Orange County Register: Southern California Hospitals Grapple With Flu Patients — And One Has Set Up A Tent 
Southern California emergency rooms are seeing a surge of flu patients, and at least one hospital has set up an outdoor triage tent to handle the overflow of people with the flu or other illnesses. ...Other hospitals across the region, while not erecting tents, have been forced to take other steps to deal with the patient boom. (Molina, Barnes and Tompkins, 1/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: As Flu Cases Surge, Bay Area Hospitals Work Overtime
Across the Bay Area, hospitals and medical clinics are calling on additional physicians, nurses and medical staff to work extra shifts — some to take the place of workers who have fallen ill themselves — postponing the addition of elective surgeries to make room for flu patients, and imposing temporary restrictions on visitors to help prevent the spread of influenza to patients already in the hospital. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center last week began restricting children under the age of 14 from visiting to minimize the spread of the flu. (Ho, 1/18)

Mercury News: Flu May Be Spread Just By Breathing, New Study Says
Until now, most people thought you caught the flu after being exposed to droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes, or by touching contaminated surfaces. But a study released Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that we may pass the flu to others just by breathing. The study — which included researchers who are now working at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley — offers new evidence on the importance of the flu’s airborne qualities and how it can easily be transmitted to others. Researchers found large quantities of infectious viruses in the breath exhaled by those suffering from the flu. (Seipel, 1/18)

The Mercury News: Flu Map: Intensity Of Epidemic, State By State
A map tracking outpatient visits shows the levels of flu-like illness sweeping across the United States in the past 10 weeks. (Steade, 1/18)

The New York Times: Questions And Answers About This Year’s Flu Season
At the moment, the 2017-2018 flu season is considered “moderately severe.” Large numbers of Americans have fallen ill, and every state except Hawaii has reported widespread flu activity. But some regions have been hit harder than others. More important, the number of people hospitalized or dying from flu nationwide is not unusually high. This season is closely paralleling the 2014-2015 season, which was dominated by the same H3N2 flu strain and was also “moderately severe.” (McNeil, 1/18)

Los Angeles Times: This New Blood Test Can Detect Early Signs Of 8 Kinds Of Cancer
Scientists have developed a noninvasive blood test that can detect signs of eight types of cancer long before any symptoms of the disease arise. The test, which can also help doctors determine where in a person's body the cancer is located, is called CancerSEEK. Its genesis is described in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science. (Netburn, 1/18)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Forget Concussions. The Real Risk Of CTE Comes From Repeated Hits To The Head, Study Shows
For more than a decade, researchers trying to make sense of the mysterious degenerative brain disease afflicting football players and other contact-sport athletes have focused on the threat posed by concussions. But new research suggests that attention was misguided. Instead of concerning themselves with the dramatic collisions that cause players to become dizzy, disoriented or even lose consciousness, neuroscientists should be paying attention to routine hits to the head, according to a study that examines the root cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE. (Healy, 1/18)

Los Angeles Times: British Government Targets A Modern Public Health Scourge: Loneliness
The country that put the starch in "stiff upper lip" has made companionship, conversation and human contact a national priority. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the creation of a new ministerial portfolio in her Cabinet: combating loneliness. With more than 9 million British adults reportedly experiencing chronic loneliness — and a stack of studies documenting the corrosive health effects of such social isolation — May said it was time that a high-level government official coordinate a "first-ever strategy" to address the scourge. (Healy, 1/17)

The Desert Sun: DA: Perris Children Were Chained For Months At A Time, Beaten, Starved, Showered Once A Year, Never Educated
At first, the Turpin children were tied up with rope at their family home. But as they tried to get free, they were hogtied. Living in filth, they were only allowed to shower once a year. They were starved to the point of stunted growth, and their parents taunted them with food, buying apple pies and leaving them on the counter uneaten. Beaten, choked and chained up for months at a time, the children began devising a plan to make their escape — two years ago. It wasn't until Sunday that one captive, a 17-year-old daughter, was able to muster the courage to escape through a window. Her 911 call from an inactive cell phone eventually lead authorities to the house of horrors in Perris, where David and Louise Turpin are accused of imprisoning their 13 children. (Kelman and Atagi, 1/18)

In other news from across California —

Fresno Bee: A Baby Died In Merced Hospital. Then Her Parents Disappeared
Police are looking for the public's help to find the parents of an infant who died earlier this week at Mercy Medical Center, Atwater police said on Thursday. Emergency responders were called to an Atwater home about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday after a 2-month-old girl was reported to be not breathing, according to police. Responders started life-saving efforts and the child was taken to Merced Medical Center in Merced, where she later died, according to Detective Anthony Cardoza. (Miller, 1/18)

The Desert Sun: Coachella Fined A 91-Year-Old Dementia Patient $39K
A Desert Sun investigation has revealed that Coachella City Hall fined 91-year-old Marjorie Sansom, who was dying of dementia, $39,000 because of her abandoned property. Now that Sansom has died, Coachella says her family has to pay. (1/18)

The Mercury News: Orinda Child Psychologist Facing Decades In Prison On New Child Porn, Contempt Charges
A federal grand jury indicted an Orinda man on new child pornography and contempt of court charges, the result of an investigation that determined he continued to download lewd images of kids while awaiting trial for the same conduct, court records show. Kenneth Breslin, 69, was already facing a single count of possessing child porn, and had even reached a tentative plea deal with federal prosecutors, when it was revealed he had continued to view and download child porn while out on bail. Breslin had been ordered to stay off the internet as a term of his release, but instead used a third-party server to hide his web browsing, according to a federal investigator. (Gartrell, 1/18)

The New York Times: House Passes Short-Term Spending Bill, Setting Up Shutdown Battle In Senate
The House approved a stopgap spending bill on Thursday night to keep the government open past Friday, but Senate Democrats — angered by President Trump’s vulgar aspersions and a lack of progress on a broader budget and immigration deal — appeared ready to block the measure. The House approved the measure 230 to 197, despite conflicting signals by President Trump sent throughout the day and a threatened rebellion from conservatives that ended up fizzling. (Kaplan and Stolberg, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Congress Likely Racing Toward A Government Shutdown
A bitterly-divided Congress hurtled toward a government shutdown this weekend in a partisan stare-down over demands by Democrats for a solution on politically fraught legislation to protect about 700,000 younger immigrants from being deported. Democrats in the Senate have served notice they will filibuster a four-week, government-wide funding bill that passed the House Thursday evening, seeking to shape a subsequent measure but exposing themselves to charges they are responsible for a looming shutdown. (1/19)

The Washington Post: House Approves Bill To Keep Government Open As Senate Democrats Take Heat For Threatening To Block It
Senate GOP leaders prepared to force Democrats into a series of uncomfortable votes, aimed at splitting their ranks by pitting moderates from states that Trump won against party leaders and the handful of outspoken liberals considering a run for the presidency. For one, Republicans attached a long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program and delays to several unpopular health-care taxes. The bill does not include protections for “dreamers,” immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children or who overstayed their visas as children, a top Democratic priority. (DeBonis, O'Keefe and Werner, 1/18)

The Washington Post: How CHIP Will Be Affected If The Government Shuts Down
If Congress fails to reach a deal to avert a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, federal workers won't be the only ones worrying. Parents of the 9 million children insured through the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, are panicking because funding for the program has nearly run out. Republicans in Congress thought they had a grand solution: They pitched Democrats a deal to do a one-month extension of overall government funding and a six-year extension of CHIP money. But President Trump tweeted Thursday morning that was a bad idea. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) says he spoke with Trump and the president is now on board, but confusion abounds in the Capitol. (Long, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Government Scientists Scramble To Save Research Ahead Of Shutdown That Could Ruin Studies
The nation's premier medical research institute is in "a scramble" to prepare for a partial government shutdown that could ruin costly experiments and leave sick patients unable to enter cutting-edge studies, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said Thursday. Fauci stressed that patients currently in NIH-run studies — including those at the research-only hospital often called the "house of hope" — wouldn't be adversely affected even if President Donald Trump and Congress don't reach a budget deal to avert a shutdown at midnight Friday. (Neergaard, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Trump Steps To Forefront Of Anti-Abortion Movement
He once called himself “pro-choice.” But a year into his presidency, Donald Trump is stepping to the forefront of his administration’s efforts to roll back abortion rights. And though his record is mixed and a midterm election looms, abortion opponents say they have not felt so optimistic in at least a decade. “I don’t think anybody thinks that the White House is a perfectly regimented and orderly family ... but that doesn’t change their commitment to the issue,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which is expanding its door-knocking operation across states with Senate incumbents who have voted for abortion rights. (Kellman, 1/19)

The Associated Press: For Rival Camps In Abortion Debate, A Weekend To Mobilize
Activists on both sides of the abortion debate will be rallying and marching over the next few days in their annual show of force, while looking ahead to the coming year with a mix of combativeness and trepidation. The events kick off Friday with the March for Life in Washington, the biggest yearly event for opponents of abortion. Organizers say Donald Trump will become the first sitting president to address the gathering, speaking live from the White House Rose Garden. (1/18)

Modern Healthcare: New HHS Religious Freedom Office Will Address Provider Concerns
The HHS on Thursday announced the creation of a religious freedom division within its Office of Civil Rights. This new unit will be tasked with asserting religious privilege for providers whose beliefs conflict with care such as abortions or consulting on sex-reassignment surgery. The effort was met with concerns by some providers and praise by others. Planned Parenthood called it "the latest example of this administration's efforts to block women, transgender people, and other marginalized communities from accessing health care," Dana Singiser, vice president of public policy and government relations said in a statement. (Dickson, 1/18)

In other national health care news —

Modern Healthcare: Health System-Led Drug Company Unlikely To Make A Dent In Drug Prices, Shortages 
As four not-for-profit health systems unveiled plans to create their own generic drug company Thursday, experts say they'll face an uphill battle to make a significant dent in one of the fastest-growing industry expenses and persistent problems: rising drug prices and drug shortages. Intermountain Healthcare, Ascension, SSM Health and Trinity Health are working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pool their capital and 450 total hospitals to fight back against drug companies that unexpectedly hike the prices of decades-old off-patent generic drugs with minimal competition. They also look to create a more reliable supply of generic drugs like saline and sodium bicarbonate that are vulnerable to shortages. (Kacik, 1/18)

Politico: Trump Again Targets Drug Policy Office, Proposing 95 Percent Budget Cut
President Donald Trump is planning to slash the budget of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in what marks his administration’s second attempt to gut the top office responsible for coordinating the federal response to the opioid crisis. The plan would shift the office’s two main grant programs, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas grant and the Drug Free Communities Act, to the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, respectively, multiple sources in the administration and others working with the government on the opioid crisis told POLITICO. (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Governors Ask Trump, Congress To Do More On Opioid Crisis
Less than three months after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. opioid crisis a public health emergency, the nation's governors are calling on his administration and Congress to provide more money and coordination for the fight against the drugs, which are killing more than 90 Americans a day. The list of more than two dozen recommendations made Thursday by the National Governors Association is the first coordinated, bipartisan response from the nation's governors since Trump's October declaration. (1/18)

Stat: Key House Republican Seeks Changes In Right-To-Try Legislation
A key House Republican wants to make changes to a Senate-passed measure that aims to expand patient access to experimental treatments, a move that will slow the measure’s path to passage. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon told STAT Thursday that the Senate-passed “right-to-try” bill, from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would have to be changed before he would bring it up in his panel. (Mershon, 1/19)

The New York Times: The U.S. Fertility Rate Is Down, Yet More Women Are Mothers
A baby bust. The fertility rate at a record low. Millennials deciding not to have children. There has been a lot of worry about the state of American fertility. Yet today, 86 percent of women ages 40 to 44 — near the end of their reproductive years — are mothers, up from 80 percent in 2006, reversing decades of declines, according to a new analysis of census data by Pew Research Center on Thursday. (Miller, 1/18)

The New York Times: After A Debacle, How California Became A Role Model On Measles
In December 2014 something unusual happened at Disneyland. People came to visit Mickey Mouse, and some of them left with measles. At least 159 people contracted the disease during an outbreak lasting several months. This is more than the typical number in a whole year in the United States. The leading theory is that measles was introduced in Disneyland by a foreign tourist. That could happen anywhere. Medical experts generally agree that the fact that it took off was probably a result of California’s low vaccination rates, which in turn was a result of an inability to persuade a significant share of Californians that vaccines were important. (Oster and Kocks, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: AIDS Services Foundation Rebrands, Expands, Leaving Longtime Supporters Unhappy
Laguna Beach residents Al Roberts and Ken Jillson founded AIDS Services Foundation (ASF) in 1985, eventually turning it into one of the county’s most respected HIV/AIDS nonprofit organizations. But the organization has changed its name to Radiant Health Centers — and some longtime board members are displeased. Mark Gonzales, vice president of Radiant’s board of directors, tells me the name change is part of “expanding services.” (Venezia, 1/18)

Sacramento Bee: Don’t Leave Community Health Centers In Limbo
Last year was hard for the California Primary Care Association. We survived multiple attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, only for Congress to pass a tax bill that ends the individual mandate, leading to 13 million more uninsured in the next ten years. As if that wasn’t enough, Congress failed to reauthorize federal funding for the community health center program by the Sept. 30 deadline, despite traditional bipartisan support. Health centers, which could lose 70 percent of their federal funding, are in a state of limbo. (Castellano-Garcia, 1/17)

Los Angeles Times: Republicans Figure Out Opioid Crisis — It's The Fault Of Medicaid Expansion! (Spoiler: They're Wrong)
Washington tourists with time on their hands Wednesday could have popped into the Capitol to witness an ancient phenomenon: Senators doing their darndest to prove a partisan fantasy. In this case, the fantasy was that Medicaid expansion is to blame for the opioid crisis in the United States. The ringmaster was Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Johnson has been flogging this notion for the better part of a year, or longer, despite the utter lack of evidence that it's true — and plenty of evidence that the opposite is true. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why SF Should Open A Supervised Drug-Injection Facility
Now, San Francisco is debating an approach that, though not new, is still viewed by many as radical: the supervised injection facility, a place where people who inject drugs can drop in — with their own supply — and use. ...These facilities offer people who inject drugs safety, support and dignity, worthy goals in and of themselves. (Jacob Izenberg, 1/15)

San Jose Mercury News: Too Many Young Children Drowning In Home Pools
Drowning is the second leading cause of death for California children 1 to 4 years old, behind birth defects, according to both the federal Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Public Health. And most of those drownings occur in home swimming pools. (Nadina Riggsbee, 1/17)

Sacramento Bee: Ban Secret Settlements On Product Liability Lawsuits
A bill introduced by Assemblyman Mark Stone, Assembly Bill 889, would prevent lawsuits from being settled on the condition that information be kept confidential when it is about a defective product or an environmental condition that poses a danger to public health and safety. Such secrecy leads to deaths and serious injuries as the public and regulators are kept in the dark about unsafe products and toxic conditions. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 1/16)

Los Angeles Times: Kentucky's New Obstacles To Medicaid Coverage Are Crueler Than You Could Imagine
One can say this about the hoops Kentucky will require low-income residents to jump through to become eligible for Medicaid: If you were deliberately trying to come up with ways to throw people off the program, you couldn't do better. It's been widely reported that the "waiver" of Medicaid rules approved for the state by federal officials last week includes a first-in-the-nation work requirement. But there's much more to it, none of it good if you are a Medicaid enrollee or someone who believes that the purpose of government healthcare programs is to provide people with healthcare. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/16)