Spread Of 'Transmissible' XBB.1.5 Monitored: The highly contagious XBB.1.5 strain, the latest in a succession of omicron subvariants that was first detected in the U.S. in October, is quickly spreading. ... The BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 variants continue to make up a majority of the coronavirus cases in the Golden State. The San Francisco Chronicle runs through what California residents should know about this subvariant.
Tobacco Giant Responds To Flavored Product Ban: R.J. Reynolds has wasted no time since California’s ban on flavored tobacco went into effect in late December. “California, We’ve Got You Covered,” the company declared in bold letters on a flier mailed to its cigarette customers. ... Antismoking experts argue that R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel and Newport brands, is trying to circumvent the ban by luring smokers with a suite of what it says are new non-menthol versions offering “a taste that satisfies the senses” and “a new fresh twist.” Read more from The New York Times.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
KQED:
Newsom's Proposed Budget Keeps Most Housing, Homeless Funding Intact. Advocates Want More
Amid a looming $22.5 billion deficit, California housing advocates expressed relief that Gov. Gavin Newsom is largely keeping funding for housing and homelessness programs intact in his 2023–24 budget plan. But, they said, it’s insufficient to meaningfully reduce homelessness across California. “We were relieved to see that the programs that are serving Californians who are struggling, the very people who are experiencing homelessness, were protected,” said Chione Flegal, executive director of the statewide advocacy organization Housing California, adding, “The resources we’re investing still don’t come close to meeting the scale of the need that Californians are experiencing.” (Rancaño, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
California Budget Includes Anti-Overdose Naloxone For Schools
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday pledged to provide naloxone — the overdose reversal drug — to every middle and high school, a low-cost but pressing need in a proposed education spending plan that would sustain school budgets but largely end a massive recent expansion of K-12 and college funding. The overall budget proposal for K-12 school systems was one of general stability in ongoing funds — although local officials are worried about the wind-down of one-time COVID-relief dollars, the effect of inflation and declining revenues from a weakened economy. (Blume, Truong and Watanabe, 1/12)
The San Francisco Standard:
Mayor Breed Renews Promise To Open Safe-Consumption Sites
After pulling the plug on a plan to open 12 safe-consumption sites in December, Mayor London Breed’s Office announced Wednesday that it will eventually allow a nonprofit to open one. (Sjostedt, 1/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Head Of NYC Supervised Drug Consumption Sites Challenges S.F. To Open Them: ‘Do What You Know Is Right’
A drug policy trailblazer who runs supervised drug consumption sites in New York City made the case Wednesday that it’s time for San Francisco to open similar facilities, which advocates argue can save lives and help street conditions amid the city’s overdose epidemic. (Moench, 1/11)
The San Francisco Standard:
Narcan-Resistant Drugs Could Worsen SF's Fentanyl Crisis
San Francisco is bracing for powerful new drugs that are mixing into the country’s narcotic supply chains, potentially worsening the local overdose epidemic if they wind up in the city. An opioid that’s believed to be more powerful than fentanyl, called Isotonitazene or “ISO” fentanyl, has been spreading on the East Coast. And experts warn that a rapidly spreading animal tranquilizer called Xylazine, or “Tranq,” could also dramatically raise risks for drug users that rely on Narcan to stay safe. (Sjostedt, 1/11)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Lucky Duck Foundation Calls For 500-Bed Homeless Shelters In Balboa Park
The growing homeless population in downtown San Diego, and a recent spate of violent incidents among those experiencing homelessness, have pushed a prominent local group of philanthropists to set their sights on a few big goals for 2023. (Sisson, 1/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Woman Sprayed With Hose By SF Man Is Hospitalized. Why Was She On Street?
Both Q and the gallery owner, Collier Gwin, had become sudden and central figures in an all-too-familiar San Francisco story after the incident went viral, drawing millions of views. To many, Gwin represented the cruelty sometimes displayed by residents and merchants fed up with behavior of people experiencing homelessness and mental illness, while Q seemed to illustrate the need for more vigorous intervention to help people in obvious despair. (Swan and DiFeliciantonio, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Omicron Bivalent Boosters Kept Seniors Out Of Hospital
In the first real-world test of vaccine boosters specially designed to protect against the Omicron variant, Israeli researchers have found that people 65 and over who got an updated jab were 81% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who did not. (Healy, 1/10)
Politico:
Biden Admin Frustrated With Nursing Homes As Senior Vax Rates Languish And New Variant Spreads
State and federal health officials are frustrated that thousands of seniors have landed in the hospital with Covid-19 since the holidays — despite the widespread availability of a vaccine designed to prevent exactly that. (Messerly and Cancryn, 1/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Even After Mild Cases Of COVID, Long COVID Can Linger For A Year
For some COVID-19 patients, the initial illness isn’t nearly as bad as the persistent and sometimes disabling symptoms that linger for months or years afterward. These are the people with long COVID, a complex chronic illness that can afflict without regard for age, sex, vaccination status or medical history. A study of nearly 2 million patients in Israel offers new insights into the trajectory of long COVID, particularly for younger, healthier people whose COVID-19 cases were mild. Researchers found that although most protracted symptoms subsided within a year, some of the syndrome’s most debilitating consequences — namely dizziness, loss of taste and smell, and problems with concentration and memory — still plague a minority of sufferers a full year after the initial infection. (Purtill, 1/12)
Axios:
Biden Administration Extends COVID Public Health Emergency
The COVID-19 public health emergency will be extended for another 90 days, maintaining a long set of Trump-era allowances and programs affecting much of U.S. health care. When the emergency does end, it will bring major policy shifts to insurance markets, drug approvals and telehealth. (Reed, 1/11)
CNN:
How Much Should People Worry About Covid's XBB.1.5 Variant? Our Medical Analyst Explains
A new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In December 2022, the proportion of new Covid-19 infections due to this Omicron offshoot have increased from 4% to 18%, according to a January 6 release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is projected to rise further still. In some parts of the country, it constitutes more than half of all new infections. According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of Omicron yet. What should people know about XBB.1.5? (Hetter, 1/12)
Fortune:
The Kraken COVID Variant Isn’t Different Enough From Other Omicrons To Get A Greek Letter, WHO Official Says
New Omicron variant XBB.1.5, dubbed Kraken, doesn’t differ enough from other Omicron strains to warrant its own Greek letter, WHO officials said Wednesday. While Kraken, rapidly growing in the U.S., is “incredibly transmissible” and spreads faster than other circulating variants like BQ.1.1, it still belongs in the Omicron family, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the WHO, said at a news conference. (Prater, 1/11)
CIDRAP:
COVID-19 Pneumonia Outcomes Seem Similar To Those In Other Pneumonia Types
A Johns Hopkins study suggests that mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients who have severe pneumonia and respiratory failure have similar outcomes as those who have other types of pneumonia but required mechanical ventilation longer. (Van Beusekom, 1/11)
Stat:
HHS Will Seek More Input On New Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
The Department of Health and Human Services is gearing up to start releasing details about its new Medicare drug price negotiation process this year, and the public will have more of a chance to weigh in along the way than initially expected, officials said Wednesday. (Cohrs, 1/11)
Stat:
Medicare Paves The Way For CAR-T In Doctors Offices
Medicare officials have taken a step toward making a cutting-edge cancer treatment called CAR T-cell therapy available in doctor offices, in anticipation of the procedure being used for increasingly common cancer types. (Wilkerson, 1/12)
Becker's Hospital Review:
Tenet To Sell California Hospital
John Muir Health has entered into a definitive agreement with Tenet Healthcare to acquire sole ownership of San Ramon (Calif.) Regional Medical Center. Walnut Creek, Calif.-based John Muir Health has held a 49 percent stake in the 123-bed hospital since 2013. Under the new agreement, it will acquire the remaining 51 percent interest from Dallas-based Tenet for approximately $142.5 million, according to a John Muir Health news release shared with Becker's. (Gamble, 1/11)
The Washington Post:
Covid Winter Surges To Continue For Years, Pushing Hospitals To Their Limits
Hospitals are already under financial stress because of rising labor costs, physician burnout and the trend toward outpatient treatment. The added coronavirus strain is likely to push some facilities over the edge, noted Robert Wachter, a professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. (Sun and Achenbach, 1/12)
NBC News:
Nearly 1 In 4 U.S. Hospitalized Patients Experience Harmful Events, Study Finds
Nearly 1 in 4 patients who are admitted to hospitals in the U.S. will experience harm, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Sullivan, 1/11)
Medical Economics:
Telehealth Cuts Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Reducing Patient Travel
Telehealth may be good for the Earth as well as patients, according to a study that examined environmental effects of online visits with physicians and patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital visits saved an estimated 204 years of travel time over more than 53.66 million miles, more than $35.54 million in travel-related costs, and 42.4 injuries in California. (Payerchin, 1/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
Alphabet Unit Verily To Trim More Than 200 Jobs
Verily Life Sciences, a healthcare unit of Alphabet Inc. is laying off more than 200 employees as part of a broader reorganization, the first major staff reductions to hit Google’s parent following a wave of layoffs at other technology companies. (Kruppa, 1/11)
Modern Healthcare:
Nonprofit Health Systems Move Past 'The Worst Of It' In 2023
Nonprofit healthcare systems are in for a tough year, but a Fitch Ratings report released Wednesday projects even the hardest-hit providers may start to see improvement in the coming months.
(Hudson, 1/11)
National News: Biden Administration
The Wall Street Journal:
Veterans Affairs Agency Waives Doctor Copays For Native Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it would waive all copays for eligible American Indian and Alaska Native veterans, in an effort to boost use of primary-care medicine among traditionally underserved populations. (Kesling, 1/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
Gas Stoves Don’t Face Ban From Biden Administration
“To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” said Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric. He said the CPSC is researching emissions from stoves and “actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards.” (Collins and Blunt, 1/11)
Stat:
Physicians Urge FDA To Convene Expert Panel Before Final Leqembi Approval
A physicians group is urging the Food and Drug Administration to hold an expert panel meeting to review an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment before issuing a full-blown approval, a move that reflects nagging safety issues surrounding the medication. (Silverman, 1/11)
AP:
Republicans Push Anti-Abortion Measures With New Majority
House Republicans are taking early action on abortion with their new majority, approving two measures Wednesday that make clear they want further restraints after the Supreme Court overruled the federal right to abortion last year. The new GOP-led House passed one resolution to condemn attacks on anti-abortion facilities, including crisis pregnancy centers, and a separate bill that would impose new penalties if a doctor refused to care for an infant born alive after an abortion attempt. (Jalonick, 1/11)
Stat:
Lawmakers Again Urge Biden Administration To Widen Cancer Drug Access
For the third time in less than a year, a group of lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to use a controversial provision of federal law to widen access to a pricey cancer medicine, an issue that has festered ever since cancer patients petitioned the federal government. (Silverman, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Minister And Gay Activist Steve Pieters Battles New Virus
Minutes before KABC-TV’s nightly news show 330 went on the air, the Rev. Steven Pieters wasn’t in the studio chatting with the other panelists. He’d been exiled outside, to a dark alley next to the AIDS Project Los Angeles office in Hollywood. It was 1986, and Pieters was scheduled to participate in a five-member panel to discuss the state of the HIV/AIDs pandemic, at the height of the viral infection then wreaking havoc on LGBTQ+ communities. He had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDs four years prior and at one point was given only eight months to live. (Pérez-Moreno, 1/12)
CIDRAP:
Study Finds Few Mpox Infections After One Vaccine Dose
A large study of patients seen at sexual health clinics in London found low numbers of mpox cases after vaccination with one dose of modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA-BN) vaccine. (Schnirring, 1/5)
CNN:
Sitting Too Much Is Bad For Your Health, But Offsetting The Impact Is Easy, Study Shows
Sure, you’ve heard the dangers of sitting all day, but with most jobs there isn’t much you can do about it, right? Not according to a new study, which looked into the impacts of prolonged sitting. Five minutes of light walking every half hour can help alleviate some of the increased risk that comes with sitting for long stretches of the day, according to the study published Thursday in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. (Holcombe, 1/12)
CBS News:
Cardiac Arrest In Youth Athletes Is Rare, But Does Happen. Here's How To Be Prepared.
About 60 million kids in the U.S. participate in organized sports, and cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among young athletes. Dr. Korin Hudson, a MedStar Health emergency physician, said what happened to Hamlin can "absolutely" happen to a child. (O'Donnell and Rinaldi, 1/11)