BEIJING — China opened a new hospital built in 10 days, infused cash into its tumbling financial markets and further restricted people's movement in sweeping new steps Monday to contain a rapidly spreading virus and its escalating impact. Japanese officials, meanwhile, were deciding whether to quarantine more than 3,000 people...
China Locked Down 50 Million People and Has to Keep Them Fed
BEIJING — Carrying permits demanding “fast passage,” truck drivers rushed a 560-ton shipment of disinfectant from eastern China to Wuhan, the locked-down city of 11 million people at the center of a vast effort to contain a new viral disease. Outside the metropolis in central China, the cargo was shifted...
Health Experts: Human-To-Human Spread of New Virus Worrying
BEIJING — World health officials expressed “great concern” Wednesday that a dangerous new virus is starting to spread between people outside of China, a troubling development as China and the world frantically work to contain the outbreak. For a second day, the number of infections grew dramatically. The new virus...
Feds Allow Use of Opioid Funds to Stem Meth, Cocaine Surge
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a deadly new twist in the nation's drug addiction crisis, the government will allow states to use federal money earmarked for the opioid epidemic to help growing numbers of people struggling with meth and cocaine. The little-noticed change is buried in a massive spending bill passed...
California Needs to Treat Homelessness Like the Disaster It Is. Let’s Provide Housing First
For the past 23 years, I have led a statewide homeless services and housing development agency. In Los Angeles, I have interacted with four mayors, three cycles of county supervisors, and dozens of city council members. During this period, the approach to the growing issue of homelessness has been predictable....
Sackler-Owned Opioid Maker Pushes Overdose Treatment Abroad
The gleaming white booth towered over the medical conference in Italy in October, advertising a new brand of antidote for opioid overdoses. “Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life,” the slogan on its walls said. Some conference attendees were stunned when they saw the company logo: Mundipharma, the international affiliate...
Cocaine Deaths up in US, and Opioids Are a Big Part of It
NEW YORK — Cocaine deaths have been rising in the U.S., health officials said Thursday in their latest report on the nation's deadliest drug overdose epidemic. After several years of decline, overdose deaths involving cocaine began rising around 2012. And they jumped by more than a third between 2016 and...
FDA Plans Strict Limits on Sale of Flavored E-Cigarettes
NEW YORK — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to require strict limits on the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, including age verification controls for online sales, in an effort to curtail their use among children and teenagers. FDA officials told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday the actions are expected...
SF News Van Broken Into During Report on Car Burglaries
SAN FRANCISCO — A television crew reporting on San Francisco's auto break-in epidemic by secretly recording a suspect breaking into a "bait car" also fell victim to a vehicle burglar who broke into the crew's van and stole their video equipment. The syndicated news show Inside Edition aired the episode...
Calling Teen Vaping 'Epidemic,' Officials Weigh Flavor Ban
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are sounding the alarm about rising teenage use of e-cigarettes, calling the problem an "epidemic" and ordering manufacturers to reverse the trend or risk having their flavored vaping products pulled from the market. The warning from the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cited recent...