Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
States, Congress, Industry Are Split On What To Do About Silica Dust Deaths
An epidemic of a deadly lung disease among hundreds of workers who cut kitchen and bathroom countertops has regulators on opposite sides of the country considering two drastically different responses this week. In a California hearing on Thursday, workplace safety regulators will be discussing a proposed ban on cutting so-called quartz or engineered stone, a popular choice for countertops. That's because this material creates an unusual amount of lung-damaging silica dust when it gets cut or polished, far more than natural granite or marble. (Greenfieldboyce, 1/14)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Gov. Brian Kemp rolled out a sweeping infrastructure proposal Wednesday that included a $50 million initiative addressing homelessness. (Bluestein, 1/14)
North Carolina could face hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs — or risk losing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program entirely — if counties fail to meet new federal requirements, state lawmakers were warned Tuesday during a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee hearing in Raleigh. (Fredde, 1/15)
An East Baton Rouge Parish judge is expected to rule as soon as this week on whether to dismiss a two-year-old lawsuit against the state of Louisiana over a 2023 law that bans medical professionals from providing transgender health care for minors, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a similar law in Tennessee. In January 2024, five Louisiana teenagers and their families sued the state to block Act 466, which had gone into effect after the state legislature voted to override then-Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of the legislation. (Costley, 1/14)
Chicago has for decades been dealing with a so-called "death gap," in which life expectancy in one neighborhood can be 20 years lower than in others. Mayor Brandon Johnson tells CBS News his administration is working to address that discrepancy, which he said is driven by homicides and drug overdoses. (Dokoupil, 1/14)
Also —
Berkeley health officials are urging people to vacate a homeless encampment at Eighth and Harrison streets so they can decontaminate the area after an outbreak of leptospirosis, a treatable bacterial disease that can cause severe — and potentially fatal — illness in people and dogs. The disease was confirmed in two dogs living at the camp in November, according to an alert issued by the city Monday. That prompted county health officials to trap and test rats in the area, which also carried the bacteria — the first such finding in Alameda County in five years. (Talerico, 1/14)
A case report published yesterday in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology describes the identification of a novel strain of extensively drug-resistant Shigella in Los Angeles. The strain of XDR Shigella sonnei was isolated separately from two patients in Los Angeles with no known epidemiologic connection or transmission route a year apart, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine reported. (Dall, 1/14)
At least 171 measles cases have been confirmed in the U.S. so far this year, according to newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Cases have been confirmed in nine states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. At least one state, South Carolina, has been facing a measles outbreak since early October, with the majority of cases in Spartanburg County, which borders North Carolina. (Kekatos, 1/15)
