September 19, 2017
Public Health & Healthcare Preparedness
NEWS
Senate GOP Tries One Last Time to Repeal Obamacare.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his leadership team are seriously considering voting on a bill that would scale back the federal government's role in the health care system and instead provide block grants to states, congressional and Trump administration sources said.  (Politico, 9/17/17)

See also:  The Trump Administration Is Quietly Undermining the ACA's Plan to Innovate Health Care (Slate, 9/13/17)
 
NEWS
Bioterrorism: US House of Representatives Pass Budget Bill that Includes Funding for the NBACC.  The budget bill would restore the facility's full $60 million budget, said NBACC Communications Director Brian Gaudet. It would also help the laboratory return to a full staffing capacity of 180 people.  (Outbreak News Today, 9/16/17)
 
COMMENTARY
100 Years after the Lethal 1918 Flu Pandemic, We Are Still Vulnerable.  Drs. Anthony Fauci and Catherine Paules describe how the remarkable capacity of influenza viruses to undergo antigenic drift or shift to overcome and escape human population immunity leaves us vulnerable to a public health disaster potentially as serious as the 1918 pandemic.  (Scientific American, 9/15/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
HHS, Janssen Research & Development Join Forces on Innovative Influenza Products.  Through this partnership, the first of its kind for emerging infectious diseases and pandemic influenza preparedness, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of ASPR, and Janssen will jointly oversee and share the cost of developing new approaches to address influenza, a formidable threat to national security and public health.  (ASPR, 9/15/17)
 
NEWS
Rural Hospitals Struggle To Stock Expensive Drugs That Could Save Lives.  Rural hospitals have long wanted to be part of the 340B program, too, but were blocked from participating until the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The law added rural hospitals to the program, but, unlike bigger hospitals, rural hospitals can't get discounts on expensive drugs that treat rare diseases because of a last-minute exclusion written into the ACA.  (NPR, 9/15/17)
 
BLOG
Making the Case for Using Whole Genome Sequencing to Fight Foodborne Illness Globally.  FDA officials recently traveled to Geneva to join a meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international organization that works to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade. There, they participated in a panel discussion on how best to share WGS globally to fight foodborne illnesses and elicit support from the world's governments in this effort.  (FDA, 9/14/17)
 
STATEMENT
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, about Crops Impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and FDA's Work with Farmers Affected by the Storms.  The FDA has longstanding experience responding to flooding and storms. We play an integral role, working with states, in protecting the safety of the food supply -- both human and animal food. We recognize that these hurricanes have presented unique challenges for farmers.  (FDA, 9/14/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
CDC Hurricane Support. T he US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is making detailed practical information on hurricane preparedness, response, and recovery available to affected communities, people displaced by the storms, and responders.  (CDC, 9/13/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
CMS Announces Ongoing Efforts to Support Hurricane Irma Emergency Recovery.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma temporarily suspended certain Medicare enrollment screening requirements for healthcare providers that are assisting with Hurricane Irma recovery efforts in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.  (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 9/13/17)
 
REPORT
Technology Assessment: Medical Devices - Capabilities and Challenges of Technologies to Enable Rapid Diagnoses of Infectious Diseases.  In this report, GAO discusses (1) the reported performance characteristics and costs of these technologies, (2) the technical challenges associated with multiplexing assays, and (3) the potential benefits and reported implementation challenges associated with these technologies.  (GAO, 9/13/17)

See also: Podcast - Rapid Simultaneous Diagnosis of Multiple Human Infectious Diseases (GAO, 9/13/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
Joint West Africa Research Group Begins Infectious Disease Surveillance Study in Nigeria.  The Joint West Africa Research Group (JWARG) began a study today designed to identify cases of suspected severe infectious disease at medical centers in West Africa. The study is being led by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research with the Nigerian Ministry of Defence.  (US Military HIV Research Program, 9/12/17)
 
BLOG
Preparing for the Worst-Case Scenario. Working with New York City health and emergency management officials, CDC helped de velop citywide plans to respond to any emergency that strains the healthcare system.  (CDC, 9/12/17)
 
WEBCAST
Extending Expiration Dates of Stockpiled Doxycycline: Overview of FDA Guidance.  The purpose of this webinar is to provide stakeholders an overview of the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) April 2017 draft guidance, Extending Expiration Dates of Doxycycline Tablets and Capsules in Strategic Stockpiles: Draft Guidance for Government Public Health and Emergency Response Stakeholders. The draft guidance provides information for government stakeholders on laboratory testing that can be conducted to extend the expiration dating of their stockpiled doxycycline tablets and capsules for anthrax emergency preparedness.  (CDC TRAIN, 9/17)
 
Homeland Security & Disaster Preparedness
PRESS RELEASE
Hurricane Debris Pick-Up a Priority for Florida Recovery.  As Floridians begin the cleanup process after Hurricane Irma, the Federal Emergency Management Agency urges everyone to know the best way to remove debris from their property.  (FEMA, 9/16/17)

See also: Where Do They Put All That Toxic Hurricane Debris? (Wired, 9/17/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
Hurricane Irma Response and Relief Operations Continue with Full Federal Capability.  The US Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues coordinating the efforts of the federal family, working alongside state and local emergency responders to help address the immediate needs of survivors, following Hurricane Irma.  (Department of Homeland Security, 9/15/17)

See also:
NEWS
Forest Service Spends Record $2B Battling Forest Fires.  Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the severe fire season means officials "end up having to hoard all of the money that is intended for fire prevention, because we're afraid we're going to need it to actually fight fires."  (ABC News, 9/14/17)
 
NEWS
US Navy Investigating if Destroyer Crash Was Caused by Cyberattack. T he military is examining whether compromised computer systems were responsible for one of two US Navy destroyer collisions with merchant vessels that occurred in recent months, Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, said on Thursday.  (Foreign Policy, 9/14/17)
 
NEWS
Marines Assist Irma Relief Efforts in Caribbean, Florida.  Since the beginning of the Hurricane Irma disaster relief effort, Marines have successfully evacuated 1,600 citizens stranded on Caribbean islands that took Irma's full impact, and delivered more than 52,000 pounds of supplies and equipment here.  (Department of Defense, 9/14/17)
 
NEWS
Inside the White House Hurricane Response.  Ultimately, the greatest source of the administration's show of competence in the face of the twin storms may have been the storms that came before. Senior administration officials credited the wealth of veteran emergency managers who cut their teeth on 9/11, Katrina, Rita, Sandy and other storms who have moved to positions of authority across the government.  (TIME, 9/13/17)
 
NEWS
Houston EPA Lab Set to Close.  Conservationists and labor union officials argued Wednesday that the potential closing of the Environmental Protection Agency's regional lab in Houston, which is expected to play a key role in Hurricane Harvey recovery, is among harmful impacts of the Trump administration's drive to slice staff and mission in the agency.  (Houston Chronicle, 9/13/17)
 
Radiological & Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
PRESS RELEASE
Prominent Hunt 17-2 Exercise Statement for Public Release.  This training exercise provides an opportunity for the United States Government National Technical Nuclear Forensics (NTNF) Ground Collection Task Force (GCTF) to practice and enhance its operational readiness to respond in the event of a nuclear detonation in the United States or overseas. This exercise is not being conducted in response to any ongoing world events.  (NNSA, 9/15/17)
 
Science & Technology Policy
NEWS
Who's Home at the White House Science and Technology Office?  The office has been radically transformed under the Trump administration: The official told WIRED the current staffing level is only 42, down from more than 130 during the Obama years, and the president has put forward no nominee for its director.  (Wired, 9/15/17)
 
REPORT
Dual-Use Research of Concern in the Life Sciences: Current Issues and Controversies.  The potential misuse of advances in life sciences research is raising concerns about national security threats. Dual Use Research of Concern in the Life Sciences: Current Issues and Controversies examines the US strategy for reducing biosecurity risks in life sciences research and considers mechanisms that would allow researchers to manage the dissemination of the results of research while mitigating the potential for harm to national security.  (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 9/14/17)
 
NEWS
DARPA Pledges Another $300 Million for Post-Moore's Readiness.  Under the banner of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI), some $500-$800 million will be invested in post-Moore's law technologies that will benefit military and commercial users and contribute crucially to national security in the 2025 to 2030 time frame.  (HPC Wire, 9/14/17)
 
NEWS
Streamlined FDA Reviews Fail to Catch Dangerous Glitches in Health Software, Study Finds.  he Food and Drug Administration carefully polices many categories of drugs and devices. But when it comes to software, the agency's oversight is scanty at best -- something that a new study finds is resulting in failure to detect dangerous glitches in software-enabled medical equipment.  (STAT News, 9/12/17)
 
NEWS
Judge Bars Public from Trial Over Homeland Security Contract for Device to Detect Bioterrorism. A  federal administrative judge issued a sweeping order Monday prohibiting members of the public or the news media from seeing any part of a hearing concerning the Homeland Security Department's cancellation of a contract for a technology aimed at reliably detecting bioterrorist attack.  (Los Angeles Times, 9/11/17)
 
COMMENTARY
Scientific Advocacy: A Tool for Assessing the Risks of Engagement.  Drs. Gavin A. Schmidt (NASA) and Simon D. Donner (University of British Columbia) describe how the risks of advocacy are fundamentally related to the degree to which values are shared between scientists and their audiences. An encapsulation of the connections between risks, advocacy, and values in engagement may help inform the choices that public scientists must make.  (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 9/17)
 
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