Body Bags for Heatstroke; CDC Pushed on Mask Guidance; COVID Relief Bonuses

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Hospitals are using a novel solution to cool patients suffering from heatstroke in the Pacific Northwest: body bags. (Kaiser Health News)

Public health groups are urging CDC to change its mask guidance and again recommend masking for everyone — including vaccinated people — especially indoors. (NPR)

Employees at 21 nursing homes across Pennsylvania will strike for 1 day next week to highlight understaffing and other issues. (Pocono Record)

As of Friday at 8 a.m. EDT, the estimated COVID-19 toll in the U.S. reached 34,284,455 cases and 610,192 deaths, up 54,614 and 322, respectively, from this time a day ago.

The Biden administration is giving $100 million to rural communities to help with COVID-19 vaccination outreach, HHS announced; in addition, $1.6 billion from the American Rescue Plan will go toward testing and mitigation of COVID-19 in congregant settings such as homeless shelters and prisons.

Officials in one Michigan county used COVID relief funds to give themselves bonuses. (AP)

A West Virginia legislator asked the federal government to declare a Mylan Pharmaceuticals plant in Morgantown a critical infrastructure facility in order to stave off its closure. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

India’s government pooh-poohed a recent study saying the country’s death toll from COVID-19 is likely much higher than the official count. (AP via ABC News)

Such a deal! The University of Exeter in England is offering students who have been accepted into its medical school £10,000 ($13,767) and free housing for their first year if they agree to delay their start date by a year. (BBC News)

Myths about vaccines are hurting uptake. (Bloomberg)

The MMWR reported on two independent clusters of pan- or echinocandin-resistant C. auris cases in patients with overlapping inpatient stays and no previous use of those medications, suggesting that pan- or echinocandin-resistant C. auris may have been transmitted within the facilities.

AstraZeneca announced FDA approval of exenatide extended-release (Bydureon BCise), a weekly injection, for pediatric patients 10 years or older with type 2 diabetes as an adjunct to diet and exercise; the drug has been approved to treat adults since 2005.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the state’s voter-approved Medicaid expansion does not go against a state ban on voters creating new programs that aren’t funded. (ABC17 News)

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the state’s Republican attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. (AP via ABC News)

The Olympics raises the question: is there such a thing as too much COVID testing? (New York Times)

The National Football League has a message for its teams: if your team has to postpone a game due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players, and the game can’t be rescheduled during the regular season, your team must forfeit. (ESPN)

The New York Times‘s Dan Barry chronicles the tale of police officers who saved a visitor to New York City who collapsed on the pavement after a massive heart attack.

Former Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden, 91, has been diagnosed with a terminal case of pancreatic cancer, his son said. (ESPN)