San Francisco Chronicle: SFO Is First US Airport To Screen Airplane Wastewater For COVID
San Francisco International Airport has become the first in the United States to begin a government program to monitor airplane wastewater samples for new coronavirus variants. The initiative, created in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will regularly collect combined wastewater flows from international arriving flights using an automatic sampling device and send them off to a laboratory for testing for emergent strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. (Vaziri, 5/9)

Los Angeles Daily News: Three Years Later, COVID ‘Patient Zero’ Returns To LA Hospital That Saved His Life 
Three years since his miraculous death-defying recovery Gregg Garfield, aka COVID Patient Zero, returned to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank on Monday, May 8, to thank the staff who nursed him back to life. Garfield was given a 1% chance of survival when he was admitted to the ICU after contracting COVID-19 during a ski trip to the Italian Dolomites in February of 2020. (Harter, 5/9)

The Washington Post: End Of Covid Emergency Highlights U.S. Weakness In Tracking Outbreaks
When the covid public health emergency ends May 11, laboratories across the United States will no longer be required to report coronavirus test results to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitals and state health departments, too, will report less comprehensive data, making it more difficult for the federal agency responsible for detecting and responding to public health threats to protect Americans. (Sun, 5/10)

Reuters: Biden Revokes COVID Travel, Federal Employee Vaccine Requirements 
President Joe Biden on Tuesday revoked requirements that most international visitors to the United States be vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as similar rules for federal employees and contractors. Biden's orders take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET May 12 with the expiration of the U.S. COVID public health emergency. The Biden administration's rules imposed in September 2021 requiring about 3.5 million federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated or face firing or disciplinary action have not been enforced for over a year after a series of court rulings. (Shepardson, 5/9)

CIDRAP: Antibodies Spiked Then Waned After Pfizer, Moderna COVID Vaccines, But J&J Response Was Opposite 
In a head-to-head comparison today in Scientific Reports, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) researchers describe very different antibody responses to the monovalent (single-strain) Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines up to 6 months after receipt. (Van Beusekom, 5/9)

CIDRAP: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Reduces Severe Fatigue In Long-COVID Patients 
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) lessens fatigue and improves concentration among long-COVID patients, finds a Dutch randomized controlled trial published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 5/9)

Modern Healthcare: Oscar Health To Exit California Health Insurance Market
Oscar Health plans to halt sales on the Covered California health insurance exchange at the end of year as new CEO Mark Bertolini reevaluates the company's position, executives told investors Tuesday. (Tepper, 5/9)

Sacramento Business Journal: Sutter Health In Talks To Acquire Sansum Clinic In Santa Barbara 
The Sacramento-based hospital system and Santa Barbara-based Sansum Clinic recently announced that discussions about forming an exclusive partnership were underway. (Hamann, 5/9)

Sacramento Business Journal: Roseville-Based Adventist Health Reports 2022 Loss Of $557M 
Adventist Health continued to operate at a loss in 2022, which, combined with a loss in value to its investment portfolio, led the Roseville-based health care system to record a $557 million net loss last year. (Hamann, 5/9)

Bloomberg: US Extends Use Of Telehealth For Drugs Like Adderall, Xanax 
Health-care providers can prescribe controlled substances online through Nov. 11, according an advance copy of a rule posted online Tuesday. In addition, practitioners who establish relationships with patients on or prior to that date can continue to prescribe controlled substances for an additional year. (Swetlitz and Belloni, 5/9)

Los Angeles Times: Expert Panel That Sparked Mammogram Controversy Now Says Tests Should Start At 40 
A new look at the science of preventing breast cancer deaths promises to reshape when, and how many, mammograms American women will get — again. An influential panel intends to recommend that U.S. women begin mammograms to screen for breast cancer at 40 and continue getting them once every two years until age 75. Doing so is expected to reduce the number of breast cancer deaths by 19% compared with following the mammography regimen it previously endorsed. (Healy, 5/9)

CNN: As FDA Advisers Consider OTC Birth-Control Pill, Agency Scientists Worry It Won’t Work Due To Women’s Weight And Likelihood Of Following Label
The FDA scientists say they have two main concerns about Opill, a “mini pill” that uses only the hormone progestin. One has to do with obesity. The FDA approved Opill as a prescription drug in 1973, and “the prevalence of obesity in adults in the United States has changed dramatically since the original clinical studies were conducted over 50 years ago,” the scientists wrote in the document, citing a 13% obesity rate in 1960 compared with a 42% obesity rate now. (Cohen and Sealy, 5/9)

Military.com: Mifepristone Probably Won't Work As A Treatment For Combat PTSD, New Study Finds
More than a decade ago, the now controversial medication mifepristone showed promise for alleviating symptoms of service-related post-traumatic stress disorder in men. A new study published Tuesday, however, counters previous research, determining that, in most cases, the drug used in medication abortions currently facing judicial review in the U.S. court system is no more effective for treating military PTSD than a placebo. (Kime, 5/9)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara University Unveils Narcan Vending Machine
As lawmakers in Sacramento debate solutions to the fentanyl crisis, public health students at Santa Clara University unveiled their own unique approach on Tuesday: a free on-campus vending machine that dispenses canisters of the opioid-overdose reversing medication Narcan to anyone who wants it. It’s the first of its type on a Bay Area campus, with Stanford University expected to introduce one in a few weeks. (Nickerson, 5/9)

Los Angeles Times: Inmates Leaving California Prisons May Be Armed With Narcan 
More than 80% of inmates released in California between April 2020 and June 2022 departed with antidote kits and the training that goes with them, according to a January study by corrections officials. Acceptance has continued to grow, with 95% of departing inmates accepting Narcan in July 2022, the most recent month with data. (Thompson, 5/10)

Los Angeles Times: 18-Year-Old Dies Of Overdose In L.A. County Juvenile Hall 
A state oversight agency issued a report Tuesday calling for Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls to be shuttered in the wake of a staffing crisis and reports of increased violence and drug use, just hours after an 18-year-old was found dead of an apparent overdose in one of the deteriorating facilities. (Queally, 5/9)

Fresno Bee: Homeless Student Population In Fresno Unified Grew In 2022
Fresno Unified saw a 30% jump in its homeless student population this school year, according to the California Department of Education’s 2022-23 enrollment data. (Morano, 5/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Moves To Shut Down RV Site For Homeless Near The Bayview
San Francisco’s plans to close an RV homeless shelter on the outskirts of the Bayview are prompting outcry from city supervisors who want to keep the site open. City officials say they need to wind down the three-year-old shelter consisting of dozens of RVs and trailers on a gravel lot at Pier 94 to return the property to Port of San Francisco, which typically uses the area for industrial purposes but allowed it to temporarily house homeless people starting in the early days of the pandemic in April 2020. (Morris, 5/10)

Capitol Weekly: Sexual Assault Evidence In California: A Slow Moving Story 
Almost a year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure (SB 215) allowing survivors of sexual assault to track and receive updates regarding the status of their sexual assault evidence kit, its authors are optimistic about the outcome. Senator Anthony Portantino (D), a coauthor of the bill, says, “We’re getting good data to show that it’s working.” (McCarville, 5/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mystery Deepens Over Hazmat Mercury Spill At Bay Area Train Station
Martinez police Tuesday said they still don’t know how 1 pound of liquid mercury ended up near a public garbage can at the East Bay city’s new Amtrak train station. Firefighters spotted a silvery puddle in the train station parking lot Monday afternoon and closed the station while the county’s hazmat team launched a cleanup. In addition to the police, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was also investigating the hazardous spill. (Johnson, 5/9)

Los Angeles Times: Vice President Harris withdraws from MTV event near L.A. that would have forced her to cross writers’ picket line
Vice President Kamala Harris has pulled out of an MTV mental health awareness appearance in Carson next week, her first planned appearance in her home state since she and President Biden announced their reelection campaign. She was scheduled to appear alongside a surprise celebrity guest and young leaders on May 18 at Cal State Dominguez Hills for a town hall to raise awareness of Mental Health Action Day. (Subramanian, Mehta and Logan, 5/9)

Politico: Here's Who Misses Checks If The U.S. Hits The Debt Brink In June
If the U.S. defaults on its debt for the first time ever, tens of billions of dollars in Social Security benefits, federal salaries, payments to Medicaid providers, veterans’ benefits and more could all be at risk. (Emma, 5/9)

AP: Biden: Debt Meeting ‘Productive,’ Default ‘Not An Option’
Fresh off a White House meeting with no serious breakthrough on the debt limit standoff, President Joe Biden is launching a new phase of his pressure campaign against House Republicans as he makes his case that lawmakers should lift the nation’s borrowing authority without any strings attached. (Min Kin, 5/10)

Stat: Gilead Defeats CDC In Battle Over Patents For HIV Prevention Pills
A federal jury handed a major win to Gilead Sciences on Tuesday in a closely watched battle with the U.S. government over the rights to groundbreaking HIV prevention pills. The jury decided Gilead did not infringe on patents held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, in fact, that the agency’s patents were invalid. The CDC helped fund academic research into HIV prevention that later formed the basis for the pills. The Department of Health and Human Services contended that Gilead refused to reach a licensing agreement despite several attempts to reach a deal. (Silverman, 5/9)

Roll Call: Lawmakers Push For PEPFAR To Stay Steady During Time Of Change
Now entering its 21st year, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the largest commitment by a country to eliminate a disease, is considered a government success story, credited with major advancements in combating HIV/AIDS globally. But this year, eight provisions of the law also known as PEPFAR are up for reauthorization, making it a key health measure up for congressional consideration. (Raman, 5/9)