San Francisco Chronicle: New COVID Boosters Work Against ‘Pirola’ Variant, Makers Say
Moderna and Pfizer have reported positive findings regarding the efficacy of their updated COVID-19 vaccines against the highly mutated omicron BA.2.86 coronavirus subvariant, which has raised concerns about a potential resurgence of infections. Moderna stated on Wednesday that its vaccine generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86 in clinical trials. (Vaziri, 9/6)

NBC News: FDA Could Greenlight New Covid Boosters As Early As Friday
The Food and Drug Administration plans to greenlight updated versions of the Covid boosters as early as Friday, according to four people familiar with the agency’s plans. The latest shots are designed to target the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant. Though that strain is no longer dominant, the boosters should still protect against current circulating subvariants, which are closely related, the drugmakers and experts say. (Lovelace Jr. and Alba, 9/6)

Fresno Bee: CA Doctor Explains New COVID-19 Vaccine Expected Fall 2023 
Nearly three years since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, a new one could soon take its place. (Truong, 9/7)

Bay Area News Group: California's Summer COVID Wave Breaks Into Top 5 Of Pandemic
California’s sneaky summer COVID wave is reaching heights not seen in more than a year as highly contagious strains of the virus continue to spread with the promise of a new vaccine days away. (Rowan, 9/7)

KQED: The New COVID 'Eris' Variant And Rising Cases: What You Need To Know
If it feels like everyone you know suddenly has COVID again … you’re not alone. COVID numbers are on the rise once more in the Bay Area, around California and nationwide in what’s being called a “summer surge” by many. And it’s fueled, at least in part, by the new omicron subvariant EG.5 — unofficially named “Eris” — that’s risen to become the dominant strain nationwide, and here in California. (Severn, 9/6)

Orange County Register: Huntington Beach Wants To Declare Itself A ‘No Mask And No Vaccine Mandate’ City 
Huntington Beach is moving ahead to likely declare itself a “no mask and no vaccine mandate” city, preemptively taking a stand ahead of any future orders from health agencies. Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark created the proposal. After a 4-3 approval vote from the City Council, the city manager will return with a resolution at the next council meeting for formal adoption. (Slaten, 9/6)

Politico: Biden Appears To Be Over Covid Protocols 
For two days straight, the White House told anyone who would listen that President Joe Biden was taking his Covid exposure seriously by following a strict set of public health precautions. Then Biden strode into a room full of people on Wednesday and reduced those precautions to a punchline. “I’ve been tested again today, I’m clear across the board,” Biden said, smiling as he held up his face mask. “They keep telling me, because it has to be 10 days or something, I gotta keep wearing it. But don’t tell them I didn’t have it when I walked in.” (Cancryn, 9/6)

MarketWatch: Biden Continues To Test Negative For COVID After First Lady Tests Positive 
President Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning and is not experiencing any symptoms, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. The president, who is due to leave Thursday for a G-20 summit in India, is getting tested more often after first lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID on Monday. (Reklaitis, 9/6)

CIDRAP: Long COVID Less Likely After Omicron Than Other Variants, Data Show
Researchers in Sweden report that the risk of getting long COVID after a COVID-19 infection was higher for the wild type, Alpha, and Delta variants compared to Omicron. The study is published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Though prior research has shown that severe COVID-19 is less likely from Omicron infections compared to earlier variants, less is known about how each variant increases the likelihood of developing long COVID, or persistent symptoms lasting 12 or more weeks following acute infections. (Soucheray, 9/6)

LAist 89.3 FM: CA Pharmacists Say They’re Overworked And It’s Resulting In Millions Of Dangerous Mistakes A Year
The California Board of Pharmacy estimates pharmacies make around five million mistakes each year, and those errors can be life-threatening, according to an investigative report from the Los Angeles Times. Mix ups have led to patients taking the wrong medications and have even led to injuries. Pharmacies are not currently required to track errors. Proposed legislation would change that, but big name pharmacies have pushed back. Many pharmacists on the frontlines support increased transparency, and they also want improved working conditions. (LAist, 9/6)

Sacramento Business Journal: Adventist Health Reports $52M In Net Income In First Half Of 2023 
Overall, Adventist Health made $52 million in income in the first half of the year, a sizable rebound from the $486 million it lost during the same period last year. (Hamann, 9/6)

Roll Call: Medicare Pandemic Advances Deepen Debt For Some Hospitals
Congress poured money into the U.S. economy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But for a few hospitals, one of the lifelines that Medicare threw to the medical industry ultimately became another stone around their necks. (Clason, 9/6)

Modern Healthcare: OIG Report: Nursing Homes Unprepared For Disasters
The Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General surveyed 168 nursing homes last year to determine areas of concern regarding their readiness to respond to public health emergencies and natural disasters. Seventy-seven percent of facilities told the OIG that they face at least one “major” or “moderate” challenge that jeopardizes their ability to care for residents during crises. Staffing stood out as the most commonly cited problem. (Berryman, 9/6)

Axios: Nursing Home Inspector Shortage Could Undermine Staffing Proposal
State inspectors who likely will help enforce the Biden administration's new nursing home staffing requirements are facing their own workforce shortages. The Biden administration says its newly proposed staffing ratios could improve patient care, but the program's success may depend on a nursing home oversight apparatus that's already struggling to keep up with inspections. (Goldman, 9/7)

The New York Times: Abortions Rose in Most States This Year, New Data Shows
Legal abortions most likely increased in the United States in the first six months of the year compared with 2020, an analysis of new estimates shows, as states with more permissive abortion laws absorbed patients traveling from those with bans and access to abortion pills via telemedicine continued to expand. ... The data suggests that thousands of women have crossed state lines to obtain an abortion, in the face of restrictions at home. It also indicates a rise in abortions among those living in states where the procedure is legal. (Walker and McCann, 9/6)

NPR: Where Are Abortions Happening? New Study Tracks Post-Roe Trends
People seeking an abortion are "highly motivated" to travel if they can't get abortions where they live. That's one conclusion from a study from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group that supports reproductive rights. ... "If you're interested in where people are going, then I think the numbers tell a big part of that story because it represents a lot of people traveling," says Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute. (Simmons-Duffin, 9/7)

The Washington Post: Mexican Court Expands Access To Abortion, Even As U.S. Restricts It
The Mexican Supreme Court on Wednesday widened access to abortion, decriminalizing the procedure in federal health facilities. The ruling means that more than 70 percent of women in Mexico — including everyone who uses the federal health system — will have access to legal abortion, said the Information Group on Reproductive Choice, or GIRE. The nonprofit organization, which took the case to the Supreme Court, called the decision a “historic milestone.” (Sheridan, 9/6)

Reuters: Planned Parenthood Seeks To Overturn US Whistleblower Fraud Law 
Planned Parenthood is challenging a decades-old law allowing whistleblowers to bring fraud lawsuits on behalf of the government, in a bid to defeat a $1.8 billion lawsuit by an anonymous anti-abortion activist and the state of Texas seeking to recover money they claim the organization illegally took from Medicaid. In a filing in Amarillo, Texas, federal court on Friday, Planned Parenthood argued that the so-called "qui tam" provision of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) lets private citizens take on the role of government officials enforcing the law, violating the U.S. Constitution's requirement that such officials be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. (Pierson, 9/6)

AP: Hundreds Of Military Promotions Are On Hold As Republican Senator Demands End To Abortion Policy
Top defense officials are accusing Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville of jeopardizing America’s national security with his hold on roughly 300 military promotions, raising the stakes in a clash over abortion policy that shows no signs of easing. Tuberville brushed off the criticism, vowing he will not give in. “We’re going to be in a holding pattern for a long time,” he said, if the Pentagon refuses to end its policy of paying for travel when a service member goes out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. (Freking and Copp, 9/7)

The Washington Post: Child Care Is About To Get More Expensive, As Federal Funds Dry Up
With her toddlers’ day care closing in weeks, Lexie Monigal is back in a familiar bind: desperately searching for child care while contemplating quitting her full-time job as a surgical nurse in Menasha, Wis. It’s the second time this year her twins’ day care has suddenly announced plans to shutter — both for financial difficulties — leaving her without someone to watch her 2-year-olds and exacerbating a long-standing shortage of child care in this stretch of Wisconsin. (Bhattarai,9/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: This Small Bay Area City Just Saw 5 Fentanyl Overdoses In A Day
Law enforcement officials in Union City are investigating an alarming string of fentanyl overdoses — two of them fatal — that occurred in a 24-hour period that began Tuesday morning. Officers responded to the first call in a residential area near Medallion Drive and Whipple Road, where they found an unresponsive individual outside. The person died at a local hospital. (Vainshtein, 9/6)

CapRadio: By Addressing Trauma, Del Paso Heights Nonprofit Seeks To Reverse Area's Growing Fentanyl Crisis
Along the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail in Del Paso Heights, where dozens of people live in tent encampments, one outreach group is trying to address a growing number of fentanyl-related deaths. Around lunchtime on a recent Monday, the nonprofit team with Neighborhood Wellness Foundation handed out sandwiches, water bottles and hygiene products to homeless residents, many who grew up in the neighborhood. (Wolffe, 9/6)

NPR: Share Of U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Caused By Fake Prescription Pills Is Growing
The share of overdose deaths involving counterfeit pills more than doubled between mid-2019 and late 2021, and the percentage more than tripled in western states, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, overdose deaths that had evidence of fake pill use accounted for just 2% of fatalities between July and September of 2019. That figure jumped to 4.7% between October and December of 2021. (Hernandez, 9/6)

Los Angeles Times: Over 40,000 Eviction Notices Have Gone Out In L.A. This Year
At Promenade Towers, a Bunker Hill apartment complex with 611 units that bills itself as “an urban oasis in the heart of downtown,” tenants received 371 eviction notices from late January through July. At 1600 Vine, a Hollywood building with 375 units that’s been known for attracting social media influencers who have posted from its balconies and manicured courtyard, 313 notices were issued in that period. (Dillon, Castleman and Esquivel, 9/7)

Stat: For Those In Heroin’s Grip, 'Housing Is Health Care' In This Program
Shaun Anderson hasn’t slept this late in the day in years. He still wakes up a few times throughout the night — a habit he’s developed trying to protect himself from being jumped while at his most vulnerable. This morning, however, he slept so deeply he didn’t hear his doorbell ring. He wasn’t used to even having a doorbell, or a regular place to sleep — housing is one of many things he’d lost to a decades-long battle with opioid use disorder. (Wisniewski, 9/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Taxpayer Group Wants More Transparency From Homelessness Task Force. How Much Data Should Be Public? 
A local watchdog is demanding that a prominent nonprofit release more information about homeless people being helped throughout the region, pitting a desire for more transparency against privacy concerns. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association wants the Regional Task Force on Homelessness to generally share all the data it collects, including personal identifying information, with cities funding programs for the unhoused. The same basic data, minus details like people’s names, should similarly be accessible to the public, proponents believe. (Nelson, 9/6)

CalMatters: Some Of California Best-Paid Employees Will Get Bonuses Of $40,000 Or More In New Contract
California’s prison psychiatrists are in line to get bonuses of at least $42,000 through a contract negotiated with Gov. Gavin Newsom just days before the state’s deadline to close out deals with public employees. (Hwang, 9/6)

Stat: Ketamine Treatment For Depression: Why It Can Be Hard To Access
Every day, Marisa Russello was overwhelmed by suicidal thoughts. Even one negative thought might cause her to spiral. A writer working on her book manuscript, she’d be unable to change a word without questioning the entire project’s value altogether. Her depression made it hard to fall and stay asleep. She developed insomnia and took to sleeping during the day. She knew not to listen to intrusive feelings, but her brain kept telling her otherwise. A darkness took hold of her consciousness and wouldn’t let go. (Maloney, 9/7)

Associated Press/Report For America: California Courts May Weigh Acceptance Of Child's Gender Identity In Custody Cases
California could soon require judges to consider whether a parent affirms their child’s gender identity when making custody and visitation decisions under a bill that cleared the state Senate on Wednesday. (Austin, 9/6)

Voice of OC: Will Orange Unified Approve A Transgender Outing Policy Despite State Legal Threats?
The Orange Unified School Board is set to consider a policy that could inform parents their children are transgender as the California Attorney General is mounting a legal challenge against a similar policy at a Chino Valley school district. The policy would require schools to notify parents after discovering their child is transgender or wishes to be treated as a gender that differs from their biological sex. (Hicks, 9/7)

Politico: Holes In Federal Aid Leave Millions Sweltering 
If nothing else, this summer’s record-smashing heat has demonstrated that air conditioning can be a life-saving necessity. Yet more than 30 million low-income households that are eligible for federal funding to help pay their cooling costs haven’t received a dime, writes Thomas Frank in an investigation published today. That’s largely because the federal program to protect poor families from dangerous temperatures was designed with frigid winters in mind. And almost every state spends the bulk of that program’s money on heating, even as summer death tolls rise. (Skibell, 9/6)

NPR: Climate Change Makes Air Quality Worse, And That's Bad For Health
Emergency room visits for asthma spike during and after smoke exposure. Heart attacks, strokes, and cognitive function problems also increase after smoke exposure. In 2022, people living in the Amazon basin, Alaska, and the western part of North America all breathed in more wildfire smoke than they have on average over the past 20 years. (Borunda, 9/6)

Reuters: Pfizer, Valneva Say 'Positive' Result For Lyme Disease Vaccine Candidate Booster 
Pfizer and French pharmaceutical peer Valneva announced on Thursday that a phase 2 study for its VLA15 Lyme disease vaccine candidate showed a "strong immune response" in both children and adolescents a month after a booster shoot. "The Phase 2 booster results emphasize the vaccine candidate’s potential to provide immunity against Lyme disease in paediatric and adolescent populations," the two companies said in a statement. (9/7)

Military Times: Air Force Eases Restrictions On Airmen Taking HIV-Prevention Pills
The Department of the Air Force said Aug. 29 it will ease flight restrictions for airmen on HIV-prevention medicine, five years after it first approved the treatment for pilots and aircrew. The changes aim to keep more service members in the air and in uniform, the service said in a press release. Its announcement is a win for the Air Force’s LGBTQ+ community and marks a new milestone for integrating HIV-prevention drugs into the service’s medical enterprise. (Cohen, 9/5)

EdSource: 570 California Schools Targeted For Low Vaccination Rates 
More than 500 California public schools are being audited by the state because they reported that more than 10% of their kindergarten or seventh-grade students were not fully vaccinated last school year. Schools that allow students to attend school without all their vaccinations are in jeopardy of losing funding. (Lambert, Willis and Xie, 9/7)

VC Star: Moorpark Unified Bucks Trend, Installs Vape Detectors
Ventura County school districts are split on vape detectors, a high-tech response to underage e-cigarette use on school campuses. (Murtaugh, 9/6)

CalMatters: Bay Area Man Lied To Win A California Rehab Contract. Now He’s Convicted Of Exploiting Parolees In His Care
Nearly three years after being released from state prison for defrauding the government, Attila Colar saw a new opportunity to pull in steady money from California taxpayers. He didn’t even need to hide his criminal past when he applied for a contract with a California rehabilitation program for parolees leaving state prisons. (Lyons, 9/6)

The New York Times: Teenager’s Death Has Paqui Spicy ‘One Chip Challenge’ Under Scrutiny
The Paqui “One Chip Challenge” has been criticized for making people sick in the past, but this is the first time someone has linked it to a fatality. ...Harris Wolobah is not the first child who has sought medical care after eating the chip. School officials in California and Texas told the “Today” show website last year that students had been taken to the hospital after eating one. (Carballo and Tumin, 9/6)

CIDRAP: High Level Of Resistant Staph Bacteria Found In Chinese Food Products
A new study by researchers in China highlights the threat of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in packaged food. In the study, which was published last week in the journal Zoonoses, researchers with the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment analyzed 276 ready-to-eat (RTE) food-associated S aureus isolates collected from supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, and farm-product markets in 25 provinces across China in 2018. The investigators assessed antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence factors, and molecular characteristics. (Dall, 9/6)