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Facebook on Thursday announced new policies that will limit the spread of groups on its social network that focus on giving users health advice, as well as groups with ties to violence. The company will no longer show health groups in its recommendations, saying a blog post that “it’s crucial that people get their health information from authoritative sources.” In the past, closed groups have been used by Facebook users to spread misinformation about vaccines and Covid-19. (Rodriguez, 9/17)

Kaiser Health News: In Face Of COVID Threat, More Dialysis Patients Bring Treatment Home 

After Maria Duenas was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about a decade ago, she managed the disease with diet and medication. But Duenas’ kidneys started to fail just as the novel coronavirus established its lethal foothold in the U.S. On March 19, three days after Duenas, 60, was rushed to the emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure and blood sugar, Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order. (de Marco, 9/18)

At 5 p.m on a Tuesday in August, the members of the Manor of Being, an 11-person intentional community in San Francisco, gathered in the living room for their weekly coronavirus meeting. The member leading the meeting took out a whiteboard and read the agenda to his housemates, who sprawled on a couch, over some chairs and on the floor. The first action item was to discuss whether the house felt comfortable trying out a new mathematical system to stay safe from the coronavirus: a calculator designed to assess risk and help protect the group. It was supposed to make their day-to-day decisions feel more rational, to make dealing with the pandemic feel less exhausting. (Vainshtein, 9/18)

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, top American pediatricians could see another crisis looming: a swarm of mini-epidemics of childhood diseases returning as families withdrew from regular medical care, including vaccinations. For months, many in the United States stayed home as scientists worked to understand how COVID-19 spread and who was most at risk of dangerous outcomes. Without much definitive information about the new virus, parents were scared their children might be exposed if they sat in clinic waiting areas or exam rooms. (Santhanam, 9/17)

An Associated Press review of medical records for four women and interviews with lawyers revealed growing allegations that Amin performed surgeries and other procedures on detained immigrants that they never sought or didn’t fully understand. Although some procedures could be justified based on problems documented in the records, the women’s lack of consent or knowledge raises severe legal and ethical issues, lawyers and medical experts said. (Merchant, 9/18)

A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday set a March 1 deadline for purported victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy to make claims against the Archdiocese of New Orleans, resolving months of legal arguments over how much time to allow before they are barred from seeking compensation. (Vargas, 9/17)

Nationwide protests over police accountability and racial justice have reenergized longstanding efforts to fundamentally change how police departments respond to someone in a mental health emergency. Many are calling for removing or dramatically reducing law enforcement's role in responding to those crisis calls unless absolutely necessary. (Westervelt, 9/18)