Parents Urged To Check Halloween Candy Amid Fentanyl Surge: Authorities are warning parents to be vigilant about the possibility of narcotics or other contaminants being mixed in with their children’s candy this Halloween — especially after someone attempted to smuggle roughly 12,000 fentanyl pills hidden inside bags and boxes of candy at Los Angeles International Airport. But some health experts say the threat of finding drugs in your child’s candy bag is overblown. Read more from Times of San Diego, Napa Valley Register, USA Today, and NPR.
In more news about the fentanyl crisis —
2021 Saw Dramatic Spike In California Fentanyl Deaths: Last year, for the first time, California’s death rate from all drug overdoses surpassed that of lung cancer and ranked just below hypertensive heart disease. The increase was due almost entirely to fentanyl. Read more from Bay Area News Group and AP.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today’s national health news, read KHN’s Morning Briefing.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Prop. 1 Backers Challenge Claims That California Ballot Measure Would Remove All Abortion Restrictions
Campaigning for the Nov. 8 ballot measure that would protect abortion rights in the California Constitution, Attorney General Rob Bonta and two law professors attacked opponents for claiming — contrary to the language of state law — that Proposition 1 would legalize abortions up to the moment of birth. (Egelko, 10/28)
CalMatters:
California Abortion Law: Would Prop. 1 Allow Late-Term?
Proposition 1, the Nov. 8 ballot measure that would create an explicit protection for “reproductive freedom” in the California Constitution, is not written to expand abortion access into the final months of pregnancy and, despite warnings from opponents, legal experts say that is a highly unlikely outcome if it passes. The simple yet sweeping language of the measure — “the state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions” — has been a source of contention, even among some supporters of abortion rights, since it was introduced this summer. (Koseff, 10/31)
The New York Times:
Legal Abortions Fell Around 6 Percent In Two Months After End Of Roe
In the first two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, legal abortions nationwide declined by more than 10,000, a drop of about 6 percent, according to the first attempt at a nationwide count of abortions since the decision. (Sanger-Katz and Miller, 10/30)
California Healthline:
‘Fourth Trimester’ Focus Is Pushed To Prevent Maternal Deaths
Public health investigators found that 53% of maternal deaths happened well after a mother left the hospital — from seven days to a year after the birth. (Dembosky, 10/31)
Sacramento Bee:
Study: Oxygen Readings Delayed COVID Care In Black Patients
Black patients experienced delays in COVID-19 treatment because a common medical device that measures blood oxygen levels tended to give inaccurate readings for darker-skinned individuals, according to a new study by Sutter Health. The inaccurate measurements contributed to nearly five-hour delays in COVID-19 treatment, which was critical time for the potentially fatal virus, according to the study. (Smith, 10/29)
The New York Times:
Covid Symptoms Can Rebound Even If You Don’t Take Paxlovid
When the antiviral treatment Paxlovid came into wider use for Covid-19 infections earlier this year, doctors who prescribed it and patients who took it noticed that symptoms sometimes flared up again a few days after having gone away. Some people even tested negative before they experienced the rebound. But this puzzling phenomenon can occur whether you take Paxlovid or not, according to a new study. Researchers found that when patients received a placebo instead of treatment, a portion of them still experienced a rebound of their symptoms after they had initially improved. (Sheikh, 10/27)
CIDRAP:
WHO Advisers Weigh In On Omicron XBB And BQ.1 Subvariants
The WHO advisory group said XBB and BQ.1 don’t currently diverge sufficiently from each other or from other Omicron lineages that have extra immune escape mutations to warrant a variant of concern designation or a new label. “The two sublineages remain part of Omicron, which continues to be a variant of concern,” the group said. (Schnirring, 10/28)
The Washington Post:
Many Lockdown Babies Slower At Social Development, Faster At Crawling, Study Says
Early in the pandemic, when much of the world was in lockdown, many parents and other caregivers expressed fears about how a historic period of prolonged isolation could affect their children. Now, a study out of Ireland has shed some light on this question. Its results suggest that babies born during Ireland’s first covid-19 lockdown were likely to be slower to develop some social communication skills than their pre-pandemic peers. They were less likely to be able to wave goodbye, point at things and know one “definite and meaningful word” by the time they turn 1. On the other hand, they were more likely to be able to crawl. (Timsit, 10/28)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
5-Agency Drug Take Back Event Applauded As Local Success
The DEA has been hosting regular Drug Take Back Days for more than a decade, providing disposal bins and pickup service to any agency that wants to participate. About 4,000 local law enforcement agencies were hosting four-hour drop-offs nationwide Saturday, including Petaluma, Cotati, Sebastopol, Cloverdale and Rohnert Park. (Callahan, 10/29)
CalMatters:
California Cancer Care Isn’t Equitable; A New Law Might Help
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in California, behind only heart disease. This year alone, the state will tally an estimated 189,000 new cancer cases and close to 61,000 deaths. (Ibarra, 10/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Will COVID Experts Stay On Twitter? Here’s What UCSF’s Wachter Says
UCSF Department of Medicine chair Dr. Bob Wachter, a prominent voice on Twitter for his COVID expertise, tweeted on Saturday that he is “staying put for now” on the platform despite concerns in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase. The finalization of the deal Thursday — after which Musk immediately fired several top executives —reportedly led some users to jump ship to other social media services over fears that harassment, misinformation and hatred could increase under Musk’s control. (Hwang, 10/30)
Modern Healthcare:
Elon Musk Owns Twitter. Should Healthcare Organizations Be Worried?
Twitter is an important tool for many healthcare organizations, and has helped transform the industry’s marketing strategies since its founding in 2006. Health systems, insurers and others use the platform to reach consumers and disperse information. (Hudson, 10/28)
CNET:
Twitter Reportedly Plans To Charge $20 A Month For Verified Accounts
The blue tick is seen by some as a status symbol. To qualify, accounts must be “notable, authentic and active.” That includes accounts of government officials; people representing prominent brands; news organizations and journalists; activists; celebrities; athletes and others. They’re also fairly rare. In 2021, on 360,000 accounts, or 0.2% of Twitter’s monetizable daily active users, were verified. (Musil, 10/30)
