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The Food and Drug Administration expects to have a strategy on Covid-19 vaccine boosters by early September that would lay out when and which vaccinated individuals should get the follow-up shots, according to people familiar with discussions within the agency. The Biden administration is pushing for the swift release of a booster strategy because some populations—people age 65 or older and people who are immunocompromised, as well as those who got the shots in December or January shortly after they were rolled out—could need boosters as soon as this month, two of the people said. (Armour and Hopkins, 8/5)

Many immunocompromised Americans have not had high immune responses to the vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to the virus even after getting a shot. Response has been low particularly in transplant recipients, cancer patients or people on medications that suppress their immune response. Last month, experts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory panel were largely supportive of giving those people a third dose to boost their immunity and called on the FDA to move on the issue. (Haslett, Strauss, and Pezenik, 8/5)

The United States is working to give additional COVID-19 booster shots to Americans with compromised immune systems as quickly as possible, as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday. The United States is joining Germany, France and Israel in giving booster shots, ignoring a plea by the World Health Organisation to hold off until more people around the world can get their first shot. ... "It is extremely important for us to move to get those individuals their boosters and we are now working on that," Fauci said on a press call, adding that immunocompromised people may not be sufficiently protected by their existing COVID-19 vaccinations. (Hunnicutt and O'Donnell, 8/5)

Mississippi, with one of the highest new Covid-19 case rates and lowest rates of vaccinated people in the U.S., is encouraging booster doses for some high-risk groups. The Mississippi State Department of Health is now advising that doctors consider a booster or third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine for people with weakened immune systems, including organ transplant patients and people taking immunosuppressive medications. (Syal, 8/5)

Moderna Inc. said Thursday it expects people who received its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine to need a booster shot in the fall to keep strong protection against newer variants of the coronavirus. The company said its vaccine remains 90% effective against preventing Covid-19 disease for at least six months, but said it sees a decline in antibody levels after six months, especially against newer strains of the coronavirus including the Delta variant. In a Phase 2 study, a third shot of the original formulation showed robust antibody responses against Covid-19 variants of concern, Moderna said. (Schwartz and Grossman, 8/5)

A final analysis of late-stage trial data indicated Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was 93% effective 6 months after the second dose, the company announced Thursday. An analysis released last fall suggested the shot was 94% effective in preventing COVID-19. "We are pleased that our COVID-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93% through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant," Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in part in a company announcement posted Thursday. (Rivas, 8/5)

Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine showed 93% efficacy against symptomatic disease through six months, and the company expects to complete its application for full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration this month, the company said Thursday. The efficacy data came from a final analysis of the vaccine's Phase 3 study, which enrolled thousands of participants who received both doses last year, before it was made available to the wider public. "In final analysis" of the study, "the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine showed 93% efficacy, with the efficacy remaining durable through six months after administration of the second dose," Moderna said in a news release. (Thomas and Hanna, 8/5)

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine helps prevent severe disease among those infected with the delta variant, according to a trial involving almost 480,000 health workers in South Africa. The study, known as Sisonke, provides the first large-scale evidence that the J&J vaccine works against this dominant variant, according to trial co-lead Glenda Gray. It’s probably more protective against delta than it was with the earlier beta strain, she said in a presentation Friday. The single-dose shot was 71% effective against hospitalization and as much as 96% effective against death, she said. It also demonstrated durability of eight months. (Kew and Sguazzin, 8/6)

Novavax, the Maryland firm that won a $1.75 billion federal contract to develop and produce a coronavirus vaccine, said on Thursday that the federal government would not fund further production of its vaccine until the company resolves concerns of federal regulators about its work. The firm’s disclosure came in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Trump administration agreed to buy 110 million doses of vaccine from Novavax as part of its crash vaccine development program. (LaFraniere, 8/5)

Novavax announced that it will delay the submission of its Covid-19 vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization until its fourth quarter. Shares of the biotechnology company slipped 10% after the bell. The company has filed for regulatory approval in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Plans to submit the vaccine for emergency use listing at the World Health Organization are set for August, Novavax announced. Approval by the WHO will allow the vaccine to be distributed globally via vaccine sharing initiatives at the global agency. (Mendez, 8/5)

The four main drug companies making COVID-19 vaccines have sold a combined $18.6 billion worth of the shots in the first half of 2021, and sales are expected to reach a combined $60 billion by the end of the year. Even though the U.S. represents less than 5% of the global population, the U.S. market makes up 41% of the vaccine sales. (Herman, 8/5)

Using the monoclonal antibody cocktail REGEN-COV reduced the risk for symptomatic COVID-19 infection 81% in those exposed to a COVID patient, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study yesterday. The findings were used in the US Food and Drug Administration's recent decision to expand the drug's emergency-use authorization; now, it can be used as post-exposure prophylaxis in high-risk populations, not just a treatment during infection. (McLernon, 8/5)

The Biden administration is considering using federal regulatory powers and the threat of withholding federal funds from institutions to push more Americans to get vaccinated — a huge potential shift in the fight against the virus and a far more muscular approach to getting shots into arms, according to four people familiar with the deliberations. The effort could apply to institutions as varied as long-term-care facilities, cruise ships and universities, potentially impacting millions of Americans, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. (Linskey and Pager, 8/5)

The Biden administration hopes it can encourage more children to get vaccinated through a network of pediatricians administering back-to-school sports physicals, schools hosting "pop-up" vaccination clinics and pediatricians parachuting into PTA meetings. They are all part of a final sprint — being announced Thursday by the White House and the Education Department — to vaccinate more children over age 12 before thousands of schools reopen amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, according to an administration official familiar with the plans. (Przybyla, 8/5)

Thursday, the Biden administration announced a new push to vaccinate young people as they head back to school, backing initiatives such as hosting pop-up clinics on campus; sending pediatricians to back-to-school nights to discuss the shots with parents; and incorporating vaccination against covid-19 into physicals for student athletes. The United States has been vaccinating children as young as 12 since May, but that group remains less likely than adults to have their shots. “The resources are there and the urgency is there,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said at a news briefing. (Knowles, 8/5)

The White House on Thursday hit back at Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis after he told President Joe Biden he will stand "in his way" while the country experiences an alarming surge of COVID-19 cases, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying the "facts" about hospitalizations in Florida speak for themselves. At Thursday's briefing with reporters, ABC News Correspondent Stephanie Ramos raised DeSantis’ latest fundraising push using the president’s comments from Tuesday urging DeSantis to help or "get out of the way," and she asked whether Biden is considering reaching out to DeSantis. (Crawford, 8/5)

Since President Joe Biden asked the Pentagon last week to look at adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the military’s mandatory shots, former Army lawyer Greg T. Rinckey has fielded a deluge of calls. His firm, Tully Rinckey, has heard from hundreds of soldiers, Marines and sailors wanting to know their rights and whether they could take any legal action if ordered to get inoculated for the coronavirus. “A lot of U.S. troops have reached out to us saying, ‘I don’t want a vaccine that’s untested, I’m not sure it’s safe, and I don’t trust the government’s vaccine. What are my rights?’” Rinckey said. (Watson, 8/6)

The White House isn’t urging former President Donald Trump to help get vaccine shots into arms as it confronts an uptick in COVID-19 cases across the country, including in states where Trump allies said he could help. While press secretary Jen Psaki credited South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican and Trump ally, for his advocacy, the White House has proven less keen to embrace the former president himself. (Doyle, 8/5)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who recently tested positive for COVID-19, told AP on Thursday that he's urged former President Trump "to be aggressive and say, 'Take the vaccine'" to increase vaccination rates. Some Republicans have pushed Trump, who was vaccinated in January, to become more vocal in pushing his supporters to get the vaccine. (Gonzalez, 8/5)

In what officials characterized as the first requirement of its kind in the nation, California ordered Thursday that healthcare workers statewide must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 come early fall. The new mandate applies to employees in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, clinics, doctor’s offices, hospice facilities, dialysis centers and most other healthcare settings, and stipulates that they complete their inoculation regimen by Sept. 30. (Money, 8/5)

Maryland will require state employees who care for people in prisons, hospitals, veterans centers and juvenile facilities to get COVID-19 vaccinations, or submit to regular testing and mask-wearing restrictions starting Sept. 1, Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday. Hogan’s order applies to 48 state-run “congregate care” facilities. Those who do not get at least one dose of the vaccine by September will have to be tested multiple times a week, Hogan said. (Condon and Wood, 8/5)

New York City hospitals and health systems are developing expansive internal infrastructure to facilitate the rollout of newly announced staff vaccination policies, including an IT platform that tracks Covid-19 test results and 24-hour testing sites where employees can get swabbed during their shift. Each system faces the challenge of implementing mechanisms for communicating requirements, tracking compliance, vetting exemption requests and disciplining employees who flout the new rules. The guidelines so far range from a no-exceptions vaccine mandate for patient-facing employees at state-run hospitals such as SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn to weekly testing requirements for unvaccinated workers at the city’s public hospital system, Mount Sinai Health System and Northwell Health. (8/5)

As more healthcare organizations impose requirements for their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, support for mandates among the country's leading labor groups has been mixed. Unions such as National Nurses United and the National Union of Healthcare Workers endorsed employer vaccine mandates, so long as workers voices are formally heard when policies are developed. Others, including the Service Employees International Union, have withheld support so far, and contend that these requirements present complex questions that go beyond a simple "yes" or "no" response. (Ross Johnson, 8/5)

As Hawaii reported another high Thursday in the number of new coronavirus cases, Gov. David Ige announced requirements for all state and county employees to disclose their vaccination status. Employees who don’t show proof of vaccination by Aug. 16 must take weekly tests and those who don’t comply could be fired, Ige said. (Kelleher, 8/6)

The governors of Virginia and Maryland on Thursday announced some state employees would be required to get vaccinated or get tested regularly for the coronavirus, but neither said he would reimpose a mask mandate as cases in the region continue to increase. Meanwhile leaders of several localities in Maryland — including Montgomery County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, and Prince George’s County, the second-largest and the hardest hit by the virus — announced they were requiring indoor masks for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, as much of the state reached a “substantial” level of coronavirus transmission. (Portnoy and Wiggins, 8/5)

Michael Musto can’t bring himself to ask his regulars at his Staten Island restaurant, Cargo Cafe, to prove they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus. So if New York City presses on with its plans to require eateries, bars, gyms and many other public gathering places to require patrons to show proof of vaccination before coming indoors, he will again shutter his dining room and move operations outside. (Calvan, 8/5)

As New York becomes the first major U.S. city to mandate proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for indoor activities, like going to restaurants and theaters, technology experts are raising concerns that the apps have accuracy and privacy problems, to the point that they are advising New Yorkers to revert to using their original paper vaccine cards. Some New York legislators have even gone so far as to propose a bill that would mandate that such “immunity passports … only collect the minimal amount of information required to verify an individual’s vaccine or test status” and that “they delete this information within 24 hours.” It would codify into state law that paper cards would be accepted. (Farivar, 8/5)

The Palm Springs City Council has passed a motion that will require proof of vaccination — or recent negative COVID-19 test results — in order to dine or drink indoors. The regulations were approved unanimously during a special — and virtual — meeting Wednesday that was convened to discuss a series of new measures meant to curb the spread of the virus. Effective immediately, customers, employees and other visitors must wear face coverings in indoor settings. The same goes for large ticketed city events outside, such as the two-weekend music festival Splash House, which begins Aug. 13. (Breijo, 8/5)

United Airlines will require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get vaccinated against Covid by no later than Oct. 25 or risk termination, a first for major U.S. carriers that will likely ramp up pressure on rivals. Airlines including United have so far resisted vaccine mandates for all workers, instead offering incentives like extra pay or time off to get inoculated. Delta Air Lines in May started requiring newly hired employees to show proof of vaccination. United followed suit in June. (Josephs, 8/6)

If you want to see a Broadway show this fall, you’re going to have to show proof that you’ve been vaccinated. Closer to home, if you want to see a musical or drama at one of D.C.'s leading theaters, you’re probably going to have to provide proof of vaccination, too. A coalition of 13 Washington area theaters, including Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre and Round House Theatre, announced Thursday that they will require patrons to be vaccinated to attend productions through the end of 2021. Exemptions will be made for those who cannot be vaccinated, such as children younger than 12. (Hahn, 8/5)

CNN has fired three staffers for working in the office despite being unvaccinated, in an incident that highlights the potential challenge facing employers who mandate inoculations amid a surge of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus in America. Jeff Zucker, the cable network’s president, wrote in a Thursday memo obtained by The Washington Post that CNN was “made aware” in the past week of three employees violating its policy that only fully inoculated people work out of its buildings. “All three have been terminated. Let me be clear. We have a zero-tolerance policy on this,” Zucker wrote. (Jeong, 8/6)

Restaurant review app Yelp has introduced a new feature that will allow users to filter restaurants and other locations based on vaccination requirements and staff vaccinations. The app's new update will tell Yelp users what restaurants, bars, spas, and more have their staff fully vaccinated, and which businesses require guests to be vaccinated to enter, as states around the country introduce new requirements to combat the rise in COVID-19 cases. "With the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the COVID Delta variant, we're seeing an increasing number of businesses implement new safety measures to protect their employees and communities," Yelp said in a statement Thursday. "Users will be able to filter by these attributes when searching for local businesses on Yelp and will easily see 'Proof of vaccination required' indicated on restaurant, food and nightlife businesses in search results." (Jones, 8/5)

With new vaccine mandates in place and more on the way, individuals who wish to patronize some gyms, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues will need to prove they're inoculated against the coronavirus. Simply saying, "I'm vaccinated," is no longer sufficient. Neither is sporting the "I got the shot" sticker you might have been given when you received one or both jabs. (Cerullo, 8/5)

The Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI), a consortium of major tech and health care companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, and the Mayo Clinic, says it’s come up with a more durable way to show genuine proof of vaccination. It’s the SMART Health Card, a national standard for digital vaccine certificates based on technology from Boston Children’s Hospital. The standard was recently finalized, and is now rolling out across the United States. (Bray, 8/5)

Your phone can already replace most of your wallet: your subway pass, credit card, plane ticket, hotel keys and soon even your driver’s license. It’s a great place to store your Covid-19 vaccine record, too. (Nguyen, 8/5)

Some of the states hardest hit by the pandemic — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma — are administering vaccinations at a higher rate not seen since April, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Thursday during a briefing. Over the last 24 hours, there were a total of 864,000 vaccines administered, the highest since early July, Zients said. During the same period, 585,000 people received their first shot, an encouraging sign as the delta variant runs rampant through the unvaccinated. “For the Fourth week in a row, we’ve increased the daily average numbers of Americans newly vaccinated,” Zients said. “And importantly, were seeing the most significant increase in the states with the highest case rates.” (Vargas, 8/6)

The United States has seen a steady uptick in the number of individuals getting their first Covid vaccine, driven by those living in states with some of the lowest vaccination rates — the very states hardest hit by the recent surge in infections. Over the last 24 hours, the U.S. saw the highest number of daily shots administered since July 3, with 864,000 vaccinations administered. Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma are now vaccinating people at a pace not seen since April, White House Covid coordinator Jeffrey Zients said Thursday. (Pettypiece, 8/5)

Months into the nation’s unprecedented COVID-19 vaccination effort, disparities in vaccinating underserved populations have been stark, with data showing white people getting the shot at faster rates than Black and Hispanic people. Experts say that could be changing, as fears mount amid the new case surge and grassroots vaccination efforts begin to pay off. Over the past two weeks, people of color have been vaccinated with a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine more than white people when compared to their shares of the population, according to the latest CDC data. Though race and ethnicity information is only available for about 60% of the U.S. population, it shows a glint of promise, experts say. (Hassanein, 8/5)

A newspaper's front page is designed to get your attention — sometimes more so than usual. USA Today's weekend edition, publishing Friday, is unusual. Its banner front page headline says, "We are failing one another. "The newspaper describes "America's fourth Covid-19 surge," noting this "didn't have to happen," since vaccinations are so widely available. The headlines are followed by a call to action: "Let's end it now." (Stelter, 8/5)

Despite the Biden administration's repeated warnings about a "pandemic of the unvaccinated" and renewed efforts to convince people to get their jabs, millions of eligible Americans have yet to do so. And with COVID-19 patients filling up hospitals across the U.S. amid a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, many Americans may find themselves increasingly frustrated by loved ones who are not vaccinated. (Rahman, 8/5)

As Bibb County COVID-19 vaccination rates lag behind state averages, local elected officials and private companies are incentivizing and, in some cases, requiring employees to get shots. The Macon-Bibb County commissioners approved payments of $500 for full-time employees and $250 for part-time employees who receive a COVID-19 vaccine during their Tuesday evening meeting, Liz Fabian of the Center for Collaborative Journalism reports. “We are in an emergency,” Commissioner Elaine Lucas said. “We are fortunate that we do have this option because we could just keep begging and pleading with folks to do the right thing and it’s obvious that hasn’t worked.” (Perrineau, 8/5)

It's becoming more urgent to vaccinate the staff that care for vulnerable nursing home patients. But the industry, which has been plagued with workforce issues, faces a major challenge when it comes to mandating shots, the New York Times reports. Nursing homes had seen major drops in infections after becoming one of the major hotspots for cases and deaths earlier on in the pandemic. But those numbers have reversed in recent weeks, CDC data shows. (Reed, 8/5)

COVID-19 cases in children are up 84% in the past week, with 72,000 kids testing positive for the virus, a new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] reported on Wednesday. The new infections were recorded in the seven days leading up to July 29, up from 39,000 the week prior, according to the AAP report. AAP said it had teamed up with Children’s Hospitals of America to help collect and share data about pediatric cases of the virus, which have been only 14.3% of the total cumulative cases, the study says. That share rose to 19% for the week ending July 29. Since the pandemic began, 4.2 million children have tested positive for the virus. (Reilly, 8/5)

Children are increasingly becoming infected by coronavirus, as cases and hospitalizations surge in Florida. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Florida leads the nation in the rate of children hospitalized. In the last week of July, there were 32 pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations per day, which when adjusted for population equals 0.76 kids hospitalized per 100,000 residents. (Sheridan, 8/5)

The number of very sick children admitted to Children's Hospital New Orleans with Covid-19 has exploded over the past two weeks — from zero to 20. "I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Mark Kline, the hospital's physician-in-chief. "We are seeing children fall ill that we just simply didn't see in the first year of the pandemic, before the delta variant came along." (Edwards, 8/5)

When Kate Eichelberger and her husband got their Covid-19 vaccinations, they felt a sense of protection — not just for themselves, but for their young children, too. At 6 and 8 years old, the kids are not yet eligible for Covid-19 shots, which are currently only available to those 12 and up. But Eichelberger felt relieved knowing that as a fully vaccinated adult, if she were exposed to the coronavirus at her workplace or anywhere else, it was unlikely she would bring it home to her children. (Chuck, 8/6)

Mississippi’s top health official said the delta coronavirus variant is “sweeping across Mississippi like a tsunami” as the state reported more than 3,000 new cases of the highly transmittable virus in a single day Thursday. “If we look at our trajectory, we see that it’s continuing to increase without any real demonstration of leveling off or decreasing,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a virtual briefing with news media. The state reported 3,164 new cases of coronavirus Thursday, marking 356,055 since the start of the pandemic. More than 7,600 people have died of coronavirus complications in the state of about 3 million. (Willingham, 8/5)

Florida hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are suspending elective surgeries and putting beds in conference rooms, an auditorium and a cafeteria. As of midweek, Mississippi had just six open intensive care beds in the entire state. Georgia medical centers are turning people away. And in Louisiana, an organ transplant had to be postponed along with other procedures. “We are seeing a surge like we’ve not seen before in terms of the patients coming,” Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, said Wednesday. “It’s the sheer number coming in at the same time. There are only so many beds, so many doctors, only so many nurses.” (Kennedy and Marcelo, 8/5)

Maryland reported more than 700 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday for the first time since May. The number of patients currently hospitalized has roughly tripled in the past month to 337, the most Marylanders hospitalized with COVID since June 3. Experts say unvaccinated people are continuing to spread the virus and make up the bulk of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Nearly 60% of Maryland residents are fully vaccinated with either both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the one-shot dose from Johnson & Johnson. (Campbell, 8/5)

To describe the current COVID surge, hospital leaders in South Georgia are using strong words, such as ‘‘scary,’’ ‘‘fear’’ and “overwhelmed.’’ The state’s COVID-19 map shows most of the hottest spots for the latest case surge are in the southern part of Georgia. And some hospital officials in the region say the impact is worse than the previous three COVID surges. (Miller, 8/5)

Montana health authorities report 89% of the rural state’s hospitalized Covid-19 patients in June and July were unvaccinated and that the number of admissions and positive tests are on the rise. The 358 patients ranged in age from 1 year to 97, with a median age of 64, state public health director Adam Meier said in a statement Thursday. More than 445,000 residents are fully vaccinated, 48% of Montana’s eligible population. (Del Giudice, 8/5)

The number of nursing home patients and staff infected with Covid-19 rose sharply last week, according to federal data released Thursday, as the highly contagious delta variant menaces the country. Cases among nursing home residents climbed by 38 percent – from 1,478 to 2,041 – between July 25 and Aug. 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Strickler, 8/5)

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that a more severe Covid variant could emerge as the U.S. daily new case average is now approaching 100,000 per day, exceeding the level of transmission last summer before vaccines were available. Fauci, in an interview with McClatchy published Wednesday evening, said the U.S. could be “in trouble” if a new variant overtakes delta, which already has a viral load 1,000 times higher than the original Covid strain. (Towey, 8/5)

The name itself – "delta plus" – suggests the variant underwent an upgrade to become more virulent. But while little is known about the sublineage and its mutations, health experts say it’s not spreading efficiently now in the U.S., and Americans shouldn’t add it to their pandemic worry list. “It’s a cool name that’s trending,” said Dr. Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic. “When someone says 'delta plus' or any of these new names, it means the virus is continuing to evolve with us,” but there’s no evidence to suggest the new sublineage should be concerning. (Rodriguez, 8/5)

KHN: Clarity On Covid Count: Pandemic’s Toll On Seniors Extended Well Beyond Nursing Homes

As covid-19 resurges across the country, driven by the highly infectious delta variant, experts are extending our understanding of the pandemic’s toll on older adults — the age group hit hardest by the pandemic. New research offers unexpected insights. Older adults living in their own homes and apartments had a significantly heightened risk of dying from covid last year — more than previously understood, it shows. Though deaths in nursing homes received enormous attention, far more older adults who perished from covid lived outside of institutions. (Graham, 8/6)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Delta Blues 

The U.S. is experiencing another surge of covid-19, particularly in Southern states where vaccination rates are generally lower than in other regions. But partisan fights rage on over what role government should play in trying to tamp down the highly contagious delta variant. Meanwhile, Democrats spent the week fighting amongst themselves about how to extend a moratorium on evictions, after the Supreme Court said Congress would need to act. (8/6)

Nearly 500 positive cases of COVID-19 have been linked to Milwaukee's Deer District, the site of massive celebrations over the Bucks' NBA championship run last month, according to the Milwaukee Health Department. The department confirmed to CBS News that 491 people who had been to the Deer District in July tested positive for the virus. The district filled with fans in mid-July, as Giannis Antetokounmpo helped lead the Bucks to a 4-2 series victory over the Phoenix Suns and clinched the city's first NBA title in 50 years. CBS Milwaukee affiliate WDJT-TV captured residents partying into the night, as fans flooded the district to celebrate the win. (Jones, 8/5)

A south Texas city at the center of the border crisis pitched a series of emergency outdoor tents to house migrants who have tested positive for the coronavirus after being released from Border Patrol custody. City officials set up several beige tents on county property in Anzalduas Park in Mission, Texas, on Wednesday in response to the record-high number of coronavirus cases among migrants and the community’s inability to house people adequately. The park is closed to the public. (Giaritelli, 8/5)

To Todd Eckstein, Provincetown, Mass., seemed like the safest possible place to party for the Fourth of July weekend. The Cape Cod vacation destination boasted not a single coronavirus case in June — and most importantly, a vaccination rate so high that people joked it had passed 100 percent. Immunization cards were checked at the waterfront hotel where people converged every evening for the town’s famous “Tea Dance.” With rain pouring down, Eckstein recalled, people left the venue’s pool and sun deck to squeeze inside “to the point you could hardly move.” Masks were a thing of the past as a town of about 3,000 swelled to more than 60,000 and the main drag buzzed like a carnival. (Knowles and Dotinga, 8/5)

Two New York state residents who were among the hundreds of breakthrough COVID-19 cases in a recent Massachusetts outbreak are detailing their symptoms. Mark MacBain, 53, and Skip Collins, 52, were part of a group who traveled last month to Provincetown, a popular vacation spot along Cape Cod. They were part of thousands drawn to the area between July 3-July 17 for multiple summer events and large public gatherings, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Rivas, 8/4)

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally rumbles into South Dakota on Friday, with the gathering expected to draw as many as 700,000 visitors. Yet even as some states and cities around the U.S. reverse course in reopening amid a fearsome spike in COVID-19 cases linked to the so-called Delta variant, local business owners around Sturgis are revved up for an annual tradition that has become a mammoth tourism event. "I think it's great we're getting so many tourists. Seeing all the new faces and their wanting us to tell them about other local businesses to go to is super cool," said Taylor Whittle, owner of Sweet Secrets Bakery, located in Rapid City, South Dakota, about 20 minutes away from Sturgis. (Cerullo, 8/5)

As the contagious Delta variant continues to reach across the United States, more and more companies are delaying plans to reopen offices. A recent survey of 1,000 HR professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management and Lucid found that half of U.S. organizations are worried about Delta. Some corporate players have started mandating vaccines for employees in an attempt to combat the variant. (Chen, 8/5)

More large corporations, including Amazon, BlackRock and Wells Fargo, announced on Thursday that they would delay their return-to-office plans as the spread of the Delta variant causes the number of coronavirus cases to climb. Amazon took the biggest step, telling its corporate employees that they did not need to return to their offices until Jan. 3, pushing back a deadline that had been set for early September. (8/6)

Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey plans to announce on Friday that public school students, from kindergartners to seniors in high school, will have to wear masks when school resumes, because of a recent surge of new cases of the coronavirus, the governor’s spokesman, Mahen Gunaratna, said. The decision is a sharp reversal for Governor Murphy, a Democrat, who had previously said that mask-wearing policies would be left up to each district. (Hard, 8/6)

Fed up with a group of demonstrators protesting mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy lashed out on Wednesday during a public bill signing. "These folks back there have lost their minds — you've lost your minds," Murphy said, calling out to the protesters. "You are the ultimate knuckleheads, and because of what you are saying and standing for, people are losing their life. People are losing their life and you have to know that. Look in the mirror." The governor had come to Union City to sign legislation that would allocate money to prevent evictions and give utility assistance. (Fischels, 8/5)

Arkansas lawmakers on Thursday voted down two bills that would have allowed school boards to implement mask mandates in certain instances, during a special session called by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for the purpose of allowing those mandates. The House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor rejected House Bill 1003 by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, as well as House Bill 1004 by House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock. (Herzog, 8/5)

Arkansas’ ban on mask mandates faced new legal challenges -- including from a school district where more than 800 staff and students are quarantining because of a COVID-19 outbreak -- and defiance from the mayor of the state capital as Republican lawmakers rejected efforts to roll back the prohibition. The Little Rock and Marion school districts asked a state judge to block the law Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed in April prohibiting schools and other governmental bodies from requiring masks. Little Rock’s mayor, meanwhile, issued an order requiring masks in the city’s public spaces. (DeMillo, 8/5)

A battle is brewing in Florida over whether students will have to wear masks when they return to the classroom this fall. Several Florida school districts are keeping their mask mandates in place for the upcoming school year, despite an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis that leaves it up to parents to decide whether their children wear face coverings in school. School boards that don't eliminate mask mandates could face the loss of state funding. (Hernandez, 8/6)

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon says he will not issue another mask mandate for public schools. “My focus is on supporting local school boards as they take into account conditions in their community and work to assure students learn safely this year too,” Gordon said in a statement released Wednesday. (8/6)

More than 150 Arizona doctors on Thursday urged Gov. Doug Ducey to mandate masks in public schools, dialing up pressure as coronavirus cases rise and a growing number of school districts require their staff and students to mask up in defiance of a new state law. Scientists don’t yet know the long-term effects of the coronavirus on developing brains, the doctors wrote in a letter delivered to Ducey’s office. Ducey this summer signed legislation that bans schools from requiring children to wear masks. (Cooper, 8/5)

Hundreds of thousands of college and graduate students at public universities have been given a choice: Get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or don’t show up to campus in the fall.More than a dozen students have opted for a third option: Sue their school. Students have brought federal lawsuits challenging the vaccination requirements at major public university systems in Indiana, Connecticut, California and Massachusetts. (Gershman, 8/6)

The state’s top schools chief made another push for Californians to get their COVID-19 shots, saying during a visit to Los Angeles County on Wednesday, Aug. 4, that given the continuing rise in coronavirus cases just as schools are reopening, that the best thing people can do to protect themselves and others would be to get vaccinated immediately. There have been preliminary conversations at the legislative level about mandating vaccinations in K-12 schools, he said, noting, however, that there’s no guarantee if or when such a proposal would become law. No bill has been introduced, and the legislative session is set to end mid-September. (Tat, 8/5)

When the Atlanta Public Schools reopened on Thursday, students and teachers anticipated — finally — something like a return to normalcy. Schools, now open for in-person classes five days a week, greeted students with balloons. The kindergartners at Morningside Elementary wore brightly colored crowns to celebrate. But even on the first day, families and school employees were already bracing for the possibility of things going awry. (Mzezewa, 8/5)

Over 80% of U.S. counties are experiencing substantial or high COVID-19 spread, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said during a White House briefing. The vast majority of counties thereby meet the threshold for federal health guidance advising fully vaccinated populations to wear masks in public indoor places. "Across the board we are seeing increases in cases and hospitalizations in all age groups," Walensky said. "Those at highest risk remain people who have not yet been vaccinated." (Rivas, 8/5)

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads. More than 615,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. (Shapiro and Pereira, 8/6)

Residents and visitors to Baltimore will have to mask up again while indoors amid an increase in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, city officials announced Thursday. The mask requirement is effective Monday at 9 a.m., Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. It will apply to all indoor spaces in the city, public and private. (Opilo and Miller, 8/5)

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday signed an executive order that allows municipal leaders to enact mask mandates for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people while inside public places. This latest order allows municipal leaders to move beyond Lamont’s current edict, which requires only unvaccinated people to wear masks while inside public places. It also requires everyone to wear them in specific settings, such as health care facilities, prisons, day care sites and public and private transit. (Haigh and Eaton-Robb, 8/6)

You might be thinking about making reservations at a restaurant this weekend, but before you smash the “confirm” button on your favorite app, you could be having second — or eighth — thoughts. News about the delta variant of the coronavirus, “breakthrough infections” among vaccinated people and changing guidelines on masking are adding levels of uncertainty that we once assumed were behind us. As Americans again grapple with the question of whether they should dine out, public health experts and epidemiologists agree on one thing: There is no such thing as zero risk. There are only degrees of risk, no matter your vaccination status or the damage the delta variant has done to your community. (Heil and Carman, 8/5)

For the past week, Brooke Hale has been told “no” about 80 times a day. The executive assistant at Altus Lumberton Hospital has spent her shifts on the phone in a windowless office, repeatedly asking other facilities within an 800-mile radius the same question: Can you take one of our critical COVID-19 patients? On Thursday, there were three. They needed intensive care, and without it they could die. Hale tried hospitals in Texarkana and Tyler, Lubbock and Lufkin, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi. None had room. “I feel helpless,” Hale said through her green N95 mask. “I feel like I can’t help patients like I need to.” (Despart, 8/6)

Existing staff shortages across the country, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, have caused widespread burnout among health workers, even forcing some to walk off the job, health specialists and hospital officials say. “The mental toll of pandemic and burnout is real and it is pervasive across the country,” said Purvi Parikh, an immunologist with the national advocacy group Physicians for Patient Protection. (Villegas, 8/5)

Even as frontline health workers have been celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, many others working to track the virus, stem its spread and help Americans avoid infection have found themselves under siege. Those public health workers have been vilified by a portion of the public and attacked by some political leaders and media figures. They have been fired or forced from office. They have been subjected to protests—some on their own front lawns—as well as curses, threats and even, on at least one occasion, racist taunts. All that while working endless hours, sometimes in unfamiliar roles, to save as many people as possible from a virus that has so far killed more than 614,000 Americans. (Ollove, 8/5)

The lobbying frenzy began late last month, as senators and the White House desperately sought a way to pay for a high-stakes, high-profile infrastructure deal. One of their options: raiding $44 billion that had been set aside to help hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers recover from the pandemic, but was never spent. Providers panicked — until Sen. Susan Collins stepped in to save the funds. (Cohrs, 8/6)

Ascension Michigan agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the health system submitted false claims for federal payment for alleged medically unnecessary procedures performed by one of its oncologists, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. The government alleges the gynecological oncologist, who is not named because the suit was sealed as part of the settlement, performed "radical hysterectomies and chemotherapy." A peer review performed at the hospital's request determined less aggressive surgeries or medical interventions were appropriate. (Walsh, 8/5)

Kidney care startup Cricket Health raised $83.5 million in a Series B funding round, including money from two major health insurers, the company announced Thursday. Valtruis, a newly launched portfolio company focused on value-based care launched by private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe this week, led the $83.5 million funding round. Cigna and Blue Shield of California, two Cricket Health customers, also participated. Cigna was already a Cricket Health investor. Other participants included venture- and growth-equity investment firm Oak HC/FT and K2 HealthVentures, a firm that provides debt and equity capital. (Kim Cohen, 8/5)

Two months after its launch, Morgan Health has made its first investment, dropping $50 million in Vera Whole Health on Thursday. The new venture represents the first step for JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s healthcare arm to build a coordinated care model for itself and other companies, said CEO Dan Mendelson, who was the founder and former CEO of healthcare advisory firm Avalere Health and also worked in the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration. (Tepper, 8/5)

KHN: Hard Lessons From A City That Tried To Privatize Public Health

If you were growing up in Detroit in the 1970s or ’80s, chances are you knew the city’s Herman Kiefer public health complex by both sight and reputation. Opened at the turn of the century and later enhanced by renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn, the imposing brick complex was named after a local infectious disease doctor. As the city grew, so did the complex and the services offered within, becoming synonymous with public health in the eyes of many families and residents. (Barry-Jester, 8/6)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up a pivotal vote on President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan for Saturday, after breakneck talks to wrap up the bill on Thursday night fell apart. Senators in both parties spent the entire day assembling a package of amendments for consideration that could grease the wheels to final passage, but Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) refused to sign off under intense lobbying from Republican colleagues. (Everett, 8/5)

Senators had hoped to finish work on the bipartisan bill as early as Thursday night, with Senate leadership trying to push through 16 amendments and then pass the bill before senators leave Friday morning for the funeral of former Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. Instead, they spent a day waiting, first for a Congressional Budget Office score of the bill, then for an agreement on amendments. They got the score at around 4 p.m., with the CBO's release confirming conservative complaints that the bill was not, as advertised, fully paid for. (Wehrman, Morton and Cohn, 8/5)

The Senate debated amendments to the $1 trillion, 2,700 page bipartisan infrastructure bill late into the night Thursday before Majority Leader Chuck Schumer adjourned the session and said proceedings would resume Saturday. The New York Democrat said there would be a vote to cut off debate on the measure at the beginning of that session. A green light would set the stage for a vote on final passage early next week. (Quinn, 8/5)

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bipartisan infrastructure bill will add $256 billion to the deficit over 10 years, one of the final pieces lawmakers were awaiting before the Senate moves onto final consideration of the bill. The bipartisan group that negotiated the bill had worked to make it "paid for," congressional speak for not adding to the deficit. But the CBO disagreed. (Finn, 8/5)

The bipartisan infrastructure bill would lead to a $8.7 billion reduction in Medicare payments to providers, according to an estimate released Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The bill proposes a 4% cut to Medicare payment rates for the first six months of 2031 in part to pay for more than $500 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, and other surface infrastructure. The extension has been fiercely opposed by hospital groups, who argue Medicare shouldn't be cut to pay for unrelated infrastructure projects. (Hellmann, 8/5)

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of three Republican members of Congress who last week filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the House mask mandate, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he said in a statement Thursday. “After experiencing minor symptoms this morning, I sought a covid-19 test and was just informed the test results were positive,” Norman tweeted Thursday afternoon. “Thankfully, I have been fully vaccinated and my symptoms remain mild.” (Wang, 8/5)

In a decision with enormous implications for the U.S. health care system, a federal appeals court panel issued a ruling that throws into question the ability of generic companies to “carve out” uses for their medicines and supply Americans with lower-cost alternatives to pricey brand-name drugs. At issue is skinny labeling, which refers to an effort by a generic company to seek regulatory approval to market its medicine a specific use, but not other patented uses for which a brand-name drug is prescribed. For instance, a generic drug could be marketed to treat one type of heart problem, but not another. By doing so, the generic company seeks to avoid lawsuits claiming patent infringement. (Silverman, 8/5)

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has accused large health insurers of using a biologic drug shortage as a means to push patients into using biosimilars for a common retina disease, even though the drugs haven't been tested for that use. The San Francisco-based lobbying group called on seven health insurers to stop recommending the use of two biosimilars for Genentech USA's Avastin, a biologic drug used to treat eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and some cancers. The industry group has asked CMS to stop insurers from pressuring patients to take biosimilars Zirabev from Pfizer and Mvasi from Amgen for age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in individuals over 60 and affects approximately 15 million people in the U.S. (Tepper, 8/5)

When hundreds of scientists from around the world finally pieced together a draft of the first human genome in 2003, perhaps the biggest surprise was just how little of it was devoted to the business of producing proteins. About 98% of the genes in our chromosomes appeared not to do anything, earning the unflattering nickname “junk DNA.” But with better tools developed over the last 20 years, scientists began to discover that all that junk actually produces a diverse menagerie of RNA species transcribed and set loose to drift around the cell. (Molteni, 8/5)

KHN: Pharmacies Face Extra Audit Burdens That Threaten Their Existence 

The clock was about to strike midnight, and Scott Newman was desperately feeding pages into a scanner, trying to prevent thousands of dollars in prescription payments from turning into a pumpkin. As the owner of Newman Family Pharmacy, an independent drugstore in Chesapeake, Virginia, he was responding to an audit ordered by a pharmacy benefit manager, an intermediary company that handles pharmacy payments for health insurance companies. The audit notice had come in January as he was scrambling to become certified to provide covid-19 vaccines, and it had slipped his mind. Then, a month later, a final notice reminded him he needed to get 120 pages of documents supporting some 30 prescription claims scanned and uploaded by the end of the day. “I was sure I’d be missing pages,” he recalled. “So I was rescanning stuff for the damn file.” (Hawryluk, 8/6)

McKesson and Cardinal Health are sitting on huge inventories of personal protective equipment, some of which they estimate won't be used or will expire, resulting in a $164 million loss for McKesson and a $197 million loss for Cardinal in the second quarter. Last year, during the height of the pandemic, PPE was in high demand but short supply, leading to high prices and long waits. Now that supply has caught up, some medical distributors have too much and believe a lot will go unsold, although McKesson said it would donate some of its excess PPE. (Herman, 8/6)

An inspector general found that data management problems hampered the Federal Emergency Management Agency's distribution of personal protective equipment during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a draft of the soon-to-be-released report obtained by NBC News. The report from Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, places blame on the nation's primary disaster response agency, rather than at the feet of the White House Coronavirus Task Force officials who ultimately had authority for the acquisition and distribution of the resources. (Allen, 8/5)

Long-term pain patients on high amounts of opioid painkillers who taper their dose are at a higher risk of suffering a mental health crisis or an overdose, a new study has found. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, looked at a database of more than 113,000 patients prescribed higher doses of opioid painkillers between 2008 and 2019 -- an average of about 50 morphine milligram equivalents per day -- for at least a year. From there, they identified patients who had tapered their dose, which researchers defined as reducing it by at least 15% over a 60-day period. (Whelan, 8/5)

Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults with chronic pain had used a prescription opioid in the past three months when surveyed in 2019, according to data published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Prescription opioid use for chronic pain management has been associated with an increased risk of misuse, addiction and death — have been the subject of massive class-action lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors. (Fernandez, 8/5)

Karen Colby thought she could make it through an unprecedented Pacific Northwest heat wave with a little help from her neighbor, who dribbled cold water on her head and visited every hour to wrap frozen towels around her neck. But when temperatures in her tiny fifth-floor studio soared to 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius), Colby suddenly stopped responding to questions and couldn’t move from her recliner to her walker. The friend called an ambulance, and Colby, 74, wound up hospitalized for 10 days with heatstroke. (Flaccus, 8/5)

The historic California town of Mendocino is running out of water and the reservoir it depends on is drying up amid a devastating drought in the state. "It's dire and it's only getting worse," said Ryan Rhoades, the town's groundwater manager. Rhoades said he's considering bringing in water by train. In the meantime, the local high school has offered some of its reserves, which is only one truckload of water per day. "That's the problem," he said. (Evans and Powell, 8/5)

Summer camps in eastern Washington State had to shut down this week after a stretch of unhealthy haze. Officials in Montana issued air quality warnings for nearly the entire state. And Denver residents were said to be comparing hazy conditions to the “brown cloud” that resulted from traffic pollution in the 1990s. Wildfire smoke has been a problem across the country again this summer, following a fire season last year during which conditions got so bad that officials started telling Colorado residents to create a purified “safe room” as a barrier against the stifling smoke and ozone. (8/6)

In his first message to all staff on the issue, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday acknowledged there is "growing concern" about the "unexplained health incidents" that have affected dozens of U.S. personnel around the globe. Blinken committed to meeting "soon" with staff and families affected by what's commonly called "Havana syndrome," after the first cluster of cases were reported in Cuba's capital in late 2016. (Finnegan, 8/5)

Nearly 3,000 Latinos each year have died from gunfire in the United States over the last two decades, making them twice as likely to be shot to death than white non-Hispanics, according to a study from the Violence Policy Center. Almost 70,000 Latinos were killed with firearms between 1999 and 2019, 66% of them in homicides, according to the center’s data analysis. (Franco, 8/5)

The future that Nyome Kamara envisioned still sits in plastic. At the beginning of last year, she moved the adult day-care center she founded for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities into a larger building, one that would allow her to pull more names off the wait list and expand services to children. More than a dozen young adults have come to depend on the building in Manassas, Va., as a place where they can spend their days with friends and staff members who know them and their needs. Kamara was working to create a similar outlet for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities on the other side of the building, and despite the pandemic limiting funding and the construction hitting snags, she was only a few tasks away from making that happen. (Vargas, 8/4)

A 72-year-old man who was struggling to breathe arched his back and waved his arm in an apparent bid to get someone’s attention shortly before slumping over in an emergency department waiting room, where he went unnoticed for hours, according to surveillance video released Thursday as part of a wrongful-death suit filed by his family. Staff at WellSpan York Hospital in Pennsylvania walked by Terry Odoms a dozen times over the course of two hours before a woman in blue scrubs finally checked on him and found him unresponsive in his wheelchair, the video showed. Efforts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead about an hour later. (Rubinkam, 8/6)

Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed strong support Thursday for increased efforts around California to remove large homeless encampments, calling them unacceptable and saying the state will need more federal help to create additional housing and expand services for homeless people. Newsom’s comments come at a time of growing alarm over the homelessness crisis, which has become a focus of criticism by Republican candidates running to replace him in the upcoming recall election. (Oreskes, 8/5)

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made tackling homelessness one of his top priorities. Now that the governor faces a recall election, Republican candidates have released their own plans to combat the crisis. John Cox wants to require unhoused people to receive any needed treatment for addiction or mental illness before they can get housing. Kevin Faulconer wants to build more shelters to make it easier to clear encampments. It’s not just Republicans who are exasperated. The mostly progressive Los Angeles City Council this month passed a controversial anti-camping measure to remove homeless encampments. (Weber, 8/5)

California used COVID-19 finds to build 6,000 units to house the homeless, the Associated Press reported. Homekey is an outgrowth of Project Roomkey, which helped supply shelter for those susceptible to the coronavirus. Governor Gavin Newsom's office said $800 million, most of which was federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money, was spent on Homekey in 2020 to provide shelter for 8,200 people. (Gile, 8/4)

A San Luis Obispo homeless shelter is experiencing a coronavirus outbreak involving dozens of people — prompting facilities throughout San Luis Obispo County to limit intake and institute rapid testing.40 Prado Homeless Services Center in San Luis Obispo has identified more than 30 positive COVID-19 cases since July 26, said Tara Kennon, a spokeswoman for the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department. (Holden, 8/4)

The city of Denver spends at least twice as much on homelessness per person as it does on K-12 public school students – and the spending crushes the veterans affairs budget in the state, a new study released Thursday found, according to a report. For comparison, the city reportedly spends between $41,679 and $104,201 on each person experiencing homelessness in a year while only $19,202 on each K-12 public school student over the same period of time. (Stimson, 8/5)

Pharmacy technician Lindsay Freeman captains the vessel — one of the few staff members brave enough to drive the behemoth. When she reaches her destination — a parking lot across from the Poverty Resistance thrift store, she deftly maneuvers through the narrow opening in the curb. Once parked, it takes a few minutes for the van to level, for the awning to unroll, for the generator to kick into gear. When the mechanical whir stops, they’re ready for patients. (Hughes, 8/1)

Joshua Spriestersbach fell asleep on a sidewalk one hot day in May 2017 while waiting for food outside a Honolulu homeless shelter. He woke up to a police officer arresting him for violating the city’s ban on lying down in public places. At least that’s what Spriestersbach thought. The officer actually arrested him because he believed Spriestersbach was a man named Thomas Castleberry, who had an arrest warrant out for allegedly violating probation in a 2006 drug case. It was the first mistake of many that led to Spriestersbach spending two years and eight months in jail and a mental institution for crimes he didn’t commit, according to a 36-page petition filed Monday by the Hawaii Innocence Project. (Edwards, 8/5)

Michael Garrett, 54 and homeless, has congestive heart failure, asthma and a defibrillator in his chest. He also has cancer, for which he is receiving chemo and radiation. And because of all that, he has a letter from the city telling him that he cannot be housed in a barracks-style group shelter, where 20 people often share a room. But early Thursday morning, that is exactly where Mr. Garrett was sent, in one of the latest glitches in New York City’s shelter system as it struggles to relocate 8,000 homeless people to group shelters from the hotels where they had been placed to stem the spread of Covid-19. (Newman, 8/5)

Vaccine maker Novavax announced Thursday it has asked regulators in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine -- offering its shot to some low-income countries before rich ones with ample supplies. U.S.-based Novavax partnered with the Serum Institute of India to apply in the three countries, and plans later this month to also seek the World Health Organization review needed to be part of the COVAX global vaccine program. (Neergaard, 8/4)

President Xi Jinping pledged to dramatically expand Covid-19 vaccine exports to two billion doses this year, matching commitments by Group of Seven nations amid warnings about inoculation shortages in the developing world. Xi announced the goal in a written address to a forum on international vaccine cooperation hosted Thursday by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, state media including China Central Television said. The country also planned to donate $100 million to Covax, the international program backed by the World Health Organization that provides developing countries with vaccines, Xi said. (8/6)

More than one year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is grappling with a highly transmissible delta variant that has caused a renewed surge in infections in countries from the U.K. and the U.S., to those in Africa and Asia. The delta variant, which was first detected in India last October, has been found in more than 130 countries globally, according to the World Health Organization. Delta is the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in China in late 2019, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and technical lead for Covid-19 at the WHO. (Lee, 8/5)

Sydney’s daily delta outbreak caseload has risen to another record, with 291 new infections detected and authorities warning the situation in Australia’s largest city could worsen. “I do want to foreshadow that given this high number of cases, we are likely to see this trend continue for the next few days,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday told reporters in the city, which has failed to bend the curve of new infections lower despite being in lockdown for almost six weeks. The new cases surpass the previous record number of new infections of 262 on Thursday; one more person died. (McKay, 8/6)

Japan’s capital logged a record number of coronavirus cases this week, burdening the hospital system amid a slow vaccine rollout, an increasingly apathetic public and the government’s unsuccessful efforts to restrict the rapid spread of the delta variant. On Thursday, Tokyo reported 5,042 new coronavirus cases, its highest daily count and nearly double the record set nine days prior. The virus is spreading quickly beyond the Olympic host city: Japan’s positive daily cases exceeded 15,000 for the first time on Thursday. (Lee and Denyer, 8/6)

Outbreaks of the delta variant in China have caused the governing party to revert back to strict lockdown measures that will imperil the 2022 Winter Olympic Games that are set to begin next February in Beijing. The highly contagious COVID-19 variant has spurred new outbreaks across a country that, until recently, had been relatively successful at suppressing clusters of new cases thanks to strict quarantine measures and border control policies. The country’s gravitation toward the more extreme shutdowns and restrictions on travel is not sustainable, though, given the toll it would take on the country’s economy, as well as foreign spectators’ ability to see the games in person. (Morrison, 8/5)

After being forced to reassess its original findings, a U.K. antitrust watchdog has issued a provisional ruling that Pfizer (PFE) and a small generic company engaged in price gouging for an epilepsy pill, causing the National Health Service to unnecessarily overpay for a “vital” medicine. The decision is the latest in an eight-year odyssey in which the Competition and Markets Authority has sought to prove that the companies unfairly dominated the market for the drug. But its effort has been beset by fines, appeals, and court rulings, which required the agency to go back to the proverbial drawing board in one of its highest-profile attempts to police the pharmaceutical industry. (Silverman, 8/5)

It’s by far the most COVID patients the 330-bed hospital has housed since the pandemic entered Louisiana in March of 2020 — a steep rise from the earlier peak of around 50 patients in last winter’s surge, said Dr. Stacy R. Newman, North Oaks’ infectious disease physician. North Oaks is one of hundreds of hospitals across Louisiana packed to the brink with COVID-19 patients as the more-virulent delta variant rips through the state’s population, which has one of the nation’s lowest rates of vaccination against the virus at 37.2%. The state set a new peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday with 2,247 patients, the Louisiana Department of Health said. The vast majority of those patients are unvaccinated. (Finn, 8/4)

Sanford Health started coordinating virtual meetings in April 2020 for its medical staff, who shared how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The psychologist-led discussions aimed to be informal outlets for clinicians to learn from each other, as well as how the Sioux Falls, South Dakota.-based health system could take better care of its front-line staff. Hopefully, they recognized that it was OK to not be OK, said Dr. Luis Garcia, president of Sanford’s clinic division. “One of the realities of mental health inside and outside of medicine is we don’t talk much about it,” he said, adding that many are worried about the repercussions of sharing that they are depressed. “But in the midst of an extremely difficult situation—people dying and the uncertainty of the disease—there were moments of bonding, strengthening and recognition.” (Kacik, 8/2)

Few organisms are as odd, or as old, as the horseshoe crab. That they predate the dinosaurs, a time when everything was large, might explain their oversize, helmet-shaped shells, which can grow as large as 20 inches. They limp along the tidal flats as if a smaller creature was hiding inside that shell, using it to move about incognito. Anatomically, they’re more like spiders than crustaceans, and they fluoresce under ultraviolet light. But perhaps their unique feature is how their blood, which is bright blue, coagulates when exposed to harmful bacterial endotoxins, a feature that has kept them alive for about 450 million years. Bacterial endotoxins induce inflammation and fever, and can cause anaphylactic shock and death. They are responsible for venereal disease, bacterial meningitis as well as cholera, bubonic plague and other diseases. Immune cells in the crabs’ blood trap and immobilize these type of endotoxins, rendering them inert. (Chesler, 8/1)

Perhaps you have mixed feelings about sweat. Or maybe you’re solidly on Team Yuck. “Sweat kind of gets a bad rap,” says Lindsay Baker, an exercise physiologist at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Barrington, Ill. “But it’s a good thing. ”That’s because sweat is the human body’s terrifically efficient way of cooling down when you’re outside in 90-degree weather or when you exercise. Indeed, our ability to sweat has allowed humans to thrive in hot climates, and to be able to be physically active during daytime hours. (Adama, 8/1)

The cannabis industry has mastered the art of selling pot-infused brownies, gummies and even popcorn. But it’s struggling to boost a potentially lucrative market that centers on persuading Americans to drink their weed. Rather than rolling a joint or puffing on a vape, some of the largest cannabis companies in North America see a multibillion-dollar marijuana beverage industry waiting to be tapped as states increasingly embrace legal weed. (Demko, 8/1)

When scientists recently examined the stomach contents of a 2,000-year-old sacrificial body found in a Danish bog, they learned his last meal was pretty prosaic: porridge and some fish, cooked in a clay pot. But it turns out archaeologists can still find out a lot about what people once ate, even when there are no bodies to be found. In a feature for Knowable Magazine, science journalist Carolyn Wilke uncovers how scientists are using shards of pottery and the remnants of other vessels to learn more about long-ago diets. “Gathered from bottles, fragments of ceramic pots and even relics from Bronze Age grave sites, microbes and remnants of molecules offer a bevy of new clues about ancient cuisine,” she writes. (Blakemore, 7/31)

After three back-to-back miscarriages, Brittany Gould said she turned to Theranos Inc. to know if her latest pregnancy was on track. Then, one of the company’s trademark finger-prick tests indicated she was losing another baby, Ms. Gould said. The Mesa, Ariz., medical assistant recalled dreading the moment when she would have to tell her 7-year-old daughter, who was waiting for a sibling. “Mommy is not having a baby,” Ms. Gould said she told her. Like those of other patients slated as potential witnesses in the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes , Ms. Gould’s test was wrong. Prosecutors have accused Ms. Holmes of defrauding patients and investors by falsely claiming her invention could accurately perform lab tests on just a few drops of blood. (Weaver and Randazzo, 8/2)

Tencent, a technology conglomerate with a big presence in social media and entertainment in addition to video games, saw its shares drop about 10 percent at one point, though the losses moderated later on Tuesday and ended down about 7 percent. NetEase, another mainland video game company, saw its shares drop nearly 9 percent. The article’s headline — “A ‘spiritual opium’ has grown into an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars” — left little doubt at the thrust of the piece. It cited a litany of threats posed by video games, including diverting attention from school and family and causing nearsightedness. “No industry or sport should develop at the price of destroying a generation,” it said. (Li, 8/3)

For much of the pandemic, Britain provided a cautionary tale in how not to manage a crisis. It charted some of the world’s worst death rates, a care home infection fest and a series of policy reversals that sorely tested public trust. Should it now be the country the U.S. looks to as an example of how to live with the delta variant? While U.K. infection rates rose after restrictions were lifted on July 19, they have been declining since the end of the month and hospitalizations remain low. Deaths are still 7.2% above the pre-pandemic five-year average, though that’s a statistic that could take more time to fall. (Therese Raphael, 8/6)

Want a job in Florida at Disney World, Cindy Lou’s Cookies or Empanada Harry’s? You’ll first need to get vaccinated against covid-19. Applying for a job at a Florida nursing home or hospital? No proof of vaccination required! This discrepancy is infuriating to those of us who work in hospitals and follow the peer-reviewed science on coronavirus vaccination — in a state that earlier this week recorded its highest number of covid-19 hospitalizations, breaking last year’s record. (Erin N. Marcus, 8/5)

As delta surges across the country, many fully vaccinated Americans are wondering how much their shots still protect them. There’s reason to be confused. Pfizer says its vaccine becomes less effective with time. Moderna says its doesn’t. And Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine holds up against the Delta variant, but not everyone agrees. (Craig Spencer, 8/6)

The U.S. has reached a worrying plateau in its COVID-19 vaccination coverage, with just half of the population fully vaccinated. This coincides with pandemic fatigue, or weak compliance with COVID-19 risk-mitigation measures such as masking and distancing, and the highly infectious Delta variant, which accounts for more than 83 percent of infections. We’re at an inflection point in the pandemic, with coronavirus infections soaring by about 140 percent in the past two weeks. (Lawrence O. Gostin, 8/5)

On a July day in downtown Lowell, Mass., the first sunny Saturday of the month, people began to line up for a block party. Food trucks offered everyone a free empanada or egg roll. A D.J. played music. There were kid-friendly activities, too, like a touch-a-truck station with a fire truck and an ambulance. The party wasn’t just a way to have a good time. The real motivation was to get people in the community vaccinated against Covid-19. Nestled between the food trucks were ones offering Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. (Bryce Covert, 8/6)

It may soon be tougher to be unvaccinated against COVID-19 in Los Angeles — and that’s a good thing. Last week, state agencies and the city of Los Angeles imposed rules requiring their employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing, and this week L.A. County officials moved to mandate vaccines for their workforce. Other employers have mandated immunization as well. Since then, the rate of vaccinations in California has increased. (8/5)

Enough already. We vaccine hesitant types are not buying what government and media are peddling ("Vaccine questions? Experts have answers," Aug. 3). For me, it is not that I am anti-vax. It is about those who have the latest information not sharing that information, so that we "hesitants" could make an informed decision that is right for us. This is not intended to be a political or counter-view rant. It is intended to help the vaccine pushers understand what we hesitants are thinking and how you/they can better convince us that getting the vaccine would be a smart move. (James Todd Adams, 8/5)

Today, our front page encourages people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. I agree completely with the message because overwhelming evidence shows vaccines save lives, but wonder if it will make a difference. Those against the shot are adamant in their beliefs. One of them is my brother. (Nicole Carroll, 8/6)

Left unchecked, algorithmic approaches can perpetuate bias in health care. Implementing responsible AI can help reverse that. Many health systems have diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in place, but these rarely address the algorithms they routinely use for millions of patients. Health care leaders are often unaware about algorithmic bias or, if they are aware of it, don’t have a way to address the issue. While a model might look like it performs well overall, when broken down by race it may not perform well for certain groups. (Chris Hemphill, 8/6)

Congressional Democrats are on the verge of passing a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. They're also moving forward with a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. Both will transform America for the better. The proposals would invest in everything from public transit to green energy to child care. Combined, they're arguably the boldest legislation since the New Deal, and lawmakers—as well as the Biden administration—deserve immense credit. (Howard Dean, Former Governor, Vermont, 8/5)

President Joe Biden's recent executive order promoting competition in the American economy acknowledges a long-known fact: Excessive healthcare consolidation has not and will not benefit our nation's patients. In fact, unchecked consolidation is drastically transforming healthcare delivery in this country and putting profit-driven corporate entities in the driver seat with regard to patient care. As consumers continue to grapple with higher prices and fewer choices, there are good reasons for policymakers to start paying closer attention. (Kelly Kenney, 8/5)

By disrupting the clinical trials process, the Covid-19 pandemic has served as a tipping point to advance decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) and other innovations in managing these essential studies. To date, but primarily during the pandemic, most of the decentralized-related innovation has centered around infrastructure and process, mainly addressing the patient burdens and geographic barriers related to time, travel, and logistics. There’s been far less innovation on another key part of trial management: patient recruitment and retention, linchpins of clinical research. (Sam Brown, 8/5)

This year more than ever, finding ways to keep healthy, both mentally and physically, has been heavy on our minds. But how do we take care of our minds when we are so busy focusing on our bodies? The University of Texas at Dallas BrainHealth Project has a different take on this issue, with a recently published study aiming to track and strengthen cognitive function. (8/6)

When Anne Madison noticed her hearing was declining at age 66, she struggled. She had always prided herself on being a savvy health care consumer, but when it came to hearing loss, what were her options? Ads for hearing aids seemed predatory, visits to an audiologist for objective professional advice about how to address hearing loss weren’t covered by Medicare, and since Medicare also didn’t cover hearing aids, the price tag was far out of her reach. (Frank Lin, Charlotte Yeh and Christine Cassel, 8/6)

What will healthcare look like 30+ years from now? Although it may seem too far off to even think about today, many of 2050’s healthcare CEOs are today’s graduate students and early careerists. In my work with these groups, my hope always is that they can spend their careers pursuing an ever-healthier future for the communities they serve, rather than slowing their decline. (Andrew Garman, 8/3)