First Edition: April 12, 2022

KHN:
Colorado Moves Toward Statewide Coverage Of Wastewater Surveillance

On a Sunday morning in March 2020, proper in the beginning of the pandemic, an article in In style Mechanics caught engineer Pieter Van Ry’s eye. It had a catchy title: “How Poop Affords Hints In regards to the Unfold of Coronavirus.” “On the finish of that article, it stated, ‘If in case you have a wastewater facility and also you’re interested by taking part on this examine, please contact us,’” he stated. As a matter of truth, Van Ry did have a wastewater facility. He’s the director of South Platte Renew, a wastewater therapy plant in Englewood, Colorado, that serves 300,000 folks. He crammed out the shape, and South Platte joined the primary services within the nation to start out testing wastewater for covid-19. (Daley, 4/12)

KHN:
California Sees Dramatic Decline In Child Homicide Victims. What’s Changed? 

The beautiful climb in murder charges in recent times in California and massive cities throughout the nation obscures a remarkably good-news development involving younger kids: The variety of youngster murder victims fell dramatically in California over the previous decade, the newest demise certificates information reveals, a sample mirrored to a lesser extent nationwide. In 1991, California’s coroners formally categorised 133 deaths of kids ages 9 and youthful as homicides. By 2011, that determine had fallen to 81.In 2020, it stood at 40. (Reese, 4/12)

CNN:
White House Seeks To Ease Americans’ Medical Debt Burden

The White Home is looking for to assist reduce People’ medical debt burden, Vice President Kamala Harris introduced Monday. In its newest effort to assist folks take care of elevated prices amid skyrocketing inflation, the White Home laid out a four-point plan to assist defend customers. It builds on President Joe Biden’s latest government order on rising entry to reasonably priced well being care protection. (Luhby, 4/11)

Bloomberg:
White House To Blunt Medical Debts For Veterans, U.S. Home Borrowers

Vice President Kamala Harris introduced new steps designed to scale back the price of federal residence loans for People saddled with medical debt and make it simpler for veterans to have well being care payments forgiven throughout an occasion Monday on the White Home. “I’ve met so many individuals in so many communities in our nation who’re combating this burden, lots of whom are managing an sickness or an damage on the similar time, and who keep up at night time staring on the ceiling, questioning if they may ever be capable to repay their medical debt,” Harris stated. “Nobody in our nation ought to need to endure that.” (Sink and Cook dinner, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare:
HHS To Factor Medical Debt Practices Into Grant Decisions

The Well being and Human Providers Division will quickly request information from greater than 2,000 suppliers associated to medical debt, the White Home introduced Monday. Suppliers could also be requested to submit info on their medical invoice assortment practices, lawsuits in opposition to sufferers, monetary help, monetary product choices and third-party contracting or debt-buying practices. HHS will use the data when making grantmaking selections. The division additionally will make a number of the information public and share potential violations with enforcement businesses. (Goldman, 4/11)

ABC News:
COVID-19 Cases Rising In Northeast, Partly Fueled By BA.2, Experts Say

As COVID-19 circumstances proceed to tick up in america, the Northeast seems to be fueling the rise. 4 of the 5 states with the very best seven-day case charges per 100,000 are within the Northeast. Within the 10 states with the very best seven-day charges, seven are Northeastern, in keeping with information from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Rhode Island at the moment has the very best seven-day case price at 172.4 circumstances per 100,000 folks. (Kekatos, 4/11)

Axios:
U.S. Universities Reinstate Mask Mandates Amid COVID Concerns

Universities nationwide are reinstating masks mandates amid an uptick in COVID-19 circumstances. The American College introduced Monday it will reinstate its masks mandate in all Washington, D.C., campus buildings beginning April 12. It joins Columbia, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Rice universities, which have additionally lately reinstated masks insurance policies, in keeping with the New York Instances. The extremely transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron has sparked issues a couple of potential surge. (Shapero, 4/11)

Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus Cases On The Rise In L.A. County, Prompting Calls For Spring Break Caution

Coronavirus circumstances are as soon as once more on the rise in Los Angeles County, in keeping with information launched Monday, prompting officers to induce residents to maintain up security protocols because the spring break vacation season arrives. Knowledge present that for the seven-day interval that ended Monday, a median of 960 new circumstances had been reported every day countywide, which equates to 67 circumstances per week for each 100,000 residents. That’s up 23% from the earlier week, when L.A. County reported a median of 783 circumstances a day. (Cash and Lin II, 4/11)

The Hill:
Why The Latest Rise In COVID-19 Cases Is Being Treated Differently  

COVID-19 circumstances are displaying indicators of rising once more, at the same time as many People are keen to maneuver on. … Whereas there are actually upticks within the Northeast, there should not but indicators of the huge spike that hit over the winter. That omicron variant-fueled spike already contaminated many individuals, serving to present them some immunity in opposition to the present outbreak, along with the immunity supplied by vaccines and booster pictures. (Sullivan, 4/11)

Axios:
Axios-Ipsos Poll: Most Americans Say COVID Is No Longer A Crisis

Lower than one in 10 People now describe COVID-19 as a disaster — with about three in 4 calling it a manageable downside and one in six saying it is no downside in any respect — in keeping with the newest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. These sentiments — and the general public’s rising want to be completed with masks mandates and different restrictions — increase vital challenges for public well being officers in managing new surges, and will create actual political headwinds forward of the midterms. (Talev, 4/12)

The New York Times:
New Drug Slashed Deaths Among Patients With Severe Covid, Maker Claims 

An experimental drug halved the demise price amongst critically sick Covid sufferers who had been receiving supplemental oxygen and had been at excessive danger for critical lung illness and demise, the drug’s developer introduced on Monday. … The brand new drug, sabizabulin, diminished deaths amongst hospitalized Covid-19 sufferers so drastically in a medical trial that impartial security displays advisable stopping it early, officers at Veru Inc., the drug’s maker, stated. The trial was halted on Friday. The outcomes of that trial haven’t been peer-reviewed or revealed in a medical journal. (Rabin, 4/11)

Detroit Free Press:
COVID-19 Treatments Are Being Left Unused In Michigan. Here’s Why

Hundreds of doses of COVID-19 therapeutics and preventive remedies sit unused in Michigan as a result of docs have not been prescribing them, the state’s prime physician informed the Free Press final week. “The difficulty at first had been that we thought demand would outpace provide and that did not actually occur within the state of Michigan or in many of the nation,” stated Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state’s chief medical government. “What we actually noticed was the clinicians had been just a little bit hesitant to prescribe it … as a result of they had been nonetheless studying about it.” (Jordan Shamus, 4/11)

CIDRAP:
Age Older Than 5, High Levels Of Ferritin Tied To Higher Risk For Severe MIS-C

Youngsters older than 5 years and people with excessive concentrations of ferritin within the blood—an indicator of irritation—had been at highest danger for intensive care unit (ICU) admission for COVID-19–associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in kids (MIS-C), finds a examine in the present day within the Canadian Medical Affiliation Journal (CMAJ). (4/11)

The Hill:
Pelosi Tests Negative For COVID, Set To Exit Isolation 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduced on Monday that she has examined destructive for COVID-19 and can exit isolation on Tuesday. She tweeted: “Right this moment, fortunately I examined destructive for COVID. Tomorrow, I will probably be exiting isolation on the route of the Capitol’s Attending Doctor and in keeping with CDC tips for asymptomatic people. Many due to everybody for his or her good needs, sweets and rooster soup.” (Schnell, 4/11)

Axios:
Biden Official: Mask Mandate For Airplanes Could Be Extended

Extending the federal transportation masks mandate that applies to airplanes, buses and trains is “completely on the desk,” Ashish Jha, the White Home’s new COVID-19 response coordinator, stated Monday on the Right this moment Present. The transportation masks mandate was prolonged final month however is at the moment set to run out on April 18. Jha harassed that the choice to increase the transportation mandate lies with Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky. (Saric, 4/11)

The Hill:
Biden Seeks To Resume Federal Worker Vaccine Mandate

The Biden administration on Monday requested a federal appeals courtroom to clear a procedural hurdle that remained after a key authorized victory final week and permit the administration to shortly resume enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal staff.  The request to the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the fifth Circuit, if granted, would successfully reinstate the general public well being coverage after it was placed on maintain throughout the nation in January by a federal choose in Texas. (Kruzel, 4/11)

AP:
CVS, Feds Reach Agreement On Vaccine Portal Accessibility 

CVS Pharmacy has reached a settlement with federal prosecutors that can guarantee the corporate’s on-line vaccination scheduling portal stays absolutely accessible to folks with disabilities, officers stated Monday. The U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Rhode Island alleged the corporate, which operates practically 10,000 retail pharmacies nationwide, was in violation of the People with Disabilities Act as a result of the portal was not accessible to individuals who use display screen reader software program designed for the visually impaired, and to those that have issue utilizing a mouse. (4/11)

FiercePharma:
Moderna Recalls Vaccine Batch After Foreign Substance Found In CDMO-Made Vial—Again 

The specter of particulates has pressured one other recall—this time on Moderna’s massively profitable COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax—and the newest pull isn’t contract producer Rovi’s first brush with contamination, both. Moderna on Friday stated it was recalling one Spikevax lot in Europe. The batch comprises 764,900 doses made by CDMO Rovi that had been deployed throughout Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden between Jan. 13 and Jan. 14. Moderna yanked the pictures due to a “international physique” present in one vial of the batch made at Rovi’s website in Spain, the companions stated in a launch. (Kansteiner, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal:
Vaccine Makers Pfizer, Moderna Hire New CFOs

Vaccine makers Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. named firm outsiders as chief monetary officers as they give the impression of being to deploy a number of the money they’ve generated in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. New York-based Pfizer on Monday stated David Denton will take over as CFO on Could 2. Mr. Denton has served as finance chief of home-goods retailer Lowe’s Cos. since 2018. Earlier than that, he led the funds of CVS Well being Corp. , the Woonsocket, R.I.-based drugstore and health-services chain. (Broughton, 4/11)

The Boston Globe:
COVID-19 Vaccines Prevented More Than 2.2 Million US Deaths, Study Says

How a lot worse may the US COVID-19 pandemic have been if vaccinations hadn’t arrived within the nick of time in December 2020? Unimaginably worse, in keeping with a examine launched final week. The researchers estimated that vaccinations by the tip of final month had averted greater than 2.2 million deaths, greater than 17 million hospitalizations, and greater than 66 million infections.“ Our findings spotlight the profound and ongoing affect of the vaccination program in decreasing infections, hospitalizations, and deaths,” stated the examine launched Friday by the Commonwealth Fund, a venerable nonprofit that focuses on bettering well being care, significantly for society’s most weak. (Finucane, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare:
CMS Proposes Pay Decrease For Nursing Homes

Nursing houses might even see a $320 million reduce to their Medicare Half A funds in fiscal 2023 below a proposed rule the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers issued Monday. The proposed rule additionally seeks suggestions on learn how to set up minimal staffing necessities for nursing houses, as directed by President Joe Biden, and features a plan so as to add three measures to the Expert Nursing Facility Worth-Based mostly Buying Program. (Goldman, 4/11)

Stat:
New Bipartisan Insulin Policy Aims To Entice Drugmakers To Lower Prices

A bipartisan group of 4 key lawmakers unveiled a long-shot coverage that goals to alleviate one of many American well being care trade’s most embarrassing issues: mind-bogglingly excessive costs for insulin, a drug hundreds of thousands of People have to survive. The coverage define launched Monday is a reboot of a three-year-old invoice launched by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). It will dangle a carrot for drugmakers to decrease their record costs. Insurers and middlemen wouldn’t get to maintain charges for diabetes medication — however provided that drugmakers decrease record costs for medication again to 2006 ranges. It will additionally ensure that sufferers with Medicare or non-public insurance coverage don’t pay greater than $35 per thirty days for his or her insulin, although it will not supply the identical safety to the uninsured. (Cohrs, 4/11)

Stat:
Human Rights Watch Says Unaffordable U.S. Insulin Is A Human Rights Abuse

Insulin costs are sky excessive. Excessive sufficient, now, that Human Rights Watch is declaring that insulin’s price ticket contributes to human rights abuse. The worldwide advocacy group greatest recognized for investigating conflict crimes, genocides and dictatorships is out with a brand new report that argues that the human rights of individuals with diabetes are being violated after they’re unable to afford their insulin. That makes insulin makers, who set these excessive costs, complicit in human rights abuses, in keeping with Matt McConnell, the lead creator. “Drug corporations’ drug pricing practices  … are contributing to human rights abuses,” he informed STAT. (Florko, 4/12)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Johnson & Johnson Must Pay $302 Million For Deceptive Marketing Of Pelvic Mesh Implants, Court Rules

Johnson & Johnson should pay $302 million in penalties to the state for a few years of misleading advertising to docs and feminine sufferers about pelvic mesh implants that might trigger critical vaginal ache and bodily harm, a state appeals courtroom dominated Monday. A San Diego County choose had assessed $344 million in penalties in opposition to Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon in January 2020, discovering after a non-jury trial that the corporate had made deceptive and probably dangerous statements in a whole lot of 1000’s of commercials and tutorial brochures for practically 20 years. The Fourth District Courtroom of Attraction stated $42 million of that quantity, penalties for the corporate’s spoken gross sales pitches to docs, was unjustified as a result of the state had no proof of what the gross sales representatives had really stated. (Egelko, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare:
Cedars-Sinai Workers Authorize Potential Strike Amid Contract Talks

The motion by Service Workers Union Worldwide-United Healthcare Employees West members comes after their contract with the not-for-profit hospital ended March 31. Contract bargaining started March 21, in keeping with the union. Employees are demanding the hospital negotiate in “good religion” over staffing ranges, affected person and worker security, and wages, a information launch stated. Ninety-three % of the staff voted in favor of approving a three-day strike if talks do not progress, the union introduced Monday. (Christ, 4/11)

Stat:
FDA Scolds Bausch Health For Misleading Claims About A Psoriasis Cream

The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration has scolded Bausch Well being for a video and webpage that made deceptive claims a couple of plaque psoriasis therapy, the second time this yr the company has tagged a giant drugmaker for overlooking the dangers and advantages of a medication in promotional supplies. In a March 22 letter, the FDA wrote {that a} Bausch video did not say that its Duobrii topical cream could cause delivery defects. The video, which had been seen on YouTube however has since been taken down, failed to notice that ladies ought to get a being pregnant take a look at earlier than making use of the cream and may use contraception. The video, which might nonetheless be seen right here, additionally lacked warnings about photosensitivity and the danger of sunburn. (Silverman, 4/11)

Politico:
Lawmakers Demand Answers From FDA After Investigation On Food Failures 

The chairs of two highly effective committees within the Home and Senate that oversee FDA are demanding solutions in response to a POLITICO investigation into the company’s failure to behave on a slew of urgent meals security and diet points. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.), who leads the Senate Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions, despatched a strongly-worded letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf Monday afternoon looking for “speedy motion to make sure the FDA is doing all it might to satisfy all elements of its mission to guard the well being and security of the American folks.” (Evich, 4/11)

AP:
Efforts To Make Protective Medical Gear In US Falling Flat

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S., gross sales of window coverings at Halcyon Shades shortly went darkish. So the suburban St. Louis enterprise did what a whole lot of different small producers did: It pivoted to make protecting provides, with assist from an $870,000 authorities grant. However issues haven’t labored out as deliberate. The corporate stop making face shields as a result of it wasn’t worthwhile. It nonetheless hasn’t bought a single N95 masks due to struggles to get tools, supplies and regulatory approval. (Lieb, 4/11)

Stat:
Black Health-Equity Advocate Named JAMA Editor-In-Chief 

A yr after the celebrated medical journal JAMA was embroiled in controversy over a podcast seen as racist by critics, the American Medical Affiliation has appointed a outstanding health-equity researcher because the publication’s new editor-in-chief — the primary particular person of coloration to carry the place. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a Black internist, epidemiologist, and health-equity researcher from the College of California, San Francisco, who has been a number one voice for equitable well being care in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, will lead the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation and the JAMA community of journals, the AMA introduced Monday. (McFarling, 4/11)

NBC News:
Fate Of Ex-Ohio Doctor On Trial In Alleged Fentanyl Deaths To Go To Jury

A former Ohio hospital doctor on trial within the deaths of critically sick sufferers was portrayed Monday in closing arguments as a “horrible physician” with no medically justifiable cause for his actions and as a “caring man” easing the ache of these dying. The jury, which was anticipated to start deliberations Tuesday, is tasked with figuring out whether or not William Husel, 46, dedicated homicide by purposefully hastening 14 sufferers’ deaths when, prosecutors say, he ordered extreme doses of fentanyl, a strong opioid used to blunt ache, whereas he was employed at Mount Carmel Well being System in Columbus. (Ortiz, 4/11)

AP:
Trial Opens In Florida Opioid Lawsuit Case Against Walgreens 

In Florida, the state’s case hinges on accusations that as Walgreens distributed greater than 4.3 billion complete opioid drugs in Florida from Could 2006 to June 2021, greater than half contained a number of simply acknowledged crimson flags for abuse, fraud and habit that the corporate ought to have observed and acted upon. “The proof will present Walgreens knowingly profited from the opioid disaster,” stated legal professional Jim Webster for the state in a gap assertion, which was attended by Florida Legal professional Common Ashley Moody. “Walgreens wasn’t simply grasping. It was fueling the opioid disaster that was killing folks.” (Anderson, 4/11)

Reuters:
Walgreens Flooded Florida With Addictive Opioids, Lawyer Tells Jury 

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. equipped billions of opioid drugs to drug addicts and criminals, contributing to an habit epidemic in Florida, a lawyer for the state stated on Monday in a civil trial in opposition to the pharmacy chain. Walgreens crammed one in 4 opioid prescriptions in Florida between 1999 and 2020, and failed to research crimson flags that might have prevented medication from being diverted for unlawful use, the state’s lawyer Jim Webster stated as jurors heard opening statements within the trial held in New Port Richey. (Knauth, 4/11)

AP:
EXPLAINER: Where Do US Opioid Trials, Settlements Stand? 

The hassle to carry drug corporations, pharmacies and distributors accountable for his or her position within the opioid disaster has led to a whirlwind of authorized exercise across the U.S. that may be troublesome preserve tabs on. Three trials are underway now, in Florida, West Virginia and Washington state. New authorized settlements are being reached virtually each week to supply governments cash to combat the disaster and in some circumstances funds for medicines to reverse overdoses or to assist with therapy. (Mulvihill, 4/12)

The New York Times:
Legal Marijuana Sales Expected To Start Within Weeks In New Jersey 

A yr and a half after New Jersey residents voted to legalize hashish, the state on Monday gave seven medical-marijuana corporations approval to start out promoting their merchandise to all adults, opening the door to the primary authorized marijuana gross sales within the New York Metropolis area inside a month. In a gathering held by videoconference, the five-member Hashish Regulatory Fee ushered in a seismic cultural change, making New Jersey the second state on the East Coast to completely authorize gross sales of hashish to all adults. (Tully, 4/11)

AP:
Legalizing Medical Marijuana Gets First Public Hearing 

A Republican-authored invoice to legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin will probably be getting its first public listening to subsequent week, reaching one purpose of backers and the newest signal of progress for many who need to loosen the state’s legal guidelines. The invoice gained’t develop into regulation this yr as a result of Legislature has adjourned and gained’t be again till 2023. However the April 20 Senate committee listening to on the medical marijuana invoice will give supporters their highest profile likelihood to make the case for loosening Wisconsin’s marijuana legal guidelines. (Bauer, 4/11)

The New York Times:
Psilocybin Helps Alleviate Depression Symptoms, Small Study Says 

Psychedelic compounds like LSD, Ecstasy and psilocybin mushrooms have proven vital promise in treating a variety of psychological well being problems, with members in medical research typically describing super progress taming the demons of post-traumatic stress dysfunction, or discovering surprising calm and readability as they face a terminal sickness. However precisely how psychedelics may therapeutically rewire the thoughts stays an enigma. (Jacobs, 4/11)

Fresh Take Florida:
Deadline Passes For Sunshine State Health Plan To Challenge $9.1 Million Medicaid Fine 

The deadline set by Florida lapsed for its largest Medicaid fee vendor to problem an almost $9.1 million high quality over the corporate’s failure for practically three months to pay tens of 1000’s of well being care claims for the state’s sickest and neediest kids. Sunshine State Well being Plan Inc. of Tampa had till 5 p.m. Thursday to dispute the massive high quality imposed final month by its authorities regulator, the Company for Well being Care Administration, leaving the corporate with solely the choice to concede to pay. “Sunshine waives any dispute not raised inside 21 days,” the federal government had warned the corporate March 17. An company spokesperson confirmed Friday that Sunshine State didn’t file any administrative problem earlier than the deadline. It should pay the high quality – which amounted to $75 for every failure to pay a declare – by April 18. (Bausch, 4/11)

AP:
Families, Doctors Contest Alabama Transgender Treatment Ban 

Households with transgender teenagers sued the state of Alabama in federal courtroom on Monday to overturn a regulation that makes it against the law for docs to deal with trans youth below 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to assist affirm their gender identification. The 2 lawsuits — one on behalf of two households and one other on behalf two households and the physicians who deal with their kids— pose authorized challenges to laws signed into regulation Friday by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey. (Chandler, 4/12)

NBC News:
Disney Heir Comes Out Publicly As Transgender, Condemns Anti-LGBTQ Bills

Charlee Disney, one of many heirs of The Walt Disney Co., got here out publicly as transgender and condemned anti-LGBTQ payments in a latest interview. Disney, who makes use of gender-neutral pronouns, introduced that their household would match as much as $250,000 in donations to the Human Rights Marketing campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, in the course of the group’s annual gala in Los Angeles final month. Roy P. Disney, Disney’s father and the grandson of the corporate’s co-founder, upped that quantity to $500,000 final week. (Yurcaba, 4/11)

AP:
Committee Defeats End-Of-Life Bill In Parliamentary Tactic

A invoice that might permit terminally sick adults in Connecticut to request medicine to assist them die was abruptly derailed Monday by an uncommon parliamentary process throughout a committee vote. Advocates had expressed optimism this could lastly be the yr, after roughly a decade of emotional debate, the laws could be voted on by the total Home of Representatives and Senate and signed into regulation by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont. Nonetheless, Rep. Craig Fishbein, a Republican from Wallingford and the highest Home member on the Common Meeting’s Judiciary Committee, made a movement to “divide the committee.” That meant solely senators on the panel may vote on the laws. In Connecticut, committees are comprised of each Home and Senate members. (Haigh, 4/11)

AP:
National Urban League Finds State Of Black America Is Grim 

The Nationwide City League launched its annual report on the State of Black America on Tuesday, and its findings are grim. This yr’s Equality Index reveals Black folks nonetheless get solely 73.9 % of the American pie white folks get pleasure from. … Amongst dozens of well being measures, one stands out: Life expectancy has declined barely for African People, so a Black youngster born in the present day can anticipate to stay to 74.7, 4 years lower than a white child. And lifelong inequities loom: Black ladies are 59% extra more likely to die because of bearing a baby, and 31% extra more likely to die of breast most cancers. Black males are 52% extra more likely to die of prostate most cancers. (Warren, 4/12)

Stateline:
Voters With Disabilities Face New Ballot Restrictions Ahead Of Midterms

As voters went to the polls final month within the Texas major, the voting rights hotline lit up on the nonprofit advocacy company Incapacity Rights Texas. Molly Broadway, the group’s coaching and technical help specialist, heard from some annoyed voters with disabilities who had not obtained their mail-in ballots on time. Others had their ballots rejected a number of occasions due to signature and private identification necessities or fretted that new guidelines banning poll help may make criminals out of their buddies and family members. (Vasilogambros, 4/12)

The Atlantic:
Why American Teens Are So Sad

The US is experiencing an excessive teenage mental-health disaster. From 2009 to 2021, the share of American high-school college students who say they really feel “persistent emotions of disappointment or hopelessness” rose from 26 % to 44 %, in keeping with a brand new CDC examine. That is the very best degree of teenage disappointment ever recorded. The federal government survey of just about 8,000 high-school college students, which was carried out within the first six months of 2021, discovered quite a lot of variation in psychological well being amongst completely different teams. A couple of in 4 ladies reported that they’d critically contemplated making an attempt suicide in the course of the pandemic, which was twice the speed of boys. Almost half of LGBTQ teenagers stated they’d contemplated suicide in the course of the pandemic, in contrast with 14 % of their heterosexual friends. Unhappiness amongst white teenagers appears to be rising quicker than amongst different teams. (Thompson, 4/11)

Columbus Dispatch:
Mental Health Crisis: Many Low-Income Children Are Struggling

Educators working in low-income faculties reported that 53% of scholars battle with psychological well being points, an issue that was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, in keeping with a brand new survey from instructional nonprofit First Ebook and Nationwide Youngsters’s Hospital’s On Our Sleeves alliance. But solely 20% of the 967 educators surveyed really feel ready to help these struggling college students, the examine discovered. By assessing the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic’s affect on college students and offering steering for educators, the 2 organizations hope to deal with what they are saying is an pressing want for psychological well being help in low-income faculties, stated Becki Final, First Ebook’s chief programming officer. (Wright, 4/11)

NBC News:
Microplastics In The Human Body: What We Know And Don’t Know

What latest analysis makes clear thus far is that microplastics are ubiquitous, that these particles enter peoples’ our bodies repeatedly throughout inhalation or by way of consumption of meals or drinks, and that they discover their method into very important physique programs. Some research of laboratory animals and cells grown exterior the physique recommend that there are causes for concern about how these minuscule items of plastics have an effect on our physiology. (Bush, 4/11)

CNN:
Your Personality Can Protect Or Age Your Brain, Study Finds 

Sure character traits could also be a key consider whether or not folks develop delicate cognitive impairment later in life, a brand new examine discovered. Being extra conscientious and extroverted retains delicate cognitive impairment at bay longer, whereas having greater ranges of neuroticism will increase the possibilities of cognitive decline, in keeping with a examine revealed Monday within the Journal of Character and Social Psychology. “Character traits replicate comparatively enduring patterns of pondering and behaving, which can cumulatively have an effect on engagement in wholesome and unhealthy behaviors and thought patterns throughout the lifespan,” lead creator Tomiko Yoneda, a psychology postdoctoral pupil on the College of Victoria in Canada, stated in an announcement. (LaMotte, 4/11)

Fortune:
South African Scientists Have Discovered 2 New Omicrons—And They’re Already In Germany, Denmark And The U.K.

South African scientists have found two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant, stated Tulio de Oliveira, who runs gene-sequencing establishments within the nation. The lineages have been named BA.4 and BA.5, he stated by textual content message and in a collection of tweets. Nonetheless, de Oliveira stated, the lineages haven’t precipitated a spike in infections in South Africa and have been present in samples from a lot of international locations. (Sguazzin, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Orders Departure Of Consulate Staff And Family From Shanghai Due To Covid-19 Surge

The U.S. State Division ordered the departure of all nonemergency U.S. Consulate workers and their households from Shanghai as the town’s well being authorities introduced greater than 23,000 new every day infections. The “ordered departure,” which got here simply days after the State Division had given the inexperienced gentle for workers to depart voluntarily, “signifies that we are actually mandating that sure staff depart Shanghai somewhat than making this resolution voluntary,” a U.S. Embassy spokesman stated in an announcement Tuesday. (Lin, 4/12)

AP:
UN Official Urges Acceleration In Coronavirus Vaccinations

The U.N. official spearheading world vaccination efforts in opposition to the coronavirus stated Monday the variety of international locations the place 10% or much less of the inhabitants has been vaccinated dropped from 34 to 18 since January and referred to as for accelerated progress to finish the pandemic. Assistant Secretary-Common Ted Chaiban informed the U.N. Safety Council that with over 6 million lives misplaced to COVID-19 and simply over 1 million new coronavirus infections reported to the World Well being Group within the final 24 hours, it’s pressing to extend vaccinations in international locations the place it wasn’t potential to spice up charges in 2021. (Lederer, 4/12)

AP:
Germany May Have To Junk 3 Million COVID Shots By Late June

Germany’s well being ministry stated Monday that the nation might need to discard 3 million doses of expired COVID-19 vaccine by the tip of June. Ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz informed reporters in Berlin that “not many doses” have been destroyed thus far, although he couldn’t give an actual determine. (4/11)

Bloomberg:
A Quarter-Billion More People Face Extreme Poverty, Oxfam Says

The impacts of Covid-19, rising world inequality and hovering meals costs attributable to the conflict in Ukraine are set to ship greater than a quarter-billion extra folks into poverty this yr, in keeping with charity group Oxfam Worldwide. The mixed hit might end in a complete of 860 million folks dwelling under the $1.90 a day line by the tip of 2022, or 263 million greater than the projection earlier than the pandemic, the group stated in a report on Tuesday. That’s equal to the complete inhabitants of the U.Okay., France, Germany and Spain mixed. (Martin, 4/12)