San Diego Union-Tribune: That Triple-Threat Virus Surge Has Abated — For Now. 'We Are Happy For The Calm' 
With a new variant on the prowl, as was the case this time last year, it would be reasonable to expect that coronavirus would be surging. But the latest weekly report from the county health department shows that’s just not the case. (Sisson, 1/12)

Sacramento Bee: COVID-19 Numbers In California Improving After Winter Surge 
Coronavirus activity in California has declined in recent days, with significant drops recorded in key transmission and hospital metrics. The statewide case rate for COVID-19 fell to 14.3 per 100,000 residents, the California Department of Public Health reported in a weekly update Thursday, down 10% from one week earlier. (McGough, 1/12)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA Covid-19 Cases Declining; LADPH Continue To Monitor Omicron Strains
Los Angeles County ‘s number of new COVID-19 cases were falling this week, but the region’s average death rate is up, the county’s top public health officials said Thursday, Jan. 12, while advising county residents to remain cautious against the disease as students return to the classroom following winter break. (Valdes, 1/12)

Fortune: The ‘Gryphon’ Family Of COVID Variants Is Off The Leash And Spreading Globally—But Their Bark May Be A Lot Worse Than Their Bite
You may remember the XBB variant that took Singapore by storm last fall—one of the most immune-evasive yet. Dubbed “Gryphon” by the Canadian biology professor Ryan Gregory—who has a lot more names like it for other variants—after the mythical amalgamation of eagle and lion, it’s less of a global player than it was then. Now its descendants are battling for dominance throughout the world. Experts are keeping a close eye in particular on (the also Gregory-monikered) “Kraken” XBB.1.5, due to its ability to grow at a breakneck pace. (Prater, 1/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Nose Sprays Could Someday Replace Face Masks
Johns Hopkins engineers are developing a nasal spray that could be used to prevent the transmission of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and influenza, according to a report published Thursday by the university. The engineers have created thin, thread-like strands of molecules called supramolecular filaments that are designed to be sprayed into the nose, blocking harmful viruses from entering the lungs. (Vaziri, 1/13)

Time: Why Rapid COVID-19 Test Results Are Getting More Confusing
Experts say ambiguous results like these may be more common now—but not because rapid tests aren’t working. In fact, these confusing results could actually be a good thing, at least as far as your immune system goes. (Ducharme, 1/12)

The 19th: COVID Booster Rates In Nursing Homes Remain Low, New AARP Data Shows
Older adults, particularly those living in nursing homes, are bearing the brunt of the current winter COVID wave in the United States, but booster rates among nursing home residents and staff remain low, according to new data from AARP. (Luterman, 1/12)

CIDRAP: Paying People To Take COVID Vaccine Worked Well, Study Finds
A study finds that paying people to take a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine didn't lower the likelihood of seeking the second or third dose or of other positive health behaviors and didn't erode morals, sense of civic duty, or feelings of self-determination. (Van Beusekom, 1/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: State Fines Laguna Honda For Deaths Of Medically Fragile Patients Transferred Last Summer
San Francisco’s embattled Laguna Honda public nursing home has been fined $36,000 by the state for violations associated with the deaths of 11 patients last summer after the facility was directed to discharge all residents as part of a federal order to prepare for closure. Of the 57 patients who were transferred or discharged, nine were reported to have died within days or weeks of their moves. The new citations are the first confirmation that the number was at least 11. Federal regulators paused the transfers on July 28 as a result of the deaths. (Asimov, 1/12)

CapRadio: Thousands Of Homeless Sacramentans Remain Outside During These Deadly Storms. Here’s Why Shelter Isn’t Always An Option.
Thousands of homeless Sacramentans experienced the recent series of powerful winter storms outdoors, staying at their own encampments instead of at emergency shelters even as conditions turned deadly. CapRadio interviewed seven unhoused residents and three shelter providers over the past week. Most of the unhoused people said it’s too difficult to access the region’s scattered shelters. Others said they fear losing their possessions if they leave their familiar camps. (Nichols, 1/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: Not All Doom And Gloom? Stanford Reports Revenue Outpacing Expenses
Optimism, while faint, is growing among some observers that hospital systems will at least start to break even at some point in 2023. It's what makes the latest financial results from California's Stanford Medicine worth looking at. Stanford Medicine reported operating revenues of $1.9 billion for the three months ending Nov. 30, 2022, compared with $1.75 billion for the same period in 2021. (Thomas, 1/12)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Tech, Biotech Layoffs Swell By Several Hundred More Jobs
A slew of tech and biotech companies have revealed plans to chop several hundred more Bay Area jobs, a dreary indicator that the advanced technology and life sciences sectors have extended their binge of layoffs. (Avalos, 1/13)

Axios: 3 Takeaways From JP Morgan
A very soggy edition of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, better known as JPM, wrapped up Thursday in San Francisco after filling downtown eateries and crowding hotel lobbies all week. The annual health care takeover of San Francisco is arguably still the most influential gathering in the business, offering a chance for investors to get a pulse on the upcoming year and for health execs to humblebrag about how many meetings they squeezed in. (Dreher, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Cancer Death Rate Has Dropped By A Third Since 1991
The American Cancer Society said Thursday that changes in preventive measures and screening in the past decade drove important trends in U.S. cancer incidence and outcomes. Cervical cancer rates dropped 65% from 2012 to 2019 among women in their early 20s after a generation of young women were vaccinated against human papillomavirus, or HPV, for the first time. (Abbott, 1/12)

NBC News: More Men Diagnosed With Advanced Prostate Cancer As PSA Testing Drops
More men are being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that is less likely to respond to treatments, a new study from the American Cancer Society suggests. (Carroll, 1/12)

ABC News: Cancer Death Rates Down But Racial Disparities Persist Among Black Men And Women
Gaps in survival are particularly notable for prostate cancer. The death rate for prostate cancer among Black men was two to three times higher than those in every other racial group, according to the new report. “Disparities are profound,” said Dr. Karen Knudsen, chief executive officer at the American Cancer Society, at a press briefing today. (Wetsman and Miao, 1/12)

Stateline: Child Vaccination Rates, Already Down Because Of COVID, Fall Again
Child vaccination rates dipped into dangerous territory during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were shuttered, and most doctors were only seeing emergency patients. But instead of recovering after schools reopened in 2021, those historically low rates worsened, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts fear that the skepticism of science and distrust of government that flared up during the pandemic are contributing to the decrease. (Ollove, 1/12)

CNBC: Measles: 250,000 Kindergartners Are Vulnerable Due To Drop In Vaccination Rate
Nearly a quarter of a million kindergartners are vulnerable to measles due to a dip in vaccination coverage during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC, in a report published Thursday, found that 93% of kindergartners were up to date with state-required vaccines during the 2021-22 school year, a decline of 2% from 2019-20. (Kimball, 1/12)

The Hill: Study Finds Slight Increase In Youth Asthma Rates In States With Legal Recreational Cannabis
Legalization of recreational cannabis may contribute to increased rates of teen and childhood asthma, new research suggests. Investigators compared asthma rates in states with recreational programs with rates in states where the substance was illegal from 2011 through 2019. Although the overall incidence of childhood asthma decreased within this time frame, the prevalence of asthma increased slightly among teens aged 12 to 17, and among children in some minority racial and ethnic groups in states with recreational use laws, relative to states where cannabis is fully illegal.  (Melillo, 1/12)

Los Angeles Times: Will Your Gas Range Make You Sick? Here's What The Science Says
Will the gas stove in your kitchen make you sick? Will it cause asthma in your kids? Those questions came to the fore again this week as federal officials clarified that they are not planning to ban natural-gas fueled ranges, ovens or cooktops — unlike in Los Angeles, where the City Council last year laid down such a ban on new gas appliances, including kitchen equipment. (Mitchell, 1/13)

The Boston Globe: New Research Points To A Way To Reverse Aging. But Don’t Expect A Miracle Drug Overnight. 
Scientists may be edging closer to unearthing a fountain of youth, announcing Thursday that they have developed a new model to explain how aging works — and how it might be reversed. (Weisman, 1/12)

NBC News: People With Diabetes Struggle To Find Ozempic As It Soars In Popularity As A Weight Loss Aid
In recent months, demand for the drug has soared, colliding with global supply issues. Together, it's led to a shortage of Ozempic. But the popularity of Ozempic, or semaglutide, isn't because of rising rates of diabetes. Instead, it's because of its weight loss benefits, doctors say. At a higher dose, semaglutide is used for weight loss. Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk sells that higher dose under a different brand name: Wegovy. (Lovelace Jr., Dunn and Dahlgren, 1/12)

KQED: 'Significant Overlap': Researchers Work To Understand Connection Between Autism And Gender Fluidity
As a toddler, Izzy Dier hated sundresses and loved Hot Wheels sneakers. “I had a hunch, always, that I was way more masculine than my other female peers,” said Dier, who uses she/they pronouns. As early as preschool, Dier started questioning her gender. When she was a teenager she began wondering if her testosterone was higher than average. “I always had bushy facial hair and these little spots on my chin,” she said. A transgender person with long dark hair and a shirt-dress smiles from their door at the camera. The 23-year-old now identifies as gender-fluid. (McClurg, 1/12)

CBS News: U.S. Birth Rates Drop As Women Wait To Have Babies 
American women are having fewer babies, and they're having them later in life, government figures released Tuesday show. Data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's statistic arm — showed a sharp decline in fertility rates in recent years, with most women having an average of 1.3 babies and an increasing percentage giving birth at age 35 or older. (Tabachnick, 1/12)

California Healthline: Ask Voters Directly, And Abortion Rights Wins Most Ballot Fights
This is shaping up as a critical year in the country’s battle over abortion rights, as both sides struggle to define a new status quo after the Supreme Court struck down the nearly half-century-old constitutional right last year. It is important not to misread what happened in 2022. After a 6-3 majority of justices overturned Roe v. Wade, voters in six states were asked to choose between preserving or reducing abortion rights. In all six — Kansas, Michigan, California, Kentucky, Montana, and Vermont — voters sided with abortion rights. (Rovner, 1/13)

California Healthline: Why People Who Experience Severe Nausea During Pregnancy Often Go Untreated
Because morning sickness is common, severe nausea in pregnancy can be minimized by doctors or the patients themselves. Untreated, symptoms can worsen — and delays lead to medical emergencies. (Houghton, 1/13)

Fresno Bee: Clovis Unified Wants New School For Medically Fragile Students 
The Clovis Unified School Board could create a new school — at least on paper — as soon as next week, but the students probably won’t notice any changes.On Wednesday, the board will vote to convert the Garfield Center — a special education site for medically fragile students — into a new school. (Thornton, 1/13)