A new study published last month in One Health estimated that between 480,000 and 640,000 urinary tract infections (UTIs) may be caused by E. coli strains from contaminated meat products every year in the United States, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, the District of Columbia, and Utah.

• California: Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is planning to use federal healthcare funding to cover rent for unhoused people and those at risk of losing their housing amid a worsening homelessness crisis. While states are prohibited from using federal Medicaid funding to directly cover rent, Newsom is asking the Biden administration to authorize a new program called "transitional rent," which would cover up to six months of rent or temporary housing for low-income enrollees who rely on California's healthcare safety net. "I've been talking to the president. We cannot do this alone," Newsom said. (Hart, Kaiser Health News/Modern Healthcare, 3/24)

• District of Columbia: A new study published last month in One Health estimated that between 480,000 and 640,000 UTIs may be caused by E. coli strains from contaminated meat products every year in the United States. For the study, researchers from George Washington University (GWU) used a new genomic approach to understand how E. coli reaches the gut and causes UTIs. "There's lots of studies showing that when most people have a bladder infection, it's caused by the same kind of E. coli that they have in their gut," said senior study author Lance Price, who is the founder and co-director of GWU's Antibiotic Resistance Action Center. "But where do they come from and how do they get into our guts? ... We tried to set out and quantify that." Scientists isolated and sequenced E. coli strains collected from 1,932 samples of raw chicken, turkey, and pork from major grocery stores in Flagstaff, Arizona, and compared them with urine and blood samples from 1,188 patients hospitalized for UTIs at Flagstaff Medical Center. The researchers estimated that 8% of UTIs caused by E. coli are acquired from meat. "The study design, along with advancements in genomic technologies, allowed us to establish the linkages between food sources and the clinical cases," said study co-author Paul Keim, a professor of microbiology at Northern Arizona University. "The conclusions from this model situation will affect public health practices worldwide." (Rodriguez, USA Today, 3/23; Carbajal, Becker's Hospital Review, 3/24)

• Utah: Gov. Spencer Cox (R) on Thursday signed two bills aimed at regulating minors' social media usage, making the state the first to prohibit minors from using social media without consent from a parent or guardian. On Thursday, Cox signed Utah Senate Bill 152, which requires users to be at least 18 years old to open a social media account without parental permission, and Utah House Bill 311, which prevents social media companies from "using a design or feature that causes a minor to have an addiction" to the platform. In addition, the new laws will establish a curfew that will block minors from their accounts between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., unless a parent lifts the restriction. Companies will also be required to provide parents with the ability to limit the amount of time a minor can use their account. "We're no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth," Cox said. "Utah's leading the way in holding social media companies accountable – and we're not slowing down anytime soon." (Mueller, The Hill, 3/23)