Right now’s early morning highlights from the main information organizations.
KHN:
Despite Seniors’ Strong Desire To Age In Place, The Village Model Remains A Boutique Option
Twenty years in the past, a bunch of pioneering older adults in Boston created an progressive group for folks dedicated to getting old in place: Beacon Hill Village, an all-in-one social membership, volunteer collective, exercise heart, peer-to-peer help group, and community for varied providers. Its message of “we wish to age our means in our houses and our group” was groundbreaking on the time and commanded widespread consideration. Villages would mobilize neighbors to serve neighbors, anchor older adults of their communities, and grow to be a vital a part of the infrastructure for getting old in place in America, specialists predicted. (Graham, 3/14)
KHN:
Listen: An Unsettling Investigation Into The Closure Of A Chain Of Pain Clinics
Final spring, Lags Medical Facilities, a sprawling chain of ache clinics serving greater than 20,000 sufferers in California, abruptly shuttered amid a cloaked state investigation into “credible allegations of fraud.” Tens of hundreds of sufferers have been left scrambling for care, most of them low-income Californians coated by state and federal insurance coverage applications. Many have struggled for entry to their medical data and to seek out medical doctors who would renew long-standing opioid prescriptions. Within the months since, the state has declined to elaborate on the considerations that prompted its investigation, which is ongoing. (3/14)
KHN:
Listen: What We’ve Learned After Two Years Of The Pandemic
CNN’s Brian Stelter marks the two-year anniversary of the pandemic on his “Dependable Sources” podcast in dialog with KHN Editor-in-Chief Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal and James Hamblin, a former workers author at The Atlantic. The journalists talk about how society grappled with the trauma of the covid-19 pandemic and the governmental missteps that compounded that trauma. “Everybody has skilled the struggling of the pandemic in his or her or their very own means,” stated Rosenthal, “and a lot of it feels pointless had we had a robust nationwide response.” Particularly, Rosenthal cited the failure to trace well being care staff misplaced on the entrance line and poisonous politics that undermined public well being businesses all through the nation. (3/11)
The Hill:
Barack Obama Tests Positive For COVID-19
Former President Obama shared on Sunday that he had examined optimistic for COVID-19 after experiencing some signs for “a pair days.” “I simply examined optimistic for COVID. I’ve had a scratchy throat for a pair days, however am feeling effective in any other case. Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and he or she has examined adverse,” Obama tweeted. “It’s a reminder to get vaccinated should you haven’t already, at the same time as instances go down.” (Choi, 3/13)
CNN:
Barack Obama Tests Positive For Covid
Obama, 60, had not too long ago returned to Washington, DC, after spending a lot of the winter in Hawaii. He examined optimistic in DC, an individual near him stated. The analysis makes Obama the second US President recognized to contract the virus after then-President Donald Trump introduced he examined optimistic in October 2020, which was earlier than vaccines have been broadly out there within the US. (Saenz, 3/13)
CNN:
A 4th Dose Of Covid-19 Vaccine Will Be Needed, Pfizer’s CEO Says, But The Company Is Working On A Shot To Handle All Variants
To assist fend off one other wave of Covid-19, folks will want a fourth dose of vaccine, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla instructed CBS on Sunday. “Many variants are coming, and Omicron was the primary one which was capable of evade — in a skillful means — the immune safety that we’re giving,” Bourla instructed CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The safety we’re getting from the third (dose) it’s ok — really fairly good for hospitalizations and deaths,” Bourla stated. However safety after three doses is “not that good in opposition to infections” and “would not final very lengthy” when confronted with a variant like Omicron. (Christensen and Yan, 3/13)
Axios:
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla: Fourth Shot Of COVID Vaccine “Is Necessary”
A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can be vital to be able to keep manageable ranges of hospitalizations and gentle infections, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla instructed CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Whereas fourth doses are already licensed for some immunocompromised folks, NIAID director Anthony Fauci stated final month that the opportunity of one other spherical of boosters was being “very rigorously monitored.” (Saric, 3/13)
AP:
In America, A Few Days In March 2020 Echo Two Years Later
The conversations went like this: It will likely be just some days. It may be saved at bay. There can be some inconvenience, certain, however the world will merely be paused — only a quick break, out of an abundance of warning, and positively not any sort of main grinding to a halt. Actually not for 2 years. Actually not for a whole bunch of hundreds of People who have been amongst us at that second in mid-March 2020 — who lived by the start, watched it, apprehensive about it (or didn’t), and who, plain and easy, aren’t right here anymore. (Anthony, 3/13)
Vanity Fair:
After Two Years Of Pandemic Life, A Sense Of Optimism, And Caution
It started, for many People, as reviews of a “mysterious, pneumonialike sickness” in China, buried deep within the information, below Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial and the Democratic major marketing campaign path. The truth of the state of affairs would set in all of the sudden and seismically, on at some point — March 11, 2020 — when, in speedy succession, the World Well being Group formally declared COVID-19 a pandemic; Trump introduced a 30-day journey restriction from Europe in a primetime handle; the NBA abruptly suspended its season; and Tom Hanks introduced he and Rita Wilson had examined optimistic for the virus. Progressively, after which abruptly, life modified: “It’s going to worsen,” Dr. Anthony Fauci instructed a Home committee that day, precisely two years in the past immediately. (Lutz, 3/11)
The New York Times:
The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Lasted 2 Years. The Next Steps Are Divisive.
It was two years in the past that the World Well being Group declared Covid-19 a pandemic, and after practically a million deaths throughout the US, the virus is way from gone. Charges of recent infections, whereas enhancing, are nonetheless increased now than the start of final summer time. However after indicators of progress and exhaustion, even cities and states with the strictest coronavirus precautions have been rolling them again. For thousands and thousands of People who saved their masks on and socially distanced lengthy after a lot of the nation deserted security measures, it’s a second that has stirred aid, but additionally disappointment, frustration and queasy ambivalence. (Healy and Wong, 3/12)
CNN:
Here’s What Could Lie Ahead For The Third Year Of The Pandemic
Issues appear to be trying up because the US crosses into yr three of the Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccines nonetheless do job of protecting folks alive and out of the hospital. There’s rising entry to checks and coverings. The numbers of instances, hospitalizations and deaths are on the right track. If residing in a Covid world has taught us something, nevertheless, it is that the coronavirus can shock even the neatest public well being specialists, and the world actually is not out of the woods but. A brand new variant might simply develop and slip previous the safety of present remedies and vaccines, setting us again to what life was like in 2020. That makes it onerous to foretell what occurs subsequent week, not to mention in just a few months. Nonetheless, based mostly on what they’re seeing now, this is what the specialists assume might occur within the subsequent yr of the pandemic. (Christensen, 3/13)
Anchorage Daily News:
Two Years After COVID-19 Reached Alaska, Many Are Ready To Move On. But The Pandemic Persists.
Two years in the past, Alaska recognized its first COVID-19 case. Now, because the pandemic enters its third yr, many Alaskans are desperate to shake off the lengthy pall of tension, sickness and shutdowns and get again to no matter passes for regular. Most authorities mandates are gone. Vaccines are broadly out there for individuals who need them. Case counts and COVID-linked hospitalizations are down. (Berman and Hollander, 3/13)
NBC News:
Covid Almost Killed Her. As Others’ Lives Return To Normal, She Wonders: Will Hers?
Tionna Hairston was on her third try to twist a cap off a bottle of water. It was a Friday morning in late February and the 26-year-old, nonetheless in her nightgown, wanted to take her treatment. The drugs have grow to be part of her day by day life since she had a coronary heart assault and a number of strokes — problems of Covid-19. Hairston’s strokes ravaged her effective motor abilities, making something that calls for a decent grip a supply of frustration. (Chuck, 3/13)
AP:
For Kids With COVID-19, Everyday Life Can Be A Struggle
Eight-year-old Brooklynn Chiles fidgets on the hospital mattress as she waits for the nurse at Youngsters’s Nationwide Hospital. The white paper beneath her crinkles as she shifts to have a look at the medical objects within the room. She’s had coronavirus 3 times, and nobody can work out why. Brooklynn’s fortunate, kind of. Every time she has examined optimistic, she has suffered no apparent signs. However her dad, Rodney, caught the virus — presumably from her — when she was optimistic again in September, and he died from it. (Lengthy and Kaster, 3/14)
CIDRAP:
Kids With Asthma Not At Higher Risk Of COVID-19, Study Finds
Youngsters and adolescents identified as having bronchial asthma are at related threat for COVID-19 an infection as these with out bronchial asthma, in line with a examine immediately in Pediatrics that managed for elements tied to SARS-CoV-2 testing. (Van Beusekom, 3/11)
CIDRAP:
COVID Vaccine Uptake Low In Young US Kids In First Months Of Availability
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) stated COVID-19 vaccine uptake amongst youngsters 5 to 11 years outdated in the US remained low in the course of the first 11 weeks of vaccine eligibility, particularly in excessive social vulnerability index (SVI) areas. The analysis was revealed immediately in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). (3/11)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Pandemic Isolation Left Young Children Behind On Social Skills. How One Cincinnati Provider Is Catching Them Up
The girl fell into tears as she instructed a youngsters’s behavioral well being knowledgeable that her 4-year-old son was now not permitted to attend a preschool as a result of he didn’t behave effectively. How might she preserve working and take care of her youngster? “We now have households who actually have needed to stop their job,” stated April Kandil, director of campus-based applications at Finest Level Schooling and Behavioral Well being. “They’re instructed, ‘Your youngster cannot be at school proper now due to their behaviors.'” (DeMio, 3/13)
NPR:
What’s The COVID Risk In Your Area? CDC Maps Leave Some People Confused
Cindy Watson would really like some readability from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Madison County, Iowa, the place she lives, is categorized as having “low” COVID ranges on the company’s new lookup instrument for COVID-19 Neighborhood Ranges – it is even coloured an inviting inexperienced on the map. However when she seemed on the company’s current map of COVID transmission ranges, the identical county – and far of the nation – was vibrant purple and categorised as “excessive.” (Stone and Simmons-Duffin, 3/12)
The Hill:
Lofgren Second House Dem To Test Positive For COVID-19 After Retreat
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) examined optimistic for a COVID-19 breakthrough case on Sunday, changing into the second lawmaker contaminated with the virus after attending the Home Democratic retreat this previous week. Lofgren, 74, wrote on Twitter that she bought examined in accordance with post-travel protocol, and was experiencing gentle signs. She stated she is isolating and can work at home. (Schnell, 3/13)
Miami Herald:
Recall Of Counterfeit Flowflex COVID-19 Rapid Home Test
ACON Laboratories needs U.S. customers to make use of its “Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Residence Check,” not its “Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Speedy Check (Self-Testing)“ as a result of the latter is a counterfeit check — in the US. As ACON defined in its FDA-posted recall discover, it is aware of about “the U.S. distribution of unauthorized, adulterated and misbranded counterfeit product” with the Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 packaging. “ACON Laboratories will not be importing the “Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Speedy Check (Self-Testing)” into the U.S. as it’s only licensed on the market in Europe and different markets,” the alert says. (Neal, 3/13)
AP:
US Ends Asylum Restrictions For Children Traveling Alone
Unaccompanied youngster migrants attempting to enter the US will now not be denied an opportunity to hunt asylum below new steerage introduced by U.S. well being authorities. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, in saying the change late Friday evening, stated “that expulsion of unaccompanied noncitizen youngsters will not be warranted to guard the general public well being.” (3/12)
Politico:
‘You Will See The Wrath’ — Progressives Warn Biden Against Cutting Down Agenda
President Joe Biden’s imaginative and prescient for constructing an unlimited “care economic system” has collapsed — and Democrats concern their get together’s political benefit with dad and mom and caregivers might find yourself as collateral injury. Greater than a yr into his time period, Biden’s plan to speculate a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} into youngster and eldercare applications is on the congressional backburner. An expanded tax credit score that dramatically decreased youngster poverty expired and is unlikely to be revived. And the administration’s ambitions for guaranteeing free pre-kindergarten and paid household go away are struggling to realize widespread traction in Congress. (Cancryn and Daniels, 3/12)
Politico:
Budget Deal Is Latest Sign Of Democrats’ Empty Weed Promises
On the point of gaining management in Washington, Sen. Chuck Schumer stated emphatically in 2020 that “I’m going to do EVERYTHING I can to finish the federal prohibition on marijuana” if Democrats took again the Senate. However 14 months since successful, Senate Democrats haven’t even succeeded at altering the little issues. (Fertig, 3/13)
The 19th:
Nursing Home Workers Praise Reforms Proposed In State Of The Union
President Joe Biden final week rolled out an formidable set of proposals to enhance the standard of America’s nursing houses. The plan, launched upfront of the State of the Union handle, guarantees to extend federal workers ratio necessities, tighten an infection management and take different measures to enhance circumstances within the locations which have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed reforms would have an effect on not simply the residents of nursing houses, but additionally the workers staff — the vast majority of whom are ladies, disproportionately ladies of shade — who’ve saved these facilities working by unprecedented instances. (Luterman, 3/11)
Stat:
CMS Administrator Pushes For Congress To Act On Drug Prices
When Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the Biden official who oversees the Medicare and Medicaid medical insurance applications, sat down with New York authorities officers and reporters on Friday morning it was already, maybe, a historic occasion. “I don’t know if the CMS administrator has ever visited Washington Heights,” stated Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president. Sadly, other than the truth that the dialog was taking place within the bustling neighborhood at Manhattan’s apex, little historical past was made. As a substitute there was broad settlement that top drug costs are an enormous well being drawback, even when it isn’t clear what fast steps may be taken to manage them. (Herper, 3/11
The 19th:
Abortion Providers’ Main Legal Challenge To Texas’ Six-Week Abortion Ban Is Effectively Over
The U.S. Supreme Courtroom has declined to dam the legislation. In December, it dominated that abortion suppliers might problem the legislation, however solely on very slender grounds. The Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority dominated abortion suppliers might sue state medical licensing officers — well being boards, for instance — which are empowered to penalize well being care suppliers who violate the abortion ban. However in a loss for the suppliers, the justices stated they may not sue state officers who helped course of the civil lawsuits that represent SB 8’s principal penalty. On the time, authorized specialists instructed that the choice considerably weakened abortion suppliers’ odds of finally getting the legislation blocked. And the Friday resolution from the Texas Supreme Courtroom suggests they have been proper. (Luthra and Rodriguez, 3/11)
AP:
Texas Clinics’ Lawsuit Over Abortion Ban ‘Effectively Over’
The Texas Supreme Courtroom on Friday dealt primarily a closing blow to abortion clinics’ greatest hopes of stopping a restrictive legislation that has sharply curtailed the variety of abortions within the state since September and can now absolutely keep in place for the foreseeable future. The ruling by the all-Republican courtroom was not sudden, however it slammed the door on what little path ahead the U.S. Supreme Courtroom had allowed Texas clinics after having twice declined to cease a ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of being pregnant. (Weber and Stengle, 3/11)
Modern Healthcare:
Jury Sides With Sutter Health In Federal Antitrust Case
A jury sided with Sutter Well being on Friday within the long-running federal lawsuit accusing the well being system of anticompetitive enterprise practices that drove up healthcare prices by greater than $400 million. The unanimous verdict means Sacramento, California-based Sutter has efficiently defended in opposition to claims that it illegally pressured insurers to incorporate all 24 of its hospitals of their contracts, a observe referred to as tying. The ten-member jury additionally discovered Sutter didn’t pressure well being plans into contracts that prevented them from steering sufferers to lower-cost, non-Sutter hospitals. (Bannow, 3/11)
Bloomberg:
Sanofi Cancer Drug Fails Test In Blow To Possible Blockbuster
Sanofi’s experimental most cancers drugs amcenestrant failed in an intermediate medical check for breast most cancers, dealing a blow to one of many French drugmaker’s potential future blockbusters. The sufferers who bought the drug, fairly than endocrine therapy, didn’t reside longer with out the illness progressing — a key profit measure referred to as progession-free survival — within the part 2 trial, Sanofi stated Monday. The inventory fell as a lot as 6.2% in Paris buying and selling, the steepest drop in virtually two years. (Fourcasde and Loh, 3/14)
AP:
Tulane To Study Estrogen’s Contradictory Dementia Effects
A five-year examine by the Tulane College Mind Institute will concentrate on understanding why estrogen remedy helps shield some ladies from age-related mind issues, whereas different ladies don’t profit from the remedy. The $14 million examine can be funded by the Nationwide Institute on Getting older of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, the college stated in a Monday information launch. The college notes that estrogen remedy might not profit all ladies, particularly these with hypertension and Sort 2 diabetes. (3/12)
The Washington Post:
The Most-Fit Are 33 Percent Less Likely To Develop Alzheimer’s, Report Says
The more healthy you might be, the much less doubtless you could be to develop Alzheimer’s illness — with those that are probably the most match having a 33 % decrease threat for this dementia than the least match, in line with a report back to be offered to the American Academy of Neurology at its annual assembly subsequent month. (Searing, 3/13)
Stat:
What To Know About Amylyx’s ALS Drug And A Closely Watched Meeting
Amylyx Prescribed drugs is one heck of an encore. On March 30, the Meals and Drug Administration is bringing collectively exterior specialists in neurology to assessment an experimental drug from Amylyx for the therapy of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The listening to is predicted to be carefully watched by ALS sufferers and their advocates, given the numerous want for brand new remedies for the illness. However the listening to is prone to garner additional consideration as a result of it’s the primary assembly of the FDA advisory group because it met in November 2020 and voted unanimously in opposition to the approval of Aduhelm, Biogen’s drug for Alzheimer’s illness. The FDA later ignored that advice and permitted the treatment, resulting in the resignation of three members of the panel and an uproar over whether or not the company had compromised its requirements. (Feuerstein, 3/14)
Stat:
Will Medicaid Patients Be Able To Access Gene Therapies For Sickle Cell?
Gary Puckrein sees a dilemma coming that has him excited, and on the identical time, apprehensive. Within the subsequent yr or so, U.S. regulators might approve gene therapies – one developed by Vertex Prescribed drugs, and one other by Bluebird Bio – to deal with sickle cell illness, an inherited group of blood problems that have an effect on an estimated 100,000 People. The situation is especially prevalent amongst Black folks, with 1 of each 365 Black people within the U.S. born with the situation, which might trigger vital ache, infections, and result in an early demise. Any therapy could be welcome information, particularly since a gene remedy holds the promise of eradicating the sickness with probably only one therapy. However gene therapies are broadly anticipated to return with a excessive price ticket — and it’s estimated that roughly 40% of sickle cell sufferers are coated by Medicaid. That’s elevating concern that state Medicaid officers might quickly face a wrestle for protection. (Silverman, 3/14)
ABC News:
Colorectal Cancer Screenings Urged As US Deaths Could Top 52,000 This Year
Colorectal most cancers is predicted to say the lives of greater than 52,000 People this yr, in line with the American Most cancers Society. Because of this, because the world tries to return to a kind of normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic, medical doctors say well being screenings — notably for most cancers — must be made an pressing precedence. (Sharma, 3/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
Puff Bar, Other E-Cigarette Makers To Get More Scrutiny Under Spending Bill
The Meals and Drug Administration will achieve authority over Puff Bar and different e-cigarettes made with artificial nicotine below the federal government spending invoice anticipated to be signed by President Biden. The invoice closes a loophole that allowed Puff Bar to remain in the marketplace—and soar in recognition amongst youngsters—regardless of an order from the FDA to cease promoting its fruity, disposable vaporizers. After the company’s order in 2020, Puff Bar reformulated its merchandise to make use of nicotine that wasn’t derived from tobacco. The FDA regulates tobacco merchandise and smoking-cessation units corresponding to nicotine gum, however synthetic-nicotine vaporizers haven’t fallen below its jurisdiction, till now. (Maloney, 3/13)
Bloomberg:
Texas Rule Targeting Transgender Kids Blocked By Judge For Now
Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s effort to crack down on most health-care practices for transgender youngsters was briefly blocked statewide by a choose who dominated the Republican exceeded his authority. Abbott’s Feb. 22 directive to the Texas Division of Household and Protecting Companies to contemplate gender-affirming take care of minors to be “youngster abuse” violates the separation of powers as a result of it has the impact of a brand new legislation “with out new laws,” Decide Amy Clark Meachum stated Friday in Austin. (Larson, 3/11)
CBS News:
Florida And Texas Governors Face Business Backlash Over Anti-LGBTQ Moves
One other struggle over LGBTQ rights is enjoying out in Texas, the place corporations together with Apple, Alphabet, Johnson & Johnson, Macy’s and REI have signed onto an advert condemning an order by Gov. Greg Abbott that equates gender-affirming well being take care of transgender youngsters to youngster abuse. “Discrimination is dangerous for enterprise,” declare the digital adverts and full-page commercial in Friday’s Dallas Morning Information. (Gibson, 3/11)
The Washington Post:
Disney To Pause All Political Donations In The Wake Of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
Disney introduced on Friday that it might pause all political donations in Florida within the wake of a controversial state invoice that restricts dialogue of LGBTQ points in public colleges. Over the previous few weeks, the corporate had obtained criticism for remaining silent about what critics name the “don’t say homosexual” invoice, which is predicted to be signed into legislation by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). In an announcement despatched to staff on Friday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek additionally introduced that the corporate would improve help for advocacy teams combating related legal guidelines elsewhere (corresponding to one not too long ago launched in Georgia) and would reassess Disney’s political donation insurance policies. (Ables, 3/12)
Bloomberg:
Missouri Anti-Abortion Bill Sows Confusion Over Ectopic Pregnancies
State lawmakers across the nation are ramping up efforts to curtail abortion in all varieties. However one Missouri invoice particularly is drawing ire for criminalizing using sure medicine to deal with ectopic pregnancies, which should not viable and probably life-threatening. This is a fast rundown on the medical points related to the situation and the way it matches into the present abortion debate. (Ceron and Muller, 3/11)
AP:
Invasive Ant That Can Deliver Painful Sting Found In Indiana
An invasive ant that may ship a painful sting has been present in Indiana for the primary time, a Purdue College insect knowledgeable says. The Asian needle ant has traveled southern states like Florida and Georgia for a number of years. However it was not too long ago found within the Evansville space — the furthest north the ant has ventured, stated Timothy Gibb, a Purdue College entomologist. (3/13)
AP:
Assisted Living Facility Worker Charged After Woman’s Death
An worker of an Iowa assisted residing facility is now going through prices associated to the Jan. 21 demise of a 77-year-old resident. KCCI-TV reviews that 30-year-old Catherine Forkpa of Ankeny has been charged with dependent grownup abuse and intentional reckless abuse. (3/13)
AP:
Officials: Legionella Detected At 2 Illinois Prisons
Legionella micro organism has been detected at two Illinois Division of Corrections services. Routine water testing this week discovered legionella on the Stateville Correctional Middle and Joliet Remedy Middle, the Illinois departments of Public Well being and Corrections introduced Friday. (3/12)
Omaha World-Herald:
Omaha City Council Will Consider Stripping Health Director Of Pandemic Authority
A proposal heading earlier than the Omaha Metropolis Council on Tuesday would strip decision-making powers from the town well being director within the occasion of an epidemic. Beneath the proposed ordinance, the town well being director would solely have the ability to certify the presence of an epidemic. After a risk is acknowledged, a newly established particular epidemic well being director could be liable for arising with a plan to handle it. (Stephens, 3/12)
AP:
W. Virginia Senate Blows Deadline To Pass Teaching Race Bill
The West Virginia Legislature’s Republican supermajority did not go a controversial invoice proscribing how race is taught in public colleges as a result of they missed a midnight deadline within the closing moments of the 2022 session, a state Senate spokesperson confirmed early Sunday. Lawmakers had spent weeks in the course of the legislative session debating and advancing proposed payments just like the “Anti-Racism Act of 2022.” It wasn’t instantly clear why Republicans waited till late Saturday to take the ultimate vote. The act had handed the Senate and Home overwhelmingly, and the late-night vote was merely to greenlight the Home’s model. (Willingham, 3/13)
CBS News:
Ukraine Says Power Has Been Restored To Chernobyl Plant
Ukraine says it has restored a damaged energy line to the Chernobyl energy plant, which in 1986 was the positioning of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe. The plant is at the moment held by Russian troops. Vitality Minister Herman Halushchenko stated that “heroes” from the nationwide energy grid firm managed to revive the connection. The facility is used to run pumps that preserve spent nuclear gasoline cool to stop radiation leaks. (3/13)
Axios:
The Other Lurking Threat To America’s Public Health
Former federal officers are warning that the U.S. is not prepared for the opportunity of organic warfare, simply because it failed to organize for pandemics, and that it is time to make investments extra in countermeasures. Although there isn’t any fast risk, concern that Russia might use organic or chemical weapons in opposition to Ukraine underscores the necessity to put together for worst-case eventualities. “We must be ready to have the ability to reply to the following disaster, no matter that may be. It could be one other rising infectious illness, it might be an intentional biochemical occasion … we will not predict that,” stated Robert Kadlec, who was the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response in the course of the Trump administration. (Owens, 3/14)
Reuters:
Flow Of Health Supplies Is Reaching Ukraine, WHO Says
A movement of medical gear and gear, together with trauma kits, is reaching Ukraine to prop up a well being care system grappling with a scarcity of provides amid Russia’s invasion, the World Well being Group stated on Monday. Provide chains have been severely disrupted, with many distributors knocked out, some stockpiles out of attain due to army operations, provides of medication working low, as hospitals wrestle to take care of the sick and wounded, it stated. …WHO was working with companions to alleviate shortages of crucial gear and drugs corresponding to oxygen and insulin, surgical provides, anaesthetics, and transfusion kits, it added. (3/14)
AP:
Pregnant Woman, Baby Die After Russia Bombed Maternity Ward
A pregnant lady and her child have died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital the place she was meant to present beginning, The Related Press has realized. Pictures of the lady being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomizing the horror of an assault on humanity’s most harmless. In video and images shot Wednesday by AP journalists after the assault on the hospital, the lady was seen stroking her bloodied decrease stomach as rescuers rushed her by the rubble within the besieged metropolis of Mariupol, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had simply occurred. It was among the many most brutal moments thus far in Russia’s now 19-day-old warfare on Ukraine. (Chernov, 3/14)
Reuters:
World Faces Food Crisis Due To Ukraine War, Russian Billionaire Melnichenko Says
A worldwide meals disaster looms until the warfare in Ukraine is stopped as a result of fertiliser costs are hovering so quick that many farmers can now not afford soil vitamins, Russian fertiliser and coal billionaire Andrei Melnichenko stated on Monday. A number of of Russia’s richest businessmen have publicly referred to as for peace since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on Feb. 24, together with Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Oleg Deripaska. (Faulconbridge, 3/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Russia-Ukraine War Threatens Wheat Supply, Jolts Prices
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens a giant portion of the world’s wheat provide and has despatched costs on a dizzying experience to new highs in addition to the sharpest weekly drop in years. Wheat stockpiles have been already working low and costs have been the best in years thanks to 2 years of poor rising climate when Russia’s assault jammed up Black Sea buying and selling and endangered practically a 3rd of the world’s exports. The invasion prompted fears of meals shortages in international locations fed with imported grain and pushed costs to new highs. (Dezember, 3/13)
Stat:
In Ukraine, He Was Creating The Building Blocks For Drug Developers
It was simply final month, with the Covid-19 state of affairs having calmed down in Kyiv, that Ivan Kondratov had been capable of return to his workplace a pair days per week. He managed a slew of medicinal chemistry initiatives, together with the constructing of “goal libraries” for shoppers, principally giant biopharma corporations world wide. His employer, Enamine, had grow to be a pillar of worldwide drug growth, its Rolodex of shoppers steadily rising together with its catalog of chemical compounds for drugmakers to check in creating potential remedies. However on Feb. 24, all of that got here to a halt as Kondratov and a whole bunch of hundreds of different Ukrainians have been surprised awake by the sound of explosions. And all the things modified for the chemists and scientists. (Cueto, 3/14)
CNN:
WHO Says War In Ukraine Could Make The Covid-19 Pandemic Worse
The World Well being Group (WHO) stated Sunday it’s involved the warfare in Ukraine might worsen the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s attempting to do extra to restrict the unfold of infectious illnesses. Circumstances within the area are down from the earlier week, however there’s vital threat there can be extra extreme illness and demise as a consequence of low vaccination charges in Ukraine, in addition to among the many greater than two million who’ve fled the nation to surrounding areas, areas additionally with low vaccination charges. Ukraine’s Covid-19 vaccination fee is round 34%, whereas neighboring Moldova’s is round 29%, in line with Our World In Information. There have been a complete of 791,021 new instances of Covid-19 and eight,012 new deaths in Ukraine and in surrounding international locations between March 3 and 9, a WHO state of affairs report revealed Sunday stated. (Christensen, 3/13)
Bloomberg:
China Locks Down World’s Second-Tallest Building In Covid Fight
Shanghai Tower was locked down Monday, trapping staff and guests inside as authorities race to comprise a spreading Covid-19 outbreak that’s ensnared China’s monetary and tech hubs. China’s tallest constructing and the second-tallest on the earth after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the 128-floor skyscraper was locked down as required by virus management measures from well being authorities, in line with an announcement from its property administration agency. (3/14)
That is a part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a abstract of well being coverage protection from main information organizations. Join an email subscription.