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Emergency workers in Arizona and Nevada reported an uptick in cases of contact burns as temperatures spiked into the triple digits, and have remained high for weeks on end. The burns typically occur when people fall or pass out on sun-scorched pavement and other hot surfaces. During intense heat waves, as has been unfolding across the Southwest, even being in contact with these surfaces for short periods of time can do serious damage, said Dr. Kara Geren, an emergency medicine physician at Valleywise Health in Phoenix. (Chow, McLaughlin and Parra, 7/20)

As of July 15, at least 18 people had died of heat-associated causes in metro Phoenix, and another 69 suspected heat deaths are under investigation, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. Phoenix is in the midst of a historically long heat wave with no end in sight. (Boehm, 7/20)

Temperatures have peaked at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) the entire month of July in Phoenix. Air conditioning, which made modern Phoenix even possible, is a lifeline. When a cloudless sky combines with outdoor temperatures over 100 F, your house turns into an “air fryer” or “broiler,” as the roof absorbs powerful heat and radiates it downward, said Jonathan Bean, co-director of the Institute for Energy Solutions at the University of Arizona. Bean knows this not only from his research, he also experienced it firsthand this weekend when his air conditioner broke. (O'Malley, 7/20)

Extreme heat may linger, and affect you if you're vacationing in Europe —

The "dangerous, long-lived, and record-breaking heat wave is set to continue in the U.S. Southwest "well into next week" and spread to more southern states by the weekend, the National Weather Service warns. Over 123 million people were under heat alerts in the U.S. Friday morning, as health officials report a spike in callouts and Emergency Department visits due to the extreme weather. (Falconer, 7/21)

More hot weather is expected for much of the United States in the coming months, federal forecasters warn, driven by a combination of human-caused climate change and the El Niño climate pattern. El Niño is a cyclic climate phenomenon that brings warm water to the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and leads to higher average global temperatures. El Niño started in June. Today, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that El Niño will continue through March 2024. (Hersher, 7/20)

Last month was the planet’s warmest June since global temperature record-keeping began in 1850, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its monthly climate update on Thursday. The agency also predicts unusually hot temperatures will occur in most of the United States, almost everywhere except the northern Great Plains, during August. The first two weeks of July were also likely the Earth’s warmest on human record, for any time of year, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. (Erdenesanaa, 7/20)

Also —

���ϳԹ��� News: ���ϳԹ��� News' 'What The Health?' Podcast: Let’s Talk About The Weather
2023 will likely be remembered as the summer Arizona sizzled, Vermont got swamped, and nearly the entire Eastern Seaboard, along with huge swaths of the Midwest, choked on wildfire smoke from Canada. Still, none of that has been enough to prompt policymakers in Washington to act on climate issues. (Rovner, 7/20)

The tornado that struck parts of North Carolina on Wednesday not only damaged the immediate area, but could soon make it much harder for countless people across the U.S. and around the world to obtain needed medicines the next time they visit a hospital. (Silverman, 7/20)

The fallout from a Pfizer factory being damaged by a tornado could put even more pressure on already-strained drug supplies at U.S. hospitals, experts say. Wednesday’s tornado touched down near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and ripped up the roof of a Pfizer factory that makes nearly 25% of Pfizer’s sterile injectable medicines used in U.S. hospitals, according to the drugmaker. (Murphy, 7/20)

In other environmental news impacting health —

Smoke from a wildfire in Oregon is rushing toward Northern California, and hot weather could chuck some of the particles toward the Bay Area. The Flat Fire exploded in size and intensity between Tuesday and Wednesday, covering 12,000 acres large with 0% containment by Wednesday morning according to the U.S. Forest Service. Its smoke, visible on satellite imagery, is likely to stir up air quality concerns over the next couple of days. (Díaz, 7/20)

University of Houston researchers and scholars from other institutions estimated that emissions from wildfires lead to 4,000 early deaths each year in the contiguous United States, including about 65 deaths in the Houston area. The study also pointed to economic losses, suggesting these premature mortality rates could cost $36 billion annually across the country, and an estimated $580 million in Houston-Galveston-Brazoria alone. (Ward, 7/20)

Concerns over a White House push for better air quality —

A new analysis has found that the White House’s signature environmental justice program may not shrink racial disparities in who breathes the most polluted air, in part because of efforts to ensure that it could withstand legal challenges. (Erdenesanaa, 7/20)

The Biden administration on Thursday asked employers to give workers who lose Medicaid coverage more time to sign up for health insurance through their jobs. Medicaid is the state- and federally funded program that covers health care costs for people with low incomes. States have resumed checks for Medicaid eligibility this year after pausing the practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Murphy, 7/20)

The Biden administration’s investigation into medical credit cards has drawn praise from consumer groups, but they want it to move quickly — and more broadly — to address the issue of medical debt. About 20 percent of Americans have medical debt, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The issue has garnered increased attention as health care costs continue to rise, providers get criticized for questionable billing practices and insurers get blamed for denying coverage and raising copays and deductibles. (Hellmann, 7/20)

More from federal agencies —

When Dr. Mandy Cohen walked into the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta less than two weeks ago, she knew trust in America's top health agency was broken. Attacks on the agency's scientific data and sometimes confusing public policy guidance were coming from Washington lawmakers, social media and people across the country. (Edwards and Weaver, 7/21)

EPA is facing pressure to beef up its response plan around lead contamination in drinking water. Through an audit released Thursday, the agency's Office of Inspector General asserted that regulators need a stronger system in place so that the public can be made aware of lead risks in their water. Without public notices, the watchdog warned, people may be exposed to the neurotoxic heavy metal, with serious health implications. (Crunden, 7/20)

How the health industry is responding to federal regulations and policies —

More than two years after federal hospital price transparency rules went into effect, only about a third of hospitals are currently in compliance, according to a report released this week. The nonprofit Patient Rights Advocate (PRA) released its fifth semi-annual report, which found that only 36 percent of 2,000 surveyed hospitals were in complete compliance with the rule. (Choi, 7/20)

FTC and HHS’ Office for Civil Rights flagged providers’ possible usage of Meta/Facebook and Google Analytics tracking technologies in the letter. The agencies said using such technologies could be a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or the FTC Health Breach Notification Rule. They warned organizations to exercise extreme caution in using these technologies and ensure the tools are not disclosing personal health information in an unauthorized fashion. (Perna, 7/20)

Rising medical costs and changes in federal policies are increasingly driving employers, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to fight over access to workers’ claims data. Carriers are pitching self-funded employers the largest rate increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to account for rising provider expenses and increased member utilization, said Michael Thompson, CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, a nonprofit group of private- and public-sector employers and unions focused on healthcare purchasing. (Tepper, 7/20)

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation Thursday aimed at providing the federal government with more power to oversee pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) amid continued bipartisan scrutiny over the companies’ role in drug pricing. The two lawmakers introduced the PBM Oversight Act of 2023, which would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to oversee PBM decision-making. (Choi, 7/20)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is in a standoff with the White House over drug pricing, frustrating and confusing public health experts who worry his demands will stymie the Biden administration’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Monica Bertagnolli is a renowned cancer surgeon who currently leads the National Cancer Institute. She has the support of a broad cross section of the medical research community, which has been lobbying for her confirmation. (Weixel, 7/20)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will finally get a study of his proposal to do away with drug patents and other intellectual property protections in favor of rewarding inventions with prize money. Sanders has been pushing the prize approach since he was a House representative, many years ago. (Wilkerson, 7/20)

More on PBMs —

The Federal Trade Commission unanimously voted Thursday to advise state and federal authorities to disregard its past statements opposing policies that would require pharmacy benefit managers to reveal more about their business practices. (Berryman, 7/20)

The Federal Trade Commission voted Thursday to disavow its previous guidance opposing transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers. The 3-0 vote comes after the FTC said last year it would study PBMs, companies that run drug benefit programs for health insurers, and order the six largest firms to turn over records. The agency expanded its inquiry in May to include two group purchasing organizations, which negotiate the rebates drug manufacturers pay to the PBMs when health insurance plan members are prescribed medicines. (Leonard and Wilson, 7/20)

The Senate HELP Committee voted 17-3 on Thursday to advance a bipartisan pandemic preparedness bill. The approval marks the next step to reauthorize the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, which has many programs that expire on Sept. 30 unless Congress acts. (Wilson, 7/20)

House and Senate Democrats are trying again to put a stop to contamination from plastic pellets, small bits of plastic commonly found polluting waterways. The "Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act" would require EPA to ban facilities and other sources from dumping the pellets into waterways or down the drain — an often relied-upon tactic to get rid of the cheap materials if they become contaminated or unusable. (Borst, 7/20)

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is hoping to boost funds to help eradicate "forever chemicals" from firefighting, an effort that has been long backed by the nation's largest firefighters' union. The "Protecting Firefighters and Advancing State-of-the-Art (PFAS) Alternatives Act" would speed up the development of reinvented firefighting gear free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. (Borst, 7/20)

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation Thursday with bipartisan support bolstering funding for global health security and the battle against illicit fentanyl, which killed at least 70,000 Americans last year. The fiscal 2024 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill includes $900 million for global health security, funds a Biden administration global health workforce initiative and backs the $300 million the White House requested for Gavi, the vaccine alliance that provides inoculations to developing countries. (Paun, 7/20)

RFK Jr.'s appearance at House hearing touched off discussions of vaccines and covid —

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday appeared before a House subcommittee to testify at a hearing on censorship -- but it was his past comments that drew sharp rebuke from Democrats as Kennedy sought to defend himself. Testifying in front of the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on alleged government "weaponization," Kennedy denied that he is racist or antisemitic following comments that leaked over the weekend where he cited a false conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was "targeted to" certain ethnicities while Chinese people and Jews of European descent were more immune. (Kerr and Murray, 7/20)

At the end of his allotted questioning time, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said that while he was “grateful that we have the opportunity to have the polio vaccine,” he also wanted “to know the health impacts of the polio vaccine going forward and every other vaccine being administered.” The polio vaccine has received new scrutiny, especially in conservative circles, as outbreaks of polio have emerged in the United States and around the world. While oral-dose vaccines that contain live polio viruses have been linked to outbreaks of polio, usually as a result of unvaccinated individuals coming into contact with contaminated wastewater, standard polio vaccines have not been linked to outbreaks. (Bazail-Emeil, 7/20)

Also —

Nearly 40% of the money raised by the WHO Foundation in its first two years came from anonymous sources, worrying some that donors may be trying to influence the World Health Organization and its role in shaping global health policy with their gifts. The foundation, launched in 2020 to help raise private sector funds for the WHO, said it received $66 million in direct gifts through 2022, with $26 million coming from donors who chose not to be publicly named. Anil Soni, WHO Foundation CEO, told The Associated Press the foundation’s board, which includes a representative from the WHO, knows the donors’ identities and that the foundation will not accept a gift if there is a conflict of interest. (Beaty, 7/20)

The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that state Attorney General Andrew Bailey overstepped his authority when he tried to increase the projected cost of a ballot measure to restore abortion rights. The unanimous decision reaffirms a ruling by Cole County Judge Jon Beetem requiring Bailey, a Republican, to approve a series of identical fiscal notes filed by Republican Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The estimates say that the ballot measure would have no cost to the state. (Bayless, 7/20)

The quick verdict, which was written by Judge Paul Wilson, was scathing in its assessment of Bailey’s refusal to sign off on the work of Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, concluding that nothing in state law “gives the attorney general authority to question the auditor’s assessment of the fiscal impact of a proposed petition.” The ruling upheld Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem’s ruling last month ordering Bailey to sign off on Fitzpatrick’s fiscal summary within 24 hours. (Hancock, 7/20)

In other news —

On a recent Saturday morning at the Williams Park Summer Market in St. Petersburg, 50-year-old Elsie Gilmore politely approaches customers with a smile ... and a question. "Hey, have you guys signed the petition to get women's reproductive rights on the ballot in Florida?" Gilmore is one of thousands of volunteers collecting signatures for the constitutional amendment proposal. (Carter, 7/20)

The tone in an Austin courtroom Thursday transitioned from personal to academic Thursday as doctors took the stand to discuss the language and scope of Texas’ abortion ban. Testimonies from expert medical witnesses called by both sides in the hearing hinged on the definition and timing of “life-threatening” conditions that would qualify pregnant Texans for abortions. (Wolf and Kelly, 7/20)

As the implementation of Iowa's new "fetal heartbeat" bill loomed, staff at abortion clinics across the state scrambled to get as many patients seen as possible. Earlier in the week, Paige Bergholtz, a patient services navigator for Planned Parenthood North Central States, called patients to get as many appointments as possible scheduled before Friday, when Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the six-week abortion ban into law. (Ramm, 7/20)

In news on a legal case involving abortion in Nebraska —

A Nebraska teenager who used abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy was sentenced on Thursday to 90 days in jail after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to illegally concealing human remains. The teenager, Celeste Burgess, 19, and her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, were charged last year after the police obtained their private Facebook messages, which showed them discussing plans to end the pregnancy and “burn the evidence.” (Levenson, 7/20)

Celeste Burgess, of Norfolk, was sentenced in Madison County after pleading guilty earlier this year to concealing or abandoning a dead body. Two other misdemeanor charges of false reporting and concealing the death of another person were dropped, in an agreement with prosecutors. “The Court specifically finds that while probation is appropriate, confinement is necessary because without this confinement, it would depreciate the seriousness of the crime or promote disrespect for the law,” the judge’s order read. (Beck, 7/20)

And the Defense Department responds to GOP pressure over abortions —

The Defense Department has no plans to stop covering the travel costs of female troops who seek abortions across state lines, despite protests from a Republican senator who has blocked hundreds of military promotions over the issue, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said on Thursday. “I see this, and I think the (defense secretary) does as well, as taking care of our soldiers, and it’s the right thing to do, and I don’t think we’re going to change it,” Wormuth told NBC News’ Courtney Kube at an event at the Aspen Security Forum. (De Luce, 7/20)

Sports supplements may not contain what their bottle says they do ‒ and they might include unapproved drugs instead, according to a new study. The study, published this week, examined 57 products claiming to include botanicals that improve sports performance. Only six of the supplements ‒ just 11% ‒ included roughly what the label promised they would. Meanwhile, seven included drugs expressly prohibited by the Food and Drug Administration. (Weintraub, 7/20)

Looking for a part-time gig in college? Have a passion for marketing? Are you addicted to caffeine? Red Bull’s “student marketeer” college ambassador program has hundreds of openings, and they want you. For years, Red Bull has recruited college students to spend their free time outside of class going to campus events, handing out caffeine-packed energy drinks on the street, littering cases throughout dorm buildings, and marketing the brand on social media ― all for $16 an hour, according to one student marketeer. (Scales, 7/20)

With the Women's World Cup kicking off this week, the focus of the sports world turns to soccer -- the most popular sport in the world and one continuing to grow in the United States. However, new research is calling attention to one of the risks of the game, heading the ball, which studies find may be linked to brain problems later in life. The newly released study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that professional male soccer players who headed the ball more frequently during their career were more likely to develop memory issues. The study builds on prior studies from Scotland and France that also showed a link between playing soccer and the development of dementia. (Garcia, 7/20)

In other public health developments —

Over 1 in 10 young adults in the United States regularly use e-cigarettes, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, provides a snapshot of e-cigarette use in 2021. Based on data from the National Health Interview Survey, the report identified that e-cigarette use generally declined as family income increased. Adults under 44 were more likely to be dual users of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. (Viswanathan, 7/21)

For people who can’t stop biting their nails or picking at their skin, a new study suggests that a simple technique could help. Body-focused repetitive behaviors — compulsively pulling or picking at your hair or skin, unable to stop yourself even if the behavior leads to scabs, scars and bald spots — affects about 5% of people worldwide, according to the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, an advocacy group for people with the conditions. (One common repetitive behavior is nail-biting.) (Tamkins, 7/20)

Ahuman case of West Nile virus has been detected in a California county. The confirmed case of the mosquito-borne virus was in Tulare county, Tulare County Public Health said in a statement. Residents are being advised to be extra careful and to guard themselves against mosquito bites. (White, 7/20)

Emergent BioSolutions said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its anthrax vaccine for use in adults aged 18 through 65. The vaccine, Cyfendus, has been approved for use following suspected or confirmed exposure to a type of bacteria and has to be administered together with antibacterial drugs. (7/20)

Daiichi Sankyo said the U.S. health regulator has approved its drug for treating newly diagnosed patients suffering from an aggressive type of blood cancer, pitting the treatment against those from rivals Novartis and Astellas. (Roy, 7/20)

On other health industry news —

A surge in heart procedures and higher demand for cold and flu medicines helped Johnson & Johnson report solid gains in revenue and profit for the second quarter. (Loftus, 7/20)

Kenvue, the former consumer health unit of Johnson & Johnson, forecast full-year profit above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, betting on resilient demand for its skincare and self-care products such as Neutrogena and Tylenol. (Mahobe and Mariam Rajesh, 7/20)

Abbott Laboratories on Thursday beat quarterly profit expectations as a rebound in surgical procedure volumes drove demand for medical devices despite high inflation-driven costs, sending shares up by nearly 4%. Demand for medical devices and non-COVID-19 testing is expected to rise this year, as older adults in particular get more comfortable visiting hospitals and staffing shortages at those facilities ease. (Mandowara and Jain, 7/20)

Abbott Laboratories’ sales of COVID-19 tests fell by a whopping 89% during the second quarter of this year compared with the same time last year — a drop that comes as the world attempts to move on from the pandemic. North suburban-based Abbott makes the once popular rapid, at-home COVID-19 test BinaxNOW. From April through June, Abbott sold $263 million worth of COVID-19 tests, compared with $2.3 billion during the same time last year. (Schencker, 7/20)

Philip Morris International Inc. abandoned a goal to get at least $1 billion of revenue from healthcare and wellness products next year following setbacks at companies it has acquired in the sector. (Mulier and Hoffman, 7/20)

Also —

Private equity firms are rapidly buying their way into the U.S. health care system, and as they do, new research finds they tend to increase costs and may also harm quality. (Bannow, 7/20)

More than two hundred Boston Medical Center resident physicians rallied Thursday afternoon, following three months of negotiations with BMC calling for a fairer contract with higher wages and core benefits. The crowd of residents gathered outside BMC, chanting slogans like “No contract, no peace!” and “What do we want? A living wage! When do we want it? Now!” Residents carried navy blue signs with messages like: “BMC is for everyone. Residency should be, too.” (Raza, 7/20)

���ϳԹ��� News: Doctors Created A Primary Care Clinic As Their Former Hospital Struggled
About a year ago, Valory Wangler, a family medicine doctor, invited a handful of former co-workers to her backyard. During the early months of the covid-19 outbreak, Wangler and her colleagues had worked at a hospital in this former railroad hub of about 21,000 residents just a few miles from the Navajo Nation. The pandemic had been hard on Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital. Emergency federal funding was drying up and nearly a third of the staff — including Wangler, the chief medical officer — left after its board of trustees hired an out-of-state, for-profit management services firm to take over operations in August 2020. (Nowell, 7/21)

The worst drug shortage in a decade is disrupting gender-affirming care, as scarce supplies of injectable estrogen prevent some transgender women from obtaining hormone therapy. Shortages of cancer drugs and other life-saving medications have already forced doctors to develop workarounds. A lack of access to estrogen products can affect trans patients in different ways: putting some through early onset menopause, reversing certain physical changes from their transition or causing them to experience anxiety and depression. (Gonzalez, 7/21)

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing a law banning transgender girls from playing on girls' school sports teams. The judge in Tucson granted a preliminary injunction to allow processing of a lawsuit filed on behalf of two transgender girls against the state's “Save Women's Sports Act,” which was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature last year. (7/21)

The Republican attorney general in Kansas is working to keep transgender people from intervening in his state-court lawsuit against changing the sex listings on their state driver’s licenses. His efforts already will block further changes until at least November. Attorney General Kris Kobach, his legal team and lawyers for the Kansas Department of Revenue were in court Thursday to set a schedule for the lawsuit. The department’s motor vehicles division issues driver’s licenses and has changed the sex listing for more than 900 people during the past four years. (Hanna, 7/20)

Also —

For nearly six months, Kesha Williams was housed with men in a Virginia prison. Williams, a transgender woman, was denied access to her hormone medication, misgendered and harassed by prison deputies, according to a lawsuit she filed against the county sheriff and detention center staff. Her ongoing legal fight has created historic precedent: People with gender dysphoria are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed that precedent, first upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, to stand. Advocates view that as a hopeful sign in the years-long battle to include trans people in federal disability law. (Rummler, 7/20)

Researchers say they have linked chronic constipation with cognitive decline, suggesting that people who defecate less may have poorer cognitive function. Chaoran Ma, an associate professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s School of Public Health and Health Sciences, worked on the study as a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. (Martin, 7/20)

Results of an ongoing phase 2 clinical trial show that an experimental vaccine given to pregnant women substantially reduced the risk of group B streptococcus infection in their infants. (Van Beusekom, 7/20)

Pandemic-related healthcare disruptions, including missed or delayed appointments and procedures, led to an increase in potentially preventable hospitalizations for patients, according to a study yesterday in the British Medical Journal. This is the first study to assess COVID-related health disruptions on a patient level, the authors said. (Soucheray, 7/20)

Black and Hispanic patients with a serious liver-scarring condition are less likely to receive transplants than their White peers in the US, according to researchers arguing for greater equity in providing the life-saving procedure. (Griffin, 7/20)

University of Pittsburgh scientists report in Vaccine that, in adults, both recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV4) and standard-dose influenza vaccine (SD-IIV4) are effective against influenza hospitalization, with RIV4 providing better protection compared with SD-IIV4 overall, with notable added protection in women, working-age adults, and those with no high-risk conditions. (Soucheray, 7/20)

A quality improvement study conducted at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals found implementation of a surgical-site infection (SSI) prevention bundle with facility-level discretion on its components may be associated with reduction of certain SSIs, VA researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open. (Dall, 7/20)

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday added EG.5 to the list of Omicron variants under monitoring (VUM), as most indicators for tracking COVID-19 activity declined, the group said in its latest weekly update. EG.5 is a descendant of XBB.1.9.2, with one extra spike mutation. Global prevalence has been rising since the end of May. The WHO now has seven VUMs. The number of variants of interest remains at two, including XBB.1.5, which is steadily declining, and XBB.1.16, which is holding steady at 20.7% of sequences. (Schnirring, 7/20)

Also —

Vir Biotechnology said Thursday that a long-acting antibody drug designed to protect healthy individuals from influenza A failed to do so in a nearly 3,000-person clinical trial. Volunteers who received the highest dose of the drug, known as VIR-2482, were only 16% less likely than the placebo group to develop symptomatic influenza A infections, as defined by trial criteria, over a seven-month period. The difference was not statistically significant. (Mast, 7/20)

It was a hot and muggy Tuesday afternoon at Lynn Beach, but the closest John Quigley could bring himself to the water was a bench far back from shore. As the unpleasant odor from the brown-stained water indicated, Lynn and nearby King’s Beaches were closed because of high bacteria levels. “King’s Beach has been polluted for what seems to be forever,” said the 67-year-old Lynn native, noting he was frustrated but not surprised that he couldn’t go swimming. (Mohammed and Obregón Dominguez, 7/20)

In other news from across the country —

Coronavirus waste water numbers have nearly tripled just three weeks after dropping to their lowest levels in two years, suggesting that cases of COVID-19 are ticking up in the greater Boston area. (Obregón Dominguez, 7/20)

There are household nightmares, and then there’s mold. Getting rid of mold can be expensive and disruptive. Even worse, according to the World Health Organization, mold can trigger allergic reactions, aggravate asthma and release the mycotoxins that can cause acute poisoning. Mold is also linked to serious diseases like cancer and disorders like immune deficiency. (Kolomatsky, 7/20)

Maria McCloud’s 1-year-old granddaughter got sick first — vomiting and diarrhea and a fever.A few days later, McCloud began to feel ill, as did several other children in the home. Probably the stomach flu, the family figured. And then they got a notice from the water district in this Northern California mountain town: E. coli had been found in the water supply. (Garrison, 7/20)

���ϳԹ��� News: Industry Groups In California Vie For New Medicaid Money
California’s powerful health care industry just notched a historic win: The state is going to give it an $11.1 billion infusion to improve care for millions of low-income Medicaid patients. But the intense jockeying over the money is only beginning. (Hart and Young, 7/21)

About 30% of Wisconsin Medicaid members who were in the first group to be due for renewal since the end of pandemic-era policies kept their coverage, according to newly released data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. (Shastri, 7/20)

For seven years, Maricela Delcid has guided Texans through the Medicaid application minefield, working past language barriers and documentation issues out of a community center in Houston. But her clients have never been more confused or frustrated than now, since the state began booting people from the program after a years-long period of continuous coverage. (Bohra, 7/21)

On March 31st, a pandemic policy that prevented states from kicking people off Medicaid came to an end. Connecticut is now in the middle of an immense undertaking to reevaluate eligibility for broad swaths of enrollees for the first time in three years. The vast majority of the roughly 274,000 people who went through unwinding in April, May and June are keeping their coverage, but the process has been stressful for individuals with Medicaid, and also for the organizations that serve them. Community health centers, or CHCs, are playing a critical role. (Golvala, 7/21)

At first, Hannah Heath thought she might have food poisoning. The north Sarasota resident was vomiting and had chills and a fever. But several days later she was still really sick. “Finally I called my husband and I was like, ‘You have to take me to the ER, I think I’m dehydrated; I think I need an IV,’ ” said Heath, 39. This was in late June, and Heath said she wasn't aware yet that malaria cases were cropping up in Sarasota County. When doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital told her she likely had the disease, she felt disbelief. (Colombini, 7/20)

The Wyoming WIC program has expanded its eligibility rules. WIC is a joint federal and state program that is officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Wyoming Department of Health's spokesperson Kim Deti said it now serves families with incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Mothers and other caregivers of children up to five years old can get nutritious food at no cost, plus other benefits. (Kudelska, 7/20)

The Minnesota Poison Control System is reporting another dangerous result of the opioid epidemic: a rise in the number of Minnesota children hospitalized due to fentanyl exposure. Since January of 2022, an organization official said it’s been contacted about 66 children under age 3 requiring medical care due to exposure to opioids, including fentanyl. The number of children exposed is probably underreported, said Dr. Travis Olives, associate medical director. (Marohn, 7/20)

Apatient described being awake for her brain surgery as "fun" after doctors asked her to sing through the procedure. Krystina Vied, from Keansburg, New Jersey, put on a "little concert" for her doctors as she sang along to Disney's Moana during awake brain surgery. She had a tumor removed in late June at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Vied, now 30, was diagnosed with epilepsy at 21 years old after experiencing multiple seizures. (Dewan, 7/17)

When Daniel Belquer was first asked to join a team to make a better live music experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, he was struck by how they had developed work-arounds to enjoy concerts. "What they were doing at the time was holding balloons to feel the vibrations through their fingers, or go barefoot and flip the speakers facing the floor," Belquer said. (Vanasco, 7/17)

Three years ago, while the nation’s attention was on the 2020 presidential election, voters in Oregon took a dramatic step back from America’s long-running War on Drugs. By a 17-point margin, Oregonians approved Ballot Measure 110, which eliminated criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of any drug, including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. When the policy went into effect early the next year, it lifted the fear of prosecution for the state’s drug users and launched Oregon on an experiment to determine whether a long-sought goal of the drug-policy reform movement—decriminalization—could help solve America’s drug problems. (Hinch, 7/19)

Electric vehicles, you might have heard, are miraculous. Just a sliver of new cars sold in the United States are EVs, but these machines have united a mishmash of people eager to move America away from gasoline. Environmental groups are all-in, and the federal government is offering hefty incentives to spur sales. Automakers now offer twice as many EV models as before the pandemic, and are pumping out endless commercials to promote them. “We believe in an all-electric future,” General Motors CEO Mary Barra said in an interview a few weeks ago. Even car enthusiasts are getting on board: YouTube offers endless videos of people racing their EVs. (Zipper, 7/19)

More than a third of people 65 or older report having tried marijuana, a proportion that has tripled since 2009. That trend has not gone unnoticed by reader Elizabeth Albright of Fountain, N.C., who asks about gray-haired customers of legal marijuana dispensaries. Specifically, Elizabeth wants to know if they are unusually likely to be NPR listeners. (Van Dam, 7/14)

There is no longer an excuse to be unprepared for the deadliness of extreme heat. The American Southwest is facing record stretches of days over 110 degrees, and Florida has measured sea-surface temperatures nearing 100. On July 6, Algeria recorded the highest nighttime low temperature in African history – just over 103 degrees. A powerful heat dome has descended on Europe, bringing land surface temperatures to 140 degrees in Spain. (Richard C. Keller, 7/21)

Americans are in pain, mentally as well as physically, and inadequate insurance is making it worse. Simply finding a therapist is absurdly difficult, and the care itself is often unaffordable. Here’s proof. (Kate Woodsome, 7/21)

According to the World Health Organization, “In 2019, 1 in every 8 people, or 970 million people around the world were living with a mental disorder.” In other words, seven in eight people aren’t living with a mental disorder. But how would you find out whether you are the one or among the seven? (Arthur C. Brooks, 7/20)

Many readers wrote in the past week to express their worries about the artificial intelligence revolution in health care in response to my recent column on the topic. “My doctor already spends the entire visit with eyes glued to a computer,” Tom from Vermont wrote. “I don’t want the next step to be the computer doing the talking.” (Leana S. Wen, 7/20)

Many medications have made the move from prescription-only to over the counter.It's about time that the birth control pill joined the list that already includes allergy and heartburn medications, topical antifungals and a smoking cessation aid. (7/20)

���ϳԹ��� News: Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors And Hospitals Ignore This At Their Peril
For Emily Boller, it was a $5,000 hospital bill for a simple case of pink eye that took four years to pay off. For Mary Curley, it was the threatening collection letters from a lab that arrived more than 2½ years later, just as her husband lost his job and the family was fighting to save their home. For Cory Day, it was a $1,000 fee he was charged at an emergency room outside Los Angeles, even though he only checked in and then left before being seen. “I feel like the hospital is a predator,” Day said. “This is a place that’s supposed to be looking after you.” (Noam Levey, 7/21)

At my county coroner’s office, I regularly review cases of murdered women. They are victims of domestic violence, overwhelmingly ones shot to death by ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends or other men they knew. The Supreme Court is now poised to decide whether to put guns more easily into the hands of these abusers-turned-murderers, which would enshrine domestic violence as a warped historical privilege of the U.S. Constitution. (Jane K. Stoever, 7/20)

Parkland will soon install new touchless screening stations that will require those entering its facilities to simply walk naturally through sensors designed to differentiate between common metallic items, like keys, and weapons. Numerous people can pass through at the same time, doing away with the need to routinely stop, empty pockets and endure long, demeaning security lines. (7/21)

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve heard a lot about gain-of-function research, and some of its risks, particularly regarding the possible creation of dangerous pathogens. But there’s a lot more to this field than that, including research that could potentially be quite beneficial to human society. If we focus solely on the risks, we may miss those benefits. (Saskia Popescu, Yong-Bee Lim and Angela Rasmussen, 7/21)

Obesity is one of the leading health challenges in the U.S., and as the month of September rapidly approaches, Congressional leaders will again be faced with a one-in-five-year chance to negotiate funding levels for SNAP, Americas' largest food relief program. As it stands, Congress is careening toward this deadline without a clear plan to solve a decades-long problem: the billion-dollar federal government subsidization of sugar sweetened beverages and junk food in the SNAP program. (Rep. Andy Harris and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, 7/20)