CDC’s NEW COVID TRACKER PAINTS SUNNIER PICTURE — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will unveil new guidelines this afternoon that are expected to significantly change the color of its longtime Covid-19 map. The shift from a case-centric formula — in which just 3 percent of the country isn’t experiencing the “moderate,” “substantial,” or “high” Covid-19 transmission — to a calculation driven by hospital rates and local capacity to better reflect the risk the virus poses to communities now that vaccinations are more widespread, four people with knowledge told POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn and Sarah. That’ll also mean a significant drop in the percentage of the country where the CDC recommends stringent masking, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The shift will mean roughly 20 percent of the country can now pull back on mask mandates and social-distancing limits, one senior administration official said. “It’s going to be much more on what the responsibility of the people at the local level is,” the official said, characterizing the approach as “less mandating and more leave it up to the local authorities. We’re just going to give you the data.” Why? The recalculation comes weeks after state and local officials began forging ahead with their own plans to drop mask measures and vaccination requirements and amid pressure from Democrats for the administration to provide a clearer guide for how states should return to normalcy. While the U.S. is still averaging almost 2,000 Covid-19 deaths a day, cases and hospitalizations have plummeted from the height of the Omicron surge. That decline — combined with widespread vaccination and the growing availability of post-infection treatments — fueled a push within the administration over the last several weeks to reevaluate its recommendations on masking and other restrictions. BIDEN REVAMPS MEDICARE PROGRAM — The Biden administration is redesigning an experimental Trump-era Medicare program that came under fire from prominent progressive Democrats after Obama-era health officials and lobbyists rushed in to save it. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the program known as direct contracting, said Thursday the revamp includes a new name, governance goals and a focus on health equity beginning next year, POLITICO’s Rachael Levy reports. What’s changing: Known as the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model, which allowed private companies to offer Medicare services through direct contracting with the agency, the program will morph into the Accountable Care Organization Reach Model. The revamped model requires that providers make up 75 percent of participating organizations’ governing boards, up from 25 percent in the old model. The boards must include a beneficiary representative and a consumer advocate who each hold voting rights. And all participating entities will also have to develop health equity plans, among other changes, an official told reporters. Participants in the previous, now defunct, model will have to comply with the new rules to continue in the program, they said. CMS also announced it canceled a separate direct contracting program, known as the “geo model.” That program had been on pause since last March and the subject of controversy from those opposing the direct contracting model. WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS COVID PLAN FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES — The Biden administration late Thursday outlined steps to ensure people with disabilities and older individuals have access to Covid-19 testing, masks and other resources. Some of the administration’s plans: — Distributing masks to people with disabilities through community organizations and calling on states to aid in the effort — Expanding HHS’s disability hotline to assist with finding and using at-home tests — Releasing new Covid-19 testing guidance in American Sign Language — Re-upping efforts to develop new and accessible at-home coronavirus tests through the National Institutes of Health’s RADx program — Incentivizing manufacturers to prioritize producing those tests and making both the products and their instructions accessible
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