Viewpoints: Lessons On Why More Nations, States Are Getting Behind Masks; What’s Good For Our Health Is Good For The Economy

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: Which Countries Have Mask Mandates And Do They Work?
Nothing symbolizes our battle with the novel coronavirus like the face mask — it’s the most visible, humbling and contentious reminder of the deadly, invisible invader that we must live with until we find a vaccine.In 2020, wearing a mask in cities like New York, London or Paris has gone from being a marker of the paranoid or vulnerable to the badge of the conscientious in the era of Covid-19. Even U.S. President Donald Trump put one on after previously disparaging them. Several studies suggest face coverings help — provided they’re properly made, maintained and worn — in limiting the spread of tiny exhaled particles carrying the coronavirus. Still, not everyone’s wearing them. (Elaine He and Lionel Laurent, 7/17)

JAMA: Universal Masking To Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Transmission—The Time Is Now 
In this issue of JAMA, Wang et al present evidence that universal masking of health care workers (HCWs) and patients can help reduce transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. In the largest health care system in Massachusetts with more than 75 000 employees, in tandem with routine symptom screening and diagnostic testing of symptomatic HCWs for SARS-CoV-2 infection, leadership mandated a policy of universal masking for all HCWs as well as for all patients. The authors present data that prior to implementation of universal masking in late March 2020, new infections among HCWs with direct or indirect patient contact were increasing exponentially, from 0% to 21.3% (a mean increase of 1.16% per day). However, after the universal masking policy was in place, the proportion of symptomatic HCWs with positive test results steadily declined, from 14.7% to 11.5% (a mean decrease of 0.49% per day). Although not a randomized clinical trial, this study provides critically important data to emphasize that masking helps prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2. (John T. Brooks,  Jay C. Butler, and CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, 7/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Lack Of Mask Mandate Shows DeWine Bending To Pressure
What a waste of a perfectly good news conference. Gov. Mike DeWine's much-anticipated statewide address Wednesday about the increasing threat of COVID-19 infections sweeping Ohio amounted to a big, fat nothing-burger. The governor didn't mandate masks in all 88 counties or shut down any parts of the economy. Instead, he issued a warning to Ohioans that another shutdown could be looming if they don't increase their vigilance to ward off the surge of COVID-19 cases. (Kevin S. Aldridge, 7/16)

CNN: What The Heck Is Georgia's Governor Doing? 
On Wednesday in Georgia, there were almost 4,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Almost 2,800 people are hospitalized due to Covid-19, the highest number in the state's ongoing battle against the virus. A total of 37 people died, the highest number of daily deaths since June 25, according to data from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. How did Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) respond to this obvious surge in Covid-19 in his state? By signing an executive order banning cities and counties from mandating that people have to wear a mask when in public. (Chris Cillizza, 7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: The Economy Won’t Get Healthier While America Gets Sicker
These days there is a cruel disconnect between the economic news, which is looking up, and the pandemic news, which is wretched. But if the U.S. doesn’t bend the pandemic curve soon, the economy may slip back into recession. While it’s a very low bar, developments on the economic front look better than they did a few months ago. No one should be happy with June’s 11.1% unemployment rate, but it’s notably better than April’s 14.7%. Payroll employment soared by record-breaking amounts in May and June: 7.5 million net jobs created in two months. Though that’s only a dent in the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April, it’s a sizable one, especially for those who got the jobs. Consumer spending, which cratered by 18.4% in March and April, has now regained a bit more than a third of that drop. All this and more is to the good. Developments on the pandemic front, however, are looking bad. (Alan S. Binder, 7/16)

Bloomberg: How Fast Do Asymptomatic Covid-19 Cases Spread Coronavirus?
Recent leaps in science should mean we can navigate the coronavirus pandemic more freely and safely than last spring, when so little was known about how the virus spreads. Knowledge should give us all power. But that’s not happening in the U.S., in part because the way scientific knowledge is being politicized. New findings are being filtered through a distorting film of spin. Set aside the needlessly heated debate over masks or the alarmingly partisan debate over reopening schools; it’s pretty easy to understand why those arguments have gotten so intense. But even a topic as neutral as the role of asymptomatic spread has been distorted by polarized narratives. (Faye Flam, 7/16)

The Washington Post: We Missed One Chance To Open Schools Safely. Here’s The New, More Expensive, Option. 
Pathei mathos — in suffering we learn. The words of the Greek tragedian Aeschylus continue to echo in my mind. Our suffering today in America is finally teaching us that we need to fight covid-19 for real; we need to pursue not just mitigation — slowing the spread of disease — but suppression — getting back to near zero case incidence. But just because we grown-ups have had to learn from suffering doesn’t mean the kids should. To date, all countries that have reopened schools without further outbreaks did not open until after they had achieved near zero case incidence and low community transmission rates. (Danielle Allen, 9/16)

The New York Times: My Quarantine House Holds Three Generations
When we lived in Italy some years ago, our family of four would sometimes visit a family of more — a married couple and nonna playing with her grandkids in the garden, an uncle with a mental disability, and the brother who never launched, all living in a modest house of weathered stone. They argued without filter, finished each other’s stories, and each took a turn at cooking, cleaning or bringing money and food into the home. It was charming, particularly at the big afternoon meal on Sunday, and, we thought, anachronistic. During the lockdown of 2020, our nest has been a quarantined family of six — our daughter and her husband, their twin 1-year old boys, my wife and myself. It’s been exhausting, kinetic, cramped, and one of the few consistent joys in this awful time. (Timothy Egan, 7/17)

The Hill: Preventing A Public Health Crisis From Turning Into A Homelessness Crisis 
When some of the world’s largest and interconnected financial institutions collapsed in September of 2008, the financial crisis soon became a foreclosure crisis, as the shoddy lending practices of those institutions ended up leaving many homeowners out in the cold. Today, the coronavirus pandemic, a public health crisis, is having similar economic effects, and, like the financial crisis of 2008, it too will soon turn into a housing crisis as well. (Ray Brescia, 7/16)

Stat: Screening For Intimate Partner Violence During Covid-19 
Health care providers play an essential role in halting the cycle of intimate partner violence by asking their patients if they are experiencing domestic abuse, reviewing available prevention and referral options, and offering ongoing support. But Covid-19 is making intimate partner violence more likely even as it makes each of those steps more difficult. (Eva Luo, Toni Golen and Alexa B. Kimball, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: California’s Covid Prison Outbreak 
Republican governors are getting skewered for Covid-19 testing delays, and no doubt some could have planned better for a surge of cases once they reopened. But government mistakes aren’t limited to GOP-run states. Consider how California’s botched inmate transfers have spread the virus in prisons and beyond. More that 6,700 prisoners and 1,300 corrections employees in California have tested positive for the virus. Prisons are especially prone to outbreaks because inmates reside in close, confined spaces, but the state has made the problem worse by transferring infected inmates between facilities. (7/16)

Detroit Free Press: After Coronavirus, She Had A Long Road Back To Normal
When I was released from the hospital on April 11, after a two-week stay battling COVID-19, there were so many unknowns.How long would I cough? Would it really take me two months to feel normal again? Would I suffer from long-term effects of being on a ventilator for six days? These questions, and so many more, swirled in my head. But the one question that I hadn’t asked myself was: what would happen if your primary care physician temporarily stopped seeing patients? (LaToya Henry, 7/16)

The Hill: Watching The Watchers: More Accountability Needed To Ensure Responsible COVID-19 Tracing Tech 
As governments and employers around the word embrace new technological tools to aid COVID-19 contact-tracing, Congress should look to traditional law enforcement tools to protect citizens’ privacy and civil liberties. If responsible steps to rein in the pandemic require dramatic changes in how much information people share about their health and movements, Congress has a duty to assure the public that there will be meaningful accountability in how their data are being used. (Quentin Palfrey, 7/13)