U.S. to End COVID-19 Emergency; Processed Food Addiction; Is TV Zombie Fungus Real?

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The Biden administration plans to end the COVID-19 public health emergency and national emergency declarations on May 11, the Office of Management and Budget revealed.

Two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who responded to the Tyre Nichols arrest have been terminated. (The Hill)

Roughly one in eight Americans over age 50 have a food addiction to highly processed foods, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found.

Despite healthcare spending two to four times that of other high-income nations, the U.S. has far worse health outcomes and a lower life expectancy, including the highest COVID-19 death rate, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.

COVID-19 was a top-10 cause of death in children and young people during the 1-year period from August 2021 to July 2022, an analysis of CDC data showed. (JAMA Network Open)

Another toll of COVID-19 on kids, students lost the equivalent of one-third of a school year due to pandemic disruptions, a global systematic review and meta-analysis in Nature Human Behaviour indicated.

Rates of preterm birth and infants born with low birthweight both increased in the U.S. in 2021; births overall increased by 1% from 2020. (National Vital Statistics Reports)

Meanwhile, a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics showed declining rates of smoking during pregnancy among U.S. women, falling from 7.2% in 2016 to 4.6% in 2021.

How common is postpartum psychosis? (NBC News)

Timely detection and isolation can stop mpox spread on college campuses, a modeling study suggested. (Annals of Internal Medicine)

An investigational Marburg vaccine that uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus called cAd3 showed promise in a first-in-human dose-escalation study. (The Lancet)

Nearly 1,000 drugs have higher prices in 2023. (USA Today)

A federal appeals court ruled that drugmakers can limit healthcare providers’ use of contract pharmacies for dispensing meds under the federal 340B program. (Reuters)

Another federal appeals court ruled that people can once again file lawsuits over Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder. (NPR)

The FDA announced a Class I recall on certain Medtronic hemodialysis catheters due to the potential for leaks and other adverse outcomes; two injuries have been reported.

A baby girl spent 36 weeks at an in-network neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Then came a $12,000 medical bill from the hospital next door. (Kaiser Health News)

Lisa Loring, best known as Wednesday Addams from the 1960s television series “The Addams Family,” died at age 64 following a stroke. (New York Times)

Yes, the star fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) from the new TV show “The Last of Us” is real. No, it’s not going to cause a deadly zombie-fueled pandemic. (NPR)

Use of medical cannabis was associated with reductions in opioid intake for chronic pain patients on long-term opioid treatment, a cohort study from New York state found. (JAMA Network Open)

A Detroit-area physician was sentenced to 17 years in prison for a scheme involving fraudulent billing for unnecessary prescribing of opioids and other painkillers. (AP)