Jill Biden Tests Positive For Covid

AP:
Jill Biden Tests Positive For COVID-19, Has ‘Mild’ Symptoms

The Bidens have been vacationing in South Carolina since Aug. 10, and the 71-year-old first woman started experiencing signs on Monday. Jill Biden, like her husband, has been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. She has been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and can isolate on the trip dwelling for a minimum of 5 days. (Miller, 8/16)

On gun violence —

The Washington Post:
Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith Blames Politicians For Gun Violence

In the assertion posted Monday on Twitter, he accused “a number of politicians and their lobbying partners in the media” of attempting to “disparage” his firm and shift blame to gunmakers. Smith, who refused to testify earlier than the House Oversight Committee, stated politicians had “vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement” and “generally promoted a culture of lawlessness,” inflicting a wave of crime. (Shammas, 8/16)

In different political, authorized and governmental information regarding well being —

Axios:
Medicaid Expansion Sees New Life In Longtime GOP Holdout States

Republican-led states which have resisted increasing Medicaid for greater than a decade are displaying new openness to the thought. (Sherman and Hurt, 8/16)

Modern Healthcare:
FTC Wants States To Scrap Certificate Of Public Advantage Laws

States usually are not geared up to supervise hospital mergers underneath certificates of public benefit legal guidelines, a brand new paper from the Federal Trade Commission concluded. Some states have allowed hospitals to merge by way of COPAs, shielding the merging events from federal antitrust scrutiny in change for extended state oversight. While hospital executives and state officers declare that mergers underneath COPAs will result in decrease prices and higher outcomes, some transactions have produced the other outcomes, the FTC stated Monday in an evaluation of hospital offers. (Kacik, 8/16)

Reuters:
Plaintiff In First Zantac Lawsuit Set For Trial Drops Case

The plaintiff within the first lawsuit over the heartburn drug Zantac scheduled to go to trial has agreed to drop his case, in line with his legal professional and drugmakers named as defendants. The information on Tuesday got here days after shares of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L), Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Haleon Plc (HLN.L) have been hit by investor issues about hundreds of lawsuits claiming the drug, which U.S. regulators pulled from the market in 2020, causes most cancers. (Pierson, 8/16)

The Wall Street Journal:
J&J Unit Tells Appeals Court Only Bankruptcy Can Settle Talc Claims

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary urged a federal appeals courtroom to uphold the controversial authorized technique it used to maneuver to chapter roughly 38,000 lawsuits linking its talc-based merchandise to most cancers. The subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, stated in courtroom papers filed on Monday that chapter 11 is the one choice for compensating all claimants comparatively shortly. (Randles, 8/16)

Reuters:
U.S. FDA Gets Over 48,000 Reports Of Faulty Philips Respiratory Devices In May-July

he U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated it had acquired greater than 48,000 experiences of defective Dutch medical gear maker Philips’ (PHG.AS) ventilators and respiratory gadgets between May and July, which included 44 deaths. This was greater than twice the variety of experiences it had acquired in over a yr till April, the company stated on Tuesday. (8/16)