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Most out-of-town visitors to Washington, D.C., from states deemed high-risk for COVID-19, will be required to have a negative test before arriving in the district, but will no longer have to self-quarantine in the city for 14 days, according to an order signed Thursday by the city's mayor. With the new order, the nation's capital joins New York, Connecticut and New Jersey in instituting requirements for visitors to help blunt the spread of the coronavirus amid an alarming increase in infection rates across the country. (Hutchinson, 11/5)

Hundreds of Vermont front-line workers may miss out on hazard pay for working during the COVID-19 pandemic as at least one major retail employer is choosing not to apply for the program, according to state senators. A group of Vermont state senators released a statement Wednesday morning denouncing Walmart's decision not to apply for the program on behalf of their employees. (Bakuli, 11/5)

New Jersey voters this week legalized recreational cannabis. Without Republican support, it’s unlikely that the Keystone State will follow anytime soon.“ As long as we’re in the middle of a declared opioid emergency, we shouldn’t be legalizing another drug," said Jason Gottesman, spokesman for Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R., Centre). “On top of that, revenue projections are that it will only bring in about $200 million a year and that money would only go to new spending.” (Wood, 11/5)

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news conference on Thursday that he will continue to push forward with his goal of expanding Medicaid at a time when voters decided to maintain GOP control of both chambers of the Legislature. “There is a lot of status quo, but I do think that my election, and by the margin, it shows that people do want us to close this healthcare coverage gap, particularly in the middle of a pandemic when so many people don’t have access to affordable health care,” Cooper said. “I want us to try and find new strategies to work together to move forward.” (Anderson, 11/5)

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation administrator Stephanie McCloud to lead the Ohio Department of Health, which has gone without a permanent director for months. ... Unlike her predecessor, Dr. Amy Acton, McCloud is not a doctor. She holds a journalism degree from Ohio University and a law degree from Capital University Law School. (Balmert and Borchardt, 11/5)

Nevada’s LGBTQ community is celebrating after voters overwhelmingly agreed to make the state the first in the nation to protect same-sex marriage in its constitution. On Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of Nevada voters said the state’s constitution should be amended to remove a provision stating marriage is only between a man and a woman. (Alonzo, 11/5)

California regulators announced last month plans to evaluate whether safety-net patients face improperly long waits to see medical specialists in Los Angeles County, the nation’s second-largest public health system. That investigation — which aims to determine whether these wait times violate managed-care standards — raises fundamental questions about the quality of care for safety-net patients nationwide, in the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people. (Hochman and Levander, 11/6)

KHN: KHN On The Air This Week

Columnist and California Healthline senior correspondent Bernard J. Wolfson discussed the start of open enrollment for health care plans in California with KPCC’s “Take Two” on Monday. (11/6)

A group of residents is suing the Municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage Assembly for shutting down Assembly meetings to in-person participation in August following a local emergency order that limited the size of gatherings due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. During that period, people who wanted to provide testimony to the Anchorage Assembly did so via email or phone. Alaskans for Open Meetings, and named plaintiff Michele Deering, filed the lawsuit Monday in state court. (Wieber, 11/5)