From Washington, DC,

• The House of Representatives and the Senate will be in session this week for Committee business and floor voting. The Committee meetings generally will be organizational and Senate hearings also will consider President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees.

• Govexec tells us,
  • “Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the new top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, says he’s open to working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency in some areas.
  • “That may make for strange bedfellows. But the lawmaker — who recently beat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to be the committee’s ranking member — has long focused on the government’s often-aged technology, a shared interest for both Ramaswamy and Musk. In recent months, Musk has posted about federal IT several times, referencing 2023 congressional testimony on legacy tech from the Government Accountability Office.
  • “By the way, that was the GAO report I requested,” Connolly pointed out during an interview with Nextgov/FCW. The report also lists former representatives Elijah Cummings, Mark Meadows, Will Hurd and current Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as requesters.”

• Federal News Network lets us know,
  • “President-elect Donald Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting Day One of the new White House, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities.
  • “Trump told Republican senators about the onslaught ahead during a private meeting on Capitol Hill. Many of the actions are expected to launch on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, when he takes office. Trump top adviser Stephen Miller outlined for the GOP senators the border security and immigration enforcement measures that are likely to launch soonest. Axios first reported on Trump and his team’s presentation.
  • “There will be a substantial number,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
  • “Allies of the president-elect have been preparing a stack of executive orders that Trump could sign quickly on a wide range of topics – from the U.S.-Mexico border clampdown to energy development to federal Schedule F workforce rules, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, among other day-one promises made during his campaign.”

From the public health and medical research front,

• MedPage Today tells us,
  • ‘The detection of the first clade I mpox case in the U.S. this November, followed by a subsequent case in Canada, is far more than a fleeting headline. It is a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of global health. Clade I mpox, a public health emergency of international concern concentrated in Central and Eastern Africa, has already caused more than 57,000 suspected cases and more than 1,200 deaths in 2024 alone. Travel-associated cases have now extended to Europe, Asia, and North America, with the first U.S. case linked to travel from an endemic region.
  • “This development underscores the urgent need for sustained, coordinated action to prevent clade I mpox from following the trajectory of clade II. The latter has resulted in the continued global circulation of over 100,000 cases across 122 countries, including 115 nations where mpox was not previously reported.
  • The emerging threat of clade I mpox presents the incoming Trump administration with a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership, bolster global health, and underscore the value of preparedness. Proactively addressing this challenge can protect the U.S. from future outbreaks while reaffirming its commitment to global health security and collaboration.

• Fortune reports,
  • “Stomach bug,” “cruise-ship virus,” “winter vomiting disease”—all are nicknames for norovirus, the top cause of vomiting, diarrhea, and foodborne illness in the U.S. The contagious ailment typically circulates throughout the late fall, winter, and early spring, and the 2024–25 season is no exception. Nationwide test positivity was nearly 23% the week ended Dec. 28, compared to less than 11% six weeks earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  • “Up to 21 million people contract norovirus each year in the U.S. alone, the CDC says. Though most people recover from the gastrointestinal illness within three days, norovirus is annually responsible for 465,000 emergency department visits, mostly in young children; 109,000 hospitalizations; and 900 deaths, mostly among adults 65 and older. And unlike the other three illnesses that make up the ongoing “quad-demic”—flu, COVID, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—norovirus has no FDA-approved vaccine.
  • “Moderna, a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm that sits at No. 37 on Fortune’s 2024 World’s Most Admired Companies list, is hoping to change that. The company is recruiting adult participants for Nova 301, its Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating an investigational norovirus vaccine called mRNA-1403. The first U.S. participant in the global, randomized controlled trial received their dose in September.
  • “Norovirus is a significant public health concern that affects millions of people worldwide each year, leading to severe symptoms and, in some cases, hospitalization,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a Sept. 30 news release. “By advancing our investigational norovirus vaccine into a pivotal Phase 3 trial, we are one step closer to potentially providing a new tool to prevent infection from this highly contagious virus, which places a significant burden on health systems globally.”

• Per Healio,
  • Researchers developed a computer-based tool [known as TBorNotTB] to evaluate hospitalized patients for suspected tuberculosis that correctly identified 100% of cases, which could help prevent spread to other patients, they said.
  • “Infection prevention and control programs are tasked with implementing appropriate isolation of patients in health care facilities with suspected or confirmed communicable diseases to reduce the risk of health care-associated infections to patients and mitigate occupational risks to health care personnel,” Caitlin Dugdale, MD, MSc, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio.

• Fortune Well informs us,
  • “New research makes a strong case for morning joe, indicating that the timing may impact your longevity. In a study published in the European Heart Journal, researchers looked at two patterns of coffee timing: people who drank their coffee in the morning, and people who were all-day drinkers. After adjusting for other potential factors, researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die of any cause during the study period, and 31% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease, compared to people who didn’t drink coffee. However, there was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers. 
  • “The authors speculate that drinking caffeinated coffee later in the day could disrupt circadian rhythm and melatonin levels, leading to inflammation and sleep disturbances. A second potential explanation is that inflammation is at its highest in the morning, and the natural anti-inflammatory properties of coffee may have a greater impact when consumed earlier in the day.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “Mercy Health — Toledo plans to acquire 10 urgent care centers in Ohio and Michigan from Greater Midwest Urgent Cares.
  • “The nonprofit, faith-based system, part of Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health, said Friday it plans to assume ownership April 1. Financial details of the transaction, which would be through an asset purchase agreement, were not disclosed.
  • “Our intent is to keep those Greater Midwest Urgent Care employees who’ve done an amazing job providing patient centric care,” said Bob Baxter, president of Mercy Health — Toledo.”
    
• HR Dive points out “five compensation and benefits trends to buy into in 2025. To attract and retain workers, employers will focus on competitive salaries and flexible benefits, experts say.”