First Edition: July 7, 2021

KHN:
As Covid Vaccinations Slow, Parts Of The US Remain Far Behind 70% Goal

July Fourth was not the celebration President Joe Biden had hoped for, as far as protecting more Americans with a coronavirus vaccine. The nation fell just short of the White House’s goal to give at least a first dose to 70% of adults by Independence Day. By that day, 67% of adult Americans had gotten either the first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If children ages 12-17, who are now eligible for the Pfizer product, are included, the national percentage of those who have gotten at least one shot is 64%. (Bebinger and Farmer, 7/7)

KHN:
California’s Highest Covid Infection Rates Shift To Rural Counties

Most of us are familiar with the good news: In recent weeks, rates of covid-19 infection and death have plummeted in California, falling to levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic. The average number of new covid infections reported each day dropped by an astounding 98% from December to June, according to figures from the California Department of Public Health. And bolstering that trend, nearly 70% of Californians 12 and older are partially or fully vaccinated. (Reese, 7/7)

USA Today:
Biden Ramps Up Vaccination Push

President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled new initiatives aimed at the one-third of the eligible U.S. population that has not gotten any COVID-19 vaccine shots, focusing on providing easier access. Two days after his administration came up short in its goal to have 70% of U.S. adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4 – the current figure is 67% – Biden lauded the progress the nation has made against the coronavirus but warned about the dangers the highly transmissible delta variant presents. (Ortiz and Bacon, 7/6)

The New York Times:
Biden Makes New Push For Vaccinations, But Experts Say More Is Needed 

Faced with a steep decline in vaccination rates, President Biden said on Tuesday that his administration would send people door to door, set up clinics at workplaces and urge employers to offer paid time off as part of a renewed push to reach tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans. But top health experts say that it is simply not enough, and that the president needs to take the potentially unpopular step of encouraging states, employers and colleges and universities to require vaccinations to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Shear and Weiland, 7/6)

The Hill:
White House Signals New COVID-19 Strategy As Delta Variant Spreads

President Biden on Tuesday pleaded with Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the White House signaled a shift toward grassroots tactics to reach those who have yet to get a shot. Biden, who just days earlier hosted more than a thousand people at the White House for an outdoor Independence Day gathering, cautioned against getting overconfident in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic as the delta variant contributes to rising case counts in less vaccinated parts of the country. (Chalfant and Samuels, 7/6)

The Washington Post:
Vaccines Door-To-Door: Immunization Push Goes Granular As Delta Variant Looms

President Biden on Tuesday announced a summer-long effort to reach Americans still resistant to getting vaccinated, including going door-to-door and visiting places of worship, as he fights what growing evidence suggests is evermore entrenched resistance from vaccine holdouts. In remarks from the White House, the president pointed to increased concerns over the delta variant of the coronavirus, which is more transmissible and has forced some European countries back into lockdowns, as he reiterated his exhortation that Americans get the vaccine. (Wootson Jr. and Pager, 7/6)

CIDRAP:
States Report Increase In COVID-19 Cases Over Holiday 

Half of all US states reported significant increases in COVID-19 cases over the long Fourth of July weekend in a surge of virus activity caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant. The rise in cases comes as the country narrowly missed the mark of vaccinating 70% of residents ages 18 and up with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, 67.1% of American adults have had at least one dose of vaccine, and 47.4% are fully vaccinated. (Soucheray, 7/6)

The Washington Post:
A Third Of White Conservatives Refuse To Get Vaccinated — A Refusal Shown In Polling And The Real World 

Two elected officials have weighed in over the past several days on the effort to vaccinate as many Americans as possible. The first was President Biden. During a July 4 speech at the White House, he again encouraged the country to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, referring to covid-19, the disease it causes. … The second official to offer thoughts was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who weighed in on Twitter. (Bump, 7/6)

The Hill:
Risks Rise As Vaccination Gap With Trump Counties Grows Wider

A stark divide in the vaccination rates of blue and red states has grown more prominent in recent months, imperiling a full national recovery. While a partisan divide fueled in large part by former President Trump has been a defining characteristic of COVID-19 in the United States, the gap is becoming more worrisome once again with the deadly delta variant. (Weixel, 7/6)

The Hill:
McConnell Pushes COVID-19 Vaccines Amid Delta Variant Worries

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday pushed for more Americans to get vaccinated amid growing concerns about the delta coronavirus variant. “There’s no good reason not to get vaccinated. We need to finish the job. And I know there’s some skepticism out there, but let me put it his way: It may not guarantee you don’t get it but it almost guarantees you don’t die from it if you get it,” McConnell said at an event in Kentucky. (Carney, 7/6)

The Hill:
McConnell Vows ‘Hell Of A Fight’ Over Biden Infrastructure Plan 

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) vowed Tuesday that Republicans would wage a “hell of a fight” over attempts by Democrats to pass a sweeping multitrillion-dollar infrastructure plan along party lines. McConnell, speaking at an event in Kentucky, predicted that there would be a “big argument” about Democrats’ plan to use reconciliation, which allows them to bypass Republicans in the Senate, to pass large swaths of President Biden’s jobs and families plan. (Carney, 7/6)

Modern Healthcare:
Health System Executive Named Medicare Chief

President Joe Biden’s administration has selected a former not-for-profit health system executive as director of CMS’ Center for Medicare, an office that oversees health benefits for tens of millions of seniors, people with disabilities and dialysis patients. Dr. Meena Seshamani, who most recently was vice president of clinical care transformation at MedStar Health, started her new position Tuesday. Seshamani is a medical doctor and holds a PhD in health economics. At MedStar Health, Seshamani “conceptualized, designed and implemented” public health and value-based care initiatives and oversaw efforts around community health, geriatrics and palliative care, according to a CMS news release. (Hellmann, 7/6)

NBC News:
Whistleblowers Allege Poor Care For Migrant Kids By Contractor Specializing In Disaster Cleanup

Children housed in one of the Biden administration’s largest shelters for unaccompanied migrant minors were being watched over by contractors with no Spanish-language skills or experience in child care who usually stood idly at the edge of crowded tents, according to two federal workers who have come forward to file a whistleblower complaint to Congress. The contractor for the Department of Health and Human Services, Servpro, specializes in cleanup after water, fire and storm disasters. It shows no record of having handled a contract related to child welfare before it took on the care of nearly 5,000 children who were housed at the facility at Fort Bliss, Texas, in May. (Ainsley, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare:
Immigrant Children Face Healthcare Challenges Even After Gaining Citizenship

Children living in the U.S. without citizenship status are four times more likely to go uninsured and more than twice as likely to receive delayed care than a sibling who achieves citizenship, according to a new study. These kids are also more likely to have relatively worse health outcomes and lower wages later in life, the Health Affairs research published Tuesday shows. That’s despite 69% of them becoming citizens by the age of 30 and over 80% of them achieving citizenship by age 50. More so than income, area, or race, citizenship is the greatest indicator of whether a child will go uninsured. (Gellman, 7/6)

NPR:
Delta Is Now The Dominant Coronavirus Variant In The U.S.

The highly contagious delta variant now accounts for more than 51% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to new estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India and is spreading quickly across the globe. And in parts of the U.S., the delta strain accounts for more than 80% of new infections, including some Midwestern states like Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. The delta variant is already causing 74.3% of infections in Western states, including Utah and Colorado, and 58.8% of infections in Southern states like Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to CDC estimates. (Greenhalgh and Stein, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times:
California Spread Of Coronavirus’ Delta Variant Alarms Officials

The rise of the highly contagious Delta variant is causing increases in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in California and prompting concern about new spread of the illness in unvaccinated communities. While those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are believed to have high levels of protection against the variant, more people who have not been vaccinated are getting sick, data show. (Lin II and Money, 7/6)

Houston Chronicle:
Half Of Eligible Texans Now Fully Vaccinated For COVID-19

Texas has reached a new milestone in the effort to vaccinate people against COVID-19: As of Monday, more than 50 percent of Texans eligible for the shot — those ages 12 and older — have been fully vaccinated. The current vaccine rate of 50.1 percent, reported by the state on Tuesday, is a far cry from the original goal set by President Joe Biden’s administration, at 70 percent of eligible Americans fully vaccinated by the holiday weekend. In recent months, immunization rates have slowed considerably, forcing local officials to rely on incentives to bring people in for shots. (Wu, 7/6)

The Washington Post:
All Marylanders Who Died Of Covid In June Were Unvaccinated, Data Show

Unvaccinated people made up all of Maryland’s reported coronavirus deaths last month, as well as the vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations, the state reported Tuesday — data that public health officials say demonstrates the effectiveness of vaccines. The numbers come as experts try to persuade the vaccine-hesitant to get shots and protect themselves against a virus that has killed more than 22,000 people in the region and nearly 4 million worldwide. (Portnoy and Wiggins, 7/6)

Fox News:
Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 Death Toll Drops By 22% After Review

A county in northern California announced last week that it revised the method in how it registered coronavirus deaths that led to a 22% drop in its death toll, a report said. Santa Clara County had been tallying anyone who died with the virus as a COVID-19 death, even if it did not play a role. But the county now says that in order for a death to be attributed to the virus, the disease needs to be listed as contributing the cause of death, the Mercury News reported. Dr. Sarah Rudman, the county’s assistant public health officer, told the paper that the original process—during the height of the surge—”was the right decision at the time.” (DeMarche, 7/7)

The Washington Post:
Appalachian Covid Deniers Anger Nurses In Virginia 

The hospital executives at the lectern called her a hero, and the struggle that had earned Emily Boucher that distinction showed on her face: in the pallor acquired over 12-hour shifts in the intensive care unit, the rings beneath eyes that watched almost every day as covid-19 patients gasped for their final breaths. The pandemic had hit late but hard in the Appalachian highlands — the mountainous region that includes Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee — and over the winter many of its victims had ended up on ventilators tended by Boucher and her fellow nurses at Johnston Memorial Hospital. (Jamison, 7/6)

AP:
Anti-Mask Protesters Charged In School Board Meeting Uproar

Several anti-mask protesters who disrupted a school district board meeting in Utah earlier this year are now facing criminal charges, officials said. The 11 protesters were charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting a public meeting late last week. Granite School District spokesperson Ben Horsley says police are still searching for another person who was accused of being involved in the confrontation. (7/6)

AP:
Missouri Mayor Who Required Masks Faces Recall Vote

As the coronavirus surges in Missouri, a mayor who imposed a mask requirement and other public safety measures is facing a recall vote, even though the requirements have long since expired. Nixa voters will have the option to recall Mayor Brian Steele at a special election set for Nov. 2, the Springfield News-Leader reports. (7/7)

AP:
Unending Grief Of COVID-19 Deaths Causing Problems For Some

Kelly Brown’s 74-year-old father got sick first with COVID-19, followed by her 71-year-old mom just two days later. John and Judy Trzebiatowski died of the illness just a week apart last August, sending Brown into a black tunnel of grief that doesn’t seem to have an end. Health restrictions stripped away the things that normally help people deal with death, such as bedside visits at the Wisconsin hospital where they were treated and a big funeral with hugs and tears, she said. That left Brown to deal with her sorrow on her own, and now she’s having a hard time seeing a way forward. (Reeves, 7/6)

CBS News:
Denver Zoo Joins Oakland Zoo In Vaccinating Animals Against COVID

A donation of doses from the veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis will allow Denver Zoo to vaccinate some of its animals against COVID-19 within the next few weeks, CBS Denver reports. The zoo joins Oakland Zoo in aiming to vaccinate some of its residents. Denver Zoo VP of Animal Health Dr. Scott Larsen stressed that the doses are specifically made for animals. “We are not taking any vaccines away from humans,” Dr. Larsen told the station. (Siese, 7/7)

Bloomberg:
Drug That Blocks Immune System Overload Reduces Covid-19 Deaths

Combining two inflammation-blocking drugs reduces hospitalization and death from Covid-19 compared with a standard therapy, according to the World Health Organization. Adding drugs that block an immune protein called interleukin-6 to an already widely used treatment, corticosteroids, reduces the risk of death and the need for breathing assistance, the health agency said Tuesday in a statement. The recommendation was based on 27 trials involving almost 11,000 people. (Shepherd, 7/6)

CIDRAP:
WHO Advises 2 Monoclonal Antibodies For Severe COVID 

The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended the use of anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibodies—tocilizumab and sarilumab—alongside corticosteroids for treating patients who have severe or critical COVID-19 infections. … They found that the interleukin-6 antagonists tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the risk of death and the need for mechanical ventilation. The WHO coordinated the study, which included partners from the United Kingdom. (Schnirring, 7/6)

Stat:
Roche Urged To Cut Price Of Drug Now Recommended For Covid-19

After the World Health Organization recommended a Roche (RHHBY) drug to treat severe Covid-19, Doctors Without Borders quickly urged the drug maker to “end its monopoly” by lowering the price of the medicine and sharing its technology in order to quickly widen access. Meta-analyses of more than 10,000 patients who were enrolled in 27 clinical trials founds that two medicines — Roche’s Actemra and Kevzara from Sanofi — lowered the risk of death by 13% compared to standard care, especially when given with corticosteroids. The WHO noted these were the first drugs to be found effective against Covid-19 since corticosteroids were recommended last September. (Silverman, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Can ‘Sniff Training’ Restore COVID Survivors’ Sense Of Smell?

Cat Berner slid a chicken into the oven in November and turned to chopping vegetables. It didn’t take long for her roommate to come running into the kitchen of their San Francisco flat, crying, “What’s burning?” Berner whirled around. “What are you talking about?” Berner, 31, an executive assistant for a venture capital firm, remembers that day as a turning point in her continuing effort to regain the sense of smell stolen by the coronavirus. It happened a few days after she and her friends, who had pledged to socialize only with each other, had a Halloween party and gave each other COVID-19. (Asimov, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times:
Can COVID-19 Cause Lasting Erectile Dysfunction?

Can COVID-19 cause lasting erectile dysfunction? This is now the topic of some discussion among doctors and health experts as they try to better understand the effects of the coronavirus. The problem has been observed in some patients, but experts agree more study is needed to form any conclusions. Some men are coming into doctors’ offices saying erectile dysfunction has occurred following a COVID-19 infection, said Dr. Ryan Berglund, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic. At the moment, there’s primarily anecdotal evidence, and “we don’t know the scale of the problem at this point.” (Lin II, 7/6)

Fox News:
Sugary Drinks And Increased Colon Cancer Risk Linked In Study Involving Nurses

Young adults who drink sugary beverages may be at an increased risk of developing colon cancer, researchers claim. The study, which involved 116,500 female nurses from 1991 to 2015, found that compared with women who drank less than one 8-ounce serving per week of sugar-sweetened beverages, those who drank two or more per day had over twice the risk of developing early-onset colorectal cancer. (Hein, 7/6)

The New York Times:
Colon Cancer Rising In Young Adults, Linked To Sugary Drinks 

Colon and rectal cancers are rising in younger adults, though researchers aren’t sure why. A new study of women and diet suggests that sugar-sweetened drinks may play a role. Rates of colorectal cancer in people under 50 have increased sharply in recent years. Compared with people born around 1950, those born around 1990 have twice the risk for colon cancer and four times the risk for rectal cancer. (Bakalar, 7/6)

CBS News:
Dangerously Low Blood Supply In U.S. Forces Some Hospitals To Postpone Surgeries

Blood centers in some U.S. cities are down to a one-day supply, forcing hospitals to postpone surgeries. The blood shortage is yet another fallout from the pandemic, experts say. OneBlood, the Southeast’s largest blood center, is scrambling to manage the blood shortage crisis. “It’s a 24/7 operation,” said OneBlood’s Susan Forbes. “The donors are not in the traditional locations anymore. We lost large corporations, religious organizations, movie theater drives, festivals that were taking place ended.” (Lapook, 7/6)

Stat:
Transplant System Scrambled Amid Covid To Keep Donations Almost Steady

This is not a pandemic “silver lining” story. This is a could-have-been-far-worse story about how the pandemic did not fuel a catastrophe in transplantation or worsen the persistent gap between people who need organs and the donations that supply them. But just as the pandemic is not over yet, neither is the potential danger of related ramifications for people whose organs may fail and need replacement. (Cooney, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal:
Hospitals Often Charge Uninsured People The Highest Prices, New Data Show 

Raul Macias was rushed to an emergency room last November, with pain shooting from his back to his legs. His breathing was shallow. Doctors at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen, S.D., discovered a potentially life-threatening tear in the lining of his largest artery. They moved him to Avera Health’s heart hospital, where he stayed for three days. Avera then billed Mr. Macias, who was uninsured, some of the highest prices the hospitals charge to any payer, the Wall Street Journal found in an analysis of Avera’s previously confidential hospital price data. (Evans, Mathews and McGinty, 7/6)

NBC News:
‘This Will Shut Us Down’: HIV Prevention Clinics Brace For Gilead Reimbursement Cuts

Tony Christon-Walker was determined to set up an HIV prevention clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, that would succeed where others have long struggled to combat the scourge of the virus among his fellow queer Black men. The director of prevention and community partnerships at the nonprofit AIDS Alabama, he spent much of 2019 hiring a clinic staff composed of people of color. They were trained to provide the kind of affirming care that, he said, “reflects our culture,” and that would encourage local men at risk of HIV to keep coming back. (Ryan, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare:
Sutter Workers Protest Understaffing At Hospitals

Sutter Health’s service and tech employees plan to protest low staffing levels at eight hospitals, saying they lead to longer wait times and a lack of patient safety. The workers will set up “danger zones” at each hospital in July to illustrate the dangerous conditions they allege patients and employees face. The danger zones will include caution tape, orange cones, large signs and caregivers in uniform and PPE giving speeches to draw attention to care delays caused by understaffing, said Tom Parker, senior communications specialist at SEIU-UHW. (Devereaux, 7/6)

Modern Healthcare:
Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals Post First-Quarter Financials

For the first quarter of 2021, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals each posted operating incomes close to their projections as the health systems emerge from the financial challenges of COVID-19, per recently released financial disclosures. Cleveland Clinic’s operating income for the first three months of the year was $61.7 million, compared with an operating loss of $39.9 million in the first quarter of 2020. This was slightly under what the Clinic expected from an operating performance perspective, but it’s not material, said Steven Glass, the Clinic’s chief financial officer. He also notes that the Clinic set its projections last fall prior to the winter surge. (Coutré, 7/6)

Stat:
Smokers Of Menthol Cigarettes Have A Harder Time Quitting 

A new study published Tuesday finds that smoking menthol cigarettes versus unflavored cigarettes is associated with reduced success in quitting among people who smoke nearly every day. In recent years, the FDA has moved to ban almost all flavored cigarettes and cigars, but menthol has remained the lone holdout. Even so, the agency proposed such a ban in April, and researchers say the new findings support this ban. (Lloreda, 7/6)

Philadelphia Inquirer:
Temple Research Finds That Tweaking CBD May Help It Curb Pain And Opioid Use In Mice

The next generation of cannabis-inspired medicine might be grown in test tubes instead of greenhouses. Researchers at Temple University have partnered with Doylestown-based pharmaceutical company Neuropathix to develop a synthetic molecule based on cannabidiol (CBD) that can provide more potent pain relief than CBD itself. They are currently studying it for a type of chronic pain caused by nerve damage due to chemotherapy. The CBD-based drug could offer an appealing alternative to addictive opioids and milder painkillers to treat chronic pain. (Nathan, 7/6)

The Boston Globe:
Recall Of Sleep Apnea Machines Leaves Many In The Lurch, And Worried

People with sleep apnea repeatedly stop breathing while they sleep, only to be partially or fully awakened when their brains don’t get enough oxygen. It deprives those who have it of restful sleep, and it is linked to a range of ailments, including high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver dysfunction. Using a machine known as a CPAP is the most widely used treatment for sleep apnea. Users wear a mask or nosepiece attached to the machine that provides a steady flow of pressurized air while they sleep. But Philips Respironics, the world’s largest manufacturer of CPAPs, last month issued an urgent recall of as many as 4 million of its machines, including Curran’s. (Murphy, 7/6)

The New York Times:
Do We Really Need To Take 10,000 Steps A Day For Our Health?

Fitness tracking devices often recommend we take 10,000 steps a day. But the goal of taking 10,000 steps, which many of us believe is rooted in science, in fact rests on coincidence and sticky history rather than research. According to Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an expert on step counts and health, the 10,000-steps target became popular in Japan in the 1960s. (Reynolds, 7/6)

Bloomberg:
New York Wilts Again As Heat Advisories Blanket U.S. Northeast

New York and the U.S. Northeast will get a blast of heat through Wednesday, adding another bout of unusually high temperature for the region and sending air-cooling demand surging anew. Temperatures in Manhattan’s Central Park are forecast to touch 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on Tuesday, with downtown Boston reaching 91, Washington 97 and heat advisories stretching from West Virginia to Massachusetts. Humidity will make it feel even hotter. (Sullivan, 7/6)

Hi-Line Today:
Air Quality Awareness Is Important During Wildfire Season

Exposure to wildfire pollutants can irritate lungs, cause inflammation, alter immune function and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections, including covid-19. Wildfire smoke can affect Montana communities even where there are no wildfires in the immediate vicinity. (Margolis, 7/3)

Fox News:
Texas Hospital Delivers 100 Babies In 91-Hour Span

A Texas hospital set a new baby boom record recently when staff delivered over 100 newborns over two, two-day stretches. The first round of rapid deliveries began June 24 and saw 25 girls and 27 boys delivered over 47 hours at Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Forth Worth, WFAA.com reported. The second round, which began June 28, saw staff welcome 55 more babies, including a set of twins, a matter of 44 hours. (Hein, 7/6)

AP:
California To Pay Victims Of Forced, Coerced Sterilizations

California is poised to approve reparations up to $25,000 to victims who were among the thousands of people — some as young as 13 — who decades ago were sterilized because state officials deemed them unfit to have children. The payments, part of the state’s new $262.6 billion operating budget that is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, will make California at least the third state after Virginia and North Carolina to pay victims of the so-called eugenics movement that peaked in the 1930s. Proponents believed sterilizing people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities and other so-called undesirable traits would improve the human race. (Beam, 7/7)

Los Angeles Times:
Britain’s Plan To Scrap COVID Restrictions Stirs Fears

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s backers have enthusiastically dubbed it “Freedom Day” — July 19, when the government is expected to lift nearly all coronavirus-related restrictions in England. But not everyone is celebrating. Britain has had one of the world’s most successful vaccine rollouts, with nearly two-thirds of the adult population now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The country, however, is confronting a huge wave of new cases, largely powered by the highly transmissible Delta variant. (King, 7/6)

Bloomberg:
‘Long Covid’ Will Surge Among Young, England’s Chief Medic Warns

So-called long Covid is set to soar among younger people in England when remaining coronavirus restrictions are lifted, England’s chief medical officer warned. Chris Whitty said that while he expected deaths to be “much lower” proportionally compared to previous waves, long Covid remains “a worry.” “Since there’s a lot of Covid at the moment and the rates are going up, I regret to say I think we will get a significant amount more long Covid — particularly in the younger ages where the vaccination rates are currently much lower,” he said at the Local Government Association’s virtual conference Tuesday. (Ashton, 7/6)

CBS News:
“Green Pass” COVID Travel App Smoothing Travel For Europeans 

The coronavirus pandemic has made travel more complicated for everyone, from airlines to security personnel and, of course, passengers. Europe has started cutting some of the red tape limiting international travel with its own version of a COVID-19 “passport.” Now, for many Europeans looking to move around the continent, the “Green Pass” is as important an item to check off the travel preparation list as tickets and bags. (7/6)

Bloomberg:
Mexico Allows Vaccinations For All Residents Older Than 18

Mexico opened registrations for Covid-19 vaccines to the entire population over 18, an attempt to fulfill the government’s promise that all adults would have at least one dose by October. Currently, 37% of the adult population has a shot, according to government statistics, but a rise in the number of Covid cases in recent weeks has led the country to speed up vaccine distribution. The program, which has administered 47 million doses, has kept deaths from rising at the same rate as the infections, according to Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell. (Averbuch, 7/6)

AP:
14 Of 32 Competitors At Miss Mexico Pageant Had Coronavirus

Contestants from 14 of Mexico’s 32 states at a Miss Mexico contest tested positive for the coronavirus, a health official in the northern Mexico border state of Chihuahua said Tuesday. State Health Secretary Eduardo Fernández Herrera told local media that all the contestants had all submitted negative tests before the pageant in the state capital. But authorities received an anonymous tip that one person was in fact infected with the virus. (7/6)

Bloomberg:
Surging Death Toll Fails To Convince Vaccine-Wary South Africans

One of the world’s fastest pace of deaths from Covid-19 infections hasn’t been able to trounce widespread hesitancy over vaccines in South Africa. Deaths from the virus in the country rose 72% week-on-week as of Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the fifth-fastest worldwide and behind only Zimbabwe on the continent. Yet a lack of communication coupled with anti-vaccine propaganda may be responsible for daily doses languishing almost 50% below President Cyril Ramaphosa’s target, health experts have warned. (Vanek and Wilson, 7/7)