Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he is invokingemergency powers to deal with ongoing protests against the country’s COVID-19 health restrictions.
Why it matters: This is the first time Canada's Emergencies Act has been invoked and will give the government broad powers for 30 days, per the Guardian.
Deborah Birx, who served as an adviser in the Trump administration at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, will release a memoir in April focusing on her time in the White House, AP reports.
Driving the news: Birx, a respected physician and diplomat who faced criticism for not pushing back on Trump when he contradicted public health experts, said in a statement to the AP she wanted to document "the full extent of what I witnessed as I tried to save lives" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daily coronavirus cases in Hong Kong have increased by about 20 times over the past two weeks, overwhelming the city's hospitals and forcing its government to change its response strategy, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Hong Kong's government said Sunday that it would roll back its policy of hospitalizing all people who test positive for the virus and would instead prioritize hospital beds for children, older people and other individuals with serious infections, according to the New York Times.
PriorAuthNow, a health tech startup focused on streamlining treatment approvals, raised $25 million in fresh funds led by Insight Partners, the company's executives tell Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: Even as telehealth gains steam and virtual care tools proliferate, traditional channels still dominate health care delivery.
On this day of love, Gaia is debuting its personalized in-vitro fertilization (IVF) insurance product on the Lloyds of London market and announcing a fresh round of $20 million in Series A funding led by Atomico, the company's founder tells Axios.
Why it matters: Fertility treatment is a heavily opaque sector of the health care industry that's just as convoluted as it is inequitable. Did we mention how expensive it is?
The Federal Trade Commission will vote Thursday on whether it will study how pharmacy benefit managers affect drug prices and the businesses of pharmacies.
Why it matters: PBMs are powerful, secretive and heavily consolidated, and it appears the FTC is open to scrutinizing the industry that got significantly more concentrated under the FTC's own watch.
Experts say the U.S. needs clearer, more defined standards that will help the public understand when it's safe to relax COVID restrictions — and when it might be necessary to bring them back.
Why it matters: Experts compare this need to a weather forecast or air-quality warnings: People are more willing to accept inconveniences if they understand the reasons why.
Canadian officials reopened a major U.S.-Canada border crossing on Sunday night that's been blockaded by protesters for six days, but warned non-essential travel "is not advised."
Yes, but: While officials said "normal border processing has resumed" on Ambassador Bridge, hundreds of demonstrators in Canada's capital, Ottawa, continued to rally around Parliament Hill, per the New York Times.
Some people don't get COVID despite being exposed to the virus — a mystery researchers are trying to unravel.
Why it matters: Understanding the small cohort of "never COVID" people could lead to new vaccine targets or other protections as the world enters the third year of the pandemic.
