Fresno Bee: FDA Says Tests From Reedley Lab May Not Be Safe Or Effective 
Federal regulators are warning residents not to use pregnancy, ovulation or any other tests manufactured by the lab recently found operating illegally in Fresno County. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a news release that tests manufactured by Universal Meditech Inc., whose Reedley lab was discovered in recent weeks, may not be safe or effective. (Miller, 8/15)

The Bakersfield Californian: CVS Closure At Town & Country Is Second Shuttering Of Local Retail Pharmacy 
Another national-chain pharmacy has closed a store in Bakersfield, reflecting an industry trend that impacts local shopping centers. (Cox, 8/15)

Bloomberg: Amazon Pharmacy Automates Insulin Discounts
Rather than manually entering a coupon code to lower insulin costs to $35 a month, Amazon will provide eligible patients with immediate discounts on more than 15 insulin and diabetes care brands, including insulin vials, pens, continuous glucose monitors and pumps, the online retail giant company said Tuesday in a statement. (Rutherford, 8/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Hospitalizations In U.S. Rise For Fourth Week, Deaths Inch Up
The U.S. is grappling with an upswing in COVID-19 hospitalizations, marking the fourth consecutive week of escalating admissions. There were 10,320 new COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide for the week ending Aug. 5, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This figure reflects a worrisome 14.3% rise compared to the preceding week, contributing to an overall increase of 64% since late June. (Vaziri, 8/15)

Military Times: Surge In COVID Cases Sparks Worries Among VA Leaders
COVID-19 cases among Veterans Health Administration patients have nearly tripled in the last month to more than 4,000. But Department of Veterans Affairs officials aren’t bringing back masks or recommending any significant changes in hospital or quarantine procedures, for now. “The spikes are concerning,” said Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA Under Secretary for Health, in a press call with reporters on Tuesday. “Thankfully, we have not seen signs of it overwhelming the system yet, but it’s something we monitor every day. And we want to make sure folks are aware that we are in the middle of another wave of COVID-19 with a new variant.” (Shane III, 8/15)

CIDRAP: COVID Shots In Same Arm May Elicit Better Immune Response 
Sequential vaccines, like those used for COVID-19, may elicit a greater immune response if the recipient has the same arm injected, called ipsilateral vaccination, as opposed to contralateral vaccination, in which the primary vaccination is delivered in one arm and booster dose is delivered to the opposite. The research is published in EBioMedicine. (Soucheray, 8/15)

USA Today: Medical Misinformation: 52 Doctors Misled Public During The Pandemic
"This was actually comforting to see that they didn't find more," said Dominique Brossard, chair of the department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the new study but studies medical misinformation. Roughly 1 million Americans hold medical licenses in the United States, so 52 is a tiny fraction of the total. (Weintraub, 8/15)

CIDRAP: New Standard On Cutting Risk Of Infectious Aerosol Spread Sets High Bar For Building Ventilation But Is Work In Progress 
The first-ever ASHRAE standard on reducing the risk of indoor infectious aerosol transmission sets new targets for building operators in terms of air system design, installation, operation, and maintenance. But both ASHRAE  and other experts acknowledge that buildings have not been designed to reduce disease transmission—only to heat, dehumidify, and cool incoming outdoor air and address off-gassing of volatile organic compounds such as those in building materials through mixing—so compliance may require some heavy lifting. (Van Beusekom, 8/15)

Los Angeles Times: How California’s Lack Of Certified Athletic Trainers Negatively Impacts High School Athletes
Emmanuel Serafin sat and watched the rest of his teammates continue to practice, trying to figure out what could be done about a left knee that had suddenly folded backward. With one misstep during a drill on a muddy Roosevelt High football field, all of Serafin’s momentum had come exploding down on his knee, wreaking havoc without any contact. His teammate had to help lug his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame to the sideline, Serafin’s leggings revealing the indent of a misplaced bone. (Evans, 8/15)

Bay Area News Group: America's Educational Culture Wars Hit San Ramon Valley Unified
Earlier this summer, Moms for Liberty encouraged community members to rally against LGBTQ+ programming at the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. And in the board meeting on Tuesday night, it was clear that parents, teachers and others had listened — on both sides of the aisle. (Miolene, 8/15)

EdSource: California’s Dramatic Jump In Chronically Absent Students Part Of A Nationwide Surge 
EdSource’s analysis of California data shows increases in chronic absenteeism in nearly every district. Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year. For students on a typical 180-day school calendar, this totals to about one month of missed school. There were significant increases in all groups of districts — city, suburbs, town and rural — with the highest chronic absenteeism rate of 35.7% in districts serving rural areas. (Rosales, Seshadri and Willis, 8/15)

NBC News: Emergency Room Doctors Beg For Help Treating Children With Mental Health Illnesses
Three influential groups of pediatricians and emergency medicine providers are pleading for more support and resources as the number of children and teenagers with mental health concerns overwhelm emergency departments nationwide. "The scope of this problem is really great," said Dr. Mohsen Saidinejad, a professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. "But our ability to solve it is not there." (Edwards, 8/16)

The New York Times: ADHD Medication Shortage Continues As The School Year Begins 
Parents and caregivers across the country are spending hours each month hunting down pharmacies with A.D.H.D. medication in stock and asking their doctors to either transfer or rewrite prescriptions, a process many equate to having a second job. Others pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket for name-brand drugs that are sometimes more readily available but, unlike generics, are not covered by their insurance. Some children end up taking similar but less effective medications or go without medication for months at a time because their families do not have the extra time or cash. (Caron, 8/15)

NBC News: Latino Kids In Anti-Immigrant States Linked To Poorer Health: Study
Latino children living in states with more anti-immigrant laws and policies — and the resulting inequities in access — were linked to higher odds of chronic physical or mental health conditions, according to a study published Tuesday in the medical journal Pediatrics. (Flores, 8/15)

The Bakersfield Californian: 'No Relief': New Heat Wave Could Bring Flex Alerts 
Unseasonably high heat is expected to return to the Bakersfield area through Thursday, prompting warnings that the operator of the state power grid might ask consumers to cut down their power use during times of peak air conditioning. (Cox, 8/15)

Los Angeles Times: Climate Change Causes Life-Threatening Heat For California Farmworkers
One morning this summer, several days into temperatures above 110 degrees in this farming community, Socorro Galvez, 53, began to feel weak as she picked grapes in the suffocating heat. The green vines suddenly looked yellow, her sweat turned cold and she felt like she was going to faint. It happened again, just before the end of her shift. Each time, she sat for a while and got back to work. When she returned home to her mobile home that afternoon, exhausted and dripping in sweat, the window air-conditioning unit in her living room was barely working. It didn’t help that her husband, daughter and five grandchildren were all gathered in the same small room, relying on the same unit, praying it wouldn’t trip the breaker. There was no relief. (Esquivel, 8/16)

CapRadio: New Sac State Study Will Research Air Quality, Health In Underserved Neighborhoods
A group of four underserved Sacramento-area neighborhoods are the focus of a Sacramento State project that is researching the link between poor air quality and health issues. While environmental studies students gain real-world experience by participating in the research, the county and residents will get valuable information about where and how to find solutions. (Hagerty, Gonzalez, 8/15)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA County, Metro Officials Eye Philly Transit Agency For Homeless Solutions 
Can LA Metro do a better job addressing homelessness on its trains, depots and buses? Los Angeles County Fourth District Supervisor and Metro board member Janice Hahn thinks so. (Scauzillo, 8/15)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Hotel Used As Homeless Housing Was Beset By Problems
By the time the Mayfair Hotel shut its doors last year, the building had been through a wrenching, tumultuous period. Windows at the 294-room boutique hotel, in L.A.’s Westlake neighborhood, had been shattered. Bathrooms had been vandalized. In some locations, carpet had been torn off the floor. “Participant in 1516 Threatened staff, Security, destroyed property. Screamed. Yelled cursed. Everything went wrong with her. Inside and outside the building,” wrote a worker with Helpline Youth Counseling Inc., a service provider assigned to the hotel, in early 2022. (Zahniser, 8/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Dianne Feinstein Lawsuit Alleges Financial Abuse In Estate Feud
Sen. Dianne Feinstein has sued to remove the trustees of her late husband’s estate, alleging they committed financial elder abuse, refused to respond to any requests for disbursements and improperly financially enriched his daughters. (Stein, 8/15)

The New York Times: Addiction Treatment Eludes More Than Half Of Americans In Need 
Roughly three in 10 adults have been addicted to opioids or have a family member who has been, and less than half of those with a substance use disorder have received treatment, according to a new survey conducted by KFF, a health policy research group. The survey, which polled more than 1,300 adults in July, underscores the broad and often harmful influence of opioid addiction across the nation, which recorded around 110,000 fatal drug overdoses last year alone. (Weiland, 8/15)

The New York Times: Restaurant Workers With Narcan Are On The Front Lines Of The Opioid Epidemic
Kevin Foehrkolb was tending bar on a routine Saturday night last September at Kent House Irish Pub in Towson, Md., when he heard a commotion from the corner booth where a group of regular customers were playing the card game Magic: The Gathering.“ They were the type to drink beer, not get rowdy or do shots,” he said. When he ran over, he saw that one man’s face had turned yellow and his eyes had rolled back in his head. He was overdosing. (Krishna and Park, 8/15)

Forbes: Meet The Man Who Fought The Sacklers On Their Opioid Bankruptcy Deal
For Michael Quinn, a partner in the New York City law firm of Eisenberg & Baum, the Supreme Court decision is a temporary victory in a battle he’s been fighting on behalf of his clients for years. During Purdue’s original bankruptcy proceedings, he represented the famous photographer Nan Goldin and activists from around the country who, he says, “are really concerned about getting accountability in this case from the Sacklers.” (Brady, 8/15)

Reuters: Drugmaker Mallinckrodt Moves Toward Second Bankruptcy Filing 
Mallinckrodt on Tuesday said it was preparing to seek bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years after struggling to make a required $200 million settlement payment to opioid victims. The drugmaker, one of the largest makers of opioids, said it is negotiating a restructuring support agreement with its stakeholders, while deferring deadlines for missed debt payments and opioid settlement payments to next week. (Jain and Knauth, 8/15)

Los Angeles Times: Exploitation, Retaliation, Alarming Conditions At Mushroom Farms 
Advocates say the conditions in the mushroom farms in Sunnyside and Half Moon Bay highlight how discrimination and illegal working conditions in the industry can often go unreported because workers — who have few resources or advocates— are afraid to speak up for fear of being fired. (Hernandez, 8/15)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Native American Kids Connect With Horses As Part Of Equine Therapy Program In San Diego County 
Equine-assisted therapy is an approach through which individuals interact with horses with the aim of promoting emotional, cognitive and physical well-being. Through guided activities with a therapist and relationships with horses, participants can develop valuable life skills and improve their overall mental health. (Mapp, 8/15)

The Washington Post: ‘Asian Glow’ From Alcohol Isn’t Just A Discomfort. It’s A Severe Warning
The redness and other symptoms may be thought of as a severe warning from the body that alcohol is extremely toxic to this individual, much more so than to many others. The associated mutation, known as the ALDH2*2 variant, has been linked to a staggering number of diseases in those who consume moderate to large quantities of alcohol. (Kim, 8/15)