Nov. 17 News: Thanksgiving restrictions, COVID-19 vaccines, Online drug networks, VA health project, Spotting racism in health care

Associated Press – Governors ratchet up restrictions ahead of Thanksgiving

From California to Pennsylvania, governors and mayors across the U.S. are ratcheting up COVID-19 restrictions amid the record-shattering resurgence of the virus that is all but certain to get worse because of holiday travel and family gatherings over Thanksgiving.

Associated Press – Who will be the first to get COVID-19 vaccines?

No decision has been made, but the consensus among many experts in the U.S. and globally is that health care workers should be first, said Sema Sgaier of the Surgo Foundation, a nonprofit group working on vaccine allocation issues.

NPR – 'We are shipping to the U.S.': Inside China's online synthetic drug networks

He is a slight, bespectacled man. Colleagues at the industrial materials company where he works describe him as a humorous but diligent employee, known for driving his white Jeep around town in northwestern China's Ningxia region to meet potential clients.

POLITICO – VA’s $16 billion digital health project faces critical test

An oft-delayed $16 billion system to overhaul veterans’ medical records will debut Saturday in Spokane, Wash., marking the first stage of a yearslong marathon.

Kaiser Health News – What doctors aren’t always taught: How to spot racism in health care

Betial Asmerom, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California-San Diego, didn’t have the slightest interest in becoming a doctor when she was growing up.