Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News and USA Today: Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim And Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough. Theres a gap in Scott Olsens memory for the night of Oct. 25, 2011. The Iraq War vet remembers leaving his tech job in the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a BART train to join an Occupy Oakland protest against economic and social inequality. He remembers standing near protesters who faced off with Oakland police officers bristling with riot gear. He remembers being carried away by other protesters. But not the moment when a bean bag round fired from an officers 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury that forced him to relearn how to talk. (Slack, Wagner, Hancock, McCoy, 7/24)
Kaiser Health News: Technology Divide Between Senior Haves And Have-Nots Roils Pandemic Response Family gatherings on Zoom and FaceTime. Online orders from grocery stores and pharmacies. Telehealth appointments with physicians. These have been lifesavers for many older adults staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic. But an unprecedented shift to virtual interactions has a downside: Large numbers of seniors are unable to participate. (Graham, 7/24)
Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact: With DACA Ruling, Did Supreme Court Grant Trump New Powers To Reshape Health Care? President Donald Trump came into office vowing to repeal and replace Obamacare. While he successfully neutralized the health care laws requirement that everyone carry insurance, the lawremains in effect. When Fox News host Chris Wallace noted that Trump has yet to put forward a replacement plan, Trump told him to stay tuned. Were signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me the right to do, Trump saidJuly 19 on Fox News Sunday. (Greenberg, 7/24)
Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline A lab assistant who spoke out about employee safety. A disease intervention specialist who hoped to follow her mother into nursing. A father of three who juggled jobs at three nursing homes. These are some of the people just added to Lost on the Frontline, a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who died of COVID-19. (7/24)
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 144,000 The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose above 144,000 as several states reported record single-day fatalities. The U.S. reported more than 68,000 new cases Thursday, slightly lower than the previous days tally. The nation accounts for more than a quarter of the more than 15.5 million coronavirus cases world-wide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Higher case counts in the U.S. are partly attributable to expanded testing across the country, while a patchwork of rules and regulations has contributed to a resurgence of new cases. (Hall, 7/24)
CIDRAP: Just A Few Nations Driving Much Of World's COVID-19 Surge The global surge in COVID-19 cases is mainly driven by intense transmission in a relatively few countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, with South Africa now among the five hardest-hit countries. The global total today is at 15,348,877 cases, and 626,190 people have died from their illnesses, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 7/23)
The New York Times: Its Emotional Whiplash: California Is Once Again At The Center Of The Virus Crisis When everything shut down in March as the coronavirus took off in California, Canters Deli, a mainstay in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, laid off dozens of employees. A few months later, it called them back to work. By then, the state appeared to have emerged from the initial virus crisis in much better shape than other parts of the country. But now Californias caseload is exploding, with rising deaths and hospitalizations. As quickly as things had opened up, they have shut down again. (Arango and Mervosh, 7/23)
The Hill: California, Florida Report Record Numbers Of Daily Deaths California and Florida reported record numbers of daily coronavirus fatalities Thursday, as the total number of infections in the U.S. surpassed 4 million. California's 157 deaths on Wednesday continued aweek of coronavirus records in the state that had once been considered a COVID success story. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday said 12,807 new coronavirus infections had been reported statewide in 24 hours, a record high.(Weixel, 7/23)
Politico: Spiking Or Plateauing? Covid-19 Case Counts Spur Debate A monthlong resurgence in Covid-19 cases appears to be hitting a peak, but a new assessment of the coronavirus trajectory is fueling conflicting interpretations about whether the worst is over. Slowing caseloads in Florida and Arizona have fanned a narrative that the worst of the disease spread is cresting in some of the nations worst hot spots repeating a pattern seen in early June. But public health experts on Thursday issued new warnings that the virus is still spiraling out of control, only in the form of a rolling series of outbreaks in almost half the states, with more troubling signs in many others. (Doherty, 7/23)
The Hill: Trump Likely To Sign Executive Orders On Drug Pricing Friday President Trump is likely to sign executive orders on Friday aimed at lowering drug prices, elevating a key issue for voters in an election year.While the plans could shift at the last minute, some GOP lawmakers have been invited to a presidential event on drug pricing Friday at 3 p.m. at the White House in the South Court Auditorium to make the announcement, according to an invitation obtained by The Hill. (Sullivan, 7/23)
The New York Times: Trump Moves To Roll Back Obama Program Addressing Housing Discrimination The rule, introduced in 2015, requires cities and towns to identify patterns of discrimination, implement corrective plans and report results. The administrations decision to complete a process of rescinding it culminates a yearslong campaign to gut the rule by conservative critics and members of the administration who claimed it overburdened communities with complicated regulations. (Fuchs, 7/23)
Los Angeles Times: Trump Repeals Housing Rule, Amplifying Appeals To Racial Bias With President Trump facing sagging support in the suburbs, his administration on Thursday targeted an Obama-era affordable housing regulation, the latest in a series of appeals to white voters fears of crime and declining property values. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it would scrap a regulation known as Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, which was implemented by President Obama in an attempt to promote more integrated communities. Under the rule, cities receiving some federal housing aid had to develop plans to address patterns of segregation or risk losing money. (Megerian, Dillon and Stokols, 7/23)
Politico: Trump Administration Renews Public Health Emergency After Urging From States The Trump administration has renewed the public health emergency for the coronavirus, ensuring that critical resources to fight the pandemic can continue while much of the country battles rising caseloads. The news will come as relief to health care groups who worried that President Donald Trump would let the emergency declaration lapse when it was set to expire July 25, despite previous assurances from top administration officials it would be renewed. (Roubein, 7/23)
Politico: Trump Warns Of 'Greater Mortality' If Schools Don't Reopen President Donald Trump is still demanding schools reopen, even after nixing his Republican National Convention keynote events in Florida next month. The president argued Thursday that "a permanent shutdown was never the strategy, which would ultimately lead to greater mortality and irreversible harm." The prosperity of the U.S. economy hinges on children returning to school in person this fall, he contended, noting that the Council of Economic Advisers has estimated more than 5 million parents won't be able to go back to work if their kids don't return to campus. (Quilantan and Miranda Ollstein, 7/23)
AP: In Shift, Trump Says Some Schools May Need To Delay Opening Softening his earlier stance, President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged that some schools may need to delay their reopening this fall as the coronavirus continues to surge. It marks a shift from Trumps previous demand for a full reopening of the nations schools. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said districts in some virus hot spots may need to delay reopening for a few weeks. He said the decision will fall to governors. (Binkley, 7/23)
The Hill: Trump Cancels GOP Convention Plans In Jacksonville President Trump said Thursday that he would cancel the GOP convention events in Jacksonville, Fla., in August, saying it wasnt the right time due to the coronavirus. I told my team it's time to cancel the Jacksonville component of the GOP convention, Trump told reporters at a news conference at the White House. Ill still do a convention speech in a different form, but we wont do a big crowded conventionper se. Its just not the right time for that." (Chalfant, 7/23)
The New York Times: Trump Abruptly Cancels Republican Convention In Jacksonville: Its Not The Right Time The surprise announcement threw one of the tent-pole moments of Mr. Trumps re-election effort into limbo, with the president describing in vague terms how the Republicans would hold his renomination in North Carolina and do other things with tele-rallies and online. It was an ill-defined sketch of an August week that Mr. Trump once envisioned drawing huge crowds and energizing his struggling bid for a second term. (Haberman, Mazzei and Karni, 7/23)
Politico: How Trump Went From A Massive Convention Bash To No Party At All On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump convened his top political advisers, including campaign manager Bill Stepien and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, for a conference call to consider a move that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago: Cancel his partys upcoming convention in Jacksonville, Fla. By Thursday afternoon, with coronavirus raging in the state, the president who all year envisioned a boisterous send-off to the final months of his reelection campaign, had made up his mind: It was a no-go. (Isenstadt, Dixon and Fineout, 7/23)
The Hill: Trump Administration Recommends Against Universities Requiring COVID-19 Tests Before Students Return The Trump administration said Thursday it is not recommending universities require students be tested for COVID-19 before they head back to campus this fall. In general, testing people before going back to the university is not a strategy that we recommend, nor does the CDC recommend, because you're only negative for that one moment, Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services who is in charge of COVID-19 testing strategy, told reporters. (Hellmann, 7/23)
The Hill: Fauci: With Vaccine, 'We Could Start Talking About Real Normality Again' In 2021 The completion of a coronavirus vaccine could allow the U.S. to return to real normality in 2021, Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious diseases expert, said Thursday. "The timetable of getting into 2021, well into the year, then I can think with a successful vaccine if we could vaccinate the overwhelming majority of the population we could start talking about real normality again," Fauci said Thursday on CNN contributor David Axelrods podcast The Axe Files. "But it is going to be a gradual process." (Budryk, 7/23)
The Hill: Fauci Says That He And His Family Have Experienced 'Serious Threats' During Pandemic Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious diseases expert, said Thursday that he has received serious threats to himself and his family since he became one of the public faces of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. The doctor said that the anger has appeared on a different level than when he began his work during the HIV/AIDS crisis. (Budryk, 7/23)
The Hill: Birx Warns Of Disturbing Rise Of Coronavirus Cases In 12 Cities White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx saidin a private meeting with local and state health officials that the task force is tracking increases in the virus in 12 U.S. cities. "There are cities that are lagging behind and we have new increases in Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Jose, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Baltimore, so we're tracking this very closely, Birx said in the audio, first obtainedby the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity. We're working with the state officials to make sure we're responding together, but when you first see that increased test positivity, that is when to start the mitigation efforts." (Budryk, 7/23)
The Hill: Obama: US Not Dealing With Coronavirus As 'Smartly' As Other Countries Former President Obama saidin remarks released Thursdaythat the U.S. is not dealing with the coronavirus pandemic as smartly as other countries with similar resources. The former president made the remarks during a conversation with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying he was confident that if his former vice president is elected in November he will respond to the crisis effectively. (Klar, 7/23)
NBC News: Despite Judge's Order, Migrant Children Remain Detained Amid COVID Outbreak Nearly a month after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration must release migrant children "with all deliberate speed" from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers because of COVID-19, 346 parents and children are detained in facilities with outbreaks and court filings show releases remain rare. When U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the release of children detained with their parents in late June, she was explicit in her reasoning. The ICE facilities, she said, were "on fire and there is no more time for half measures." (Soboroff, 7/23)
Politico: Marine Assigned To Trump's Helicopter Squadron Tests Positive For Covid-19 A Marine assigned to the military helicopter squadron responsible for transporting the president has tested positive for Covid-19, a Marine Corps spokesperson told POLITICO. The Marine, assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron 1, was tested on Tuesday and received the positive result on Thursday, said spokesperson Capt. Joseph Butterfield, adding that the squadron administers 80 to 100 tests per week. (Seligman, Lippman and Caputo, 7/23)
The New York Times: Republican Stimulus Talks Stall Over Differences On Unemployment Republicans stumbled on Thursday in their efforts to find agreement on a broad new proposal to lift the struggling economy, with Senate leaders and the Trump administration at odds over multiple provisions, including how to extend unemployment benefits and White House requests for spending unrelated to the pandemic. Even after President Trump folded on one of his key demands, for a payroll tax cut, negotiations bogged down over details of the package, including how to reduce the amount of money that Americans are currently receiving as unemployment benefits. (Cochrane, Tankersley and Rappeport, 7/23)
The Hill: Senate GOP Punts Coronavirus Package To Next Week GOP senators expected to introduce the package of bills on Thursday after days of closed-door haggling among themselves and the White House and publicly struggling to get on the same page. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said key senators will instead unveil it Monday, pointing at the White House as the reason behind the delay. (Carney, 7/23)
Politico: As Unemployment Grows, White House And Senate GOP Stumble On Virus Talks Senate Republicans were forced to delay the rollout of a $1 trillion coronavirus relief package after differences between the White House and GOP leadership derailed the timing for unveiling the measure an embarrassing setback that could have serious consequences for millions of unemployed Americans. The main area of dispute was over extension of federal unemployment assistance for workers that have lost their jobs as the United States economy shut down during in response to the coronavirus pandemic. These $600-per-week payments begin to expire this week. Just on Thursday, the federal government announced that 1.4 million new unemployment claims had been filed in the past week. (Bresnahan and Levine, 7/23)
AP: Jobless Claims Rise As Cutoff Of Extra $600 Benefit Nears The nation got another dose of bad economic news Thursday as the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose for the first time since late March, intensifying concerns the resurgent coronavirus is stalling or even reversing the economic recovery. And an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, provided by the federal government on top of whatever assistance states provide, is set to expire July 31, though this is the last week recipients will get the extra funds. It is the last major source of economic help from the $2 trillion relief package that Congress approved in March. A small business lending program and one-time $1,200 payment have largely run their course. (Rugaber, 7/24)
The New York Times: Heres How Congress Might Replace The Extra $600 Weekly Jobless Benefit An additional $600 per week that has provided a vital financial cushion for unemployed Americans is set to expire next week. On Thursday, top Republicans said they had reached agreement on a proposal to replace a benefit that has helped millions of laid-off workers and been a boon to consumer spending amid a deep recession. Their plan would continue to offer larger-than-normal payments to workers filing for unemployment benefits. But it would significantly reduce the amount of money flowing each week to those without a job, at a time when 30 million people remain unemployed and the recovery from a pandemic recession is stuck in the mud. (Tankersley and Casselman, 7/23)
The Hill: Democrats Hit Interior Secretary For Reportedly Refusing To Wear Mask In Meeting With Tribes Three Democratic senators are criticizingInterior Secretary David Bernhardtover reports that he refused to wear a mask in a meeting with tribes in Oregon earlier this month. On your July 9 visit with the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, the tribe expressed concerns that you and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of California refused to wear a mask wrote Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.). (Frazin, 7/23)
The Wall Street Journal: China Says It Will Have Covid-19 Vaccine Ready This Year One of the first Chinese projects to start testing its Covid-19 vaccine candidates overseas said it would have a vaccine ready for the public before the end of the year. Liu Jingzhen, chairman of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, also known as Sinopharm, said on state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday that clinical trials that began in Abu Dhabi last week should be completed in roughly three months, paving the way for a vaccine to go to the market this year. (Deng, 7/23)
The New York Times: Who Gets The Covid-19 Vaccine First? Heres One Idea When a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, who should get it first? A preliminary plan devised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this spring gives priority to health care workers, then to people with underlying medical conditions and older people. The C.D.C. has not yet decided whether the next in line should be Blacks and Latinos, groups disproportionately affected by the coronavirus .But lets suppose that health care workers and people with underlying medical conditions use up the first doses of the available vaccine. Should some be held in reserve for Black and Latino people? What about bus drivers and train conductors? Perhaps teachers or schoolchildren should get it so they can return to classrooms with peace of mind. (Kolata, 7/23)
Stat: Ruling Threatens To Upend Patents On Modernas Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna, racing to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, lost a key patent decision Thursday, one that could delay the companys progress or force it to hand over a cut of profits. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied Modernas claim that a patent held by a rival company was invalid. The patent, which covers technology used to deliver messenger RNA treatments, is held by the Canadian firm Arbutus. (Garde, 7/23)
Stat: Covid-19 Streamlined FDA Rules, And Pharma's Pushing To Keep It That Way The pharmaceutical industry made it clear to the Food and Drug Administration that it wants the regulatory flexibilities the agency has embraced during the Covid-19 pandemic to be made permanent and its ready to push to make sure it happens.There is a pressing need for FDA and industry to identify actions taken during the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluate their effectiveness and applicability to innovative drug development beyond the public health emergency, said Lucy Vereshchagina, vice president of science and regulatory affairs at PhRMA. (Florko, 7/23)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Testing Labs Again Lack Key Supplies Labs across the country are facing backlogs in coronavirus testing thanks in part to a shortage of tiny pieces of tapered plastic. Researchers need these little disposables, called pipette tips, to quickly and precisely move liquid between vials as they process the tests. As the number of known coronavirus cases in the United States passes 4 million, these new shortages of pipette tips and other lab supplies are once again stymieing efforts to track and curb the spread of disease. (Wu, 7/23)
The New York Times: Testing Bottlenecks Threaten N.Y.C.s Ability To Contain Virus Nearly four months after the pandemics peak, New York City is facing such serious delays in returning coronavirus test results that public health experts are warning that the problems could hinder efforts to reopen the local economy and schools. Despite repeated pledges from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio that testing would be both widely accessible and effective, thousands of New Yorkers have had to wait a week or more for results, and at some clinics the median wait time is nine days. One prominent local official has even proposed the drastic step of limiting testing. (Goldstein and McKinley, 7/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Baseballs Opening Day Rocked By Covid-19 Tests For Nationals Star Juan Soto After months of detailed drafting, Major League Baseballs return-to-play plan couldnt make it to the seasons first pitch before facing a problem that demonstrates the enormous challenge of playing amid the coronavirus pandemic. About five hours before the Washington Nationals were set to play the first game of the shortened 2020 campaign against the New York Yankees, the team announced that star outfielder Juan Soto had tested positive for Covid-19. Upon finding out Thursday, the 21-year-old Soto took multiple rapid-response coronavirus tests that came back negative, a person familiar with the matter said. Nonetheless, Soto must sit out until he produces two lab-confirmed negative tests, spaced 24 hours apart. The entire episode provided insight into the fragility of baseballs carefully crafted protocolsand how difficult it will be to avoid an outbreak of infection over the next three months. (Diamond and Radnofsky, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Chronic Conditions Put Nearly Half Of US Adults At Risk For Severe COVID-19 About 47% of US adults have an underlying condition strongly tied to severe COVID-19 illness, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found. The model-based study, published today in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, used self-reported data from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the US Census. (Van Beusekom, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Live COVID-19 Virus Isolated From Human Nose-Throat, Saliva Specimens A small study published yesterday in Clinical Microbiology and Infection found live SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in one nose-throat swab and two saliva specimens of five infected hospital patients in Korea 11 to 15 days after symptom onset. Researchers collected nose-throat swabs, saliva, urine, and stool samples from the patients hospitalized from Feb 25 to Mar 5 on days 8, 11, 13, 15, and 30 after study enrollment. They performed quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA and cell culture to detect viable virus. No live virusonly viral RNAwas isolated on cell culture from five urine, two saliva, four nose-throat, and three fecal specimens. (7/23)
Stat: Scientists Are Developing Synthetic Biosensors To Monitor Lung Disease Imagine inhaling a sensor that could monitor lung disease patients response to therapy, emitting a signal when they breathe out. Like a breathalyzer that recognizes alcohol, such a device could sniff out compounds released only by specific illnesses to gauge how well treatment is working. Biomedical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a synthetic biosensor using specialized nanoparticles to detect and then report the presence of molecules indicating bacterial pneumonia or the genetic disease alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. (Cooney, 7/24)
AP: FDA Tells Doctors To Discuss Overdose Antidote With Patients Prescribing instructions for all opioids, such as Percocet and OxyContin, will recommend doctors discuss how to get the overdose-reversal drug, which can be obtained from pharmacists without a prescription. For patients with a higher risk of overdose, such as those with a history of opioid addiction, doctors should consider prescribing naloxone alongside the opioid. The same recommendations will appear on drugs used to control opioid addiction, such as methadone. (Perrone, 7/23)
Stat: FDA Says Opioid Labels Must Include Information About Naloxone The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it would require drug manufacturers to include information about naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication, on the labels of opioid painkillers. The move comes just weeks after the federal government released new data showing that U.S. drug overdose deaths reached an all-time high in 2019, surpassing the previous peak recorded two years earlier. (Facher, 7/23)
The New York Times: How Play Energizes Your Kids Brain To the untrained eye, play can seem aimless, repetitive, wild or foolish. But play can offer a window into the developing mind. Piaget viewed certain kinds of play as milestones, signs that a child had reached a new stage of development. Studies conducted over the past few decades suggest play serves a more crucial role. Play can help kids learn, plan and even persevere in the face of adversity. (Willyard, 7/21)
The New York Times: Should 5-Year-Olds Start School This Year? Alka Tripathy-Langs 5-year-old son is supposed to start kindergarten this fall, but her district in suburban Phoenix has already delayed its start and announced that classes, when they do start, will be online for at least the first couple of weeks. What those lessons will look like is unclear, as are details about how much parental involvement will be required, and how or when the school is going to implement the dual immersion Mandarin program her son is supposed to begin. Tripathy-Langs current plan is to start him in an online-only option, but if its not working, shell pull him out to be home with her 3-year-old, who she and her husband have already decided not to send to preschool this year. (Sohn, 7/23)
The Washington Post: Librarians Alarmed About Coronavirus Safety At D.C.s Reopened Public Libraries When the Districts public libraries began gradually reopening in late May, many residents rushed to check out books for the first time in six weeks. By mid-July, the library was opening its doors for six hours a day, five days a week, for patrons who could come inside to borrow items and spend time using public computers at 14 locations. But librarians say the reopening has been poorly handled, exposing both staff members and the public to potential coronavirus risks. They also say library managers have kept staff in the dark about colleagues who come down with the virus and have struggled with cleaning protocols and mask requirements. (Zauzmer, 7/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Face Masks And A Mohel: Parents Figure Out How To Host A Bris During Coronavirus When Ben Sass and Aliza Jaffe Sass learned in January that they had a baby boy on the way, preparations for a bris started immediately. Along with the rest of the logistical advance work of pregnancy, they now had to decide which family members would have the honors of escorting their new son into the ceremony, who would hold the child during the circumcision procedure, and what they would serve their guests at the reception afterward. They didnt plan for how they would facilitate a surgery on an infant in their Philadelphia apartment during a global pandemic. (Rubin, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Nearly 60% Of US Parents Say They Won't Vaccinate Their Kids Against HPV Nearly 60% of the parents of about 4.3 million US children don't intend to have them vaccinated against the highly infectious and sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), according to survey results published earlier this week in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers at the University of Texas at Houston analyzed the data of parents of 82,297 children 13 to 17 years old from the 2017-18 National Immunization Study. They found even higher vaccine hesitancy rates (higher than 65%) in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah. (7/23)
Stat: New Research Finds A Wide Gulf In Engagement With Mental Health Apps A first-of-its-kind analysis, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Microsoft, paints a detailed picture of how people do or dont engage with virtual mental health tools, a step toward expanding the use of digital therapeutics. Lackluster engagement has long been a thorn in the health tech industrys side: As mental health tools proliferate, their uptake and long-term use remain relatively low. That problem has taken on new urgency as the pandemic shunts patients from in-person to online treatment. (Isselbacher, 7/24)
AP: Lawyer Defends Actions Of Vets Home Boss Amid Outbreak A Massachusetts home where nearly 80 aging veterans sicked with the coronavirus have died was denied emergency aid as leadership and staff frantically worked to protect the residents, an attorney for the ousted superintendent said Thursday. The attorney said state officials initially refused in March to send National Guard aid even as the home was dealing with dire staffing shortages. The lawyer for former Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh called him a good and honorable man who would never do anything intentional to harm the vets. (Durkin Richer, 7/23)
AP: Restraining Order Barring Nursing Home Closing Extended A southern Illinois judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order barring a nursing home from executing its closure plan until it has fulfilled all its obligations to residents. When Aperion Care Cairo announced its intention to close last week, families complained to Alexander County officials they felt rushed to select alternative placement for loved ones. (7/23)
The Washington Post: Meatpacking Workers File Lawsuit Against OSHA, Accusing Agency Of Failing To Keep Them Safe The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is failing to do its job properly, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by three meatpacking workers, who say the agencys inaction has left them in danger. The lawsuit accuses OSHA of leaving the workers in imminent danger due to what they say are hazardous working conditions at the factory where they work, run by Maid-Rite Specialty Foods in Pennsylvania, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. (Rosenberg, 7/23)
Los Angeles Times: How To Say No To Parties During The COVID-19 Pandemic Of course you are allowed to say no. You are allowed to say that at all times, to all invitations, under all circumstances. But especially right now, in the middle of a pandemic. So its less about whether you can say it and more about how, experts say. Tone matters. Put a smile on your face when you make the call and keep it simple: Thank you for the invitation, Im so sorry but I cant make it. (Roy, 7/23)
Reuters: Georgia's Governor And Atlanta's Mayor Ordered To Mediate Coronavirus Mask Fight A Georgia judge on Thursday ordered the governor and Atlantas mayor to enter mediation over the governors lawsuit aimed at stopping the city from enforcing its requirement that people wear masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic. Fulton Superior Court Judge Jane Barwick ordered Governor Brian Kemp and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to attend mediation with another judge and try to resolve the dispute before an emergency hearing scheduled in the case for Tuesday. (McKay, 7/23)
AP: Anchorage Mayor To Impose New Restrictions Amid Virus Cases The mayor of Anchorage is limiting gathering sizes and the number of people allowed in bars, restaurants and entertainment venues in response to rising coronavirus cases. The order, by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, takes effect Friday and says that due to a resurgence in cases there is a need for increased restrictions on public interactions to preserve health and save lives in our community. (Bohrer, 7/23)
AP: North Dakota Governor Blasts Party's Anti-LGBTQ Resolution North Dakotas Republican governor on Thursday blasted an anti-LGBTQ resolution that was passed by hundreds of his partys delegates, calling it insulting and divisive. The resolution one of dozens of party policy statements in a passed by this spring by mail-in ballot states that many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large. Gov. Doug Burgum issued a statement Thursday denouncing the resolution. (MacPherson, 7/23)
The Hill: Two Florida Mayors Urge Residents To Wear Masks At Home Two Florida mayorswho governMiami and Miami-Dade County encouraged their residents on Thursday to wear masks inside to lower the transmission rate of COVID-19 between family members. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) explained that while the city's number of daily new cases is down, the virus is still being spread easily through households, as multigenerational households are commonplace in Miami. (Johnson, 7/23)
Stat: San Francisco Official Pushes City To Condemn Hospitals Zuckerberg Name A San Francisco city official is introducing a resolution to condemn the citys public hospital for naming itself after Mark Zuckerberg the latest escalation of a five-year quest, led mostly by nurses and other health care workers, to disassociate the institution from the controversial Facebook founder. The resolution, introduced late Thursday by San Francisco supervisor Gordan Mar, wouldnt strip the hospital of the Zuckerberg name, bestowed on the hospital after he and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, donated $75 million to the institution in 2015. (Ortolano, 7/24)
AP: 6 Downstate Illinois Counties Sue Over COVID-19 Restrictions Residents in six central and southern Illinois counties, including the state capitals home, filed lawsuits Thursday against Gov. J.B. Pritzkers restrictions on social interaction prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. The actions taken in Bond, Clay, Clinton, Edgar, Richland and Sangamon counties seek court orders declaring there is no public health emergency as defined by Pritzkers Public Health Department. Springfield, the state capital, is in Sangamon County. (7/24)
AP: Inslee Shuts Indoor Service At Bars, Restricts Indoor Dining Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday he is tightening restrictions throughout the state in restaurants and bars, for weddings and funerals, and at gyms in a further effort to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases. I care about businesses opening and people getting back to work, but public health and economic activity go hand in hand, Inslee said. If we let this virus get even more out of control, it will have devastating effects on our health and on our economy. (Baumann, 7/24)
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First Edition: July 24, 2020 - Kaiser Health News
