Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
1 In 3 Americans Expects To Get Covid Inside A Month
Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: America Learns To Live With COVID, But Is Split On How To Do It
One in three Americans expects to catch COVID within the next month — and only one in 10 thinks it will be eradicated by this time next year — according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. The new data shows Americans are coming to terms with living with COVID. But it also reveals an utter lack of consensus on how to live with it. People are divided about evenly into four camps on how to proceed: drop all mandates and requirements, keep some, keep most, or add even more. (Talev, 2/8)
NPR: The Future Of The Pandemic Is Looking Clearer As We Learn More About Infection
"Immunity to Covid-19 could be lost in months, UK study suggests," a headline from The Guardian alerted back in July 2020. "King's College London team found steep drops in patients' antibody levels three months after infection," the story warned. But that idea was based on preliminary data from the laboratory — and on a faulty understanding of how the immune system works. Now about a year and a half later, better data is painting a more optimistic picture about immunity after a bout of COVID-19. In fact, a symptomatic infection triggers a remarkable immune response in the general population, likely offering protection against severe disease and death for a few years. And if you're vaccinated on top of it, your protection is likely even better, studies are consistently showing. (Doucleff, 2/7)
USA Today: Researchers Consider How To Stop The Next Pandemic
Finding the next deadly virus and preventing a rat, bat or monkey from spreading it to people should be the primary focus of the world’s efforts to stop the next pandemic, a group of international researchers said in a study published Friday. Preventing diseases from skipping from wildlife to people would save lives and billions in costs, the researchers said, and should be prioritized ahead of detecting and treating viruses after people get sick. Disease experts and wildlife biologists had warned of the deadly risks of pathogens spreading from animals to people before COVID-19 arrived. The long list of such viruses includes HIV, ebola and chikungunya. (Schnell and Fernando, 2/5)
The Washington Post: The 1918 Flu Pandemic Had A Devastating Third Year. Here’s What We Can Learn
In New York City in 1920 — nearly two years into a deadly influenza pandemic that would claim at least 50 million lives worldwide — the new year began on a bright note. “Best Health Report for City in 53 Years,” boasted a headline in the New York Times on Jan. 4, 1920, after New York had survived three devastating waves of the flu virus. The nation as a whole, which would ultimately lose 675,000 people to the disease, believed that the end might finally be in sight. (McHugh, 2/6)
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The New Republic: The Future Of Epidemic Tracking Is In Your Toilet
Not everyone will get a Covid test, but everyone poops. That’s why cities across the United States are using municipal wastewater to track the still-raging pandemic. The amount of the SARS CoV-2 RNA in the sewershed can indicate the level of the virus in a community as a whole, whether or not individuals above ground are experiencing symptoms. In fact, the tool is a leading indicator of Covid-19’s spread, predicting spikes three to seven days before the number of reported cases rises. It’s also drawn public attention to the sewer system’s vast public health potential—and just how much managing wastewater will matter in the face of accelerating climate change. (After this piece was published, the CDC launched a new dashboard to display data from the National Wastewater Surveillance System. White House Covid-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar tweeted that “plans are to expand this to cover all 50 states.”) (Cummins, 2/3)
