Overdose Deaths Hit Record High; Abortion Bill Fails; Baby Formula Comeback

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CDC reported record-breaking drug overdose deaths in 2021. (NBC News)

Senate Democrats failed to advance a bill to protect abortion rights in the face of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Politico)

A rollback of abortion rights could put major restrictions on the fertility industry. (Washington Post)

As of Thursday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial U.S. COVID toll was 82,260,340 cases and 1,000,357 deaths, increases of 167,935 and 615, respectively, from this time yesterday morning.

“As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow,” President Biden said in a statement recognizing the grim milestone of 1 million Americans lost to COVID-19. (CBS News)

European Union countries will no longer have mask mandates for air travel starting next week. (BBC News)

For the first time, North Korea officially acknowledged a coronavirus outbreak within its borders. How many people are infected is unknown, however. (New York Times)

This year’s Global COVID-19 Summit confronts insufficient funds and dwindling public interest in beating back SARS-CoV-2 around the world. (Washington Post)

The U.S. has failed to give COVID booster shots to enough seniors, a particularly high-risk group, researchers say. (NBC News

The FDA debarred a Montana oncologist for illegally importing cancer drugs from Canada. (Endpoints News)

Amid a nationwide shortage of baby formula, Abbott Nutrition’s Michigan plant plans to restart production of several formulas that had been recently recalled due to bacterial contamination. (CBS News)

The impaired exercise capacity of some long COVID patients may involve ongoing microvascular or endothelial dysfunction, scientists say. (Blood Advances)

Other scientists are trying to find the mechanism linking coronavirus “ghosts” — reservoirs of persistent viral fragments — to long COVID. (Nature)

In Ukraine, civilian volunteers and paramedics work together to provide emergency medical care on the front lines of war. (Reuters)

The ball is now in the FDA’s court regarding emergency use authorization for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents and children. (Reuters)

Clinicians are still adjusting from traditional pager use to smartphone texting for work. (Healthcare IT News)

NPR has an explainer on who is eligible for Pfizer’s nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) for COVID-19 — and where to find these antiviral pills.

As anecdotes pile up, why isn’t Paxlovid being tested in clinical trials for long COVID? (The Atlantic)

A cavity-filling procedure results in the patient accidentally inhaling the dental drill bit and needing a bronchoscopy to dislodge it from his right lung. (WRAL)