Different Takes: Lessons On Using Science During A Pandemic; Trump Vs. Fauci; CDC’s Data
Editorial pages focus on the pandemic and related health issues.
Los Angeles Times:
Believing In Science Helps In A Pandemic
As coronavirus infection rates continue to spike around the country, states and cities are diverging in their response on how to contain the spread of COVID-19.President Trump and many governors are insisting that public schools reopen for the fall, as is the case in Florida, while other states and regions are adopting a more cautious approach.Los Angeles and San Diego, for instance, announced last Monday that their public schools would be online only this fall. On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered that most school classrooms in the state stay closed. And he has rolled back the reopening of many businesses and closed indoor dining and social spaces, even as Georgia’s governor rescinded local mask orders. (Samuel J. Abrams, 7/20)
The New York Times:
Anthony Fauci Versus Donald Trump
Never mind Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. You want to see a real can’t-look-away train wreck of a relationship? Look to the nation’s capital, where a messy falling out is chronicled everywhere from the tabloids to a glossy fashion magazine, replete with a photo shoot by a swimming pool. The saga has enough betrayal, backstabbing, recrimination, indignation and ostracization to impress Edith Wharton. The press breathlessly covers how much time has passed since the pair last spoke, whether they’re headed for splitsville, and if they can ever agree on what’s best for the children. ... One is a champion of truth and facts. The other is a master of deceit and denial. (Maureen Dowd, 7/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Behind The HHS-CDC Disagreement
The Covid epidemic in the South has strained the country’s capacity to keep up with the demand for testing. Six months into the pandemic, we still don’t have enough supplies, equipment or lab services. There’s no national plan for effectively allocating the capacity that does exist or providing a sufficient surge where it’s needed suddenly. The system is overwhelmed. Major commercial labs are reporting turnaround times of around seven days, and patients say it’s often longer. Without a confirmed diagnosis, many infected patients don’t isolate themselves or get treatments. (Former FDA Director Scott Gottlieb, 7/19)
CNN:
Donald Trump Denies Coronavirus Toll, Calling Anthony Fauci 'Alarmist' In Chris Wallace Interview
When the history of the coronavirus pandemic is written, President Donald Trump will go down as the great denier-in-chief who refused to acknowledge the catastrophic damage Covid-19 has wrought and repeatedly spread falsehoods while disputing data that revealed the true toll of the virus on America. Trump's interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday was a fresh illustration of his strategy of obfuscation when he falsely claimed, once again, that case numbers are up across the country because of the increase in testing and claimed -- when told that coronavirus cases are up 194% -- that many of those cases are "young people that would heal in a day." (Maeve Reston, 7/19)
Bloomberg:
Undermining The CDC While Coronavirus Spreads Puts Lives At Risk
In the midst of a devastating pandemic, President Donald Trump is destroying the CDC’s ability to discharge its most vital responsibility: to maintain active surveillance of diseases by gathering, analyzing and reporting data. Even by this president’s low standards, this is unconscionable.With Covid-19 surging out of control and health-care workers in many states struggling to keep up with the patient load, the president has authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to demand that hospitals change the way they report data to the federal government. Stop sending statistics on patient numbers, bed availability, ventilators and other key data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency said, and instead direct the information to HHS headquarters in Washington. Oh, and make this change within two days. (Michael R. Bloomberg, 7/19)
Dallas Morning News:
Trump’s Shift Of COVID-19 Hospital Data From The CDC To Washington Hurts Public Trust
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is how important accurate and transparent data is to this country getting control of this disease. In our view, COVID-19 data is best collected and analyzed by the professionals and health experts at the Centers for Disease Control. (7/17)
Stat:
To Begin Addressing Racial Bias In Medicine, Start With The Skin
Racial inequity in the U.S. health system is, in many ways, far deadlier than police violence. The failures of the health care industry to appropriately care for Black patients are well-documented, resulting in the lowest life expectancy of any major group in the U.S. In addition to poverty, lack of access to care, and inadequate treatment, people of color are also dying due to bias in medical education, clinicians’ insufficient exam skills, and lack of appropriate information tools. The medical community needs to wake up and start fixing the way we recruit, train, and equip clinicians to reverse the trend of Black Americans dying too early and too often. (Art Papier, 7/20)
Modern Healthcare:
Addressing Racism In Healthcare Requires Accepting Responsibility
As an expert in improving patient safety and health system performance, I believe the way we respond to harmful medical errors can offer insights into how we can make progress with racism. When clinicians harm a patient, the response can be shame, guilt or love. With shame, we feel, “I am a bad person.” Shame makes us small and stalls progress in preventing harm in the future. With guilt, we feel, “I did a bad thing.” Guilt turns us inward, narrowing the focus of potential solutions. Love allows the person to both be accountable and to work with others to reduce the risk that the event happens again. (Peter Pronovost, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Our Muscogee People Suffered For Generations In The Hope Of A Better Tomorrow. It’s Finally Here.
This past October, I sat in a hospital and held my Mamagee’s hand as she took her final breath. Her death was painful, complicated by diabetes and systemic medical negligence. But she never complained. Like so many Muscogee women before her, Mamagee (which means “little mother”) laughed, smiled and prayed as she endured the legacies of federal policies designed to dismantle our Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Mamagee, my aunt, was our last living matriarch. With her death, we lost our family’s last fluent Muscogee speaker. And I lost an irreplaceable connection to who we are as Muscogee people. I thought of her last Thursday. I screamed with joy when I read the first paragraph of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s majority opinion in McGirt v. Oklahoma. (Jonodev O. Chaudhuri, 7/14)
