Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News: To Fight Chinese Outbreak, Doctors Deploy Drugs Targeting HIV, Malaria And Ebola
As the scientific community scrambles to find a drug that can effectively treat tens of thousands of patients sickened by a new respiratory virus, they are trying some surprising remedies: medicines targeting known killers like HIV, Ebola and malaria. American drugmakers have shipped two antiviral medications to China as doctors and public health officials there seek an effective treatment for patients sickened by the novel coronavirus, which has recently been named COVID19. The virus has afflicted 45,000 people worldwide and killed more than 1,100. Most of the cases and deaths occurred in Hubei province, China, where the outbreak began. (Heredia Rodriguez, 2/13)
Kaiser Health News: No Quick Fix: Missouri Finds Managing Pain Without Opioids Isn't Fast Or Easy
Missouri began offering chiropractic care, acupuncture, physical therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy for Medicaid patients in April, the latest state to try an alternative to opioids for those battling chronic pain. Yet only about 500 of the state's roughly 330,000 adult Medicaid users accessed the program through December, at a cost of $190,000, according to Josh Moore, the Missouri Medicaid pharmacy director. (Weber, 2/13)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Cases Seemed To Be Leveling Off. Not Anymore.
The news seemed to be positive: The number of new coronavirus cases reported in China over the past week suggested that the outbreak might be slowing — that containment efforts were working. But on Thursday, officials added more than 14,840 new cases to the tally of the infected in Hubei Province alone, bringing the total number to 48,206, the largest one-day increase so far recorded. ... The sharp rise in reported cases illustrates how hard it has been for scientists to grasp the extent and severity of the coronavirus outbreak in China, particularly inside the epicenter, where thousands of sick people remain untested for the illness. (Rabin, 2/12)
Reuters: Coronavirus Deaths, Cases Leap In China, Suggesting Much Bigger Crisis
Health officials in Hubei said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the pathogen was identified in December. That took total deaths in China from the newly discovered virus to 1,367, up 254 from the previous day, the National Health Commission said. (2/13)
Reuters: What Spurt In China's Cases Reveals About Coronavirus
A new diagnostic method has led the Chinese province at the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak to report a record rise in deaths and thousands more cases on Thursday. The central province of Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days to process. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information that enables identification of organisms such as viruses. (2/13)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Test Kits Sent To States Are Flawed, C.D.C. Says
Some of the coronavirus testing kits sent to state laboratories around the country have flaws and do not work properly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The kits were meant to enable states to conduct their own testing and have results faster than they would by shipping samples to the C.D.C. in Atlanta. But the failure of the kits means that states that encountered problems with the test should not use it, and would still have to depend on the C.D.C.'s central lab, which could cause several days' delay in getting results. (Grady, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Newly Confirmed Coronavirus Cases In China's Hubei Province Rise Sharply
The likely culprit is a reagent—a compound used to cause a chemical reaction—that isn't behaving consistently, health authorities said. The CDC is working to remanufacture the reagent and send it back out. This could result in delays in running diagnostics. Local and state health authorities were eager to access the tests themselves, to avoid the wait involved in sending samples through the CDC. (Mendell and Kubota, 2/12)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Update: More Than 80 Percent Of Cases Are Mild, Complicating Efforts To Respond
But the virus's destructive potential has overshadowed one encouraging aspect of this outbreak: So far, about 82 percent of the cases — including all 14 in the United States — have been mild, with symptoms that require little or no medical intervention. And that proportion may be an undercount. ... "The fact that there are so many mild cases is a real hallmark of this disease and makes it so different from SARS," said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Health Security. "It's also really challenging. Most of our surveillance is oriented around finding people who require medical intervention." (Bernstein and Johnson, 2/12)
The New York Times: How Many Coronavirus Cases In China? Officials Tweak The Answer
The news was abrupt and, to some, surprising: Overnight, a Chinese province near Russia, had cut its count of confirmed coronavirus cases by more than a dozen. The revision stemmed from what appeared to be a bureaucratic decision, buried in a series of dense documents from the national government. Health officials said that they would reclassify patients who had tested positive for the new coronavirus but did not have symptoms, and take them out of the total count of confirmed cases. ... World Health Organization officials seemed caught off guard when asked about the move at a news conference this week. The change in counting cases is only one factor that has made it difficult for experts to determine the true scale of the epidemic. (Wang, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: China Ousts High-Level Officials As Coronavirus Cases Soar
China ousted two top Communist Party officials in Hubei province, the center of the new coronavirus outbreak, hours after health officials there confirmed 14,840 new infections on Wednesday alone—an almost 10-fold increase from a day earlier—indicating that the epidemic is far from tapering off. The high-level firings of the Communist Party secretaries of both Hubei province and its capital of Wuhan, where the contagion is believed to have started last month at a market with live, wild animals, demonstrated Beijing's disapproval of how they handled a threat that has since mushroomed into an epidemic killing more than 1,000 people and halting business across the country. (Woo, 2/13)
Los Angeles Times: China Reports More Than 15,000 New Coronavirus Cases Overnight. Here's What That Means
The political shakeup may have been timed to match the change in reporting standards, so that centrally appointed newcomers could be perceived as taking control and fixing the crisis, versus local officials who are now shouldering the blame for allowing the virus' spread. The change in reporting requirements has only been implemented in Hubei province, not the rest of China. (Su, 2/13)
Reuters: China's Coronavirus Epicenter Boosts Medical Waste Treatment As New Cases Spike
The Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak has almost doubled its medical waste handling capacity after media images of bags of garbage piling up uncovered in hospital yards raised public concerns over secondary infections. Adding to the pressure on authorities Hubei province, in central China, on Thursday reported a spike in new cases. Provincial health officials said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest daily rise in fatalities so far, with another 14,840 new infections after a change in diagnostic methods. (2/13)
Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Outbreak Spurs Hoarding In Asia
On Friday evening, supermarkets in Taipei put out their usual stocks of toilet paper, stacked floor-to-ceiling in brick-sized packets stuffed into bags decorated with colorful cartoon characters. By Monday, just barren racks — and bewildered shoppers — were left. In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, shoppers are stockpiling toilet paper, hand sanitizers, rice, instant noodles, cured meats, sanitary napkins and other products as fears over the new strain of coronavirus from China continue to ripple across Asia. (Bengali and Jennings, 2/12)
Reuters: Chinese Public Dial In For Support As Coronavirus Takes Mental Toll
Hundreds of 24-hour mental health support telephone hotlines have sprung up in China in recent weeks as millions of people fret about catching the coronavirus - and try to avoid infection by staying at home. Medical professionals welcomed the launch of several official services in a country where mental health remains a relatively taboo subject, but cautioned that unofficial talk lines could do more harm than good. (2/13)
The New York Times: An American In A Locked Down Chinese Town: 'Everyone Here Is So Bored.'
Weeks before the coronavirus became a national health crisis in China, authorities threatened a doctor, Li Wenliang, who warned about early cases. State media reported that Dr. Li was illegally spreading rumors. That was a red flag for Bob Huang. "People here tend to believe the government. Not me," said Mr. Huang, who is 50 years old and lives with his mother, Zhang Wanrong, and her caretaker in Zhichang, a town of 300,000 in northern Zhejiang Province. "I've watched too many episodes of 'The X-Files.'" (Stevenson, 2/13)
The Wall Street Journal: The World Health Organization Draws Flak For Coronavirus Response
When the World Health Organization declared a global public-health emergency at the end of last month, it praised China's "extraordinary" efforts to combat the coronavirus epidemic and urged other countries not to restrict travel. "China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Many governments ignored the travel advice. Other public-health experts criticized his unqualified praise for China. (Page and McKay, 2/12)
Reuters: Coronavirus Outbreak 'Just Beginning' Outside China, Says Expert
The coronavirus epidemic may be peaking in China where it was first detected in the central city of Wuhan but it is just beginning in the rest of the world and likely to spread, a global expert on infectious diseases said on Wednesday. The Chinese government's senior medical adviser has said the disease is hitting a peak in China and may be over by April. He said he was basing the forecast on mathematical modelling, recent events and government action. (2/12)
Reuters: CDC Confirms 14th U.S. Case Of Coronavirus With Patient In San Diego
A second person evacuated from Wuhan, China, to a U.S. Marine base near San Diego has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the United States to 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Wednesday. The patient was among 232 individuals placed under quarantine at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar after being airlifted from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan earlier this month, CDC spokeswoman Ana Toro said. (2/12)
Los Angeles Times: Second Coronavirus Case Confirmed In San Diego
Like the first, which was announced Monday, the infected patient is an evacuee hospitalized with UC San Diego Health System shortly after arriving at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Friday. The university also said Wednesday that it has received an additional patient for testing from the quarantined group of evacuees living at Miramar, bringing the total to nine since last week. The three patients who remain under the university's care are said to be doing well; others have been returned to quarantine. (Sisson, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Test Kits For Novel Coronavirus Hit A Snag In The U.S.
Local and state health authorities are eager to access the tests themselves and avoid the wait time involved in sending all their samples through the CDC. Right now, the Illinois Department of Public Health can test for the virus, the first state in the country to do so. Some labs will face a delay in running the diagnostics, as health authorities work out the kinks in testing. "We are looking into all of these issues to understand what went wrong," Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC said on a press call with reporters. "This is really part of a normal process and procedure, and we have the quality control set up specifically to allow us to identify these kinds of problems." (Abbott, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus-Drug Development Becomes A Top Focus At Gilead
A team of a dozen executives at drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. meets daily to discuss the coronavirus epidemic in China and the company's cross-continental scramble to develop the first drug for the new disease. If the company's drug succeeds in studies in China, it could become the first treatment proven to work against a respiratory virus that has killed more than 1,000 people and infected some 42,600 in fewer than three months. (Walker, 2/12)
NPR: Is A Coronavirus Vaccine Coming Soon? Maybe By Fall, Scientists Say
Right now scientists are trying to accomplish something that was inconceivable a decade ago: create a vaccine against a previously unknown virus rapidly enough to help end an outbreak of that virus. In this case, they're trying to stop the spread of the new coronavirus that has already infected tens of thousands of people, mainly in China, and given rise to a respiratory condition now known as COVID-19. Typically, making a new vaccine takes a decade or longer. But new genetic technologies and new strategies make researchers optimistic that they can shorten that timetable to months, and possibly weeks — and have a tool by the fall that can slow the spread of infection. (Palca, 2/12)
The Associated Press: Fear, Boredom, Adventure Fill Each Day On Quarantined Ship
Fear. Surprising moments of levity. Soul-crushing boredom. Life on the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship quarantined in a Japanese port with scores of cases of a new virus, means experiencing all these things, according to interviews by The Associated Press with passengers and a growing stream of tweets and YouTube videos. (2/13)
The Washington Post: Westerdam Cruise Ship Waylaid By Coronavirus Heads To Cambodia
Christina Kerby was corralled aboard a massive luxury cruise ship, charting a meandering course somewhere in the South China Sea, when she began thinking about the apocalypse. Luckily, the WiFi on Holland America's MS Westerdam was plentiful. She tapped out a tweet. (Thebault and Shammas, 2/12)
The New York Times: In Coronavirus, $45-Billion Cruise Industry Faces A Big Challenge
For the cruise industry, the coronavirus is a public-relations nightmare. For more than a week, the world has watched as the Diamond Princess ship has been quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama, its 3,600 passengers and crew stuck and the number of people infected by the coronavirus climbing to at least 175. (Mzezewa, 2/12)
Reuters: Red Cross Seeks Sanctions Exemptions As North Korea Steps Up Anti-Virus Campaign
The Red Cross called for an urgent exemption from sanctions on North Korea on Thursday to help prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus, following an epidemic in neighbouring China. "We know that there is urgent need of personal protective gear and testing kits, items which will be vital to prepare for a possible outbreak," Xavier Castellanos, Asia Pacific director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies (IFRC) said in a statement. (2/13)
Reuters: Democrat Sanders, Nevada Union In Escalating Feud Ahead Of State Nominating Contest
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who bills himself as a champion of organized labor, found himself in an escalating feud with Nevada's Culinary Workers Union on Wednesday, 10 days before the state holds the party's third nominating contest. Tensions have been simmering for months between the powerful 60,000-member union and the 77-year-old U.S. senator, who comes to Nevada after a strong showing in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday. The union, which criticized Sanders' universal healthcare plan in a flyer to its members on Tuesday, said on Wednesday his supporters responded by "viciously" attacking the organization via Twitter, text, voicemails and direct messaging. (2/12)
Politico: Nevada Culinary Union Lays Into Sanders Supporters After Health Care Backlash
The flier's circulation also coincides with heightened fears among the party establishment about putting a self-declared democratic socialist and Medicare for All proponent atop the ticket. But the group, which boasts 60,000 members from the hospitality industry in Las Vegas and Reno and bills itself as the one of the state's largest health care consumers, doubled down on its criticism amid the outcry from supporters of the senator. "Our union believes that everyone has the right to good health care and that health care should be a right, not a privilege," said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, the group's secretary-treasurer, adding that the union had already negotiated its own health care plan for "what working people need." (Oprysko, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Candidates Set For Long Haul Following Sanders's New Hampshire Win
Mr. Sanders aims to maintain his momentum in Nevada, but he faces an immediate obstacle to winning there, with the state's powerful Culinary Union telling its 60,000 members that their union-negotiated health-care plans would be put at risk by a Medicare-for-All single-payer system that is a signature Mr. Sanders's campaign policy. The union hasn't endorsed a candidate in the race. Mr. Buttigieg on Wednesday morning made a move for the union's support, saying in a television interview that he supported the union's desire to keep their health benefits. Mr. Buttigieg is ramping up his staffing in Nevada to capitalize on his recent success, with immediate plans to double the campaign's head count there to around 100. He'll also soon be up on Nevada airwaves with a health care-focused ad. (Parti, Rubin and Day, 2/12)
Reuters: Juul Bought Ad Space On Kids' Websites, Including Cartoon Network - Lawsuit
E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc bought online advertisements on teen-focused websites for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Seventeen magazine after it launched its product in 2015, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by the Massachusetts attorney general's office. The allegations in the lawsuit, stemming from a more than year-long investigation, contradict repeated claims by Juul executives that the company never intentionally targeted teenagers, even as its products became enormously popular among high-school and middle-school students in recent years. (2/12)
The New York Times: Juul Bought Ads Appearing On Cartoon Network And Other Youth Sites, Suit Claims
According to the lawsuit, Juul rejected an initial marketing proposal by a marketing firm it had hired, Cult Collective, that would have branded it as a technology company with a target audience of adult smokers. The proposed campaign featured images of outdated technology like clunky telephones and joysticks, with a picture of a sleek Juul e-cigarette and the words, "The evolution of smoking. Finally, a truly satisfying alternative." Instead, the lawsuit says, Juul dropped Cult Collective and hired an in-house interim art director to produce "Vaporized," a youth-oriented campaign, featuring beautiful models in provocative poses. (Kaplan, 2/12)
The Associated Press: Massachusetts Sues Juul Over E-Cigarette Marketing Tactics
Attorney General Maura Healey's office said the nation's biggest e-cigarette maker is responsible for "creating a youth vaping epidemic" with deceptive advertising tactics designed to lure in teen users. "Our message today is simple: Juul can't profit off the addiction of young people," Healey said. Healey announced her investigation into Juul in July 2018 and asked the company to turn over documents to determine whether it was tracking underage use of its products and whether its marketing practices were intentionally driving its popularity among young people. (Leblanc, 2/12)
The Associated Press: Company Efforts To Stamp Out Tobacco Often Go Up In Smoke
U-Haul has an unusual wellness goal for 2020: hiring fewer smokers. The truck rental company said in January it will stop hiring people who use tobacco or nicotine products in the 21 U.S. states where it is legal to do so. Executives said the new policy, which takes effect this month, is expected to the cut company costs by improving the health of U-Haul's 30,000-person workforce. (2/12)
The Associated Press: CVS Health Swings To 4Q Profit, Lays Out Leadership Changes
CVS Health swung to a fourth-quarter profit and is starting the new year with a management shakeup for its largest business. The company will replace Derica Rice with Dr. Alan Lotvin as the leader of its pharmacy benefit management segment. CVS Health also named former Concerto Healthcare executive Alec Cunningham to lead its Aetna insurance business as it focuses more on government programs like Medicare Advantage. (2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: CVS Swings To Profit, Forecasts 2020 Results In Line With Estimates
The company also said that the head of its pharmacy-benefits unit, Derica Rice, will leave. His exit comes after the departure earlier this year of Kevin Hourican, the leader of the pharmacy operations, who left to take a CEO job elsewhere. CVS said Alan Lotvin, currently an executive vice president, will take over the PBM. The company previously said that chief operating officer Jonathan Roberts would temporarily lead the pharmacy unit. (Wilde Mathews and Sebastian, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Bayer Strives To End Lawsuits Over Roundup—While Still Selling It
Bayer AG faces an extraordinary challenge as it tries to settle tens of thousands of claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer: The product remains on the shelves, making it almost impossible to put the litigation to rest forever. Experts have said Bayer is in an unusual position compared with other companies that have faced multibillion-dollar lawsuits over their products. To end mass-tort litigation, other companies generally have discontinued or altered their products or added warning labels—all of which are problematic for the German pharmaceutical and agricultural company. (Kusisto, Bender and Bunge, 2/12)
Reuters: Privacy Law Covering Most Medical Care May Not Apply In Schools
The privacy protections Americans have come to expect when it comes to their medical information may not always apply in school settings, a new report suggests. When a school nurse is involved in a student's medical care, information on that care may end up in the child's educational record - which is accessible without consent to school officials and parents, according to the report in Pediatrics. (2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Advances In Health Care, Technology Open New Job Prospects For The Disabled
When Virginia Jacko began losing her eyesight in her 40s, she left her job as a senior financial executive at a university and enrolled in a vocational-rehabilitation program. Using new technology, she was soon able to use a spreadsheet, read a financial statement and even pick out matching clothes. Fifteen years later, she is chief executive of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, which runs the program. Ms. Jacko's experience shows how advances in technology and health care, as well as changes in the labor market, have created new work opportunities for disabled and older workers. People are living longer, healthier lives. Automation has made many tasks at work easier. (Davidson, 2/13)
The Wall Street Journal: Young Workers Seek Mental Health Accommodations, Employers Try To Keep Up
Managers and younger employees are struggling to adapt as a generation of people with higher rates of reported mental illness enter the workforce. Many of these new workers are coming to offices from colleges and high schools where they received accommodations, such as extra time to take tests or complete assignments—in some cases from elementary school onward. They are confronting a world of work that operates under different legal standards and less-flexible pressures and deadlines. (Weber, 2/12)
Reuters: More Evidence Links Ozone Pollution To Premature Death
People who live in cities where the air is polluted by factories and traffic fumes may not live as long as they would have with cleaner air, a recent study suggests. Researchers focused on ozone, an unstable form of oxygen produced when various types of traffic and industrial pollution react with sunlight. Worldwide, about four in five people in urban areas are exposed to ozone levels that exceed safe levels recommended by the World Health Organization, the study team notes in The BMJ. (2/12)
Reuters: Injected Heroin Use Still Near All-Time Highs In U.S., May Explain Hepatitis-C Rise
Heroin use by injection has leveled off in recent years but had been rising steadily for more than a decade, a study finds. Rates of heroin use, injection and addiction all rose steadily between 2008 and 2016, then apparently plateaued or fell slightly during subsequent years, researchers say. (2/12)
NPR: New Emojis Include Rocks And Flies: Scientists Have Mixed Feelings
Scientists can get very excited about what they study, and that means they can be pretty jazzed when what they study gets turned into one of the official emojis of the world and enters our shared visual language. But sometimes that enthusiasm is tempered by more complex feelings, which is the case with some of the latest emojis that are about to hit our smartphones. Consider the "rock" emoji. (Greenfieldboyce, 2/12)
Reuters: Sleep Difficulties Are Perfectly Normal For Babies, Study Confirms
New parents who struggle to get babies to sleep through the night may not be doing anything wrong, according to new research suggesting that many apparent sleep problems are really part of normal infant development. For example, the study found that 6-month-old babies still take 20 minutes, on average, to fall asleep. And by age 2, toddlers still wake up an average of once each night. (2/12)
Reuters: Virtual Reality May Help Relieve Pain During Childbirth
Immersion in virtual reality may relieve some of the pain of contractions before childbirth, a small study suggests. In a half-hour test among 40 hospitalized women in labor, those who used VR headsets that provided relaxing scenes and messages reported pain reductions compared with those who didn't get headsets, researchers said in a presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Grapevine, Texas. (2/12)
The Associated Press: Iowa Governor Won't Discuss Center's Sexual Arousal Research
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds wouldn't comment Wednesday on accusations made against state officials in a federal lawsuit involving sexual arousal experiments performed on residents of a state n Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities. Two doctors and other former employees of Glenwood Resource Center filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against a state agency and several officials alleging a conspiracy to silence complaints about sexual arousal research they claim exploited fragile and dependent residents. (2/12)
The Associated Press: Judge Rules Oklahoma Transgender Inmate Lawsuit Can Proceed
A transgender inmate can sue the state of Oklahoma and prison officials who she says stopped her hormone therapy because they thought she was faking her gender identity, a federal judge has ruled. A physician's assistant ordered an end to Glenn Porter's hormone therapy after a staff psychologist at Dick Conner Correctional Center suggested she was 'masquerading as a woman,' according to the complaint. (2/12)
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