Philadelphia Inquirer: A Cancer Cure? Penn Treatment Kept 2 Men’s Chronic Leukemia In Remission For A Decade
The first two recipients of a groundbreaking cancer treatment developed at the University of Pennsylvania remained cancer-free a decade later, leading researchers to utter a word that’s typically taboo in cancer circles: cure. Penn researchers in 2010 treated their first chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients with CAR-T therapy, which uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers report that their first two patients were still cancer-free 10 years after their treatment. What’s more, the cells were still present, protecting against future lymphoma invaders. (Gantz, 2/2)

AP: Doctors: Cancer Patients Cured A Decade After Gene Therapy 
In 2010, doctors treated Doug Olson’s leukemia with an experimental gene therapy that transformed some of his blood cells into cancer killers. More than a decade later, there’s no sign of cancer in his body. The treatment cured Olson and a second patient, according to the University of Pennsylvania doctors, who said it was the first time the therapy had been studied for so long. “I’m doing great right now. I’m still very active. I was running half marathons until 2018,” said Olson, 75, who lives in Pleasanton, California. “This is a cure. And they don’t use the word lightly.” (Ungar, 2/2)

Stat: Researchers Label Early CAR-T Cancer Therapy Patient 'Cured'
“It was, at the time, an idea way out there,” Carl June, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the senior researcher on the experiment, said in a call Tuesday with reporters. “In the informed consent document that Doug signed, we thought [the CAR-T cells] would be gone in a month or two.” But as the researchers tracked Olson and another patient, what they saw was remarkable: Year after year, the CAR-T cells persisted, actively watching for cancer cells. Olson has now been cancer-free for a decade, June and his colleagues reported Wednesday in Nature. The results are so enduring that June dared to use a word that oncologists are usually loath to say: cured. (Chen, 2/2)

The New York Times: A Cancer Treatment Makes Leukemia Vanish, But Creates More Mysteries 
Although most patients will not do as well, the results hold out hope that, for some, their cancer will be vanquished. But mysteries remain. The treatment involves removing T cells, white blood cells that fight viruses, from a patient’s blood and genetically engineering them to fight cancer. Then the modified cells are infused back into a patient’s circulation. (Kolata, 2/2)

AP: Biden Aims To Reduce Cancer Deaths By 50% Over Next 25 Years 
The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 1,918,030 new cancer cases and 609,360 cancer deaths this year. Biden is essentially aiming to to save more than 300,000 lives annually, which the administration believes is possible because the age-adjusted death rate has already fallen by roughly 25% over the past two decades. The cancer death rate is currently 146 per 100,000 people, compared with nearly 200 in 2000. Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University and former chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, said advances in medical research have led to a “better understanding of the biology of cancer and will do even more for us in the future.” (Boak and Miller, 2/3)

ABC News: Biden Relaunches Cancer 'Moonshot' Initiative To Help Cut Death Rate
The initiative is personal for Biden, who lost his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015 and who first launched the initiative as vice president. "I committed to this fight when I was vice president," Biden said Wednesday. "It's one of the reasons why quite frankly why I ran for president. Let there be no doubt, now that I am president, this is a presidential, White House priority. Period." (Gittleson, 2/2)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA County COVID Hospitalizations Fall Again, But Another 102 Deaths Reported 
While daily case numbers, hospitalizations and testing-positivity rates have been steadily falling, the number of COVID-19-related deaths remained elevated on Wednesday, Feb. 2, with Los Angeles County reporting another 102 fatalities. The deaths pushed the county’s cumulative number of fatalities from throughout the pandemic across the 29,000 mark, reaching 29,099. (2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area COVID-19 Health Data Shows More Promising Signs That The Omicron Wave Has Crested
In another promising sign that the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge in the Bay Area is slowing, cases and hospitalizations continued trending downward in every Bay Area county this week. Data from state and Bay Area health agencies offered another encouraging sign that the wave that ripped through the region last month had crested, as officials openly contemplate what the region might look like post-omicron. (Echeverria, 2/2)

CapRadio: Amid Omicron Surge, Newsom Administration Again Taps Border Wall Company For COVID-19 Staffing
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have spiked in California during the omicron surge. And so has the number of medical staff provided by a company that specializes in border wall construction. Texas-based SLSCO built stretches of border wall in California under former President Donald Trump, scoring contracts worth upwards of $100 million. Last year, a CapRadio investigation found the California Department of Public Health hired SLSCO to provide thousands of medical personnel in response to COVID-19. The company had pivoted to health care services during the pandemic. (Rodd, 2/2)

CIDRAP: High BMI More Strongly Connected With COVID Death In Racial Minorities
Body mass index (BMI) was more strongly associated with COVID-19–related death in racial minorities than among White patients, according to a study today in Nature Communications. A team led by the University of Leicester in England examined the electronic health records and census and death data of 12.6 million adults older than 40 years who had a recorded BMI from January to December 2020. (2/2)

inewsource: Imperial County Ends State Farmworkers Program During COVID-19
Imperial County has quietly ended its participation in a state program to help farmworkers during the pandemic after officials were unable to find a new vendor to continue services. Nearly $900,000 in available state funding will go unspent. For nearly a year the county had been part of Housing for the Harvest, a program that offers financial and housing assistance to agricultural workers exposed to COVID-19. It contracted with the Vo Neighborhood Medical Clinic, a local charity, to administer services. (Bowman, 2/3)

Modesto Bee: Cast’s COVID-19 Cases Cancel Modesto Show At Last Minute
As the audience waited, breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among cast members suddenly canceled a performance Tuesday evening at the Gallo Center for the Arts. The musical “Waitress” was due to begin at 7 p.m. at the downtown Modesto venue. The show was sold out, according to texts from Chad Hilligus, chief executive officer at the Gallo Center. (Clark, 2/2)

CNN: Medicare Expects To Start Paying For Home Covid-19 Tests This Spring
Medicare will start paying for home Covid-19 tests purchased at participating pharmacies and retailers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told CNN on Wednesday. It anticipates the option will be available in the early spring. As part of its effort to contend with the pandemic, the Biden administration last month began requiring health insurers to cover the cost of home tests for most Americans with private insurance. (Luhby, 2/3)

AP: Travel Groups Want To Scrap Testing Requirement To Enter US
Airline and tourism groups are pushing to eliminate the government requirement that international travelers provide a negative test for COVID-19 before boarding a U.S.-bound plane. They believe the testing rule is discouraging people from booking international trips. They point to the United Kingdom, which eliminated a similar rule last month. (Koenig, 2/2)

AP: Army To Immediately Start Discharging Vaccine Refusers 
The Army said Wednesday it will immediately begin discharging soldiers who have refused to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, putting more than 3,300 service members at risk of being thrown out soon. The Army’s announcement makes it the final military service to lay out its discharge policy for vaccine refusers. The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy have already discharged active-duty troops or entry-level personnel at boot camps for refusing the shots. So far, the Army has not discharged any. (Baldor, 2/2)

AP: Judge Rules In Favor Of Hawaiian Airlines Vaccine Policy
A U.S. judge on Wednesday denied an attempt by seven employees to block Hawaiian Airlines’ policy requiring workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or face termination. The airline required U.S.-based employees to receive full doses of a vaccine by Nov. 1, while allowing employees to request accommodations based on disabilities or religious beliefs. (Kelleher, 2/3)

AP: Officials Urge Mask-Wearing For Fans Attending Super Bowl 
Three days after being photographed without a face mask at the NFC championship game, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined other officials Wednesday to urge fans headed for the Super Bowl to strictly adhere to pandemic safety protocols that include staying masked, except while eating or drinking. (Blood, 2/3)

Los Angeles Times: Officials Stress Mask Rules At Super Bowl LVI 
NFL and SoFi Stadium officials joined with local leaders to reiterate that masks will be required for fans at the Super Bowl in Inglewood to help protect against Omicron transmission. The mask requirement in outdoor stadiums, an order issued in L.A. County last August, was criticized as unnecessary this week by a member of the Board of Supervisors, Kathryn Barger, who represents a northern part of the county, after photos emerged of many fans maskless in their seats at Sunday’s Rams game. (Money and Lin II, 2/3)

Fresno Bee: Fresno Lags California COVID-19 Vaccine Rates For Children 
Fresno County children are being vaccinated against COVID-19 at a much lower rate than California’s statewide average, and that’s causing concern among the county’s health leaders for the level of protection afforded to school-age children. “There’s a significant lull in the amount of 5- to 11-year-olds being vaccinated here recently,” Joe Prado, assistant director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health, said in a media briefing with reporters Wednesday. “We’re seeing less than a 1% increase when we look at the data from week to week.” (Sheehan, 2/2)

CapRadio: What To Know About The Possible Upcoming COVID-19 Vaccine For Kids Younger Than 5 
COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5 may be available in the U.S. as early as March, but there are still several hurdles still to clear, according to the Associated Press. Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 4 years. The FDA said it’ll review the application and convene a panel of outside advisers in mid-February to debate the data. The agency will use that advice in deciding whether the new doses are safe and effective. (2/2)

Bay Area News Group: Experts Question FDA Review Plan For COVID-19 Tot Vaccine
The FDA is taking an unusual approach in reviewing Pfizer’s proposed COVID-19 vaccine for preschoolers and toddlers — one that has some health experts already questioning the process. To expedite approval, the Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer for a “rolling submission” as it seeks emergency use authorization of its vaccine for kids 6 months through 4 years old. Under that plan, the agency will review safety and effectiveness of two shots of the vaccine, though early data showed it wasn’t effective in 3- and 4-year-old children. Pfizer has not yet submitted trial data of an expected third dose for young children, so it’s unknown whether a third dose will be effective in the older group. (Woolfolk, 2/3)

The New York Times: The Surgeon General Assures Parents Covid Vaccines For Young Children Will Get A Rigorous F.D.A. Review.
The surgeon general sought to reassure parents who are nervous about their toddlers and preschoolers being vaccinated against the coronavirus, after federal regulators took a step toward authorizing vaccines for young children despite questions about their effectiveness. Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, said Wednesday during a White House briefing that Pfizer’s application for emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration would “undergo the same independent, rigorous and transparent review process” that was used to authorize Covid-19 vaccines for adults. (Stolberg, 2/2)

USA Today: Boosted Americans 97 Times Less Likely To Die Of COVID Than Unvaxxed
Fully vaccinated Americans are 14 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than those who haven’t gotten the shots. Boosted Americans are 97 times less likely. Those were the figures presented Wednesday by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on reports from 25 jurisdictions in the week ending Dec. 4. For every 100,000 people, 9.7 of those who were unvaccinated were killed by the coronavirus, compared to 0.7 of those fully vaccinated and 0.1 of the boosted. She said more recent information during the omicron wave further underscores the value of getting boosted, prompting Dr. Anthony Fauci to say, “The data are really stunningly obvious why a booster is really very important.’’ (Ortiz, Bacon and Tebor, 2/2)

Bay Area News Group: Fourth COVID-19 Vaccine Prevents Severe Illness. Do We Need It?
Long-awaited data is in: A fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine reduces the risk of getting severely ill. But triple-vaccinated people already are so well protected from hospitalization that a fourth dose offers relatively little real-world benefit, experts say. The second booster drops the risk from exceedingly small to … even smaller. But is that enough for the U.S. to launch another ambitious round of immunizations? (Krieger, 2/3)

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Nurses Authorize Strike At Van Nuys Behavioral Health Hospital 
Nurses at Van Nuys Behavioral Health Hospital have voted to authorized a strike, citing concerns over patient safety, understaffing and dwindling worker retention. The employees, represented by Service Employees International Union, Local 121RN, held the vote Tuesday, Feb. 1 during a picket outside the hospital entrance. If the nurses’ bargaining team calls for a strike, it could come as soon as Feb. 14. (Smith, 2/2)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kingston Nursing Facility 'May Close' 
The future looks uncertain for a Bakersfield skilled nursing facility where close to 200 staff and residents were sickened within weeks of the pandemic's arrival, following enforcement actions and frequent citations and complaints. People with family members at Kingston Healthcare Center are being told the 184-bed skilled nursing facility on Real Road "may close," a spokeswoman for the Kern County Public Health Department said by email Wednesday. (Cox, 2/2)

KGET 17: Future Of Kingston Healthcare Center In Jeopardy As It Is Set To Lose Its Agreement With Medicare, Medicaid 
Kingston Healthcare Center’s future is in jeopardy due to multiple health violations. The California State Medical Agency issued a notice to the nursing home Wednesday that its Medicare and Medicaid Services agreement will be terminated by the Secretary of Human Services effective Feb. 6. (Salzano, 2/2)

KQED: Santa Clara County Considered Building A Mental Health Facility Instead Of A New Jail. It Chose The Jail 
Santa Clara County moved forward last week with plans for a new jail, a move sharply criticized by opponents who for years have urged officials to use the funds for a mental health treatment center instead. After more than three hours of heated public comment, the county Board of Supervisors in a 3-2 vote narrowly approved construction of the $390 million facility, while pledging to keep the treatment facility idea on the table. (Bandlamudi, 2/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Melinda French Gates No Longer Pledges Bulk Of Her Wealth To Gates Foundation 
Melinda French Gates is no longer pledging to give the bulk of her wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and instead plans to spread it among philanthropic endeavors, according to people familiar with the matter. The billionaire made the change official in late 2021 following her divorce from Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the people said, when she published her first individual Giving Pledge letter. ... Bill Gates, in his most recent letter, reiterated that most of his wealth will go toward philanthropy, specifying that it will be through the Gates Foundation. “The foundation is my top philanthropic priority, even as my giving in other areas has grown over the years—primarily in mitigation of climate change and tackling Alzheimer’s disease,” he wrote. (Glazer, 2/2)

Barrons: Where Melinda Gates Might Give Her Money Now 
Melinda French Gates will likely focus on issues related to gender and equality, while remaining committed to global health and global development causes, after she withdrew her pledge to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, experts say. ... Gates has an estimated net worth of US$6 billion, according to Forbes. (Block, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Dramatic Policy Overhaul Needed To Curb Exploding Opioid Crisis, Stanford Researchers Say
Pointing to an explosion of opioid overdose deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, Stanford researchers called Wednesday for a series of dramatic changes to how governments and society treat those addicted to the drugs, including the ending of incarceration for possession or use of illicit drugs. In a paper published in the medical journal the Lancet, the group recommended that policymakers in the United States and Canada also offer addiction-related health services during and after incarceration, better monitor prescription drugs post-approval and improve knowledge of addiction in medical education. (Ho and Fagan, 2/2)

CIDRAP: Harvesting Equipment Pinpointed As Source Of Dole Salad Listeria Outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday announced that the source has been found for a multistate Listeria outbreak linked to Dole prepackaged salad that has sickened at least 17 people since 2019, 2 of them fatally. In an outbreak update, the CDC said Dole collected samples from its facilities and equipment and found Listeria monocytogenes on equipment used to harvest iceberg lettuce. Genome testing conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the Listeria on the equipment matched the outbreak strain. (2/2)

Politico: TSA Defends Unaccommodating Screening Policy On Passengers With Disabilities 
The TSA Wednesday contended that people with disabilities who can’t comply with security screening protocols due to their disability essentially won’t be able to fly, in a case heard before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court was hearing arguments related to the case of Rohan Ramsingh v. TSA, where the agency fined Ramsingh for interfering with the security screening process during a 2019 incident at the Tampa International Airport. ... According to the petition filed in August, Ramsingh was moving through the security checkpoint process when he set off the explosive trace detection device and needed further screening. Screeners moved him to an imaging machine, but Ramsingh informed the agents that he was physically unable to raise his arms as directed. (Pawlyk, 2/2)

The Wall Street Journal: What Parents Can Do When Kids Have Suicidal Thoughts 
Suicidal thoughts are increasingly common among teens, and cause for alarm among parents. Most kids don’t act on those thoughts, scientists say, but researchers are learning to better understand which youngsters are most at risk—and what parents can do to keep them safe. New research links certain behaviors to an imminent risk of a child’s suicide attempt, including a dramatic increase in the time spent at home and a sharp rise in the use of negative words in texts and social-media posts. (Petersen, 2/3)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento To Open Homeless Safe Ground At City Park
The city of Sacramento is expanding its Safe Ground program for homeless individuals at Miller Regional Park, just south of Broadway on the Sacramento River. The city opened its first Safe Ground site for sanctioned tent camping in March under the W-X freeway at Sixth and W streets. In April, the city opened a small safe parking lot with about 15 vehicles for unhoused individuals near Miller Park, close to the Latino Center of Art and Culture. (Clift, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Delayed San Francisco Homeless Shelter With 250 Beds Moves Forward Amid Tenderloin Emergency
A committee of San Francisco supervisors advanced a proposed homeless shelter for 250 people near the Tenderloin on Wednesday, about one month after delaying the project to get more community input, drawing the ire of Mayor London Breed and others who called them hypocrites. Supervisors Matt Haney, Ahsha Safaí and Gordon Mar voted unanimously to send a contract for the proposed shelter at 711 Post St. to the full Board of Supervisors, which is set to consider granting final approval next week. (Morris and Moench, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: A New S.F. Housing Complex For Homeless People Was Faster, Cheaper To Build. So Why Isn’t It Being Replicated?
In this incredibly expensive, bureaucratic city, affordable housing usually takes five to seven years to build, though a full decade isn’t unheard of. And it usually costs at least $600,000 per small studio like Isaiah’s and far more for larger units. Housing Isaiah and his new neighbors is one huge plus for Tahanan. But its larger point was to serve as a testing ground to see if it was possible to build affordable housing for less money and in less time than normal. The experiment worked, but so far there’s no firm plan to replicate it — even with San Francisco’s huge homelessness crisis and a desperate need for many more Tahanans.(Knight, 2/2)

Modesto Bee: Will Newsom’s Homelessness Plan Help California’s Unhoused?
Standing alongside a San Diego highway in front of orange trash bags and cleanup crews earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared the homelessness crisis in California was “unacceptable” and said he’s going to do something about it. “Not only are we meeting this moment by recognizing what everybody’s recognizing, that it’s out of control and unacceptable what’s happening on the streets all across the state,” he said. “But we are starting to deliver on what we’ve been promoting.” (Korte, 2/3)

CalMatters: California Homeless: The Story Behind One Person's Story
Jackie Botts recently took CalMatters readers on an intimate tour of the winding road Fernando Maya, a formerly homeless veteran, traveled from the streets of Los Angeles to a Project Roomkey hotel room to his own studio apartment in subsidized housing. His story highlights the myriad personal and systemic factors that make it difficult for people to find housing and stay housed – including the collision with a car while bicycling and head injury that hampered Maya’s efforts to rebuild his life. (Tobias, 2/2)