California Expects Surge In Out-of-State Abortion Patients If Supreme Court Overturns Roe V. Wade: As the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments today in a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, abortion providers and advocates in California are bracing for a massive surge in out-of-state patients seeking the procedure should the court overturn the 1973 ruling. A recent study from the abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute estimates that the number of women traveling to California each year for an abortion could skyrocket from about 46,000 currently to around 1.4 million should the court overturn Roe v. Wade and allow conservative states to ban abortions. Read more from KQED, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post.
Marin County’s Public Health Department Is First In State To Track Home Covid Test Results: A new online system for residents to self-report results of the rapid antigen tests they use at home makes Marin County’s public health department the first in California to try to track this hard-to-measure testing universe that typically isn’t included in local, state or federal COVID surveillance systems. The move comes as rapid antigen tests such as the over-the-counter Abbott BinaxNow, which generates results in 15 minutes, are becoming more available and widely used. Many people are taking these tests before social gatherings or as part of frequent testing programs at schools or workplaces. Marin’s self-reporting system, which went live in October, could give officials additional insight into how the virus is spreading in the community. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Has No Plans For An Omicron Lockdown
No significant new coronavirus-related restrictions are planned in Los Angeles County following the emergence of the Omicron variant, a top health official said Tuesday. “At this moment, we have really, I think, sensible precautions in place,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors. (Money and Lin II, 11/30)
KQED:
Bay Area Health Officials Brace For Likely Arrival Of Omicron Variant
Local and state health officials in California are closely monitoring for any signs of the new omicron COVID-19 variant, and bracing for its likely arrival. Although little is so far known about the new variant, which researchers in South Africa first identified last week, the World Health Organization on Monday cautioned that "the overall global risk ... is assessed as very high." That's due in part to the variant's "unprecedented" number of mutations, the agency said. (11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
As Omicron Threat Looms, Local Health Care Leaders Take Wait-And-See Approach
With no local cases yet confirmed, state and local public health officials seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Omicron, the new coronavirus with worrisome attributes first detected in South Africa. With the World Health Organization naming Omicron a “variant of concern” on Thanksgiving day, and the the Biden administration suspending non-citizen entry into the United States from eight African nations effective Monday, efforts are under way to keep the latest coronavirus threat at bay. (Sisson, 11/29)
The Washington Post:
The U.S. Is Better Prepared To Fight Omicron Variant, CDC Director Says
In the face of mounting concerns and lingering questions over the effects of the new omicron variant, health officials reassured the public Tuesday, arguing that the United States is overall better prepared to fight and contain the mutation than it was with previous variants. “To be crystal clear — we have far more tools to fight the variant than we had at this time last year,” Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House coronavirus briefing. (Villegas, Suliman and Pletsch, 11/30)
The New York Times:
Federal Health Officials Say That They Are Expanding The Search For Omicron In The U.S.
Top federal health officials said on Tuesday that they were expanding a surveillance program at some of the largest U.S. airports as part of a sprawling effort to identify and contain what could be the first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the United States. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, said at a White House news conference on the pandemic that the agency was “actively looking” for the variant but had not found a case so far among the many positive virus samples sequenced around the nation each week. Cases of the Delta variant, which drove a devastating summer surge, still make up 99.9 percent of those samples. (Weiland, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area Researchers Race To Study COVID-19 Omicron Variant
The Delta variant succeeded due to stealth, sickening us with COVID-19 before we even knew it was here.Omicron, the new variant, won’t be so lucky. Even before its arrival in the U.S., scientific labs in the Bay Area and around the nation are racing to build the experiments needed to answer two critical questions: Is omicron, which was first identified in South Africa, highly transmissible? Can it evade our immune response? (Krieger, 12/1)
CapRadio:
Omicron Could Become Dominant Strain In US, UC Davis Infectious Disease Expert Says
Over Thanksgiving weekend, many of us learned about the latest COVID-19 variant, omicron. Countries worldwide are scrambling to contain its spread by restricting air travel while also urging people not to panic. However, at the same time, many cautioned that omicron is likely already in the U.S. Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Health, spoke with Insight host Vicki Gonzalez about what we know and don’t know about the variant. While news of other countries banning flights has already begun, Blumberg stresses that these bans probably won’t make a difference. (11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
How Bad Will Omicron Be? Scientists Won't Know For Months
In a virus that has already killed 5.2 million people across the globe, 50 or so new mutations sound like a nightmare for humanity. But in the age-old battle between microbes and mankind, that many genetic changes can turn the tide in any direction. The next chapter of the pandemic could feature an Omicron variant that spreads more readily than Delta, blows past the defenses of a fully vaccinated immune system, and, like its coronavirus cousin that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, kills more than one-third of those who get it. That worst-case scenario would be an unfathomable disaster, said Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunologist and founding director of the Ragon Institute in Cambridge, Mass. (Healy, 11/30)
The New York Times:
Omicron Was Present In Europe Days Before Flights Were Halted
Two people who tested positive for the coronavirus in the Netherlands more than a week ago were infected with the Omicron variant, Dutch health officials reported on Tuesday. The timing is significant because it suggests that the variant was already present in the country for at least a week before the arrival of two flights from South Africa on Friday, and before the World Health Organization labeled Omicron a “variant of concern,” the step that prompted countries around the world to ban flights from southern Africa, where researchers first identified the variant. (Engelbrecht, 11/30)
Politico:
Testing Labs Brace For First U.S. Cases Of Omicron
Public health officials said Tuesday they expect to uncover the first U.S. cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant within days and are making contingencies to activate a testing network that fell short tracking earlier strains of the virus. Public health labs are prioritizing sequencing of positive samples that exhibit what is known as an “s-gene dropout” — a telltale characteristic Omicron shares with other variants but not the Delta strain. (Lim, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Omicron Has A ‘Greatest Hits’ Set Of Mutations. Bay Area Scientists Explain What That Means
To the California scientists on the front lines of the hunt for new coronavirus variants, omicron is loaded with mutations that are disturbingly familiar, and dozens more that they’ve never seen before but are cause for concern nonetheless. Omicron shares more than a dozen mutations with variants like delta, alpha and beta that have wreaked havoc globally or in certain parts of the world. Some of those mutations are known to make the virus less susceptible to vaccines or more infectious. For others, the impact of the mutation is less clear. (Allday, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Labs Are Even Testing The Wastewater At SFO In Their Hunt For Omicron
California has built up a substantial network of laboratories to look for concerning coronavirus variants over the past year, and now the scientists running those labs are developing creative new strategies to quickly identify omicron. At UCSF, one team is studying wastewater — including effluent from San Francisco International Airport — for signs of the newest variant, which has not yet been found in the United States but is likely already here. The head of the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory hopes to narrow the search for omicron by focusing on one mutation that it happens to be missing. Some scientists plan to use a simple diagnostic test to speed up the hunt. (Allday, 11/30)
KHN:
Omicron And Other Coronavirus Variants: What You Need To Know
Americans, already weary of a pandemic nearly two years long, were dealt a new blow during the long Thanksgiving weekend: the announcement that a new coronavirus variant had emerged. The omicron variant, officially known as B.1.1.529, surfaced in November in several southern African nations. It set off alarm bells worldwide when public health officials in South Africa saw it beginning to outcompete the previous reigning variant, delta. This suggested that omicron could eventually spread widely. Indeed, omicron has since been reported on multiple continents, likely due to international travel by people unknowingly infected. (Louis Jacobson, 11/30)
KQED:
Omicron: From Vaccines To Transmission, Here's What We Know (And Don't)
Federal health officials are expanding the search for the new omicron variant of COVID-19 in the U.S, including at San Francisco International Airport, where there’s increased testing for some international travelers. There’s still a lot we don’t know — omicron could be a big deal, or it could change very little about the pandemic. Medical experts are currently trying to figure out whether this variant is more contagious, whether it's more deadly, and how the vaccines hold up against it. (Cruz Guevarra, Cabrera-Lomelí and Montecillo, 12/01)
AP:
US Tracking Of Virus Variants Has Improved After Slow Start
Viruses mutate constantly. To find and track new versions of the coronavirus, scientists analyze the genetic makeup of a portion of samples that test positive. They’re looking at the chemical letters of the virus’s genetic code to find new worrisome mutants, such as omicron, and to follow the spread of known variants, such as delta. It’s a global effort, but until recently the U.S. was contributing very little. With uncoordinated and scattershot testing, the U.S. was sequencing fewer than 1% of positive specimens earlier this year. Now, it is running those tests on 5% to 10% of samples. That’s more in line with what other nations have sequenced and shared with global disease trackers over the course of the pandemic. (Johnson, 11/30)
Reuters:
Courts Block Two Biden Administration COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Biden administration was blocked on Tuesday from enforcing two mandates requiring millions of American workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a key part of its strategy for controlling the spread of the coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, temporarily blocked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers until the court can resolve legal challenges. Doughty's ruling applied nationwide, except in 10 states where the CMS was already prevented from enforcing the rule due to a prior order from a federal judge in St. Louis. (Hals, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
California Still Firing Vaccine-Resistant Health Workers
Health care providers across California are closing in on firing possibly hundreds of workers who have let the clock tick down on a requirement to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The dismissals come in the Golden State despite a federal judge late Tuesday blocking — at least temporarily — the Biden administration’s attempts to require health care workers nationwide to be vaccinated by January. (DeRuy, 12/1)
CBS News:
Most Big Employers Say They Are Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations For Workers
Most large U.S. employers say they now require, or plan to mandate, that their workers get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new survey of more than 500 companies by corporate advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. The survey comes as the Biden administration's new rule about workplace vaccinations remains in limbo. Under the regulation, companies with 100 or more employees must require workers to get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the disease. (Picchi, 11/30)
Orange County Register:
Court Blocks Vaccine Mandate For California Prison Employees After Request By Governor, Others
An appellate court has temporarily blocked a mandate requiring every California prison employee to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-January. The stay, granted by the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals last week, halts the mandate that was to go into effect by Jan. 12 for the state’s 34 prisons. With the court order, prison employees who do not get vaccinated can take regular COVID-19 tests instead to keep their jobs. (Licas, 11/30)
CalMatters:
Vaccine Mandates: California Adds With Omicron Variant
President Joe Biden on Monday reassured Americans that the omicron variant “is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic” — raising questions about the strategy Gov. Gavin Newsom will employ to respond to a form of COVID-19 about which much remains unknown. The governor, who returned to California late Sunday night after a Thanksgiving trip to Mexico, hasn’t publicly addressed the omicron variant apart from a Saturday tweet urging Californians to get vaccinated and boosted. (Hoeven, 11/30)
Covid Vaccines, Boosters, Tests and Treatments
CBS News:
U.S. Officials Expect Vaccines To Retain Some Effectiveness Against Omicron Variant
White House officials expressed optimism Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccines authorized and approved in the U.S. will provide at least some effectiveness against the Omicron variant, specifically against severe disease. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said during a White House briefing that it's "possible" the new mutations in the variant result in a significant reduction in antibody levels, but the available vaccines, and especially booster doses, are likely to result in some amount of protection. (11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
Merck's COVID-19 Pill Narrowly Wins FDA Panel's Support
By a narrow margin, advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted Tuesday to recommend authorization of a new pill that patients with early cases of COVID-19 can take at home, despite the fact that its initial promise gave way to a far more modest benefit. The antiviral drug from Merck & Co., molnupiravir, is already authorized for emergency use in Britain. The FDA is expected to decide within days whether to follow suit. The agency isn’t required to accept the influential panel’s advice, but if it does, it will probably recommend the drug’s use for only a narrow slice of patients, with strong cautions and close monitoring. (Healy, 11/30)
AP:
US Panel Backs First-Of-A-Kind COVID-19 Pill From Merck
A panel of U.S. health advisers on Tuesday narrowly backed a closely watched COVID-19 pill from Merck, setting the stage for a likely authorization of the first drug that Americans could take at home to treat the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration panel voted 13-10 that the antiviral drug’s benefits outweigh its risks, including potential birth defects if used during pregnancy. (Perrone, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare:
Pharmacists Ask CMS To Require COVID-19 Pill Dispensing Fee
Medicare Part D plans should be required to pay pharmacists for counseling patients and dispensing oral antiviral medications that treat COVID-19, organizations representing druggists say. Several promising COVID-19 treatments have emerged in recent weeks, led by a Merck drug that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended be approved for emergency use on Tuesday. But while the Health and Human Services Department authorized pharmacists to administer covered COVID-19 therapeutics in September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't mandated that health plans pay pharmacists for giving out the medicines. (Goldman, 11/30)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Adventist Health Bakersfield Offering Vaccine Clinics For Children In December
Adventist Health Bakersfield will be offering free immunizations for children against vaccine-preventable diseases at the following sites in December: (11/30)
Sacramento Bee:
COVID: How Many Sacramento-Area Adults Have Had A Booster?
More than 350,000 residents of the four-county Sacramento region have received a COVID-19 booster dose but about two-thirds of eligible adults have yet to get one, as health officials strengthen calls for the general public to get boosted in light of the newly discovered omicron variant. Data from the California Department of Public Health show that, through Monday, about 31% of Californians eligible for a booster dose have gotten one. (McGough, 11/30)
Modesto Bee:
When Are You Fully Protected By Your COVID Booster Shot?
All adults in the U.S. are eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot of any of the three available coronavirus vaccines. But when can you officially benefit from the protection the extra dose offers?As is the case with your initial COVID-19 shots, it will take two weeks after receiving your booster for your body to produce as much coronavirus antibodies as the extra jab allows, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson told McClatchy News. (Camero, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Mayor Breed Appears Maskless In Another Nightclub Video. She Says She Didn’t Violate COVID Rules
Mayor London Breed was spotted dancing and singing along to live music without a mask at an indoor nightclub in San Francisco in another short video that appeared over the weekend and was widely distributed on social media. It reignited the debate over whether the mayor is following city health guidelines that she is asking residents and businesses to obey. Critics called out the mayor on the issue after a similar clip surfaced in September. (Vaziri, 11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
How L.A. Escape Room Owners Rebounded From COVID-19
Boarding a luxury train car on a weekday morning in Hollywood was once a rare occurrence. Before the pandemic, the leather-upholstered chairs, framed artwork, silver cocktail shakers, ornate keys and elaborate puzzles of the One Way Ticket escape room on Highland Avenue remained largely untouched until the evening hours. But soon after Maze Rooms reopened its Hollywood location earlier this year amid the COVID-19 crisis, escape room owners and spouses Ruslan Balashov and Natalie Lapidus saw a significant increase in weekday morning and afternoon appointments — often booked by folks experiencing unemployment and looking to escape not only a room, but also reality for a little while. (Carras, 12/01)
Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Two Unvaccinated Santa Cruz County Residents Die Around Thanksgiving
Shortly after the holiday weekend, the County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency confirmed two more COVID-19 deaths — bringing the pandemic’s local toll to 224 fatalities. HSA Spokesperson Corinne Hyland said Tuesday that neither individual was vaccinated. (Hartman, 12/01)
Bloomberg:
Amazon Accused Of Underreporting COVID Cases Contracted At Work
Amazon.com Inc. provided “misleading or grossly incomplete” data about the number of COVID-19 infections potentially spread in its U.S. facilities, according to a labor group that is calling on the federal government to investigate the company. Of the almost 20,000 employees the company said contracted the coronavirus last year, Amazon maintains that only 27 potentially caught it at work, according to the group known as the Strategic Organizing Center, which reviewed Amazon’s annual workplace illness and injury disclosures to the Department of Labor. Federal authorities last year required companies to report work-related COVID-19 cases. (Soper, 11/30)
CIDRAP:
Weak Immune Systems Tied To More COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections
While COVID-19 breakthrough infections—cases after vaccination—are rare, fully vaccinated people with compromised immune systems have them three times more often than those with strong immune systems and have more severe illnesses, according to a real-world US study involving nearly 1.3 million people. In the retrospective study, published today in the Journal of Medical Economics, a team led by researchers from Pfizer analyzed the health records of 1,277,747 people aged 16 or older who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Dec 10, 2020, to Jul 8, 2021. The latter part of the study period included the emergence of the Delta (B1617.2) variant in the United States. (Van Beusekom, 11/30)
CIDRAP:
Study Ties Long-Haul COVID-19 With Chronic Fatigue, Breathing Problems
Many COVID-19 survivors experience impaired circulation, abnormal breathing patterns, and chronic fatigue syndrome an average of 9 months after diagnosis, finds a small, single-center study yesterday in JACC: Heart Failure. In the first study to link long-haul COVID-19 with chronic fatigue syndrome, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai used cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and symptom reports to find the causes of shortness of breath in 23 women and 18 men with long-haul COVID. (11/30)
CIDRAP:
COVID-19 Infection Linked To Myocarditis In College Athletes
A small but significant percentage of college athletes with COVID-19 develop myocarditis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle, according to a study presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Myocarditis typically follows bacterial or viral infections. In college athletes, previous damage and scarring to the heart muscle caused by myocarditis has been linked to up to 20% of sudden athlete deaths. (11/30)
KHN:
For Older Adults, Smelling The Roses May Be More Difficult
The reports from covid-19 patients are disconcerting. Only a few hours before, they were enjoying a cup of pungent coffee or the fragrance of flowers in a garden. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, those smells disappeared. Young and old alike are affected — more than 80% to 90% of those diagnosed with the virus, according to some estimates. While most people recover in a few months, 16% take half a year or longer to do so, research has found. According to new estimates, up to 1.6 million Americans have chronic smell problems due to covid. (Judith Graham, 12/1)
KHN:
Watch: No Extra Resources For Children Orphaned By Covid
The number of U.S. deaths from covid-19 has surpassed 778,000. Left behind are tens of thousands of children — some orphaned — after their parents or a grandparent who cared for them died. In this report, co-produced with PBS NewsHour, KHN correspondent Sarah Varney looks at the risks these grieving children face to their well-being, both in the short and long term. No concerted government effort exists to help the estimated 140,000 children who have lost a parent — or even to identify them. (Sarah Varney and Jason Kane, 12/1)
Abortion and the Supreme Court
Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court Weighs Future Of Abortion In Mississippi Case
The Supreme Court’s new conservative majority will weigh in for the first time Wednesday on the future of abortion rights — hearing arguments that could determine whether it limits the scope of Roe vs. Wade or overturns it entirely. Mississippi’s Atty. Gen. Lynn Fitch is defending a state law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of a pregnancy, even though under Roe, abortion rights have been protected until about 24 weeks. (Savage, 12/01)
Axios:
Abortions Could Require 200-Mile Trips If Roe Is Overturned
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the average American could have to travel around 125 miles to reach the nearest abortion provider, compared to the current average of 25 miles, according to the Myers Abortion Facility database. 12 states will immediately restrict abortion if Roe disappears, and others would be likely to impose significant new restrictions. (Gonzalez, Wise and Oide, 12/1)
The Bakersfield Californian:
BC Reports High Rate Of Vaccinations For Students On Campus
With a month passed since its Nov. 1 deadline, Bakersfield College says it has processed either a proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or an exemption for more than 99 percent of students and employees on its campuses. Of the 9,407 students who attend class in-person on campuses, 317 were granted exemptions, according to college spokeswoman Norma Rojas-Mora. That’s 3.37 percent of the on-campus population of students. (Gallegos, 11/30)
Modesto Bee:
Turlock CA School Board On COVID-19 Mask Rules At Meetings
Turlock Unified trustees affirmed they will uphold public health guidelines on masks in a polarized meeting on Monday, though enforcement remains unclear. “We’ll cross that bridge if it should come,” Barney Gordon, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, told trustees. Superintendent Dana Trevethan told The Bee the board would propose a resolution requiring masks following the Nov. 16 meeting at which student board representatives were told to leave because community members and Trustee Jeffrey Cortinas refused to wear face coverings in accordance with state rules. Cortinas did not wear a mask on Monday and called the resolution a “trap.” (Isaacman, 11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
One San Diego School District Wants To Create An In-Person Option For Unvaccinated Students
The Alpine Union School District was one of the first San Diego County districts to reopen last school year during the pandemic and was one of a few that tried — unsuccessfully — to defy the state’s school mask rule, arguing that parents deserve to choose whether their kids wear masks. Now the small district is working on a way that students who don’t get a COVID-19 vaccine can still continue learning in person, even if vaccines are required by the state for in-person school attendance. (Taketa, 12/1)
CapRadio:
Cal State Requires Students To Be Vaccinated For COVID-19 — But It’s Not Evenly Enforced
In July, with the Delta variant of the coronavirus on the rise, California State University announced that all students and employees going to campus would need to prove they were vaccinated against the virus, or apply for a religious or medical exemption, no later than Sept. 30. The move by the nation’s largest four-year public university was driven by “the overarching goal of achieving population-level immunity throughout the CSU,” Cal State Chancellor Joseph Castro wrote. But while the vaccine mandate likely has helped avoid large outbreaks of COVID-19, it is being unevenly enforced across the system more than a month after the deadline. Some campuses barred students from in-person classes and on-campus buildings after they failed to upload proof of vaccination or request an exemption, while others allowed them to continue attending. (Huck, Shaikh and Mendoza, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Theranos Founder Emotional On Stand
Separated by 10 feet and a see-through, anti-COVID barrier, Elizabeth Holmes faced off against federal prosecutor Robert Leach for six hours Tuesday as Leach sought to highlight her alleged lies about the failed blood-testing startup and emphasize her decision-making role at the firm — while also showcasing the affection between Holmes and the former company president she yesterday accused of sexually abusing and controlling her.bTaking the witness stand for the fifth day, Holmes was at times gruff, the frequent small smiles she gave while answering her lawyers’ questions largely absent as she fought back against allegations that she deceived investors, retaliated against whistleblowers and controlled her purported abuser and ex-lover, rather than the other way around. (Baron, 11/30)
Media News Group:
Mental Health Tips Offered To Deal With Crisis
In the wake of Tuesday’s shooting at Oxford High School, Oakland Community Health Network is providing tips to manage stress and trauma associated with such a crisis. (Wingblad, 12/01)
Sacramento Bee:
Mental, Physical Health Risks Of Work From Home: CA Experts
Boundaries are broken down, people often experience isolation and loneliness and their physical health, in some cases, can suffer during prolonged remote work, California health experts said. Many Americans are nearing their second year of working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while this allows for more convenience and fewer commutes, teleworking has impacted the mental and physical health of many people, experts told The Bee. (Truong, 12/01)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Voters Frustrated, Impatient Over Homelessness Crisis
Amid deep frustration over widespread, visible homelessness, Los Angeles voters want the government to act faster and focus on shelter for people living in the streets, even if those efforts are short-term and fall short of permanent housing, a new poll of county voters shows. Most voters continue to express empathy for homeless people, but also impatience and disappointment with the region’s leadership, according to the poll, conducted by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute in cooperation with The Times. (Oreskes and Lauter, 12/01)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Supervisors Set Aside $64 Million For Anti-Displacement Program. But It Might Not Get Spent This Year
The Board of Supervisors approved spending $64 million to fund an existing program that buys small apartment buildings where residents are at risk of displacement. But Mayor London Breed opposed the plan and announced ahead of the vote Tuesday that the city would work on reforming the program. The city budgeted $77 million for the program this fiscal year. Supervisors had already set aside another $10 million to the program, and Breed pledged Tuesday to allocate up to $10 million more. (Moench, 11/30)
CNN:
Biden Will Mark World AIDS Day With New National HIV/AIDS Strategy
President Joe Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Wednesday by unveiling a new national HIV/AIDS strategy with the goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030, a senior administration official told CNN. The strategy -- something Biden had promised on the campaign trail -- will provide a "framework and direction for the administration's policies, research, the programs and planning through the year 2025 to lead us toward ending the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030," the official said. (Malloy and LeBlanc, 12/1)
USA Today:
Biden's HIV/AIDS Strategy To Include New Emphasis On Older Americans
President Joe Biden will unveil Wednesday a strategy for combatting HIV/AIDS that the administration says will have a new focus on the growing population of people with HIV who are aging, along with other changes. More than half of the1.2 million people in the United States who are living with HIV are over age 50. The plan will also recognize racism as a serious health threat, expand the focus on addressing issues like homelessness that make it hard to fight HIV/AIDS and encourage reform of state HIV criminalization laws. (Groppe, 12/1)
NBC News:
World AIDS Day: Is The World Closer To An HIV Vaccine In The Face Of Covid-19?
As Covid-19 brought nearly every corner of the Earth to a halt early last year, researchers around the world scrambled to develop a vaccine to fend off the deadly respiratory coronavirus. And just several months later — in a process that normally takes years — several vaccines were ready for worldwide distribution. In comparison, about 40 years since the earliest reports of what became known as AIDS, scientists are still scratching their heads to develop a vaccine against the virus that causes the life-threatening disease — HIV. (Lavietes, 12/1)
Stat:
Rates Of HIV Infection Among Black, Hispanic Men Unchanged In 10 Years
Despite numerous advances in the prevention of HIV, new data show that the rate of new infections among Black and Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men did not decline over the past decade. Officials say the finding, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underscores the need to address underlying social issues and gaps in the distribution of care even as public health initiatives continue to try to reduce HIV rates. (Bender, 11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Parkinson's Association To Host 4th Empowerment Day To Help Those Diagnosed With The Disease
Parkinson’s Association of San Diego will hold its fourth Empowerment Day conference on Wednesday, aiming to teach people living with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers how to live and thrive despite their diagnosis. The all-day event will feature a series of 15- to 20-minute long sessions led by a team of experts in the field of Parkinson’s disease. Their discussions will cover a variety of topics, including medications, exercises and stretches to help people cope with symptoms. (Mapp, 11/29)
Fox News:
FDA Approves 'Glowing Tumor' Drug To Help Surgeons Identify Ovarian Cancer Cells
Cytalux (pafolacianince), a drug that binds to ovarian cancer tissue and glows when exposed to fluorescent light, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help surgeons detect ovarian tumors during surgical procedures in patients. A Purdue University spokesperson told Fox News that Philip Low, Purdue University's Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery, invented the drug. Low described in a press release that when a surgeon turns on the near-infrared light during the surgery, "those lesions light up like stars against a night sky." (McGorry, 11/30)
AP:
New Lead Testing Method Could Reveal Higher Levels In Water
After the Flint water crisis, Michigan passed the country’s most aggressive lead measures, including more stringent testing of water. When using methods similar to what is currently required by the Environmental Protection Agency, testing of 170 systems in Michigan with lead lines resulted in 11 samples that exceeded the federal lead level requiring corrective action. When using another method like the one the EPA is reviewing and could soon mandate nationally, the figure doubled to 22. With an even more thorough testing method Michigan adopted, it climbed to 31. Other states are likely to see more elevated lead results as well under new testing; lead pipes still deliver water to millions of homes and businesses, a relic of the country’s outdated infrastructure. (Phillis, 11/30)
CBS News:
Teens Have Easier Access To Drugs As Illegal Trade Booms On Social Media
Last winter, Megan Macintosh found her 18-year-old son Chase unconscious after she says he experimented with pills. He died just over a month later, likely from a pill laced with fentanyl from an unknown source. Macintosh turned to his social media for answers. Looking through her son's Snapchat, she said she saw bags of pills and mushrooms. "I felt really helpless like there's really nothing I can do when I saw how prevalent it was, how many people were in his feed," she said. (Hanson, 11/30)
CNN:
Deodorant And Antiperspirant Recall: What The Finding Of The Cancer-Causing Chemical Benzene Means For You
Benzene, a known cancer-causing chemical, was found in over half of 108 batches of antiperspirant and deodorant body sprays from 30 different brands, according to a citizen's petition filed this month with the US Food and Drug Administration. Benzene should not be used in the manufacture of drug substances or products because it is a class one solvent with "unacceptable toxicity," according to the FDA. However, the FDA did allow a "temporary" use of benzene in liquid hand sanitizers during the pandemic, setting the upper limit to 2 parts per million. (LaMotte, 12/1)
Axios:
Massage, Facial, Pedicure... Intravenous Drip?
IV drips — the kind you might get if you're rushed to the hospital — are trending as a spa treatment, thanks in part to endorsements by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Madonna. Like other "wellness" trends with a whiff of medical imprimatur, IV nutrient drips can be harmless or mildly restorative — or go awry, particularly in the wrong hands. (Kingson, 12/1)
Modesto Bee:
Here’s How To Prevent Glasses From Fogging In The Winter
As the weather gets colder and mask wearing continues as new COVID-19 variants emerge, those who wear glasses may face an unwelcome challenge. We’re talking about your eyeglasses fogging up. It’s a pesky problem many people face as they wear glasses and a mask, but there are ways to prevent it. (Stunson, 11/30)