San Francisco Chronicle: Is The COVID-19 Pandemic Really Over? Here’s What Bay Area Experts Say
The national COVID-19 public health emergency expires on Thursday, symbolically marking a turning point after three years of uncertainty and suffering. But what does the end of the federal declaration really mean for the pandemic at a time when daily life has returned to normal for most Americans — and several months after President Biden shrugged at the Detroit Auto Show that the “pandemic is over”? (Vaziri, 5/11)

USA Today: What End Of COVID Health Emergency Means For Tests, Vaccine, Medicaid
While it closes a chapter in history, health experts point out the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over as the virus continues to claim about 1,000 lives each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To date, more than 1.1 million people in the country have died. “There’s no real mechanism to declare an end to the pandemic, but it is an end to the emergency phase, both in the U.S. and globally,” said Crystal Watson, associate professor at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Rodriguez and Alltucker, 5/11)

Bloomberg: Free Covid Tests Via USPS Are Available At CovidTests.Gov Until May 31
The popular offering will be available until the end of May, according to a press release this week from the Biden Administration outlining the transition of Covid measures. Since the online portal launched in January 2022, the program has distributed more than 750 million rapid antigen tests to over two-thirds of American households. (Griffin, 5/10)

Stat: What's Next For Mental Health Apps When Pandemic Flexibilities End?
In April 2020, the Food and Drug Administration announced a pandemic enforcement policy allowing mental health app developers to release certain treatment products without seeking authorization from the agency. With the end of the official public health emergency, companies that did so will now need to submit the products for FDA clearance and have them pass an early stage of review by early November — or remove the products from the market. (Aguilar, 5/11)

HHS.gov: Letter To U.S. Governors From HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra On Planning For The COVID-19 PHE 
Through partnerships with you and others, we are now in a better place in our response than we were three years ago, and we can transition away from the emergency phase. (Xavier Becerra, 5/10)

The New York Times: Families Of Those Lost To Covid Wrestle With Mixed Emotions As Emergency Ends 
More than 1.1 million Americans have died of Covid, and the rate of death has markedly slowed in recent months. In 2020 and 2021, it was the third most common cause of death; by this point in 2023, preliminary data show, it has dropped to seventh. But the move by the Biden administration that takes effect on Thursday has landed with mixed emotions for many Americans who have lost family members and friends to the pandemic. (Bosman, 5/11)

KVPR: Here's What To Expect In The U.S. As Title 42 Ends For Asylum-Seekers
As Title 42 is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday, security officials are bracing for what could be an unprecedented influx of migrants seeking asylum along the southern border. The COVID-era public health emergency measure allowed for the quick expulsion of migrants at the border and nearly halted the processing of asylum applications for more than three years. Once Title 42 is lifted, the tens of thousands of people who have been waiting in Mexico after fleeing from violence, poverty and political instability will be subject to decades-old immigration protocols known as Title 8. (Romo, Rose and Penaloza, 5/11)

Politico: What Title 42's End Means For The Future Of Immigration Policy
The pandemic-era policy used to block migrants at the southern border is coming to an end this week. Lifting so-called Title 42 will mean a major policy shift, one expected to draw an increase of asylum seekers to the U.S. — and scrutiny over how the Biden administration will handle that influx. ... The government has used Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers more than 2 million times for more than three years. But it’s not actually an immigration policy. Section 265 of Title 42 of U.S. Code addresses public health, social welfare and civil rights. In March 2020, the Trump administration ordered the CDC chief to implement the Title 42 authority and turn people away at the border on public health grounds. (Ward, 5/10)

Times Of San Diego: Chicken Soup For The Souls: Volunteers Find Border Zone 'A Little Apocalyptic' 
Denise McEwan scooped out homemade chicken soup, adding rice. Her wife, Molly Quillin-McEwan, put cookies and pastries in plastic bags. From the back of a pickup truck, they did what they could Wednesday evening to relieve the hunger of hundreds of asylum-seekers camped between the primary and secondary border fences in San Ysdiro. (Stone, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Feinstein Casts Her First Senate Vote In Months, Finally Shedding Light On Health Issues
Sen. Dianne Feinstein returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to cast her first vote in the Senate since taking an extended illness-related absence that threatened Democrats’ slim majority and led to mounting calls for her resignation. Feinstein, who at 89 is the eldest sitting senator, was brought onto the Senate floor in a wheelchair that she may at times require to travel around the Capitol as she works “a lighter schedule,” her office said in a statement. Videos on Twitter showed Feinstein emerging from a car outside the Senate building, where she was helped into the wheelchair and greeted by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) (Petri, 5/10)

Politico: Cash For Slavery Reparations Gets Cool Response From California Officials 
A proposal to pay Black people in California up to $1.2 million in restitution for slavery ran into political headwinds Wednesday as Gov. Gavin Newsom and a lawmaker who was on the state panel raised doubts about the prospect of cash payments. State Sen. Steven Bradford said he wouldn’t count on the Legislature — though dominated by Democrats — to vote in favor of payments, one of the recommendations of a panel expected to release its final recommendations on July 1. (White, 5/10)

Public Health Watch: California Regulators Drafting Emergency Rule To Combat Deadly Lung Disease
Workplace regulators in California are drafting an emergency rule to address an epidemic of silicosis — a deadly, preventable lung disease — among fabricators of artificial-stone countertops. In December, Public Health Watch, LAist and Univision revealed what’s believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of the disease, in the Los Angeles area. The news outlets’ stories — and a petition citing them — triggered a burst of activity by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA. (Morris and Krisberg, 5/10)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Kaiser Medical Center In Santa Rosa Makes Newsweek’s List Of Best Maternity Hospitals In The US
Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Rosa hospital has made Newsweek’s list of the “Best Maternity Hospitals in 2023” — the only Sonoma County hospital to earn the annual recognition. (Espinoza, 5/10)

CapRadio: California’s Health Care Provider Pipeline Needs Major Boost To Ward Off Shortage, Workers Say
Physical therapist Gina Yarbrough used to have the time to see some of her young patients two to three times a week. Now, she’s booking appointments for kids four to six weeks out. “We barely see them. It's almost like just a consult. It's not adequate for these kids who have really profound needs,” she said. (Wolffe, 5/10)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Struggling San Diego Ambulance Provider Taps New Local Chief 
San Diego’s struggling ambulance provider has appointed a new leader for its local operations, just before major changes to its contract are set to put more ambulances on the street for more hours. (Garrick, 5/10)

Stat: Google's Generative AI To Analyze Medical Images — And Talk To Docs
Google’s generative AI system proved it can answer medical exam questions. But now the company is attempting a bigger leap — infusing its model with medical images such as X-rays and mammograms to help it communicate with doctors about data routinely used in patient care. (Ross, 5/10)

Los Angeles Times: Sheriff's Dept. To Track Presence Of Flesh-Eating Street Drug Appearing In Los Angeles
Amid troubling signs that a dangerous sedative known as “tranq” has spread even further into the local street drug supply, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has launched a pilot program to better document the drug’s presence. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that began appearing several years ago in illicit pills and powders on the East Coast. It’s been linked to deaths across the country and can cause human tissue to rot, leaving users with grisly wounds that sometimes lead to amputations. (Blakinger, 5/10)

LA Daily News: Southern California Law Enforcement Puts Fentanyl Dealers ‘On Notice’ 
Bill Bodner remembers when he first encountered fentanyl on the streets of New York City. Back in 1991, he was a new agent working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. In February that year, at least 12 people died and dozens more overdosed in the New York City area, ingesting a batch of fentanyl-laced heroin, branded then as “Tango and Cash.”“(Police) were cruising around with loudspeakers,” telling residents not to take the drug cocktail, Bodner said. ... Now, Bodner is the special agent in charge of the DEA’s Los Angeles office. On Tuesday, he said he couldn’t believe more than three decades later he’d still be talking about fentanyl. (Cain, 5/10)

Voice of OC: Orange County Continues Grappling With Rehab Centers As Opioid Crisis Worsens
Cities throughout Orange County continue wrestling over how to roll out drug treatment centers as many residents raise community safety concerns when the idea of a rehab is proposed. It comes as the national opioid crisis worsens, including increasing opioid deaths here in OC, according to the county Health Care Agency. The crisis and wariness of rehab clinics also raises the question: Where should rehab centers go? (Kavros, 5/11)

The New York Times: Addiction Treatment Medicine Is Vastly Underprescribed, Especially By Race, Study Finds 
Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study. From 2016 through 2019, scarcely more than 20 percent of patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder filled prescriptions for buprenorphine, the medication considered the gold standard in opioid addiction treatment, despite repeated visits to health care providers, according to the study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Hoffman, 5/10)

Stat: Black Patients With Opioid Addiction Lack Equal Access To Treatment
Black people are far less likely than other Americans to receive buprenorphine, a key medication for treating opioid use disorder, according to a new study. White patients in need of addiction care were prescribed buprenorphine at more than twice the rate of Black patients in the six months preceding an addiction-related health emergency, according to the analysis. The treatment gap continued at a similar rate in the six months after an overdose, hospitalization, or admission to a rehab facility. (Facher, 5/10)

Los Angeles Times: Fentanyl-Related Deaths Among Children Rising, Yale Study Says
Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, illustrating the opioid crisis’ unrelenting impact across the United States, according to a study by the Yale School of Medicine. Between 1999 and 2021, 37.5% of all fatal pediatric opioid poisonings were caused by fentanyl, according to the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The drug is now the primary agent noted in the pediatric opioid crisis, said Julie Gaither, the study’s author and an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale. (Arredondo, 5/11)

NPR: Trump's 2024 Campaign Promise To Execute Drug Offenders Is A Long Shot
Former President Donald Trump spoke to New Hampshire voters during a CNN town hall held at St. Anselm College in Manchester Wednesday night. Audience members asked how he would tackle issues like abortion, Second Amendment rights, immigration and more. But nobody brought up the opioid crisis plaguing the Granite State. (Jones and Speak, 5/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Justice Department Says Giving Food To The Homeless Is Protected Religious Activity In California Case
A religious charity that hands out food and beverages to homeless people in Santa Ana has been threatened with fines by the city in response to complaints from neighbors. But President Biden’s Justice Department has told a federal court that the food distribution is a religious activity protected by federal law. (Egelko, 5/10)

Bay Area News Group: San Jose Spent $116 Million On Homelessness Last Year. What Did It Get For The Money?
Last year, San Jose spent $116 million on programs to alleviate its homelessness crisis. What did it get for the money? For one, the funds helped move more than 1,800 homeless people into permanent housing, according to a new city report. But San Jose’s homeless population spiked 11% last year to around 6,700 people, highlighting the dire challenges the city faces getting people off the street and out of shelters as it struggles to build enough affordable housing for everyone who needs it. (Varian, 5/11)

Fresno Bee: Homeless Crisis In Fresno Gets City Cash Infusion 
More than $9.5 million in money for homeless shelters and affordable rental units will be considered Thursday by the Fresno City Council as the city continues to grapple with its persistent shortage of low-cost housing. (Sheehan, 5/10)

Modesto Bee: Why Doesn’t Modesto Support Safe Camping For Homeless?
The presentation at Tuesday’s City Council meeting on everything Modesto and its partners are doing to deal with the homelessness crisis was exhaustive. It included a roughly 47-minute presentation, complete with 74 PowerPoint slides, followed by more than an hour of discussion. The city is working diligently to provide services, facilitate the building of more housing and hold people accountable who don’t follow the rules. The presentation included everything but actual homeless people to talk about their experiences. (Valine, 5/10)

Stat: Insulin Makers, PBMs Echo Old Finger-Pointing In Senate Hearing
A Senate hearing on high insulin costs billed as a blockbuster showdown with drugmakers and middlemen turned out to be a familiar case of political theater that appeared to satisfy no one. (Owermohle, 5/10)

The Hill: Insulin Companies, PBMs Pass The Blame As They Face Bipartisan Ire On Pricing
Paul Hudson, CEO of the French multinational drug company Sanofi, directly pointed a finger to “pharmacy benefit management, health insurance, specialty pharmacies and group purchasing organizations” in his opening remarks. “This vertical integration gives these corporations near total control over the products the patients can access and the price they have to pay,” said Hudson. (Choi, 5/10)

The 19th: Over-The-Counter Birth Control Moves One Step Closer To FDA Approval
An influential advisory panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve an oral contraceptive pill for over-the-counter use without an age restriction. While hormonal birth control is available without a prescription in many other countries, this medication, Opill, would be the first such option in the United States. (Luthra, 5/10)

The Hill: Trump Calls Overturning Roe ‘A Great Victory,’ Dodges On Federal Abortion Ban 
Former President Trump called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade “a great victory” but did not say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion if he’s elected again. “It was such a great victory and people are starting to understand it now,” Trump said of the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down the 1973 decision protecting abortion rights, when asked at a CNN town hall on Wednesday how he would appeal to female voters in 2024. (Manchester, 5/10)

The Hill: McConnell Breaks With Tuberville Over Blanket Hold On Military Nominees
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Wednesday that he does not support Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blanket hold on more than 180 non-political military promotions, which Democrats say is keeping qualified people out of key roles. “I don’t support putting a hold on military nominations, I don’t support that,” McConnell told reporters. Tuberville has held up the promotions of 184 general and flag officers for weeks to protest the Defense Department’s abortion policy of providing paid leave and travel reimbursements to service members who have to cross state lines to obtain abortions and fertility treatments. (Bolton, 5/10)

Reuters: Human Genome Reboot Better Reflects Global Population
Scientists on Wednesday unveiled a new accounting of the human genome that improves on its predecessor by including a rich diversity of people to better reflect the global population - a boost to ongoing efforts to identify genetic underpinnings of diseases and new ways to treat them. This "pangenome" achievement was announced two decades after the first sequencing of the human genome, a feat that transformed biomedical research by giving scientists a reference map to analyze DNA for clues about disease-related mutations. (Dunham, 5/10)

NBC News: Toddlers Saw Peanut Allergies Ease After Wearing 'Peanut Patch' In Trial
A wearable patch could prevent severe allergic reactions in toddlers with peanut allergies, according to the results of a promising clinical trial. The late-stage trial, which involved more than 200 children ages 1 to 3 with peanut allergies, found that after wearing the experimental patch around 22 hours a day for a year, 67% were able to tolerate 300 to 1,000 milligrams of peanut protein — the equivalent of one to four peanuts. The findings were published Wednesday evening in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Bendix, 5/10)

CNN: Sleep Apnea, Lack Of Deep Sleep Linked To Damage In Brain, Study Says 
Uncontrolled sleep apnea — a disorder in which people stop breathing for 10 seconds or more at a time multiple times a night — may harm future brain health, a new study found. It’s estimated 936 million adults worldwide between the ages of 30 and 69 may suffer from sleep apnea, with many more people undiagnosed. If the sleep apnea is severe and untreated, people have three times the risk of dying from any cause. People with severe sleep apnea who spent less time in deep, also known as slow-wave sleep, had more damage to the white matter of the brain than people who had more slow-wave sleep, according to the study. (LaMotte, 5/10)