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President Biden unveiled new measures on Tuesday to protect access to abortion, 100 days after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, and called on Americans to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would ensure abortion is legal across the United States. (Rappeport, 10/4)

The Biden-Harris administration issued fresh guidance Tuesday reinforcing the legal protections for pregnancy and abortion under Title IX as it recognizes the 100-day milestone since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (Panetta and Haines, 10/4)

President Biden on Tuesday bashed the University of Idaho over its new guidance against offering birth control for students, arguing contraception shouldn’t be controversial in this day and age. “Folks, what century are we in? What are we doing? I respect everyone’s view on this — personal decision they make. But, my lord, we’re talking about contraception here. It shouldn’t be that controversial,” Biden said during a meeting of the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access. (Gangitano, 10/4)

President Joe Biden warned that Republicans want to institute a nationwide ban on abortion as his administration directed universities to increase protections for students who obtain the procedure. “Congressional Republicans are doubling down on an extreme position with the proposal for a national ban. Let me be clear what that means. It means that even if you live in a state where extremist Republican officials aren’t running the show, your right to choose will still be at risk,” Biden said Tuesday during a speech at the White House. (Gardner, 10/4)

The Biden administration is offering the opportunity to use Medicaid to help cover costs for people who cross state borders for abortions. States aren’t so sure they want to take it. In the two months since President Joe Biden signed an executive order encouraging states to use the health insurance program to expand abortion access, no state has applied to do so. (Messerly, 10/4)

Over 40 medical and advocacy groups submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking for miscarriage management to be added as a use case for mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medical abortions, and ease the restrictions around who can prescribe it. (Gerson, 10/4)

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature took mere seconds on Tuesday to reject Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ call to create a way for voters to get a chance to repeal the state’s 1849 abortion ban, even as Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson voiced support for letting the people decide the issue. The move by Evers is the latest by Democrats in the battleground state to turn the Nov. 8 election into a referendum on abortion. But Evers’ opponent Tim Michels, Johnson and other Republicans are focusing instead on crime and public safety in arguing that Democrats have failed to keep the state safe. (Bauer, 10/4)

The Arizona Medical Association and a physician filed a lawsuit Tuesday, asking a court to provide clarity amid what they say is "significant confusion" over the state's abortion laws. (El-Bawab and DiMartino, 10/5)

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify in a lawsuit over the ability of abortion funds to help people access the procedure in states where it's still legal. (Goldenstein, 10/4)

Sheryl Sandberg, who once sparred with the American Civil Liberties Union, is now one of its biggest benefactors, providing a $3 million grant to boost its political activities around access to abortion. “This is as important as any civil liberty a woman can have, which is the right to control her own medical path, the right to choose when she has children,” the former Meta Platforms Inc. chief operating officer, who has three teenage daughters, said in a Zoom interview from California last week. (Larson, 10/4)

Months before news broke alleging that Herschel Walker paid for an abortion, top Republicans in the state — including those advising his team — warned him that the story could torpedo his campaign. Four people with knowledge of those preliminary discussions said that the abortion issue was well known within the state, even before reporters began inquiring about it. (McGraw, Allisonand Stein, 10/4)

Former Gov. Paul LePage said he would veto a 15-week abortion ban in a first debate with Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday that featured feisty exchanges on the economy and the opioid crisis ahead of their high-profile November election. (Shepherd, 10/4)

A spokesman for Kari Lake said Tuesday the Republican candidate for Arizona governor didn’t mean to suggest abortion should be legal, saying she’s not calling for changes to abortion laws weeks after a judge ruled that prosecutors can enforce a near-total ban on terminating pregnancies. In her most expansive comments on abortion since the ruling last month, Lake told a Phoenix talk radio host that it should be “rare and legal” before saying twice that it should be “rare but safe.” Ross Trumble, a spokesman for Lake, said she meant to say only “rare but safe.” (Cooper, 10/4)

Democratic candidates are ramping up messaging on reproductive health in races for governor and attorney general as they capitalize on renewed interest in protecting access to abortion and contraception ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. (Raman, 10/4)

Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said he should have been “much more careful” in his messaging on COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, including doing a better job of conveying the uncertainty present at that time. ... Fauci bemoaned that the only remarks that were “thrown back” at him from that time were his recommendations that things did not have to change. (Choi, 10/4)

NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that "we should not be surprised" if a new COVID-19 variant emerges this winter. (Doherty and Habeshian, 10/4)

Republican voters have experienced a higher rate of excess deaths since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. In an analysis of data on “excess deaths” in Ohio and Florida since January 2018, Yale University researchers found a sharp divergence between political party affiliation shortly after the first year of the pandemic. (Vaziri, 10/4)

The oral antiviral drug Paxlovid is safe and effective for treating COVID-19 and carries no additional risk of viral rebound beyond other treatments, according to a meta-analysis published late last week in the Journal of Infection. (10/3)

“The goal of AB2098 is to chill speech — in particular the speech of doctors who make a different assessment of the available evidence than the state of California,” attorneys from two conservative nonprofit organizations said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf of doctors seeking to declare the law unconstitutional. (Egelko, 10/4)

Federal prosecutors accused a San Francisco father and son on Tuesday of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars with fabricated business promotions — including a claim that their company had designed apparel equipped with a device that could detect whether the wearer was infected with COVID-19. (Egelko, 10/4)

President Joe Biden intends to nominate Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to be the U.S. representative on the World Health Organization's executive board, administration officials told Reuters on Tuesday. Murthy has served as the top U.S. doctor under Biden and under former President Barack Obama. He will continue in that role while taking on the WHO position, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. (Mason, 10/4)

UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest insurer, has activated an emotional support line Monday through Friday that caters to anyone in need from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CT. UHC is also offering exceptions on early prescription refills for members and waiving authorization transfers for in-network skilled nursing facilities. ... Aetna, which is owned by CVS Health, is expanding eligibility for its Resources for Living program. ... Humana, meanwhile, said it would be waiving requirements for primary care referrals and prior authorizations for affected members. (Lagasse, 10/3)

Hospitals and health systems in Florida are offering patients free or reduced prices for telehealth visits in order to help Hurricane Ian victims.  (Diaz, 10/4)

Hurricane Ian has impacted health care facilities across Florida, making it very difficult for medically vulnerable people to get the care they need. Tom Carter is the president and executive director of Health Care Ready, a nonprofit that coordinates public, private and government responses to disasters. He joined William Brangham to discuss the needs of hurricane victims. (Brangham, 10/3)

In total, 67 babies had to be evacuated from Southwest Florida hospitals to regions throughout the state. All Children's in St. Petersburg has 21 of them. (Lebron, 10/4)

A Broward County pulmonologist warns that storm surge aftermath may present health problems and that people need to protect themselves while cleaning up from Hurricane Ian. (10/4)

A 96-year-old Charlotte County man found trapped under a car in high water is the oldest victim of Hurricane Ian’s deadly course through Southwest Florida, whose wrath is now revealed in a grim spreadsheet compiled by the state’s Medical Examiners’ Commission. (Kennedy, 10/5)

Puerto Ricans may be facing a mental health crisis, experts say, as hurricanes, earthquakes, and a global pandemic have traumatized island residents, destroyed homes and ripped families apart over the last five years. (Rodriguez, 10/3)

Anthem must face a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the Medicare Advantage insurer intentionally submitted inaccurate patient information to the federal government that allowed it to fraudulently collect more than $100 million in overpayments. (Tepper, 10/4)

Savannah Thompson walked into the emergency department at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek just after midnight June 14, fearing she had ingested fentanyl — a synthetic opiate responsible for a North America-wide epidemic of fatal overdoses — in what she had been told was cocaine, according to a new lawsuit accusing John Muir Health of fraud. (Baron, 10/4)

The law firm Hagens Berman has filed a lawsuit against Concord, Calif.-based John Muir Health accusing the health system of "unconscionable" billing practices. The proposed class-action suit alleges the health system charged a patient more than $6,000 for a routine drug screening during an emergency department visit, according to an Oct. 4 news release from the firm. (Cass, 10/4)

Nearly 86,000 people who purchase largely unsubsidized health insurance on the Massachusetts Health Connector will face a 7.6 percent premium increase next year, on top of increases totaling at least 31 percent since 2015. (Bartlett, 10/4)

As part of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services' push to eliminate its 13-year waiting list for developmental disability services, the agency has implemented a 25% rate increase for providers who work with some of the state's most vulnerable individuals. (Forman, 10/4)

KHN: $80,000 And 5 ER Visits: An Ectopic Pregnancy Takes A Toll Despite NY’s Liberal Abortion Law 

When Sara Laub’s period was late, the New York City resident shrugged it off. She’d used an intrauterine device, or IUD, for three years and knew her odds of getting pregnant were extremely slim. But after 10 days had passed, Laub, 28, took a home test in early July and got unwelcome news: She was pregnant. Laub went to a Planned Parenthood clinic because she knew someone could see her immediately there. An ultrasound found no sign of a developing embryo in her uterus. That pointed to the possibility that Laub might have an ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg implants somewhere outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube. (Andrews, 10/5)

States in the Southeastern U.S. have the highest percentage of adults with conditions that interfere with daily activities like dressing or getting around — and the fewest personal care aides per capita to help them, according to a study in Health Affairs. (Reed, 10/4)

About 10:30 a.m. on April 20, an 84-year-old Forsyth County resident tripped and fell to the floor in her kitchen. She laid there, unable to get up. Her husband quickly called 911. (Crumpler and Donnelly-DeRoven, 10/5)

The toll of nearly three years of Covid-19 includes millions of nurses broken by punishing hours and low pay, many of whom quit the profession and left hospitals dangerously short of critical staff. (Matsuyama and Calonzo, 10/4)

Tech reigns supreme and healthcare providers are scant when it comes to competitive compensation among companies with more than 500 employees, according to workplace review site Comparably's 6th annual list of Best Companies for Compensation, released Oct. 4.  (Gamble, 10/4)

MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center has shut down some of its information technology systems, including its electronic health records, after its parent organization faced an unspecified cybersecurity incident Monday. (Ramm, 10/4)

Some appointments have been rescheduled at CHI St. Luke's Health in Houston following an IT security incident affecting its parent company, CommonSpirit Health, the hospital system said. The security incident, the details of which have not been released, prompted CommonSpirit facilities throughout the country to take precautions. (Gill, 10/4)

Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas reopened last week for normal operations following a federal investigation into a doctor who is accused of tampering with IV bags at the facility. Baylor Scott & White said in a written statement that the Department of Justice concluded the incidents were isolated to one person. (Volmert, 10/4)

State lawmakers are considering changes to how New Hampshire's medical board holds physicians accountable, and what kinds of information about doctors' records it shares with the public, in the wake of a Boston Globe investigation into a former heart surgeon at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester. (Cuno-Booth, 10/4)

Governor Daniel J. McKee on Tuesday announced that the 212,000-square-foot building will house both the public health lab plus space that will be available for lease to life-sciences organizations. The building will be at 150 Richmond St., near the state’s Garrahy Judicial Complex and the Wexford Innovation Center. (Fitzpatrick, 10/4)

Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health has debuted an advice line that connects registered nurses with community members in need of guidance and treatment options. The system's nurse advice line is available to all members in the San Diego area — regardless of whether they have been a patient at the health system before — and is available 24/7, according to an Oct. 3 news release sent to Becker's. (Carbajal, 10/4)

Carolyn R. Bertozzi, a chemist and professor at Stanford, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless were honored for their advances in “click chemistry,” which could have important applications in treating and diagnosing illnesses. (Engelbrecht, Ward and Whang, 10/5)

Detroit Police Chief James White said Tuesday that a broken mental health care system failed 20-year-old Porter Burks. Burks was shot and killed Sunday by officers who responded to a report by his brother that Burks was having a mental health crisis, according to police. (Rice, 10/4)

Five Detroit police officers fired a total of 38 shots, killing a 22-year-old man during a mental health check because he charged at them with a knife, according to authorities. On Tuesday afternoon, Detroit police Chief James White showed body camera footage of what happened the night of the fatal shooting. He said he wanted to provide the update in an “abundance of transparency.” (Hutchinson, 10/4)

Such products are setting off alarm bells for physicians and a group of research scientists in the Pacific Northwest, who see the wide availability of dabs and other highly concentrated substances as a quiet but growing threat to public health, especially among young adults and teenagers. Lawmakers are considering new regulations, like a THC cap or higher tax on potent products. However, retailers and suppliers point out that these products are already illegal for those under 21. And they warn that bans or increasing taxes on certain products could spur the growth of an illegal market that would be significantly more difficult to monitor and control. (Furfaro, 10/4)

"We found our compounds had essentially the same antidepressant activity as psychedelic drugs," says Dr. Bryan Roth, an author of the study and a professor of pharmacology at UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. But, he says, "they had no psychedelic drug-like actions at all." (Hamilton, 10/5)

The shortage of Native American mental health clinicians is both a professional and a personal issue for Mary Owen. She's devoted much of her professional career to increasing the number of Native American health care professionals of all kinds. (Kraker, 10/4)

KHN: Addiction Experts Fear The Fallout If California Legalizes Sports Betting

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could legalize betting on sports, California — with 40 million people and numerous professional teams — has been the great white whale, eluding gambling companies and casino-hosting tribal communities. At stake is $3.1 billion in annual revenue, according to one industry consulting firm. It’s little surprise, then, that voters will face not one but two ballot propositions this fall aimed at capturing California’s sports betting market. Although neither appears to have strong public support, gambling addiction experts are worried about one far more than the other. (Kreidler, 10/5)

“This is something that is established long before you ever have any say in the matter. This isn't necessarily because you are weak willed,” said MacKay, who is now a behavioral scientist in Canada. “It's difficult to lose weight because you're fighting against stuff that was ingrained in your brain’s architecture.” (MacDonald, 10/4)

The Justice Department has determined that Nevada violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide adequate community-based services to children with behavioral health disabilities. (Clarkson, 10/4)

John, who has ADHD and finds it soothing to fidget during class, had been removed from the classroom after he refused to stop using a pair of safety scissors to cut his cuticles. When she asked why he couldn’t stay for the rest of the day, Manwell said the school told her they would call child protective services if she didn’t take him home. (Kolodner and Ma, 10/4)

Cassandra Holland, 42, of St. Louis, has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair because her muscles are rigid and stiff. She’s prone to seizures. She can’t speak. For years, her mom and caretaker, Sallye Holland, 69, struggled to find a dentist for Cassandra. (Munz, 10/4)

Criminal charges are now wiped out against several state government officials, including Nick Lyon, the former director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and former chief medical executive Eden Wells. Lyon and Wells were charged with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of nine people and had faced up to 15 years in prison. (Dress, 10/4)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Florida’s request to take up a dispute with the federal government stemming from concerns about “medically fragile” children being placed in nursing homes. (Saunders, 10/4)

The governor signed Senate Bill 3 that earmarks $108.5 million in federal stimulus funds for the University of Oklahoma health system on the condition that none of its medical facilities offer "gender reassignment medical treatment" to children. (Forman, 10/4)

A new law inspired by a South Bay prosecutor’s experiences with leukemia — and his struggle to get a bone-marrow transplant — aims to make it easier to join a national marrow registry, which advocates hope will increase donor diversity and the availability of life-saving treatments. ‘Charlie’s Law,’ named for Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Charles Huang, will let California residents register for the National Marrow Donor Program when they apply for or renew their state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards. (Salonga, 10/3)

The Vermont Health Department has confirmed five cases of Legionnaire’s disease in Franklin County, including one death, but the source of the infection is unknown, it said Tuesday. The cases were reported between Aug. 12 and Aug. 29 and appear to be clustered in the St. Albans area, the department said. The death was in a person in their 70s, it said. (10/4)

The Des Moines School Board unanimously approved a policy Tuesday night that allows school nurses and selected staff to administer naloxone, also known as Narcan, a powerful drug that temporarily reverses the deadly effects of opioids. (Hernandez, 10/4)

More than 300 truck drivers at New England’s largest wholesale food distributor have gone on strike, raising concerns about disrupted food deliveries to schools, hospitals and nursing homes. The drivers represented by the Teamsters Local 653 took to the picket line at Sysco Boston early Saturday seeking better pay and benefits. (Pratt, 10/4)

Taking the antibiotic doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after sex can lower the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, according to a study presented at the recent International AIDS Conference in Montreal. San Francisco health experts discussed the findings and local implementation at the September 22 meeting of the Getting to Zero Consortium. The DoxyPEP trial showed that gay and bisexual men and transgender women who were living with HIV or on PrEP reduced their risk of acquiring the three most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections by more than 60% if they took doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex. (Highleyman, 9/30)

"I don't want to be alarmist, but I am concerned. We know that it's going to be a strain of flu that tends to be more severe," said Dr. Michael Phillips, an infectious disease expert at NYU Langone Health. "For those ages greater than 65, there's a specific formulations of vaccines that you should get and it dramatically reduces the likelihood of hospitalization and death." (Lapook and Hastey, 10/4)

Using a new model for projecting the number of people with Type 1 diabetes worldwide, members of an international team of researchers estimate up to 17.4 million cases by 2040, double the number of people known to have the disease today. A study published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology says 8.4 million people now live with Type 1 diabetes, which occurs when the pancreas produces little or no insulin, leading to a buildup in blood sugar that can be disabling or fatal. Symptoms include excessive thirst and urination, blurred vision, exhaustion, dry skin and unintended weight loss. (Blakemore, 10/3)

A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital published Tuesday in Cell Metabolism analyzed the mechanisms behind why later mealtimes lead to obesity, assessing changes in feelings of fullness and hunger, and how the body stores fat and burns calories.  (Mikhail, 10/4)

For every 2,000 steps you take each day, your risk for premature death may fall by 8 to 11 percent, according to research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Along with the results from a related study, published in JAMA Neurology, the researchers also found that walking more, accumulating up to roughly 10,000 steps a day, was linked to a reduction in the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (including heart disease, stroke and heart failure), 13 types of cancer and dementia. (Searing, 10/4)

When we fall, hit our head or are tackled to the ground, our brain can bounce or twist against the skull. The result is a mild traumatic brain injury, also known as a concussion. The head injury to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, witnessed by millions on prime-time television, has put the spotlight back on concussions in sports. But experts say concussions are an all-too-common injury in everyday life. Overall, about 7 percent of children have had concussions, according to 2020 data from the National Center for Health Statistics. But the risk goes up significantly with age. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, about 12 percent have had concussions. Among adults, 29 percent report having had a concussion. (Amenabar, 10/4)

COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was linked to a lower risk of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, stillbirth, and maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and no additional risk of preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), low Apgar score, cesarean delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, or chorioamnionitis, finds a systematic review and meta-analysis published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. (Beusekom, 10/4)

A new study published in JAMA documents 90 monkeypox cases after one or two doses of the Jynneos vaccine—including 2 infections 3 weeks or more after two doses—among more than 7,000 vaccine recipients. (Soucheray, 10/3)

On Monday, amid reports that the antibody combo is ineffective against the latest subvariant of omicron, BA.4.6, the FDA has updated (PDF) its fact sheet for Evusheld, saying it can increase the risk of COVID-19 infection for variants that the product does not neutralize. (Dunleavy, 10/4)

Bottles of medication designed to keep blood pressure down contained medication designed to help prevent strokes and blood clots in people with heart conditions, causing a recall of one lot of each. (Neal, 10/2)

Shares of LogicBio Therapeutics skyrocketed on Monday after Britain's AstraZeneca said it would buy the U.S.-based gene therapy developer at a rare 660% premium for $68 million. LogicBio is developing gene editing therapies to treat pediatric rare disease like methylmalonic acidemia, where the body cannot break down certain proteins and fats. (10/3)

Despite patients' widespread acknowledgment of their recurring or chronic constipation, their knowledge of prescription and therapy options are low, according to a new report by Phreesia. (Renfrow, 10/4)

A new drug capsule can help large proteins such as insulin and small-molecule drugs be absorbed in the digestive tract. The capsule has a robotic cap that spins and tunnels through the mucus barrier when it reaches the small intestine, allowing drugs carried by the capsule to pass into cells lining the intestine. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9/29)

A Boston federal judge on Monday rejected Eli Lilly & Co's request to invalidate three Teva Pharmaceuticals International GmbH patents in a long-running legal battle over the companies' competing migraine medications. (Brittain, 10/4)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to halt an appeals court mandate that Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp said would green-light up to 20 generic versions of its blockbuster multiple-sclerosis drug Gilenya. (Brittain, 9/29)

In a long-running patent case against pharma giant Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo has secured a key win in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. (Becker, 10/4)

Intradermal vaccination delivers antigen into the space between the epidermis and the dermis. This space is an anatomically favorable site for immune stimulation, enriched in a heterogenous population of dendritic cells, macrophages, and monocytes that endow this tissue with a potent capacity to detect and respond robustly to immunologic stimuli, including those present in vaccines. (John T. Brooks, M.D., et al, 9/29)

Last week’s reports that an experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease may slow the disease, which affects about 6.5 million Americans over age 65, brings cautious optimism to millions of families. Currently there’s little hope following such a diagnosis. (10/3)

The press release issued by pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen on Sept. 27 might someday be remembered as the beginning of a revolution in Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment. (Jason Karlawish, 10/3)

A few weeks ago, my friend Ashley was preparing to take her final examinations for her Ph.D. and trying to take all the right precautions so that the exams would go smoothly. "It was a Thursday afternoon. I had gotten the bivalent vaccine and the flu shot," she said. "Then the next day I started feeling bad." (Max Barnhart, 10/4)

any patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rely on albuterol, a short-acting β2-agonist, to relieve acute symptoms of bronchospasm. (Oliver J. Wouters, Ph.D., et al, 9/29)

Here’s something you might not have expected to hear from the Food and Drug Administration: Don’t cook your chicken in NyQuil. The FDA is warning that doing so could be dangerous — even fatal. (Leana S. Wen, 10/4)

Partisanship and polarization are everywhere in America these days, from classrooms to board rooms. Americans are sorting themselves into worlds separated by their political beliefs. Why would therapists’ offices be any different? One reason: Therapists seem to be overwhelmingly liberal. (Meghan Daum, 10/4)

“My pregnancies were not separate from me,” writes Charlotte Shane in the latest issue of Harper’s Magazine. “The growth would be impossible without my organic matter; nothing about it occurred without incorporating the material of me.” (Ross Douthat, 10/5)

President Joe Biden elucidated his thoughts on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in an interview with “60 Minutes” last month. “The pandemic is over. … We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so, I think it’s changing.” (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 10/4)

Rural hospitals confront many of the same issues as their urban counterparts, while facing other concerns unique to their regions and communities. And usually with much less cushion on the bottom line. (Alan Morgan and Larry Van Der Wege, 10/4)

What happens when you take dozens of healthcare executives, who run some of the nation’s biggest organizations, out of their element and put them together in a meeting room for two days? (Mary Ellen Podmolik, 10/4)

Scientists rely on gene synthesis technologies as a research tool for everything from basic research to vaccine development and drug target identification. Ever since the inception of gene synthesis, there have been concerns about possible misuse of synthetic genes. (Gigi Kwik Gronvall, 10/5)