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California prison officials and medical staff sparked a “public health disaster” with their botched handling of prisoner transfers to San Quentin and Corcoran state prisons last year, the state’s Office of Inspector General said in a blistering report Monday. Prison operators also failed to contain the disaster after inmates starting falling sick from coronavirus infections, the report said. The OIG is responsible for oversight and monitoring of the state’s correctional system. The 60-page report said executives from California Correctional Health Care Services pressured officials at the California Institute for Men in Chino to rush the medical screenings of 189 incarcerated people before transferring them to Corcoran State Prison and San Quentin State Prison. (Williams, 2/1)

The deputy commissioner for public health at the New York State Health Department resigned in late summer. Soon after, the director of its bureau of communicable disease control also stepped down. So did the medical director for epidemiology. Last month, the state epidemiologist said she, too, would be leaving. The drumbeat of high-level departures in the middle of the pandemic came as morale plunged in the Health Department and senior health officials expressed alarm to one another over being sidelined and treated disrespectfully, according to five people with direct experience inside the department. Their concern had an almost singular focus: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. (Goodman, Goldstein and McKinley, 2/1)

The North Dakota Legislature is considering a measure that would require the state’s health officer to be a practicing licensed physician .The Republican-backed bill comes after a trio of health officers hand-picked by GOP Gov. Doug Burgum quit while the coronavirus pandemic was worsening in the state. Dirk Wilke, who has no medical training, has been the interim state health officer since September. (MacPherson, 2/1)

The cash-strapped Florida Democratic Party allowed health insurance for its employees to lapse late last year, leaving some staff unable to pay medical bills and rattling the already struggling organization anew. Insurance for employees of the state party ended on Nov. 30, according to records and staffers interviewed by POLITICO. The decision left many staff unknowingly without health coverage for weeks. Some had piled up medical bills they'd later be on the hook for as they scheduled post-election procedures and appointments believing they had coverage, according to interviews with seven current and former party staffers and officials. (Dixon, 2/1)

City leaders cited progress in its talks with the teachers union over a plan to reopen elementary schools amid the coronavirus pandemic and called for a two-day cooling-off period to resolve remaining issues. The nation’s third-largest school district also said it wouldn’t take away teachers’ access to remote learning software, a step the teacher’s union has said could trigger a strike. (Barrett, 2/1)

A controversial policy waiving quarantines for students and school staff is gaining traction in some corners of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma State Department of Health and Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the new guidance Jan. 12 to allow students and staff to skip quarantine entirely. To qualify, an exposure to COVID-19 must occur in a classroom setting where all students and staff are wearing masks. Exposures during after-school activities, including athletics, are still subject to quarantine. (Martinez-Keel, 2/1)

The Wayne County, Michigan, prosecutor declared on Monday that she will dismiss all charges related to  the violation of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) COVID-19 executive orders after a state Supreme Court ruling. Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office released a statement announcing that the almost 1,700 cases in the county involving violations of Whitmer’s coronavirus restrictions, most of which were in Detroit, would be dismissed. (Coleman, 2/1)

Nebraska will start issuing emergency supplemental nutrition benefits to people who qualify on Feb. 9, state officials said Monday. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, will get increased money on their EBT cards. The extra assistance comes from the federal government. (2/1)

Gov. Laura Kelly proposed Monday that Kansas pay for expansion of Medicaid with revenue from the sale and taxation of medical marijuana. The plan would require lawmakers to legalize the sale of marijuana for medical use, which would likely be controversial. Kelly told reporters that the approach eliminates the argument that Kansas cannot afford to expand Medicaid to provide health coverage for an additional 165,000 low-income residents. (Bernard and Hoover, 2/1)

The Indianapolis City-County Council passed a special resolution Monday night that supports banning so-called conversion therapy, a move that endorses a similar effort at the statehouse that would ban the practice administered to people in the LGBTQ community. At least 20 states have banned the practice of "conversion therapy," according to the American Psychological Association — one of several professional groups that have opposed the practice. The council's special resolution, which does not wield any actual authority, passed the majority-Democratic council. (Pak-Harvey, 2/1)