Los Angeles Times: Monkeypox Cases Rising Exponentially In California, U.S.
“When you look at the rates of increase, you can see that it’s really approaching an exponential curve. And unfortunately, it’s going to become harder and harder to control the ... higher these numbers get,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease expert at UC San Francisco. Doctors fear that an increased spread could result in the virus becoming endemic in the wild animal population, meaning it would be virtually impossible to eliminate as a new disease of concern in the U.S. (Lin II, Money and Gutierrez, 8/10)

CalMatters: Monkeypox, COVID Responses Share Central Obstacle
Red tape, red tape, red tape. That was the refrain that popped up repeatedly on Tuesday, when California lawmakers convened for two separate hearings on the two viruses for which Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a public health state of emergency: COVID-19 and monkeypox. (Hoeven, 8/10)

Stat: With Monkeypox Support Lacking, Queer Communities Turn To One Another
Tri Vo knew that he had monkeypox before his test came back — what started as painless pimples had turned itchy, then began to feel like glass underneath his skin. It was manageable during the day, but at night, it felt like the glass was vibrating, Vo said. (Gaffney, 8/11)

AP: EXPLAINER: Can The Spread Of Monkeypox Be Stopped?
Since May, nearly 90 countries have reported more than 31,000 cases of monkeypox. The World Health Organization classified the escalating outbreak of the once-rare disease as an international emergency in July; the U.S. declared it a national emergency last week. (Cheng, 8/10)

Side Effects Public Media: Kids Are Going Back To School. Experts Say Monkeypox Isn’t A Major Concern
Back-to-school season is starting, and as kids return to the classroom they will also spread germs. But one infectious disease expert says monkeypox isn’t a major concern and parents should not be alarmed. (Yousry, 8/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Does Monkeypox Spread Through The Air, On Surfaces? What To Know
When a new disease erupts, misinformation and rumors tend to proliferate — as witnessed in the past with the AIDS crisis, the Ebola outbreak and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Now it’s the monkeypox outbreak’s turn. Monkeypox is not a new illness, but because of its rarity prior to the current outbreak that has infected more than 31,000 people globally, much of the confusion revolves around how the virus spreads and ways that people can become infected. (Hwang, 8/10)

NBC News: WHO Warns People Not To Attack Monkeys Amid Monkeypox Outbreak
The World Health Organization is urging the public not to attack monkeys amid the monkeypox outbreak, following reports that primates have been poisoned and killed in Brazil. "What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans," WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said Tuesday at a press briefing in Geneva. (Lenthang, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Monkeypox Vaccine Maker Voices Concerns On U.S. Dose-Splitting Plan 
The manufacturer of the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to protect against monkeypox privately warned senior Biden health officials about their plan to split doses and change how the shots are delivered. “We do have some reservations … due to the very limited safety data available,” Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf in a letter sent Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post. (Diamond, 8/10)

The Atlantic: America’s New Monkeypox Vaccine Strategy Rests On A Single Study
This dose-sparing tactic will allow far more people to sign up for doses before summer’s end; if successful, it could help contain the outbreak in the U.S., which currently accounts for nearly a third of the world’s documented monkeypox cases. But this decision is based on scant data, and the degree of protection offered by in-skin shots is no guarantee. ... (Wu, 8/10)

Politico: Bottling The Monkeypox Vaccine Could Take Until Early 2023
The Biden administration is in talks with multiple companies about bottling millions of new doses of the monkeypox shot, but it could take three to six months to get them ready for distribution, according to two senior administration officials and two other people with knowledge of the matter. The administration on Tuesday recommended providers administer the monkeypox vaccine with one-fifth of the normal amount intradermally — between the layers of the skin — to try and stretch supply without sacrificing efficacy. (Banco and Cancryn, 8/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Eyes Major New Shift In Monkeypox Vaccination: ‘There’s No Other Choice’
“I hope they can do it as soon as possible,” said Chin-Hong, noting the injection method has been extensively studied for polio and yellow fever. “We’re on the steep curve of people getting ill, infected and spreading it. On the hospital side where we see the most serious cases, the number of patients has doubled in the last week.” (Vaziri, 8/10)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County Will Hold Free Monkeypox Vaccine Clinics
As the number of cases slowly increases, Stanislaus County’s public health immunization clinic will hold a small number of free clinics for administering monkeypox vaccine to eligible county residents. The clinics are by appointment only and limited to people in high-risk categories because of the scarce supply of monkeypox vaccine. Only Stanislaus County residents can get appointments. People in other counties should check with their county’s health office. (Carlson, 8/10)

AP: Biden Signs 'Burn Pits' Help For Vets; A Personal Win, Too
President Joe Biden, whose elder son Beau died of cancer years after deploying to Iraq, signed legislation on Wednesday expanding federal health care services for millions of veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from huge “burn pits.” ... The law, which Biden described as long overdue, caps a years-long battle to ensure treatment for chronic illnesses that veterans have blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million. (Megerian, 8/10)

Military Times: Biden Signs Burn Pit Exposure Health Bill Into Law
The president was surrounded at the ceremony by veterans’ rights advocates, many of whom urged legislative action in recent years and, one week ago, held an around-the-clock vigil on the Capitol steps to pressure lawmakers to complete the bill. The bill eventually reached Biden’s desk after it passed in Congress on August 2 following an array of procedural moves by senators. “By signing this historic legislation, President Biden ensured health care access to help save the lives of countless veterans affected by toxic exposure,” retired Lt. Gen Mike Linnington, CEO of Wounded Warrior Project, said after the bill’s signing. “This is without a doubt a great day for veterans across America.” (Shane III and Lehrfeld, 8/10)

Los Angeles Times: How One California Family Helped Win New Benefits For Sickened Vets
Jennifer Kepner seemed like one of the healthiest people you could meet. She ran, she did CrossFit and she worked at the local hospital in Cathedral City. Then her back started to hurt. Doctors found a mass on her pancreas. But they couldn’t figure out why someone so healthy would’ve come down with pancreatic cancer, which is extremely rare in young people, at age 37. Eventually, an oncologist pointed to the one red flag in Jennifer’s otherwise pristine medical history: her proximity to a burn pit while she served as an Air Force medic at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq. (Kaur, 8/10)

The Hill: Biden Signs Historic Health Care Bill Addressing Toxic Burn Pits. But What Exactly Are They? 
While the veteran community has been sounding the alarm to the dangers of burn pits for years, many Americans still do not know what they are or their history.  (O'Connell-Domenech, 8/10)

Reuters: Pelosi Says U.S. House Will Pass Inflation Reduction Act On Friday
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House of Representatives would pass the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday. In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi called the $430 billion climate, tax and healthcare bill approved by the Senate over the weekend "life-changing legislation." (8/10)

Roll Call: Senate's Medicare Drug Pricing May Ripple Into Private Market
Congress is on the verge of passing historic drug pricing legislation that would allow the government to restrict prices for drugs covered by Medicare, but experts disagree on whether drugmakers will shift those costs to the private market. (Clason and Hellmann, 8/10)

Health Affairs: Understanding The Democrats’ Drug Pricing Package
The IRA’s drug pricing reforms include Medicare drug price negotiation, Medicare inflationary rebates, and Medicare Part D redesign; together they represent the achievement of policy goals sought by Democrats for decades. At the same time, the IRA’s drug pricing reforms are narrower than those in reform bills introduced by Democrats over the last few years. (Sachs, 8/10)

NPR: The Inflation Reduction Act: What The Bill Will Actually Mean For Inflation
The massive climate, health care and tax bill making its way toward President Biden's desk is called the Inflation Reduction Act. But how much does it actually do to slow consumer prices that are climbing at their fastest pace in about 40 years? (Kim, 8/11)

USA Today: 'Significant Victory': How The Inflation Reduction Act Would Save Medicare Drug Costs
David Mitchell, founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, said the Democrats' sweeping climate and health care bill, called the Inflation Reduction Act, is a hard-fought win for patients like himself. "It's a monumental change – a really significant victory," Mitchell told USA TODAY. Mitchell pays more than $16,000 each year for a prescription drug he takes to treat  multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer he's battled for over a decade. He said the annual $2,000 cap on prescription drug spending is "going to make a big difference." (Alltucker, 8/11)

Politico: Health Care Providers Are Shouldering Rising Costs. That Could Change Soon
While the economy as a whole has experienced record-breaking inflation this year, price increases in the health care sector have been relatively subdued — a trend that could end soon as Medicare and other payers adjust to new economic realities. Rising costs, such as labor, have largely not translated to higher medical prices, in part because they took economic forecasters by surprise. Rates set by Medicare and insurers, which are a key driver of health care costs, are negotiated months in advance and are based on forecasts that largely did not anticipate the current burst of inflation. (Doherty, 8/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: What San Francisco Can Learn From New York's COVID Recovery
On a scorching summer evening, with humidity choking the city, thousands of sweaty visitors lined up to ascend almost 1,400 feet up in the air. Children squealed in delight as they disembarked on the 57th floor Summit observatory at the One Vanderbilt tower, as all of Manhattan unfolded in front of them through glass windows, from the delicate, silvery tip of the Chrysler Building to One World Trade Center catching the setting sun, a symbol of the city’s rebirth from a 2001 tragedy. (Li, 8/11)

AP: Sentencing Set For Naturopath Who Sold Fake Vaccine Cards 
A naturopathic doctor charged with selling fake COVID-19 immunization treatments and fraudulent vaccination cards will be sentenced in November after a California judge on Wednesday denied her motion to withdraw her plea agreement. Juli A. Mazi, of Napa, pleaded guilty last April in federal court in San Francisco to one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters. (8/10)

Sacramento Bee: Demand For Contraception Increase In CA After Roe Reversal
Despite California’s safe haven reputation, the overturn of Roe vs. Wade was followed by an increase in demand for emergency contraception. Nurx, a telehealth company that offers sexual and reproductive health services, reported a 90% increase in demand for its emergency contraception in California in June — the same month the Supreme Court ruling was overturned — compared to May. (Truong, 8/10)

Sacramento Business Journal: Sutter Health Posts $437 Million Second-Quarter Loss 
Sutter Health, the Sacramento region's largest private company, was back to operating at a loss in the second quarter of 2022. (Harmann, 8/10)

Fresno Bee: Clovis Health Care Workers Allege Poor Working Conditions
Health care workers at a Clovis nursing home Wednesday set up a picket line to highlight what they call poor working conditions exacerbated by unsafe staffing levels, low wages and high turnover. (Guy, 8/10)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Kindergarten Vaccination Rates For Childhood Diseases Held Steady Across Sonoma County During Pandemic
Across the globe, childhood vaccination rates for chickenpox, measles, whooping cough, polio and other diseases have declined, largely thought to be the result of social upheaval during the pandemic. But on Wednesday, Sonoma County health officials released data that showed no significant change in the share of kindergartners with all required immunizations during the past two years. (Espinoza, 8/10)

EdSource: California Colleges Now Have Centers To Help Students With Basic Needs Like Food And Housing 
As community college students return to their campuses, many will find one new resource to count on: a hub where they can seek support in meeting their basic needs. Known as basic needs centers, the resources offered differ from campus to campus, but most tend to help students who are experiencing housing and food insecurity. Others also offer other support like paying for auto insurance, finding low-cost medical care, paying for internet and applying for public benefits. (Rosales, 8/11)

KVPR: Valley Residents To Protest For Clean Drinking Water. ‘This Is A Human Right’
Even though the state of California declared clean water as a human right a decade ago, some communities in rural California continue to face difficulties accessing water. That’s why Central Valley residents are traveling to Sacramento this week to protest. “We're urging the governor to fund an affordable water program for our most vulnerable families,” says Pedro Calderon, a spokesperson for the Community Water Center, one of the event’s organizers. (Quintanilla, 8/10)

Sacramento Bee: What Would Sacramento’s November Homeless Ballot Measure Do?
It’s official: City of Sacramento voters will see a homeless measure on their ballot Nov. 8. In general, the measure would both empower officials to remove certain encampments and also require local government to offer more shelter. (Clift, 8/11)