Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Covid Sewage Surveillance Labs Join the Hunt for Monkeypox
Wastewater testing has proved a reliable early alarm bell for covid outbreaks. U.S. researchers are now adapting the approach to track the explosive spread of monkeypox. (Mark Kreidler, )
San Clemente Backs Off Proposed Abortion Ban: San Clemente won’t be moving forward with an abortion ban after one of the two council members who proposed the item yanked his support at an abrupt special meeting Saturday. The room was so full of people they locked the doors to stop anyone else from coming in, setting up an overflow viewing room with more protesters outside. Read more from Voice of OC, San Diego Union-Tribune, and Times of San Diego.
San Francisco Residents To Protest For More Monkeypox Help: Activists in San Francisco will push health authorities for more monkeypox testing, treatment, and vaccines at a rally Monday afternoon outside the regional office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read more from Bay City News. Scroll down for more on the monkeypox outbreak.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
The Mercury News:
San Francisco Quietly Retreated On Contact Tracing For Monkeypox Weeks Ago
Despite experiencing one of the country’s largest outbreaks of monkeypox, San Francisco’s health department has pulled back on contact tracing – a standard public health practice in combating viral disease – for those who have been infected, this news organization has learned. The revelation comes amid successive declarations of public emergencies over the monkeypox virus by the federal government, the state and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, whose director of public health announced at the end of July it was “imperative that we mobilize city resources rapidly” to curb its spread. (Greschler, 8/8)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Public Health Vaccinates 177 Against Monkeypox; Another Clinic Set
Kern County Public Health Services along with a strike team from the California Department of Public Health administered 177 monkeypox vaccinations at a clinic Sunday. (8/7)
Bay Area News Group:
Monkeypox Treatment: Out Of Storage, Into Bodies?
TPOXX is a medicine that we hoped never to use. But the antiviral drug, created to save us from weaponized smallpox in a bioterrorism attack, now is a promising tool in civilian care: treating monkeypox, a virus that is infecting about 1,000 Americans every week. (Krieger, 8/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Jail Inmate With Suspected Case Of Monkeypox In Isolation
A person in custody at San Francisco County jails has a suspected case of monkeypox, Sheriff’s Office officials said Friday. (Cassidy, 8/5)
The Washington Post:
CDC: Consider Fewer Sexual Partners To Avoid Monkeypox
Sexually active Americans should consider limiting partners and avoiding sex parties to reduce the risk of contracting monkeypox until they get vaccinated, according to updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday. The revisions come a day after the Biden administration declared the growing monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency and as experts, LGBT advocates and health authorities debate how to convey messages about sexual transmission of the virus. (Nirappil, 8/5)
Bay Area News Group:
Lukewarm Interest In COVID-19 Vaccine For Kids Under 5
U.S. health officials hailed the recent authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for very young children as a pandemic milestone — making the protective shots available to Americans of any age. But despite the rapid spread of the virus, few parents have rushed to get their infants, toddlers and preschoolers jabbed. (Woolfolk, 8/8)
ABC News:
Novavax's COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Off To Sluggish Start With Just 7,000 Doses In Arms
Following its emergency authorization last month, just 7,300 doses of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Americans across the country, newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals. (Mitropoulos, 8/5)
The New York Times:
Biden Emerges From Isolation Again After Second Negative Coronavirus Test
President Biden left isolation on Sunday morning after a weeklong rebound case of Covid-19, heading to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware for a short getaway before resuming official travel. The president appeared in good spirits as he emerged from the White House in the early morning hours without a tie and headed to Marine One for the flight to the beach. “I’m feeling good,” he told reporters. (Baker, 8/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Clearing COVID Infection Can Take Longer Than You Think
Health officials recommend that anyone infected with the coronavirus isolate for at least five days. But for many, that timeline is becoming overly optimistic. The isolation period, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened in December from 10 days to five, is more a starting point than a hard-and-fast rule in California. According to the state Department of Public Health, exiting isolation after five days requires a negative result from a rapid test on or after the fifth day following the onset of symptoms or first positive test — a step not included in federal guidelines. But many people don’t start testing negative that early. (Lin and Money, 8/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Abortion Rights Fight Gives Kamala Harris Chance In Spotlight
As Democrats celebrated an abortion rights win last week, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke confidently from the center of an ornate room at the White House compound, surrounded by Cabinet secretaries and other top officials, with President Biden chiming in remotely while sidelined by the coronavirus.
It was the kind of prominent role many expected Harris to assume when she took the oath of office 19 months ago — one that has so far eluded her. (Bierman, 8/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Inside An Arizona Abortion Clinic Post-Roe
Fifteen women, one man and a baby cooing in a stroller were already lined up outside Camelback Family Planning when it opened on a recent summer morning. By 7:30 a.m., it was 95 degrees. Monsoon season summoned an oppressive humidity. Mosquitoes hovered, eager to feed. (Carcamo, 8/8)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Confirms Three Cases Of West Nile Disease
Stanislaus County health officials said three people have been infected with the West Nile virus. The presence of the virus this summer also was confirmed in mosquito samples. A county Health Services Agency news release Thursday didn’t provide the medical condition or other details on the three people who tested positive. The East Side and Turlock mosquito abatement districts confirmed West Nile in two mosquito samples. (Carlson, 8/7)
Los Angeles Times:
A Mining Company Buys Out Homeowners To Avoid Full Cleanup
The “death map” tells the story of decades of sickness in the small northwest New Mexico communities of Murray Acres and Broadview Acres. Turquoise arrows point to homes where residents had thyroid disease, dark blue arrows mark cases of breast cancer, and yellow arrows mean cancer claimed a life. Neighbors built the map a decade ago after watching relatives and friends fall ill and die. Dominating the top right corner of the map, less than half a mile from the cluster of colorful arrows, sits what residents believe is the cause of their sickness: 22.2 million tons of uranium waste left over from milling ore to supply power plants and nuclear bombs. (Olalde and Miller, 8/8)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Study Shows How Poor Air Quality Worsened COVID In Kern
Bakersfield’s poor air quality is no surprise to area residents, but its nexus with COVID-19, as shown in a recent study by nonprofit Public Health Institute, indicates thousands of COVID deaths could have been prevented if the region's deadly emissions levels were lower. (Desai, 8/6)
Bay Area News Group:
McKinley Fire: With Lives At Stake, Did Alert System Work Properly?
As the McKinney Fire barreled up the Klamath River in the last week, Billy Simms received an alert that told him it was time to get out. It wasn’t from an announcement by Siskiyou County officials or a text message from the emergency alert system they run — he got no such notice. Billy’s warning came from the sky, in the form of golf ball-sized embers. (Rodgers and Angst, 8/8)
CalMatters:
Children’s Hearing Aids: Why California’s Provided Few
A little over a year after California launched a program to provide hearing aids for an estimated 2,300 children annually who lack health insurance, it has provided devices to only 39 children. There have been multiple problems with the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program. The application process is cumbersome and families with partial insurance coverage are not eligible. For physicians, reimbursement time is long, reimbursement rates are low, and some don’t know about the program or choose not to participate, according to parents and advocates who lobbied the state to fund children’s hearing aids. (Aguilera, 8/8)
Modern Healthcare:
Healthcare Jobs Report Shows Hiring Rise In July
Healthcare employers added an estimated 69,600 jobs in July as hiring rose from the previous month, according to preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. Healthcare jobs accounted for 13.3% of hires across the economy last month. Ambulatory services, including health practitioners, and hospitals saw the largest gains among healthcare employers. (Hudson, 8/5)
Modern Healthcare:
Health System's Second-Quarter Financials Mixed
Labor costs, driven by demand for contract workers amid staff shortages, were the hot topic in the hospital industry's second-quarter earnings reports. Health system are doling out higher pay and bonuses to attract workers, despite ongoing financial challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Hudson, 8/5)
Politico:
Senate Dems Pass Long-Awaited Climate, Tax And Health Care Bill
Senate Democrats passed their signature climate, tax and health care package Sunday afternoon, handing a long-sought victory to President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer even as the bill hit some last-minute snags. In a 51-50 vote, Senate Democrats approved their party-line package after an amendment process that spanned more than 15 hours. Democrats fought off most GOP efforts to change their fragile deal but did make a change just before the bill’s final passage that adjusted the corporate minimum tax provisions. (Levine, Everett and Carney, 8/7)
Stat:
In A Huge Victory For Dems, Medicare Poised To Negotiate Drug Prices
The reform is a stunning defeat for the pharmaceutical industry, which has invested a staggering amount of money to get its way in Washington, and which launched a seven-figure campaign last month to try to stop this effort. Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices has been the sector’s third rail for two decades. While drugmakers’ influence watered down the proposal, even the good will they earned after developing highly effective vaccines to treat Covid-19 wasn’t enough to stop it. Implementing Medicare’s new negotiating power will be a contentious experiment. Drugmakers have tremendous resources to deploy and three years before any of the provisions would take effect — time they can use to try to bend the regulatory process to their will. How the new policy will change the complex dynamic of investors’ decisions, pharmaceutical companies’ calculations, and the outlook for generic drugs is still unclear. (Cohrs, 8/7)
AP:
A Look At What Is, And Isn't, Included In The Senate's Big Bill
Launching a long-sought goal, the bill would allow the Medicare program to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saving the federal government some $288 billion over the 10-year budget window. Those new revenues would be put back into lower costs for seniors on medications, including a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for older adults buying prescriptions from pharmacies. The money would also be used to provide free vaccinations for seniors, who now are among the few not guaranteed free access, according to a summary document. (Mascaro, 8/7)
Bloomberg:
US Government Poised For Long-Awaited Powers On Drug Pricing
Pharma rarely loses in Washington. For years, the industry has successfully defeated US government efforts to rein in drug pricing, arguing any such moves would prevent companies from developing newer and better medicines. That argument doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. ... Some of the world’s largest drug companies -- including Eli Lilly & Co., AstraZeneca Plc and AbbVie Inc. -- may end up being required to negotiate drug prices with Medicare, the government insurance program for seniors. Starting next year, the legislation would require drug companies to pay back money if they increase prices by more than the rate of inflation. (Peebles, 8/5)
NPR:
What You Should Know About Drug Price Reform
PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, [was] making its case in an ad campaign that the drug-pricing provisions in the bill could lead to fewer new medicines coming to market by "chilling research and development." The trade association also pointed NPR to this industry-funded analysis from Avalere, which estimates the bill could reduce drug manufacturer revenue by $450 billion by 2032.But an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimates the effect on drug development would be quite modest. About 15 out of 1,300 drugs would not come to market over the next 30 years – that's about 1% of new drugs. (Simmons-Duffin and Aubrey, 8/6)
Axios:
Why Generics Oppose Democrats' Drug Pricing Bill
Generic drugmakers are warning that Democrats' plan to let Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs may undercut competition from lower-cost copycats, inject massive uncertainty into their market and may forfeit potential long-term savings. (Owens, 8/8)
CNN:
Democrats Lose Effort To Cap Insulin At $35 For Most Americans Before Passage Of Senate Reconciliation Bill
Senate Democrats failed to realize their longstanding goal of lowering the price of insulin for the more than 150 million Americans with private health insurance. The party had pushed to include a measure in their climate and health care package that passed the chamber Sunday that would place a $35 cap on insulin for those on Medicare and with private coverage. (Luhby, 8/7)
Stat:
Democrats Dramatically Narrow Their Ambitions For Lowering Insulin Costs
Democrats’ high hopes to lower insulin costs for patients with insurance got downsized on Sunday, and now only Medicare patients will see relief at the pharmacy counter. (Cohrs, 8/7)
ABC News:
Republicans Strip $35 Insulin Price Cap From Democrats' Bill -- But Insist Senate Rules Are To Blame
The cap's scrapping was quickly seized on by Democrats and stirred controversy beyond them, with critics of the GOP citing the sometimes startling cost of needed insulin for diabetics. Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of being misleading about a vote that they said amounted to a technicality rather than a policy difference. (Axelrod, 8/7)
Bloomberg:
GOP Strips Insulin Out-Of-Pocket Cap From Bill: ‘Republicans Have Just Gone On The Record In Favor Of Expensive Insulin’
Waiving the rules required 60 votes to succeed. Seven Republicans sided with Democrats to keep the insulin cap in the bill, but that was not enough. Democrats plan to use the GOP move to strip the insulin cap in the fall midterm campaigns. Many in the GOP supported an amendment from Louisiana Senator John Kennedy to instead provide government funding to subsidize insulin purchases for low income individuals. (8/7)
The Hill:
These Seven GOP Senators Voted To Keep $35 Insulin Cap In Reconciliation Bill
Seven Republican senators voted with all 50 Democrats to maintain a $35 monthly cap on the price of insulin in the Democrats’ $700 billion climate, health and tax reconciliation bill. The measure targeting people not covered by Medicare was ultimately blocked from being included in the Inflation Reduction Act when it fell three votes short of the 60 required to override a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian. (Mueller, 8/7)