Los Angeles Times: Covered California Open Enrollment Begins. What To Know
The 2010 Affordable Care Act made it possible for millions of uninsured Americans to gain health coverage through new state marketplaces. And when open enrollment for 2023 begins today, even more families may be able to gain coverage, thanks to a recent change in the ACA rules. According to an estimate from Covered California, the ACA marketplace in this state, the new rule could benefit 615,000 residents, most of them women and children. That’s on top of the 1.7 million who already obtain policies through Covered California. (Healey, 11/1)

The Bakersfield Californian: Health Officials Caution Public To Be Prepared For Illnesses With Seasonal Increases 
An uptick in test positivity rates for flu and respiratory syncytial virus this year, coupled with the unpredictability of COVID-19, have prompted caution from local health experts about hospitals becoming full during the winter season, though an epidemiologist expressed these concerns may be premature. (Desai, 10/31)

The Washington Post: Pfizer’s RSV Vaccine, Given During Pregnancy, Protects Infants From Severe Illness
Pfizer announced Tuesday that its maternal RSV vaccine, given during pregnancy, protected infants from developing severe symptoms during the first six months after birth — a critical window of vulnerability. The company plans to apply for approval of the vaccine before year’s end, with the hope that the shot could be the first vaccine to help protect infants against RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — as soon as next winter. (Johnson, 11/1)

The New York Times: Scientists Are Gaining On RSV, A Persistent Threat To Children
Of the three respiratory viruses Americans are grappling with this winter, two — the coronavirus and the flu — are well-known threats. The third, respiratory syncytial virus, which already has sent thousands of children to hospitals, is a mystery to many. To pediatricians, however, R.S.V. is all too familiar. It is a leading cause of infant mortality around the globe, and especially dangerous to prematurely born babies. (Mandavilli, 11/1)

Politico Pro: RSV Surge Casts Focus On Vaccine Pipeline
The increase in RSV cases casts attention on a handful of drugmakers with vaccines and therapies in development, but the first ones likely to become available will be for the elderly and pregnant people. Pfizer has said it plans to file an application to the FDA in the fall, and GSK expects to file for approvals by the end of the year. But RSV vaccines for children are unlikely to be available in the near term. (Gardner and Foley, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: New Omicron Subvariants BQ.1, BQ.1.1 Make Gains As BA.5 Fades
The rise of new coronavirus subvariants is continuing to erode the grip the Omicron strain BA.5 has held for months, worrying health officials that a winter resurgence of COVID-19 may be ahead. Eating into BA.5’s long-running dominance are a pair of its own descendants: BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Like BA.5, the two are subvariants of the original Omicron coronavirus strain that walloped the world last fall and winter. (Money and Lin II, 11/1)

AP: CDC Director Tests Positive For COVID Again
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested positive again for COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky had mild symptoms Sunday and is isolating at her home in Massachusetts, the CDC said Monday. Walensky, 53, first tested positive on Oct. 21. She took a course of the antiviral pill Paxlovid, and later tested negative. But the symptoms returned and Walensky is again in isolation, working and holding virtual meetings, the CDC said. (Stobbe, 10/31)

CNBC: Long Covid Is Affecting Women More Than Men, National Survey Finds
Long Covid is more common among women than men, according to federal data. More than 17% of women have had long Covid at some point during the pandemic, compared with 11% of men, according to data from U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics published this month. (Kimball, 10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bivalent COVID Vaccine May Not Be More Protective Than Other Boosters. Why Experts Still Recommend It
Hopes were high in early fall that the new double-barreled COVID-19 booster shot — the first to target both the earlier coronavirus and newer omicron variants — would be a holiday gift like no other, and protect everyone this year. (Asimov, 11/1)

Nature: Could A Nose Spray A Day Keep COVID Away?
During the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Anne Moscona didn’t feel safe going to a restaurant or catching a flight. And she wished she could feel confident that she could see her immunocompromised relatives without inadvertently spreading the novel coronavirus to them. All this made her work personal: for the last decade, Moscona, a molecular virologist, had been hunting for compounds that could stop viruses in their tracks, before the pathogens infect even a single cell in a person’s body. Now Moscona, at Columbia University in New York City, and her colleagues have homed in on a compound that might foil SARS-CoV-2. Even better, it’s simply sprayed up the nose — no needle required. (Kozlov, 10/31)

CalMatters: California Abortion Law: Would Prop. 1 Allow Late-Term?
Proposition 1, the Nov. 8 ballot measure that would create an explicit protection for “reproductive freedom” in the California Constitution, is not written to expand abortion access into the final months of pregnancy and, despite warnings from opponents, legal experts say that is a highly unlikely outcome if it passes. The simple yet sweeping language of the measure — “the state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions” — has been a source of contention, even among some supporters of abortion rights, since it was introduced this summer. (Koseff, 10/31)

Politifact: No, California State Sen. Wiener’s SB 107 Doesn’t Call For ‘Sterilization’ Of Kids
Senate Bill 107, also known as the gender-affirming health care bill, was signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 29 and will officially become law Jan. 1, 2023. It does not call for the sterilization of children. The legislation is meant to protect transgender youth and their families who seek refuge in California after fleeing states that have banned gender-affirming health care for youths. (Majchrowicz, 10/31)

California Healthline: Medicare Fines For High Hospital Readmissions Drop, But Nearly 2,300 Facilities Are Still Penalized
Federal officials said they are penalizing 2,273 hospitals, the fewest since the fiscal year that ended in September 2014. Driving the decline was a change in the formula to compensate for the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic. (Rau, 11/1)

California Healthline and KHN: Look Up Your California Hospital: Is It Being Penalized By Medicare?
Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which California hospitals have been penalized. (10/31)

Axios: Home Health Providers Get Reprieve From Medicare Cuts
Home health providers will avoid significant Medicare pay cuts next year, after the Biden administration announced a net 0.7% increase in fees. But the industry is still pushing Congress to delay future rate cuts. (Goldman, 11/1)

Axios: Medicare Expands Special Enrollment Periods For Extenuating Circumstances
People who miss Medicare's open enrollment next year because of extenuating circumstances will get a special sign-up period to ensure continuous coverage under a rule finalized Friday. (Goldman, 10/31)

Bay Area News Group: Gov. Newsom’s Spending To Clear California’s Homeless Encampments. What Has He Done So Far?
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration doles out another nearly $50 million as part of his high-profile effort to clean up the state’s homeless encampments, the Bay Area still is waiting to see the results from a first round of funding awarded earlier this year. Newsom announced $48 million in so-called “encampment resolution grants” this past week, including $10.85 million to San Francisco, and $3.6 million to shelter residents from an encampment in West Oakland. That’s in addition to $50 million announced in February and paid out over the summer. (Kendall, 11/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Poised To Declare ‘Housing A Human Right’ And Strengthen Renters’ Rights 
San Diego considered a wide variety of new tenant protections Monday at a special meeting as homelessness and economic concerns for renters persist. (Molnar, 10/31)

Modesto Bee: Caves At Homeless Encampments Found Along Tuolumne River
Removing trash from the banks of the Tuolumne River is an unending process for Chris Guptill, founder of the volunteer cleanup organization Operation 9-2-99. “Once the trash goes down the river and ends up in the ocean, you are never going to undo that,” he said. “We are trying to prevent things that can’t be undone.” (Tracy, 10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Paul Pelosi Attack: Suspect's Ex-Girlfriend Says He Struggled With Mental Illness
The imprisoned longtime partner of David DePape, the suspect in the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, said Sunday that mental illness and drug use had caused him to deteriorate so profoundly that he once grew convinced that “he was Jesus for a year.” “He has never been able to hold a job,” Oxane “Gypsy” Taub said Sunday evening. “He has been homeless. This person really does suffer from mental illness and that is probably why he was there at 2 a.m.” (Mishenac, 10/31)

The Washington Post: One In 10 Older Adults In U.S. Has Dementia, Research Suggests
One in 10 U.S. adults over 65 has dementia, a study suggests, while 1 in 5 has cognitive difficulties. Published Oct. 24 in JAMA Neurology, the research updates 20-year-old estimates of the number of older Americans with dementia and mild cognitive impairment. (Blakemore, 10/31)

California Healthline: What Looks And Acts Like Pot But Is Legal Nearly Everywhere? Meet Hemp-Derived Delta-9 THC
The 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp created a loophole for an unregulated copycat of marijuana. A form of delta-9 THC — the psychoactive substance in pot — doesn’t face the same laws and regulations as marijuana because it comes from hemp. The drug is poised to upend the cannabis industry. (Berger, 11/1)

Axios: Experts: Anesthesia Use Disparities Could Negatively Impact Black Maternal Health
New research showing racial disparities in regional anesthesia use has major implications for Black women — especially in pregnancy and childbirth, medical experts and reproductive health advocates tell Axios. Black women have a long history of experiencing medical maltreatment, the legacy of which remains today in implicit biases and systemic inequities that worsen health outcomes. They are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Chen, 11/1)

Stat: Polio-Like Syndrome In Kids Seems Not To Flare, Adding To Mystery
Physicians who treat children with acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, had been steeling themselves this fall for an onslaught of cases. (Branswell, 10/31)

CNN: Drinking Caffeine While Pregnant Impacts Child's Height: Study
Starting the day with a hot cup of caffeinated coffee or tea may sound divine to some, but it could have negative impacts for the children of people who are pregnant, according to a new study. Children who were exposed to small amounts of caffeine before birth were found on average to be shorter than the children of people who did not consume caffeine while pregnant, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Network Open. (Holcombe, 10/31)