelvic Exams
Women understand that pelvic exams are medically necessary and a normal part of wellness checkups. But too often in this country, they are performed unnecessarily and without a woman’s consent, frequently while she is under anesthesia for an unrelated procedure. This practice, done for years to help educate medical students, needs to end, and we are glad to say it has in Texas. The Legislature passed and the governor signed House Bill 1434 this session, requiring hospital staff to get informed consent from a patient prior to surgery in order to do the procedure. This decision has been a long time coming, especially after the viral hashtag #MeTooPelvic spurred conversations about a practice that many didn’t know existed. (7/22)

The New York Times: Robot Therapists? Not So Fast, Says Talkspace C.E.O. 
Talk therapy has seen a boom during the pandemic. And with mental health chat bots like Woebot on the market and text therapy platforms like Talkspace going public, the possibility of humans outsourcing our behavioral health to algorithmic healers is only growing — along with the ethical questions attached to it. So Kara Swisher turned to Oren Frank, a co-founder and the chief executive of Talkspace, to ask what the increasing technologization of therapy means for treatment efficacy and for privacy. (7/22)

Stat: Fight Medical Misinformation On Social Media With More Information 
When the surgeon general of the United States speaks, people tend to listen. So Vivek Murthy’s recent 22-page report proclaiming that the spread of misinformation through social media has become an “urgent threat to public health,” and that more needs to be done to combat the issue, is bound to get some attention. He has a point: Social media is at the heart of misinformation. But social media also has the power to drive public health discussion, a point that runs through the report but is never highlighted. (Victor Agbafe and Prerak Juthani, 7/22)

Stat: 'When Memory Fades': Misinformation About Aduhelm For Alzheimer's
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a timely and thought-provoking advisory about the serious threat to public health posed by misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic on July 15. Just two days later, the New York Times chose to run a disconcerting ad on its pages about yet another global public health challenge: Alzheimer’s disease. The ad contains precisely the elements of “false, inaccurate, or misleading” information the surgeon general warns about. “When Memory Fades” is a slick paid post that narrates the story of Jane, a 76-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease. The post was paid for by Biogen and created by the New York Times’ “brand marketing arm.” (Madhav Thambisetty, 7/21)

Modern Healthcare: How AtlantiCare's Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Plan Affects Its Community
Every healthcare organization is impacted by the community it serves, with social, economic and institutional factors naturally influencing the approach to care. In the best of circumstances, this results in an interconnected relationship where we work, learn and grow together. At AtlantiCare, we appreciate that fulfilling our mission to promote health and healing is achieved by creating partnerships that address the other stressors—food insecurity, housing inequality, unconscious bias, and more—affecting the quality of life for those we serve. (Lori Herndon, 7/20)

Scientific American: Trans And Queer People In India Should Demand Better Health Care 
After almost three decades of fighting, queer people in India won a long overdue battle when the Supreme Court of India decriminalized same-sex sexual acts among consenting adults in 2018. Since then, I have often been asked where I see India’s queer movements going. Is it going to be marriage equality? Something else?  With recent celebrations of Pride Month in mind, I argue for the need of queer people to demand a better, more inclusive and more affordable public health care system. Honestly, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We know that queer people have been disproportionately affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of a robust public health care system. (Sayantan Datta, 7/21)