San Francisco Chronicle: Map: Half Of California Counties Do Not Meet New Air Quality Standards
On May 6, updated and stronger national air quality standards went into effect from the Environmental Protection Agency for fine particulate matter pollution. Based on 2020-2022 data, half of California’s counties fail to comply with the new standards. Pollution isn’t increasing but the reconfigured standards are tighter. This means some days that would have previously been categorized as healthy, or carrying little risk, are now considered to have some level of negative health impacts. (Edwards, 5/16)

Los Angeles Times: Air Regulators Ding California Tesla Plant Over Air Pollution
A Tesla manufacturing plant in California has come under fire from local air regulators who say the electric carmaker has frequently released illegal amounts of air pollution. The Tesla manufacturing and assembly plant in Fremont has been cited for more than 110 air quality violations since 2019 — more than twice any other major facility in the Bay Area. Air district officials say the facility’s two painting shops have been the source of uncontrolled releases of smog-forming pollution and toxic chemicals over the years. (Briscoe, 5/16)

Los Angeles Times: California's Labor Laws Aren't Enough To Protect Workers, Report Says
Although California has some of the toughest labor laws in the country, a new study has found workers routinely suffer violations while on the job. A team of researchers from UC San Francisco and Harvard University earlier this year surveyed 980 California workers at dozens of the state’s largest retail, food and other service sector companies. The workers reported frequent abuses over pay, work schedules and other issues. (Hussain, 5/15)

USA Today: California Bill Would Ban Sale Of Anti-Aging Skincare To Kids Under 13
A bill under consideration in California would ban selling certain anti-aging skincare products to kids younger than 13 years old. (Crowley, 5/15)

CapRadio: Advocates Push Back Against Sacramento’s Plans To Close Self-Governed Homeless Camp
Advocates for a large, self-governed homeless encampment in Sacramento called “Camp Resolution” are trying to stop the city from closing it. Camp residents and supporters marched through the streets of downtown Sacramento on Wednesday, eventually making their way to City Hall. They demanded that the city drop its plans to evict people from the tight-knit community. (Nichols, 5/15)

Oaklandside: Homelessness Grew 9% In Oakland—But It's Slowing Down
Oakland’s unhoused population keeps growing—but the city is not experiencing anything like the explosion of homelessness that took place in the 2010s. On Wednesday, Oakland and Alameda County released their latest homelessness tallies. These “point-in-time” counts occur every two years, mandated by the federal government for any jurisdiction that receives funding to address the crisis. The results are inexact estimates of the number of people sleeping on the street or in shelters on the single winter night, but they’re considered the most accurate statistics available.The 2024 count found 5,490 people living without permanent housing in Oakland. This reflects a 9% increase over the previous point-in-time count in 2022, which found 5,055. (Orenstein, 5/15)

Berkeleyside: Homeless Count Shows 45% Drop In Unsheltered People In Berkeley
Berkeley’s overall homeless population dropped by 20% and the number of people living outside, in tents or vehicles fell by almost half, according to initial results from Alameda County’s bi-annual census. There are 20% fewer people living without a permanent home in Berkeley than the same period two years ago according to the report, with numbers dropping from 1,057 people to 844 people total. The point-in-time census doesn’t account for people who are living in temporary housing situations with friends or family. (Yelimeli, 5/15)

Los Angeles Times: Deadly Overdoses Fall For First Time In 5 Years, Estimates Show
Deaths from drug overdoses fell last year in the United States as fewer people lost their lives to fentanyl and other opioids, marking the first time the death toll had dropped in five years, according to newly released estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal officials said the numbers show a 3% decline in the estimated overdose fatalities between 2022 and 2023. That downturn equates to nearly 3,500 fewer deaths across the U.S. than the year before. (Alpert Reyes, 5/15)

The Hill: Walgreens Offering Cheaper Version Of Opioid Reversal Drug
Walgreens is set to offer a cheaper version of an important opioid reversal drug at its stores soon, according to Wednesday press release. “Walgreens today announced it is expanding access to an over the counter, life-saving medication with the launch of Walgreens Brand Naloxone HCI Nasal Spray,” reads the press release from Walgreens’ parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance. (Suter, 5/15)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Remains Deadlier Than The Flu
Since the earliest days of the pandemic, health officials have gauged the threat of COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu. At first, it wasn’t even close. People hospitalized in 2020 with the then-novel respiratory disease were five times more likely to die of their illness than were patients who had been hospitalized with influenza during the preceding flu seasons. (Kaplan, 5/15)

Politico: CDC To End Program To Vaccinate Uninsured Adults Early
Uninsured and underinsured adults could have a harder time getting the newest Covid-19 vaccine this fall, just as temperatures cool and cases are expected to rise. The CDC’s Bridge Access Program, which provides free updated Covid vaccines to uninsured adults, will end in August, according to the agency. The program was slated to end in December. (Gardner, 5/15)

CIDRAP: Study: Before Vaccines, 44% Of COVID-19 Patients In ICU Died
A new analysis of pre-vaccine data from scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 18% of hospitalized patients and 44% of those admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 died, with wide variations among different groups. The study was published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases and is based on 2,479,423 cases from 21 jurisdictions with hospitalization information reported to the CDC from May 1, 2020, to December 1, 2020, to create a hospitalization dataset. (Soucheray, 5/15)

Reuters: AstraZeneca's COVID Prevention Drug Cuts Risk Of Disease In Vulnerable Patients
AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) COVID-19 prevention therapy reduced the risk of infection in patients with weaker immunity in a late-stage trial, meeting its primary goal, the drugmaker said on Thursday. The long-acting antibody therapy called sipavibart showed a "statistically significant reduction" in symptomatic COVID-19 cases among immunocompromised patients, the company said. (5/16)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Pharmaceutical Giant Takeda Is Shutting Down Its San Diego Office 
Pharmaceutical giant Takeda is shutting down its research and development hub in San Diego that employs 324 as part of a broader restructuring of the business. (Rocha, 5/16)

Los Angeles Times: USC Scientist Faces Scrutiny — Retracted Papers, Paused Drug Trial
Late last year, a group of whistleblowers submitted a report to the National Institutes of Health that questioned the integrity of a celebrated USC neuroscientist’s research and the safety of an experimental stroke treatment his company was developing. NIH has since paused clinical trials for 3K3A-APC, a stroke drug sponsored by ZZ Biotech, a Houston-based company co-founded by Berislav V. Zlokovic, professor and chair of the department of physiology and neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. (Purtill, 5/16)

The Hill: Wegovy Could Bankrupt US Health System, Sanders Says In New Report
Blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy could bankrupt the U.S. health care system unless the price drops, according to a staff report released Wednesday from the office of Senate Health Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Unless prices dramatically decline, Wegovy and weight loss drugs could push Americans to spend $1 trillion per year on prescription drugs, the report concluded. (Weixel, 5/15)

Newsweek: Medicare Could Save $500 Million With Coverage Change
Anti-obesity medications are a hot topic in the medical world, and many Americans remain conflicted on how and when they should be covered by health insurance. Despite the controversy around paying for weight loss drugs like Ozempic, a new Intensity report found covering the anti-obesity medications could in fact save Medicare around $500 million yearly. (Blake, 5/15)

Axios: Weight-Loss Drug Shortages Leave Wegovy Patients Stressed
Patients prescribed highly effective anti-obesity medications are growing anxious about the increasing difficulty of obtaining them amid long-running shortages driven by blockbuster demand for the drugs. (Reed, 5/16)

NBC News: Patients With Female Doctors Have Lower Risk Of Death, Research Shows
Having a female doctor could lower the risk of death or major health issues after surgery or hospitalization, studies have shown over and over. The latest evidence, published Wednesday in the British Journal of Surgery, finds that surgical teams with more women see fewer health complications among patients than male-dominated teams. (Bendix, 5/15)

Becker's Hospital Review: A Disconnect Between Healthcare Leaders, Workers In 18 Numbers
A recent Indeed survey suggests that many workers do not intend to leave healthcare, but move away from individual employers due to dissatisfaction with the job. The survey also cites a gap in perception between what the workers find important and what management thinks they find important. (Taylor, 5/16)

Los Angeles Times: As Officials Turn To Wastewater To Monitor Bird Flu Epidemic, Questions About Testing Bubble Up
As health officials turn increasingly toward wastewater testing as a means of tracking the spread of H5N1 bird flu among U.S. dairy herds, some researchers are raising questions about the effectiveness of the sewage assays. Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says current testing is standardized and will detect bird flu, some researchers voiced skepticism. (Rust, 5/16)

Axios: Exclusive: New Program Creates "Youth Corps" For Mental Health
Hundreds of young adults will be trained to help their peers access mental health care and other supports in a first-of-its-kind service program aimed at addressing the youth mental health crisis. Backers of the new Youth Mental Health Corps, which is funded by a mix of private and public dollars, also hope to create a new talent pipeline to address shortages of mental health workers. (Goldman, 5/15)

Roll Call: Administration Releases Maternal Mental Health Plan 
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced the first national maternal mental health strategy, seeking specific actions from Congress and multiple federal agencies to reduce the effects of untreated mental health and substance use conditions during and after pregnancy. (Raman, 5/15)

California Healthline: Federal Panel Prescribes New Mental Health Strategy To Curb Maternal Deaths
The leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States — including suicides and fatalities linked to substance use disorders — stem from mental health conditions. Now a federal task force has recommended strategies to help women who are at risk during or after pregnancy. (Platzman Weinstock, 5/16)

The Hill: Most States Receive D’s, F’s In Maternal Mental Health Report Card
Jaqueline Sharp, 35, remembers her anxiety “went through the roof” shortly after she gave birth to her son in 2019. Her mental health got worse as she tried to balance recovering from a cesarean section, mastering breastfeeding and baby sleep schedules all on very, very little sleep. (O’Connell-Domenech, 5/15)

CNN: New Screening Tool Can Identify Preeclampsia Risk Sooner, Test Maker Says
A new blood test can be performed in a pregnant person’s first trimester to help assess their risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication. It’s the first and only test of its kind available in the United States that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks gestation to determine the risk of preeclampsia before 34 weeks of pregnancy, its maker, Labcorp, announced Wednesday. The first trimester is the period from 0 to 13 weeks of a pregnancy. (Howard, 5/15)

KVPR: A Bipartisan Group Of Senators Unveils A Plan To Tackle Artificial Intelligence
A bipartisan group of senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has released a long-awaited report detailing actions congressional committees can take to address the advancements and risks of artificial intelligence." Congress can't and won't solve every challenge AI presents today," Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a press conference Wednesday. "But we can lay down a base of smart, bipartisan policy proposals, guided by both urgency and humility." (Sprunt, 5/15)

Modern Healthcare: AI In Healthcare Needs Strict Oversight, Rigorous Testing: IHI
Health systems implementing artificial intelligence should have strict oversight, informed patient consent and rigorous testing in place for the technology, according to safety recommendations from a recent Institute for Healthcare Improvement report. The report, published Wednesday by IHI's think tank, Lucian Leape Institute, lays out best practices from 30 patient safety and technology experts on generative AI used in documentation assistance, clinical decision support and chatbots that interact with patients. (Devereaux, 5/15)

Reuters: Exclusive: Musk's Neuralink Has Faced Issues With Its Tiny Wires For Years, Sources Say
Neuralink's disclosure last week that tiny wires inside the brain of its first patient had pulled out of position is an issue the Elon Musk company has known about for years, according to five people familiar with the matter. The company knew from animal testing it had conducted ahead of its U.S. approval last year that the wires might retract, removing with them the sensitive electrodes that decode brain signals, three of the sources said. Neuralink deemed the risk low enough for a redesign not to be merited, the sources added. (Levy, 5/15)

NBC News: Vegetarian And Vegan Diets May Lower Risk Of Heart Disease And Cancer, Review Finds
A plant-based diet is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer and death, according to a large-scale review published Wednesday. The research, which appears in the journal PLOS ONE, analyzed the results of nearly 50 studies published from 2000 to 2023. (Bendix, 5/15)