Times Of San Diego: County Officials Urge Residents To Seek Bivalent Booster As COVID Numbers Slide 
San Diego County public health officials on Thursday again urged residents to get the latest vaccination for COVID-19. ... “The virus is still circulating in the region. We’re still seeing high percentages of positive COVID-19 tests and detecting high levels of the virus in wastewater,” Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma J. Wooten said. “Vaccinations, including bivalent boosters, can help protect you from getting seriously ill or even dying.” (1/19)

KQED: What Do You Need To Know About COVID In 2023?
As unbelievable as it might seem, we're now approaching a fourth year of the COVID pandemic. And while the coronavirus is still very much with us, navigating life with COVID might feel quite different for you in 2023 than it did in previous years. (Severn, 1/20)

The Hill: More Than 1,300 Nursing Homes Had COVID Infection Rates Of At Least 75 Percent In 2020: HHS 
More than 1,300 nursing homes in the U.S., most of them for-profit facilities, experienced extremely high COVID-19 infection rates in 2020, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services. For the OIG’s study, the agency took Medicare claims data to find nursing homes with beneficiaries who tested positive for COVID-19. The study looked at 15,086 nursing homes across the country. (Choi, 1/19)

CIDRAP: First-Wave COVID Patients Had Much Higher Risk Of Death For 18 Months
In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, infected UK patients had a significantly elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) for at least 18 months, suggests a study of nearly 160,000 people published today in Cardiovascular Research. (Van Beusekom, 1/19)

CIDRAP: Lack Of Vaccination, Severe Illness Tied To Higher Risk Of Long COVID
A US military study suggests that people who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and those with moderate or severe infections are at significantly higher risk for persistent symptoms for 1 to 6 months. In the observational study, published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, a team led by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland estimated the risk of long COVID and greater healthcare use among 1,832 infected adults enrolled at a military treatment facility. (Van Beusekom, 1/19)

NPR: How Are Rapid COVID Tests Holding Up As The Pandemic Enters Its Fourth Year 
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, a negative result on a little plastic at-home test feels a bit less comforting than it once did. Still, you dutifully swab your nostrils before dinner parties, wait 15 minutes for the all-clear and then text the host "negative!" before leaving your KN95 mask at home. (Lupkin, 1/19)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. City Council Is Set To Vote On New Tenant Protections
With Los Angeles’ longstanding COVID-19 anti-eviction rules expiring in less than two weeks, the City Council is set to vote Friday on a proposal that would substantially expand permanent protections for tenants. The council is under enormous pressure to finalize a new policy before the existing emergency order expires at the end of the month. (Wick, 1/20)

Politico: Mayors: Affordable Housing Demand Is Crushing Us 
Red states, blue states, big cities, small towns — mayors from across the country this week are venting about their struggles to address a housing affordability crisis and increase in homelessness. ... “At the end of the day, as mayors, people aren’t looking to their senators to solve homelessness,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said to applause at the conference Wednesday. “They’re not looking to their state legislators to solve homelessness. They’re looking to their mayor.” (Martinez, 1/19)

Oaklandside: Oakland Loses Second Homelessness Chief In Two Years
The city of Oakland’s top homelessness official is off the job, making him the second person to last less than a year in the role. Daniel Cooper, a public health professional from North Carolina, was hired last spring to become the city’s second homelessness administrator in as many years. The high-profile position was created in 2020 to coordinate Oakland’s homelessness response and to inform public policy. (Orenstein, 1/19)

Los Angeles Times: A Powerful Nonprofit Owns Apartments For Poor Tenants. Why Does The Elevator Keep Failing? 
For six days Richard Dever sat in his tiny fifth-floor apartment on skid row, desperate for some fresh air. But the elevator at the Madison Hotel was broken again, and Dever, 82, could not make it down the stairs. Gaunt and short of breath from lung disease, Dever hunched on the edge of the bed, his mood darkening by the day. “What bothers me is that I cannot get out like everybody else and enjoy the world,” Dever said on the second day of his confinement. (Dillon, Oreskes and Smith, 1/20)

Fresno Bee: Central Valley Leaders Seek Solutions After Hospital Closure 
Nearly a month after Madera County’s only general acute-care hospital announced its closure, uncertainty looms as local elected officials scramble to find a solution to support the hundreds of thousands of Maderans who are left without care. (Montalvo, 1/20)

The Desert Sun: LifeStream Encourages Coachella Valley Residents To Donate Blood This Weekend
The Coachella Valley's main blood supplier, LifeStream Blood Bank, is asking people to donate blood because it can't fulfill the needs of the 80 community hospitals it serves, including those in the desert. (Caparoso, 1/19)

The Bakersfield Californian: Two Crime Trauma Recovery Offices Expected To Open At Bakersfield's Mercy Hospitals 
A trauma recovery center funded by the California Victim Compensation Board will open three new satellite offices in Central California to support crime victims in rural or underserved communities. (Mayer, 1/19)

Sacramento Business Journal: Marshall Medical Center Filling Part Of Former Blue Shield Campus 
Marshall Medical Center would relocate a community clinic to the building. (van der Meer, 1/19)

Axios: Study Finds Hospitals Are Still Not Posting Prices
Only 19% of hospitals fully comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule that requires facilities to post estimated costs for items and services, an analysis published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine has found. The U.S. continues to spend more on health care than other countries for less value, and federal efforts to bring transparency to pricing have so far yielded little. (Dreher, 1/19)

Fierce Healthcare: Healthcare Ranked Lowest For Employee Satisfaction, Survey Finds
Healthcare ranked last for employee satisfaction compared to 27 other industries, according to the 2023 Healthcare Experience Trends Report from Qualtrics. The survey of 3,000 healthcare employees across 27 countries paints a grim picture, reporting that only half of healthcare employees believe they are paid fairly, 38% report they are at risk of burnout and 39% are considering leaving their organizations. Qualtrics also surveyed 9,000 consumers, finding that hospitals ranked among the lowest across industries for satisfaction. (Burky, 1/19)

CBS News: U.S. Investigating First Cases Of "Concerning" New Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Strain 
Health authorities in Massachusetts announced Thursday they have identified two cases of a new strain of gonorrhea that appears to have developed resistance to a broad swath of antibiotic treatments. (Tin, 1/19)

CIDRAP: Global Mpox Cases Rise Slightly, With More Deaths Reported
n its latest situation report on mpox today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said cases since its last update on Jan 5 have risen 1%, and, of 11 countries reporting increases, the largest was in Mexico. ... Meanwhile, other health groups also posted mpox updates. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported 46 more cases over the past week, along with 2 more deaths, raising the nation's total to 30,026 cases, 23 of them fatal. (Schnirring, 1/19)

Axios: The Struggle To Contain The Global Threat Of Superbugs
Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are killing more people each year than HIV and malaria, but progress against them worldwide has largely stalled in the wake of the pandemic. As COVID-19 made crystal clear, disease doesn't recognize borders, and one country's problem can quickly become a global threat. (Reed, 1/19)

Politico: Supreme Court Could Not Identify Who Shared Draft Abortion Opinion 
An investigation by the Supreme Court has been unable to determine who disclosed to POLITICO last year a draft opinion overturning the federal constitutional right to abortion, the court said in a statement Thursday. The internal probe zeroed in on 82 employees who had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, but “was unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” the high court said. ... The court’s statement Thursday emphasized the thoroughness of the probe and said former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was retained to review Curley’s work. Chertoff, a widely-respected former federal appeals court judge before joining President George W. Bush’s Cabinet, said there was little else the court could do to solve the mystery. (Gerstein, 1/19)

Politico: Read The Supreme Court's Report On Its Abortion Opinion Investigation 
Here's the 23-page report on the Supreme Court's investigation into who shared the draft opinion that struck down Roe v. Wade. (1/19)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Says It Hasn’t Found Who Leaked Opinion Overturning Roe
In a 20-page report, the court’s marshal, Gail A. Curley, who oversaw the inquiry, said that investigators had conducted 126 formal interviews of 97 employees, all of whom had denied being the source of the leak. But several employees acknowledged that they had told their spouses or partners about the draft opinion and the vote count in violation of the court’s confidentiality rules, the report said. ... Investigators determined that in addition to the nine justices, 82 law clerks and permanent employees of the court had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft opinion, the report said. (Savage and Liptak, 1/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Hasn’t Identified Who Leaked Draft Of Opinion Overruling Roe V. Wade
The report didn’t indicate whether the justices themselves were interviewed. A court spokeswoman didn’t respond to questions on the investigation. ... Some found the report deficient. “The court needs to immediately explain if this investigation included interviews of the justices or not,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a left-leaning advocacy group. “The idea that the justices themselves may have been excluded from the inquiry undermines the credibility of the whole undertaking.” (Bravin, 1/19)

The Hill: Five Takeaways From The Supreme Court’s Leak Investigation 
Investigators also attempted to track who printed the draft opinion, but they were only able to discover “very few” instances. ... “The pandemic and resulting expansion of the ability to work from home, as well as gaps in the Court’s security policies, created an environment where it was too easy to remove sensitive information from the building and the Court’s IT networks, increasing the risk of both deliberate and accidental disclosures of Court-sensitive information,” the report states. Two employees without electronic access to the draft accessed printed copies, according to the report. Thirty-four people with electronic access said they printed out copies, and four others were unsure. (Schonfeld, 1/19)

CNBC: What The Debt Ceiling Could Mean For Social Security, Medicare
The clock is ticking for the U.S. to avoid a default on its debt, and some are sounding the alarm about potential disruptions to Social Security and Medicare. On Thursday, Jan. 19, the U.S. outstanding debt hit its statutory limit. The debt limit or debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. can borrow to meet its legal obligations including Social Security and Medicare benefits, as well as military salaries, tax refunds, interest on the national debt and other payments. (Konish, 1/19)

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Data: Medicare Advantage Tops 30M
Enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) has topped 30 million, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This represents coverage across 776 contracts, according to the data, as of Jan. 1 payments, which reflect enrollments accepted through Dec. 2. Enrollment in standalone prescription drug plans was also about 22.7 million, bringing total enrollment across all types of private Medicare plans to nearly 50.3 million. (Minemyer, 1/17)

McKnights Senior Living: Medicaid Federal Poverty Standards Updated
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday released updated federal poverty level standards applied to eligibility criteria for Medicaid. For 2023, the poverty guideline in all states except Alaska and Hawaii is $14,580 for a one-person family/household and $19,720 for a two-person family/household. (Bowers, 1/19)

AP: New USDA Rule Boosts "Organic" Food Oversight, Targets Fraud
The Agriculture Department on Thursday issued new requirements for foods labeled organic, a move aimed at cracking down on fraud and boosting oversight. The rule strengthens enforcement of the USDA’s strict definitions of organic, which must rely on “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.” (1/19)

CNN: USDA Toughens Up Regulation Of Organic Products For First Time Since 1990 
The rule standardizes training and operations requirements for organic businesses and personnel and will mean more on-site inspections. The rule also requires certification for organic imports and businesses will need to provide certification showing key parts of their supply chain are organic. The rule goes into effect on March 20 and those impacted will have a year to comply with the changes. (Hassan, 1/19)

The Washington Post: USDA's Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule Aims To Stamp Out Fraud 
Tom Chapman, chief executive of the Organic Trade Association, said the updates represent “the single largest revision to the organic standards since they were published in 1990.” They should go a long way toward boosting confidence in the “organic” label, Chapman said, noting that the move “raises the bar to prevent bad actors at any point in the supply chain.” Chapman’s business association, which represents nearly 10,000 growers in the United States, has been pushing for stricter guidelines for years, motivated in part by a series of stories in The Washington Post in 2017 revealing that fraudulent “organic” foods were a widespread problem in the food industry. (Reiley, 1/19)

Stat: FDA Rejects Lilly’s Bid For Accelerated Approval For Alzheimer’s Drug
Eli Lilly said Thursday that U.S. regulators had rejected its application seeking accelerated approval for donanemab, a treatment for people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the setback, Lilly said that the planned readout from an ongoing, Phase 3 study of donanemab remains on track for the middle of the year, and if positive, will form the basis of an application for full approval “shortly thereafter.” (Feuerstein, 1/19)

NBC News: 3 Unanswered Questions About The Newly Approved Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi
A newly approved Alzheimer's drug will be available to patients in the coming days, according to its maker, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai. The drug, called Leqembi, was shown in clinical trials to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage illness. It is not a cure. (Lovelace Jr., 1/18)

National Institute On Aging: Could A Viral Illness Increase Chances Of Developing Alzheimer’s Or Other Neurodegenerative Disease? 
Some viral illnesses may increase a person’s chances of later developing Alzheimer’s disease or another neurodegenerative disorder. Though a causal link cannot be confirmed, an NIH study in which researchers mined the medical records of hundreds of thousands of people in Finland and the United Kingdom found significant associations. ... The strongest risk association was between viral encephalitis — an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus — and Alzheimer’s disease. (1/19)

Scientific American: An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer Alzheimer's, And More
Beyond protecting against various infections, researchers are starting to find that the BCG vaccine can also modulate the risk of other diseases in which the immune system goes awry, including type 1 diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Claims about such broad-ranging effects have been controversial but have grown less so in recent years. Open questions still linger, however, as to which patient groups, and for which conditions, the nonspecific effects of BCG might produce a meaningful clinical benefit. (Callier, 1/19)

Los Angeles Daily News: Harsher Penalties For Fentanyl Will Not Save Lives 
In 2021, there were 6,843 opioid related overdose deaths in California. 5,722 of these deaths were related to fentanyl. The deadly epidemic of fentanyl is gripping our communities, and it has left our leaders desperate to find answers. But will our leaders learn from history as they work to implement solutions? (Cristine Soto Deberry, 1/18)

San Diego Union-Tribune: What Should San Diego Leaders Learn From Ambulance Fiasco? 
It’s been 21 months since the San Diego City Council voted unanimously to change ambulance service providers for the first time in 23 years, switching from American Medical Response, the largest U.S. provider, to Falck, a Danish-based company that is the world’s largest. (1/19)

Los Angeles Daily News: The City Of Los Angeles Should Drop Vaccine/Testing Mandate At City Buildings
The city of Los Angeles still will not allow anyone to enter a city building without showing “proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of negative COVID-19 test (conducted within the last 72 hours).” (1/18)

Los Angeles Times: At A Checkup With My Cardiologist, I Got A Crash Course On How To Stay Alive 
It was the middle of the night when my racing heart woke me up. I took deep breaths and tried to relax. Abnormal heart rhythms are nothing new for me, so I didn’t panic when this happened late last year. But extended irregular beats do get my attention, because about 10 years ago, I went into cardiac arrest after knee surgery and had to be resuscitated by a nurse. (Steve Lopez, 1/19)