Colorado
Colorado deploys monkeypox dashboard amid “significant” case count
The Colorado Division of Public Well being printed a web-based dashboard Thursday to trace rising monkeypox circumstances — and corresponding demographic knowledge — throughout the state.
Why it issues: 1000’s of susceptible Coloradans are waitlisted for the vaccine, and the brand new software may assist native well being leaders make sure the restricted doses go to the folks and communities that want them most.
By the numbers: Of the 168 identified monkeypox circumstances within the state, practically two-thirds have been in metro Denver.
- Cisgender males characterize 83% of those that examined optimistic. Individuals who establish as homosexual make up two-thirds.
- Folks between ages 25 and 44 account for greater than three-fourths of circumstances.
- 53% of monkeypox sufferers are white males, although Black and Hispanic residents seem like overrepresented in case counts.
- Six folks have been hospitalized. No fatalities or pediatric circumstances have been reported in Colorado.
Of word: Demographic data has been omitted on the county degree to guard folks’s privateness.
What they’re saying: “There’s cause for concern for monkeypox as a result of we’re seeing a rise in infections” amid a good provide of vaccines, Denver Well being’s chief medical officer Connie Value mentioned at a briefing Thursday.
- Sure, however: The virus will not be as transmissible as COVID-19, and “it appears unlikely it could evolve to be that approach,” Value famous.
What’s subsequent: Colorado well being officers have distributed greater than 3,500 doses to native well being suppliers, and are making ready to deploy much more in gentle of the Biden administration’s announcement Thursday to fast-track its monkeypox vaccine distribution effort.
- State leaders are additionally working with neighborhood companions to place up vaccine clinics and ramp up an consciousness marketing campaign.
The massive image: Colorado is one in all a number of locations throughout the nation, together with California, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., to have lately deployed a monkeypox knowledge dashboard.
- The strikes come as case counts rise nationwide, significantly alongside the coasts, and frustration grows amongst states claiming the White Home is shifting too slowly.
Colorado
Colorado lawmakers light up state agencies opposed to paying for weight loss drugs: ‘Perhaps it’s time they go on a diet’
A bill that would require state-regulated insurers and Medicaid to cover weight loss drugs for people who are obese or prediabetic cleared a major hurdle at the Colorado State Capitol. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee despite opposition from the Division of Insurance and Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Both insist the measure is cost-prohibitive.
According to legislative fiscal analysts it would cost the state Medicaid system $86 million the first year alone. An actuarial analysis by the Division of Insurance found it could also raise insurance premiums by as much as $30 million a year.
But neither study looked at potential cost savings, and that didn’t sit so well with some members of the Appropriations Committee, including the Chair, state Sen. Jeff Bridges.
“I can’t believe an actuarial study that was performed by state at the direction of a bill passed by general assembly, didn’t include cost savings,” he said.
Bridges stopped short of accusing the Division of Insurance of violating state law, which requires actuarial reviews include both the potential costs and cost savings.
“Unfortunately we don’t have the facts about potential savings because they just decided not to look into that. I’m extraordinarily upset about that,” he said.
So are state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and state Sen. Joanne Ginal, sponsors of the bill.
“Utilizing these drugs can help in long run with chronic kidney disease, with heart disease, to prevent stroke, cancers, so many other diseases,” said Ginal.
Michaelson Jenet says the analyses were inflated to kill the bill.
“I got the fiscal note and said, ‘Okay, there’s something fishy here,’” she said.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing insists insurers should only have to cover lifestyle therapy like diet and exercise.
Michaelson Jenet noted there is no other disease for which lifestyle therapy only — and not medication — is covered.
“If we want look at the definition of insanity — doing something over and over again and expecting different results — that’s what that is,” she said.
The Department also argued coverage for medication would interfere with its equity plan.
State Sen. Julie Gonzales said that makes no sense.
“Allowing people to live healthier and fuller lives is somehow going to interfere with their equity plan? I invite the Department to figure it out and try harder.”
State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer noted the state gives the Department $5 billion a year, more than it spends.
“The reality is they will also be having underutilized general fund monies that will be able cover this in January of 2025,” she said.
Gonzalez had a better idea.
“Perhaps it’s time they go on a diet,” she said.
The bill was amended to take effect in January of 2025 and passed the committee with only vote in opposition. It needs to pass the full Senate before going to the House.
Colorado
STEM School Highlands Ranch students prepare to give back to Colorado community
Students at STEM School Highlands Ranch are preparing for “STEM-Shares” and learning about how they can give back to their community. The event is scheduled for May 7, to mark five years since the shooting at the school that killed senior Kendrick Castillo.
Eight other students were hurt in the shooting.
“STEM-Shares” is designed as a way to thank all those who helped the school, including preparing some care packages.
“The care packages will go out to 911 dispatchers. It will include things like restaurant gift cards, coffee pots, candy, handmade cards and a thank you banner,” said STEM School Highlands Ranch senior Amrit Ahuja.
Students also got the chance to sing “Happy Birthday” to the school’s therapy dog Daisy who turns nine on Saturday.
Colorado
Colorado family’s struggle with daughter’s mental illness faces frightening reality
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