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Jill Biden, the first lady, tested negative for the coronavirus on Thursday, the White House said, putting an apparent end to a minor health scare that had threatened to upend President Biden’s trip to a Group of 20 summit in India. The announcement came shortly before Mr. Biden departed the White House for his trip to New Delhi, where he plans to lobby world leaders on matters that include condemning Russia’s war with Ukraine and curbing China’s financial influence over poorer countries. The president also tested negative for the virus on Thursday, as he had throughout the week. (Cameron, 9/7)

President Joe Biden has tested negative again for COVID-19, the White House said on Thursday, following his wife Jill's positive diagnosis earlier in the week. Biden is due to travel to India later on Thursday for a summit of the Group of 20 nations, followed by a trip to Vietnam. (9/7)

The Trump administration made some serious missteps during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s top doctor Jerome Adams admits. But he says we still haven’t learned from them. (Owermohle, 9/7)

While health officials continue to say the numbers are no cause for alarm, the infections are beginning to bring more disruptions to everyday life. In Los Angeles County, the number of new COVID-19 outbreak investigations at work sites tripled in the last month, reaching 73 for the 30-day period that ended Sept. 1. An outbreak is defined as a number of cases in which there is confirmed viral transmission at a work site and not just a cluster of cases where people were infected elsewhere. (Lin II and Alpert Reyes, 9/7)

The Washington Post has interviewed numerous medical experts several times over the past three years to learn what precautions they were taking as the coronavirus circulated. With so much news swirling about, we’ve done this once again, and here’s what they have to say today. Responses have been edited for space and clarity. (Cimons, 9/7)

Dr. David Boulware, a professor of medicine specializing in infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School, added that because the new vaccine is a better match for the current variants, he is “somewhat optimistic” that it will help prevent not only severe disease but also infection. “Once you’re boosting with the variant that is closest to what’s actually circulating,” you will most likely regain some protection against infection, he said. (Smith, 9/7)

Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic, told ABC News that earlier in the pandemic, expiration dates were conservatively set due to unknowns about how long they would be effective for. "Now that we have been in the pandemic for over three years, the manufacturers have had a better opportunity to determine the true expiration dates of those kits," he said. (Kekatos and Benadjaoud, 9/7)

It's a fight Republicans are amplifying, not one Democrats in Congress or the White House are embracing, ahead of the 2024 presidential election. ... Yet far from embracing mask mandates, the White House is trying to stay out of the politically fraught issue, arguing it is up to local officials to decide whether they want to follow mask guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's a marked departure from the COVID-19 politics of a few years ago, when President Joe Biden actively encouraged Americans to mask up. (Garrison, Kochi, Jackson, Kuchar, Schermele, and Tran, 9/8)

Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s push to ban mask mandates was shot down by progressive Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on Thursday, with the New England Democrat arguing that health officials need "freedom to make those decisions." Vance took to the Senate floor on Thursday to force consideration of his bill, the Freedom to Breathe Act, aimed at banning federal mask mandates in public schools, for domestic air travel and on public transit. He called for its passage via unanimous consent, a largely symbolic move. (Elkind, 9/7)

Vance wanted unanimous consent from senators in both parties, but he didn't get it. "This bill is a red herring," Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said. "It is a false debate. We should have an aquarium down in the well of the senate to capture all the red herrings that are being introduced." (9/7)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday criticized recent efforts across the U.S. to tamp down a recent jump in COVID-19 cases through temporary restrictions or masking, and his state surgeon general warned against getting the latest COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to be available this month. The criticism from DeSantis at news conference in Jacksonville, Florida, arrived the same day that his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination sent out an email to supporters vowing to “fight back against every bogus attempt the Left makes to expand government control” when it comes to COVID-19 precautions. (9/7)

The City Council approved the motion, which was introduced by Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, in a 4-3 vote Tuesday. The motion asserted that the mask mandates that were previously imposed in the city “unnecessarily limited the freedoms of the citizens of Huntington Beach, even those who were not around anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 or at risk of any exposure.” The ban applies to city personnel and not to private businesses in the city. (Lin, 9/7)

On college campuses, the return of students for the fall semester coincides with the return of a still-worrisome health threat: the coronavirus. Some are already reporting cases of infection. Many are encouraging students to get tested if they have covid-19 symptoms and stay current on their vaccinations. Colleges are also reminding students and employees to isolate for five days, following public health recommendations, if they test positive for the virus. Exactly how and where infected students would isolate can be tricky, though, depending on whether schools have enough spare rooms. (Anderson and Svrluga, 9/8)

An elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland, boosted its security and kept recess indoors Thursday after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized the school's decision to require children in one classroom to wear masks after several people in the class got COVID. Four people in a kindergarten classroom at Rosemary Hills Elementary School tested positive for COVID, prompting Principal Rebecca Irwin Kennedy to send a letter to parents on Tuesday. Kennedy said in the letter that students in the class would be required to wear a mask for the next 10 days. (Spencer, 9/7)

People are now required to wear masks at all St. Lawrence Health facilities. Officials say it’s due to the increase in Covid-19 infections in the north country. Masks are required for all staff, patients, and visitors at Canton-Potsdam, Gouverneur, and Massena hospitals, along with hospital-related off-site medical offices. (9/7)

Masking may not be a thing of the past anymore, especially if these three scenarios apply to you, says an infectious diseases physician. (Onque, 9/7)

Inadequate pandemic infection control and medical care at two state-run veterans homes violated the U.S. Constitution and still put residents at risk for Covid-19 and other infections, the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said Thursday. The findings at the Menlo Park and Paramus veterans homes deal a heavy blow to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, whose response to the pandemic at those nursing facilities had been heavily criticized since Covid-19 reached New Jersey in March 2020. The two federal agencies detail the administration’s early failures as the coronavirus ripped through the homes, in many ways validating the scrutiny on Murphy and the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which run the facilities. (Racioppi, 9/7)

The fate of abortion rights in Florida will be at stake Friday morning when the state Supreme Court is expected to take up a challenge to a law banning the procedure in most cases after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which will determine whether an even stricter six-week ban signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis can take effect. The seven justices — including five conservatives appointed by DeSantis, a GOP candidate for president — are set to hear oral arguments in Tallahassee in the lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and others. (Anderson, 9/8)

Abortion-rights supporters have a message for Floridians: Be prepared to lose abortion access. The state Supreme Court on Friday will weigh the future of abortion access in the state. But many expect that the high court, reshaped under Gov. Ron DeSantis, will uphold the state’s abortion bans. The Republican governor has appointed five of the seven justices, transforming it into a conservative-leaning institution. (Sarkissian, 9/8)

A group that is trying to place a state constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion on the 2024 ballot says it has enough signatures to get a review from the Florida Supreme Court. Floridians Protecting Freedom says it has garnered 600,000 petition signatures statewide. That's two-thirds of the roughly 900,000 signatures needed to place the amendment on the 2024 ballot. (Newborn, 9/8)

As abortion restrictions increase, a medical exodus poses broader consequences for patients. (Peace, 9/6)

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission recorded only 17 legal abortions in the first four months of 2023, according to a new report by the agency. All the procedures were performed “due to medical emergency” and “to preserve [the] health of [the pregnant] woman”. Experts said it was highly unlikely that, over the course of four months, only 17 people in all of Texas faced emergencies that threatened their pregnancies or their lives, since Texas is home to almost 7 million women between the ages of 15 and 49. Some pregnant people have had to travel for life-saving care; others might be going without care or are getting so sick that they miscarry. (Sherman, 9/7)

A ruling from Mexico’s supreme court could turn the country into a popular destination for Americans trying to end their pregnancies as US state abortion bans proliferate. On Wednesday, in a significant win for Mexican abortion rights supporters, the country’s supreme court ruled that criminalizing abortions is unconstitutional. However, the process of legalizing the procedure in the country is far from over. Although people will now be able to access abortions in federal health facilities in Mexico, the procedure remains illegal across much of the country. (Sherman, 9/8)

Two new studies from the Stanford University School of Medicine revealed significant differences between races in rates of birth complications caused by high blood pressure and anemia during pregnancy. The studies, published Thursday in the peer-reviewed medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, looked at the prevalence of birth complications caused by chronic hypertension, or high blood pressure, in pregnant women and the rates of complications from iron-deficiency anemia, excluding patients with anemia caused by genetic factors. (9/7)

The nation’s most common sexually transmitted infection appears to have an effective, long-term vaccine that continues to reduce cancer risk, a new study found. New research published this week in the journal Pediatrics builds on growing evidence about the efficacy of vaccination against HPV, which is most often spread through vaginal, anal or oral sex and can result in genital warts. For most people who get HPV, the virus goes away on its own without any effect, but for others, it can lead to certain cancers. (Cuevas, 9/7)

Healthcare providers would be required to make greater accommodations for patients with disabilities under a proposed rule the Health and Human Services Department announced Thursday. Primarily, the draft regulation seeks to prevent providers from turning away patients with disabilities based on an inability or an unwillingness to accommodate their needs. (Hartnett, 9/7)

Health-insurance costs are climbing at the steepest rate in years, with some projecting the biggest increase in more than a decade will wallop businesses and their workers in 2024. Costs for employer coverage are expected to surge around 6.5% for 2024, according to major benefits consulting firms Mercer and Willis Towers Watson, which provided their survey results exclusively to The Wall Street Journal. (Wilde Mathews, 9/7)

Medical credit cards have proliferated in health care offices across the nation as more Americans struggle to afford treatment, even when they have insurance. Yet while these cards may seem like a good way to quickly pay for needed services, they come with some serious downsides that experts say could cost you dearly.One major card provider, CareCredit, is offered in more than 250,000 health care provider offices, an increase of more than 40% from a decade ago, according to a recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (Picchi, 9/7)

Pulling out the stops to bring the cost of workplace health insurance coverage down couldn't keep employers from absorbing some of the biggest increases in a decade this year, according to preliminary findings from Mercer's 2023 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. (Reed, 9/8)

The analysis, conducted by the state’s health care watchdog organization, the Health Policy Commission and released Thursday, found that Children’s Medical Center Corporation, which includes Boston Children’s Hospital, and Mass General Brigham, which includes Massachusetts General for Children, accounted for 58.1 percent of commercial pediatric discharges for residents of the Commonwealth, up from 52.7 percent in 2011. (Bartlett, 9/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: The Shrinking Number Of Primary Care Physicians Is Reaching A Tipping Point 

I’ve been receiving an escalating stream of panicked emails from people telling me their longtime physician was retiring, was no longer taking their insurance, or had gone concierge and would no longer see them unless they ponied up a hefty annual fee. They have said they couldn’t find another primary care doctor who could take them on or who offered a new-patient appointment sooner than months away. Their individual stories reflect a larger reality: American physicians have been abandoning traditional primary care practice — internal and family medicine — in large numbers. Those who remain are working fewer hours. And fewer medical students are choosing a field that once attracted some of the best and brightest because of its diagnostic challenges and the emotional gratification of deep relationships with patients. (Rosenthal, 9/8)

America's nurses are stressed out to the point where they are leaving the industry. By 2027, nearly a fifth of registered nurses will hang up their scrubs for good, according to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Tracey Moffatt, the Chief Nursing Officer at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, said the nursing shortage has been a problem for years and the pandemic only made it worse. For the ones that are working, Moffatt said some are now looking for nursing jobs outside a hospital setting. (Kedrowicz, 9/8)

Hospital tech executives are managing more digital health applications at a time when their systems face multiple threats to business continuity and patient safety. Amid greater threats to cybersecurity and an increasing number of weather-related events ranging from storms to excessive temperatures, health systems have had to map out extensive strategies to minimize data server downtimes. The average cost of data center downtime is $7,900 per minute, according to a study from research firm Ponemon Institute. (Perna, 9/7)

The graveyard is littered with Amazon’s bets in health care: wearables, Care, the ill-fated Haven. Out of their ashes, a new health strategy has emerged at the tech goliath. And while its leaders insist that Amazon has no grand plan for health care, a flurry of moves in the last year offer a glimpse into its ambitions at a time when they seem more cohesive than ever. (Palmer, 9/7)

AHIP has named Julie Simon Miller interim CEO as it continues searching for a new leader, the health insurance trade association announced Thursday. Starting Oct. 2, Miller will temporarily succeed President and CEO Matt Eyles, who is departing the industry group at the end of this month and has not disclosed his next move. Miller has worked at AHIP for 18 years and been general counsel since 2015. She led legal advocacy on issues such as the Affordable Care Act of 2010, pharmacy benefit manager regulation and generic prescription drug access, according to AHIP. (Tepper, 9/7)

Sound Physicians named Jeff Alter as the physician group’s new CEO, succeeding founder Dr. Robert Bessler. Alter, who joined Sound Physicians on Tuesday, previously led primary, specialty and urgent care provider Summit Health-CityMD. He left the company after it was acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance subsidiary VillageMD in January for $8.9 billion. (Kacik, 9/7)

Philips Respironics has agreed to a $479 million partial settlement on claims over flaws in the company’s breathing machines that spewed gases and flecks of foam into the airways of consumers and that spawned recalls involving millions of the devices, lawyers for plaintiffs in the lawsuit announced on Thursday. (Jewett, 9/7)

Treatment with the diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide may allow people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes to dramatically cut back or even completely stop insulin injections, a very small study published Wednesday suggests. ... Experts not involved with the study called the results exciting, but stressed that much more research is needed.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ research and development hub has a new name — and a new guiding strategy. The hub, which is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and for years has been known as Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, or NIBR, will soon simply be known as Novartis BioMedical Research. (Wosen, 9/8)

On a Friday afternoon in July, as many New Yorkers fled the scorching city streets, a couple of dozen out-of-towners descended on Times Square. They came bearing gold letter balloons spelling out LFVN, the stock symbol for LifeVantage, the company they’d come to promote, and foam cutouts of its navy blue supplement bottles. LifeVantage’s chief executive officer, Steve Fife, rang the Nasdaq exchange’s closing bell, a celebration of the Utah-based company’s new products and rewards programs. Displayed on the side of the seven-story Nasdaq building were advertisements promoting the company’s dietary supplements and their power to “optimize health.” (Gellman, 9/8)

There’s a diversity problem in cancer clinical trials, and few know this better than Stephanie Walker. When she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, Walker said there was no one to help her figure out the system, not even a nurse or patient navigator. (Balthazar, 9/7)

The Biden administration’s recommendation last week for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule marijuana marked one of its most significant steps related to the president’s ambitious campaign promise to decriminalize cannabis use. But advocates and policy experts say rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) does not address the plethora of racial justice issues caused by current cannabis laws. (Choi and Daniels, 9/8)

A Massachusetts institution for the developmentally disabled can continue to use controversial electric shock devices to address aggressive or self-harming behavior in residents, the state's highest court ruled Thursday, though it left the door open to future challenges. In a unanimous ruling Thursday, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a 2018 lower court ruling that the state acted in bad faith in regulating the Canton-based Judge Rotenberg Educational Center. JRC, which provides education and treatment to people with development disabilities and behavioral disorders, is the only institution in the country to use the treatment. (Pierson, 9/8)

“The overarching purpose is to restore dignity and sort of try to tip the balance of power from folks who have been sexually assaulted,” said Colorado state Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat who authored her state’s rape kit tracking law, in an interview with Stateline.“What we’re trying to do is get folks to come forward,” she said, “and to feel that the process is there for them to achieve what they need for healing and closure.” (Hernández, 9/8)

Ellen Kennedy is on a mission to fulfill her husband’s dying wish — to create options for terminally ill patients that he was denied. Kennedy’s husband Leigh Lawton for years struggled with multiple myeloma — a form of blood cancer — before he died late last year. He underwent chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, emergency treatments and had toxic reactions to medications. And toward the end, Kennedy said, all he wanted was a medication that would end his life. (Ferguson, 9/7)

At age 19, Mary Phelps stood at her grandmother’s bedside. In mere minutes, she would watch the woman with whom she had shared a home and a life take her final breaths. She held her grandmother’s legs, lightly massaging them as the seconds ticked by. “I just remembered her becoming so young in the face and relaxed,” Phelps said. “That’s when it came to me. Death can be calm and peaceful.” (Smith, 9/8)

A federal appeals court has agreed to speed up holding a hearing in Florida’s appeal of a ruling that would require changes aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order Tuesday that it would “expedite” oral arguments in the legal battle between the state and the U.S. Department of Justice. Nevertheless, the arguments will not happen until after final briefs are filed on Dec. 6, according to a schedule in the order. (9/7)

A murder suspect escaped from George Washington University Hospital on Wednesday because D.C. police officers did not secure one of his arms to a gurney as they changed his handcuffs in the emergency room, acting D.C. police chief Pamela A. Smith said. (Hermann and Davies, 9/7)

Kat Dunkus was doing better. She had moved in with her niece after completing an alcoholic treatment program two years ago. The program helped her learn better ways to cope with her schizophrenia and trauma. “She was trying to find her way back to more stability. She was trying to find happiness for herself,” said her niece Rachael Benns, 31, of Creve Coeur. “She kept saying, ‘I’m finally in a safe place.’” (Munz, 9/7)

Fueled by unprecedented heat on much of Earth’s land and ocean surface, this summer was the planet’s hottest on record “by a large margin,” the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Wednesday. August capped this summer’s extreme heat with a monthly average temperature of 62.3 degrees Fahrenheit (16.82 Celsius), which was 0.71 C warmer than the long-term average and 0.31 C warmer than the previous warmest August in 2016. It was the planet’s second-hottest month ever observed, closely following July, which was the hottest. (Stillman, 9/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Heat-Related Deaths Are Up, And Not Just Because It’s Getting Hotter 

Heat-related illness and deaths in California and the U.S. are on the rise along with temperatures, and an increase in drug use and homelessness is a significant part of the problem, according to public health officials and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heat was the underlying or contributing cause of about 1,670 deaths nationwide in 2022, for a rate of about 5 deaths per million residents, according to provisional data from the CDC. That’s the highest heat-related death rate in at least two decades. Data from this year, which has been exceptionally hot in much of the country, is not yet available. The next-highest death rate was logged in 2021. (Reese, 9/8)

Exposure to extremely hot weather raises pregnant women’s risk of severe health complications, researchers said in a study coming at the tail end of the warmest summer on record. High outdoor temperatures during pregnancy were associated with a 27% increase in risk for such complications as sepsis, a potentially lethal reaction to infection, or dangerous increases in blood pressure, according to an 11-year review of more than 400,000 pregnancies in a Southern California health system. (LaPara, 9/7)

It has long been suspected that particulate air pollution could transport antimicrobial-resistant bacteria that leak into the environment from farming, aquaculture, wastewater treatment and hospitals. The new research, from a team at Zhejiang University in China and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, set out to quantify the role of air pollution in the growing global AMR problem. The team found a strong association between particulate air pollution [in a given country and reports of clinical antibiotic resistance. (Spitzer. 9/7)

Late summer and fall herald the start of deer hunting season in the United States, and jurisdictions have been taking steps such as boosting research capacity, expanding hunting seasons, offering more hunting permits, and restricting baiting to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among deer and other cervids across the country. ... While CWD isn't known to infect humans, some experts fear it could jump species to other mammals, including people. Infected cervids shed infectious prions, which can infect others through contact or persist for years in the soil, where it is taken up by plants on which animals feed. (Van Beusekom, 9/7)

The maker of an extremely spicy tortilla chip said Thursday it is working to remove the product from stores as Massachusetts authorities investigate the death of a teen whose family pointed to the One Chip Challenge popularized as a dare on social media as a contributing factor. The cause of Harris Wolobah’s death on Sept. 1 has yet to be determined and an autopsy is pending, but the 14-year-old’s family blamed the challenge. Since his death, Texas-based manufacturer Paqui has asked retailers to stop selling the individually wrapped chips, a step 7-Eleven has already taken. (Casey and LeBlanc, 9/8)

Cardiac arrests suffered by LeBron James' son Bronny this summer and Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin earlier this year put a public spotlight on a scary heart risk for some young athletes. While those high-profile incidents helped drive interest in the use of electrocardiograms (EKGs or ECGs) in routine physicals for student athletes to help prevent similar cardiac events, experts caution overusing EKGs could create unnecessary risk. (Reed, 9/8)

A growing number of parents across the U.S. are being charged amid an escalating opioid crisis that has claimed an increasing number of children as collateral victims. (Rodriguez, 9/8)

Ed McCaffrey has never been much of a drinker, but on a steamy recent summer evening at his home, the legendary Denver Broncos receiver was playing a drinking game with his 85-year-old mother-in-law, Betty Conroy. Actually, it was a game for not drinking. Or, as Pepper Pong creator Tom Filippini said: “It’s a game that can maybe help someone who’s trying not to drink stop drinking” by focusing on something frivolous created by someone like them. (Ross, 9/8)

A 2021 McKinsey study found that more than half of transgender employees are not comfortable being out at work. “People who identify as transgender feel far less supported in the workplace than their cisgender colleagues do,” said the study. “They report that it’s more difficult to understand workplace culture and benefits, and harder to get promoted. They also feel less supported by their managers.” (Chingarande, 9/7)

While knowledge and treatment around HIV continues to improve, HIV stigma remains an issue surrounding the disease and the people who live with it, according to a report released Wednesday. Despite increasing treatment and prevention options, the report found that almost 90% of Americans believe that HIV stigma still exists. The stigma can manifest in how people negatively talk about HIV, how people treat individuals living with HIV differently and the isolation of people living with HIV. (Thomas, 9/7)

Today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers from the California Department of Public Health show that one or two doses of the Jynneos mpox vaccine effectively prevented hospitalization among those who contracted mpox, people with HIV. The study was based on 5,765 mpox patients in California who contracted the virus from May 2022 to May 2023. Among those patients, 4,353 (94.4%) were male, 2,083 (45.2%) were Hispanic or Latino, and 3,188 (69.1%) identified as gay, lesbian, or same-gender-loving. (Soucheray, 9/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What the Health?': Welcome Back, Congress. Now Get To Work

Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep the government operating, on the list are bills to renew the global HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, and the community health centers program. Meanwhile, over the recess, the Biden administration released the names of the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program. (9/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: In Move To Slash CDC Budget, House Republicans Target Major HIV Program Trump Launched

More than four years ago, then-President Donald Trump declared an ambitious goal that had bipartisan support: ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. Now, that Trump program is one of several health initiatives targeted for substantial cuts by members of his own party as they eye next year’s elections. (Miller and Whitehead, 9/8)

Natasha Gilbert, the author of a Public Health Watch investigation, explains why manganese in water may be a growing problem in the U.S. (Mehta, 8/31)

Researchers are rethinking living wills and other ACP documents to ensure seriously ill patients get the care they want. (Storrs, 9/6)

With a growing number of women approaching the age of hormonal changes — by 2025, approximately 1.1 billion women worldwide will have experienced menopause — the travel industry is catering to a new niche: Women who want help dealing with everything from hot flashes to mood swings, with perhaps some classic spa treatments thrown in. Menopause-centered offerings vary widely, from mindfulness techniques to herbal remedies to nutritional guidance and exercise. Sometimes, the most important activity is just the chance to bond with other women facing the same issues, experts say. (Gerszberg, 9/4)

Bruce Springsteen announced Thursday that he’s postponing a slate of concerts in September on the advice of doctors who treating him for peptic ulcer disease. Fans who aren’t familiar with this common and potentially serious gastrointestinal problem may wonder how it could sideline The Boss, who turns 74 later this month. Here’s what to know about the disease. (Aleccia, 9/7)

Nicholas Olenik waged a months-long legal battle to keep Nimbus to help with his depression. But his victory was bittersweet. (Diaz, 9/5)

How would the COVID-19 experience have turned out had there been no government-imposed states of emergency, no mask mandates, no orders to shelter in place, and no shutdowns of schools, restaurants, offices, and gyms? (Jeff Jacoby, 9/6)

Covid-19 has changed me. No, I’m not suffering the effects of long Covid. In fact, I’m among a shrinking minority of Americans who hasn’t, as far as I know, contracted any of the alphanumeric soup variants associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (Rose Rubin Rivera, 9/7)

The recent rise in coronavirus cases and the development of highly-mutated variants have prompted renewed discussions and questions about masks. In response to speculation that the government might impose mask mandates again, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said last week that it will not call for these requirements at this time. (Leana S. Wen, 9/7)

Connecticut has rural hospitals but no Rural Health Plans. Connecticut is one of only five states which has no federally approved rural health plan. In consequence, there is no organized effort at the state level to preserve or enhance rural health services. (Deborah Moore, 9/8)

While it’s widely accepted that the pharma industry is innovative in R&D, it is also true that it can be slow at embracing technological revolutions. Many people have criticized pharma companies for being slow to adopt AI. Indeed, some CEOs I talk to are concerned about too widely adopting AI, citing fears of unknown threats. But as the CEO of Sanofi, I don’t believe those challenges should guide our thinking or adoption of AI in the pharma business, as AI has the potential to improve and reinvent the way our business operates. (Paul Hudson, 9/8)

After the recent announcement of the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation, much has been discussed about the drugs that were selected and the magnitude of price decreases that can be achieved. Less attention has been given to what this all means for Medicare beneficiaries. (Mariana Socal, 9/8)

Is it possible to live a perfectly healthy day? I decided to put myself to the test for you. I knew I would stumble at times, but hoped that my own successes and failures would help you figure out what the biggest pitfalls might be in your own life. I planned a 24-hour schedule that would incorporate the main advice on sleeping, eating, exercise and mental well-being. It was no easy task. Some plans went well and others…. didn’t. Here’s what happened. (Alex Janin, 9/7)