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With Erin Schumaker
PUSH TO RESTRICT CHINA TRAVEL — 5 Republican senators want President Joe Biden to restrict travel to and from China amid a surge in pneumonia circumstances there regardless of U.S. officers saying there’s little trigger for concern, POLITICO’s Shawn Zeller, Carmen Paun and Alice Miranda Ollstein report.
In a letter to Biden despatched Friday, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Mike Braun of Indiana argue for a journey ban due to China’s “lengthy historical past of mendacity about public well being crises” and due to the World Well being Group’s “slavish deference” to Beijing.
Background: Stories of a surge in respiratory diseases and pneumonia circumstances amongst youngsters in China prompted the WHO final month to request data on the outbreak. WHO officers later held a teleconference with Chinese language authorities in which the officials said the pneumonia was brought on by a standard micro organism, mycoplasma, in addition to seasonal viruses, together with respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and the flu. Public well being specialists have informed POLITICO China is probably going experiencing the identical return of seasonal respiratory illnesses that the U.S. and different nations did earlier.
However, the GOP senators stated they didn’t belief the WHO or the Chinese language.
The letter comes days after Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, told House Republicans at a hearing that the company has been in contact with its employees in China and likewise Chinese language well being officers who’ve stated no new virus had been detected. Cohen added that European well being officers corroborated China’s data.
An administration official informed Pulse on Sunday that France and Denmark additionally report a rise in pneumonia and that different international locations within the northern hemisphere report elevated medical visits for frequent respiratory diseases current this time of yr. The U.S. is seeing regular seasonal developments, the official stated, and nothing signifies a hyperlink between China’s outbreak and respiratory diseases within the U.S.
Cohen additionally informed reporters on Friday that experiences of an identical surge in pneumonia and respiratory diseases amongst youngsters in Ohio and Massachusetts replicate what the company usually sees this time of yr. Most youngsters get better with remedy at dwelling, she stated.
WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. Researchers say your hair care routine could possibly be dangerous to your health due to understudied compounds known as siloxanes present in frequent merchandise. Ship your ideas, scoops and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected] and observe alongside @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Kelly Hooper talks with POLITICO well being care reporter Lauren Gardner about an FDA resolution anticipated later this week on a landmark gene-editing remedy for folks with sickle cell illness.
SCOTUS TO REVIEW OPIOID SETTLEMENT — The Supreme Courtroom is about to listen to oral arguments in the present day on whether or not Purdue Pharma’s up-to-$6-billion chapter settlement shielding the Sackler household, who owned the corporate, from future lawsuits ought to stand, Ben experiences.
On the request of the Biden administration, the court docket in August temporarily blocked the settlement, which incorporates funds for these harmed by opioids and a restructuring of the corporate. The court docket will hear arguments about whether or not chapter legislation permits for additional immunity.
The Justice Division has argued that the settlement would enable the Sackler household to maintain “billions of {dollars} that they siphoned from Purdue” once they would have in any other case confronted claims “alleging damages within the trillions.”
The corporate has been blamed for spurring the opioid epidemic by aggressively pushing OxyContin.
Attorneys representing Purdue argue that “breadth and suppleness” are key to chapter legislation and the settlement ought to be allowed to proceed. About 95 p.c of collectors — together with victims, states and different teams suing the corporate — approve the settlement.
CLIMATE ACTION PROMISED — An HHS delegation to the United Nations Local weather Change Convention in Dubai on Saturday outlined what it plans to do within the “close to time period” to assist local weather resilience and cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions.
Why it issues: In 2021, HHS launched a local weather motion plan and joined a White Home pledge to chop greenhouse gasoline emissions by 50 p.c by 2030.
The plans introduced Saturday, released in a supplement to the 2021 plan, embrace:
— Working with the Administration for Neighborhood Residing to advertise data on cooling facilities
— Incorporating local weather change data into the CDC’s public well being emergency preparedness plan
— Advising states by means of CMS on easy methods to handle local weather change as a social determinant of well being in Medicaid and the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program
— Learning local weather change’s impression on meals producers on the FDA
HHS additionally introduced a collaboration amongst federal well being techniques to cut back carbon emissions in well being care settings, in accordance with a readout from the assembly.
GOP AND ACA REPEAL — Former President Donald Trump desires to repeal the Reasonably priced Care Act — however fellow Republicans say it’s not that straightforward.
Trump stated on social media that if elected in 2024, he would scrap the legislation; nevertheless, the ACA isn’t the same act he opposed when he entered workplace in 2017, POLITICO’s Robert King and Alice report.
Greater than 40 million folks have medical insurance by means of the ACA, up 50 p.c from 2017. And, since Republicans final tried to repeal the legislation, 9 pink and purple states have opted to increase Medicaid — many by common vote — benefiting from the improved federal funding and increasing protection to thousands and thousands of lower-income folks.
Republicans stay important of the ACA however aren’t positive a couple of wholesale reform. “Insurance policies have modified,” stated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whose state’s Medicaid enlargement started Friday and is anticipated so as to add 600,000 folks to this system’s rolls. Others, like Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.) — who was instrumental within the 2017 repeal effort — are skeptical that something significant is forthcoming from Trump.
“Does he have a coverage initiative that he’s going to place ahead?” Cassidy requested. “Or is it only a stream-of-consciousness musing?”
Even the handful of states which have resisted enlargement has “an enormous stake within the debate,” stated Larry Levitt, government vice chairman for well being coverage at KFF. And, nationally, “extra folks on the market have one thing to lose” in contrast with 2017’s medical insurance panorama.
A HOLIDAY CHALLENGE — U.S. Surgeon Basic Vivek Murthy is issuing a problem in the present day as a part of his technique to fight loneliness and social isolation, issues he’s recognized as a profound threat to the nation’s health and well-being, Erin experiences.
For the subsequent two weeks, Murthy desires the general public to affix his 5-for-5 Connection Challenge: Take one motion a day to forge connection — like expressing gratitude, providing assist or asking for assist — for 5 days in a row.
The purpose is to assist People strengthen their relationships throughout the holidays and provides them a tangible connection device they will use sooner or later.
“We wished it to not simply be an train of speaking to folks about what the issue was, however we wished them to have the ability to expertise a number of the answer — to stroll away with concrete actions they might take of their day-to-day life that may assist construct connection,” Murthy informed Erin.
Murthy’s group conceived of the problem for his “We Are Made to Join” faculty tour, which ended final week. Throughout the tour, college students informed Murthy about their experiences with loneliness and social isolation, and the way onerous it’s to have a wholesome relationship with expertise.
Kristin L. McDonald is vice chairman of coverage and advocacy on the Faculty of American Pathologists. She beforehand was chief of legislative and political affairs on the American Faculty of Surgeons.
The New York Instances reports on the rise of unionization amongst medical doctors and pharmacists.
The Related Press reports that schools, stretched thin on resources, are turning to on-line remedy to assist college students.
NBC Information reports on the race to find out what’s inflicting respiratory sickness in canines.
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