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President Biden on Thursday unveiled a comprehensive strategy to address the coronavirus pandemic while warning that it would take months for his administration’s actions to significantly alter the trajectory of the pandemic. Biden, seeking to manage expectations as the United States confronts a dire period of infections, said that the COVID-19 death toll would likely top 500,000 in February and that it would take months to get Americans vaccinated against the virus. (Hellmann and Chalfant, 1/21)

A new federal strategy to tame the coronavirus pandemic focuses on trying to make tests and vaccines more abundant, schools and travel safer, and states better able to afford their role in the long road back to normal life. The plan and 10 executive orders that President Biden issued Thursday include the creation of a Pandemic Testing Board that can spur a “surge” in the capacity for coronavirus tests. Other orders will foster research into new treatments for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus; strengthen the collection and analysis of data to shape the government’s response to the crisis; and direct the federal occupational safety agency to release and enforce guidelines to protect workers from getting infected. (Goldstein, Stanley-Becker and Meckler, 1/21)

President Joe Biden signed 10 more executive orders on Thursday, invoking the Defense Production Act in a "wartime undertaking" to boost production of vaccine supplies while also requiring travelers to the U.S. to get a test before flying. After assailing Donald Trump's coronavirus response as a candidate and throughout the transition, Biden laid out in more detail what he'll do differently as cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, with the U.S. death toll expected to reach half a million people within weeks. Biden said that the worst of the pandemic is yet to come and that it will take time for progress to be measurable. (Ollstein and Leonard, 1/21)

With a burst of executive orders, President Joe Biden served notice Thursday that America’s war on COVID-19 is under new command, promising an anxious nation progress to reduce infections and lift the siege it has endured for nearly a year. At the same time, he tried to manage expectations in his second day in office, saying despite the best intentions “we’re going to face setbacks.” He brushed off a reporter’s question on whether his goal of 100 million coronavirus shots in 100 days should be more ambitious, a point pressed by some public health experts. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Miller, 1/21)

President Joe Biden launched a comprehensive federal plan on Thursday to rein in the raging COVID-19 pandemic. (Bose, 1/21)

The White House early Thursday released the Biden administration's National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. Officials said the coordinated pandemic response will improve the effectiveness of the fight against COVID-19, and help "restore trust, accountability and a sense of common purpose in our government." (1/21/21)

President Biden raced Thursday to show he was addressing the array of crises awaiting him on his first day in office, issuing executive orders aimed at combating the coronavirus and preparing measures to take on the struggling economy and other problems. Biden and his team found themselves immediately on what the president called a “wartime” footing, describing fighting the coronavirus as “a national emergency.” Against an already calamitous backdrop of a pandemic that has left more than 408,000 Americans dead, an additional 900,000 people filed new unemployment claims last week, underlining a devastated job market. (Parker and Viser, 1/21)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Biden Health Agenda 

President Joe Biden wasted no time getting down to work. Among the raft of executive orders he signed on Inauguration Day were several aimed at curtailing the covid crisis, including one requiring mask-wearing by federal employees and anyone on federal property for the next 100 days. Meanwhile, with the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris and the swearing-in of two new Democratic senators from Georgia, Democrats took over the majority in the Senate, albeit with a 50-50 tie. That leaves Democrats in charge of both the legislative and executive branches for the first time since 2010, but with such narrow majorities it could be difficult to advance many of Biden’s top health agenda items, starting with an expansion of the Affordable Care Act. (1/21)

President Biden signed an order Thursday mandating masks in airports and on many planes, trains, ships and intercity buses. His action comes on the heels of a Wednesday order — his first as president — requiring masks on federal property. Together, the two orders come as close to a national mask mandate as his federal powers may allow, leaving it to states and municipalities to require residents to wear masks at a local level. (Laris and Wan, 1/21)

A day after being sworn in, President Joe Biden is rolling out a national strategy to fight COVID-19, reopen the nation’s schools and restart the U.S. economy. His plan calls for an expansion of coronavirus testing, accelerated vaccine distribution and new action to prepare for future biological threats. The plan is tied to a $1.9 trillion plan that Biden unveiled last week to combat the pandemic. The administration’s new strategy is based around seven major goals. (1/21)

The Biden administration is vowing tough enforcement of new safety measures it is imposing on travelers to curb the spread of the coronavirus even as some in the travel indusry say elements of the plan will be difficult to police. In an executive order issued Thursday, President Joe Biden required masks be worn in airports, planes, intercity buses and other forms of transportation. The president is also ordering people who arrive in the U.S. from other countries to self-quarantine, which had previously been unenforced guidance. “We are prepared to make sure we use all relevant authorities to enforce the president’s executive order to ensure across every mode of transportation workers, passengers, commuters are protected,” Pete Buttigieg, the nominee to become secretary of transportation, told lawmakers Thursday during a hearing on his confirmation. (Levin and Laing, 1/21)

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order to back up Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines recommending that international travelers quarantine for seven days after arriving in the United States. Biden’s executive order says travelers must comply with CDC orders that require a negative COVID-19 test to get into the country as well as a quarantine period upon arrival to the states. (Lonas, 1/21)

Joe Biden signed more than a dozen executive orders in his first hours as president on Wednesday, the first salvos in a coming legislative and regulatory crusade to erase Donald Trump’s legacy from federal law and advance his own agenda. While many of Biden’s first policy moves are expected reversals of Trump policies, others go further, and his team has signaled that many more actions will be announced in the days ahead. Here is what Biden did Wednesday, and what it means for the country. (Ollstein, Kakkar and Jin, 1/21)

One order calls on agency leaders to check for shortages in areas like personal protective gear and vaccine supplies, and identify where the administration could invoke the Defense Production Act to increase manufacturing. The White House has said it could use the Korean War-era law, which the Trump administration made use of in its vaccine development program, to increase production of a type of syringe that allows pharmacists to extract an extra dose from vaccine vials. The Biden team has said it identified 12 “immediate supply shortfalls” critical to the pandemic response, including N95 surgical masks and isolation gowns, as well as swabs, reagents and pipettes used in testing. (Weiland, 1/21)

President Biden signed an executive order Thursday to direct federal regulators to issue stronger safety guidance for workplaces operating in the midst of the pandemic. The executive order on “Protecting Worker Health and Safety” seeks to reorient worker safety guidelines and enforcement at the Labor Department’s workplace safety division — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (Rosenberg, 1/21)

The Biden administration on Thursday delayed a rule that would block community health centers from receiving future grant funds unless they charge low-income patients the acquisition price for insulin and Epi-Pens, plus an administration fee. HHS signed off on the rule in December, shortly before former President Donald Trump left office. It aims to lower patients' out-of-pocket costs by forcing community clinics to pass on their 340B drug discounts. The rule requires federally qualified health centers to give their discounts to the uninsured, patients with high cost-sharing for insulin or Epi-Pens or a high unmet deductible. (Brady, 1/21)

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will sign two executive orders aimed at speeding pandemic stimulus checks to families who need it most and increasing food aid for children who normally rely on school meals as a main source for nutrition. ...“We’re at a precarious moment in our economy,” Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters in a preview of the orders. He said the actions are not a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief, “but they will provide a critical lifeline to millions of American families.” (Holland and Saphir, 1/22)

Biden plans to ask the Agriculture Department, which administers the food stamp program, for a 15% bump in the emergency benefits given to families whose kids normally would count on breakfast and lunch from school programs, Deese said. That change could increase food stamp benefits for a family of three by about $105 over two months, he said. Biden also wants about 12 million of the lowest-income food stamp recipients to be able to qualify for the emergency food benefits. This tweak would lift their food stamps by 15% to 20% per month, Deese said. (Rampton and Horsley, 1/22)

The other is geared toward improving the jobs of federal workers and contractors, which was among the President's campaign commitments. It lays the groundwork for requiring contractors to pay a $15 hourly minimum wage and to provide emergency paid leave by the end of Biden's first 100 days. It also directs agencies to determine which federal workers are earning less than that minimum and develop recommendations to promote bringing them up to $15 an hour. Biden included a call to raise the national hourly minimum wage to $15 as part of the $1.9 trillion relief package he outlined last week before taking office. It is currently $7.25 an hour. (Luhby, 1/22)

Mr. Biden is also asking the Treasury Department to take steps to ensure eligible households who haven’t received the stimulus payments Congress authorized last year are able to access the funds. And he will ask the Labor Department to clarify that workers have a right to refuse a job that would jeopardize their health and are still eligible for jobless benefits if they do so. The order would also establish a network of “benefit delivery teams” across federal and state-administered programs to help improve access to relief, such as tax credits, small business loans and jobless benefits. (Davidson, 1/22)

While they are not meant as a stand-in for the nearly $2 trillion economic relief package Biden proposed last week, the orders reflect the White House’s efforts to shore up the economy while lawmakers debate whether to enact a new, massive aid package — a process that could take months. (Cassella, 1/22)

KHN: Health Issues Carried Weight On The Campaign Trail. What Could Biden Do In His First 100 Days? 

Joe Biden ran on an expansive health care platform during his 2020 presidential campaign, with a broad array of promises such as adding a government-sponsored health plan to the Affordable Care Act and lowering prescription drug prices. Perhaps most significantly, he pledged to get control of the covid pandemic that claimed more than 400,000 American lives by Inauguration Day. President Biden now faces major challenges in accomplishing his health care agenda; among the biggest will be bridging partisan divides in both Congress and the nation at large. (Knight, 1/22)

President Biden is preparing to reverse a Trump administration policy that prohibits U.S. funding for nongovernmental groups that provide or refer patients for abortions — the first of several moves reproductive rights advocates are hoping to see from the Biden administration. In prepared remarks released by the White House on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells the World Health Organization's executive board that Biden will soon revoke the Mexico City Policy "as part of his broader commitment to protect women's health and advance gender equality at home and around the world." The policy, first instituted by the Reagan administration, has pingponged on and off between Republican and Democratic presidents ever since. Trump reinstituted and expanded the policy, which critics describe as a "gag rule," within days of taking office. An analysis published in 2019 in the medical journal The Lancet found that the Mexico City Policy increased the abortion rate in at least some affected countries, likely because it also reduced access to contraception. (McCammon, 1/21)

Almost $9 billion in U.S. foreign aid is at stake under the “Mexico City Policy”, also known as the “global gag rule”, which prevents foreign groups providing abortion services or counselling from receiving U.S. funding. Those that have rejected the ban have lost funding, forcing them to shut reproductive health clinics and other services including HIV care. (Batha, 1/21)

“It will be our policy to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in the United States, as well as globally,” Anthony Fauci said in remarks to the World Health Organization Thursday morning. ... Trump reinstated the ban upon taking office in 2017 and later expanded it to cover all global health assistance, including funding for HIV, maternal and child health and malaria programs.  (Hellmann, 1/21)

Pope Francis told President Joe Biden on Wednesday that he was praying that God would guide his efforts to bring reconciliation in the United States, while the head of the nation’s Catholic bishops condemned Biden’s pro-choice stand on abortion. In a message sent shortly after the second Catholic U.S. president was sworn in, Francis also said he hoped Biden would work towards a society marked by true justice, freedom and respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those with no voice. (Pullella, 1/20)

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a stark condemnation of President Biden's abortion agenda on the day of his inauguration, arguing that he would advance "moral evil" on the "preeminent priority" for the faithful. "I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender," said Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who serves as the USCCB's president. "Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences." (Dorman, 1/21)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described President Biden as a "devout Catholic" after being asked about his stances on taxpayer funding for abortion. Psaki's comments came during her first press conference Wednesday, where an EWTN Global Catholic Network reporter asked her about "two big concerns for pro-life Americans" -- the Hyde Amendment and Mexico City Policy. The former bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion under most circumstances, while the latter restricts taxpayer funding of abortion abroad. "What is President Biden doing on those two items right now?" reporter Owen Jensen asked. (Dorman, 1/21)

Throughout his political career, President Joe Biden's Catholic faith has always been a major presence: He attends Mass every Sunday and has spoken about the importance of religion in his life; and on Inauguration Day, he will be sworn in using a 127-year-old family Bible. After the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, Biden will be the second Catholic to lead the United States, the first since John F. Kennedy in 1961. However, the two leaders differ greatly in their stances on social issues: Kennedy did not challenge the Catholic Church's positions, according to NBC affiliate KXAN, while Biden has expressed support for abortion rights and gay marriage. (Breen, 1/20)

President Joe Biden carries a rosary in his pocket and attends Mass regularly. How does his faith inform his politics? And where does Biden's Catholicism land in the spectrum of American Catholic belief? (1/20)

Anthony Fauci on Thursday said it has been “liberating” to work as the nation's top infectious diseases doctor under President Biden after his experience working for former President Trump. Speaking at the White House press briefing, Fauci was asked if he feels "less constrained" in the new administration after clashing with Trump and eventually being sidelined last year. (Easley, 1/21)

Anthony Fauci isn’t hiding his relief that he’s serving in a new administration. One day into the Biden presidency, the longtime infectious disease expert and unlikely celebrity of the Covid-19 response described it as “a refreshing experience.” Fauci, who has served under seven presidents as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was a frequent target of public criticism from President Donald Trump, who accused him and other career scientists at public health agencies of overstating the seriousness of the worsening pandemic and hampering efforts to address it. (Owermohle, 1/21)

Most of the times Dr. Anthony S. Fauci made an appearance in the White House briefing room in 2020 — before eventually being banished from public view for his grim assessments of the coronavirus pandemic — he had President Donald J. Trump glowering over his shoulder. On Thursday, Dr. Fauci, the nation’s foremost infectious disease specialist, was back, this time with no one telling him what to say. And he made no effort to hide how he felt about it. (Shear, 1/21)

Given Fauci’s stated commitment to honesty, a reporter asked whether there was anything he’d like to “amend or clarify” from his tenure working for Trump. “No,” Fauci replied. “I mean, I always said everything on the basis [of science] — that’s where I got in trouble sometimes.” (Bump, 1/21)

Apart from his highly visible role on the Coronavirus Task Force during the Trump administration, a role that made him perhaps America’s most famous doctor, Mr. Fauci was running NIAID behind the scenes. In the past year, he and other leaders of NIAID have overseen work that led to the development of the Moderna Inc. Covid-19 vaccine, as well as the clinical trial that led to approval of the drug remdesivir. (Burton, 1/21)

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, said he suffered mild side effects after receiving a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. “I was hoping that I wouldn’t get too knocked out. I did for about 24 hours. Now I’m fine,” he said at a White House event Thursday. Fauci, an adviser to President Joe Biden on Covid-19, said he felt fatigued and achy, “not sick.” (Jacobs and Tozzi, 1/21)

Testing wristbands are in. Mask-wearing is mandatory. Desks are socially distanced. The clearest sign that there’s a new boss at the White House is the deference being paid to coronavirus public health guidelines. ... Officials in close contact with Biden wear wristbands to signify they have been tested that day. Every event with the president is carefully choreographed to maintain distancing, with strips of paper taped to the carpet to show the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Anthony Fauci where to stand when Biden is delivering an address. ... Plexiglass barriers have been set up at some desks that are in open areas, but nearly all staff who are already working in the building have enclosed offices. (Jaffe and Miller, 1/22)

President Joe Biden’s first Covid-19 package is already facing hurdles in Congress that threaten to force the fledgling administration to curb some of its more progressive aims just one week after the proposal’s debut. Early critiques from Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah, two members of the bipartisan group of senators who crafted the framework for December’s stimulus package, challenged the $1.9 trillion plan. (Franck and Pramuk, 1/21)

Senate Republicans vowed Thursday that President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill will not get 60 votes, daring the White House to either compromise with the GOP or use partisan procedural tactics to evade their filibuster. Put simply, the Senate GOP says Biden’s proposal spends too much money and comes too soon on the heels of Congress’ $900 billion stimulus package from last month. And that unless the proposal has major changes made to it or Democrats use budget reconciliation to pass it with a simple majority, it is doomed on the Senate floor. (Everett, 1/21)

Republicans are pushing back against President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that aims to give state and local governments a “budget bailout” from financial mismanagement in Democratic -- or "blue" states. Part of Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” will dedicate $350 billion to states in an effort to alleviate higher costs and lower tax revenues during the pandemic. Democrats have been urging this move for months now, warning that they will have to make cuts to education programs, safety and public health. (Park, 1/21)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that House Democrats will move immediately on a massive coronavirus relief package, setting the stage for an early showdown in the newly flipped Senate over the chief legislative priority of the nascent Biden administration. House Democrats have rearranged their schedule over the next two weeks, scrapping votes next week to allow the relevant committees to consider the various provisions of their emerging COVID-19 relief package. Pelosi suggested that package could hit the House floor as early as the week of Feb. 1. (Lillis, 1/21)

Though President Joe Biden rolled out a $1.9 trillion relief proposal last week, big questions have yet to be settled in the Capitol, including what exactly Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will put forward, if Republicans will participate in negotiations or even when Congress will act. What Biden, Pelosi and Schumer decide — and how much GOP cooperation they get — will do much to shape the direction of Democrats' first opportunity to govern in a decade. “I can’t imagine a president coming under, coming in under more difficult circumstances,” Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) told reporters just after the inauguration ceremony. “But I know it’s not just on him, you know, we got to do our part in the Congress.” (Caygle, Ferris and Emma, 1/21)

A bipartisan group of 16 senators is expected to speak this weekend with a White House aide about coronavirus relief. The phone call with National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, confirmed by a source familiar with the plan, is expected to be used to discuss President Biden's roughly $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. (Carney, 1/21)

The House of Representatives will prepare to vote on a COVID-19 relief bill -- which is widely expected to contain a third stimulus check for up to $1,400 per person -- as early as the week of Feb. 1, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday in a press conference: "We will be doing our committee work all next week so that we are completely ready to go to the floor when we come back." (Dolcourt, 1/21)

Eli Lilly said Thursday that its monoclonal antibody prevented Covid-19 infections in nursing home residents and staff in a clinical trial, the first time such a treatment has been shown to prevent infection. Lilly released the results in a press release, although it said that it would publish the data in a research paper as quickly as possible. (Herper, 1/21)

Drugmaker Eli Lilly said Thursday its antibody drug can prevent COVID-19 illness in residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care locations. It’s the first major study to show such a treatment may prevent illness in a group that has been devastated by the pandemic. Residents and staff who got the drug had up to a 57% lower risk of getting COVID-19 compared to others at the same facility who got a placebo, the drugmaker said. Among nursing home residents only, the risk was reduced by up to 80%. (Murphy, 1/21)

Eli Lilly on Thursday said its antibody COVID-19 treatment significantly reduced the risk of nursing home residents and staff contracting symptomatic COVID-19 in a clinical trial. The company announced the results of its trial in a press release, but said they will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed clinical journal. (Weixel, 1/21)

Eli Lilly & Co. said its antibody-based drug prevented Covid-19 among many residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, results that point to the drug complementing vaccines while inoculations increase. The drug, called bamlanivimab, reduced the risk of both staff and residents getting sick with Covid-19 by about 57% compared with a placebo eight weeks after receiving doses, Lilly said Thursday. The effect was more pronounced among residents, the company said, an 80% reduction in risk of Covid-19. (Loftus, 1/21)

Those who recover from coronavirus infection have immunity for at least five to six months, per several early studies, and while re-infections to prior strains were rare, new mutated strains pose a risk of contracting the novel virus again, scientists say. One researcher has even pinned a recent case surge in Manaus, Brazil, a northwestern city in the Amazon, to re-infections fueled by a variant strain called P.1, per NPR. While research suggests the city already reached the herd immunity threshold, with over 70% of the population infected by last fall, the area’s health system is now collapsing amid an increase in infections and dwindling oxygen supplies. (Rivas, 1/21)

Hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States are falling after having hit record levels this month — a welcome sign that the winter surge may finally be leveling off. But as new, potentially more contagious variants of the virus circulate, coronavirus modelers warn that the U.S. is by no means out of the woods yet. (Chow, 1/22)

At least seven California children have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, more than 350,000 kids have tested positive for the virus and the number of youngsters diagnosed with a new, rare inflammatory syndrome continues to spread. All of these stats are on the rise just as a new highly contagious strain of the virus is worrying parents and experts alike and as the state tries to move toward reopening schools next month. “We are at a critical time because the overall number of cases of COVID are increasing so much,” said Dr. Jackie Szmuszkovicz, pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “We are seeing more children with MIS-C the last few weeks following that big increase (of cases) in the community.” (Aguilera, 1/21)

The chances that a person hospitalized for COVID-19 will die in Los Angeles County have doubled in recent months. That’s according to an analysis released Wednesday by the county’s Department of Health Services, which found that the probability someone will die of the disease while hospitalized increased from about 1 in 8 in September and October to roughly 1 in 4 since early November. Those increased odds coincide with a devastating spike in L.A. County’s death toll. In early November, when the current coronavirus surge began, there were fewer than 20 COVID-19 deaths per day, on average. But over the weeklong period that ended Wednesday, there were roughly 206 deaths reported each day, according to data compiled by The Times. (Lin II and Money, 1/21)

To no one’s surprise, California’s patchwork approach to distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccines has been chaotic. Statements from the governor’s office are countered by local health officials, sometimes almost immediately. Clinics and providers scramble to learn how many doses they’ll be allocated and when those will arrive, and patients may wait on hold for hours to schedule an appointment. The Trump administration’s abdication of federal responsibility has exacted a heavy toll, while the state’s inability to contain the virus suggests that even a smooth vaccination process would cover only so much of the damage. Through it all, though, some truths have remained maddeningly consistent. And as the latest information out of virus-ravaged Los Angeles County makes clear, those truths aren’t going to change – so vaccine policy will need to. (Kreidler, 1/21)

It’s a statistic that could easily fly by at a time when the number of statewide COVID-related deaths have passed 8,300. But there are good reasons to take a deeper look at the 200 North Carolina residential-care residents who have been listed as COVID-related deaths each week beginning with Dec. 22 as recorded in state Department of Health and Human services data. Each week’s total amounts to about one in four of the total 817 deaths tied to COVID among assisted living residents since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. (Goldsmith, 1/22)

Oklahoma's commissioner of Health on Thursday confirmed a downward trend in new daily COVID-19 infections. A day after publicly second-guessing a recent drop in new COVID-19 cases reported by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said the trend is accurate. "The COVID-19 case numbers have been significantly lower this week, which prompted us to investigate their validity as well as our reporting systems out of an abundance of caution," he said in a statement. "After checking with staff and comparing different sources of information, we can report the data is accurate and our case count has been significantly down this week." (Forman, 1/22)

Influenza, usually raging throughout the Northern Hemisphere this time of year, has become virtually invisible. It is a small bright spot amid Covid-19, although the number of people saved from a flu death pales next to the number dying from the new pandemic. It also presents questions that doctors around the globe will likely be wrestling with for years: If flu can be nearly wiped out this season, why not every season? Which steps help the most to stop the flu from spreading? (Inada, 1/21)

The usual broken bones and other trauma are being treated this winter at the emergency department of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. But one category of medical complaints has all but disappeared: infectious disease. Take influenza, for example. Typically between December and April, nurses and doctors at the North Philadelphia hospital see hundreds of children with the flu. So far this winter, the number is zero. Flu numbers for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the United States as a whole also are well below normal across all ages, though far from zero. Likewise the country has seen few cases of acute flaccid myelitis, a form of childhood paralysis that is thought to be caused by viral infection. The rate of that illness typically spikes in the fall of even-number years, with 238 confirmed cases in 2018, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet in 2020 there were just 29. (Avril, 1/21)

A World Health Organization program for pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily share Covid-19 related knowledge, treatments and technology so they can be more widely distributed has attracted zero contributions in the eight months since it was established, the Guardian has learned. The Covid-19 technology access pool (C-Tap) was launched in May last year to facilitate the sharing of patent-protected information to fight the virus, including diagnostics, therapeutics and trial data. The “pooling” of treatments and data would allow qualified manufacturers from around the world to produce critical equipment, drugs or vaccines without fear of prosecution for breaching patents. (Safi, 1/22)

President Biden’s top adviser on COVID-19, Anthony Fauci, stressed the new administration’s support for the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday after former President Trump and his administration’s criticism. Fauci vowed during a virtual WHO executive board meeting to rejoin the effort to distribute vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics around the world and to restart funding and staff support for the organization. He also indicated the U.S. plans “to fulfill its financial obligations to the organization.” (Coleman, 1/21)

The scientific community applauded President Biden's decision to rejoin the World Health Organization and other global efforts designed to stop and prevent COVID-19."This is very good news for America, for WHO and the world," said Lawrence Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. "Obviously, I'm delighted," added Barry Bloom, an immunologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "If we want to retain leadership in global health in the world, we can't not play with the rest of the world." (Weintraub, 1/22)

As one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden Wednesday halted the U.S. departure from the World Health Organization and joined a multilateral vaccine distribution initiative, cementing U.S. involvement in the Geneva-based United Nations agency nine months after former president Donald Trump announced intentions to leave. ... The United States’ return was hailed by WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who tweeted, “We are all glad that the United States of America is staying in the family.” Here’s what you need to know about the WHO and what it does. (Mellen, 1/21)

A year ago, health authorities announced the first confirmed U.S. Covid-19 case in Snohomish County, Wash., near Seattle. Less than 11 months later, the virus reached an isolated Hawaiian enclave established more than a century ago for patients with leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease. It appears to be the last county in the U.S. to record a coronavirus case, according to a Wall Street Journal review of state records and data collected by Johns Hopkins University. (Kamp and Abbott, 1/21)

The coronavirus has now reached every county in the United States — even a remote Hawaiian outpost that was the last remaining holdout. Until recently, Kalawao County, which has less than 100 residents and was used as a leper colony for decades, was the only county in the nation that hadn’t reported a single covid-19 case. But even though it’s so isolated from the rest of the world that basic supplies have to be brought in by barge once a year, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, the virus still managed to make its way there. (Noori Farzan, 1/22)

[P]ublic health experts, doctors, scientists and leaders from industry and government say the past year has taught us a lot about the virus — and how those lessons can be applied to try to slow the pandemic now. Their takeaways ranged from findings about the virus itself, and how it spreads — remember when we were all Clorox-wiping our groceries? — to reflections on our own behavior, and how it’s condemned us to ever-increasing infection rates. (Tirrell, 1/21)

It's been one year since COVID-19 was first detected in the United States. Here's a list of several key dates and events relating to the pandemic since then. (1/21)

As Wuhan marks the first anniversary of its unprecedented lockdown, the city’s experiences are the cause of both hope and caution as the virus again takes hold in the country where it was first discovered. ... The resurgence has rendered Wuhan’s anniversary especially sensitive for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Unhappy with accusations that officials bungled the handling of the outbreak’s early stages and silenced whistle-blowers, the party has sought to rewrite the past year as a tale of decisive courage under strongman President Xi Jinping. (Campbell, 1/22)

Despite challenges with the distribution and administration of Covid-19 vaccines, the US "can and should" vaccinate 70-85% of US adults by the end of summer, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Thursday. If officials do hit that benchmark, it could means a semblance of normalcy by the fall, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said. (Holcombe, 1/22)

The Biden administration is willing to consider almost anything to boost the nation’s dwindling supply of Covid-19 vaccines. A new strategy document released Thursday, totaling nearly 200 pages, offers the first clear list of the options President Biden has before him, though it doesn’t specifically say he’ll actually take all of the steps. (Florko, 1/21)

As President Joe Biden spent his first full day in office issuing executive actions aimed at containing the coronavirus, his administration scrambled to get a handle on a key unanswered question: How much vaccine is actually available? Conflicting accounts of supply totals have bedeviled federal and state health officials, complicating the new administration's sweeping pandemic response plan and casting fresh doubts on how long it will take Biden to bring the virus under control. (Cancryn and Pager, 1/21)

[F]ederal health officials and corporate executives agree that it will be impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines before April because of lack of manufacturing capacity. The administration should first focus, experts say, on fixing the hodgepodge of state and local vaccination centers that has proved incapable of managing even the current flow of vaccines. President Biden’s goal of one million shots a day for the next 100 days, they say, is too low and will arguably leave tens of millions of doses unused. Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that the nation has already reached that milestone pace. About 1.1 million people received shots last Friday, after an average of 911,000 people a day received them on the previous two days. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 1/21)

The two companies with authorized vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, have each promised to provide the United States with 100 million vaccine doses by the end of March, or enough for 100 million people to get the necessary two shots. But that doesn’t mean those 200 million doses are sitting in a factory warehouse somewhere, waiting to be shipped. Both companies are manufacturing the doses at full capacity, and are collectively releasing between 12 million and 18 million doses each week. (Thomas, 1/21)

As President Joe Biden takes steps to try to ramp up vaccine production, experts say the biggest boon to his administration's vaccine strategy could simply be good timing. The President on Thursday directed federal agencies to use "all available legal authorities, including the Defense Production Act" to boost vaccine supply, but experts tell CNN that Biden's team may be positioned for success even if it does relatively little, as the administration absorbs a flawed vaccine-distribution effort but at the same moment manufacturers hit a stride and states work out the kinks in their own distribution plans. (Murray and Holmes, 1/22)

Anthony Fauci said the Biden administration is not starting from square one on its COVID-19 vaccine distribution, contradicting reports that Trump officials did not leave them with a plan. "We're certainly not starting from scratch, because there is activity going on in the distribution," Fauci told reporters during an appearance in the White House briefing room. (Weixel, 1/21)

President Biden's coronavirus team is faulting the Trump administration for what it's calling a lack of planning in the government's COVID-19 response that is now forcing officials to ramp up federal action. "What we're inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined," Jeff Zients, Biden's coronavirus response coordinator, said on a call with reporters. (Sullivan, 1/21)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is ordering vaccine shots set aside as second doses be re-distributed as first doses to new people if the original patient doesn’t come back for their follow-up appointment a few weeks later. The second shots will be released if they’re not claimed within seven days - but latecomers can still come back at a different time, he said Thursday during his monthly news conference on PBS-Utah. Some state lawmakers have suggested not holding back a reserve of vaccine for second doses, but Cox said that health experts advise against that step. (Whitehurst, 1/22)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Thursday announced the state won’t be letting booster shots of the coronavirus wait on shelves if the intended recipient doesn’t show up for a second dose. The best use of the 104,000 second doses in the state’s stockpile has been a matter of discussion between health experts and officials lately — with some state lawmakers arguing they should be repurposed as first doses to maximize the number of people with partial protection from the virus. But Cox says leaders in the state’s coronavirus response believe it’s important to give first-dose recipients a chance to get fully inoculated. “There is a name on every one of those second doses,” the Republican governor said during a news conference televised by PBS Utah. (Rodgers, 1/21)

In a phone call with the four-star Army general overseeing the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, Tennessee’s top health official laid out what she saw as the No. 1 obstacle to getting more shots into people’s arms. “The only limitation is supply,” Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey recalled telling the general, Gustave F. Perna, earlier this month. From Miami to Manhattan, hospital leaders and public officials have been equally emphatic. But in one of the most puzzling aspects of the early vaccine rollout, the shortages are intensifying in some jurisdictions, while others have yet to use all their vaccine. The bottleneck isn’t just in administering the vaccines; some states are not ordering everything they’ve been allotted. (Stanley-Becker and Sun, 1/21)

Public health experts Thursday blamed COVID-19 vaccine shortages around the U.S. in part on the Trump administration’s push to get states to vastly expand their vaccination drives to reach the nation’s estimated 54 million people age 65 and over. The push that began over a week ago has not been accompanied by enough doses to meet demand, according to state and local officials, leading to frustration and confusion and limiting states’ ability to attack the outbreak that has killed over 400,000 Americans. (Johnson, Melley and Matthews, 1/22)

KHN: Covid Vaccine Rollout Leaves Most Older Adults Confused Where To Get Shots 

Over a month into a massive vaccination program, most older Americans report they don’t know where or when they can get inoculated for covid-19, according to a poll released Friday. Nearly 6 in 10 people 65 and older who have not yet gotten a shot said they don’t have enough information about how to get vaccinated, according to the KFF survey. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.) (Galewitz, 1/22)

For Georgia seniors, the COVID vaccine rollout has been rocky at best. Yet an increasing number of people 65 and older living in the community and in long-term care facilities now are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations. But what about the elderly who are homebound? Right now, Georgia public health officials are wrestling with that issue. (Miller, 1/21)

Fortune struck one man in the bakery aisle at the supermarket. Two others were working the night shift at a Subway sandwich shop. Yet another was plucked from a list of 15,000 hopefuls. With millions of Americans waiting for their chance to get the coronavirus vaccine, a lucky few are getting bumped to the front of the line as clinics scramble to get rid of extra, perishable doses at the end of the day. It is often a matter of being in the right place at the right time. (Condon, Choi and Sedensky, 1/22)

The District plans to give priority for coronavirus vaccines to the broadest possible swath of people with preexisting health conditions — a decision that will make hundreds of thousands eligible for scarce doses of the vaccine and that some public health experts say might not make medical sense. The plan, the details of which were confirmed by vaccine director Ankoor Shah, would offer vaccines to people whose weight and medical history would not qualify them for early access to the vaccine in almost any state in the country. (Zauzmer, 1/21)

Advocacy groups are calling on public health officials to prioritize vaccinating Type 1 diabetes patients in their COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans, citing new research on the risks of serious complications after contracting the virus. A group of 19 diabetes advocacy organizations recently sent a letter to top CDC officials requesting the federal agency recommend that individuals with Type 1 diabetes be included in prioritized vaccine populations. (Gans, 1/21)

Everyone in Wisconsin would be eligible to schedule appointments for COVID-19 vaccine shots by mid-March and state health officials would be barred from prioritizing prisoners in the vaccine rollout under legislation introduced this week by Republican lawmakers. The Evers administration this week announced residents 65 and older could start scheduling appointments for their first vaccine shot on Monday. At the same time, the Republican leader of the Assembly's health committee is proposing to open up that option to everyone in Wisconsin by mid-March. "We have areas of the state where they are going through their priority list much quicker than other areas," state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, said about the bill. "We’re interested in making sure we get as many vaccines in people as fast as possible." (Beck, 1/21)

The World Health Organization said it sees no evidence that Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine contributed to the deaths of elderly people and urged that the shot still be used. Reports of deaths “are in line with the expected, all-cause mortality rates and causes of death in the sub-population of frail, elderly individuals, and the available information does not confirm a contributory role for the vaccine in the reported fatal events,” the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety said in a statement on Friday. The risk-benefit balance of the vaccine “remains favorable in the elderly.” (Kresge, 1/22)

A public health doctor in Texas has been charged with stealing a vial of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement Thursday that Dr. Hasan Gokal is accused of theft by a public servant, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. (Jones, 1/21)

“Scammers may try to exploit the uncertainty and anxiety” surrounding the vaccine roll-out, District Attorney Stephen M. Wagstaffe said in a statement. Wagstaffe warned that scams may attempt to trick those eager for a vaccine into paying for bogus shots or a a vaccine waiting list that is not valid. “If anyone that isn’t well known in your community — like a doctor, a health care clinic, a pharmacy, a county health program — offers you a vaccine, think twice and check with your doctor,” according to the county. Residents were also encouraged to remain skeptical of vitamins or other dietary supplements claiming to cure coronavirus infections. Products that claim to prevent or treat the virus have not been proven effective, officials said. (Mishanec, 1/21)

In a move that could transform HIV treatment, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a monthly injectable medication, a regimen designed to rival pills that must be taken daily. The newly approved medicine, which is called Cabenuva, represents a significant advance in treating what continues to be a highly infectious disease. (Silverman, 1/21)

U.S. regulators have approved the first long-acting drug combo for HIV, monthly shots that can replace the daily pills now used to control infection with the AIDS virus. Thursday’s approval of the two-shot combo called Cabenuva is expected to make it easier for people to stay on track with their HIV medicines and to do so with more privacy. It’s a huge change from not long ago, when patients had to take multiple pills several times a day, carefully timed around meals. (Marchione, 1/21)

Six of 11 deceased patients—all but one of whom had COVID-19—had SARS-CoV-2 RNA in their corneas, but live virus was not detected, according to a study published today in JAMA Ophthalmology. ... The authors noted that current guidelines recommend avoiding transplant of corneas from donors who either had COVID-19 at the time of death or who had been recently exposed to the virus, because the infectivity of contaminated tissue posed to potential recipients is unknown. They said, though, that transmission of a donor disease to a corneal transplant recipient is rare. (1/21)

New data published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) show routine vaccine uptake among kindergarteners across the United States during the 2019-20 school year was high, approximately 95%—but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to bring that number down. The data came from a national assessment of vaccine coverage among incoming kindergartners reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) annually. Only 2.5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine during the 2019-20 school year. (1/21)

President Donald J. Trump issued 70 commutations of sentences and 73 pardons on his final day in office, including a handful to physicians who had been convicted of fraud and to a group of former executives of WellCare, a Tampa-based company that provided behavioral health care. The most prominent of the actions involved Salomon Melgen, MD, a West Palm Beach-based ophthalmologist who ran a group of clinics in South Florida. Melgen was convicted on 67 counts of fraud, filing false claims, and falsifying records and sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018. (Ault, 1/21)

Healthcare executives convicted of fraud were among the 143 people who received pardons or sentence commutations from former President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, his last day in office. At least 10 of the 143 on the list, made public early Jan. 20, were convicted of defrauding healthcare programs or other crimes involving the healthcare industry.  (Ellison, 1/21)

Former President Donald Trump included a number of doctors among the 143 people he pardoned before leaving the White House Wednesday. The most recognizable name was that of Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based eye doctor who stood trial with U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in an unrelated case that was dismissed in January 2018. The senator was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for political favors. (Khemlani, 1/20)

In his final hours in office, Donald Trump pardoned dozens of corrupt politicians and business executives, including a Connecticut man who pleaded guilty in a 1998 health care fraud case. Trump, who left office at noon Wednesday, pardoned Glenn Moss, who in 1998 waived indictment and pleaded guilty to tax and other charges. He admitted conspiring to pay kickbacks to an undercover business to obtain referrals for the company that employed him, Analytical Diagnostics Lab of Brooklyn, N.Y. The tax charge stemmed from Moss claiming an income of $2,227 in 1992, when he earned $498,637. (Green, 1/20)

As part of a flurry of last-minute pardons and commutations, President Donald Trump granted pardons to five former executives of WellCare Health Plans who were convicted in a case involving allegations of defrauding Florida’s Medicaid program. Trump pardoned former WellCare CEO and President Todd Farha, former General Counsel Thaddeus Bereday, former Chief Financial Officer Paul Behrens, former Vice President William Kale and former Vice President Peter Clay. (1/21)

Florida health care executives convicted of fraud are among the 143 people who received pardons or sentence commutations from President Donald Trump early in his last day in office Wednesday. Shortly after midnight, Trump released a list of pardons and sentence commutations that included full pardons for Todd Farha, William Kale, Thaddeus Bereday, Paul Behrens and Peter Clay, former executives of WellCare Health Care of Tampa, who were convicted in 2013 for Medicaid fraud. (Powers, 1/20)

Former President Donald Trump pardoned several healthcare executives and physicians Jan. 20, his last day in office. President Trump pardoned 143 individuals on Jan. 20, including former Nashville, Tenn.-based Comprehensive Pain Specialists CEO John Davis, Medpage Today reported Jan. 21. Mr. Davis had the remainder of his 42-month sentence commuted. He was at the head of a $4.6 million kickback scheme. He was convicted in 2019 on a count of conspiracy to defraud and seven counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statutes. (Oliver, 1/21)

KHN: Trump’s Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds 

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers. “These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, an advocacy group. (Schulte, 1/22)

With only hours to go before leaving office, President Donald Trump pardoned 74 people and commuted the sentences of 70 others. Here are some of the most notable names. (Talmazan, Elbaum and Mhaidli, 1/20)

Federal officials this weekend arrested the head of a fringe medical group that has promoted false claims about vaccines and the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Justice Department said in charging documents that it had charged Simone Gold, head of America’s Frontline Doctors, with violent entry, disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building. John Strand, the group’s communications director, was also charged in connection with the riot, with the Justice Department including images of both inside the building. (Budryk, 1/21)

The number of accountable care organizations participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program dropped by about 7.7% in 2021. The long-standing Medicare program now has 477 ACOs participating, a decline from 2020 when 517 participated, according to new CMS data. Additionally, 500,000 less Medicare beneficiaries are currently assigned to the program compared to 2020 when 11.2 million beneficiaries were treated by providers in an ACO. Due to the pandemic, the Medicare Shared Savings Program didn't accept new applicants for 2021. Further, changes to the program under the Trump administration forces ACOs to take on downside risk sooner. CMS said the changes were made in part to encourage more savings for Medicare. (Castellucci, 1/21)

U.S. hospitals together generated more than $100 billion in profit in 2019, almost 23% more than in the prior year, according to a new American Hospital Association report. The more than 5,100 community hospitals operating in 2019 produced an aggregate total margin of 8.8%, up from 7.6% in 2018, when they drew $83.5 billion in profit. Those data come from the trade group's annual statistics book, which it shared exclusively with Modern Healthcare ahead of its public release. The book covers calendar 2019, so does not include the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tightened the margins of many health systems despite federal government support. (Bannow, 1/21)

HCA has teamed up with A Plus International, a Chino, Calif.-based healthcare equipment manufacturer, to supply surgical and procedure masks in early 2021. The companies will equally fund the joint venture via the HCA Healthcare Mission Fund, which was created following HCA's acquisition of Mission Health to support healthcare-related businesses in Western North Carolina. "The recent surge in demand for PPE due to the pandemic has underscored how dependent we have been on supplies from overseas and the importance of working to diversify our supply chain," Dr. Jonathan Perlin, HCA chief medical officer and president of its clinical operations group, said in prepared remarks, noting that HCA's PPE expenses increased by nearly $200 million in 2020. (Kacik, 1/21)

A variety of butternut squash products are facing a recall over concerns they are contaminated with listeria, according to a recall notice posted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  website this week. In a recall notice shared on Tuesday, Lancaster Foods, LLC., said it is recalling several of its processed butternut squash products produced in several states, including North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Farber, 1/21)

Indoor restaurants can reopen Friday in the District, even as the rate of new daily coronavirus infections in the city has stayed well above the target for such activities for more than two months. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) ordered in December what she termed a “holiday pause” on indoor dining and several other activities. At the time, she promised to allow those activities to resume Jan. 15. (Zauzmer, Tan, Cox and Schneider, 1/21)

New variants of the coronavirus continue to emerge. But one in particular has caused concern in the United States because it is so contagious and spreading fast. To avoid it, you’ll need to double down on the same pandemic precautions that have kept you safe so far. (Parker-Pope, 1/21)

More than 10 months into the pandemic, mental health is a simmering crisis for many of the nation’s schoolchildren, partly hidden by isolation but increasingly evident in the distress of parents, the worries of counselors and an early body of research. Holed up at home, students dwell in the glare of computer screens, missing friends and teachers. Some are failing classes. Some are depressed. Some are part of families reeling with lost jobs, gaps in child care or bills that can’t be paid. (St. George and Strauss, 1/21)

With a perfect storm of aging residents, low birth rates, COVID-19 deaths and immigration cutbacks, 16 states saw population decreases last year as the United States experienced the slowest national population growth since the Great Depression. The nation grew only about 7% between 2010 and 2020, similar to the previous historic low between 1930 and 1940, according to new Census Bureau estimates, which do not reflect the 2020 census counts. The agency will release the final 2020 census tally in March. California, Massachusetts and Ohio had been growing throughout the past decade until last year, while Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania began slides in 2019. Longer-term losses continued for Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. (Henderson, 1/21)

We’ve reached peak pet. There’s really nowhere else to go. Animal shelters are out of dogs. Tech conventions are debuting cat exercise equipment and, more creepily, headless, robotic lap cats with very swishy tails. How do we know we’ve planted our flag at the pinnacle of pet obsession? One of the best-known premium ice cream companies has gone to the dogs. Ben & Jerry’s this week announced the debut of Doggie Desserts. ... Creamy, frozen treats have provided succor during these difficult times. And we want man’s best friend to be right there with us on the couch, eating our feelings. (Reiley, 1/15)

The British government has taken no decision on whether to pay 500 pounds ($683) to everyone in England who tests positive for COVID-19, environment minister George Eustice said on Friday. Newspapers cited a policy paper which they said showed the government was considering such a move to encourage more people to take tests for the new coronavirus though it would cost 453 million pounds a week. (1/22)

As a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus pounds Britain’s overstretched National Health Service, health care workers say the government’s failure to anticipate a wintertime crush of infections has left them resorting to ever more desperate measures. Hundreds of soldiers have been dispatched to move patients and equipment around London hospitals. Organ transplant centers have stopped performing urgent operations. Doctors have trimmed back the level of oxygen being given to patients to save overloaded pipes. (Mueller, 1/21)

British couple Elizabeth Kerr and Simon O’Brien had been planning to marry in June. Then COVID-19 struck. oth contracted the disease and were rushed to Milton Keynes University Hospital in the same ambulance when their oxygen levels fell dangerously low. Kerr and O’Brien became so ill that medical staff scrambled to organize a wedding before it was too late. When O’Brien’s condition got even worse, it was decided he should be transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU). Even that did not stop them: staff delayed his intubation just long enough for them to tie the knot. (Sandle and Thomas, 1/22)

Japan stood firm on Friday on its commitment to host the Tokyo Olympics this year and denied reports of a possible cancellation but the pledge looks unlikely to ease public concern about holding the event during a global pandemic. Though much of Japan is under a state of emergency due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, Tokyo Olympic organisers have vowed to press ahead with the re-scheduled Games, which are due to open on July 23 after being postponed for a year because of the coronavirus. (Tarrant and Gallagher, 1/21)

Canada came out No. 1 in the global race to secure vaccines against Covid-19, pre-ordering enough shots to inoculate its 38 million people three times over. You wouldn’t know it, though, from the pace of vaccinations. Canada has administered about 684,000 doses, enough to give first shots to about 1.8% of the population, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, though some people have already received two. That compares with about 7.6% in the U.K. and 5.2% in the U.S. Israel, leading all nations, has administered enough vaccine to give first shots to nearly a third of its population. Health officials in Ottawa tried to reassure the public Thursday that the situation will improve in the spring. They released projections that 13 million people could be vaccinated by the end of June and 36 million by the end of September -- even if no additional shots are approved. (Rastello and Bolongaro, 1/21)

A majority of pharmaceutical executives in Canada say new regulations designed to cut prescription drug spending by the Canadian government are delaying product launches and R&D investment and will subsequently hurt employment, according to a new survey sponsored by an industry trade group. Specifically, 94% of 43 executives queried project product launches will be delayed by a year or more, and 35% indicated delays already occurred. (Silverman, 1/21)

The French doctor who discovered the genetic basis of Down syndrome but spent his career advocating against abortion as a result of prenatal diagnosis has taken his first major step to possible sainthood. Pope Francis on Thursday approved the “heroic virtues” of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who lived from 1926-1994 and was particularly esteemed by St. John Paul II for his anti-abortion stance. (Winfield, 1/21)

Patrick Thornton, a 40-year-old math teacher in Houston, Tex., relies on his voice to clearly communicate with his high school students. So when he began to feel he was recovering from COVID, he was relieved to get his voice back a month after losing it. Thornton got sick in mid-August and had symptoms typical of a moderate case: a sore throat, headaches, trouble breathing. By the end of September, “I was more or less counting myself as on the mend and healing,” Thornton says. “But on September 25, I took a nap, and then my mom called.” As the two spoke, Thornton’s mother remarked that it was great that his voice was returning. Something was wrong, however. (Sutherland, 1/21)

The World Health Organization found that mental health services have been disrupted in 93% of countries worldwide since the virus arrived. Household income to pay for healthcare will likely drop as the economic impact of the pandemic bites and insurance protection may decline. As with other aspects of this crisis, the most vulnerable parts of the population will be hardest hit. How to deal with the long tail of the pandemic? We know from studies of past recessions that poor mental health can be both a contributor and an effect. Economist and happiness guru Richard Layard argues in a recent podcast hosted by Bloomberg Economics head Stephanie Flanders that societies cannot just focus on a return to growth and assume the mental health impacts of the pandemic will melt away. (Raphael, 1/19)

The urgency of vaccinating nursing home residents is evident in the numbers. The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 136,000 residents and employees of long-term care facilities in the US alone, accounting for nearly 40% of all US deaths linked to the disease. Echoing that urgency, secretary of health and human services Alex Azar declared in mid-December, “We can have every nursing home patient vaccinated in the United States by Christmas.” Yet, by Christmas, most states had barely begun. Other states were still far behind when West Virginia became the first state to finish round one of the two-dose vaccine series in nursing homes on Dec. 30. What did West Virginia do differently? (Dai, 1/14)

One afternoon this past December, a package arrived at Mora Valley Community Health Services in northern New Mexico. The rural clinic, which serves a county of 4,521 people, is nestled beside a pasture with a flock of chickens and a few goats. A mile up the road sits the town of Mora — a regional hub just big enough for a trio of restaurants, two gas stations, and a single-building satellite office for a nearby community college. Shortly after the package arrived, clinic staff received an email explaining that this “ancillary convenience kit” was a test of the system designed to transport SARS-CoV-2 vaccines from the state’s warehouse to Mora and other rural communities across the state. While this package contained supplies for administering the vaccine — syringes, needles, alcohol swabs, and more — the real challenge would occur the following week. That’s when 100 doses were scheduled to be delivered, and the clinic’s staff would have 30 days at most to administer the doses before they spoiled. (Miller, 1/20)

If you’ve ever waited in a long line to receive a test for the coronavirus, or tried to get one and couldn’t, or waited a week to get the results, you may have wondered why it’s not easier and more convenient. In recent weeks, the Food and Drug Administration began approving over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for Americans to use at home, part of a wave of new options that could play a role in catching infections that might otherwise go undetected. (Kossakovski, 1/14)

David Halls isn’t a doctor, nurse or ambulance driver, but he wanted to contribute in the fight against COVID-19. So he did what he does best: He sat down on the bench beside at Salisbury Cathedral’s historic organ and began to play.Halls is one of the many people who have turned the 800-year-old cathedral in southwestern England into a mass vaccination center as the U.K. races to inoculate 50 million people. His contribution to the effort is offering a bit of Bach, Handel and even a little Rodgers & Hammerstein to the public as they shuffle through the nave to get their shots. (Kirka and Kearney, 1/21)

“Shared psychosis”—which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence—even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure. (Lewis, 1/11)

For all its popularity, empathy isn’t nearly as simple as so many blogs and books make it seem. Researchers can’t even agree on what empathy means: One paper noted 43 different definitions, ranging from basic shared emotions to more lofty mixtures of concern and kindness. Whatever definition we choose, do we really need more empathy? We checked in with several experts to help elucidate this surprisingly elusive concept. Here are the five top take-aways. (Ellison, 1/17)

There's new evidence that brain stimulation isn't a one-size-fits-all treatment. Customizing treatment for each person led to better results with both depression and obsessive-compulsive behaviors, researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. "The efficacy of stimulation can be enhanced if the stimulation parameters are tuned to the unique characteristics of an individual," says Shrey Grover, a graduate student at Boston University and an author of the study on obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Brain stimulation, which uses tiny pulses of electrical or magnetic energy, has become a common way to treat Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. It has also shown promise in a range of other conditions, including epilepsy, chronic pain, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Hamilton, 1/20)

Frenchwoman Jeanne Pouchain has an unusual problem. She’s officially dead. She has been trying for three years to prove that she is alive. The 58-year-old woman says she lives in constant fear, not daring to leave her house in the village of Saint Joseph, in the Loire region. Authorities seized her car over an unpaid debt she contests and which is at the center of her troubles. She fears the family furniture will be next. Pouchain’s status has prevented her and her husband, who is her legal beneficiary along with her son, from using their joint bank account. Being declared deceased has deprived her of other critical amenities. (Ganley, 1/18)

If there is a single day that marks the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., it would be Jan. 21, 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that it had confirmed the first case of the novel coronavirus on American soil. The following day, President Trump, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brushed off the threat from the then-unnamed virus with the type of willful carelessness that defined his government’s approach to the pandemic that would soon rear its ugly head. “It’s one person coming in from China,” he told CNBC. “We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” Needless to say, it wasn’t fine. (1/22)

Less than 24 hours after taking office, President Biden has released a national strategy to combat covid-19. In firmly establishing the federal government’s leadership role in pandemic response, this action is a 180-degree reversal of the Trump administration’s approach of denial, deflection and capitulation. The Biden strategy is to be applauded for its comprehensiveness. Where I wish it went further is with its boldness. (Leana S. Wen, 1/21)

What is the first thing Joe Biden should do as president? He has many competing priorities. He must deal with the pandemic, restart the economy, reestablish U.S. credibility on the world stage and compete effectively with China. It turns out there is one thing he can do that will address all these problems at once: vaccinate all Americans as quickly as possible. Biden’s current goal of vaccinating 1 million people a day is far too modest. He should double that, doing whatever it takes to achieve herd immunity for the United States by late April or early May. This would instantly boost the United States’ standing and give the president leverage with everyone from the Republicans to the Europeans and the Chinese. (Fareed Zakaria, 1/21)

President Biden released his COVID war plan Thursday, promising “help is on the way.” Alas, it’s far from clear the strategy will meet the challenge. The 198-page plan vows to “spare no effort to ensure Americans can get vaccinated quickly, effectively and equitably.” Washington will spur manufacturers to boost vaccine production, via the Defense Production Act, and target “supply shortfalls.” The new prez signed several executive orders to launch the program. That’s all great, but Biden’s goal of 100 million vaccines in 100 days, or 1 million a day, as Betsy McCaughey noted Thursday, won’t create herd immunity by July. For that, the nation needs to vaccinate at least 1.8 million people daily. And reaching even 1 million a day is far from certain. (1/21)

Some people want it bad — so bad that they’re hovering in the supermarket aisle closest to the pharmacy, pretending to contemplate an array of child-friendly shampoos but actually awaiting the late-in-the-day announcement of leftover, soon-to-spoil doses of coronavirus vaccine. Some people don’t want it at all, not because they don’t believe it works but because they don’t believe they deserve it when so many others remain vulnerable. Those of us who don’t have vaccine envy have vaccine shame. But can we really tell what’s wrong from what’s right amid the mad rush for distribution? (Molly Roberts, 1/21)

As we continue to witness the immense suffering that results from the illness, isolation, and deaths from COVID-19 in our patients, and in our own families, there is no question: We must move faster. A wartime-like focus on vaccination is needed as the country struggles with less than 40% of distributed dose administered. Vaccine administration, not supply, is the current bottleneck, and it is time for states to call in experts in logistics and to deploy the National Guard. (1/21)

Gov. DeSantis should give it a rest. Joe Biden wasn’t even president yet, but Florida’s governor already knew — knew! — that the soon-to-be-president’s plan to add FEMA’s organizational muscle to the nation’s underwhelming vaccine roll-out is a loser of an idea. A “big mistake,” DeSantis called it Tuesday. Now, the governor needs to give it a chance. Unless DeSantis can point to what has gone spectacularly right while the coronavirus marched across the state — aided and abetted by the governor himself — it’s past time for a president to take charge and who’s committed to taking responsibility for subduing this disease. During an interview with WFXE-FM in Columbus, Georgia, according to The New York Times, Biden outlined a “fundamentally new approach, establishing thousands of federally run or federally supported community vaccination centers of various size located in places like high school gymnasiums and NFL stadiums.” (1/20)

Last week the Trump administration agreed to a $2.6 billion purchase for 1.25 million new doses from Regeneron. If the Biden administration wants to make its mark on the pandemic, something more than repeating simplistic bromides like mask mandates, it should double down on that contract. Experts like former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb say fortifying supplies of the antibody serums, as well as deregulating their distribution and setting up infusion centers in hospitals, should be a top national priority. My wife and I heartily agree. (David Asman, 10/21)

The moment a new lethal virus begins spreading in human populations, public health authorities and the communities they serve enter a race against time to prevent a major outbreak. Success depends on tracking viral spread rapidly from its early stages to identify people who are infected and protect those who aren’t. With SARS-CoV-2, the United States lost that race. Nearly a year into the U.S. outbreak, the national case count exceeds 20 million. Most of the country is still not doing enough testing. When tests are performed, the organizations processing them often fail to achieve fast enough turnaround times (ideally, 1 to 2 days) to permit effective contact-tracing efforts. On average, Americans wait 4 days to receive a test result; 10% of Americans have waited 10 days or more. And testing is beset by racial disparities. Many people are now asking why these failures persist. The answer is twofold. (Yolanda Botti-Lodovico, Eric Rosenberg, and Pardis C. Sabeti, 1/21)

Joe Biden campaigned on pledges to unite the country and defeat the pandemic; he continues to stress these twin priorities. But his nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, is a partisan culture warrior who undermines both pledges. The Senate ought to reject Becerra’s nomination. First off, Becerra isn’t qualified for the job. Facing a once-in-a-century pandemic, one might think that Biden would nominate, say, a doctor or a seasoned health-care executive to oversee the federal response and vaccine distribution. Donald Trump’s two HHS Secretaries fit that description. (Sen. Tom Cotton, 1/21)